To the ATL for a Little MLB

We headed down to Atlanta this past weekend to catch some baseball and give the boys their first major league experience. We were attending this game as Marlins fans so that entailed decking out the family in all of our collected Marlins garb! It was quite funny to pass through all the Braves tailgaters with our whole family sporting black. We got quite a few "boos" but it was all in fun.
We packed in the car early Saturday morning and started the trek. The boys did great in the car ride thanks to the beauty of the in-car dvd player. I don't even want to think about the days of car travel with children before that invention. Bobby wanted to make sure we got there in time to see the Marlins take batting practice. It's always one of his favorite things to do.....and it's when we get a minute to chat with our favorite 2nd baseman.

Not to worry. We made it in plenty of time, pulling in to the stadium parking lot at 4pm........for a 7pm game! There was lots of waiting.
Rhett was more than happy to be there. I think he was most excited that his dinner choice was going to be between a foot long hotdog and a greasy slice of pizza. That alone would have put a smile on his face!
Grant was being a stinker and wouldn't let me take a picture of him. He kept running and hiding, ducking below the seats. Crazy business. These are the best individual shots that I came up with.

We got to talk with Daniel a bit before the game. I'm not sure what Rhett has got going on with his ball cap in this picture but it's quite off kilter. Oh well, with all the swarming autograph seekers you have to be quick and get what you get!
People were handing balls, papers, whatever to Daniel to be signed. We didn't bring anything with us but he ever so kindly pulled the hats off the boys' heads to autograph them. Rhett said, "Weeellll, I have NO idea why all these people want your initials on everything......buuuutttt if you want to, whatever."
Obviously he hasn't clued in that it's pretty cool to be a professional athlete. All he knows is that this guy plays a pretty mean wrestlemania. We had great seats along the third base side. Close enough that we were almost lucky enough to catch a foul ball three times. I'll be honest though, as the ball was descending and my boys' gloves were up in the air, I was secretly praying that A) Bobby would catch it or B) it would land elsewhere. We all know what happened the last time one of my boys tried to catch a fly ball.
I wanted a shot of the boys and me but this is not exactly what I had in mind. After spending way too much time trying to convince Grant to let me take his picture, he turned into Groucho Groucharoonie and wouldn't even tolerate another photo. And, as you can see, Cade is making some goofy face (not surprised) and Rhett looks completely terrified ( totally surprising being that there was nothing scary happening). I guess it's just one example of the forced smile gone awry.
This partial family shot turned out pretty good considering that my outstretched arm took the shot blindly.....and Rhett brought out his normal kid smile.
After downing a greasy pizza slice the size of his head and washing it down with a sprite large enough to drown in if he weren't careful, Groucho Groucharoonie finally disappeared and was replaced with an oh so happy Grant. It's amazing what a little food can do for the soul!
Always a highlight of any overnight trip is the hotel stay. I will have to say that with all the talk about bedbugs on the news and the Today Show lately I was quite wary. I'm already a little creeped out as it is (unless I'm at the Ritz which doesn't happen too often), but I'm happy to say that I pulled the sheets back and checked and there were none to be found. That doesn't mean that I didn't sleep in long pants though.

Staying in a hotel with all three boys is, ummmm,.........enjoyable.
If you're one of the three boys.
And when I say "enjoyable", you should read "loud", and "obnoxious", and "goofy".

But what would life be without a little craziness? A little goofiness?
Boring. So, for one night I can handle all of the nonsense. One night. Don't ask me to stretch it out for some vacation or something. I would never live to blog about it for sure. Someone from the mental hospital would surely rescue me by the time the week was over.
Into the land of $4.75 waters, $4.50 dripping pizza slices, and $5 ice creams we ventured and out we have come. Even though our team got decimated we still left with smiles on our greasy faces. From the looks of it, this won't be our last family outing to see some MLB. Good times, greater memories!

Consignment Is My Friend

I'll have to admit that I've never really been a big consignment kind of gal. With the boys I always just bought things new and never thought twice about it. Then Tee-Tiny came along.....and girl's clothes are SO cute. I found out quickly that they are also SO expensive. I can't convince myself to pay more for a baby outfit than I would for myself. That's when Danielle introduced me to the wonders of the great consignment. Before Elaina's birthday had even arrived D was my inside source to some great buys via cell phone pictures. What in the world did we even do before the portable phone with camera and a 3G network?? I wince even reminiscing about such.

Anywho, fall is just around the corner and I had nada for the babe to wear. That's when I hit a boutique consignment sale and the Lord showed me favor. He really did. In the form of a mysterious woman handing an early shopping pass to my consignment angel Danielle who, being the generous friend she is, passed it on to me! Believe what you want, but this is my pile-o-loot AFTER I sifted through my stack of clothes at least three times eliminating things.

