Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! Has it been an enjoyable day for you? It always interests me to see how others spend this day. I understand the thought behind moms being celebrated and get that one would want to be pampered for the day...I love a good pampering. :)



I can even appreciate the thought of taking mom out to eat on this special day, but that isn't really a treat for me. Adam & I don't appreciate waiting in crowded restaurants for hours on end when really, we tend to eat out pretty regularly as it just makes life simpler with our schedule. But to each his own, right? So what do we do? We go to Jimmy Johns.






We get my favorite brand of sandwiches to-go and then head to the park for a leisurely picnic, where we fly our kites, relax, play, talk, and today, we even hit a few baseballs.








This year, we invited our friends to join us. This little cutie is Audrey. She thinks Kabe is pretty neat. Kabe is pretty good about playing with her & watching out for her.





Kabe always enjoys flying kites, but really, nothing beats baseball and hanging out with his friends. Kites, baseball AND being with his best bud, Ben made today 'AWESOME'.





This slugger is Ben. We're sorry Ben's dad is out of the country on a business trip right now, but we're thankful we got to spend the day with all of you.






I hope that whatever it is you chose to do today, whether you're a mom or not, your day was enjoyable and spent with those you love!

Baseball!

Baseball Opening Day was April 18th...a pretty nice day and of course, there was lots of excitement in the air.


Kabe is in coach-pitch again this year and has requested to be the catcher.

He alternates with two other guys on the team.

He had a great opening game, batting three times, getting base runs and scoring all three times.



This is just after his first run across home plate. A great way to start the season. :)

I'm getting there....

I feel like I owe an apology for the lack of attention I've shown to the blog. The last game of the baseball season was played last night (yeah!) and we're continuing with swimming lessons. The game was a really good game, and although it was a loss, it was a really good to see how well the team played together and how much they've learned throughout the season. They played a tough team and could have easily gotten discouraged, but they got out there and played like a team and did their best. Go Roofing Dogs!
Now that the season is over my mornings won't be quite as crazy trying to keep up with whether to pack a swimming bag, a baseball bag or both! I've been working on updating some pictures and will get them posted soon. I hope you're all getting out & enjoying summer.

You know it's summer when...

Baseball is almost over - it's time for tournament play. Every day when we come home the street is full of kids - most of whom live on our street although we're just this summer realizing it. As soon as we get in the drive, if Kabe doesn't go outside to play right away, the boys are ringing our doorbell to see if he can ride his bike or swim. Kabe is so dark he doesn't look like he couldn't possibly be genetically related his father. Swimming lessons are in full swing. It's almost time for Vacation Bible School. Kids are headed to church camp every week. Mosquitoes are out. It smells like charcoal and cut grass a lot of the time in our neighborhood. Two of my favorite smells.

Tuesday night Kabe I got a few pics at Kabe's baseball game. He's a pretty good hitter, but as the year has progressed, so have the catching and throwing skills of the opponents. He actually got to run with this hit.


And even made it home.


Take a look at this determined run to the dugout. It doesn't even look like my boy!


Here he is waiting in the outfield.





Kabe is also in swimming lessons twice a week. Here he is with his instructor, Lisa. She's going over proper arm movement with him.



At the end of lessons each session the kids get to jump off the board as long as they swim to the side using the proper skills they've just worked on. Kabe opted to do a cannon ball, just like Muncher taught him.


He's going to be eight soon. He really is growing up!

Check it out!

My new lens is here ... and I really like it! I had the afternoon off Tuesday to take Kabe to the doctor. It was a beautiful afternoon so when we came home we took some time to take a few pictures.





Then after being outside a bit, we headed to the field for a baseball game. It got really windy and cold, but Kabe did get a couple runs.



He even made it all the way home!

Saturday .... Miscellaneous

Kabe started with pink eye in his right eye. No biggie, half day of school so they didn't even send him home. Called Dr. P's nurse and she called in a scrip. Didn't even have to go in to see the doc, which is fabulous. We did the drops for four days and then woke up his left eye looked awful...swollen, red, all full of stuff. We hadn't been doing the drops in both eyes...oops.

