Memorial Day 2008 Weekend

We had a crazy busy weekend and it was a ton of fun!! We had Jordan's game Friday night. Then the kids and I got super duper lucky this weekend ~ Daddy was off Saturday and Monday! A three day weekend! That's like a mini vacation for us! It was so wonderful having him home all weekend. So on to what we did with all that time.

Let me say that we had the most beautiful weather this weekend! It's been so chilly for late May and Saturday started what turned out to be just a beautiful weekend!

Saturday, during the day, I spent most of the morning running errands for the weekend. That night, we went to Uncle Will's party for graduating. It was a blast! They had a pig roast, a moonbounce, William, of course, had the music going, a ton of food and lots of family and friends. It was a great time! We didn't leave until 11ish! That's super late for us! We are just so proud of him too! We love you William!

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to but here are a few.






On Sunday, we had a neighborhood cookout in the evening. The morning was spent getting food ready for that. That started around 5ish. We had a great time, as we always do during neighborhood get togethers. Tons of great food and lots of great conversation. The kids all had fun running around, having popsicles I brought and later, Jamie and I gave all the kids light sticks. FUN! I can't wait for the next one 4th of July weekend!

Monday was quite busy and productive. During the morning, Jordan had batting practice (well totally voluntary since we are coming up on playoffs but Jordan really wanted to go). I went and got flowers at Lowe's while he was there. I planted when we got home! YAY! I love planting and making the yard look nice! After I finished up, Katie and I took all of our kids to the pool along with a new girl in the neighborhood, Alex. The water was ridiculously cold but the kids could have cared less! Quite a few neighbors were there. Jamie even showed up a bit later. He was helping Jason put their new screen door on. Somehow, through Jacob and Jenna's secret powers, they got Daddy in the freezing water. They had so much fun with him. Jacob and Jenna loved every second of being frozen. Jordan, James and Jasmine got in and had a ton of fun with their friends that were there but they definitely didn't enjoy the cold. Around 5, we left so we could get ready for dinner and our wonderful neighbor, Martha, let all the kids (minus Jacob, Jenna and Taylor) stay with her. She's the best! They stayed until about 6:30. Then Jamie grilled burgers and hot dogs. Jason, Katie, Kaylee and Taylor came over for dinner. We also dragged Richard down as well.

Muckdogs defeated

The Rangers defeated us 9 - 7 tonight. It was a good game though. You win some and you lose some. We are still in the playoffs. I think it was a little good for the boys to get shaken up a bit before going into playoffs. I think the game tonight was that reminder they needed to play hard and play smart.

Musical Concert at School

Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade had a mini concert at school today. It was packed! I don't think they realized how many parents were going to be coming. I got there early and staked out my spot near the door in case of any bathroom breaks or quick exits that were needed. We could hardly see anything. It was almost standing room only. Anyway, they sang a few songs from Disney movies and they did really great. It was a super cute concert.

I have no idea why my pictures are so dark but at least you can see our beautiful girl!

Rush Hour

We got James this really neat game called Rush Hour for Christmas. You have these cars and trucks on the grid that you can only move forwards and backwards. They can't jump over other vehicles. You have to figure out how to move them to get the red car out. It is a pretty tough game.

James, Jordan and Jasmine often sit and play it for a few hours. That in itself is amazing! I have to say that I love playing it too. I knew Jacob *played* it a few times. I just didn't know he could really play it. He wanted to play it this morning so I set him up on a table and watched in amazement as he actually did it!

Going strong!

Jasmine had gymnastics tonight. She did really great. We asked if she could move up to the next group. They have the 5 to 7 1/2 age group and then 7 to 10 age group so we wanted to find out if her teacher thought she could move up. One of Jasmine's neighborhood friends, Megan, goes there as well. Kelly and I were hoping to get them in the same class for the summer so we could take turns taking the girls. Her teacher said she can definitely move up! Yay! And on top of that, this age group practices for an hour and a half. Jasmine is so excited. Kaylee, another sweetie in the neighborhood, may take the class as well.

I missed pretty much all of Jordan's game. Jordan said he hit the ball once but then was out and struck out his other times at bat. He said I didn't miss much of him playing. They did win 16 - 4. Jordan has another game tomorrow night. It appears that the Muckdogs will be making the play-offs! Yay!

Jamie and Jacob's weekend

Jamie and Jacob went to the mountains this past weekend. They brought along Joey. For those that don't know, Joey works with Jamie and is usually his helper. Jamie had a ton of mowing to do so Joey and Jacob hung out, fought and rode the four wheeler. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. Please don't mind the mess on Jacob. This is what happens when it's a boy's weekend! Sheesh!

Roasting marshmallows



Putting Joey to work ~ Jamie has a ton of trees to cut up that have fallen down



Playing with fire





Roasting marshmallows and smoking (Remember the candy cigs that you got as a kid? The little store up there has them for like 15 cents a box! The kids always get them. Jacob was teaching Jenna how to *smoke* when he got home.)









And a picture of Jazzi on her scooter

Another day of sports

What a LONG day! I am WORN OUT! Jamie and Jacob are still in the mountains, mowing so I knew I'd definitely be on my own today. Jordan had baseball pictures at 12 with his team. That went good. James had football practice at 1 and then his game as 2 as usual. Jordan was supposed to have his game at 2 but it got pushed back to 3 (which was actually a good thing so I'd get to see most of it). So after his pictures, Jordan went with his coach until game time while I took James. Jordan had to be there by 2:15 for warm ups before his game so that's why I sent him with his coach. He actually had a great time as two other kids stayed with him as well so it was Jordan, Ryan, Gannon and the coach's son, Calvin.

