Baseball

Talk about a clever title!!!! Oh well, as it suggests, it's about the recently finished baseball season.

Camden and Emerson were on the same team. Emerson was now old enough to move up to Minors where the boys actually do the pitching. Of course he was nervous and of course he started the season at the VERY end of the batting order (after all he WAS the youngest on the team). 

Camden actually started the season 2nd last in the batting order because the boys could never go to the first 4 weeks of practices. It was too bad all the practices were scheduled on Sundays but I was proud of the boys for having the courage and talk to the coach about how we keep the Sabbath Day.

Pretty soon the boys showed their worth during their twice-a-week games (fall season is SO laid back). Camden moved right on up the batting order and a few times being the only person that hit the ball on their team that game.

(Did I mention the fall-ball minor league pitchers stink?)

Here is Camden....

He actually had such a good season and I was glad it built his confidence up for spring ball when it gets all hard-core again. Camden was their best pitcher (actually pitching it where people could HIT the ball) and played short and catcher. Watching him play catcher is actually my favorite though. His little catcher's stance is so cute.

Then. There's. Emerson.......

He is just hilarious. One game we found him like this......

He had never put the black under his eyes before so I'm not sure if he didn't KNOW it didn't go on like a raccoon or if he did it on purpose. Either explanation wouldn't surprise me with Emerson.

He really is so funny. He surprised us all with fielding SO well that he ended up in the infield most of the time. (He looks so little compared to everyone else)

Here he is game-ready playing first.

But there is something I didn't warn the coach about....... Emerson is AWFULLY dramatic when he plays sports.

When he gets beaned with a ball being pitched at him he crumbles on the floor and needs to be escorted to first base. (while some people clap for the "wounded")

But the BEST Emerson-moment was when he was playing short stop (emphasis on the "short"). I was watching so first I will tell you what happened, and then I will tell you what Emerson said happened:

My version (and everyone else watching for that matter):

Emerson was playing short and a ball was hit to him. He ran up to get the grounder and ended up colliding with the runner that was running to third and THERE he fell on the ground. Motionless. The ball ended up getting past him.

HIS version:

He was playing short and a ball was hit to him and caught a really high bounce. He jumped up really high to get it and the helmet of the runner hit Emerson's shin and knocked him down. 

Please visualize that in your head.....one of the smallest kids on the field jumped up HIGH enough that his SHIN would be the same level as the runner's helmet.....ON HIS HEAD!!!!

Regardless of what happened Emerson was laying on the field and wouldn't get up. I KNEW he was fine just because I know Emerson but no one else did. So everyone started yelling, "TAKE A KNEE!!!" Before I knew it BOTH teams were on their knees hoping the short stop was okay. The coaches ran out and were hovering around him. It took FOREVER for him to get up, but true-to-his-dramatic-flare he got up and of course, played on as short stop as if nothing happened.

I asked him about it after and said, "Emerson, you weren't really that hurt so why didn't you just get up and not stop the game for so long." He answered, "Well, I would've looked STUPID if I got up after falling down to go and get the ball because I missed it!" Then Camden chimed in and said, "No, I think it looked MUCH more stupid to lie on the ground and not move."

That kid.

Baseball is a big deal around here though. Poor Royce isn't old enough to play tball yet but it doesn't mean he doesn't dress in baseball pants, cleats, belt every day. You know.....just to prepare for next year.

I kid you not. He wears them ALL the time.

I don't let him wear them to the games because they are so stained and dirty and I like my kids to look respectable......obviously.......because this is what he wore instead to the baseball game. If this isn't respectable I don't know what is.

And speaking of Royce the poor kid underwent TWO sedated dentist visits this month and was a trooper!

Of course he did fall dead afterward and napped for about 6 hours after both times on the couch, but I think we are done with the dentist for a while. Phew.

Girlie Birthdays

So much for not overlapping any of my kids' birthdays in the same month....... October has TWO of my girlies birthdays. :)

My sweet, endearing and ever-so-high-maintenance Kellyn turned 2 on October 5th.

