Summer Begins

School got out last week, and it feels like we haven't stopped running ever since. We have a couple of weeks of baseball left, and then our routine shouldn't be AS busy for a little while. We'll see, though. It wouldn't be the first time I thought things were slowing down to find they were just about to get busier! Here are a bunch of pictures from the last week or so... some better than others!

Beth was standing right in front of this fence at Matt's game the other day, when the ball came flying right into the chain links and get stuck... about four inches from her nose. As much as I hate trying to take pictures through the chain-link fences, it is a good thing they are there!

Todd still cracks me up everytime he is out on the field. He no longer sits on third base, but he doesn't really keep track of what is going on either. The other day he was amusing himself by blowing raspberries into his glove.

And here is more proof he is capable of staying busy even in the quietest of moments... after arriving at second base he kept himself entertained (and me too) by proceeding to dance and sing.

Sadly, Kyle's team suffered their first and only defeat of the season the other day, but they made up for it yesterday by winning their last game of the season 19-0. Kyle has done so well in baseball, and has really come far. His coaches have moved him in from outfield and have had him playing pitcher. A lot of the kids are still trying to catch fly balls this way, but they will grow out of it eventually. He starts his tournaments this weekend, so I will let you know how that goes!

I have said it before, and I mean it still... t-ballers are the funny bone of baseball. I love watching them all play. Beth refuses to be on the field at all without her daddy. When her team is in the outfield, she is nestled up right against his legs. She absolutely refuses to pick up any balls that might come by her because it would mean leaving her safe haven. I like this photo because she was spending time blowing raspberries as well... maybe it is a sibling thing... lol.

She will bat by herself, but only after Jack helps her out with a couple of practice swings.However, once she hits that ball she refuses to run to first base on her own. In fact, she refused to run at anytime on her own, so Jack had to devise a strategy to get her to run without having to carry her everytime.
We call it the "duck strategy." As soon as she hits that ball (or any other kid hits it while she is on base) Jack takes off and walks at a fast pace away from her towards base. She looks at him with an exasperated expression, and then takes off after him trying to catch him... just like a baby duck follows its mom.

This was Beth after her games a couple of nights ago... lol... we all tend to feel like this after the busiest nights! (we usually have 4-5 games in a night)

Faith is still not enjoying softball very much. Here she is walking back to the dugout after striking out. She does enjoy leading the cadence songs the girls like to chant in the dugout, though. She is a cheerleader through and through... lol.

Kyle loves watching other ballgames, especially Matt's. He particularly loves to sit in the dugout and talk to the rest of Matt's teammates. I caught this shot when they were all in outfield, and he was waiting patiently for them to get back.

Here is Matt running some bases.

And here he is getting ready to steal 2nd.

Here is Matt's coach talking to him after he was tagged out on third. I have to give Matt a lot of credit. Most of the kids here have been playing sports all their lives, and during the years when Matt should have been in Little League and learning all the basics, we had to put Chet through his chemo treatments and there was never any money for things like sports. So here he is, 15 years old, and trying so hard out there to get the hang of all the rules, strategies, etc. And sometimes he does really well (he caught a flyball last night, which got the batter out) and sometimes he doesn't, but he gives it his all everytime, and I am so proud of him for that. It can't be easy to get teased like he does sometimes, but even then he takes it in stride and just keeps coming back to try again. Winning is nice, I know that... but I am so proud of him for just getting out there and never giving up.

I was watching the kids in the playground area the other day during one of Matt's games, and I heard a bunch of baby birds start squawking. I looked up and saw this momma robin bringing her babies mouthfuls of worms. She had built the nest in the rafters, and came in and out about ten times feeding the chicks. Then she would sit on them a while, and after a few minutes fly off to find some more worms. It was incredible to watch.

Here is she checking out the kids in the playground before she flew in again. I love silhouette shots sometimes!
I still haven't been able to get the video updates to work, but I will keep working on it and get them up as soon as I can. In the meantime, here is a parting dandelion shot for now. Make a wish!

Some pictures

We had a really nice week! There was a whole lot going on, but I am just going to post a few pictures because I think I have figured out the video upload!