According to a tag, I got an outfit from France for el-cheapo (that's spanish. Not french by the way). For all I know it came from Jaques Penne. We call that store JC Penny here in the states. Somebody's out there screaming "sucka"!! One of my favorite finds was this little ditty with an "e" on it. Perfect for the Christmas season!
Elaina watched me as I sorted through all my great buys. I know deep down inside she was as excited as I was. She totally cares what she's wearing during her first year of life. This time of development is pivotal in maturing the area of the brain that controls fashion sense. I think I learned that in my sociology/psychology classes in nursing school. Or I just made it up. One of the two.
Of course the most precious steal was this pair of fuzzy boots. Mmmmm. I smile just thinking of all the cuteness. Shoes. We love shoes. We. We love them....she just doesn't know it yet. She'll tap into the love fest one day.

I love this baby girl. Clothes or no clothes. Precious fuzzy boots or not. She really doesn't need material cuteness to help her out. God gave her enough cute-ability to make it on her own.

Her fuzzy chick hair doesn't hurt either :)

Wedding Bells!

Grant made his debut as ring bearer in my cousin's wedding this weekend. If I do say so myself, there couldn't have been a cuter ring bearer ever! We traveled to the Big Blue state and Grant was beside himself with excitement. I'm not sure if it was the wedding he was excited about or the night he was going to get to spend in a hotel. Both are pretty big deals when you're six!

What a handsome boy!

I know he was getting tired of pictures. He's not exactly my most willing participant when it comes to posing for photos.
Here's the happy groom's family. I have a special place in my heart for all these folks because we spent so much time together growing up. There were lots of shared peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, atari games, and morning cartoons with these two boys!

I was super excited for my "little" cousin to finally tie the knot. His fiance is a precious, lovely gal and he really needed to solidify that union before she got away:)
Little smooch for his most favorite cousin!
Grant was getting antsy waiting for his big moment. He did a little practicing....
and caught up with Cousin Joe to make sure he was where he was suppose to be.
Ahhhhhh, finally time to go! I could tell he was just a bit nervous but he did a splendid job! He walked nicely, didn't trip and went straight to his standing spot.
Then came the bride. I told you she was lovely!
Grant stood in for some of the ceremony but eventually came back to the pew with me. It was quite long being that it was a full Catholic mass. Kids (especially mine) can't stand still that long!
After all was said and done and Joseph and Jennifer walked out, Grant started to panic. "They didn't get the rings! They didn't get them! They forgot to do the rings!!" I didn't get what he was talking about until I looked down at his little ring bearer's pillow and saw the two tiny silver rings attached by ribbon to the pillow. I tried to explain that those weren't the real rings but then he said, "Well why in the world did I even come to be the ring barrier??" I decided then and there to save the child's heart we'd hunt down the happy couple and give them their rings. We found them, handed them over, and Grant felt like his job was complete.

Off to the reception: My sis and me after about 15 tries to get a picture that she deemed acceptable.

It was also fun to catch up with some of my other cousins at the reception. These gals are full of great memories and laughs when we see each other (which is not often enough!)
Many blessings to Joe and Jen. We had a great time watching you get hitched!

First Day

Summer has come to an end and the boys are heading to their first days of school. I really think that we have landed great teachers for this year so I'm sending them without reservation. I always drive them on the first day so I can snap the yearly first day pic with their teachers. I'm going to do that as long as their ego's will allow!

Here is Cade. First day of THIRD grade. Geesh. It still blows my mind that I'm only 23 and I have a third grader. Well, the math still works. It COULD happen.

Grant was relieved to meet his teacher the other day. I'm so glad he got a sweet teacher. He really still needs a little "fuzzy lamb" while at school. He thrives on positive reinforcement so I think they are going to be a good fit.
Brotherly love, while fleeting, is always a pleasure to behold :)
Put Tee-Tiny in the mix and you get three very real smiles. The love for this baby girl has not waned in the least!
Here's Grant with his new teacher, Mrs. Casey.
I put Grant in his seat and then started to put all of his supplies away. That's when I looked at the clock and noticed it was already 8:35, the official start time of the school day, and Cade was still standing in Grant's doorway waiting for me to walk him to class. Oopsie.
His fun-spirited teacher, Mrs. Griffen, didn't seem to mind his tardiness on the very first day of school. She probably noticed that my pits were sweating and I was in a little distress after carrying Elaina in her car seat along with 2 very heavy bags of school supplies up the stairs so she cut me some slack.
Cade popped right into his seat and was thankful to see some familiar faces in his class.
I was impressed at how well behaved Rhett was this whole drop off time. I gave him the very important job of watching Elaina so that no one stole her while I was putting away school supplies. We still have her so he must've done a swell job. I found out what was occupying him once I downloaded my handy pocket cam pictures and came across these two photos and approximately 52 more that were quite similar:

