Top Ten Reasons To Blog Tonight

10. Two of my four loyal readers are wondering where I am.

9. I'm well-rested, unlike the past 73 days in a row, and can put a couple of thoughts together. (Thank you, God for afternoon naps!)

8. I need to give a shout-out to Indie & her All-Star team for being sub-district champs!



7. To add a link to the house for sale blog in case it helps put it up higher in the google results for searches about the Redland Road Elementary School in Wetumpka.

6. Because I need to spend a few online minutes away from Facebook.

5. If I don't blog now, it might be another couple of weeks added on to my already too-long delay here because the calendar is hairy-crazy for the rest of the month.

4. Writing, as non-intellectual as mine usually is, helps me.

3. Sitting down at the desk to type this puts an ever-growing to-do list in my eyesight so that I can check off a few more things before going to bed.

2. Opens an opportunity for me to invite all the lurkers to drop me a comment to finally say 'hello!' (I know you're there!)

1. Everyone deserves the chance to see this cutie-patootie pic my Mom took this weekend.

Your Eyes Might Get Misty

Like Amy, I'm a sucker for a sweet balll-playin' story.

Softball Sportsmanship

GJo, get out your hankie!

Rainy Day Became...

rained out ballgames.

Which became yummy, warm, home-cooked supper.

Which became relaxing dusk time on back porch.

Which became early kids' bedtimes (super-early for boys!)

Which became DVR'ed Earl, Grey's, Lost.

Which became a 2nd-day-in-a-row blog entry.

And all in 48 words.

Alabama Wildlife

Four ball practices at four different times in three different locations. A little wild but not too bad.

Ray's, Rocky's, and He-Man's practices lasted so long that they didn't get home until after 8PM. How thankful we are that we can sleep late tomorrow. Especially because today's adventures involved not only ball practice but also walking through at least a mile of Alabama woodlands on a field trip. We are all so pooped.

Speaking of pooped, we all learned a new poop word today. He-Man says he now knows 3 words for poop... Poo, dung, and the new one, scat.

AND to continue that subject...

Captain did the duty (doody??) on the pot again today. This time was the most efficient of the events so I'm feeling very good about it all!

Today's field trip yielded some pretty cool pics. Most were taken by Ray but I took a few, too so that she would be in some of them.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Cataloging Current Chaos & Contemplations

Alphabetically.

Alabama lawmakers. Ugh. I can think of another "C" word (notice the alliteration of the title?) that could describe a bunch of them. It's definition is "not straight; bent."

Ball season. It is SO upon us. Thank you, God for sending the much-needed rain that has allowed us a slower start than originally scheduled. We'll be ready for a full line-up soon but right now, having each of the 4 kids practicing only once a week instead of twice, has been really nice! Stay tuned for what I hope will be really great ball videos and pictures.

Birthday parties. If I had more time and money I could probably come up with a few incredibly cool ideas but with a tight budget and even tighter calendar, the planning required for the March 27, May 7, May 29, and June 22 events is a little cheated sometimes. Captain's 1st bday party was with very little fanfare, poor fella. I think the other 4 might get mutually themed events...all motivated by a certain mouse we'll be visiting in February 2009. We are now in countdown mode so I think the kids would enjoy some Diz-themed celebrations. But not just a Princess or Mickey thing! No, I'm thinking something specifically related to our favorite things on our previous DW trip. Hmmm...

Blogs. Adding lots to my reader lately. Watch the sidebar because most will probably make it there in the near future.

Houses. I have a folder of online bookmarks for 12 houses. These are the ones we are interested in seriously considering once ours sells. Unfortunately, one of these 12 became a "pending" status this week. I guess that's OK, though because it's a different one that actually has my heart-rate speeding a little when I think about it.

Kids. Mine are awesome and amazing. Sometimes, in between the rebellion and disobedience, the fussing and fighting, the name-calling and hitting, my kids will laugh and play with each other and obey simple commands. Sometimes they will do what they need to do without being told. Sometimes they are fall-out-of-my-chair funny! Sometimes I look at them when they don't know it, and I just stare and smile because I can't believe how gorgeous and wonderful they are.

