Typical summer day around here. Games strewn about on the floor, Wii on in the living room. Oh yeah, and a little boy with no pants on.

Baseball finally ended. We made it all the way to the final game of the District tournament. We were ahead 9-0 for almost the whole game and then had a bad inning and lost 10-9, so we won't be going to the State championships this Sat. We were bummed, but it's nice to have more than a two week break before football starts on Aug. 7th. Next week we'll go to another of our minor league team's games then Grandma Randall will be visiting. The week before football they'll all be off to the farm to visit Grandma Susan. Yes, all 4 of them!! And my mom and I will take our annual mother-daughter trip. Not sure where we're going yet, most likely a spa on the west coast somewhere for a couple of days. I need a beach, even if it's not to go swimming.

Baseball Summer

The past two weeks have been insane with baseball tournaments. This past weekend Bubba had 6 games-1 Thurs. night, 3 Fri. and 2 Sat. We lost Thurs. night because the boys just didn't play. They got a reaming for that and actually showed up to play Friday and won all 3 games (one of which was against the team we lost to the night before and we creamed them!). Sat. they won their first game by one after going into two extra innings. The second game started literally 10 min. later after a short drink, shove food in your mouth, and pee break. So they were a little wiped out because it was so hot and they'd already been playing for a couple of hours, but they did great and only lost by one. Bubba got a triple on his first at bat in that game and he's our leadoff hitter so that was a great way to start.

This week's schedule-
Mon.-actually enjoy a summer day free of anything related to baseball. Shooting in the morning, BBQ at friend's house with fireworks later and then sit across from our Minor League's field to watch the big fireworks.
Tues.-practice for Bubba 5:30-7:30, the rest of us are going to a minor league team game that starts at 7:15 and then dad and Bubba will come over after. We got free ticket vouchers from the summer library reading program and they can only be used certain days so we're picking Tues. as our first one and the 2nd at the end of the month.
Wed.-JP is signed up to do a baseball camp with the minor league team at their stadium 8am-12pm, Peanut swimming lesson 6-6:30pm, first District tournament game for Bubba 6:30pm, so Peanut, Coconut and I will be late to that.
Thurs.-JP camp from 8am-1pm, Bubba game 6:30pm, JP and mom's date to a minor league game at 7:15 (that we'll be late to since we'll watch Bubba's whole game first). So with JP's camp he gets lunch with the team both days, a t-shirt, instruction from the team, 2 tickets to Thursday's game (hence the reason we're going on a date), and an autograph session with the players. Bubba went to a game with dad and his team last Mon. night because it was our little league's night and they got to go on the field for the National Anthem. He caught 2 foul balls and discovered that if you wait until everyone is gone and the players have all showered, when they come back out, they'll sign them. He got every player to sign them and gave one to JP the next morning. Such a sweet boy. But what he also discovered is that they give away their broken/cracked bats from that night's game. He got one, but had to give it to another kid on his team, so I think JP and I will stay and try to get one this week.
Fri.-Bubba 6:30 game and Peanut swimming lesson at 6:30.
Sat.-1 pm game and possibly more if we keep winning. If we win District we'll go to state up north at the end of the month.

Happy Father's Day!

On Bubba's special day


Muscle Man Peanut


Sweet baby Coconut


Fluffy Baby JP

Happy Father's Day to the greatest man I've ever known. You are the best husband, father and friend that anyone could ever hope to have. Thank you for baseball, football, shooting, camping, fishing, catch in the backyard, haircuts, tickles, rides down the stairs on a crib mattress, rides on the side of the grocery cart, yummy dinners, priesthood example, baptizing two boys (so far), hugs, kisses, cleaning wounds and puke, and so much more. We love you so much Big Daddy!

First of Summer

Baseball Allstar tryouts start tonight. Practices will start tomorrow night and be every night with games on the weekends versus different leagues throughout our state. If they make it all the way to the state championships, we'll be headed up north about 8 hours away at the end of July. Then he'll have a two week break until football practices start. Poor guy, but we can still do fun stuff during the day. He's had baseball camp this week from 8:30-1:30. Tomorrow will be his last day.

My sister stayed with us all of last week while her husband was in training for the forestry service up north. A couple of her girlfriends and her and I celebrated her birthday with Cheesecake Factory Mon. night and we all (minus dad) went bowling that day since we signed up for the Kids Bowl Free program again this year. You only have to pay for shoe rentals and you can literally bowl two games everyday if you wanted to. My mom was here from Wed. until yesterday. She got to see JP's and Bubba's first tournament games that they won! And then on Sat. we had both of their final games at the same time! I stood in between the two fields and could at least see who was in the outfield so I could run back and forth. I've been scorekeeper for JP's team all season so luckily I was able to get a dad to sub so I could watch both. I saw both of them hit each time and stood and watched each game for awhile at a time. Bubba's team lost by only 2! They did a fabulous job. They went from last to playing in the championship game! They all got t-shirts and then the coach had ice cream for both teams. Then B and Bubba got to come over and watch the rest of JP's game that was tied forever. They kept going back and forth so it went to the bottom of the 8th inning (when they normally only play 6)!! We had a kid on base and our biggest hitter hit a home run! Then dad and Bubba came over to watch the rest of the game. JP's team all got t-shirts that said "Champions" on them.





