UT Football

Bobby took the boys to their first UT game. They had a blast and Rhett was excited to wear his fuzzy orange hat:)

That Gal Can Throw!

What do we do when we're not playing/watching someone play baseball? We're outside....playing baseball! 

I'm not even lying or exaggerating when I say that Elaina would do this ALL day if someone will oblige. She is always wanting to "practice her pitching".  

And, I will admit...her arm is impressive. Quite impressive. I'll catch her tennis ball throws and by the end my palms are red. She can't wait to be on a team of her own. 

This fall it will be her turn. I'm anxious to see how all of her practicing translates to the real field.

All my cute baseball lovin' kiddos:)

Cookeville Baseball

Remember that one time ALL of my boys were playing in the SAME town, at the SAME complex? I DO! I just needed a high rise swivel chair to be able to rotate around and see everyone. It was a great weekend in Cookeville with great weather. I love when this happens! (Which is, like, never!)

Last Day of School!

The younger boys both had great teachers this year. In fact, I'm a little sad to leave them. Both of them have done great this year. 

Cade survived his first year of middle school and didn't get stuffed in his locker by a bully one time!:) He pretty much kept his same group of friends from elementary school which was great since I really like all of them. He quickly progressed from Nervous Nellie to opening his locker "with one hand without even thinking about it" (direct quote:) ) He received an award for Mathematics, A-B honor roll (ONE stinking B and it was a 90!!!), and a citizenship award. I would say that's a great end to his first year in middle school! 

Now, let's do some summer relaxing!!

Spring Hill Kids' Marathon 2013

We were up and at 'em early to get ready for the 2nd annual Spring Hill Kids' Marathon. In an unfortunate turn of events, Little Rhettiboo caught a case of flu/strep and was still on the mend when the race rolled around. He was in the dumps about not being able to run. Especially since he was last year's first place winner. He and his buddy had big plans to cross the finish line together (last year his bud was the second place finisher). Ahh, it would've been cute. Oh well. Here are the brothers three prior to run time:

We were excited to be race-reunited with our friends Cade and Cavin for this year's run! It's been a few years since we experienced the race scene together.  Look at those photo bombers. Tsk tsk tsk. 

The fifth grade ran first.

Cade A. was tearing.it.up.

 Cade Morgan was Mr. Nice and Steady. 

It paid off in the end as he was a third place finisher. He moved up one, maybe two spots from last year. I was so proud of him! 

G was up next. 

Rollin' at a nice pace....

He came into the homestretch with only one person ahead of him but three trying hard to catch up. He sealed the deal with a second place trophy! 

I caught a quick snap with G, Cavin, and Brady, his buddy from school.

 I couldn't let the day pass without a picture of Rhett and his bud, Jett. They had been looking forward to this race day forever! Rhett stayed through all the races so that he could cheer his friend on. Hopefully next year they'll be able to have a little friendly competition again. 

Yay for another race down in the books! 

Get Yer Game Face On!

Today was Opening Day for our baseball seasons. The boys woke up bright and early and Bobby fed them the breakfast of champions: donuts from The Donut Palace. I guess the sugar high worked out well for them because all three boys had an excellent showing. I actually love this time of year...spring and baseball. It doesn't get any better! Play ball!

Guns a Blazin'!

My girl and I went outside to enjoy the warmer January weather and get in some good swinging/sliding time before her nap. It's good to expend a bit of energy anytime we can make it outside. 

We also became witnesses to the first airsoft gunfight of 2013. As the photojournalist, I was just hoping that I didn't get pegged in the eyeball or the earhole. Neither of which sound pleasant. I did get hit once and promptly blamed it on Brent but something tells me that it was Bobby that nearly shot off my pinkie finger. Anyway, it was fun watching all the boys scatter and take cover. 

I think it was the biggest boys (Brent and Bobby) on a team with the littlest boys and all the middles were teamed up. At one point there was a man down....

 but he wasn't a POW for long.

 I'm still trying to decide who was most excited that Tracie and Jared got the boys airsoft guns....the boys? or Bobby?

Luckily there is a grove of trees that provided a little bit of hiding coverage.

I loved seeing all the serious shooting faces as I downloaded the pictures. This was an intense game!

 Time for a reload (which was usually what was yelled out when someone realized that they were pretty much dead meat).

After getting shot in the cheek a couple times Silas and Rhett figured that it served them best to hang out in the fort and shoot from the cover of 4 walls and a ceiling. 

 Every now and then Silas would venture out on the porch to shoot off a few rounds.

Lanie spent most of her time running for her life:) 

Good times starting the year off with our buds. Nothing better! 

Spring Baseball in the Books

We played our first spring season of baseball at Heritage and ended the season well! I had fun watching Cade come along in kid pitch (even trying his arm at pitching a few times which makes me a nervous wreck!). He played infield all season, the position determined by who was pitching that game. 

His bat waxed and waned but he finished this season with a couple homers (inside the fence). One being a grand slam! 

Our team, the Yankees, brought home the league champion's trophy. 

These boys were pretty excited about that! 

We had a great group of kids and it was fun playing with some good buddies. 

This is a true representation of our coaching staff......NOT right.

Little Buddy surprised me this season. We played him "up" with the 7-8 year olds and I, personally, thought it was going to be a bad idea. I, however, went with Bobby's lead and for the first time in our relationship he was right:) Rhett really held his own and did well in machine pitch. We've got a long way to go but I like the improvement I've seen! 

He played most of his season in right field which had sparse action but when the ball came his way he was quick to scoop it up and get it in. Thanks to many afternoons throwing with his bff, Silas, he can actually catch the ball now! I have to mention that this season Rhett also had a grand slam! Don't think we didn't talk about it for a solid three weeks after the fact. Anytime I praised his brothers for something he was quick to throw in, "Well, I hit a grand slam 4 games ago.....". Thank you. Thank you. We're all well aware since we saw you dancing in right field the entire inning afterward....

He managed to keep score at a couple of Cade's games. I'm not sure that was a good decision.....

Grant LOVED baseball this season and he's definitely the one that gets the most fired up about wins and losses. 

He made a little side cash with some good hitting (Bobby's continuing a tradition set up by his Pawpaw and Grandaddy.....cash for homers. That cash paid for many a date night for us back in the day!) Grant had a few this season and his wallet is pretty thick :) 

We got tickled at Grant's hitting face. His cheeks always puff out like a chipmunk. I was so happy that when I downloaded this pics I had a perfect shot of it! 

This hit was a pretty average grounder but with some fast speed....

He was safe! 

It has been many a night and afternoon at the ball park but I've had a great time watching! No rest for the weary though. We've got all-star baseball coming up! Good times!