Opening Ceremonys!

So if anyone knows anything about me, they know that I wait till the very last minute possible to do something. (This includes things I may or may not have known about for SEVERAL months) Doing the banner for Matt's little league team is no exception. Two days before the opening ceremony for the teams, this banner was still just an idea floating around in my head. My biggest hurdle - I didn't know how to draw, and I knew even less about using a sewing machine - both key elements in getting this banner done. But as usual, with the help of Chuck and Kristi, (and one very LONG sleepless night) I was able to get it drawn (THANK YOU CHUCK) sewn, stuffed, and painted just in the knick of time. It was all totally worth it though because our banner got 1st place in the Rookie division banner contest!

Figures, I do almost all of the sewing, but someone takes HIS picture while he sews on ONE baseball! However, this isn't something you see everyday, my husband at a sewing machine!

Our banner - I still have a little painting to do on it though, I couldn't finish the names because it wouldn't have been dry in time for the parade. We had to settle for a white paint pen!


They surprised the kids with a game where the coaches played and the kids coached them. It was so funny to watch these guys acting like the kids always do. Here is Ski...



While Ski played in the game, Matt was too cool to hang out and watch with his mom, he had to go play ball with the older boys on the other field.


Meanwhile Jacqui found a bunch of boys to play wall ball with.

Bristol Week

He's waited two years for this week to come - and so have I! Ski and his brother Bryan - one week of nothing but Nascar at the track of all tracks - Bristol, TN! For me, that meant one week of doing whatever I wanted. (as long as I could drag 3 kids with me) It wasn't even that I could come and go as I pleased without someone worrying if I didn't call or come home. It was the fact that at 8:00pm when all the kids went to bed, the TV was ALL MINE, the computer was ALL MINE, the snack cupboard - you guessed it - ALL MINE. I didn't have to share a single girl scout cookie with anyone!!! (Or the "whole box" of girl scout cookies - which ever way you want to look at it...) Come Wednesday though, I was soooo ready for him to come back! (Remember those three kids I was taking care of...I almost sold them to the next stranger I talked to.) Just kidding - we had a good time together, just me and my babies!!! As you can see below - Ski had a GREAT TIME also. Some bonding time with his brother at one of the best tracks there is. He called me so many times to tell me how awesome it all was. Bryan did such a great job getting everything ready for their camping trip! They stayed at Farmer Bob's right outside the track. The first night they got there, they were so excited and powered through an obscene amount of beer. The next morning while Ski nursed his hang over Bryan made them a great breakfast. At the track they paid 6 dollars a beer so hang overs weren't an issue the rest of the day! They went to both the Busch series and Nextel Cup race! I hear it was one of the best pre-race shows that Ski has ever seen. He even got to watch Jeff Gordon cross the finish line before Dale Earnhardt Jr AGAIN. Here are some pictures of their week!

Lunch Time Champs

My kids aren't the only ball players in the family. Ski was on a lunch time team called "DTO" (stands for Didn't Try Out!) I didn't get to go to many of his games because I had school but I wish I would have because his team took first place!!! Great job guys!

Congratulations to Darlene and Clyde!!!!!

Darlene is one of the nicest women that I know! The first time I met her it was like we had been friends for a lifetime. She'll do anything to help you out - lend you a shoulder to cry on (Oh the tears we've shed together), let you stay at her house as long as you need to (I'm pretty sure Ski and I stayed over there so much we probably should have paid some form of rent), feed you whether you are hungry or not (Chick-fil-A breakfasts are her specialty!), she'll even go as far as to legally marry you right there in her living room after eating Domino's pizza without ever expecting anything in return. So today, it is so wonderful to watch her celebrate her own wedding day (through pictures unfortunately) and to see that look in her eye when she smiles at Clyde!

You deserve this happiness D and even though we weren't able to be with you on your special day, we want you to know that we love you (4) and miss you so much! Congratulations - you were a BEAUTIFUL Bride!!!! Clyde - welcome to the family!

I'd also like to wish Clyde a safe deployment in Iraq! We will be thinking of you both while he is gone! Let us know if you need anything - we'll be closer to you guys soon!!!!

Here are a few pictures of her day thanks to Jen!

It's the middle of March...

...and we have already been to the pool!

It's been BEAUTIFUL this past week in San Diego. Our housing area has recently opened a pool for us to swim in and my kids had a blast! Jacqui found friends right away and stayed at the other end of the pool. Heaven forbid she have to admit she was with her family. Matt had fun doing cannon balls and playing with Cadence. The best part about the pool - it's two streets away! There is also a gym that I plan to start going to on a regular basis - Ski has already made his prediction about how often I'll be frequenting this gym. Unfortunately so far he is right and I try not to let that happen on a regular basis!

Little League Starts again!!!

So here it is, baseball season again. When we signed both kids up in the beginning, Ski had decided that he wanted to take it easy this year and was going to start coaching the minor team that Jacqui played on. He had been coaching the Rookies - and loved every minute of it - but he was ready to move up to an age that had an attention span for more then an 1/8 of a second. He didn't want to do anything else except coach. Well somewhere along the line our plan made a slight detour and we are up to our ears in little league. Ski is Managing Matt's rookie team, coaching Jacqui's minors team, he's a volunteer umpire, and he's on the little league board as the field maintenance guy (cause he loves to drive the tractor) I am the team mom for Matt's team and helping as team mom for Jacqui's. Needless to say, we live at the fields.

This weekend it was hot in a ridiculous way for the month of March. I think it was almost 90 degree's and the kids had a shoot out tournament to play in. Starting at 0800 on Saturday morning they played 50 minute games (25 minutes of batting and 25 minutes of fielding.) With us having two teams, we were literally playing almost hourly with a few breaks in between. It was so hot and the kids all had on long pants, socks, t-shirts and caps. Even in the heat they gave 110% of themselves and we were all very impressed with their teamwork! Cadence also did especially well for having to stay in the stands for 7 hours straight, two days in a row. I gave her water bottles to play with and she drank them and poured them on herself and stayed cool that way. It was a very fun, exhausting weekend though. Here are some of the pictures!

Ski and Chuck - Ski manages the Hooks Rookie team and Chuck helps him coach, and Chuck manages the Storm Minors team and Ski helps him coach.




Yes - Matt is hitting off of a Tee but he isn't on Tee Ball. For some reason on that field EVERYONE - including the majors teams - had to hit off of that stupid tee.