the last game

baseball teaches many lessons-
how to handle being on the spot
how to handle a pressure situation
how to think on your feet
how to compile all your coaches have told you into automatic actions
how to overcome a loss
how to not let one disappointment get in the way of enjoying the game

i never really thought of baseball this way until this season. i thought of it as long hours at the ballpark when it is cold, when it is hot, when the sun is in your eyes, when you can't make the games because of scheduling issues, when your watching him pitch and you are so nervous for him that you feel a little sick to your stomach.

anyway...
i learned my own lesson about baseball this season. it is a stage. a practice stage for rehearsing so many things that will happen in life. and i am so happy that grant has had this stage to go through some really great and some really hard moments.

this was the last tournament of the season. this game decided whether or not they would advance to the championship game. they were up, they were down, they pulled within one. last inning-2 outs. grant is up. i don't remember the first strike. i remember snapping at the girls because they kept asking when we could leave and trying to make sure ben didn't wander off as my heart was beating in my ears. the second pitch he hit a beautiful ball that went foul. coaches shouted at him that 'he needed to protect now, he had 2 strikes'

3rd pitch-he didn't swing. umpire called strike and the game was over.
tears and tears and more tears from my strong and capable boy.
i was heartbroken for him. he came over to me and kind of leaned into me-not a real hug because that wouldn't have been very cool.

i told him it was alright. it was a game. it is going to be ok.

this is hard. watching him not be able to fight back his tears as the team huddles around for their end of game talk.

i heard several kids tell him 'it's ok grant'

coaches made a big point of talking up all his previous plays. how well he had pitched the game before. how he started the rally with his hit the innings before.

bobby is awesome and really always knows what to say in times that this-keep it cool. no pressure-just unending support and encouragement.

grant bounced after the game. he says he wants to play again next season. he is not letting this situation effect his wanting to get back into baseball. he is not giving up at one disappointment.

i am very proud of him.
thank you baseball.

soccer has started for the girls- 

one of ben's favorite things is to point out all the people and objects in the pictures in the hallway. the truck is always first, but then the fish and then papa and then emily, anneliese and grant...

he also likes to attempt to use the cats as a stepping stool to see those pictures that are too high. he puts his foot on a tummy and looks at me and smiles his little smile :)

books continue to be a favorite-especially tractor books when nana is reading :)

fall feelings

it was chilly this morning-and pleasant outside in midday. fall is close!

 grant and emily were both a little under the weather today-so instead of running around to baseball and soccer we took it easy watching football and taking some walks to see the new hay bales.

 anneliese is now wearing glasses-usually just during school-but i wanted to take some pictures of her new look :)

birthday party time-4 posts in 1

emily turned 8-hard to believe but it's true. she wanted a party that had bobbing for apples, sculpture projects, apple pie and a piñata. the weather was warm enough for the water slide-so the sculpture projects did not see as much action, but i'm sure we can save them for next year- 

 bobbing for apples will have to become a new tradition-the kids had more fun than i expected

 water slide! i didn't get too many pics (i think i was getting a small boy to sleep)

 the apple pie (provided by calista) was delicious!

 cute babies :)

 the true expressions of these sisters

 nana got emily her first real art supply box. another big hit! thanks to nana for her tremendous help in making this party happen.

 the piñata-on the zip line. it was a tough one-everyone got 2 turns-but grant brought home the candy-

tom turned 87-and sharon hosted the annual party on labor day weekend. it is always wonderful to spend time watching all the kids play together. tom drove them around behind the mower. this was of course ben's favorite activity (TRAC TOR)

luke turned 3 and had a super cool swim party. happy birthday luke!

alexander was born on august 18th-and i was so excited to get to meet him this past weekend. thank you to nana and bobby for covering everything on the home front so i could spend a wonderful few days catching up with melissa and her family.

books in the morning

he loves his books-especially "la la" (moo baa lalala) and the collection of tractor books we are accumulating because of his intense happiness at the sight or sound of a tractor :)

1st day of school

school started today-summer is officially done. we had a good run and i think everyone was ready for a change. they decided they wanted to ride the bus-we had a whirlwind morning and off they ran. luckily i made it out to get a picture before the bus arrived. 

sometimes a flurry of activity is a great distraction from feeling the weight of the fact that you have a 4th grader a 2nd grader and a kindergartner...

can't wait to hear how they day went-

 the water slide made a comeback-this time reinforced with a roll of carpet. they have been having a ball slipping, rolling, sliding and crashing.

 walks in the morning with ben

 i need to edit more of the pics we took on our impromptu excursion to st. louis. my great friend amanda graciously said yes when i texted to ask if i could bring all the kids to stay. now that is a good friend!
we took all the kids to the zoo-but rain threatened so we headed to the magic house. it was amazing. the kids and i stayed there all day-this was the outdoor water feature we did at the end.

painting on the new deck. bobby did a tremendous job-sanding and staining this wonderful new place to play and gather.

more of summer

summer has been stretched from all sides. we are holding onto the end of it and it-bobby went back to work today and grant started baseball practice for 'fall ball' but we are still enjoying the long days and relatively nice temperatures. the contrast from last summer's drought is evident in the bugs and the green. 

 the garden keeps growing and the weeds do too-i picked my very first big red ripe tomato this evening!

 the kids and i spent a week in OK and had fun playing with cousins...

 unfortunately ben has a rough go after his 15 month vaccines-he developed a very high fever while we were there-nana always makes it better...
 we celebrated ryan's birthday the first night we were there-it was fun to include a 2 others with july birthdays!

 bobby finished the deck while we were away-and we got to try it out to celebrate sharon's birthday and a belated congrats to perry and asa!
 these are misplaced-emily had a soccer tournament in june-and i never posted the pics...it was a sweltering day and she played 4 straight games-yikes.

vacation to orange beach

 a beach vacation has been on our list of things to do basically since we got back from our last beach vacation (august of 2009), but a move to the farm, a new baby boy and some other life happenings have made going back seem next to impossible. this year we were determined to make it happen-and when my mom and becky and the boys said they would join us we were SO happy!

our first stop was at my nana and papa's house. ben got to go on a tractor ride before the long trip to memphis.

 ben liked the beach-but the mix of sand and suncreen is difficult on little hands and eyes-so he would spend between 15-30 minutes playing before someone would carry him back to the pool (his true love).

i did a small bit of research about taking kids to the beach and thought the idea of a wagon was perfect. our wagon, however does not have the wheels it takes to get through deep sand. we had some great heavy work opportunities for the boys before we decided that a bucket of sand toys was really the only thing we needed to carry down to the water.

 the kids loved playing in the surf when it wasn't infested with floating jelly fish. we had beautiful weather the whole time-and they entertained themselves with sandcastles, baseball, throwing sand at the jellies, and cartwheels when the water was too dangerous.

 an afternoon game of twister-we discovered that the best times to go down to the water were morning and evening. the afternoons were spent in the pool or playing games to avoid the heat of the sun and the bigger crowds.

 becky was kind enough to be our photographer-i can't thank her enough for always being willing to take our picture.

 our only outing from the condo was a trip to the pier. i was expecting a carnival type atmosphere-but it was instead a serious fishing pier. the kids had fun watching people try and reel in big fish and a sting ray...happy 4th of july!

i have more odds and ends pics that i haven't edited yet-so consider this part one of the vacation pics :)