Turkey Day and Birthday Boy

Before Christmas day is knocking on my door I had better make some comments about Thanksgiving and Daryle's Birthday. 

 

Before I begin I have to tell you how Thaksgiving Day started.  Connor runs into our bedroom shouting, "HAPPY CHICKEN DAY!!!"  That was an awesome way to start "Turkey Day"!

 

We had my parents and Red Truck Grandpa over for Chicken Day Thanksgiving Dinner. It is great because we divide up our favorite dishes and it all comes together great. I wanted to baste my turkey and discovered I was missing part of the baster.  Daryle couldn't find one at the store (he ran there to pick up a few last minute items) so I quick called my mom.  She had one but wouldn't be at my house for a good 30 minutes or so.  When she got there I took out my turkey... and it was completely cooked!  I thought it looked pretty perfect so I got out my camera to take a picture. It was DELICIOUS even though I didn't baste it until it was done! 

 Daryle's birthday was on Sunday.  Connor LOVES to write all of his letters and numbers.  He is actually getting pretty good at it too.  I told him the letters to write on Daryle's card but other than that he wrote this all on  his own.  He did a pretty good job.  After I took this shot I told him to open up his eyes.....

 So this is what I got next!  Silly kid! He was so proud of his work!

 Happy Birthday Daddy!  Be glad we didn't stick on all 42 candles on  your cake this year!!

Wishing many, many years of happiness to a wonderful husband and fabulous father.  We love you! (Even if you are getting old and having to go in for "fun" tests on your aging body!!  I know it stinks but we want you to stay healthy!!)

Fun Times

 

November has already begun to fly right by us.  When we went to California in October we helped Grandpa pack up some of his things and bring them down here to Arizona.  One of his "treasures" is a quad he bought ages ago... way back in the Eeiigghhties....surprisingly it is still in great shape.  One trip to a mechanic and it is running as good as new.  Of course my boys had to take it for a spin. Connor looks very thrilled in this picture, however, he was terrified to ride it when it was turned on.  Funny kid.  Daryle was in heaven, reliving parts of his youth so to speak.  (I must confess, even I went for a little ride and enjoyed every second!)

 With all of the baseball and t-ball games we have had around here the grandparents have been over at our house quite a bit.  Connor LOVES playing games with Grammy!  She will play anything with him, she is such a good sport too.  When they go to her house they like to play Bingo. Connor likes to be "the caller" and according to my mom he is able to read every number correctly.

That would be 1 to 99. Pretty good!  Connor has also been going with my mom to visit my grandma on Saturdays.  Last Saturday Connor asked my mom, "Grammy, when I am old and can't get out much will you pick me up and take me out to get a little bite to eat?" He's too cute sometimes.

 This week Travis has his class music program at school. This year he was a worm.  All of the kids did a great job, the music was awesome and the theme was super cute. 

 And then there is Petey. He has gone from a small cute puppy......

to a big dog who likes to take over the couch when nobody is looking! (Or should I say when Mom is not looking... Daddy is such a sucker for those puppy dog eyes!)

Where does the time go? I have no idea. For now I am just trying to live in the moment and cherish these times with my family before they are all grown up. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and  yours!



No, We Didn't Skip Halloween!

Halloween is Daryle's absolute favorite holiday. He loves dressing up, getting costumes for the kids, carving the pumpkin, and taking the kids out for trick-or-treating.  This year was no different!  Since Connor is getting older, he is able to do more things. Such as sticking his hand in the pumpkin to "take out the guts"!  (Look at that smile....)

 Travis still does not like that job at all.  (Every year we feel the need to remind him how he threw up when he was 3 from the smell.) Poor kid will probably never live that one down!  Travis always draws what kind of face he wants on the pumpkin. Here is the designer hard at work.

 Tah-dah!  Finished product.

 This year we went to the local pumpkin patch and since we bought one of the biggest pumpkins they let the  boys each  pick out a small one for "free".  Travis decided to try and carve his.  The problem is he got a little "cutting happy" should we say. He didn't know when to stop.  Eventually he decided to stick it in the mouth of the big jack-o-lantern....

