Opening Day of Baseball

What an exciting day it was! It started around 7:30 with pictures and opening ceremonies for G Man and ended when RJ's game was over around 1:00. A great time was had by all. Grandma and Grandpa W came from Flagstaff and Mr. J a close family friend was there for all of the festivities as well.

G Man's game was exciting immediately as he was the lead off batter and on the second pitch he hit a home run. We are trying to keep his ego in check by telling him that it should have really been a double - but it did go to the fence he will let you know. G Man pitched well and without pain which was a relief since he hasn't pitched for about a year because of a couple of broken bones last year. After the game the coach awarded the game ball to G Man for setting the tone of the game with his lead off home run. The Mets (us) won 11-2.

RJ's game was fun! Fun is a nice word to use in connection to baseball anymore. When they get to G Man's level it is more intense than fun - so fun was very nice. You gotta love T-ball with rules like - no outs, everyone bats and everyone plays. RJ was the last batter in the first inning so that meant he was the home run hitter. He was excited to have a home run just like G Man. It was T-ball so everyone won the game! The kids were most excited to get snacks and RJ is already talking about his trophy.

As a fun side note to RJ's T-ball team - turns out a childhood friend of mine from Flag lives in the neighborhood next to mine and her daughter is on our T-ball team! We went to school together from Kindergarten all the way to graduation and haven't seen each other since. It really is a small world sometimes.

Here is a slide show from opening day. Love this service (Slide) since sometimes you want to post more than one picture from an event but you don't want your blog post to be a mile long!

T-Ball Dress Rehersal

RJ is starting his first season of T-Ball. They passed out uniforms at the last practice so of course we had to try it on. On the way home from practice RJ explained to us that he wanted to be #3 but someone "stole" it. When we asked him why he wanted to be that number he told us that Babe Ruth is #3 and he wants to "be like that guy". Never underestimate the power of animated movies like Everybody's Hero where your child can learn about Babe Ruth. At least they only show the G rated parts of The Babe's life! RJ never ceases to amaze us with his retention ability. Not much gets past him mentally - the baseball field is another story. So far every ball that rolls his direction goes right between his legs! We are grateful that he doesn't cry every play that he doesn't get to touch the ball like D used to when he was 5. When D played T-Ball we actually pretended not to know who's kid he was because he would throw himself down and cry after every play when he didn't get the ball. Sorry to rat you out D but that is the purpose of blogging - memories!

Tea At The White House

This year on Feburary 20th, G and I were invited to Tea at the White House! We were treated to a performance by the 5th graders at G Man's school. They were dressed like past Presidents and First Ladies. We all said the Pledge of Allegiance and the kids sang patriotic songs paying tribute to God, The United States and the all of the Military branches. It was refreshing to hear the kids singing about God and our country and the ACLU didn't even show up! Our G Man was quite a cute Thomas Jefferson.

Lordy, Lordy the Princess is 40!

So the sign welcoming me to my surprise 40th birthday party announced! I kinda knew something was up but had no idea of the scope of my friends imaginations. The invitations were rolled scrolls sent in tubes to all invitees and the theme was Renaissance and all were to come in costume. Most everyone at the party came in some sort of costume and if you didn't come in one, my friends provided you with a tiara at the door. Since I knew something was up, I shopped the week before and got some awesome new jeans and a new top and sweater from my favorite White House Black Market. I got to wear my sweet new outfit for all of 1 minute at the party and then my friends promptly dressed me in MY costume for the party! It was a lovely purple crushed velvet dress with silver lame sleeves. I was greeted at the door by a couple of presents - my cousin (and the closest thing I had to a sister when I was younger) from L.A. and a good friend from Montana had come just for the party. My amazement continued as I wandered through the house to find almost all of my friends and loved ones were there. The party was complete with a caterer, a bartender, a princess cake, a chocolate fountain (you haven't lived until you have eaten a chocolate dipped twinkie!) and what seemed like hundreds of candles and jewels covering every surface of my friend's house. It was the best party I have ever been to! You know it must be a good party when a couple of people decide to jump into the unheated pool in mid February. I can't imagine how they would ever be able to top this one. Here I am with the princess cake..

