Little League time

Yes, we have officially entered into Little League 2011. To be honest, all I've ever heard of Little League is the fanatical parents, the high expectations and the many hours involved. Well, the many hours thing - true. The high expectations - sorta true. The fanatical parents - not true with our team. I received a phone call before LL season from one of the main guys telling me that they were not going to have Single A LL this year. I could choose to send Ethan up to AA or down to TBall. Is there a choice? I mean I just couldn't imagine Ethan running around with kids his brother's age. Not to mention he can already throw and bat and really needs to get to know the game itself. So, I opted for kid-pitch AA. I told the coach when he called - I just don't want parents yelling at him if he doesn't get it quickly and he will need to be taught the basics of the game. Little did I know that the kids who were already in AA were about at his skill level (well, most of them). On to practice 3 times a week and the beginning of 2 games a week - while dragging along my 4 year old (who, by the way, loves picking up sticks and fighting with them...surprise?)

I guess when I told Ethan to pose in his uniform, a smile was out of the question. He has to be a cool baseball player now.

Yes, he looks so thrilled, huh? This was the day of the team pictures and he couldn't have been more excited...said with complete sarcasm.

The team with Coach Leatherman. Aren't they little and cute? Ethan is one of two 6 year olds on the team and he's holding his own. The coach even said he would have bumped him up to AA if he'd been in A. What a compliment! All those hours of me playing catch are paying off! I mean, not paying off necessarily, but helping him succeed. ha ha

Opening ceremonies and ALL the kids wanted to carry the banner. Note how everyone is crowded in the front. Several of the teams went face first in the dirt as they all wanted to hold a piece of their banners. Our team took a slight tumble, but it just gave the uniforms the 'played in' look.

OK - so this isn't the most flattering picture of me. Biting my lip, Bryan? Of all the times....but he took this of me SO enjoying my scorekeeping job. He was in the dugout with the boys during the first game of the season (the first game Ethan has EVER played) trying to get the guys all lined up and ready to go in their batting order. I happened to sit next to someone who has done this for 14 years and was the 'pro.' In a way I was glad she was there because I messed up several times and couldn't remember WHAT just happened in some of the plays. She kept me watching.... I'm trying to have a good attitude about the volunteer positions. It seems like 2 people are doing field maintenance, scorekeeping, snack bar, pitch count and coordinator. Where are the days that it was mandatory? Anyways.....no more complaining. The scorekeeping actually kept me watching the plays - even though I wanted to break down and cry in the FIRST inning when the other team added a player. I got so lost my pencil couldn't erase fast enough. I thought scorekeeping was keeping score.....guess not.

Ethan playing third base. The coach rotated them throughout the game so they could get used to different positions. We had a hard time with getting the ball to first base and having it caught there. Many things to learn, but our guys only lost 14/16 - I know amazing score. There was a mercy rule where you could ONLY score 5 runs in an inning. LOL Once it's not coach pitch (the first 4 games) I have a feeling the innings will go a lot quicker. Good job Thunder!!

A Slight Remodel

My house has been my house for many years. When we moved in, the amount of work involved in painting it inside was enough to make us never want to do a home improvement again. BUT, we've managed to do closet organizers, new countertops, new carpet, new doors, and new tile throughout the 10 years we've lived here. Not bad! So for a few years we've contemplated making our formal living room a little more 'formal.' We just hadn't decided the color yet. We knew what we wanted to do, but never committed to doing it. Fast forward to the last 3 weeks. One Saturday we decided to start this project that we've always thought about doing. We bought and painted the moldings, and Bryan proceeded to spend a LOT of time measuring and cutting the moldings and painting the walls. Yes, I did help! He enjoys these sorts of projects, so I don't help a ton, but always at the end he says, "I'm never doing THAT again." That came after the tile, the crown molding, the painting and hanging our doors. Just wait until we move.....someday. We'll see. hee hee

 So here's the before. Cream walls, green wall by our large window to the backyard.

 AND here's the after with my NEW carpet and NEW wall accents. He did an amazing job.