TWO!!!!!!

(I love that she is still wearing the seashell necklace Aleeya made her while we were at the beach the week before this picture was taken. Aleeya pretty much makes necklaces out of everything. If you are missing something is will be attached to a string around someone's neck)

Lucky for me Kellyn has absolutely ZERO clue what a birthday is and ZERO expectations......

which is why it kinda crept up on me. I mean, I KNEW her birthday was coming and I knew I had an extra cake mix in the cupboards, so I didn't think to worry much more then that.

Come October 5th (Sunday) we were watching General Conference and she was eating a mango (her favorite) and the boys said, "Are you eating that mango for your birthday?" Of course she nodded because she nods after EVERYTHING we say.

(notice the pedometer necklace around her neck this time. Aleeya went above and BEYOND with that particular necklace)

Then I realized it was time to pull out the cake mix and make some zebra cupcakes (that's what the cakebox said...."zebra". I don't usually name my baked goods after animals)

Kellyn, of course was excited to get cake (as always) but when we started singing to her the birthday song, she looked awfully confused. After we finished she held up her hands in a "book" position and asked us to sing "Book of Mormon Stories". She had no idea why we were standing around singing that OTHER song when we should be singing her favorite song. a haha

Kellyn was perfectly fine with her cupcakes but the older kids asked when I was going to give her her present! (Oh man......um.......PRESENT?!?!? She doesn't need anything more then a pedometer necklace!!!! What more could a girl want?!?!)

Thankfully I had a present bin downstairs with an Easter bubble gun in it.

Bubbles are Kellyn's absolute (HANDS DOWN) favorite thing so she loved Royce shooting the bubbles at her. Kinda a win-win with two kids doing their favorite things (shooting and popping bubbles)

And to illustrate how much my ever-so-thoughtful gift meant to Kellyn she dropped the beetle that she had been carrying around all morning because she was SO excited over the bubbles.

Now THAT is true excitement.

So I think it's safe to say Kellyn had a great day......and subsequently, so did the beetle.

Aleeya-beeya turned 7 on the 17th!!!!

I remember when I had my ultrasound with her and when they told me I was having a girl (after 3 boys) I started crying. 

OUT. OF. FEAR!!!!! 

I sobbed to Brooks, "I do-on't know HOW to be a mo-om to a GIRRRRRL!!!!"

Turns out, I kinda like it. And I like her.....a lot 

(even all her newly found emotions)

Aleeya told me beforehand she wanted a soccer ball piñata......for obvious reasons. 

She is so easy to please.

I have awesome friends here. This might LOOK like my friend Holly, but it's really my angel-of-mercy. She came and dropped off her girl at Aleeya's party and then took my older three boys home with HER to play with her boy. Talk about SUPER helpful. 

Emerson RAN out of the door to give her a hug thanking her over and over for letting him come to her house........Aaaaaaaand it kinda looked like a man escaping his personal prison but I won't take offense. I'm choosing not to.

All Aleeya told me she wanted was ice-cream and brownies and a soccer ball piñata. Then, upon speaking to a friend of mine the day before her birthday I found out that Aleeya told HER that she was having a mermaid party. Ummm....okay.

So mermaids sitting on top of brownies and ice cream it is.

CLEARLY she is beyond thrilled.

The whole house was full of girls (besides Brooks and Royce) and Brooks and I couldn't stop laughing on how different it was. Around the table the girls were singing at the top of their lungs "Let It Go" and giggling. 6 months ago I had a table full of boys for Emerson's party while they were exchanging potty jokes and putting bunny-ears on each other.

The piñata whacking.....

On Aleeya's ACTUAL birthday we were in Myrtle Beach for the day.......not a bad way to wake up on your birthday.

So she got her presents from grandparents and junk box/present from us after some major swim-action.

The junk box is always the greatest hit with the kids.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FIRST GIRLIE. I love her.

