Baseball

This was Daniel's first day of practice so I had to dress him in our favorite team! It's exciting to see how much he's improved! At the beginning of the season he had a hard time catching a ball and throwing was very erratic. Now in just a few months he can play catch with you easily and throws a ball that I can catch. Batting before was done by tossing to him and he did pretty well at that, but hitting off the tee took some getting used to. Now he's hitting from one end of the front yard to the other, not just hitting the ball that dribbles off the tee. Wow!

Our first game and Daniel is just waiting to bat.

Coach Eric places the ball to hit. (This was our most recent game.) What a joy that Daddy is able to coach his team. We have a wonderful head coach and he and Eric make a great coaching team.

Coach Eric is usually at first base instructing the boys on base-running.

Daniel awaits his turn in the field.

Good job boys!

High five couz!

From the first practice to his most recent game Daniel has loved, and I mean LOVED baseball! Almost everyday Eric will bat or throw with him and I sometimes get a chance to chime in a few pointers and throws. I love it and so does Daniel. I'm so proud of him because he really initiates practice and loves it! He's determined and works hard to do his best. I love to see these qualities in him and it's great to share a love of the game. Take me out to the ball-game!

Memorial Weekend

Can you guess what we did for Memorial Weekend???? We played in the snow!!!!

We couldn't believe it was snowing in the mountains and since the kids haven't seen it snow before we thought, why not?! They've played in the snow, but to see snowflakes was something completely different! I can't say I showed the kids how to catch snowflakes on their tongue because as soon as we got out of car their mouths were open with faces to the sky. It must be something God has pre-programed into all of us.

It was pretty wet snow and coming down fast.

This little blanket of snow was happening before our eyes!

Here's my big-hearted snowflake girl!

We had a snowball fight and with Daniel in baseball now his arm and aim is getting good!

We even had our resident photographer with us to take our picture. (After the third picture he said, "This will be the last one." He really wanted to play!)

After our snow adventure we decided to stop for the most expensive hot chocolate I've ever had and as you can see it was worth every penny for the smiles that it brought. We didn't want to end our fairytale day and so added a picnic pizza lunch on a log in the "forest" as Daniel called it. Eric was even able to fish close by and although he didn't catch anything, it was a perfect ending to a Winter Wonderland Journey.

Ellie Girl

Most of you have probably been wondering where I have been. No place but here! :-) The kids are growing so fast. I wanted to post some pictures from around the house of Ellie. She's getting so big!

Happy Birthday Daniel!

The next few posts will probably be about Daniel's b-day since we've just finished our celebrations. Daniel had been counting the days until his birthday and we were very excited to share with so many friends and family. Daniel received so many calls and this year was the first year he knew why they were calling. Every time he had a HUGE grin on when each person wished him a Happy Birthday. Uncle Jeff and and Kitty started it all off by calling midnight their time on the day of his birthday so the celebration even started a day early for Daniel!

We went as a family to an arcade/mini golf place and played skee ball, rode cars, and even raced in the Daytona 500. Daniel really wanted to wear his special birthday hat from school so everyone knew he was the birthday boy!

Beep! Beep! Ellie can't look.

"Watch out!" says Luke. "I still can't look!" says Ellie.

We're ready for the Daytona 500 to begin!

Rain, Rain and More Rain

A few weeks back we had a major storm that did some damage like blowing down both gates and breaking seven fence posts. Six of the seven down spouts were plugged. We had a mini lake in our front yard. A roof tile flew off and smashed just in front of the truck and with every gust of wind you could see and feel the roots of our largest tree coming out of the ground. To top all of that off we had our own indoor drip system. Unfortunately, the water was coming through our kitchen window soaking our counter and the shelf below the window. Not exactly the drip system anyone really wants!


Eric ended up getting sent home early from work and saved our tree by cutting some major branches to keep it from falling over. He also had to create a make-shift shelter to stop the rain from pouring in, literally; and he dug a drain to keep our lake from getting any bigger. All of this and Daniel really felt a need to help. Never wanting to dampen that enthusiasm and since he had new rain boots and coat, I dressed both Luke and Daniel up and sent them out in the crazy weather.
Daniel lasted the longest helping Daddy by grabbing a tool or wood. Ellie didn't have rain boots like her brothers, but she got her coat on anyway and watched through the window. Thankfully we never lost power like some did and we feel very blessed to have come away with so little damage comparably. Everything but one gate has been fixed and we're back to our same old happenings. Hopefully there will be more pictures to come this year.