 A shot from the front door area looking into the living room.

....and looking back at the front door. The bathroom to the left will be next...as soon as he decides he wants to tackle it. It feels so much more formal and different from our family room.

Celebration and Survival

What do you get when your sister and her hubby go to Texas, your mom gets sick (who was supposed to watch their kids), and your kids are begging to see their cousins? You get a total of 5 children in 1475 square feet of living space. And we loved it! Due to my mom's illness, I offered to take Riva's kids for a day and night so my mom could recover. After Riva rescheduled Tyler's preschool (so I wouldn't have to drive 45 minutes x 4) they were delivered to our doorstep late on Valentine's day!! What a nice Valentine gift! The kids actually managed to sleep through the night (shocker!!) even though I was told the next day that Lynnea talked the whole night (by her sister no less) AND Ethan (who said it was annoying). Spoken like a kid who has his own room...go figure. :) We had a blast and went through food like it was going out of style.

 Austin was enamored with whatever Lynnea was doing since she was the 'baby.' In other words, she's the only one younger than he is. This picture came after I actually styled her hair. Yes, the infantissimal hair rubber band is ACTUALLY holding her hair back (for the time being). Then we had to pick a clip. This was too fun, except I marveled at how you can actually stretch those baby rubber bands and they don't break. Who knew?

 Mikayla and Ethan hit it off. Mikayla liked feeling Ethan's hair so they sat watching a movie with her stroking his head. Ahh..cousins.

 And then....here it comes.....I got a picture of ALL of them not moving!!!!! That is hard, let me tell you. In fact I got 2, but in the second one Austin is starting to book it off the bench. Cuties.

 And this is typical of the boys when they get together. We went to the park before Ethan had to head to Kindergarten. They ran till they all of a sudden got thirsty and had to go potty. We had to head back home for that.

 Ahhh...my sweet birthday cake. After eating Kix and half a banana for my birthday dinner (I had choir that night at church), the boys and daddy surprised me with a Dairy Queen birthday cake. It was yummy and the boys were so excited to show it to me. AND it was purple, which the boys know is one of my favorite colors.

We got the privilege of having Uncle Dannie drop by the day after my birthday so Bryan took us all out for steaks. What a treat! We love seeing him and the boys adore him! Nothing like good steaks, salmon, sweet potatoes and a bloomin' onion for a birthday dinner - and I didn't have to do the dishes afterwards! The splurge was worth it.

Keep on Runnin'!

February 6, 2011: 7:45am - my 2nd half marathon at Surf City, USA. I carpooled into Huntington with a friend of mine from church and we got there at 5:30am - yes, that means we left our houses around 4:45am.  In the dark. Before most people are stirring in their beds. I was excited, nervous and I was anticipating this event because I knew it could be my last considering all the various illnesses/pains I've been having these last few months. When the gun sounded, Riva and I still had about 1/2 hour to wait before starting ourselves. They start everyone in waves and we didn't think we'd finish before 2 hrs 45 mins. We surprised ourselves. Staying about 100 yards behind Mina (another friend of ours who ran) we trekked together for 13.1 miles, dodging all the walkers/slow runners....and finished in 2:07. Shocked? I was. Especially considering for the last 6 miles I felt a tendon in my left leg stretching a little abnormally and for the last 3 miles my left foot was spasming at various intervals.

Despite the cramping and being on my 4th antibiotic for sinus/ear pain that won't go away, I managed to stay next to Riva and finish with her, arms raised in triumph! There's nothing like crossing that finish line after spending months training and a couple weeks debating on whether I should even force my body to do it. We did it - and we did it together!

 

 Proud of our medals...this is after walking for about a 1/4 mile AFTER the race so our muscles wouldn't get rigermortis (sp?) on us. I could definitely feel them tightening...

And on a side note, here is my painting so far. I've managed to get the background and boat cover started. I'm freehanding the background, so I'm a little nervous to continue, but I'll get there. It's been this way for about 2 weeks now.  Too much sickness around here to do much including me having a flu right after the 1/2 marathon, Ethan getting a sinus infection and possible ear infection, and Austin getting over some strange fever. I'll get on this again soon so I can update it.