 So this is what we had on the lawn.  A bloody, pumpkin eating jack-o-lantern in our yard!  (Why do boys love the blood and gore aspects so much???  I am all about the cutesy parts of Halloween but am surrounded by boys who love the gross things!!  LOL)

 Here is the crew, ready for a fun night out. Travis was supposed to be a zombie baseball player, but decided he didn't want any make-up on this year. Connor made a great little Storm Trooper!  And as for Daryle... he seems to keep adding to his Pimp attire. This year he added the hat along with the wig.  He always makes us laugh! It is great to see him having so much fun along with the kiddos.

 So this one will probably be in the yearly calendar for the grandparents. (Which reminds me, I had better get started on that pretty soon!)  Grammy got the boys those cool bags from Disney World in Florida. They even lit up which was pretty neat.

 How much candy did he eat to get teeth like this??

 Look at all of that loot.... crazy!! It's a good thing Travis shares.....

Things have been pretty busy around here. Fall always seems to be like that.  This weekend our weather is finally cooling down and it finally feels like fall is in the air. Daryle is making his famous chili for dinner tonight and we invited the grandparents over to enjoy it with us. 

Even though MANY things in the election this past week did not go as I had hoped ( I don't know what Arizona is thinking when it comes to funding for education..... along with other things...) I am trying to focus on the positives and the many, many things I have to be thankful for in my life.

Happy November to you and your family!

Orphan Sunday

After reading around and lurking on various blogs this morning I came across a couple of things that really seemed to hit me.  First of all, I have been so busy  with my own hectic life that I forgot that the first Sunday in November is Orphan Sunday and that November is Adoption Awareness Month.  Secondly, I came across this quote from another adoption blog.  (I loved it and had to share, I hope they don't mind!)

 

“We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes…” – David Platt

Those words are powerful.

 

On another blog I came across this video.  It is not very long, if you have a few moments please take a few minutes to watch it.

 

 

After watching this I feel compelled to help and do something. I really, really want to help with this project. I don't know right now what I am going to do or how I am going to do it.  But there is one thing I know for sure, I am going to help with this project in some way.  I can't stop thinking about it. I feel the need to share about this project and hope that others are touched the way I have been touched.     

Champions!

Yesterday was one crazy day filled with baseball for our family.  Connor started the day with a t-ball game at 8 in the morning.  He decided to start playing again (for two games he refused to play in the game...such a stubborn little guy!) since his dad was able to come to the game AND he helped out the coach. Connor was in heaven.  He had his "Coach Daddy" at last. He had two awesome hits and did a fabulous job in the game. He was so excited when the coach gave him the game ball at the end of the game. He was sooo excited, you would have thought he won the lottery! Well, to him he did actually!  Of course I didn't have my camera, but I can assure you he looked very cute walking around showing everybody his ball.  He said, "LOOK!  I GOT THIS GAME BALL BECAUSE I SHOWED UP! OH, AND I PLAYED VERY HARD TOO!!!"  It was pretty cute. 

 

