A New Season

Sports Sports Sports!


With three boys in the house, we were bound to get to this point. Practice nearly every afternoon during the week. Games on Saturday. Snack schedules and making banners. Extra laundry. Trying to avoid fast food drive-thru's even though there's barely any time to prepare dinner. I wouldn't say I dreaded it...but I was definitely unsure of the effects it would have on all of us.

So, we're 2 weeks into the season and are adjusting surprisingly well to the practice schedules. Mom's homework and sleep have suffered slightly, but should even out and return to some sort of normalcy after this week. Dad's been a great help building the boys skills. And, Gavin is enjoying making new friends with siblings of the other teammates.

This past Saturday we weathered an unseasonably warm, 90 degree, sun-shiny day and cheered on two of our boys as they played their first games of the Spring season. 

Mr. M is trying his hand at Baseball for the first time as a Skyhawk! Mom needed a bit of a learning curve to figure out the rules, stances, etc., but Dad's had lots of practice in this area. Baseball definitely suits Mr. M's personality much better than soccer did.

He went to bat twice this game. The first time he hit a line drive just to the right of 1st base and was tagged out. His second time resulted in a pitch right to his kidney! He's one tough kid and his walk brought in the first run for his team!

Sweet C is having fun with soccer this season and is doing a great job helping his team The Little Scorpions. This season the kids are working on learning positions and playing defensively. It's really fun to see the growth in the playing skills.

On Saturday, he had me and Dad (and brothers too) on our feet cheering as he controlled the ball across nearly half of distance of the field, kicking it straight for the goal where it was blocked by another player at the last second!



Mom needs to step up her action picture taking skills though...it's tough to get a good shot. :/

Even though Lil' G isn't playing a sport this season, his presence is certainly made know to all. He leads the best cheer section EVER! He's so encouraging to his brothers and their teammates. 

Needless to say, I'm one proud Momma!

Hello Again! How've you been?

I will update this blog. I will update this blog.

Gosh, do I really have time to update this blog?

I would say that life is busy, but I really hate that phrase. It drags along the enormous, overbearing baggage of "I'm a frazzled mom who just can't keep the days straight let alone finish the dishes or remember calendar commitments." Nope, life is not busy...it's just life.

Since my last post, we have changed jobs, changed residency, and changed hearts. We are learning to accept a new kind of normal with smiles on our faces. Not those forced smiles, but genuine REAL cheesy smiles, because life is too short to be anything but happy.

Our kiddos are growing. Mr. M ---who's too smart for his own good--- informed us the other day that in 11 years he'd be 21 and then he'd be allowed to sit in the sports bar area of a restaurant and watch TV while eating his chicken strips and fries. Let's hope that's all he's doing in there. Sweet C is taking on the role of middle child with more gusto than I care for him to have, but I'm hoping that determination will pay off in adult life...if he survives that long. And, Lil' G isn't quite so little any more. That kid is just nuts. We really should begin marketing his comedy tour. We'd probably find ourselves with a nice nest egg from the profits of his antics and heart-melting grin.

Hmmmm, lets see if I have a picture to brighten your day!

Lizzards and Showers...this should be interesting!

“Look Mom! Can we keep him...PLEASE!?!?”

This is probably the phrase I dread most in life and I heard it again the other day.

All I wanted to do was check on the weather. Some rain had come through and the air outside was surprisingly cool. Not even a minute into my peaceful breaths of rain-scented, cool air without the slightest feeling of humidity (a rarity for July in Georgia), I heard it. “Quick,” I thought. “Just get the boy inside the house before he can say it again or show his brothers.” Nope, I was too late. Before the thought could race through my mind, I was surrounded by pleas and bargaining offers to keep the lizard – A LIZARD!! – for a pet. I can barely handle dogs and cats let alone other typical *pets* … reptiles, insects, etc are out of the question.

And it never fails – I only hear this phrase when my husband (or any other man for that matter) is completely out of sight and in no way able to help me. The last time this happened I threw (yes, threw) a mason jar across the patio where it proceeded to bounce three times before finally shattering all over the place all because the tail touched my hand. My stomach turned as I faced that same situation again.

Of course I could always say no, but it's just a lizard right? And my 3 boys need to be boys and do things like catching lizards. Only, they aren't the ones that end up doing the catching!!

After agreeing to capturing the lizard for the boys and listening to my animal friendly middle child give us a lesson on only keeping the lizard over night because “Lizards should be free and live in the wild with their other lizard friends”, I proceed to catch what appears to be a half-paralyzed, twitchy Blue Skink that is just OH SO GROSS. I had to explain to the boys that their new little friend didn't look so good and might be sick. Slimy, as he was named didn't even make it through the night. I was totally creeped out and exposed to having a lizard in the house just for him to die. I'd say it was a waste of my adrenaline and at least 2 good squeals—All in the name of raising boys, right. *sigh

In other news … some of you moms will get this … others [God bless you] will not...

I was able to take an unexpected shower today! YAY ME!! There are just some days when you know before the day begins, that you probably won't get a shower that day and if you do manage to sneak one in, it probably wont be until late in the evening. Today was one of those days where I didn't expect it, but managed to work it in with minimal brotherly love (um...fighting) while I did it. THAT MY FRIEND IS A GOOD DAY.

2011...it that you?

Did 2010 really end that quick?

Yep...

Over the course of two moves, job changes, and all the other craziness of 2010, we've sort of forgotten about having fun and enjoying life. So, 2011 is all about getting back to having fun and enjoying God's blessings. We're breaking out old hobbies, creating new ones, and actually doing more than sitting around.

First up...what to do when school gets closed for an entire week due to a little snow and A LOT of ice? It's a good thing there is a fresh supply of Christmas presents to keep everyone entertained.


With what seemed like a million tiny pieces of plastic connectors spread all over the TV room floor, we set out building a HUGE, double ferris wheel. Not an easy task.


Morgan and Christian are great engineers. They worked really hard looking at the instruction pictures and following all the tedious steps needed to create their masterpiece.


They only needed a little help and a bunch of encouragement from mom to finish.


After two days, we finally completed the giant, double ferris wheel. It is now proudly displayed in the living room.


Up next, mom's wearing her glasses all the time and turning into an old lady. :)