Whatever it takes. He was concerned that he was not going to have any fun the rest of the day since his bros were not home so I had to pull out his favorite game
We had a great time playing a few games of "Sorry" and I only had to point out his cheating a handful of times.
He was proud that all his blue guys got home before all of my green guys. Win numbers one and two: Little Buddy.
Here we are. About to be in full swing of school mode. Homework. Reading. Spelling. Volunteering. Wishing for summer break. I'm hoping I'm still needed as a classroom volunteer this year. It would be a shame to let my skillz go to waste. My masters degree in Kindergarten cutting works equally as well in first and third grade, you know.

Good Eatin's.....Humph.

Well, we're down to the last day of summer vacation. We've watched enough Phineas and Ferb episodes to last a lifetime, swam like fishies even though the pool has been like hot bath water for the last month, and I've said, "We're going to start our summer reading tomorrow!" for the last time..... and finally meant it. Oops. Summer just slid by without me really realizing it. One less point for me for mom of the year.

In honor of the last dinner of summer break, I let the boys choose the ONE place they'd like to eat dinner. I thought for sure it would be Pie in the Sky Pizza or Logan's or something but no. I knew it was going down hill when Cade said, "What's that place daddy took us to? You know, with all the food that you don't have to wait on?" Grant's face lit up. Rhett did the running man in the kitchen he was so filled with joy. I snarled my lip and then took one for the team with my handy dandy pocket camera in tow.

Thirty minutes later we were pulling in here: Yea. Rah. Hear my excitement.

I can give all thanks to Bobby for introducing the boys to the greatness (actually the lack thereof) of the american buffet. I was gone one night a couple weeks ago and he thought this would be a good idea for dinner.
I must give the boys' their props. All three of them headed to the salad bar and made a big 'ol salad and then proceeded to clean their plates.
Then they headed out for a second plate. Everyone got a modpodge of ham, steak, pizza slices, macaroni, corn on the cob......you name it.
Everyone (except me) was happy as a lark. My half sweet potato and green beans didn't exactly fill up the tank for me. Sonj and buffets.....not really two things that are in sentences together, like, ever.
I did NOT set this picture up, nor encourage this. After plate number two I looked over to catch the boys comparing stomach sizes. Yes, this is the number one place to be if growing a large belly is your goal.
It's also the one place you can finish your ham by dipping it into your ice cream cone. Let me say that again. Dip your ham in your ice cream. Oh yes he did. Blek.
Remember at the the beginning of this post when I said I lost a point for not doing summer reading? Well, I just gained at least 10 points back.

Here's to school starting tomorrow. And in the words of a true philosopher I know, "Tomorrow will hold a mix of emotions......sadness and gladness. Glad that it's the first day of school, but sad that the first day didn't come sooner." Hehehe.

Unproductive

Ahhhhh.....the DS. The boy's favorite handheld game. The pint sized toy that provides hours of fun...... The absolute thorn in my side. Yes. Yes, it has yielded some quietness in the morning that in turn has allowed me to sleep an extra half hour. This is what I see when I walk out of my room nearly every morning of the summer and pretty much any free moment that they have:

You may be wondering what the big hairy is. The hairy deal is that when this contraption is open all ears close off. I have to repeat every thing at least 15 times.
We're leaving! Put your shoes on! Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on. I'm in the garage in the car! Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on!

Huh? Did you say something?
This DS addiction has certainly gone to another level with the teaching of the younger offspring. I caught Grant teaching Tee-Tiny all about his DS the other morning.
Surprising enough, she was paying attention. I must divert her attention from now on and remind her that she doesn't love DS like her brothers. She loves shoes. Yeah, shoes.
And, of course, Justin Beiber. Just a few more days until the DS goes back into it's special place only to be played on the weekends. School is just around the corner and as much as I hate to see summer go, I'm ready to see my kiddos doing something productive!

Hmmmm?

Hmmmm.......I wonder where my glasses are? I sawed them like 4 days ago or somethin'....

Wellllll, good grief.....beef. I don't have a clue......boo. Maybe they're inside......or outside in the grass....flass. Why don't YOU look for 'em......book snore 'em.
The preceding is an actual conversation with an actual child that for the past month has stuck a rhyming word (or collection of letters that may or may not classify as a true word) to the end of nearly every.single.sentence that flows from his mouth. I know it's taken it's toll on the family when I hear Bobby call out, "Rhetters! Go get in the shower......bower!" It's all about communicating on their level, you know? About the glasses, I'm one day away from making good on my Target Optical Insurance. Please let me know if the rogue glasses are floating in your back yard. Nothing would surprise me at this point.....boint.