After that game it was time for Travis' Halloween Tournament to start.  The league puts all of the kids names who want to play into a hat. The coaches pull out names and form a team with those kids.  Travis was lucky, his name got pulled out for the same team as his friend Jon.  The first game was at 9:30. I couldn't stay because I already had a hair appointment that I needed to keep.  His team won very easily. However, the last play of the game Travis and two others had a collision. Daryle told me Travis' nose hit another kids head.  Travis came up with blood everywhere. The visual he gave me was, "Travis' hands looked like he skinned his first deer......"  UGH. I am glad I wasn't there, I think I might have had a panic attack with that much blood!  The team got to go home and rest up before the next game at 1:30.  I went to that game AND I brought my camera. That game was so boring, I think we won 22-1 or something like that.  I didn't even take out my camera at all.  After two wins we were headed to the championship game at 7:00.  Of course I forgot my camera. (Thank goodness Jon's mom at least had her phone and she sent me these pictures from the end of the game).  We actually played the team we had beat at 9:30 that morning.  This was a nail biter for sure!!  For most of the game we were a little bit behind.  At one point they scored several runs in a row.  All of a sudden we see that one of the coaches is protesting something. I found out later that Daryle (he was just a helper coach) noticed that one of their runners never touched Third base. Ooops. That means every run after that didn't count. Boy oh boy was the other team MAD!!  The ump also saw it but didn't say anything until we protested it.  He was willing to let it go but since we saw it and protested it and the ump saw it too the runs didn't count. Wow. This was serious business. Even the ump turned to us at one point and said, "Geez, this is like the World Series!"  My stomach was tied up in knots!  This game took 2 hours to complete.  The tension was crazy.  I forget which inning, but yes, Travis hit a home run!!!   We were behind by 3 and that helped catch us up a bit.  He hit that home run right out to left field, amazing!!  We thought it was going to be a triple but then the coach sent him on and can you believe Travis made it to home plate about 1 second before the ball made it?????  OH.MY.GOSH!  Talk about STRESS!! In the final inning we were down by 1 run and had two outs with the bases loaded.  This one kid hit the ball out to right field and hit in one runner to tie it up and the next runner to win, there were two more behind them but they never even crossed the plate because we had WON THE GAME!!!  It was one amazing finale!  We are so proud of these boys, they played their little hearts out. This is the first time Travis has actually won a trophy, and first place at that!  Woot, woot!

I just love this one. I tried to crop this but those camera phones aren't always the best quality.  I am just thankful to have some pics that capture the memories!

Coach Dad and Travis... very proud!

And boys will be boys!!

What an exhausting day! I am so proud of the team, they did an awesome job.  I am glad they won too.  Thank goodness we have time today to rest a bit and get some chores done around the house.  Being a Baseball Mom is hard work!  

Road Trip

For the past two weeks the boys and I have been on Fall Break. I love having two weeks off during this time of year. I am especially loving the cooler temperatures!  Fall is for sure my most favorite season of the year.  During our first few days of break we just lounged around, did some cleaning, baked some cookies, went to baseball games/practices, went to the dentist as well as other doctor appointments.  Basically, we got a lot of rest around here.  (And once again, my boys are cavity free!  Yay!)  Petey has been getting a lot of attention around here since we have been home during the day. He is getting pretty big, he will be 1 in December. He is such a gentle sweetheart.  He just likes to chew, a lot.  I hope he grows out of that before he eats our entire backyard! 

 

On Thursday of our first week off we boarded an airplane and took off for Santa Rosa.  We were only there for 2 days.  We came, we conquered grandpa's garage, we found some treasures in the back bedroom, we loaded up a trailer, and we took off on our own road trip to Disneyland.  Before we left though I had to take a few pictures of our time.  This was what grandma saw when she opened up her freezer. The night before Connor had put his ice cream in the freezer for later because he was full.  Silly boy!

He also found his own knife. Don't worry, it is a child safe one that doesn't even have a sharp edge.  But don't tell him that! He thinks this is serious business having his own knife to cut up his waffle.

On Sunday morning we got up bright and early to hit the road.  It was about a 7 hour drive from Santa Rosa to Anaheim.  Daryle wanted to be on the road by 7 and we were on the road at 7:30. Not too bad.

We wasted no time at all checking into our hotel and catching the shuttle bus over to California Adventure.  See the excited faces???

 When we arrived there was a parade going on. It was awesome, of course. Disney always goes above and beyond with all of their productions. Here is Connor on his first Disney ride, I think that look about says it all!!

The new Cars Land is AMAZING!!  Travis was so skeptical about this ride, thinking it was for "little kids". The look on his face was priceless when it started swinging us around. He wanted to go again. Lucky for him we got to because some other little girl got scared and jumped into her mom's lap so they stopped us a bit early.  We all got to stay on and go again! It was a lot of fun. (That is Daryle and Connor waving at us.)

Exploring Radiator Springs.

There is an awesome ride in there. We didn't get to go on it though.  It was over a 2 hour wait and we wanted to see more of the park. I am sure we will be back another time and the line will be shorter in a few **years**.

