Merry Christmas 2012

Our family has been crazy busy again this year. Here's what we've been up to:

Bubba lives, eats, and breathes baseball. He practiced in our batting cage all last winter to prepare for this year's season. He played his first year of Majors and played on the Allstars team again this summer. He played baseball from March to the end of July, and plans to play fall ball next year so he can play for 7 1/2 months. He hit NINE homeruns this year! Woot! He also played his final year of football (his team only lost 2 games in four years). He earned 13 merit badges (the most of anyone) at his first year of scout camp this summer. He started 7th grade this year and is officially in middle school!

JP played his first year of AAA baseball this past spring. He also got some cool sports glasses to wear during the games. His sophomore football team went undefeated for the second year in a row! He played defensive guard, and was a complete beast on the field. When he puts his pads on, he turns into an animal! Football is his favorite sport now. He started 5th grade this year and continues to get straight A's. 

Peanut played Rookie baseball this year and had a great time. With two big brothers playing, he rocked it, and is definitely ready for AA this next season. He just finished playing basketball, which he loved. He is the first in our family to ever play basketball. He started 2nd grade this year and earned the first award of the year for being responsible.

Coco is our crazy boy. He hits baseballs in the garage with his brothers like a wild man, without even using a tee. He loves to attack his brothers with his mad ninja skills. He's mama's little buddy, and we have great conversations in the car while running errands about completely random things. He's very smart for a little guy. He started preschool this year and is doing a great job writing his name. 

I published my first book this year! I am currently working on the sequel, and just wrote another book in two weeks! I also started taking piano lessons-something I've wanted to do since I was a little girl. I keep busy driving my boys to all kinds of practices and love to watch my boys rock it on the baseball and football fields. 

Big Daddy loves his job at Morgan Stanley as a financial advisor. He was the assistant coach for both of Bubba's regular and Allstar seasons of baseball. He's such an awesome dad to spend so much time in the garage pitching to his boys all winter. He plans to coach Bubba's team this next year. He is also the secretary of our baseball league board.

As a family, we went to Disneyland this summer with my mom, brother, and sister-in-law. We had three fun days of both parks, went to the beach, took Bubba to do baptisms at the Newport Beach temple, went to an Angels game and saw Mike Trout hit a homerun, and visited my BFF from high school down in San Diego. We are so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ and for this time of year when we celebrate his birth. We wish all of you a wonderful Christmas and best wishes for a fabulous new year.

I'm Not Missing

So, wow, the summer is gone and I haven't posted since... forever. We had a busy summer. We've had two birthdays in the family, our 14th anniversary, baseball season, and a trip to Disneyland. I'll post a few pictures just for highlights. Bubba did great during the summer Allstar season. He hit somewhere around 7 homeruns this season. He's a rockstar! He was also the lead off hitter. So fun to watch that boy. He also turned 12! He'll be starting 7th grade on Monday and is officially in Junior High. Ugh, when did I get this old? He had a great birthday party, with 3 friends coming over for his first big sleepover. Very loud, but they pretty much just played X-Box all night. They were impossible to wake up for baseball practice the next morning. I usually do a little list of all of the wonderful things about my boys on their birthdays. Here are just a few words I think of when I think of Bubba-baseball lover, diehard Yankees fan, cereal lover, happy, kind, eating machine, music lover, lovey, rockstar, and a good friend. He just started his final year of football practices the first week of August and has his first official game this Saturday morning. JP played baseball during the regular season, but opted not to play during summer. Although, he did get to substitute for a weekend tournament. He hit every single at bat all weekend and his team won a second place trophy. He enjoyed being bat boy for Bubba's team the rest of the time. He also had a birthday, turning 10. He's going into 5th grade this year! Words that describe JP-sensitive, loving, kind, trooper, happy, Harry Potter fanatic, speed reader, lover of books, eating machine, salmon lover, boy who will try anything once, snuggly, great hugs, great swimmer, and brave. He is also playing football this year. This is his second year of tackle. Peanut has been swimming very well this summer. He can go the entire length of the pool only taking one breath. He also played baseball during the regular season and wants to try basketball in the fall. He will be the first one to try the sport. He will already be in 2nd grade this year! Coco Krispy is a swimming machine. He jumps right in and swims to mom or the side. He is the best cannon baller of all times. He does perfect tens each time and even does front flips into the pool. He's not afraid of anything. He is a baseball machine in the backyard, can hit off of dad pitching, and even hits whiffle balls over the fence! He will be going to pre-school three days a week, so I'll have a three hour break three days a week! Disneyland was great. We had to do it during our two week break between baseball and football. We went down for a week and my mom, brother, and his wife came with us this year. The weather was fabulous. We did a day at Disneyland, one at California Adventure, then an Angels game the next day, then both parks again for a day, the beach and my best friend's house in San Diego, and then the Newport Beach temple before we left the last day. Bubba got to do baptisms for the dead for the very first time! It was great. We were able to stay with my Uncle and Aunt in California and B's Uncle and Aunt in Vegas. Thanks to them for free lodging! We got our fill of In N Out while we were there too. I did not get my fill of the beach. The water was pretty freezing, but the longer I stayed in, the better it was. I outlasted everyone. I told B that my inner California girl must have come out. We had a great time. Well, that's about it for some highlights. Hopefully you're still awake reading this.