Coming soon: Pictures from our newest project in the living room/downstairs bathroom!!

The Old Becomes New

We moved into our house without changing the carpet. We knew it was dirty, flat, and beige (easily stainable) and put in when the house was built in 1996, but we didn't have the funds at the time to completely redo it. Sooo....our kids are older now, we've got some money saved up and we were sick of getting skewered by tack strips on the edges of the carpet. The boys would get puncture wounds and slices from landing in the wrong places in our family room. We chose Stainmaster "chase" to be our new color. It is a mix of beige, dark brown, light brown and little flecks of green. Bryan wanted darker, I wanted a little lighter, but we compromised on this and I love it!

 Bud and Bryan resting after moving almost all the furniture. When the installers came, the guys had run an errand and we hadn't moved any upstairs furniture yet (since we didn't know where they'd start) and they were not happy about that. I think they thought that I was the only one who was moving it. We ended up moving it all quickly once we figured out they wanted to start on Ethan's room and the hallway. It's hard when the entire upstairs is carpeted. We had to play musical furniture the whole day. I'm so thankful for Bud who came over to help! It took from 9:30am - 6pm to lay all the carpet and they did a great job!

 The boys LOVED the open space and thought it was pretty cool to run and roll around where there used to be furniture.

 Here is my new carpet!! It feels so homey and cozy and we love it. You can pretty much lose any toy that is small in this carpet because it blends in so well. It will be good for the spills/stains that will eventually come. I know in the future I'll be vacuuming up small items that the eye missed.

AND of course the wrestling on the new carpet. They had to 'break it in' by wrestling on the new cushioned floor. It's not like they need an excuse to wrestle, since they do it all the time. Now my house smells new and my toes are happy!

Musings...

I'm lately being reminded that I'm not in control. It's interesting that I can't just learn that and move on. No, it seems that I have to CONSTANTLY be taken to the end of myself. To where the only thing I can do is look beyond what I see and trust that He knows what is in store for me.

All that to say that after struggling with a plugged ear/sinus infection/pressure for over a month, I'm struggling with a decision of where to go and what to do. Do I continue going to the doctor and getting more drugs? Do I go to another chiropractor (which is hard because I love the chiropractor that I do go to) who may be able to align my vertebrae in a different way (if that's what's causing it), do I see another Ear/Nose/Throat specialist and this time hope for some answers, do I ask for some test that will put more radiation in my body? The struggle for me comes in wondering if I'm doing enough. I give all my symptoms to my doctor, but she can only do so much. She's not feeling what I'm feeling and if I complain too much, I feel like a hypochondriac. It's like I just unleash all my symptoms hoping that something will trigger a "OH...that sounds like you have...." but it doesn't work like that unfortunately.

Enough negatives....there are so many people who are struggling out there with so many other difficult situations.  All I can do is continue to trust that the answer will come and if it doesn't, the symptoms will go away in time.

I will run the half marathon on February 6th next to my sister all the way.  After being on so many different antibiotics, nothing could still be living in there that is a hindrance....goodness! 10 days and however many hours it takes to complete that thing....here we go!

Striiiiiike!!...well, not quite.

I found this great offer from our local bowling alley for 4 weeks. Kids get 4 Saturday classes for 1/2 hour each for $20. That includes the shoe rental and a couple tokens for after the game. It's been fun for Ethan to participate in something different. Austin gets a couple tokens, but he said he didn't want to bowl, so he sits with us and watches. Ethan's got the whole follow-thru down, but the aim isn't there yet. He has a lot of fun and is the only one in his class who actually throws the ball one-handed. The other kids sort of 'drop' throw the ball sideways. It's cute to watch all of them. One thing about teenage helpers, though, is they think kids are incapable of certain things. The guy that is Ethan's helper carries his ball to the starting line every time. The other coach lets the kids carry it - even the 3 year olds! I hold my tongue, but sometimes I tell Ethan "just pick up the ball, babe!"

