Opening Day at Pinery Park Little League

My dear friend Margaret emailed me and said it was time for an update on my blog. I know it's been too long...and so much has happened in the life of our family in the last month it's almost overwhelming just thinking about it. At some point I hope to go back and fill in some of the details from the last month. For now pictures of the opening day of little league will have to do.
So Miss Margaret, this one's for you!

This is Pinery Park Little League. The very same little league that Bob played at when he was a boy. This year all 4 kids get to play. Abigail is playing girls minors softball, Joshua is on a coach-pitch team, Chloe is playing tee ball softball with all girls and Josiah is on a boys tee ball team. They were all very excited to get the season started...especially Josiah who just had to try on his uniform the night before and then didn't want to take it off at bedtime. They all did a great job in their first game and it was fun to watch.


These first two pictures were taken at the end of the day after all the games were played. They were all filthy!

Here's Josiah. After getting his first hit he stops to pose on third base.

Abigail is ready to score her first run of the season! Her team didn't win but we expect they will steadily improve as the season goes on.

Here's a close-up of Josiah's dirty little face at the end of the day. He looks good in a dirt, snowcone, candy, gatorade go-t...don't you think?

We didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked but I threw in some BONUS video for your enjoyment. :) I love that after Josiah hits the ball for the first time he just stands there in amazement watching what happens...finally he runs to first base! Joshua had a couple great hits during his game. I think he hit 2 doubles!
Chloe did great too. She's an old tee ball pro. She picked up all her skills in Albuquerque from the best coach in town. We miss you Coach Ron!!!
Abigail's team struggled a bit. It is the first time these girls are pitching and it is an understatement to say that the pitches are hard to hit. Most of them fly 3 feet overhead or come in like a bowling ball. Needless to say, Abigail didn't get a hit but she did get walked, which shows she has a good eye! She did a wonderful job in the field too.
We are proud of all the kiddos. It will be fun to watch them improve as the season goes on. If you are in the area stop by the ball park on any given week night or Saturday morning....you will most likely find us there.

I'm so confused!!!

Anyone who reads my facebook updates knows that I've been struggling with my weight in the last year. I know I obsess about it way too much, sorry you have to put up with my rants. But I have just been so frustrated and now I can add confusion to that too. You see I started looking for more information online about new ways I should tackle this monster in my closet. I've been pretty dedicated to a low-fat diet for quite a while now. I eat light wheat bread, drink Krystal Light and LOTS of Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi, and I absolutely LOVE spray butter. Oh and I always get the skinny latte at Starbucks and sweeten with splenda.
So last night I'm reading that sugar is my enemy, I should cut out wheat flour and that all my chemical low-fat/no-fat sprays (such as butter and salad dressing) and the artificial sweeteners may actually be holding me back from losing weight instead of helping. The other day I heard Dr. Oz say that a teaspoon of sugar only has 15 calories so he thinks it's better to go for a teaspoon of the real stuff in your tea than the artificial sweeteners. But then sugar is my enemy, right????? And then I read that using real butter (in limited amounts) is better for you because you actually NEED some good fats in order to burn bad fats. And this issue with flour...I'm not so sure about this. I went out today and bought a loaf of "Sprouted Flourless Whole Wheat Berry Bread". I had a slice of it for lunch with tuna on it. It was fine that way but I wouldn't say that I loved it or anything.
Anyway, I'm just not into the whole organic scene but that seems to be the way the pendulum is swinging these days. The problem is that there are so many different methods that one can drown in a sea of weight loss and healthful eating experts.
So today I did not use spray butter on my high fiber english muffin, I used a tiny bit of real butter. And I have not had any diet pop (not even one!!!) but I did put splenda in my tea (I couldn't help it). I ate one slice of my flourless bread with my tuna and (brace yourselves) some raw broccoli, like a whole bowl full (and my gag reflex only kicked in twice)! Anyone who knows me well will understand the significance of that! For dinner tonight we're having fish and I made myself a baked sweet potato. I guess I'll put just a smidge of butter on it along with salt & pepper and see how that goes. I will probably eat an apple later followed by my standard bag of fat free microwave popcorn but I plan on skipping the spray butter (that's gonna be tough).
Ok so if you have any advice or suggestions for me I welcome all the help I can get. I'd really love to go back to drinking my diet Pepsi and using my spray butter and artificial sweeteners but I have a feeling those days will have to come to an end.

Good-bye DWCP. I will miss you my friend!

From the mouths of babes...

Working on catechism questions: I ask Josiah "Who wrote the Bible?" The answer is "Holy men who were taught by the Holy Spirit." I decided to give Josiah the first word. I say, "Holy..." he pauses for a moment and then shouts out, "COW!"

The other day we are driving and Josiah says, "Remember when me and daddy and Poppy and Joshua went to see the Lobos game?" I say, "Yes I remember, that was fun wasn't it?" Josiah continues, "And the girls went to see...what was that?" He's thinking, processing...my mind wasn't connecting the dots and I couldn't figure out what he was talking about. Finally he says, "the graham cracker?" It finally dawns on me..."yes, the girls went to see The Nutcracker!" :) I totally laughed out loud at that one.

A couple Sundays ago we were in church and they were passing the offering plate. Josiah leaned over and asked why we put money in the plate. I told him we are giving our money to God. He looked up at me and said, "Does He have a wallet?" I couldn't stop giggling for a long time. Sometimes that boy is so funny!!!