Living with parents. It's still good but it's still not home.

"Preparing For Adolescence." - This is a class I am teaching to 6th grade girls at the church. It's one of those classes where parents have to sign a permission slip. It's one of those classes where I had to meet with parents before we started. It's one of those classes where students are allowed to write anonymous questions and put them in a box. Yeah.

Reality TV - We're too interested in too many of these silly shows. But they are SO much fun. Project Runway was great and I will miss watching it. The Biggest Loser is new to our schedule this year and was only added because of Bama's Roger Shultz. We are now REALLY loving it and hope Rog goes all the way! It makes me want to exercise, which is a good thing but I often find myself eating uce cream while I watch it! Survivor is still an old standby. We haven't let the kids watch it this year, though. I don't have a favorite yet. American Idol is great, of course. I had high hopes for David Arculetta (sp?) but tonight's bombing worries me. Jason Castro is gorgeous. I don't mean that in a lustful way but in a way that means I truly think he's beautiful. I like looking at him like I like looking at sunsets. The Apprentice is another new one we added to our viewing list. It almost didn't make it because we were unsure we'd like it but it's been very enjoyable. I don't know if we'll watch it when the Celebrity season is over. I don't know if we'd enjoy watching regular people. (as an aside - is anyone watching Breaking Bad?? It's not a reality show but... anyone see it? It's horribly, and I mean HORRIBLY as in a bad-way, fascinating.)

Ron Paul. I am sad he won't be our Prez and will miss his campaign (this girl ROCKS!!!).

Teething. 12 teeth in Captain's little mouth now. T W E L V E ! He's not even 13 months old (will be on the 13th, though! YIKES!) These four molars have been tough but we're nearing the end. Two nights ago was restless. Last night was better but not perfectly sound. Tonight is lots of drool but a happy mood.

TGM - As mentioned in the Birthday Parties entry, we're in the early but serious stages of officially planning our next Family Disney World vacation (with Henry's family.) Even though I stuck my nose in the accomodations-planning portion for a short period of time, I have since given all authority of that responsibility to Pa Trippe. I know he will do a fantastic job in that department and I'd much rather focus on the itinerary portion of the trip. Too soon? NO WAY! Farnsworth and I do a bang-up job of this and with the wisdom of Tour Guide Mike, we are certainly expecting another smooth, relaxed, fully-packed, but well-rested vacation.

Sorry For All The Links & Stuff - A Little Update

I know I haven't written much personal stuff lately. I've had some things I could tell you about but then you'd think less of me so I've decided to just skip it.

Seriously, I've been pretty wrapped up in homeschooling (more tweaking needed and enacted today), lobbying, BoBB planning, house-selling, church-stuff-ing, etc. and just haven't done a good job blogging. Sorry.

I REALLY need to get an even better video of Captain walking because it is ADORABLE. He walks everywhere now and it's so darn cute!

Softball & baseball & T-ball sign-ups are this weekend! Here we go! Four playing this year!

Birthdays start next week on the 13th (Captain's) and run through June 22 (Rocky's.) Five kids' birthdays in 5 months. Good times! And, as the paragraph/sentence above states...right in the middle of ball season!

And did I mention lobbying? Yeah...AT LEAST once a month I will lobby at the State House for HB314 and SB240 (same bill presented in House & Senate.)

Thankfully, the children's musical ends this month, my creative movement group works through Easter, and the Adolescence class I'm going to teach only runs for 6 weeks. After those, please make me say 'no.'

I'm sad that I actually DID say 'no' to working at the kids' consignment sale this year. WAH! I will miss the perks that go along with that. I will be selling, though. Need the money for buying the next round of clothing for the kids!

Our house WILL SELL, ya know! The Redland Road Elementary School had its groundbreaking today. THAT is important!

God is working in my life.