Travis couldn't stop talking about the roller coaster ride.  With that look you would have thought he rode the ride. No, he didn't quite get up the nerve. Next time maybe.

Connor just loves the carousel rides... Thank goodness there was one at each park!

That night we stayed until 11, we closed the place down.  If you ever get the chance to see their World of Color evening production DO IT! The word "Spectcular" doesn't even seem to do it justice.  The next morning we woke up bright and early again and headed to Disneyland.  We saw  MICKEY himself!!!  I was so excited! Other than that, we didn't really see any other characters that day. It was so busy there, quite crazy actually.

 

One of the favorite rides for both boys was the Autotopia ride where they "drive" their own cars.  A voice from this speaker was telling the rules.  At the end he said, "OK, drive safely!" To which Connor speaks into the speaker and says, "OK, I will!!"  Too cute.

 I think Travis will be a good driver one day. He takes this job very seriously. Here it looks like he is asking for directions or something.

 Connor had a harder time keeping his eyes on the actual road... it was a little on the bumpy side.... but we still made it out just fine!

 Connor wanted a churro to help pass the time in line. I think it is as big as he is!

 Travis made a purchase with his money, a Mickey Mouse baseball hat.

 So, the next major ride we all went on together was Splash Mountain.  Connor was nervous the whole time.  We kept telling him it would be OK,  he might get a little wet and there was one part that was a little scary but in the end he would love it.  After waiting in line for an hour we finally got to the top of the ride.  Daryle told Connor that when he got off the ride he was going to say, "That was so awesome!!"  So we piled in the log, Travis in front (he wanted to get wet), then Daryle, then Connor, then me ( had my arms wrapped so tight around Connor, I didn't want him to fly out!)  We were floating around and Connor was absolutely LOVING it. Then we started going up, one click at a time, all the way to the top. I could feel his little heart racing twenty miles a minute.  DOWN, DOWN, DOWN  we went, SPLASH!!!  Connor cried and cried. Then our log was stopped. It seemed like we were there forever, although it was probably just a few minutes.  He calmed down and we finished out the ride.  Connor was happy again until it was time to climb out of the ride. He started crying again. He crossed his arms and said in a strong, stubborn voice, "You should NOT make little kids go on that ride!!!  Dad, that was so NOT awesome!!!"  We had to chuckle a bit.  He was so funny.  Although he claims to have not liked the ride, it is all he talks about these days.  I felt bad that they were both soaking wet and the sun had gone down so against my better judgement I bought them both a shirt.  They were not cheap.  I am a sucker, I know.  But they do look pretty cute!

 It got dark and I didn't take many more pictures.  Daryle did take Connor back to the hotel a little earlier and Travis and I stayed until the very last minute.   The two of us closed the park down.  The ride home to AZ was uneventful.  Well, as uneventful as driving 6 hours in the car with tired, grumpy children can be.  Later that evening this is how I found Connor on the couch. Sound asleep.  With his toy gun from Adventure Land snug in his hand.

Over all we had a nice time. The lines were long, the weather was good, watching Travis figure out that things were pretend was entertaining.  As always, the rides and performances didn't disappoint. I was glad that when we got home on Tuesday that I still had a few days left of break to decompress from our whirlwind trip.  Thanks for the memories Disney! 

Competition

I have to start by saying I am not a very competitive person. Unless I am competing at something I know I can win.  Something I know I am good at.  That is when I start to "talk smack" so to speak.  On that note, I must say that I am not a competitive ATHLETE.  Never have been. Never will be.  I am not great at any sport. I played some soccer and softball when I was younger, but it was mostly for the social aspects. Hanging out with my friends was fun, the exercise was an added benefit. For me, it was never about winning. 

 

Now I am a mom.  To two boys.  Two athletic boys. Two athletic, competitive boys.  As a bonus my husband is the same way.  (Or at least he was athletic in his younger days... don't tell him I said that though!)  Anyway, my world is being rocked a little bit lately.  This competitive society (in regards to team sports) we live in is starting to get to me.