Sweet Boys

Two nights ago, while tucking everyone in one at a time, my almost 12 year old called me "Mommy" and asked me if I would come lay with him. I was so thrilled to hear him call me that and ask me to hang out with him. So I made him move over and I laid down with him while we talked for at least 15-20 minutes about his baseball team and life. It was so awesome. I love those moments and cherish them because they don't come often with him. The other three boys are always coming up to me and rubbing my arm or asking for kisses or hugs-especially JP. Coco climbs on me anytime I sit down, which can sometimes be too much, but I just make him sit up next to me and we snuggle.

It's been raining a lot here. Which means baseball practices have been few at this point. Peanut is sad that he hasn't had one yet because his last minute coach is on vacation for Spring Break. The three oldest boys all had playdates for the first day of break today. Poor Coco has to wait all day to see them during school, and then they disappear the first chance they get. Nothing planned for the rest of break besides baseball. My mom will be here Friday evening sometime for a few days, so we're looking forward to that.

Life As I Know It

I feel like kind of a jerk lately. I don't post very often anymore, and when I do, I never think to check everyone else's blogs. So then I feel bad for not being caught up on everyone's lives. I'm going to do better. (Famous last words).

We've been busy. Coconut and Peanut just finished up swimming lessons. Peanut is an animal at the backstroke, and I'm so proud of him. With baseball starting, he won't be doing anymore, but Coco will start again at the beginning of April. I had to take JP to a doctor's appointment on Thurs., which was their last day of lessons, so dad took them, but I was able to come see the last half. And I was blown away! Coconut can swim on his back! I couldn't believe it. She taught him how to jump in, pop up (like toast), and roll onto his back (like a starfish). And now, he's swimming the length of the pool on his back. He pulls his arms out to his sides and then back into his sides again, propelling himself. JP's doctor's appointment went very well. He doesn't have to go back for 4 months. He looks great and feels great!

We had several nights of school programs. Every year, the elementary kids perform in March and all the songs and chants are about US historical people. We pretty much have all of them memorized now, since we started going to these when Bubba was in kindergarten. Peanut had his program first, the next night was JP (who also got to play the recorder for a song), and then two weeks later, the 6th grade class did a new program. Their social studies teacher wrote a program back in 1999 and they performed it this year. It was awesome. They went through the different wars in our US history, and performed songs and acted out things from each era. Bubba got to be a minuteman and sing with a couple of other kids in a loud, boisterous voice. It was fun. Then, during WWII, he got to do a swing dance. He was awesome. He has such a great voice. He warned me beforehand that there would be a part that would make everyone cry. Well, the last song happened to be about the current war in Iraq. They had one boy dressed in an air force jumpsuit, and two laptops at a table, where he sat on one side and the "wife" sat on the other side while they "video chatted." One by one, she brought their kids in to see him, ending with a girl in a graduation gown. Yeah, pretty much the whole audience was sniffling because the other kids were all singing, "American Tears." If you've never heard the song, look it up on Youtube and have a listen. I dare you to not cry.

We also had the draft for baseball. Bubba will be with his same coach from last year's regular season, but in Majors, so he's excited. He's bummed, though because he won't be on the Yankees for the first time in 4 years. JP was drafted to AAA, so yay! We don't know the coach, but one of the kids from his team last year is on his team again. We start practices Monday already. The craziness begins. I've already swept my floor for the last three days in a row, thanks to baseball dirt. I really need to make myself a schedule and get organized to keep from going crazy. With B assistant coaching again, and two kids on the same nights, it's going to be another crazy season!

My dad was here visiting all week. It was his spring break, so he drove up with my Grandma and Papa Punkin. My Grandma's sister lives up here and so she and Papa stayed with them and my dad stayed with us. He got to be here for Bubba's program and swimming lessons. Then last night, we celebrated my Papa's 80th birthday. They left first thing this morning. It was good to see everyone.

Happy 7th Birthday Peanut, Baseball Season & Swimming

My sweet little Peanut had his birthday this past week. I can't believe he's already 7! He chose a Lego themed party and was allowed to invite 2 friends from school, along with our neighbors who always come. I did up little baggies of the exact same Legos and had them each see what they could come up with and then gave them all awards. Grandma Susan came up and had the idea of Pin the Tail on the Donkey after awhile of them running around crazy. I didn't realize it wouldn't take them that long to build, so hadn't planned anything else other than cake and presents. I made two Lego bricks as cake. This was definitely the most frustrating one I've ever done. I couldn't figure out how to frost the bumps on top because if I held it by the top and bottom to do the sides, the icing on top would come off. In my opinion, the first one looked horrible. It's just impossible to get buttercream smooth. The 2nd one was a little better because I had figured it out, but still not my best work. Peanut overheard me telling the neighbor how ugly they were, and he got really offended. He thought they looked awesome. How I love my sweet boys. It may kill my back and be a huge pain, but at least they'll remember mom's efforts and cool cakes when they grow up. :)
So when I think of Peanut, I think of: his cute dimples, fun and contagious laugh, crazy eyebrows, pokey hair, big brown eyes, calm disposition (unless his brothers are being mean), smart, does NOT like to do chores, puzzle and Lego master, master organizer (he personally created and labeled each treat bag using the labeler), cinnamon toast, carnivore, cereal lover, snuggler, animal lover, sweet older brother, and overall fun kid! Oh how I love my little Peanut. He is growing like a weed and has uber long legs. He's been wearing a size 8 for quite awhile now.