 Austin enjoying a couple minutes of lap time with Daddy.

 Preparing to get some pins.

 Waiting his turn and ready to go!

 So once every blue moon or so, Bryan and I decide that our grout just isn't up to par. I mean we used a dirt-colored grout, but it never fails to get even dirtier looking. So, we pulled out the stiff toothbrush and grout brush with our grout cleaner and proceeded to scrub the floors. It feels better already - even if I let Bryan finish the job past the living room. I had lunches to prepare!! Even after sealing it with 'liquid gold' the stuff still doesn't stay clean.

My next painting attempt. This is a picture of the boys last year on one of our camping trips. They were goofing around on the back of the boat and I got this cute shot. I have never attempted to paint human faces and am a little intimidated, but I started with my base yesterday. Red was the only color that seemed to make sense, but the stuff was drying far too quickly. I think I may just have to build color and take out color as need be. I will post my progress as it comes- it's taken me several weeks to even get paint on this canvas so this is a good start. They look sort of ghoulish!!

Reptiles R Us

First off, I'd like to say that I never thought of myself as a 'reptile person.' I mean yes, my sister and I used to hunt down Gardner Snakes in Washington and mercilessly play with them like dolls. The stench would last for days on our hands, but who else had the opportunity to pretend that snakes were toys? There was no fear - it was Western Washington and nothing could hurt you over there.

Fast forward to California many years later. It seems that everything can hurt you here. From spiders to snakes, what house DOESN'T have the brown or black widow lurking by a trash can outside or the rattler in an uninhabited field? My fear was born.

When Bryan and I got married, I had a bird. I loved her, but she had a little 'tude and tended to fling poops on the wall. Not to mention as I exited our apartment to do laundry all the way down the hall, I could STILL hear her sassing about something that was bugging her. So, when she died, we decided that since we were allergic to just about anything with hair, we'd get a gecko. An eye-lidded Leopard Gecko (Leo) - cute as a button. She was about 2-3 inches long and adorable! Several years later, Stubbs joined Leo in the terrarium thanks to some friends of ours who could no longer have her and knew we'd be good parents. Soo....I really have no fear of reptiles (at least the 4 legged variety).

This weekend we had the awesome opportunity to go to Ethan's friend's birthday party where he had a reptile party. What a blast! A lot of the kids were sketchy about some of the various reptiles there, but Ethan went right up and held pretty much everything. It's like being at home, right? Once Austin was out of the spotlight, he too held all the frogs and turtles he could find. It was an amazing experience and the guys did a great job teaching the kids about the various varieties of reptiles - including an alligator and a boa!!

 This guy was so sticky you had to hold him with a wet napkin. His name was Michael Jordan because he was a BULLfrog. The guy told the kids to hold him like a cheeseburger. I was cracking up.

 He was the finale. Quite strong and of course I was given the head. NOT my favorite part of the snake. Notice Austin not holding it, but investigating it.

 A tad close for comfort? He was pretty brave with all the reptiles.

 They provided toothbrushes to scrub the tortoise. He didn't seem to mind at all.

 If I could, this would be my next pet. A sticky toed tree frog. ADORABLE. He just got cozy in my hands.

 The 2 foot baby alligator who actually put up with all of us holding her. She was scoping us all out, don't get me wrong. In fact I was one of the last ones to hold her and her little cat-eye was staring at me quite hard.

 Ethan holding the alligator.

Ethan getting kisses from the scaly lizard. It had this really thick blue tongue.

I guess with boys and animal allergies I'll probably always have reptiles for pets. Either that or fish. We have both at the moment. What a fun time we had. I went home and gave my little geckos each a hug.

