A Week of Baseball, Softball, and Family

Ahh...finally some sunshine without the humidity and chance of storms/tornadoes.. I thought I would make a quick blog post in between running kids everywhere. It has been a very busy past week but very enjoyable.

Baseball and softball continue to take up our world. Alex has his last week of AAU this week. Combine that with Park and Rec and he has 9 games from today until Friday night! Busy boy! Their AAU team continues to do very well and winning the majority of their games. Alex is doing great and loving every minute of AAU. Yesterday he had a double header against Decorah, who they ended up crushing, and Alex had his own little cheering section as his grandma Janet and Papa came. They brought a special visitor along to help cheer on Alex, my brother's dog, Cal. hehehe. It was great of them to make the trip up just to see Alex play.

Elyse. . . .don't really see much of her lately in her busy schedule. She spent the last week at softball, basketball, volunteering, and babysitting the last 5 nights in a row so I didn't see her too much. Her softball team is doing very well as well and have not had many losses all season! She also had her own cheering section last week at her game as both grandmas, Sara, Graham, and Connor came to cheer her team on to a win! The laughter of the game was when my sister cheered, "Come on Blue. . . There are two duckies on the pond!". (meaning 2 girls on bases to get home as Elyse was batting). Oh Sara!!!! Good times!!! I know Elyse appreciated having everyone there! She and I did have a "girls weekend" - when she was home that is- as Wayne took Alex and some of his friends for a weekend of tubing, kneeboarding, and jet skiing at the cabin. Bonding weekend for all!

As I mentioned earlier, my sister, Sara, and her boys came down for a few days to visit and watch the kids play ball. The rain didn't cooperate with Alex's games so she only saw a little bit, but we loved having them here and miss them already! Connor is getting bigger, and it was fun to cuddle with him. Hard to believe he will be a month old this week. I found a new toy for Graham, a motorized Gator that a friend of mine was selling. He loved it! We all thought he would be scared to death of it at first, but he jumped right on and calls it his tractor! So cute!!! Alex was just bummed as he didn't fit (explains the picture).

It's another busy week of baseball (9 games) and softball (2 double-headers)before we head out for vacation in the Outer Banks, NC, and Fripp Island, SC. Lots to do before then but very excited about getting away. I have a wierd, nervous, sad feeling about going back to the Outer Banks without Ken being there but I know he would want us to have a fabulous time. We know we will be missing him and thinking about him. . .as usual. Bitter sweet return to Outer Banks I guess. The kids have friends meeting us in South Carolina who are flying in with Kirstin and Nate so we will have a full house full of laughter! A good vacation before a new school year full of big changes . . Elyse and her 2 friends, Megan and Molly, will be going to high school, Alex and his friend Spencer will be going to middle school, and Kirstin will student teach and graduate from UNI. Tear. . . tear. . .Life goes so fast.

Enjoy the sunshine and great weather!

Happy Golden Birthday Alex!

My little boy is not so little anymore. . .even though he will always be "my baby". He would give me quite the look right now if her knew I wrote that.

Yesterday was Alex's 12th birthday - his "Golden Birthday". After 7 years of celebrating his birthday in either North or South Carlina, he finally had a birthday in Iowa and had a party with some of his friends. He wasn't sure which was better - bday in the Carolinas or bday in Iowa with friends - although he thought it would be great to combine the two. Anyway, he had a bday party Friday night with his friends, complete with a Minnesota Twins bday cake made by our friend, Kelly Sorensons (who has turned into quite the cake maker! Yummy!)to go along with his new Mauer's jersey. His uncle Ken would be "giving him the look" right now as Alex has slipped from the dedicated "St. Louis Cardinal's fan" to a "Minnesota Twins" fan. . . .don't worry Ken, the rest of the family are still Cardinals fans! The boys spent hours playing baseball behind the house with a tennis ball - mainly a homerun derby. It kills me that we have a big baseball park right behind our house, but they choice to play on a field that combined our yard with our neighbor's. They played until they couldn't see the ball anymore and then retired to the house for cake and fun inside. I think they finally went to bed around 3:00 AM.

For once, it was not raining and turned out to be a beautiful night Friday night. Wayne, Elyse, and I sat on the deck enjoying the clear sky and looking for various star constellations. Kirstin and Nate (yes, they are back together) joined us as well for a few adult beverages (not Elyse on that part). It was nice to all hang out and relax for once. It's great to have Kirstin back home and spend some time with her as well.. . . .she is a busy lady this summer working to save money for the fall when she is student teaching. Anyway, turned out to be a beautiful night!

Saturday, everyone slept in as it was raining again. . . .even the boys from the party. Spent the day cleaning up. Alex chose to have his family birthday dinner that evening at the Old World Inn in Spilleville that recently reopened. It was delicious and great atmosphere. The tunnels in the restaurant are from the "bootlegging" period and they have been restored. So he wanted to sit down there and eat. It was great and he enjoyed it! His favorite - fillet mignon - turned out to be a hit! When we got home, Wayne and I finally watched the movie Avatar! (I know. . .we are behind. . . ) Wow. . .what an amazing moving. . . .but we should have started it before 9:15 PM as it is an extremely long movie. . . .but very good! I recommend it to all if you haven't seen it. . . intense!

Today he was to have a double header baseball game. . .but thanks to the rain. . . .it was cancelled AGAIN. So. . . his team is practicing at this time and then the family is headed to Rochester. Alex has some birthday money he can't wait to spend.

Happy Birthday Alex! Love you lots!

As Always, Proud Mom and Dad

I had to share this video I took the last day of school. . . .it is kind of fuzzy because it was fairly dark in the auditorium (not sure why) and I was far away. You may also have to turn the volume up on your computer to hear what he is saying. I would also pause it until it is all loaded otherwise it will stop at various times to "catch up".

The morning of the last day of school, the guidance counselor (the guy speaking in the video and also a coach in our high school) came to my classroom to tell me Elyse was getting an award today at the Jr. High awards assembly. I kind of looked at him because I knew they gave out lots of certificates that day for variety of things that Elyse participated in or achieved such as honor roll, sports things etc. He then said that she was getting what he would call the highest award given in jr. high as it is an award selected by the faculty based on character and involvement. He thought I would like to be there to see her receive it as she had no idea.

It was one of the last awards given, and Elyse saw me come in the auditorium wondering what the heck I was doing there (as there are not a lot of parents who attend). I watched her get a few other awards, 2nd in conference in track for high jump, high honor roll, Presidential something, etc. - very proud of her for all of them. The last award she did not know she was getting is called the Citizenship Award and Mr. Sickles, the guy in the video, explains what it is based off of and given for. Needless to say, Wayne and I were very proud of Elyse. . . .so this is our "bragging moment" so to say as all parents like to share the great things their children do. Very, very, very proud of her! Love you Elyse!

I actually got a little teary eyed. . . .very proud!