 

Travis has played baseball in our local Little League organization for 4 years.  Now both boys are playing in our local Pony Baseball organization.  We have been in this for about a month now.  In all of the sports Travis has played (soccer, baseball, and basketball) I have NEVER seen anything like what I saw on Saturday. 

 

We showed up for Connor's 9:30 am T-BALL game. Mind you, these kids are supposed to be ages 4-6 (6 only if they have never played t-ball before). However, if you sign a waiver you can play if you are 3. So, we have 2  players on our team that are 3. OK, that's fine. The first two games were evenly matched.  Keep in mind there are only 4 t-ball teams in the league.  As we are watching the first inning of this game I notice that the other team's players look significantly bigger than our players.  One parent made a comment about this. Then another parent (who is also a board member of this league) gets all upset and goes to get the rule book.  She makes a big scene pointing to the fact that 6 year olds are allowed to play t-ball. The other parent was disgusted and said she didn't ask to see the rules, she was only making a comment that the other team looked much older than our team.  It was a heated exchange.   Holy moly.  I had to double check where I was, this was a t-ball game, right??  Then the board member parent comes over and sits near me (only because I was sitting by her friend) and I ask what is going on. I was informed that the team we were playing is a team of all 6 year olds. They have played together for 4 seasons, which is 2 years. My response was, "Why are they still playing t-ball then?  Shouldn't they move up in the league?"  That woman about bit my head off saying, "Well, they have a four year old on the team!!!!"  Oh.  I see.  In my mind the team moves up and signs a "waiver" for the little one or the little one stays back while the others move up. It is sad to watch little three and four year olds be out run by 6 year olds.  The  6 year olds played the same position each inning.  They made plays. They ran fast.  It made me sick inside. Really, this was t-ball??  And if you have ever watched a t-ball game I think you would agree with me in saying.... What parent would want to sit through that for 4 seasons watching the SAME KID????????  (Meaning, it's different than watching your other kids play for the first time.) 

 

Anyway, I couldn't believe how these women were contradicting themselves.  First they were saying (towards the other mom who commented on the size of the players) that "this was just for the kids to have fun". I agreed with them. In my mind it is all about having a good time.  Then I said, "Yes, but I am looking at the team we are playing and it seems they ARE out here only to win." To which they said to me, "Oh, yes they are!  That's true! This is my neighbor's team, we know them.  That is how my older son's team was and they won the State Championship 4 times!"  Say what?   I wasn't aware of a State Championship for t-ball.  Then I said, "And their team has played the same positions the whole game." Board member says to me, "Well they aren't supposed to."  To which I said, "Well, they did." End of game. I got in the last word. Maybe I am somewhat competitive. Just not athletically.

 

I have to say that board member has said many other things to me that make my blood boil. She heard that my husband made a comment on Facebook that was negative about the league rules.  Then she tried to "friend" him on FB. He has never even met her before.  I also overheard her say to our team mom, "I am going to send an email to you about this age thing. I just want to be a b***h."  I was in shock. I try to stay away.  I am surprised she continues to speak to me at all.  I have also found that since I turned 40 I say things to people that I never would have said before. I used to bite my tongue more often.  Oh well. Maybe I am more competitive than I thought.  Or maybe I am just a fierce Mama Bear!

 

Things have been quite intense at Travis' games as well. However, he is 9 so I expect there to be more competition going on.  The other team intentionally walked one of our little guys because he is big and they were afraid he would get a big hit.  That was weird to watch.  The redeeming part was that the next kid got a hit and Travis scored the winning run!  (Travis had an awesome hit before the walk.  Me, competitive??  I guess it depends on the situation. Ha.)  The thing about this league is they play by major league rules.  No matter what the age.  OK, I say let's chalk this up to a learning experience for us all. I am going to enjoy the remaining games. I know it won't be easy, but I think it will help if I stay away from the crazy board member!   

 

I just hope I don't get an ulcer... or a sore tongue because sometimes I just need to be quiet...

 

One mom I am friends with told me we should pitch this idea for a reality series.... Baseball Parents Gone Crazy!  After seeing some of the stuff on TV lately, I think this would fit right in. lol

 

But seriously, if I get an ulcer I will know why.