Raptors team party

The cake

Team huddle

Go Raptors!

"You can't see me"

"Cheese" up close and personal

#15 with his trophy

The end of another football season...almost. His last game was cancelled and re-scheduled for this weekend. Jake's coach called him his gunslinger. He said he had no idea Jake could throw like he did until a few weeks into the season. All in all a good season. I think it will be our last with the base league. Jake will be old enough to move to tackle in the spring. My Mommy's heart is having a hard time with this concept, but the Daddy and the boy are very excited. I hope Ben is in the country for the season, I am not sure I will be able to watch.

Baseball season

Elle (#5) hitting

Getting ready to score the first run

of the game.




Catcher Elle.

Picture updates

In no particular order...

Wubby, fresh out of the dryer

Daddy!

Oooohhhh

This girl gets more and more beautiful every day.

She enjoyed the birthday cake.

Watch out world!

We all enjoy having daddy home.

"put the camera away and get this off of me"

My volleyball player

White boys can jump! (a little)

Jake's golf tournament

Some shots of my little pro



3rd place finish!

August

Since I am waaaaay behind and my sister is refusing to speak to me until I update, here is a brief recap of the end of our summer...

Jake played in his second jr golf tournament, he came in 3rd

Due to a lack of business, the new water resort in town offered up extra military splash days at the last minute, so we took advantage of the deal and spent an afternoon there with friends

I finally bought new dishes

6 little girls came over for an end of summer sleep over one night

4 little boys came the next night

We saw Kit Kittredge, the last movie in the summer program before school started. There was 18 of us this time

My wonderful neighbor weeded my flower bed, (thanks AMY!)

Baby scooted for the first time

I (finally) had some other deployed SO's over for dinner

The kids started school on the 12th of August. Hello? The 12th??? No wonder I feel like we barely had a break

This year, our walk to school goes through the construction zone that we were promised would be cleared before school started. Ha ha. Our children are now being bussed 5 blocks to and from school since there is no safe route for us to take

Bekah got her first tooth on the 14th

Our flag football season kicked off with me running practice until Ben comes home

I managed to mow my lawn and finish the work on the flower bed before falling spectacularly while holding baby three days before he was due home. Badly sprained ankle, air cast, crutches, and... 1200mg of Motrin 3x/day? Are they crazy? I'm alone with three kids! I took 1 - 800mg tablet the first night because I hurt, that was it.

Enlist neighborhood kids to clean cars before hubby comes home. Force my kids to clean porch and help with the yard.

Ditch the crutches. Don't they realize I cannot carry a 20 pound 8-month old AND walk on crutches? I move better without them anyways.

Ben finally came home on the 19th, YEAH!!!

23rd - flag football season begins

Got to see Seasame Street Live, "sunny days..."

Headed for Mt. Rushmore over Labor Day weekend, crahsed the in-laws' road trip there, had lots of fun. Baby did awesome on her first big road trip

And, last but not least, stopped at Lifelight Fest in Sioux Falls, SD on the way home from Mt. Rushmore. Ran into a military sister from AK, played at the water park, saw Mathew West, 33 miles, Building 429, David Nasser, Natalie Grant, and Casting Crowns LIVE and for FREE! It was awesome! And not just the music, but the testimonials, seeing God working and moving, the food, the atmosphere, everything. And, even though it was midnight before we saw our beds, I left that night feeling refreshed in the Lord. We are hoping to go back next year now that we know we are so close.

All in all, a good summer, even if it was short. We are so glad to have daddy back and looking foward to a busy fall season together.

*Pictures to follow

July 14-15 A Break in the schedule? Yeah right.

After our crazy few days we needed some down time. We got Monday. Only Monday. The kids played and read then went to VBS. Baby wanted a lot of attention and nursing, so I didn't accomplish much. After the kis went to VBS I went to see a brand new baby from our church. Bekah was very intrigued to see someone smaller than her.

Then came Tuesday.

Running out of cereal, GRRR, I just went to the comm
Piano lessons
Target has cereal on sale, hooray, I don't have to go to the comm
Gift's for asst. coaches also found at Target, I don't have to go to the sporting goods store
Blockbuster, use coupon for free game rental before it expires.
Exchange Jake for Peyton again
Learn that they have added THREE extra games to the end of our season
Make dinner for family with new baby
Pack a picnic dinner and extra drinks for between games and baby's dinner
Pack game stuff and team snacks
Load truck
Take dinner to family, help unpack kitchen (did I mention they just moved?)
Get more ice for coolers
Go back to friend's house, forgot Bekah's wubby
Game time. Learn the reason for extra games. The coaches involved in the fight last week have been thrown out of the league. They have apparently taken their team with them so we are filling in so that the other teams still get to play their scheduled games.
It is really hot and humid even in the shade
Did I mention that we found out these games didn't count due to the team dropping out?
Umps called game early due to mercy rule and heat, our team won 17-7 and still had an inning left to bat
Dinner between games
Storm on the horizon
Girls played an awesome second game
Game called early due to lightning
Movie theatre to purchase tickets for Thursday's movie
Storm moving in quickly, lightning very close, it looks ugly
Church where Jake was at VBS lost power
They barely beat the storm home, it was ugly
Super quick baths for all, settle in with the electricity flickering
10 minutes of heavy rain, strong wind = water pouring in the basement window that got fixed last week
Almost got baby to sleep when older siblings woke her up, (take a deep breath mom)

My husband loves storms. I miss him when it is storming.

