Baseball Has Begun!

Baseball is in full swing already! Hudson has already played 5 games and Harrison has played 3 so far. It's busy, busy, busy! Both boys are having so much fun!

Harrison is playing t-ball for the first time this year in the 4 year old league. It's mass chaos. They all run for the ball as soon as it is hit and you never know where the batter is going to run after they hit it and chances are that the bat will still be in their hands! It's precious. Harrison is so happy it is finally his turn and he asks every day if it is t-ball day. They only play on Saturdays which is nice!

 Just doing a little hopping on the bases!

 Little cutie!

Hudson is playing in the big leagues now! Ha! It is serious! It makes my hands sweat every time he gets up to bat. They are playing 3 strikes and 3 outs this year and the kids totally get it now. Hudson is doing great batting. He has hit several triples and doubles, and he's had a few strikeouts too. He's still trying to figure out the fielding. I think he's in la-la land half of the time! :) I have to remind myself a lot that they are only 7!

One of the best parts of the t-ball is when they see their friends. Harrison was on second base when Lydia came running across the field for a big hug. Talk about making the mamas hearts melt!

 Love spending our days at the ball park!

It's great that the boys are the two teams that I grew up loving, the Cubs and the Braves! Looking forward to a fun rest of the season for both!

Hudson Meets Rick & Bubba

Back in early March on Dr. Suess' birthday, Hudson's class got to go on a special field trip to the Rick & Bubba studio. It was special because they were the only 1st grade class that got to go! Hudson's teacher went to Jacksonville state with either Rick or Bubba (or both, I can't remember), and each year, her class gets to walk over to their studio on Dr. Suess' birthday. Rick and Bubba read Green Eggs & Ham on the radio. It was such a fun experience! 

They also took a 3rd grade class this year as one of the guys working for Rick & Bubba is the dad of a boy in that class, so they asked if they could go too! 

The parents had to stay behind the glass and watch. I think the parents had just as much fun though!

 They also film the show and you can watch it on the internet. It was neat because the kids could see themselves on TV! They thought that was super cool too!

 They are usually just on the show for one segment, but this year, Rick & Bubba asked if they could stay on for another one and of course Mrs. Dennis said ok! They got to witness the Wheel of Meat! Basically, callers call in to spin the Wheel of Meat for a chance to win some kind of special meat (steak, pork chops, etc.). Mrs. Dennis got to spin the wheel and on one of her spins, she spun a horse, which means the person calling in didn't win anything, but a man from who knows where came running at full speed out into the studio with a creepy horse face on. It was hilarious and the kids loved this part!

By the end, they were all singing the "Rick and Bubba, Rick and Bubba" song and were screaming about meat! I hated to be their teacher after all of that--they were wired!

I have to say that while being in the studio was great, I think their favorite part was crossing Highway 31! We had police escorts and literally they just stopped traffic dead in their tracks to let us walk across to the studio. It was great! 

What a special morning!

Wrapping Up February

Yes, it is March 15th and I'm adding pictures from the rest of February. It is busy season, after all, and I'm working more than I ever have worked before. It is fun times I tell you! I did already blog about Hudson's March 1st birthday, so that's pretty good! 

Anyway, I thought this was the sweetest picture of the boys on Valentine's Day. We went to church that day and Hudson had baseball and that's pretty much it! Nothing too exciting! 

 We had a super quick trip to the lake one weekend. Joel's mom was going to keep the boys for us because we had plans with our Sunday school class that Saturday night, and she decided to go up to the lake because Jordan, Anna, and baby Lilla needed a change of scenery. So we drove the boys to the lake, got to love on baby Lilla, and left them there for the night! Win win! :)

 They are still baby obsessed!

 And what boy doesn't love wide open spaces!?!? We had a great day.

 And then Joel and I had a great night out that night at the bowling alley with our Sunday school class!

I was in charge of planning this social and I decided we needed to make it a competition (I'm the most competitive person ever--there is NO way I could just bowl for fun!). I divided everyone into teams and then we had a team winner, guy winner, girl winner, and worst bowler of the night, Dollar Tree prize style.

Below is yours truly, aka best "Bowlerina" of the night :) with the most "Fabuloso" guy and "Gutter Baller" of the night! It was so much fun!!!

 Hudson is my seafood lover and one night towards the end of February we decided to make Bang Bang shrimp (from Bonefish). Hudson loves to help out in the kitchen and always wants to help make dinner, so I had him doing a lot of the work. It was going to be messy anyway, but he sort of added to it. :) I wouldn't have it any other way. He is my little buddy! And by the way, the shrimp was amazing!!!

 More of Harrison's first t-ball experience to come!!! We are in full swing!

 The boys had a couple of days off around President's Day and one day the weather was amazing and the boys have really been wanting to ride their bikes, so we headed out to do that. Harrison didn't make it very far on his bike, but he was still cute!

 We have been cracking up over the Switch Faces app. This was Harrison's Beyonce face...

 And this was Joel and me with switched faces. I cannot look at this picture and not laugh. Maybe we don't need that little girl after all if she's going to get Joel's genes--ha! :)

More to come SOON! Baseball, baseball, and more baseball! And a really great doctor's report for Joel!

Sweet Mama Jean

We celebrated the life of my sweet Mama Jean today. We are all very sad that she is no longer with us on Earth, but know she is definitely in a better place and is finally reunited with the love of her life, our Daddy Bill! I know she couldn't wait to be with him again!

I really hit the jackpot with grandmothers. Mama Jean was amazing. She was just one of those people that was always "around" growing up. She always told me that since I was the middle child that she wanted to make sure that I was taken care of and always felt special, so Mama Jean and I were super close. I could count on her for anything at anytime and I hate that I cannot just pick up the phone and call her now (if I didn't I was in the doghouse and she would let me know it!)! I knew this day would eventually come, but I was not ready for it yet!