And because I mentioned how easy Aleeya is to please I wanted to prove it with a little gem I saw at the Parent-Teacher-Conference I had last week. 

The teacher asked all the kids if they could go ANYWHERE in the world, where would it be and they had to write it down. I saw answers like the beach, Disneyworld, etc etc.

This was on Aleeya's balloon.....

"I wot to go to IHOP!"

Because we are classy like that.

There's a First for Everything

In September we did something we have never ever done before.......

hire a photographer for family pictures!!!!

It's always been a time-your-phone and we'll-take-two-pics-and-hopefully-one-will-work type of thing for us. Brooks wanted a family pic to blow up big on our wall and so obviously Brooks' phone camera wouldn't cut it. Plus, he gave me this for our anniversary.

Let me explain, I LOVE family pictures....but they seem to get out-of-date so fast!! And then they are missing like two of my kids before I know it! Anyway, this was kinda a treat for me so I immediately started thinking of outfits to coordinate and what colors....and I was seriously losing sleep. I'm not good at those types of things. I told Brooks I narrowed it down to a gray-blue-green-white coordinating outfits and he said, "Please don't tell me we are going to match!"

"Match?!? No way, COORDINATE is more like it!"

Then he told me I could do whatever I wanted but wouldn't it be kinda weird to see my family all matchy-matchy? And how when we look back on this picture we won't really SEE how the kids were in their clean/hand-picked clothes. Then he reminded me of the TEARS before our last family picture when I got us "coordinating" with moans of "I'm so UGLY!", "This is the worst outfit ever". 

He had a point.

He suggested that we just tell the kids we are having a family picture that we want to put up on our wall and they could wear whatever they wanted.

As SOON as he mentioned that it was like I felt FREE! It was SO perfect. So US!!!!! And so stress-free. It really made it more enjoyable for everyone. (and lucky me, I got to dress Kellyn and Everly in whatever I wanted!!!)

So yes, we let them pick what they wore.....and it definitely is ..... them.

My two favorite outfits had to have been Aleeya's and Royce's. 

Aleeya picked her mermaid (WITH FINS!!!!) sequin skirt......that apparently is see-through (which we didn't know until after the pics came back. Lovely.) She just thought she was so pretty!

And Roycey's boots. He wears his spiderman rain boots literally every day. They will forever symbolize Royce at this age for me.

We had the pictures done on a too-overcast day (our photographer , Kayla did wonders to lighten everything up) in downtown Greenville. Literally RIGHT in the middle of down there is a waterfall and this park area with all these trails. Brooks and I walk down there for our dates a lot and this place seemed perfect for my family because it will remind us of Greenville.

Kayla got some really cute ones of the girls alone, boys alone and then with us as parents. 

THE BOOTS!!!!!! I just love Royce in them so much!!!!

CLEARLY Brooks was making them laugh in this picture..... (cue the see-through skirt once more)

 I got some cute ones of each child but I'm posting a few that just captured another part of their personalities that I just love. 

Gosh, Emerson just has EVERYONE he meets loving him for obvious reasons. He is just so much. Just jammed packed with......Emerson.

 Yes, angel-face DOES in fact, have an extremely mischievous side to him.

Laughing at dad.....

When she sent me the proofs I just couldn't believe how much detail her camera actually picked up!!!  I saw this one and commented on how wonderful the detail was and how it even picked up the "smile wrinkles" (crows-feet) around my eyes!!!!

Then she said, "Oh, I can try to edit them out if you want me to."

To which I said, "DON'T YOU DARE!!!! I'm 33 years old and I worked HARD for those smile-lines!!!! " I actually love smile-wrinkles.

 It was tricky trying to keep the kids focused on the task at hand and not.....you know.....with the DUCKS!!!! (Emerson actually caught one)

Kayla had so many other good ideas on a family picture but by the time 45 minutes passed the kids were........done.......and I mean PUT-A-FORK-THEM!!!! Silly us for suggesting just Oooooooone more picture.