Fabulous Florida

Even though the weather didn't cooperate for our trip to Florida we still had a great time! We got to spend time with Grammie and Poppy and Uncle Mikey and Aunt Dana and we went on fun adventures everyday. The kids were a little disappointed that they didn't get to go swimming in Miss Jackie's pool but they still had loads of fun!

Joshua insisted on bringing the hockey sticks and puck and I'm so glad we did. He and Josiah pretty much played outside every moment that we were at the house.


Grammie and Poppy and Miss Jackie took us all out to a special place for breakfast where you get to make your own pancakes right on your table! Miss Jackie turned out to be the expert pancake maker...she even created Mickey Mouse pancakes!


It was cold on the day we went to see the manatees. We had a picnic lunch and even got to go on a boat ride to see all the wildlife on the St Johns River. We saw all kinds of birds, even wild turkeys, and a couple baby gators!
Can't keep this kid out of the trees...even pokey looking ones!
Joshua has been working on his chess game and wanted to take Poppy on...Poppy took him down but it was still a good game! We also played a few rousing games of Sorry and Uno.
Here we are at Gatorland. In case you can't read it the sign says, "Trespassers will be eaten!" The kids loved it and even got to sit on a real, live gator for a picture. None of them were even the least bit scared!


Another day we hit the Sanford Zoo which also has a super fun ropes course! Abigail, Joshua and Josiah all tried it out. Chloe decided she would rather cheer them on from the ground. Everybody did really well on the course and Grammie and I decided that next time we are going to do it too. :)


On our last day the girls went out to a tea room for a lovely party. We had a great time trying on hats and sipping tea (and hot cocoa) with our pinkies out. Our lunches and fancy desserts were delish! We rounded out our time in Mt. Dora by stopping in a few of the little shops and meeting the horses who pull the carriages around town. While we were being girly girls Unlce Mikey took the boys out to lunch and bowling. They had a great time too. Unfortunately Poppy had to go to a conference for the weekend so he missed out.


Finally, the boys wanted hair cuts so Uncle Mikey helped them out. Joshua talked us into a mohawk and Aunt Dana spiked him up real good. He loves it. Uncle Mikey will be getting a buzz cut of his own as just this week he has returned to serve in the Army. Please remember him and Dana in your prayers as he goes through re-training (he served in the Army years ago).
So that was our trip. We are already back into our regular schedule but looking forward to the next time we can head south!

Made By Me

On Monday we went to "Made by Me" and painted some pottery. The kids were so excited today to go pick up their ceramic masterpieces! :) The boys went for the abstract look on their little aliens. Chloe made a cute cupcake that opens (of course she chose something that she could put things in) and Abigail opted for the piggy bank. Their choices are so reflective of their personalities! This was a fun activity...I only wish it wasn't so expensive so we could do it more often.

Come to my kitchen

I decided to try another one of Pioneer Woman's recipes today...this time for cinnamon rolls. Let me just tell you my dear friends that this recipe is worth trying for the smells alone! It's a bit of a process but the reward in the end makes it all worth while! YUM-O! And the frosting...OH THE FROSTING! It has coffee and maple flavoring in it! Even if you are not up for making the cinnamon rolls from scratch, make this frosting and find something to put it on! Get some Pillsbury Grands and throw their frosting away and use this instead. It is so good! My kitchen smells like a genuine bakery right now. Fabulous!
So her recipe made 6 pie plates of cinnamon rolls. In her cookbook she recommends baking and frosting them and then freezing the pans you aren't going to devour right away. This sounded like a good idea to me. Now the kids will have cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning breakfast for the next 2 months! And if anyone decides they need to come visit me...I'll be ready to treat you to a most incredible breakfast!

I remember the day you were born...

That was then.....


This is now.....



6 years ago today my little Chloebear was born. I remember that it was Sunday and we had lunch at the Pastor's house. It must have been painfully obvious that I was ready to be done being pregnant because the pastor's wife suggested that I drink some castor oil to see if we could get labor going. It sounded good to me, but I didn't exactly know what castor oil was for. We stopped at Meijer on the way home and I picked some up. Put Abigail and Joshua to bed and I drank my concoction of castor oil and orange juice. It was TERRIBLE!!! But...after 4 hours of unpleasantries I started having contractions. Bob and I went to the hospital in the middle of the night. The doctor, who happend to be the same guy that delivered Joshua, wanted to make sure that I was really in labor and told us to walk around the hospital for a few hours and they'd check again later. We saw every inspirational poster in the place. When we finally went back to the labor floor they checked me and sure enough I had progressed enough to prove that this was it. After 2 completely natural births I decided I was ready to try an epidural. Unfortunately for me it didn't take on one side and I felt totally gyped. They finally got me all numb just as it was time to push, what a waste of a needle in my back. When Chloe came out the cord was wrapped around her neck but it was really short and the doctor couldn't get it off. She was a little purple and we didn't hear her cry right away. It was very scary for those first several moments. Bob had a very worried look on his face and he was just praying. The doctors did what they do best and Chloe's apgar was totally normal the second time they did it.
We are so thankful for our Chloebear. She has this snuggly little way about her and people just fall in love with her. That could cause some trouble in about 10 years. Good thing she'll have Joshua and Josiah to be watching out for her. Chloe loves to play with baby dolls and stuffed animals. She always has purses and bags filled with stuff that she feels the need to carry around with her. She has a sweet spirit mixed with a little mischief and spunk. :) She is the special gift that God gave us 6 years ago and it is my privilege to be her mama.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOEBEAR! I love you!