Movie Night

We started this new 'tradition' on Friday nights that we're calling Movie Night, for now. We let the boys pick a movie that they want to see, then either make cookies or popcorn and snack while watching it in our bed or the sofa bed downstairs. Now today they have already seen almost 2 movies in the car (since I had to commute to my chiropractor appt) and I'm thinking....another movie tonight?
It's all about family time, right? And eating fun things? And sharing time together? Maybe we'll do game night or just call it 'Family Night.' Why do I feel guilty? It's not like we didn't walk around with my sister and her kids at the mall. I mean they were literally throwing their bodies around on the outside play area at McDonalds. They've gotten some exercise.
We'll see, but tonight we'll do something as a family.... It's amazing how quickly time flies and my babies are no longer my babies. When I lift up Austin now I almost put my neck out (could explain my chiro appts) and Ethan practically hangs to the ground when I pick him up.  And now we're going to sign up Ethan for Little League and he's finishing Kindergarten this year.
Even if 'Family Night' doesn't last and life changes to put a wrench in it, at least I know that we will always have each other and hopefully they'll want to spend time with their parents even when they get 'too cool' to show it in public. That's what 'Family Night' is all about, right?

Running Out of Time

I woke up this morning at 5:15 and proceeded to go to the gym and run 6 miles on a treadmill. It's not the most exciting thing to do, but it's my way of preparing myself for the half marathon that is looming towards me in February. Riva and I are doing this together, and thank goodness because it's going to take me a whole lot longer than the last time I did it back in 2008. I ran that thing in 1hr, 51min. Times have changed, I have one less organ in my body (after my gall bladder surgery), I'm not in as good of shape and I haven't run 1 weekend since starting my training. But I can do this - in between getting adjusted at the chiropractor and going through other physical joys that don't seem to go away....is this age catching up with me?  I mean at least I can say that I'm running my 2nd half before I turn 35 in February...just barely. Our goal is to do it in around 2hrs, 45 minutes.  More than likely we'll do it quicker than that because when you get that adrenaline rushing, you sort of go with the flow.
Running that first half 2 years ago gave me an amazing sense of accomplishment. Not really a runner, I hadn't picked it up since running junior high cross-country those many AGES ago. As I was training to get in shape/lose a little weight, I needed that goal to 'run' toward and the half was that motivation. I always thought that only the 'in shape' people did those sort of things. Boy was I wrong. As I lined up with 10,000 perfect strangers to begin our 13+ mile trek, I realized that so many people were just like me. They wanted to accomplish something and whether they had to walk it or jog, they were going to finish. There were big, little, tall, short, handicapped, teenagers, old folks, everybody!!
Starting the race, my Ipod began to play "Bad Day" and I just about cried. All that training and here I was doing it. God gave me that ability to run on my own 2 feet and complete this race on my own. I didn't even go through my entire song list because I finished before I thought I would. Wow....and Riva, Cheryl, Mikayla, Bryan and the boys were there cheering me on. It was such a moving experience.

All that to say that as I look forward to my next one in approx 1 month, I'm getting excited not to beat a record or do the 'healthy' thing, but I'm excited to feel alive, put one foot in front of the other, and breathe in 13+ miles of sea air....hopefully without a hitch in my side. I'm excited to do this with my sister and best friend - who took the time to come out and cheer me on that first time. Now we're doing this together and we'll finish. Not with the best time probably, but HAVING the best time. And enjoying that we're able to do this and God has given us this opportunity.
Bring it on!!

Hello Again!

I know it's been a while - I'm determined to keep this blog up and hopefully I'll be able to keep it open to everyone from now on.
This Christmas was uneventful, but that's a good thing!  We were able to spend Christmas day with my parents before they whisked themselves off on a tour of other lands, and we always love spending time with cousins and my sister as well.
I really don't have much to write, but wanted to get this year started on a positive note. At this present moment I am taking a break from fully cleaning bathrooms, kids' rooms, and eventually organizing various parts of my house. Doesn't that sound wonderful?  Actually I do enjoy organizing, but the cleaning/dusting/scrubbing thing is not my favorite. Especially bathtubs. We started the new year with no satellite (not of our choosing) so we're forced to watch either movies or nothing at all. The boys really don't need it as they are always wrestling and fighting (it's something I've had to get used to over the years).
The week ahead brings a dentist appointment, a satellite repairman, a meeting at church, and perhaps a doctor's appointment (depending on whether my body decides to respond to my new medication for a supposed ear infection). Exciting, no?
Here are some pictures of the last few weeks and Christmas. Enjoy!