The kids had several awards assemblies this week, but Kyle's took us by big surprise! We got an invitation telling us Faith and Kyle would be receiving awards, but Kyle won 2! He was awarded Academic Achievement and Kid with Character of the Year!! Here is with his teacher.

Faith was also awarded the Academic Achievement award! We were so proud of both of them!
This is sort of blurry and dark, but Todd looked so cute as he watched the kids getting their awards.
And just a few more Ozark nature shots... this moth is HUGE! The board he is sitting on is 6 inches wide, and he is sideways to fit on it! I know those markings are made to look like eyes to scare away predators, but they would even scare me if I saw them looking at me unexpectedly... lol
Tipsy had four kittens the other night... two matching sets! They are getting so big plump already. Scarfy also had her kittens last night, but I don't have any photos yet.
I do love the ponies. There has been at least one pony a week born across the street from us. These little painted ponies are my favorite, and right now there are two of them frolicking in the pasture. I love sitting on the front porch and watching them!
This was almost an accidental shot... I was looking at the mama horse and framing her, and when I saw the shot I saw her baby asleep in front of her, and the pony's dad in the corral behind her. Family photo!

I am off to load the videos now! talk at ya soon!

I love this band!!

I have been eagerly waiting for Bon Jovi's new CD to be released. I love the first song, Wanna Make a Memory, and can't wait to hear the rest. You can watch the video here if you would like to.

We have been running all week... awards ceremonies, assemblies, musical performances, parties, games, and more. I have photos to get uploaded tomorrow, and if I can finally figure it out, I will have some videos to share too showing you Kyle's big awards night!

The Luck of the Irish

Todd is a leprechaun at heart. There is nothing that makes him happier right now than to put on one of my Celtic CD's, and then with his hands carefully grasping his waist, he will leap and jump around the front room to show me how well he has mastered his "leprechaun dancing."


Last Saturday I took Todd to see the Irish Dancers at the Crawdad Festival. He was so excited, and kept talking about all the different things he could teach the dancers to do. The conversation turned to nicknames, and I told him that mine is Lucky, just like the Lucky Charms leprechaun. Todd thought about it and said, "That is going to be my name from now on, too." "Why?" I asked him, "Do you have the luck of the Irish?"


He looked at me sternly, and with the deepest of convictions he replied, "No, I AM the luck of the Irish." (May 18, 2007)

Inspired Me

I have to wait until my copy of the new Photoshop shows up before I can do anymore work on my digi stuff, so I took last night after everyone went to sleep and did something I have wanted to do for a while. I started a blog for things that inspire me, touch me, or mean something to me somehow. I have been collecting poems, songs, essays, etc for years, so I am working to get those up there and add new things as they come along. Now I have to go back through this blog and gather up the quotes and things I have posted here and copy them over there so it is all in one spot.

My Inspired World

Feel free to stop by if you would like to!

weekend fun

I wanted to show you this moth that was hanging out on our bug zapper the other day. I wish I had had something next to him to show how big it is. At first I thought a leaf had gotten stuck up there, but leaves don't have antennas... lol. This guy was huge... about 7 inches long from face to the end of his tail or feet or whatever it is that looks like a stem.

The high school had its awards ceremony the other night, and Jessica received two awards; one for academic excellence in government and one for being on the A honor roll all year. We are so proud of her!

Kyle's baseball team is still undefeated and well on their way to winning the whole season. They took team pictures yesterday, and this is just what I caught from the side. Kyle has improved phenomonally since he first started! He is hitting the ball almost everytime he is up to bat, and hitting it really well! Faith had her first game this week as well, and they also won their game. The schedule is a little crazy, but I do love seeing all my athletes in action!

Yesterday we took the kids to the Crawdad Days Festival. The festival itself isn't that big and doesn't have tons to offer, but we still had so much fun. It was just really nice to spend the day out with the kids.

These aren't my crawdads... a lady behind me in line had this plate of them, and I asked if I could take a picture of her food... lol. She offered me one, but I politely refused... I jsut can't put them in my mouth... lol.
This was actually taken right before we headed home to get Kyle to his game on time. By then everyone was some shade of pink from the sun, but we were still in pretty good spirits!
I just really liked these two shots of Matt and Jessica. I liked them better in black and white, though. It is really hard to get pictures of Matt with nice expressions on his face, so I am printing this one to frame.

