Serenity

God grant me the serenity to stay out of a mental institution.
Assure me that my children are "normal" for:
Using (loudly) a whoopee cushion in the dentist's office. So glad they gave that as a reward.
For fighting 800 times a day.
For asking 25000 questions a day, most of which are identical to the question asked five seconds prior.
For hating every.single.meal I make, and for requesting McDonald's every.single.day
For being three and running through the doctor's office saying it's ok, because he's running bases.
For sliding into said bases.

I really could ask for more God, but I'm too tired. So instead I'll be thankful they're healthy enough to want to make me mentally ill. :)

Smiles

Every.single.day this child cracks me up. Whether I'm exhausted, stressed, crabby, you name it, I am reminded that each day.with Brady is an adventure in smiles.

Summer...so far

To say that this summer has been busy is a huge understatement. I don't know if we've ever been going non stop the way we have this summer. I'm not complaining. I won't share all the things we (I) have had going on, but there have been work commitments, family travel, BASEBALL, Thad's 20 year reunion, etc.

This is marked the "kick off" to our summer--a weeklong trip to Florida. I am itching to go back. I want to retire here.

A LOT of baseball (and tball). This will likely be Olivia's one and only year playing. But Brady sure enjoys getting to play too!

Travel baseball is an all-consuming summer sport. It's like hockey during the summer. I love it. I don't mind the heat.

For as much baseball as Ryan plays, he finds the time to golf *at least* 18 holes a day. If there is no golf, he'll do more. His energy is insane. I know understand why boys weren't half as interested in us girls when we were his age.

I have thoroughly loved watching my 'baseball boy' blossom as a player. While coaching Olivia's team this year, I have watched a little boy who reminds me of Ryan at the age of seven. Then I look at Brady, who is the unofficial baseball mascot. He LOVES the kids, the game, and sits and watches the games. If he's not watching, he's off to the side acting out the moves he sees.

The boys treat Brady like royalty. Ryan and his friend use some bizarre lingo. For awhile Ryan has called Benny. None of us in our house even hear it, because we just tune out Ryan's 'talk.' Low and behold, though, we have realized that Ryan's teammates don't say "Brady!" They call him Ben or Benny. Go figure.

The girls aren't really fairly represented in any pictures. My girls are doing well. Kate is just blossoming. Sometimes I catch myself looking at her wistfully. She is now ten. Her look is changing....she's growing up.

Olivia is seven. She isn't aggressive at all with baseball. She has enjoyed playing with friends, prefers to swim everyday, and is still my emotional child.

Moorhead hosted the state baseball tournament this weekend. Our first two games were big wins. We took down Baxter easily. We moved on to Waite Park, where we won 13-0.
Next up was Bemidji. They got us...and got us good. It was a double elimination tournament, so we weren't out. In fact we had to play Waite Park again today, and it was another decisive victory. Unfortunately one boy badly hurt his knee and gave us a scare. He was taken to the ER, and the boys resumed play.
Next up? Bemidji. But even if we beat them, we would have to play them again, tomorrow....
The start of the game wasn't looking so good. In fact after two and a half innings, 90+ degree temps, and knowing Brady must be exhausted, I wrestled him home so he could nap. Within a minute or two of leaving the texts started rolling in: Ryan got a grand slam!\ We are up one! Ryan is pitching awesome! Crap the other team scored! We are going into extra innings! After innings 7 & 8 were played with no score, Thad texted me, "Wake him up and get here."  So I woke up a deep sleeping Brady, who was covered in sweat, told him the boys were still playing, and we had to go. Luckily he gave me a huge smile...
As we ran into the stadium, I heard cheering...for the other team. Bemidji scored. They won. Those boys played their hearts out, and we were all so proud. I know that they are proud of themselves too.

Playing catch up...and a sweet story

Here I go getting caught up with things! Olivia turned 7 last week. She is in soccer right now, and just started tball. She is a doll, and yet still quite sensitive. At the same time, she is a little go getter on the soccer field.

 

Ryan had his final orchestra concert of the year last night. He was hell bent on not doing it next year. In fact, he thought I was a mean mom for refusing to allow him to quit mid-year. Sorry buddy, quitting won't happen. Lo and behold today, I saw that he brought home for form for summer orchestra camp AND is signing up again next year. Go figure.

Oh yeah, and baseball is in full swing again.

Now on to Miss Katie.  These is something about this little girl...she is blossoming before my eyes. I am showing you the email I received tonight from her teacher. Her teacher is (to coin my Grandma Ada) a true gem. She is the most compassionate, sweet, kind, loving yet with high expectations teacher. Kate has been asking all year if she can just loop so she can have her for fifth grade. But this teacher doesn't do that. To set the story up, the fourth graders had a track meet today. I watched as Kate hung out with her friends...and her teacher. When you see the second picture, you will get a glimpse of what I saw while I was there. It was precious to me.