OH! One of the coolest things we're doing right now is reading the Bible in a year. We're using this system and have been perfectly consistent so far (and praying to be able to continue, in Jesus' name!) We read one section silently while all sitting together (Psalms so far,) then turn to the OT "history" where Henry & I read (Genesis and starting Exodus this weekend) and finish with New Testament (Luke & Hebrews so far) where the kids each read portions. Of course, we've not completed any of those books so far but the schedule has taken us through large chunks of them. It's REALLY cool. I'm excited to know the kids will have already read the ENTIRE Bible at such young ages, by the end of this year! Isn't that awesome?

Jeremiah 17:7-8 NLT
7 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.

Ball Season Montage

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dinner At Home??

That's right! We had dinner...together as a family...at home...and it was COOKED HERE! OH....AND we ate it at the dinner table! What a concept!

It felt so good! We did some fun summer activity thingies early today and then we CAME HOME! I wonder if Captain was confused about why we didn't head to the ballfields. He's spent more evenings of his life AT the ballfield than he's spent at home! I believe that is probably a true statement and not an exaggeration considering that his birth occurred right at the very start of ball season and once practices got into full swing, we spent 5 out of 7 nights at a practice or a game. And this year, we didn't have the blessings of past years by having an occasional rain-out. Nope, every week was filled with softball and tee-ball. And the two nights we were NOT at the field, we were at church. So it honestly is a nice change of pace to be at home.

The dark part surrounded by the silver lining is that Indie's team did NOT win the District tourney. We were very disappointed by this fact but knew that it would be OK. Indie did a bang-up job playing ball this year and will be a great player again next year when she moves up to the "big girl" league.

I will soon have a ball-season montage posted here but it's not ready yet. Stay tuned :)

Let's see if I can bring y'all up to date on what's been going on. Captain is rolling and pushing himself off of every blanket we set him on. Today we experimented with sitting him up and letting go and he actually DID sit for a couple of seconds before leaning over. It was so cute! His head is still super-bald but has a light fuzz on it so he's trying to grow some hair.

He-Man is cracking us up with his grown-up antics. For example, last night he told everyone, "Let's GO people!" And he amazed us when he brought us some flash cards of "sight words." I bought these cards at the same time we bought the state cards but they never really kept his attention so I put them up. Yesterday he found them and would you believe he knew 3/4 of the words??! I KNEW he was getting close to reading but my goodness!! He's such a smartie! :)

Rocky turned 7 last week. I know, I know! I'm a TERRIBLE Mom! I didn't post a big sweet post to him to honor the special day. Agh. Poor guy has been getting the short end of the stick for the last couple of years when it comes to his birthday. It has landed during All-Stars two years in a row! We did have a teeny little party for him with a couple of friends and family so that was nice and he got a chance to spend the night with Leland and Feff and go to the Water Park. (THANKS UMA & ARTHUR!)

And speaking of that trip to Uma's house, let me tell you about this new addiction the kids have. WEBKINZ! It is truly an obsession and Leland & Feff gave one to Rocky for his birthday. Now all the kids want to do is play with each other ONLINE with this silly game. It's marketing GENIUS! Why didn't I think of it??

OK - I have to stop posting now cuz Henry is ready to watch the season finale of Scrubs online. We totally missed it (AND the season finale of Prison Break!) because of this silly ball stuff. I don't really like watching stuff online but I've been telling him we could so....

Y'all don't forget to pray for rain!

For Those Who Didn't Google Their Way Onto This Blog

Allright, I'll quit talking about Mannatech and homebirth movies and all that kind of stuff for a little while since my "regulars" are usually just here to check out stories and pictures of family things. So here we go, back to the basics!

First let me just say that IT IS HOT! But I'm not going to complain because I quite often say that I'd much rather have hot weather than cold so I'm just trying to appreciate the fact that we're not bundling up under blankets at the ballfield!

Yesterday's ballfield experience was quite the challenge. We had 4 games (limited to 30 minutes each thankfully) for Indie and 1 game for Rocky. The first was at 9:00 and the last was at 2:30. With the heat and the back-and-forth between fields, and the trying to keep Captain shaded in the stroller while he just wanted to be held...well, it was a day that we survived.