We also went swimming several times last week. Captain Fearless aka Coconut thinks he can swim now since our floaty vest fits him. He just jumps right in. He even 'swam' the entire length of the pool and back the first day.

Peanut's Graduation!

So my little Peanut graduated from preschool on Thurs. It was a fun event and both big brothers left class to come support him. We also each got a photo slideshow DVD (that he's already watched several times). I'm looking forward to having two mornings a week next school year all to myself. That is if doh-doh head Coconut ever has a desire to potty train!

More Baseball Pictures

Pitching



Playing shortstop

I was team photographer the other night at Bubba's game. The head coach's wife had the idea of making these mini-albums for the coach's gifts, so I got a picture of each boy and then made three scrapbooks. Then at our party last night the boys all signed next to their pictures. The coachs loved them. Now they can remember names with the boys on their team. It ended up being more work that I thought, but I think it was worth the final product. So I got some cool action shots of Bubba with the telephoto lens. That thing rocks. Most of the pictures came out really nicely.

JP the Superstar & Captain Pokey Hair

This also ended up being a family photo. My mom is on the right, then me, then Coconut and the cool guy all the way on the left with the sunglasses is Bubba.




This boy cracks me up with his cross-eyed photos. Since I always laugh because he can make them go different directions, it's his new favorite pose.

We finally got some nice pictures of JP at baseball. It's hard when one of us is keeping score and the other is doing pitch count. I love the quality of our new camera when we have the 'sports' lens (as I like to call it) on.

Peanut's hair is really long now so it's hysterically out of control most days. It looks handsome when it's actually combed down. Everyone (except Coconut) didn't have the top cut last time. They all decided to have an opinion. Bubba looks really cute with his bangs combed over in the 'skater' style so I encouraged him to grow it out on top (but won't allow it to be long in the back). But apparently JP didn't think he needed to cut his even though he looks better with it really short.

Sat. night for our anniversary we went to see Flogging Molly. I happened to look online about a month ago just to see if they would ever come here and I found that they were! Tickets were only $30 since it was at a small venue (a local club). We showed up an hour early when the doors opened and still had to stand in a long line in the rain (with no umbrella) for about twenty minutes. Luckily it wasn't pouring. They had a pit in front of the stage and then like four stairs up to an open area that was at stage level. We ended up right next to the stairs against the railing. It was perfect! I had a super view of the whole stage. They put on such an AMAZING show. The lead singer talks between the songs and tells you what they're about and they're just really fun and energetic. It was great. B said he thought I was going to pee I was so excited. We both got a little recorded on our phones. Mine only records for like thirty seconds at a time. :( And they won't let you use a flash so the pictures aren't super great, but I was excited to get a couple nonetheless. I got a t-shirt and 4 stickers-one for me and then one each for the three older boys. Bubba was bummed he didn't get to go. There was a super young kid there and then really old guys. There was even a guy who was at least sixty directly in the middle of the mosh pit! It was a great sight to see so many people of different ages there. On the way home we realized we hadn't eaten dinner so we made a Taco Bell run and it reminded us of our college days when we were engaged (although back then it was always at 2 a.m.).

Last night Coconut was attacking JP in hallway upstairs and JP finally got him off, but he fell on a truck and back into the wall. He hit his head on the corner of the baseboard. I came upstairs to see what was going on and B was holding him. He put him on the counter to assess the damage and I freaked out when I saw blood dripping down the side of his head. We tried to act calm so he wouldn't freak out. We took him in our bathroom to clean him up and he was asking, "Am I bleeding?" in a nervous voice. When we finally got enough blood off to look at it, we could see that it could probably use some glue or a couple of stitches. But B made the point that if we took him in, he would have to be shaved there and go through the trauma of all of it. It's not huge enough that it will make much of difference so we opted to clean it up and staunch the bleeding. He's doing fine today. You wouldn't even know that anything happened. It has clotted nicely so I think if we continue to use Neosporin it should heal okay. I think it was as traumatic for me as my 'mama bear' instincts kicked in. I hate when my boys get hurt.

Lastly, I've started writing again after a brief bout of writer's block. Bubba gets so proud of me when I reach another 1,000 words. It's so nice to have family support not just from my husband but from my young son who thinks it's so cool that I'm doing this. I had B read a section the other night. I've been nervous about letting him read any of it. But I wanted his opinion on this intense fighting scene. He said he was pretty blown away and could picture it in detail, and I know he wasn't just saying it because he's my husband. It felt really good to hear him say it.