I have so many fond memories with Mama Jean. I remember every Sunday morning as soon as Sunday school let out, Vann, Carrie and I would run to Mama Jean and Daddy Bill's class to see them, and they ALWAYS took us out to eat with them. Just us kids! That was a real treat for us! We just didn't eat out growing up very much. And every Sunday night, we went over to their house for BBQ. We did not miss a Sunday night and it is something that I will always cherish! They always lived just a few blocks from us so we saw them all the time!

Mama Jean was always someone who took care of people who needed it. She was just so generous. I can learn so much from her. Even when she moved into the retirement home, she took care of the other residents and made sure they were all happy! She had quite the reputation at Somerby!

She was feisty too! She was always in charge and ordering people around! She had no filter either (I may have gotten some of that trait--ha!) and always said whatever she was thinking. That was just Mama Jean! It was always a little scary going out to eat with her because she had very high expectations of those who waited on her. Very few passed her test! I can promise you that she still tipped them well though! Ha!

She was ALWAYS the life of the party! She loved her wine and loved to have fun! One of my best memories was at my wedding where she and I danced in the middle of the dance floor by ourselves! I was afraid to get out there by myself and so she took it upon herself to make sure I did and did it with me! I will never forget watching her "get down" almost to the floor and then just pop right back up, all at 80 years of age!

Mama Jean loved my boys like she loved us. And they loved her too! They always wanted to go see Mama Jean--she knew how to win them over. She ALWAYS had a little something for them when we showed up. She kept a stash and that made them so happy! I'm thankful that they were able to really know their great grandmother. That is rare!

Last summer, Mama Jean came down with pneumonia and was just never able to recover. It has been so hard watching the strong woman that she always was decline like she has. I'm so thankful that she is no longer suffering anymore. And I am beyond grateful for the time we had with her. I can't wait to see her again in Heaven! We love you Mama Jean!

Happy 7th Birthday Hudson!

Hudson is SEVEN today!!! How did that happen?!?! We have celebrated BIG the past few days. He decided this year for his birthday that he wanted a few friends to come over and go play laser tag and then have dinner and cake. Well then it turned into he wanted them all to spend the night and I just couldn't tell him no. He has me wrapped around his finger. What's one night, right?!?! Famous last words... :) 

We had a busy day on Saturday. I cleaned and party prepped in the morning, then Harrison had t-ball practice, we grabbed a quick lunch, then headed back to the ballpark as Hudson had a baseball scrimmage. We didn't even make it inside our house after the scrimmage before the boys started arriving for the party! No rest for the weary! Hudson was SO excited, and we were too! He had all of his favorite friends in one place! Thankfully the weather was beautiful and the first hour was spent outside (and out of my house! ha!). 

Joel and I took the boys to play laser tag. None of them had played before so we really weren't sure how it would go, but give some boys a gun and tell them to run and shoot at each other and you've got some really happy boys! It doesn't take much! They played a couple of rounds and it did not take long at all for them to catch on. They loved it!

 This was my favorite picture. I love the game faces!

 Then we came home and made the boys play outside in the dark for a while (still trying to keep them out of the house!) and then they all came in and it.was.insane. They ran and yelled and tackled and wrestled and literally got out every toy we own! Oh, and words cannot even explain the amount of potty humor! I remember asking Joel at one point if this was what boys did and he said yes! :) The pizza finally arrived so we at least got them to sit still for a few minutes so they could eat and we could sing to the birthday boy!

 We let the boys play for a little while longer after dinner and then it was movie time! I really didn't think they would sit still, but they did! We watched Pan and they all seemed to enjoy it!

 After the movie, I thought, well they are all exhausted so they will go right to bed. WRONG! It really was so funny. They were like a bunch of giddy school girls! It was around midnight before all was quiet. I could not believe they stayed up that late!

 The next morning at 6 am they were ready to go! Joel and I were NOT ready to go! Ha! We made it until 7:30 before we basically threw them outside! Joel and I took our eyes off of them for 5 minutes (we were rotating getting ready for church) and I caught them ringing the neighbors doorbell! They said they had already hit 5 houses! They were ringing and running! I could not believe it.

I'm patting myself on the back for the below picture. Hudson and 2 of the other boys were singing in the 11 am service at church. I had planned on skipping church, but Hudson and the others really wanted to go sing so I just had them all pack their church clothes and told all the moms we would just take them.I don't know about anyone else, but the hour before church at our house is usually mass chaos and usually by the time we get to church we need to really be there. :) We actually made it to Sunday school at 9:45! You can get a lot done when you are up at 6 am! Ha! They all looked so handsome!!!

 We survived! It really was fun and Hudson had the time of his life. It was one of the least stressful parties we've ever had so that was nice! The boys all got along so well and no one cried or got homesick or anything! Besides the potty humor, everyone really was on their best behavior! I can't believe I am saying this, but yes, I would do it again to see this boy so happy! Harrison is already talking about his spend the night party when he turns 5! Ha!

Today is Hudson's actual birthday! We started the morning with birthday french toast sticks. Nothing fancy around here on school mornings, especially when mama is driving carpool. :)

 Hudson has been wanting one of these tshirts for a while now. We were dying watching him in action...

 I took him lunch and cupcakes for his class at lunchtime. He was loving being the birthday boy! The crown apparently stayed on all day!

 We opened presents tonight and then headed to Johnny Rocket's! It is the boys' favorite birthday restaurant. I think we've been there for every one of the boys birthdays the past few years. They love it when the whole restaurant sings to them!

 Such a boy book...

 The darts were a HUGE hit!

We have celebrated SEVEN! Happy Birthday to our sweet, never met a stranger, lego loving, ALWAYS HAPPY first born!