1st Day of school 2014

I am going to start blogging again.....I will....I can....I want to!!! Even if I have to put it on my calendar or make it my homework this will happen again :-)

We started school this week.....ok I cannot lie....we are slowly sliding back into routine and getting used to a schedule.  Praying that our new schedule will help the kids get through school faster and have more fun with it.  We are adding more subjects, throwing in computer and iPad time in there along with different stations every 30 minutes. 

Here are the traditional pictures we take at the beginning of the year.  It makes me giggle to hear what they want to be from year to year.  To be honest I was a little sad that both Abby and Dylan were realistic this time around. 

Praying for a successful and fun year!

Spring Baseball 2014

Bats, balls, gloves, and lots of dirt but it was a great season for both boys! Daddy was part of the coaching team (along with president of the ball park), mommy was their biggest fan, and well Abby and Blake were the king and queen of snacks. 

For the first time I can say that I enjoyed all the games for many reasons.  Most importantly both boys played like true Little Leaguers.  For me I have to have my eyes in many different places...an eye on the field watching, an eye on Abby and Blake as they played, times where my eyes were on Abby as she played with friends, Colby or Dylan as they played with their friends and finding Blake as he captured frogs as close to the parking lot as he could get. 

I am so very proud of Colby who has grown to love the game.  He wanted to practice, he wanted to learn the plays, he wanted to hit the ball as hard as he could, he focused on what the coaches told him to do, and became intense about the game.  It was so cool to see his expressions when the team made the plays to get the outs or his teammates made homeruns or RBI's to rack up the points.  The best part was he never had a bad attitude when they lost.  He realized that meant it was time to practice more (or sometimes get more sleep).  When they won he was super excited but never did he show off or brag about it.  For as long as he plays any sport I want him to enjoy playing, I want him to play with the talents God gave him and shine through all losses and all the wins. 

 

 

The Red Sox ended the season in 1st place! After a double header the night before and returning to play the next morning these kids played hard.

Dylan came out like an intense wild man! Would have never guessed he would have the fire he had inside of him at this point.  As silly and fun loving as this kid is it just wasn't where I thought he would be at this point in his game playing.  Pitcher and 1st base were his two main positions with some time in the outfield too.  His swing is pretty powerful too! He may not make contact with the ball every time but he can swing that bat as he should.  This season has made Dylan more excited about sports all around.  He now wants to play golf and mentioned hockey too......too bad that one may be just be too hard to give a try living in FL.  Along with having more of an interest in different sports now my DVR is filled with sporting events that Dylan tapes so he can watch. 

The Reds ended in 2nd place but they played hard all the way to the end.  His coaches pushed them to their best and helped each player to improve in each game.  It was a fun season!

Camp Ry Ry

Today we had Ryleigh over to play while her mommy was volunteering at VBS.  Abby and Ry haven't played in a long time so these 2 were as happy as clams at high tide :-).  She was dropped off at 7:45 am and thrown right into the mix of our mourning chaos.  Everyone in the car...quick, quick, quick....Blake has swim lessons.  Drinking chocolate milk and watching Max and Ruby in the van while Blake is perfecting his swim, float, swim. 

Then back home for a tea party.  It wasn't long before the 3 boys had to get into the middle of the two princesses drinking their "tea".  Thankfully Dylan thought it would be a great idea that the boys should serve the girls.  Such a sweet lad he is. 

Next its was time to paint ourselves.  I traced each kid and then they had o draw their face, hair, clothes, shoes, etc.... From the pictures it is clear who really used their creativity and who got bored quickly. Blake just made a mess but he had fun.  Thank goodness we were doing this outside in the garage because the hose was at arms reach.  Of course staying on the paper wasn't so easy for some of them which means the garage floor needs a good scrub. 

 

 

 

The Final Projects

 

 Dylan's

 

Colby's

 

Abby's

Ryleigh's

 

Can you guess whose this is????

We ended our day with lunch at Chick fil a and a target run.  Yes I took 5 kids into target and there was a few people (2 which were men) who just giggled as they saw me pushing three in the buggy and two walking next to me.  I wont lie and say I wasn't laughing at myself too. 

See you again tomorrow Ry Ry!!!!

I'm Back!

Yes I know it is already the middle of July and I haven't posted all year and dropped off at the end of last year but I am back! Those of you who follow me please be warned that you will be bombarded with many post as I play catch up.  The plan is to do a summary of each month but there are some things I have to post outside of the monthly summary. 

From a trip to Chicago at Christmas, then 2 weeks later to VA (mind you both of those trips were road trips with every kid in tow), Grandmommy becoming more sick, Disney, Grandmommy getting worse and then off to hospice and finally to her Lord and Savior, Scott's 40th birthday, oh a new boat!!!, baseball, back to Disney with Ry and Abby, Colby's birthday, baseball, TPC and Mothers Day, baseball, the English people came to visit, an adult only trip to the Ritz in Sarasota, baseball, MY B-DAY, more baseball, and a fun filled weekend for the 4th of July!!!  One last thing...in the middle of all that we bought a house and are trying to sell our house!!! Blogging should have been more of a priority because I love to document our memories and our love. 

So here it goes...........

Zoo Day

While everyone else was going back to their first day of school we decided to take our school to the zoo! Its been a very long time since we have made a trip to the zoo so the kids were overly excited.  To make the day even more fun Nikki, Liam, and Declan joined us.  The monkeys were chatting as loud as they could, the lions were roaring ferociously , the jaguar was out and the boa moving more than I wanted to see.  I must get the zoo in more before it gets too hot.

Love this picture...Abby is being so silly

Abby told me she needed to pet the Lizard (its actually a Komodo Dragon)

Checking out the apes

They are so cute!!!!

Dylan and his buddy

Peeping out of the cave

Monkey's see monkeys' do

As we are taking pictures Mr Curious is all over the place and get stuck on the rope.  Sorry but it was pretty funny seeing him hanging there!