I have to say Thank You to my friends and my hubby for the best 40th birthday party ever!

I CAN be a Digital Scrapbooker!

I have not been so excited about digital scrapbooking since scrapbooking for me is about the process and being social in the process! I was tempted by an advertisement in a magazine to try a website called Scrapblog. Here is the fruits of my labor - a Valentine's book that I made for G. I didn't care for the coloring in my scanned older photos in the printed version of the book but they look great online. So here it is...let me know what you think.

I am pretty sure that this process will not replace my hands on scrapbooking but it will be fun once in a while for a quick project.

Just Like Riding A Bike!

Where to start after all this time! We are feeling a bit more back to "normal" since our worst ever December. G Man is playing basketball on a team with some buddies and having a great time. They had their closest game since the beginning of the season last Saturday with a final score of 52-24! Their team name is the Crushers and so far that is proving to be true. These boys are not afraid to shoot the ball. Here is a couple of pics from their first game. G Man is #33 and in the first picture he is the one taking the ball in.

The biggest news in our house since the first of the year is that RJ has learned to ride his bike on two tires as he would put it. He just decided one day that he wanted to have the training wheels off and he pretty much has been on two wheels since then. Here is a little video of his first ride!

The biggest news for D is in the second semester he has continued on with his straight A's (even in the weighted classes) so he still has his 4.60 GPA! Great job bud!!! Sorry no pics of D at high school working hard - he has strictly forbidden me from causing any embarrassing moments for him at school.

This Blog Has Been Temporarily Interrupted By...LIFE

The best thing I have to say about this holiday season is that we survived...barely!

In early December I visited several doctors about a visual loss that I have suffered in my left eye. After 11 vials worth of blood tests, an MRI, a Carotid duplex scan, a couple of EEGs, and an Echo cardiogram with bubble test - it was determined that I have a possible vitamin B12 deficiency!!! There was nothing in my brain as my kids were saying so it was good to hear that it was not life threatening. So now all we have to do is give me my B12 shots, try to figure out why my body does not absorb B12 and pray my eyesight returns to normal. The doctors have differing opinions about weather or not my vision will return so I am just going to pray.

I received the results of all my tests on Christmas Eve which was also the day we found out that my Father in Law was in the hospital with some heart problems - his defibrillator had zapped him in the middle of the night. The news was that he would be home in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, they did not send him home for Christmas so my MIL and FIL spent their first Christmas morning in 53 years apart. My FIL remained in the hospital after Christmas so G and I got in the car and headed to Tucson to spend the day with him. They were keeping him in the ICU which concerned us and there seemed to be very little communication with doctors and that proved to be frustrating. We enjoyed our visit and headed home Friday night. Saturday we were told by the family that he was doing even better than Friday. By Sunday after church our phone was ringing telling us that he would not live through the day. We packed up the kids and some clothes and headed out. We left the kids with some cousins and grandparents and drove the longest drive ever across Tucson to the hospital. We went into the ICU and were surprised to find my FIL talking to us and making jokes about how he was going to charge admission to all the people parading through his room! Based on his extremely low blood pressure and lack of appetite we started preparing ourselves for the probability that he was not going to make it home. The days that followed are a blur of long days and nights at the hospital, visits to hospice facilities, a trip back home for more medical tests for me and to get more clothes - and lots of tears.

My FIL, Morgan, passed away on New Year's Eve morning around 5:45. He had had G's sister call G at about 5:00 that morning so that he could tell him how much he loved him and how proud he was of him. He even sounded pretty good on the phone so the call 45 minutes later to tell us he had passed away was a bit of a surprise. The human will is an amazing thing. I don't think I can make it through a post yet about what a wonderful man he was so that will follow soon.

Morgan - you will be missed and never forgotten by the family that you devoted yourself to. We love you...

Our last family photo taken in October - minus one nephew that was at a band competition.