He Is Risen!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Celebrate Jesus!

The Season's First Swim

It is nice to live in a place where the warm weather and sunshine abound in springtime. Oh, yes, it is true that if you happen to blink, you may miss the 30 minutes of nice spring weather in our lovely Houston climate. However, it is really invigorating while it lasts and is not lost on this native Texan. I know all too well that temperatures in the 90's are right around the corner. We initiated our pool/spa this past week. (okay, I only ventured into the spa where I had the water heated to a nice 95 degrees...but the boys were back and forth between that and the 60 something degree pool water...brrr....)

Third grade Field Trip to the Zoo

Coleman and I just waiting on the buses to arrive.
Here is what we got when we had to ask the boys to calm down a little.
And here are some of the monkeys in action.

Coleman and I crashed the third grade field trip to the zoo yesterday. We couldn't have asked for a better day for it. I must confess I have serious anxiety issues about sending my kids off on field trips without me or Chris as a chaperon. He was planning to go and got called into a mandatory meeting at the last minute, so Coleman and I packed our lunch and set out. I suppose at some point, I am going to have to lighten up a little, but for now....

Walt Disney at the Living Museum

Casey's class did a living museum recently....he drew Walt Disney. They had to memorize a little auto-biography they prepared on their person and dress up like them. The parents and other classes could walk through the classroom and look at the set up on their desks with all of their research displayed creatively and push a "button" to hear their presentation. The kids all did a wonderful job. It was really precious.

Snaggle Tooth

Cody just pulled yet another tooth...he held on to it as long as he could. It was painful to watch.

Comment Moderation

Just FYI, I have not become a blog-snob, but I had to start moderating comments because all of a sudden I began to get comments with suspicious links on them from weird sources. This may be a new thing or just new to me, but I don't want any weird stuff on here. So please don't stop with the comments, just know that it won't appear on the blog until I get notification to approve or reject it. And no worries, I won't reject any except the weird ones with the suspicious links so don't get comment anxiety. I tried to go and trash all the ones left on previous entries, but I could have missed one, so please be advised not to "click here" or "pay attention" as they instruct you to do. I will be back later with a more interesting post, this is just business.

It's a Wonderful Life

I would love to be able to convey adequately with words on a page just how much I love being a baseball mom. I could not be more fulfilled. To give you a glimpse into this wonderful world is my goal with today's post. Our team was formed this spring from families we have played with in previous seasons through little league, families we met during special tournaments and families we have just met through the new venue we are playing through. We are the Team Extreme Kings. We spend lots of time together watching our boys practice both at our home practice field (a little field called Dream Catcher's field out in the country surrounded by horses, cows, a barn, and a little pond) and at the batting cages. Our boys' siblings ranging in age from 2 to 16, learn to look forward to spending time together with wiffle balls and bats off to the side, digging in the dirt, coloring in their shared "to go" coloring books, pushing toy cars around, sharing snacks,tossing a football, or just plain running around being kids. It is so fun to see the personalities blending as they all pair off and find ways to enjoy their time both at practice and at games. The parents (a mix-matched bunch from all different walks of life brought together through our children's interest in baseball) chat about all sorts of stuff from the light topics to the heavier stuff as special bonds are formed for us grown ups as well, all the while paying close attention to what goes on with our team. We get to meet many members of extended families as aunts,uncles, grandparents and cousins come to watch the boys play. We all share so much from the simpler emergency band-aids or benadryl, peanuts or kettle korn, sunscreen or bleacher blankets to the more complicated life stuff like how to handle our toddlers when defiant, or our players when they pout about getting out, or advice for a daughter facing the tough choices during her teen years, or even prayers for a family member diagnosed with cancer. I have such fond memories of the same scene way back when Chris' parents and I drove all over the south following Chris' college team, forming the same kinds of bonds, weathering the cold, enjoying the sunshine, just watching the game of baseball being played by someone we love. I hope that our Kings team stays together a long time. It is a very special blessing to be a part of this world.

Here, our team prays together before the game...

Here, Coleman and cousin James work to get a hat on that sun vulnerable head.
Here, father and son, Chris and Cody work "together" coaching the team and cheering them on...
And here, my sleepy baby takes a break from a very full day at the ballpark.
Oh, and here are our boys with their first rate coaches after the trophy presentation....


If I could have a string of a million weekends just like this previous one....it was perfect! We had so much fun at Casey's tournament. The newly formed team played in their first of many to come and brought home the 2nd place trophy! Life is good.