Baseball season has officially begun at our house. Assessments for the two older boys was this last Sat. Peanut will be playing Rookie, which is coach pitch. He's pretty much gonna be the best on his team. ;) But I'm not biased or anything. It's just that he's been playing longer than the other kids because of his older brothers.
Bubba went first in the morning. I should give a brief explanation of how it works, or you'll all be confused. So the first year of kid pitch (which JP did last year), is called AA, then AAA (which Bubba did the last two years), then Majors, then Juniors (which is the 13 yr. olds). So Bubba is going out for Majors this year. They get 6 pitches off a machine and run to 3rd on the last pitch, have to catch 3 grounders and throw them to 1st, and then have to catch 3 pop flies and throw them to 2nd. He was the fastest kid running the bases. He hit 4 out of 6 pitches and got all his grounders and flies (and even threw the first one to 3rd base instead of 2nd). There were parents behind me saying, "Wow, that kid has an arm. What's his last name again?" There are a few coaches that really want him on their team. They do it by a draft, so basically, if you want him, you'll have to pick him on your first turn, or someone else is going to get him. All of his hard work in the garage during the winter really shows. He is definitely on his way to fulfilling his dream to play in the Major Leagues one day.
JP killed it too. He's going for AAA this year because then his games will be on opposite nights from Bubba and we'll be able to see all of their games. He hit 5 out 6 and ran much faster than last year, 2 out of 3 grounders, and all 3 pop flies. B saw one of the coaches sheets over his shoulder and JP had the 2nd top score.
We don't plan on letting Coco start until the Rookie level. One of our friends got his son into Rookie earlier than the usual age, so we're hoping we'll be able to in a couple of years so we can skip the horrible T-ball stage. If none of you have ever experienced T-ball, avoid it at all costs. It really is painful to watch-like watching paint dry as one of the mom's said to me the other day.
Peanut did swimming lessons in Feb. and has now moved up to the next level. His freestyle still needs a little work, but he can swim the length of the pool with the backstroke several times in a row. It's awesome to watch! This session, Coco is learning to swim too. He's a little fish.

Happy 4th Birthday Coco Krispy!

So as you can see from the title of this post, it was Coconut's 4th birthday last week. Coco Krispy is just one of his many aliases. Coco, JoJo, Boo boo, Car Car, Cart Man-he is a little man known by many names. He has brought much joy (and distress) to our family. Never a dull moment when he's around. He'll either be a professional football player or a rockstar. He can reach notes that would put Axl Rose to shame. He makes life fun. He's definitely Mama's little buddy. I'm his only friend during the day, so we hang out a lot watching cartoons or going to fun places like Krispy Kreme for a donut to celebrate wearing undies to bed and keeping them dry. Actually, he hasn't needed to wear pull-ups to bed for quite awhile, but he refused to wear one the other night, so we celebrated the next morning. I can almost never resist his little, "Please Mommy." He loves candy, chocolate, ice cream, cake, anything junky-just like mom. I feel really bad about it. He's very smart and knows all of his shapes, colors, can count to 20, is starting to actually recognize some of the numbers, and can sing the ABCs, among other things. He gets himself dressed (unless he's being lazy). He likes to tell stories and ask totally random questions. We had an entire conversation in the car one day about skeletons, "cops", jail, bad guys, and animal cops. He cracks me up. On the one big snow day we've had, he told me that there were probably little bugs throwing tiny snowballs at each other. He makes me smile everyday.
We celebrated with a couple of friends and cake and ice cream with a Captain America birthday party. That stupid cake took me all day because I had to dirty ice it and then let it sit in the fridge and then ice it again, and then make the star and fill it all in. There were several toothpicks and a ruler involved to make sure the circles were somewhat even. Someday, hopefully, he'll see a picture and say, "Wow, you were the coolest mom ever." Oh what we do to make our kids happy. His new favorite thing is Monster Trucks. You can never have too many. Oh, and Ninjagos.

New Blog

For my readers who may not be my Facebook friends (or just don't check it often), I have a new blog. It's for the book I've written. It's my first book and I'm trying to get some buzz going. Plus, I've had people asking for updates on the editing process and how soon I might be able to publish. I've also given some background on how it all got started, and in the future, I might just give a sneak peek or two. So check it out. www.inthemidstofdarkness.blogspot.com