There were 264 pictures from the carnival rides on my camera... I thought I would just share some of them... :0) Kyle, Matt, and Chet had fun climbing the rock wall, and then Matt tried his hand at climbing the rope. It was a lot harder than any of them expected! The rest of the pictures are from the rest of the rides.

The younger kids have an awards ceremony this week, plus there are games and other events happening, so I will be back on sooner with new updates. I finally have my new computer set up to make it easier to upload photos and get them posted, so my updates should be more regular now! I have some new digi stuff coming, too... so stay tuned! :0)

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Mother's Day! Mine has been very, very nice. I am just spending the day with Jack and the kids, and we are in the process of cooking dinner right now. Here are some snapshots we took earlier, trying to get at least one of me with each of the kids, and some with Jack.

Mom.... I love you and I miss you. I wish we could be together today. ((hugs))

Breathe in, breathe out

It has been a long, long week. One of those weeks where nothing quite seems to go exactly right. I just want to say that I am so glad it is over!!

However, there were some positives. Todd had fun playing at the baseball fields, and kept asking me to take his pictures.

You are probably tired of seeing my sunset shots, but I just loved the pretty colors in this one. I caught this one at the ballfields the other night. We pretty much live there now. Kyle and his team are on a major winning streak... six games into the season and they haven't lost a single game! I have a video clip I am going to put up as soon as I figure out how!

Faith and the rest of the 3rd graders had a musical performance on Sunday, so we went to watch her. She was so excited about the whole thing! All of the third graders wrote books this year, and the books were all on display on the tables. As soon as she gets to bring hers home I will scan it in and share it with you. She dedicated her book to her dad, so I made sure to get a shot of them together with it.
She also spent some time reading the book to Beth, who was thrilled to see she was a part of the story.
Here she is with some of her classmates singing her songs. The kid just loves being onstage!

I don't know about all of you, but the big topic of discussion around here the last few months for the boys has been the anticipated release of Spiderman 3. There was no way Todd would be able to stand waiting to see it on DVD, and Matt was pretty antsy to see it too, so the two of them went with Tony and Jessica to see it. Todd wore his Spidey shirt, his Spidey mask, his Spidey shoes, and practiced all his best Spidey moves before they left. He had an absolute blast!!

I need to get Jessica to take some pictures of us, but Jack and I had our 12th anniversary this week as well. Time goes by so fast! Happy anniversary, Jack... love you!

Take me out to the ballgame...again and again and again!

We have spent a lot of time at the baseball fields this week, and there is lots more to come! Beth was really excited about her practice until the other people actually got there. Then her shy-girl persona kicked in and she wanted very little to do with anyone! She did get up and bat on her own after some coaxing, but Jack had to be with her all the way around the bases and out in outfield.

By the time the other kids batted and she was due to run home, she was done. She ws the only little one out there who was carried home... lol.

I showed you the sunset in my backyard the other day. This is a sunset view from my front yard. I love seeing the sun sink over the Ozarks!

I tried to get some new pictures of the kids the other day, but it wasn't a good day for pictures. Next time I need more time so we are all a lot more relaxed about it. I thought some of them had some funny expressions in this one, though!

Kyle's first game was Monday night, and his team won 6-1. He has two more games this week.

We were able to back the pick-up to the field, and Jack and the kids just sat in the bed of the truck to watch the game. I am not sure exactly what Beth was doing here... lol

I started a new job this week, and got through the training a lot faster than they expected. I am starting my regular shift tomorrow.

My external harddrive crashed with all of my kit files, my paid clipart, and all of my photoshop files and plug-ins. That is so frustrating! It is only a month old, and I was literally getting ready to sit down and back-up the files for the month when it went down. Hopefully I will have enough replaced in the next few days to start a new set!

If you don't already know, Bon Jovi will be performing on American Idol tonight. I was so sad that I missed it last night when Jon was coaching them, but I will be watching tonight!