 GG and Grandad came to visit for Grandad's birthday. They spent the night and we had so much fun!

 I made Chicken Fried Steak, and biscuits and homemade gravy for Bryan Christmas morning.



Our whole family on Christmas night.

Camping at San Simeon

You'll have to forgive me for not posting for a while. LOTS going on, including lots of stress but I'm beyond that now and trying to give every moment to the Lord to use for His glory!! After missing our opportunity to go back to the same spot we camped at last year, we opted to try a different site for our GG weekend. San Simeon. It was beautiful! The weather, believe it or not, was somewhere in the 60's and 50's at night. And it's August?? Well thankfully I'd checked it out beforehand, but I should have brought all long sleeves - except for a couple hours in the afternoon it was pretty chilly. All Bryan's cousins came with their kids (we decided to try it out this year) and we had an active, tiringly fun time.

While setting up camp, Austin found GG and managed to cling to her for the rest of the weekend. Everywhere she went, he was sure to follow!

I have never actually cut open a coconut (although I've seen it done on survivor) but Grandad brought a coconut to have an activity for the kids to watch and do. We all tasted it and it seriously tasted like almonds. No wonder it has the word "nut" in it! ha ha. The milk wasn't all that great, but if you're on Survivor, I'm sure it's heaven.

Of course there's Austin's silly face. This was a small handful of the children that we all brought with us. Chaos... and constant falling, crying, laughing, yelling and demanding of all the kiddos.

Uncle Jer and the boys roughing it up. The grass (or as we liked to call it, hay) was all over. If you fell down once you looked like a hay bale. The boys loved all their uncles to chase them and, of course, tackle them. They were playing keep away with Uncle Jer's hat.

All but 2 of the little ones putting their toes in the ULTRA freezing water. This water was so cold that in order to enjoy it, you had to wait till your toes were numb. Let's not even mention further on down the beach where walking on the moonstones practically made your feet feel like they were bleeding. Exfoliation! Right Michelle? ha ha. This picture was taken before a 'rogue wave' brought every child to his/her knees, fighting the current to get back to shore. It's funny now, but honestly I felt like I was at D-Day while the kids were crawling back to safety.

We had a total of 3 campsites, one across the street from the other 2. This tree was between the other 2 and provided much entertainment for all the kids. Stick swinging, tree swinging, and jumping on bouncy branches provided hours of fun. I think this is the one thing they will all look back on as a fond memory of this trip.

Our youngest member...looking adorable as ever.

GG and Grandad slept in their Explorer, which looked WAY comfier than our tent. In the morning, the kids decided to welcome GG to the new day by crowding her view of the campsite. GG of course was loving it and they were playing a game of "What Am I Thinking Of?" (or something involving guesses with colors and things to eat).

Then came a game of soccer. The guys keeping it away from the kids, the girls keeping it away from the boys, the kids collapsing in tears and exhaustion, the kids disappearing back to camp to eat, and the adults playing for 5 minutes before kid-watch resumed.

We celebrated Auntie Michelle's birthday on Friday night and Austin's birthday on Saturday. They both share the same birthday so we thought we'd celebrate while we're all together. Austin loved all his presents and wanted to hold them all that minute.

God gave GG grace to deal with 5 children playing Go Fish together. I have a hard enough time with 2 kids. She had so much patience while all of us were packing up to go home. That was a popular game this last weekend - so glad we brought it! It got the kids to sit down and be semi-still for a little while.

One final picture before we left of GG and Grandad and all their great-grandkids. Too cute!

After the picture, the kids decided it was 'wrestle with Grandad' time. He can hold his own, I tell ya! That many kids would have had me practically on the ground. All in all, it was a wonderful time and we enjoyed pretty much every minute of it (except for the nightly "potty" times that Austin needed to have at 2am).