We now have beef! Over Christmas my Aunt Karen talked to us about going in on some beef with them. The processing was complete when we were back for my grandpa's funeral, but we didn't have room in the car to bring it back with us. Luckily my cousin (Karen's daughter), lives in Des Moines and had room to bring it back with her and store it for us for a few weeks. Last weekend we drove to DM to Brandi's and brought it all back. We have SO MUCH meat! We got half a side or a quarter of beef. We only have a small freezer (like the size of a washing machine) and it is now completely full! It'll be a while before we can eat anything other than beef.

Baseball is going well. We only had one game this week, Thursday's game was rained out. Stay tuned for further updates. =)

Coach-Pitch Baseball

After I had committed to being a part of the retreat team we found but that last weekend (the retreat) was also Opening Day in our little Midwest town. What is the world is Opening Day, you ask? Well, our town, technically not even a town, but a 'Village', is known in these-here parts for two things. It's schools and it's athletics. But mainly, the athletics. And not just high school athletics. They start them young. In every sport. I'm talking fall and spring soccer starting in kindy. Full-pad,full-contact football starting in 1st grade. Wrestling-- full contact in kindy. T-ball at age 5 for two years, then on to coach pitch baseball or to softball. Oh yeah, then there is cheerleading and basketball and I'm sure I've missed a few, but I think you get the idea. We start 'em young and work 'em hard. By the time they're in high school they know their stuff and they win. Always.
It's a little hard core for our taste, but right now he's only in baseball and we really appreciate the coach he has this year -- same as last -- who is about teaching the boys the fundamentals rather than winning. Winning is fun, but there is more to learn from sports than just that. Now that you know what keeps the Villagers busy...

Back to Opening Day...
The day began early with pictures. I'm usually the one that gets things together & makes sure all is ready, but because I wasn't going to be around & had my own weekend to deal with, it just wasn't on the top of my list. I left without even checking to see if the pants we bought fit and we didn't know what color his team was until pictures that morning so we didn't have socks to match...poor Adam had lots of running around to do in between pictures and the game -- sorry Hon!
Here is Kabe's team. Half the team is actually in his class (1st graders) and then there are at least two 2nd graders (the tall guys) on the team too. And yes, there is one girl on the team -- but don't tell her she's a girl...she's total tom-boy! =)


After pictures all teams, from t-ball through the high-school, boys and girls, join in for a parade where they drive through town - twice - and throw candy. It's a VERY big deal. Kids love it. Adam usually takes pictures and I scurry after candy. Remember - I wasn't there and you're looking at pictures--Kabe was not very happy he didn't get candy off the ground.


This year, as soon as the parade was over, Kabe's team had about 15 minutes to get to the field and get ready to play ball. They did get to warm up a little bit.


Kabe is a pretty good hitter and most of the kids on his t-ball teams the last two years have been pretty good hitters and haven't used the 'T' to bat, so it seemed weird to us that this is called 'coach-pitch' when he's always had a coach pitch to him. We learned right away that there are several differences between t-ball and coach-pitch: no 'T' (duh...), there are strikes and outs, score is kept, only 5 runs per inning per team, catchers are used, oh and they only use the correct number of players on the field instead of the 17 players on the team scattered around the field so everyone can play. =) There may be more, but that's all I'm coming up with right now. This team is rotating players throughout positions because in three years, although everyone will make a team, everyone will try out for a position & will be placed based upon how well they play. Kabe wanted to try out the catcher gear.


Turns out being the catcher is hard because you have to actually catch the ball, plus its tiring.


Kabe really likes to bat and is still learning that playing outfield has its merits too. He is a pretty good batter, especially considering the parents he has to work with. Thank goodness grandpa-that-fishes comes out once in a while to help out & teach him a thing or two each summer.



Even though I'm sad I missed it, Adam captured it well with these photo's. It's looking like this is going to be one fun season! We can hardly wait to see how the team progresses. We've only just begun and won't be done until the middle of June....I'll keep you posted!

What's a boy to do?

This afternoon was gorgeous! When Kabe & I got home I helped Kabe dig his bike out and sent him outside to play, then headed in to begin dinner preparations. After getting dinner started, I headed outside to see what he was up to. Evidently, he didn't feel like riding his bike. He had baseball on his mind.



Bat in hand, he was ready to play. But playing a solo game of baseball just isn't that fun and it's a little difficult, so he invented his own game.