The Ricci's in Arizona: March 2011

A Few Extra Things I Wanted to Share.

A few odds and ends from the past month.

I have several posts from today... This one, a Performing Arts one and one for each Karate, Baseball and Wrestling. Make sure you check them all out! They are all a little piece of what we have been doing the past month... Of course that is on the side of being sick with ear infections, bronchitis, pink eye, and last but not least the throw up bug.... That may have something to do with the lapse of time between posts?

This may possibly be the BEST video I have ever captured.

Eli is obsessed with the song, "Boom, Boom, Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas. It all started a few weeks ago when I was singing it (it was in my head, because it is also a fav of the boys) and I said, "Gotta Get that..." and He responded, "Boom Boom Boom" I looked at him... looked at Matt and said, "Did he just say what I think he said?!" Matt agreed and so I tried it again and he did it again! So I have been trying to capture it on video to have proof and I finally did it....

Another Eli video...

He loves anything sports... football, basketball, baseball. If his brothers do it, so does he! Well, he has taking to hitting off the Tee. We had to get it on video. If you listen, you will hear him say..."Ready, Set, Go"

The other day, JT informed me that it was his birthday and he was now 5.

A few of his friends had or are having birthdays so I think he is a little anxious to turn 5. In any case, he asked that we get a cake to celebrate his 5th birthday... here it is. That boy is too much!

Flat Cole.

Our cousin is doing a school project based on the book Flat Stanley. In the book, Stanley is flattened so he can cheaply visit his relatives by being mailed! Wouldn't that be nice? So, Cole "mailed" himself to us.

We have been having so much fun with Flat Cole that we haven't given him back yet! We promise, he is on his way! But the boys even took him to enjoy some AZ sun at the park the other day...

Anyone who knows us, knows the boys LOVE a camp fire!

Here they are cooking their hot dogs on it.

And of course, SMORES! (with Flat Cole)

Sweet Murphy... the old guy has been around for 14 years. We are sad to say his days are numbered but we are enjoying him while he lasts.

Spring Break = Crafts apparently!

The boys and I made volcanos that erupted... They really got a kick out of that.

Flat Cole helped with this too!

The erupting volcanoes

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

This year the boys decided to try to trap that tricky Leprechaun! They made this trap.

That little guy there, is Flat Cole that has been visiting here for a while. He is on his way back to NY soon, but not before some craft projects and fun!

We didn't catch anyone, but the little guy left some "Gold" for the kids to enjoy.

He certainly was tricky too... changed our milk green, our water green, our butter green... even our Toilet Water Green! The kids had fun the next day finding it all!

I will be posting soon about all the home improvements I have before and we will have after pics soon!! It is a very exciting, messy and crazy time! Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.

See... we are much more than just Jocks...

Both Sam and JT had some stage performances to round them out a bit... Sammy had his Disney Musical on February 28th and JT had his Spring Concert on March 2nd. All my video clips are too long to post... which is a total bummer because there were both spectacular! But I have some pictures to capture the events.

Sam's Disney Musical Performance.

JT waiting for it to start... disregard the terrible picture of me. At least you know I was there!

Sam was one of Aladdin's Men and had a speaking part. He was super cute singing and dancing. I so sad I can't share the video here!

Sam on stage.

"Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room!"

His favorite buddy from class, Konner.

The Best Kindergarten Teacher EVER!

On to JT's Spring Concert.

Looking quite dapper in his new spring outfit. (which he had to approve by the way)

The ONLY picture I could get of the three of them together! UGH!

Eli absolutely LOVED watching the concert. He sang, danced and clapped the WHOLE time!

The only video clips I have from this is Eli enjoying it... They are dark but I had to include them because, well, you will see!

And another one...

Sam... played his DS!

Hard to see my little man up there, but he is there, I promise! We have had better positions on the stage before, this year we weren't so lucky!

One More Thing!

Also, Sam's teacher is like... amazing. They were asked to perform in the GLEE assembly which was kind of a school Pep Rally before break. Mrs. Motroni (Sam's Teacher) put the whole thing together. They had the whole GLEE theme even with "Sue Sylvester" Teachers danced, Kids danced, Their PE Teacher shaved his head... it was great! I am so happy we are a part of this school! They really are awesome!!

Sam's Class sang and signed to the song, Imagine. Sammy is right in the middle.

Here is the video of it.It isn't great quality because it was from my phone. The bonus is my phone allows me to edit and give you parts of the video... the bad thing is it isn't great quality!

Sam is right in the middle... Black Shirt, Red Shorts.

So, See... we are more than just Jocks!!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Opening Day of Baseball was March 5th. Both Sam and JT are playing baseball this year. Sam is on the "Bees" and is playing in the coach pitch league. JT is on the "Hot Rods" and is playing in the T-ball league. We had a double header

Here they are ready to play ball!

JT's first sport's pictures...

The "Hot Rods" were the first ones to play.

It was cute seeing the little guys have their first go at a real game.

JT out in the field. He is right in the middle. Just standing there. ;)

His first Swing...

Video of his first at bat.

JT waiting to run into home on third base.

Video of him running in to home. He is a man of few words and doesn't really show his excitement!

JT has his buddy Jordan on his team. Here is a picture of him at bat.

Of course a whole day at the ball park is tiring... Eli and his favorite guy "Harry" taking a little rest.

Next up, the "Bees!"

Sammy's first at Bat.

Video of Sammy's at bat.

I LOVE his face at the end of this video clip... priceless!

Sammy out in the field. He looks so serious!

Sam's Best Buddy Jackson at bat.

Sammy and his buddies, Jackson and Drew.

Eli and his gang. We are lucky enough to have great friends to be on the same team as us, which means playmates on and off the field. Here Eli is with his best buddy, G and his little friend Raegan.

Wrestling!

We got off to a late start with wrestling this year. By the time we realized it was going, it was just about over. Sammy wanted to try it out, so we did. We squeezed in 2 of the tournaments we did last year. Sammy did really well. The first tournament he won the first one. All the videos I have are too long to publish or of me chasing around Eli and JT while I am trying to video him wrestling, so the pictures are going to have to do.

Here he is in the first tournament.

YAY! ANother medal!

The 2nd tournament was a little tougher. The boy he struggled with last year was at this tournament. Last year, he came out on top.. 2-1 wins. However, this little boy has been going to major tournaments since October (like I said, we came in a little late). This kid even went to TEXAS for a tournament. Needless to say, Sammy had his work cut out for him. He didn't win. But he learned from it and he still wants to wrestle so we are proud of him!!

This is the match he won... he pinned this little guy. The problem with these tournaments is that the levels are soooo different. One time you get someone who is new and the next the kid was bred to wrestle! Sammy is somewhere in between!

Overall that tournament was rough, but he still wanted to go to Prescott to the Rocky Mountain National Tournament. This had wrestlers from Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah and Texas! It was a totally new experience for Sam. He did well!! He ended up wrestling up due to his weight in the 7-9 rookie division ... kids who have been wrestling for 2 and under years.

Here he is a little spec in the sea of wrestlers... he has the grey shirt on.

One of his matches.

And... he took 5th place! We were very proud! It was a LONG day! We didn't leave until 7 and we started at 9! Not an easy feat for a 6 year old (not to mention a 4 and 1 year old!) but he did it and he was happy!