T-ball cupcake cake

My decorator broke and I forgot to take pictures until after these had been in the sun. Not as cute as a Holly creation, but they tasted good and the kids loved them.

July 12, Super Saturday

Today was as busy as promised. The highlights...

Baby up at 0645 and ready to play

Boys awake at 0700 wanting waffles

Shower after baby goes back to sleep 20 minutes later

Get Jake to find ball uniform for pictures

Decorate 2 cupcake cakes

Broke Pampered Chef decorator halgway through first cake, WAAAA!

Make turkey wraps

Pack food and kids and head for the ball fields

Team pictures

Potluck Ball game-Jake's team vs. parents & siblings. Jake played catcher.


Yes, I played ball. In flip flops.
After party-trade boys for girls, take them to Girl Scout pool party

Home, clean kitchen, nurse baby, take a breath

Go to Creative Memories social

Pick up girls from camp

Stacey's for dinner, kids played in water and sand

Home, baths, bed for kids. Mom got to stay up to bake for fellowship the next day and somehow burned my hand on one of the coils in my oven. Ouch. Thanks for leaving your ice packs here Mom, they wrapped nicely around my hand. I love Neosporin.

Long, long day...

July 11, Who's the adult here?

Elle's team had pictures at 5:30 before their game at 6:30. After pictures the girls just hung out and watched the game before theirs. At the conclusion of said game, one of the parents made some ugly comment about the other team. So what did their coach do? With all her maturity and wisdom, she came over to the other team's bench and got in his face. He got right back in hers. Then her husband came over all bent out of shape. All this in front of the girls who were good gaming eachother. To give credit, the coach from the first team did try to stop it. They were getting very loud, the woman coach included, when the teenage umps put themselves in the middle of it and diffused the situation. They could be heard very clearly informing them all that this league was about the girl's, this was their game time, and none of their behavior was accceptable. The head ump, a 5' nothing teenage girl, forced the first guy off the field while the other coaches husband is still calling him out, trying to egg him on. The other umps finally pushed him and his wife back over to their team. So I ask again, who is the adult here? Why do parents get so psychotic about their children's sporting events? These are recreational leagues for little kids, they are supposed to be fun and a time to learn. There will not be any pro scouts there and what kind of an example of sportsmanship are you setting? Well, the umps at least set a good example for the younger girls. Those teenage girls behaved with way more maturity than the adults were displaying.

Luckily, at the start of all this, one of the other parents on our team coralled our girls and moved them away to warm up. Only one noticed the fight at all. And the girl's played an awesome game. Elle played catcher again and caught a foul ball for the third out with bases loaded. Then she got hit in the shins by her teammate's hit while she was on deck. But she rallied and got her first base hit. Here is Elle on first, still nursing a bruised shin. I thought it was funny.

I am very proud of this little girl. She knew nothing about softball at the start of this season, but she stuck it out, and has blossomed. She has managed to shake off errors and (minor) injuries and be a contributing member of her team. Never once has she given up and I love seeing the self-confidence she has gained by working hard and not giving up. I look foward to many more seasons.

July 11, After the Zoo

Commissary-needed stuff for Jake's team party, fellowship Sunday, and snacks for Elle's team next week. All the things I forgot the last two times I went in there.

Home, unload, lunch

Three loads of laundry (including the uniform needed that evening)

Baked 48 cupcakes

Put together flyer for Elle's team party

Packed for ball game

Elle packed for game, sleepover, girl scout art program, and girl scout pool party

Go to pool to fill out paperwork for team party

Pick up Elle's friend Peyton, head to ball fields

Team pictures and game

Grab McDonalds

Go back to ball fields to watch Peyton's younger sister's 8:30 pm make-up game (?)

Swap kids so Stacey can take the girls to their first girl scout thing in the morning. I got the boys.

Home way to late, all in bed, big thunderstorm, full, full day

Thursday, July 10

Today was the beginning of a looong weekend. The last factor in why I wasn't able to keep up with my blog. So here goes...

Summer movie program with some friends. This week was Horton Hears a Who. This turned out to be full of drama. Several large school groups purchased tickets in advance and the movie sold out quickly. They added a noon showing. We went to Target to pass the time. Evil store, why does the clearance rack always have such good deals? And oh, look scrapbook stuff in the dollar aisle! Get me out if here!

The movie was cute. All seemed to like it. I could have done without the line about eating rainbows and pooping butterflies, but I thought it was very family friendly otherwise. This is what Beks did for half the movie...
Home, play with friends, nap for baby, chores for mom that didn't get done the day before, taco salad for dinner, and off the Elle's ball game. Here's my girl getting some coaching on third.

Beks found her voice today. She talked up a storm. Cooing and laughing and 'talking' to her siblings who make the same noises back which makes her laugh and get even louder and so on. This was her talking to the camera.
Elle scoring her first run, yeah!

Gearing up to play cathcer for the first time.

Playing catcher.

Elle loved this position and has asked to play it again. She did well, even after she took a pitch to the chest. She shook it off and kept going. I was very proud of her.

Home and baths and bed. Beks almost wouldn't stop talking long enough to go to sleep. Even though my back and arms hurt, it is precious to watch her fall asleep in my arms, still trying to babble.

I did make another batch of fruit roll ups. The came out this time. We'll see what my taste testers say tomorrow.

Another busy day down.