(I wish Kellyn and Iris could be more expressive sometimes you just NEVER know how they are feeling.......)

Then we walked back to the Yeti through downtown.........I'm sure no one noticed my family walking.....or the huge van horribly parked (by Brooks, I might add) and sticking out. (back-right of the picture)

But we survived and I'm SUPER glad we did it.

Now I just have to decide which full-family picture I like the best!!!!!

I CAN'T DECIDE!!!!!

Fun Run

This is our third year doing the Fun Run (their school's fundraiser) here.

This happened to be Iris' FIRST year......which meant she just kinda didn't get it and was mostly there for social reasons (as she always is anyway). Like when I pulled out my camera to take a picture she stops dead in her tracks and smiles.

She kinda became mildly obsessed with two things: her friend Kaylee (standing next to her) and the free water.

The PROBLEM is that Kaylee could care less about Iris. Iris was persistent though and would track her down like a cheetah tracks down a gazelle. She would run up to her side and grab Kaylee's hand.....after which Kaylee would grab another girl's hand and run off.

Here Iris is with her tongue out running to catch up to Kaylee. Iris doesn't take "no" for an answer.

In Iris' defense she actually has many MANY friends (since school is about socializing and NOT learning according to her) but she happened to target the playing-hard-to-get one this time.

Aleeya took the race VERY seriously. Partly because she loves to win and she wanted bragging rights to her brothers after school. I DID however get her to take a split second to turn around and smile at me.

She was the first one done with all 35 laps in the 1st grade. No surprise there.

Emerson, Emerson, Emerson......bless his heart.

The "pacing" lap at the first he kept trying to get up in the front and happened to trip. That little white-shirted boy falling down on the left is Emerson.

But he made up for it later to definitely complete his 35 laps AND do more just for fun. He of course did EVERY action to every song playing. If they said gallop, he did. Skip, he did. Anything to make it more silly? He did it.

The little white kid peeking between the two other kids in his class is my kid.

And Camden, who claims he's the fastest 4th grader in his class ("except for Owen Sweet because his legs grew longer then mine last summer") was hard to catch on camera. I think he completed 42 laps and was sprinting the whole way.

He loved showing off Everly to his classmates after.

Between the four kids and their four races we basically spent all morning/afternoon there, so it was a long morning. Worth it.....TOTALLY, after seeing their smiles when they saw me.......but my feet were still sore being on them after having been bit by ONE measly fire ant on my right foot the day before. My foot was throbbing and started to swell. (my body had inflammatory issues)

But speaking of their SCHOOL............... I know everyone has been wondering if I have heard from the school nurse in the first 8 weeks of school. I am HAPPY to report I have only heard from her 2 times this year over some "MAJOR" emergencies. 

(I'm SHOCKED.....pretty sure my family is on speed-dial there at the nurse's office)

The third day of school Emerson told his teacher he had a stomach ache and she said to go to the nurse. Emerson then said, "No, my dad said I can't go to the nurse unless I'm bleeding, throwing up or dying." FINALLY we are getting through to them. ;)

So with those rules drilled in their heads here are the 2 encounters with the school nurse.

Here is the voicemail she left the other week.....and I quote.....

"Camden was sent in. He has a scrape on his elbow. About a quarter size scrape. He has good motion, he wasn't crying or upset. I washed it out with cold water and soap and gave him cold compress with a bandaid. Now he is outside playing again, so I think he will be okay."

Phew.....because that was DEFINITELY a near death experience and worth calling during the baby's nap to wake her up with the phone call. Thank you for that. (To be fair and nice, the nurses there take their jobs VEEEEEERY seriously and are VERY thorough)

The next run-in was last week. She called to tell me Aleeya had a bloody nose (she didn't know how she got it. There was no bumping into anything or anyone.....I have a feeling a finger may have been involved.). Aaaaaaaanyway, she called to tell me that Aleeya had a lot of blood.... "about 70 CCs" (WHO REALLY KNOWS HOW MANY CCs is!?!?!) and that they gave her a new pair of clothes to pick and wear home. Of course Aleeya picked the brightest, non-matching thing they had, which happened to be the shortest shorts I've ever seen on my daughter, so that was kinda embarrassing for me, but whatever. Anyway, they had to send her other clothes home since they had all those CCs of blood on them.