The girls' All-Star team looks REALLY good so I'm excited about how well they might do in the real tournament.

The thing I do NOT enjoy about all this time at the ballfield is the total ruin of our try-to-be-healthy diet. Ugh. I MISS COOKING!

And let me just give a shout out to the two greatest troopers during this ball-season stuff. These two boys just hang in there with us while their big brother and sisters play their games and go to practices. These pictures are taken in the van where we tried to catch a slight break.

Gotta Talk About Ball Season, Too

We're almost done with ball seaon, kinda. Ray's league finished with its regular season this past Saturday. I am thrilled to say that she won her team's Sportsmanship Award! It really is so cool because I KNOW she is one of the best encouragers on that field. As catcher, she took lots of opportunities to walk out to a struggling pitcher and give them sweet nudges and I believe she played an important role in her team coming back from a sad-looking start to the year and ending up in the PLAYOFFS! They won 6 straight games in a row! I'm very proud.

Rocky will be completing his season this week. He has a potential for playing 4 games this week! Isn't that crazy? I don't know who scheduled these things but couldn't they have known we would be tired of t-ball by now? Thankfully, it's been lots of fun but we're ready for it to be over. And this week it is going to be HOT! And it's pretty unlikely we'll be rained out. Darn drought!

Indie made All-Stars again this year so her season won't be over for several more weeks. If her team wins, they'll go even longer. She's really a heckuva ball player and can smash the ball like nobody's business. It's pretty cool!

I can't believe we'll have four kids playing next year! YOWSERS!

I Have Not Disappeared

As you might remember from last year, Ball Season is one heckuva a time for us. We love it but it wipes us out. We have at least 2 if not 3 games or practices on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and Ray has practice on Fridays. Wednesdays and Saturdays are church, of course, so we are running to do stuff 7 days a week. So maybe you can understand why my blog posts have been rare lately.

I must say that all the running around between ballfields has lots easier this year, though since we're not hustling back and forth to school, too. Homeschooling has been wonderful in so many ways but the lack of driving and rushing to take and pick-up kids from school has probably been the best perk. I know, I know...I should probably be most happy about those "a-ha" moments and the bonding we have experienced as a family BUT if I spoke honestly, I would have to say that the best thing about homeschooling this year has been the fact that we've been able to stay home more! And I'm not the only one who feels this has been a big benefit. The kids love it just as much as I do and we are very grateful for the opportunity we have had to do so.

We're down to the last few weeks of school and it's exciting! We originally thought we could finish with our SATs being the last thing (May 8 & 9), but I don't think we'll be completely done before we take our tests. We'll probably have a week's worth of work after the standardized tests, but we are REALLY close to being done.

I haven't taken any pictures of the kids playing ball yet, but will do that soon. In the meantime, I do have this really awesome picture snapped by my friend Christy who came into town a couple of weeks ago. She's starting a photography biz and is trying to build her portfolio. When she came through town for her brother's wedding, she kindly included us in her stops. She's always impressed me to bits with the photos she has taken of her family and surroundings and I just feel so blessed she snapped some pictures of us! She's only shown me this one that she took but will be sharing more with me soon. I will be showing my faves to y'all, of course!

Last Day

Hopefully this is the last day for a few things...

It's definitely the last day of softball until next season! YAY! We were at the ballfield all morning for 2 ball games and now we're waiting for Ray and Henry to come back from R's closing ceremony so that we can go to the Team Parties (for both girls).

I'm also hoping this is the last day Jen is pregnant with Luke. Hopefully she'll go into labor this afternoon or evening.

I'm hoping this is the last day the kids have of not meeting Feff. As soon as Jen's baby is born, we're heading over to see him. The kids are SO READY! I'm ready to hold him again, too!

This is the last day Henry and I have been married exactly 11 years! (Lame way to incorporate the title into saying that today is our 11th anniversary!) After today, we'll be married OVER 11 years. In 35 minutes, we will be exactly 11 years after our wedding ceremony began (2 PM).

Gotta run out the door. Henry's home and we're off to the swimming party! Whoo hoo :)