Opening Day - Fall Ball

So last night both boys had their first games for the fall ball season. This was Nicksters first "real" game ever! He did soooo well and we are sooo proud of him. Even though its "T-ball" its so much fun to watch these little guys running around. And per league rules the umpires have to "stop" all possible collisions at home plate (third base runner from running into catcher trying to score a run)... So Nick was stopped all three time so we all said he hit 3 triples last night...hehe

Justin did awesome too... Its so different and so much more nerve racking watching his age group. Its crazy how serious these little 7 and 8 year olds are. Justin got a new bat (well actually 2 - thanks daddy) and we all were teasing him last night about his new bat and he better hit good. Mamaw (my mommy) even told him for every home run he hits he got $5.00... WELLLLLLL Justin is lead batter, comes up to the plate, hits two foul balls and then BOOM home run. He was sooo proud and so are we. He kept saying "I got the first hit, the first home run, and the first $5.00 of the season"...lol

Here are some pictures of my two little ball players!

Ready For His 1st Game

Warming Up

You taking pictures of this mom???


And He Is OFF
Justins HOME RUN!!!

What A Year....

Wow August was a busy month it seems and man did it fly by! Its hard to believe it is September already! Today (Sept 3rd) I woke up and realized, because a mother never forgets these sappy things, that a year ago today I found out that I was pregnant with Miss Emily. Wow what a year it has been. We are so blessed to have this little lady in our lives and I can't believe a year later I now have this amazing gift


Now that we are heading into September its time for FALL BALL!! Woohoo.. Nick and Justin both have their first games on Tuesday night, we are all so excited! Joe is also now playing on TWO adult softball teams (Thursday & Friday leagues) and also doing tournaments (roughly 2 a month).. So needless to say we LOVE baseball and I now take up residents at the ballpark!

Here recently since Justin has gone back to school Nick and Emily have been spending tons of time together.. Here they are having one of their daily chats....


And here is another, yet right now Emily is screaming at him to leave "HER" toys alone...


Speaking of Justin he is LOVING school. We are roughly 3 weeks into second grade and he is doing great. He does have his first cold, thanks school, yet that doesn't worry me. The suspected 50+ cases of swine flu in our district school system scares me! But lets not worry, instead smile like my big second grader!


Well summer days are coming to an end, but lets share a picture of one last dip in the pool! Actually it was Emily's FIRST dip! She loved it. Yes I have another water bug on my hands!

Might Be Surprised

So summer is coming to an end, and in a way its sad and yet exciting. The boys have started back to school, fall baseball season has begun, and my garden is dying (kinda).. We had alot of veggies come ripe over the past few weeks so I have been canning, cooking, and freezing my butt off, with some help from Joe and the kiddos. I was and am pleasantly surprised at how much stuff I already have canned and yet I have a crap load more to go! But hopefully we will have a nice stash for the winter months and get to enjoy the veggies! Also it has given me the urge to start on Emilys babyfood. Im going to start making her homemade babyfood within the next week and start stocking the freezer! More to come on that later!

Here are some pictures of the progress so far..

We have everything from banana peppers, to jalapenos, to pickled eggs, and homemade pickles

Emily helping mommy can the peppers!

Frozen fresh squash and corn - YUMMO

I also wanted to share Justins plant. He came home the end of last school year with this little plant in one of those dixie cups like you use in the bathroom when brushing your teeth. I stuck the dang thing in the window, thinking it was a bean plant, and just kinda waited for it to die. Well after a few weeks it looked pretty sickly, but Justin would NOT let us toss it. He said it was a pumpkin plant and he wanted to grow it. So Joe took it out back in the flower bed, planted it to kinda just make Justin happy and we both expected it to just go on and die. The thing was maybe an inch or two long and yellow and half dead anyway. Well several months later this is what we got! Never give up on something small, it might just surprise you!


And last but not least I had to show some summer tradition. Watermelon season is in and even though we didn't grow this in our garden it sure was goooood!

*notice the juice streaming down his arm =)

Second Grade

So today was Justins first day of 2nd grade! WOW time is flying by! He is so excited to be in second grade. He is also excited he has a man teacher he said. Whom which seemed very nice today when we met him!. I'm so proud of my baby boy and can't believe how much he has grown and matured! Hes so big he feels the need to want to ride the school bus now. Mommy on the other hand is not wanting to let go. But I have agreed to let him try out the school bus and ride it in the morning to school and if that goes well we will start talking about riding it home. I HATED riding the school bus as a kiddo, so I'm wondering why he is so eager. Guess we will see how he really likes it after a few weeks!

Nickster is gearing up to start pre-school on Friday. He can't wait, but yet wishes he was already at the "big school" with Justin. Next year my dear, is what I tell him. Nick will be one of the oldest in his class considering his birthday falls less than 10 days past the cut off for Kindergarden! Which I guess will be nice, I would have liked to be the oldest in my class as a kid!
Also we are getting ready for fall ball season. Practice for the boys, yes I said BOYS, starts next week. Justin is so excited and can't wait. Also Nick will be playing in a 5/6 league this year. Hes so happy to finally get his chance to play! Joe is also playing fall ball for both a church league on Friday nights and a tournament league on Thursday nights. So if you need to contact me I will be forwarding all my mail to the ballpark :)

Here are a few pictures from this morning!

Ready For His First Day of 2nd Grade

A Little Brotherly LOVE

And this is what Emily thought about the first day

Here is a collage I made for Justin!

Seven Years

Happy 7 year wedding anniversary to my WONDERFUL husband and myself! WOW I can not believe it has been 7 years since we said "I do".. It's crazy how time flies and its even more crazy when I look back over these past seven years and see how far we have come and how much we have grown! I think I love my husband more and more each day. Like the song goes "and I thought I loved you then"..

We celebrated our anniversary like we have done every year for the past 8 years. We went and ate at the MELTING POT, YUMMY!! It's were Joe popped the question 8 years ago and were we have eaten (with the exception of our actual wedding night) at every year on our anniversary since! And I swear every year I gain 20 pounds when I leave there. :)

Here is a look back to seven years ago on

July 20, 2002!!!

My Girls

Justin And Daddy

MY DRESS :)

The CAR

Picture Progression

NEWBORN

1 Month Old
2 Months Old

Two Months Old

WOW time is flying by, how can I make it slow down! Emily is already two months old today! I can't get over how much she is changing. She is smiling and cooing all the time now, I LOVE it!

I hope everyone had a safe and great Fourth of July! Ours was awesome! We hung out at the pool all day and then fixed tons of food and snacked all day. We were able to get a few fireworks in before the storms hit! Here are some pictures of the past few days!

Sleeping in on Saturday - (all piled in mommy and daddy's bed)

Getting ready to shoot some fireworks

The boys shooting off their firework pack with daddy!

Emily LOVED the big BOOM fireworks