Kate did the long jump, 400 meter dash, the 4x4 800 meter relay, and the mile. She told me she took last place in the mile...at 8.01. Okay seriously? That is a good score and all the kids who did better ran FAST! Wow. I was certainly proud of her. Kate isn't competitive at all. As a matter of fact, I know Kate was probably grateful she took last rather than someone else. Like me she gets a little...fixated on feeling badly for others. She told me a few weeks ago out of the blue that the reason she never went after the ball in tball (four years ago) if someone else was also going for the ball, was because she didn't want them feeling badly. 

So here's the email....and why I love this teacher...and why Kate loves her....

I just wanted to let you both know how PROUD I was of Kate for all the events she was in...& her finish of the mile!  Of all the girls in our class, Kate ran the most today.  She just finished the co-ed relay and the first call of the mile was given.  She didn't even hesitate.  She trucked right on over to get ready to run!  Since I was on the field cheering the milers on...I could tell Kate was hurting on the last lap.  However, she picked it up and coasted to the finish line!  That takes a lot of courage in front of all your peers!   She did an AWESOME JOB!   When we got back, I asked them to write one thing that stuck with them from the meet.  She wrote about the 400 meter dash and the mile run....getting last place.  I whispered to her..."You know how many years I have watched kids quit in the mile because they weren't winning?  I am soo proud of you!"  Not every kid has that kind of courage!   WAY TO GO, KATE!   That's a true winner. 

What is so cool about this teacher is that she sends emails like this regularly. I simply cannot say enough good things about her. I really can't say enough good things about ALL of the teachers my children have had. 

Next time I swear I'll talk about Brady..and Peaches!

She's ours!

After a weekend of fun with Peaches (can't get over that name), we are now her owners. We fell in love with her, the kids adore her, and her owner realized that to find someone/somewhere who could love her and give her attention is too important to take her away from it again. My heart breaks for her owner. We all have lost dogs, and it is such a painful experience.
Peaches is doing well. She walked into our house on Friday night without so much as one jump, bark, or annoying behavior. She is a little...okay a lot overweight. We have been walking her, and she's thrown up a couple of times after. But it's good for her to move around more.
Brady, who has been forever scared of dogs, loves her. He calls her Doggie. Thad mistakenly calls her Lazzie, because she looks like my parents' old bulldog.
So now we have five kids. Literally a dog is like a child. She needs to be wiped down every time she takes a drink, her folds, eyes, and ears need to be cleaned daily (if not more), and she has horrid smelling gas.

I will provide more pictures soon....

Tonight Thad and I are going to coach Olivia's tball team. It's her first night. It's my first time as a coach. This should be...interesting.  I have to leave tball early and run Ryan to his orchestra concert. Then I will sit in a sweltering gym  with several hundred other people while it's 85 degrees outside. So it will be around 105 in there. Whoo hoo.

Tomorrow is the AP government test. I can't believe I made it. I can't believe my students made it with me.I've gained around 8-10 lbs in the last few months. I'm pretty ticked about that. I guess when I eat healthier more often I don't gain so fast. Whoops.  I was blaming hockey. Now I'm blaming work and soccer. Then I will blame baseball. What would be the best choice is to blame myself, only eat healthy, find time to work out more (impossible), and just quit blaming everyone and everything else.

Peaches

This is Peaches. We have been asked to foster her beginning in July-January. Thad is only going along with it for my sake. What a guy! Seriously though, she needs a home while her daddy is away at military training, and we are happy to help. You have to truly love bulldogs to see their beauty. We may have her this weekend and do a trial run. I will let you know how it goes!

Amen sister

I saw this on facebook tonight. I love it. I loved this show. I love it even more now.
Some people use their blog to discuss their personal views. I haven't really done that. But I am today.
I respect other peoples' opinions about issues, so please respect mine. You don't have to agree with me. You don't have to like what I think, but I, for one, do not find this to be detrimental to society.
What I find detrimental is a home life that lacks love, lacks care, involves fighting more than anything. Even my dear sweet husband who probably doesn't agree with me on this has said, "In my job I see more broken homes, more neglected children, more sad situations that most people can't even imagine. If two loving people are raising a child, who am I to say that's wrong?"
Guess what guys? Most of those homes he sees aren't gay couples having kids. They are just people who have had kids.

In life, we need to try to move away so much from labels, and just think of everyone as a person. It's not easy, and we are only a couple of generations removed (in my case one) from ending segregation.

So how about we stop worrying about: who's Black, who's white, who's Hispanic, who's Native American, who's gay, who's straight, etc. Let's all just be.

**This is the (hopefully) last PSA coming from my blog for the next year!**