Off to James' game. When we got there, we saw James' name on the announcement board. He won two tickets to see the movie Narnia! I really have no idea why he won them but he did. Pretty cool. So while they practiced, the girls and I ate lunch and talked. The game started at 2 and James played almost the whole game. He was really running that ball. He didn't score any touch downs that game but he certainly got the ball down the field and pulled flags off the other team. They won 24 - 21! James was so excited. He played awesome.

Over to Jordan's game (are you tired yet?). Right as we get out of the van and start walking to the field, we hear a big crack of the bat. Jordan hit the ball! Jordan hit the ball! He's gotten pieces of it here and there but nothing like this. Everyone on the team is screaming and cheering. Oh and telling him to run. It caught him by surprise and he froze for half a second but not so long because he still made it to the bag. Oh you couldn't wipe the smile off of his face if you had tried to! The next few boys up hit awesome as well sending Jordan home. YAY! (Coach's wife, Deby, told me after the game that she had told Jordan before the game that he would hit the ball this game. She had a feeling. Boy, was she right! Also, today was Coach's 40th birthday. After the game, Deby told Jordan that him hitting the ball like that was the one of the greatest gifts Coach could have gotten today. Pride was oozing out of Jordan at that point.)

Next time up to bat, they walked him. We had bit time hitters today so again, Jordan scored. The innings were over fast this game as in this age group, after 5 runs, that part of the inning is done. Amazing game. The boys all played awesome. They looked like a real solid team. They beat CSA Coyotes 15 - 4! Go Muckdogs!

On a side note, James told me one of the funniest things I heard in a long time while we were at Jordan's game. He said "Jordan and I saw this really funny new show on TV the other day. It's like our new favorite show. It's called Mama's Family. Have you heard of it?" Oh yeah, I laughed. I laughed hard. I said "honey, that show is old. It's been around a long time but yes, it's hilarious!"

Oh la la!

Jasmine's hair was getting pretty long and she wanted it cut. We went tonight and got quite a bit chopped off. I didn't get a picture before but there are plenty of pictures of Jazzi recently to see the change.

Here is the after...


The back really isn't long. I think it was the angle I was taking the picture at.


Beautiful, isn't she?

School Pictures, Scooters and Sparkly Shoes

We got the older kids' school pictures back on Tuesday. They turned out really nice. These are pictures of pictures because our scanner isn't that great.



Jordan in 5th grade, James in 2nd grade and Jasmine in 1st grade

I was going to take Jacob and Jenna to get their pictures done so when I send out the school pictures, there would be something of the younger two. Well I never did and if I wait to send out school pictures for pictures of the other two, it will be next school year so I took them outside to get a few good shots to send out. Here were my attempts with Jenna who always has to ham it up!



Here are the pictures of Jacob and Jenna I went with



I just loved this one of the two of them.



Then they had to get in a little scooter time.



I bought Jenna some pink sparkly shoes for $2 at Kohl's. I honestly didn't think she'd wear them and she didn't at first. Well the other day she discovered them again and hasn't taken them off since. She even sleeps in them! The sparkles in her bed and mine prove it.

Showing potty interest!

I have been afraid to even think this, let alone post it, afraid I will jinx it. Jenna is starting to finally ask once or twice a day to go potty. She has gone quite a few times before getting in the bath at night but never during the day. The last three days, she has asked at least once to go, even to poop! Hopefully she is ready. It's not so much the changing of the diapers for me but the cost. It will be so nice not to have to buy diapers. I really thought she'd go like Jasmine very early but after all these kids, the one thing I know the best is they will do things when they are ready. We'll see how long it is before I am posting that is she is diaper free! Wish us luck!

Defeated: 6-2 now

The Muckdogs lost tonight. It was a good game though. The Redsox beat us 7-5. Jordan played well and made it to the bag one time and then to second.

We are still way up in the league. We've won 6 and only lost 2.

Another game Friday!

Rain, rain, go away!

The sun is shining! The sun is shining! I can't believe it. I thought we were going to buy a house boat or turn into ducks with all the rain. We needed the rain badly but what good is it when it comes down so long and so fast that it has nowhere to go? Baseball and football were canceled over the weekend. Actually that wasn't such a bad thing since we had the Relay for Life walk Friday night and we were all pretty worn out.

Jasmine had gymnastics last night. She was the only one in her class. She LOVES when that happens! Such great one on one time. She is really getting her moves down. They actually have summer classes so I'm contemplating on signing her up. So far, she'd only miss one class for our week of vacation in July.

Jordan was supposed to have a game last night too but alas, with the rain, it was canceled. He is supposed to have one tonight so hopefully so. We have so many make-up games that the season may never end!

On a funny note, Jacob has been walking around saying "Don't stop! Don't give up!" which he learned from Yo! Gabba gabba! When Jenna says it, it sounds like "Don't stop, donkey butt!" Pretty funny stuff. And she hasn't stuck anything up her nose! Go Jenna!

Duh! I can't believe I didn't put this first. Jenna asked to go on the potty yesterday. She sat for about 5 minutes and then peed! WOO HOO! She asked and went. So she hasn't done it anymore since but I'll take what I can get!

Later this week, Jamie, Jacob and Joey (Jamie's buddy/helper from work) are going to the mountains. They are leaving Thursday night and coming back Sunday. Jamie has so much to do up there. We really need to find a way to get up there more. Joey is going to check out the place Jamie talks about so often and have fun on the four wheeler. And it's not a trip without Jacob!

One more side note ~ I dropped my beautiful ring off last night to get it sized. My sad little finger is so naked without it already! It's supposed to be back Friday. Crossing fingers!