This is how I received them....... in a "Hazardous Materials" bag.

Because a Walmart bag would've been too discrete. 

My fuel

You know as a mom or an all-around person when you feel like you are running on empty?

I have been getting the things I need to done (for the most part) but the fulfillment and peace and someone-is-aware-of-me feelings haven't been there are much lately and it's completely my fault for letting me run out of fuel.

Last weekend was a General Women's Conference that was broadcasted to millions of women who watched it. I mentioned to my mom that I didn't realize until after that conference that I wasn't even "running on empty", I was kind of "SITTING on empty".....spiritually speaking.

Here are a few things that stood out to me....

I think that along with "fear, doubt and sing" in the below quote I could've added self pity or selfishness .......or........ yea..... a lot of selfishness.

One of the women speakers, Neill F. Marriott, actually had 11 children. When a picture of her large family was put up on the screen and then she said the below things I immediately got all teary eyed....and probably did one of those ugly cry faces (thankfully I was on the back row so no one could see):

"When our children were young, I felt like the cocaptain, with my husband, David, of a ship, and I pictured our 11 children as a flotilla of little boats bobbing around us in the harbor, preparing to set forth on the sea of the world....

My days were full of forgettable things like folding laundry, reading children’s books, and putting casseroles together for dinner. Sometimes in the harbor of our homes, we can’t see that by the simple, consistent acts—including family prayer, scripture study, and family home evening—great things are brought to pass. But I testify that these very acts carry eternal significance. Great joy comes when those little boats—our children—grow into mighty seafaring vessels filled with gospel light and ready to “embark in the service of God.”⁹ Our small acts of faith and service are how most of us can continue in God and eventually bring eternal light and glory to our family, our friends, and our associates. You truly carry a circle of influence with you!"

I stay busy with "forgettable" tasks with my little "boats".....some of them little tugboats. But the picture of the beauty of a mighty seafaring vessel shows my greatest desire for them, and putting in my 100% will be worth it. The ONLY way I can is when I forget myself and put Heavenly Father (and his holy scriptures) first though. Then HE reminds me of what I'm doing truly is important and exactly where he wants me.

I just sat in the meeting feeling so aware-of to Someone and my heart was swelling with so much peace and comfort that it was basically SCREAMING to me how much my Heavenly Father loves me. 

During the last talk President Dieter F. Uchtdorf then said these words:

"You are loved.

You are dear to your heavenly parents.

The infinite and eternal Creator of light and life knows you! He is mindful of you.

Yes, God loves you this very day and always.

He is not waiting to love you until you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits. He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles... He knows of your remorse for the times you have fallen short or failed. And still He loves you.

And God knows of your successes; though they may seem small to you, He acknowledges and cherishes each one of them. He loves you for extending yourself to others. He loves you for reaching out and helping others bear their heavy burdens—even when you are struggling with your own.

He knows everything about you. He sees you clearly—He knows you as you really are. And He loves you—today and always!"

More beautiful words have never been spoken. 

I try to celebrate some little successes to myself during the day but knowing that He cherishes them as well and is rooting me on, gives me the fuel I need to do even better. BE even better. ACT even better and take more action.

This was the fuel I needed and how beautiful to know that the prophet and 12 apostles and other church leaders will speak again to us this weekend! Seriously, the best weekend of the year is ALWAYS General Conference weekend. (ask Iris, she has been counting down all week saying, "How many more 'schools' until Conference?" "Two more school days, Iris" and then she would start squealing. That's how I feel too........I can't wait.