Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Stating The Obvious

S.T.O. Yes, my children are blonde. Very blonde. Very very blonde. Yes, they all look like their dad. Yes, they do look like me too. Yes, Scott and I kinda look alike. No, he can't deny his kids. Yes, all of my kids look the same. Yes, we have our hands full. Yes, they keep us busy. No, there's never a dull moment. All of that before we made it through the produce section of the grocery store. Seriously, if I had even a quarter for every time I've heard those comments, I would be driving a Bentley and living next to P.Diddy.


My blonde Cate, who looks like her daddy, and mommy, and brothers, enjoying her breakfast "affle" on the back deck

Sunday, April 25, 2010

What A Weekend....

On Friday, we celebrated Bennett's 8th birthday with a weekend baseball tournament in Kansas City. Sounds like crazy fun for an 8 year old and it was...even though mother nature totally screwed us. Everyone knew rain was coming, but didn't anticipate an endless downpour. We made it through four innings of our first game before it was called for rain delay...however, we were winning 7-3 and had played long enough for them to declare us victorious!! This was a pretty big deal considering our team lost to that KC team by 14 runs last year. Bennett went 3 for 3 with 2 RBI's and played great at first base. Our second game was rain delayed four hours, so we went to lunch and then back to the hotel. At 5pm it was still raining and the tournament was completely canceled. Of course, our hotel's late check-out was at 4pm, so we either had to stay another night or be charged 50% room rate to check out after 4:00. Ugh. We decided to stay another night. The kids swam and ran around the hotel with their friends and they considered the weekend a complete success!!! Enjoying a birthday sundae at Cracker Barrel Friday night. He had four grandparents, one great-grandma, Uncle Josh and Michelle, and Aunt Kathy join him in KC for the tournament...that's one lucky boy!


Leading his team in warm-up exercises. Unfortunately, this is one of only three game pictures I took. It started raining right before the game started and Cate and I had to watch from the car. Thankfully, Scott was able to find a parking spot right next to the field so I could watch the entire game. Watching Dora during the game. She's got the life.
We made it home around 2:00 Sunday afternoon. We're all exhausted and super crabby. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight, but I have about four more loads of laundry before I'm finished. This week we have 3 baseball practices, 1 soccer practice, 1 soccer game, 4 baseball games and one fieldtrip...not too bad :)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Thursday...

I was shocked when I walked into my living room tonight and found this...Carter reading a book! Of course, five minutes later...

Being read to......that's more like it!!!

Ironically, this morning, Cate and I attended Bennett's 100 books reading ceremony.
Receiving his reading medal and pin. Truthfully, I feel that the parents also deserve a medal for having to listen to their kids read 100+books every school year. Soooo boring. Scott and I often play rock-paper-scissors to see who has to sit with him while he reads aloud. And we sometimes encourage him to pick the books with the fewest pages and largest print

And.....I accidentally sent Bennett to school today with an empty lunchbox (do I rock at this parenting thing or what?!). Thankfully I realized this before his lunch hour. After his reading ceremony, I grabbed the empty from his locker and Cate and I ran home to fill it. When we returned, he was mortified to see us walk into his classroom. His face turned as red as his shirt when Cate walked to his desk and said in her loudest voice "here's you luchbox Beeeennn" and all of the girls sighed "awwwww"!!! A moment I may never forget!

Brady and Cate chillin on the couch. She loves to crawl up next to him and snuggle...she even let him control the remote! I'm starting to think they really do look alike

And it wouldn't be a true Thursday without my golf league (working, not playing. Why am I still doing this? Didn't my parents sell the golf course?), Brady's soccer practice, Carter's soccer practice, then hitting practice at the batting cages.

We leave for Kansas tomorrow for Bennett's first away baseball tournament..oh and it's his 8th birthday. He's so excited to "travel" on his birthday...we are less than excited to spend $800+ this weekend and then still have to buy him gifts and throw a party!!! Ok, my ambien is kicking in and Scott made me promise I will not blog, email, or text while I am under the influence of my sleeping pills....so, goodnight!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

I Survived The Weekend...

Barely. 234 miles later and more than $100 in gas, but I survived. Not even 4 baseball games, 4 soccer games, 3 softball games, and 1 charity auction can beat me down :) It was a complicated/exhausting two days of "who's going where and with who" but all of my planning paid off and I have to give a great big "thanks" to all of our family who helped.

There were only three minor glitches in my plan.... 1- I ran out of Ambien on Saturday night...so I didn't sleep but maybe 3 hours. 2- Carter got up around 2am Sunday morning throwing up and didn't stop for seven hours. I remember laying in bed thinking "Carter getting sick is not on my spreadsheet!" He had to miss his soccer games on Sunday (three of them) which made life a little easier on me and I'm very thankful that my parents stayed home with him so I could go to Bennett's semi-final and championship baseball games! 3-I only took about five pictures and I forgot my camera for Bennett's Sunday games. I was so upset!!!

Here are the pictures I did take...

Bennett's team won 3 games and lost the championship game by a few runs. They played great and qualified for a tournament in Steamboat Springs, CO. Carter's soccer team won 2 games and lost one..I haven't heard about Sunday's game. Brady won both of his games this weekend and scored one goal in each!

Cate lugging all of her stuff after the second baseball game. There were two huge playgrounds at the baseball complex that she loved playing on and they were close enough that I could still see the game. Win-Win :)

Bennett receiving his trophy after the final game. The coach gave Brady one too for being the batboy. He sits in the dugout throughout every game and helps with equipment, drinks, whatever the boys need and during warm-ups he shags balls for the coaches. He was so excited about his trophy and even took it to school Monday to show all of his friends!

Had to take this one with my camera phone...

All in all, a very successful weekend. Friday is Bennett's 8th birthday and we're heading to Kansas for another baseball tournament (yes we were just there last month for Carter's soccer!). I figure I'll get caught up on laundry by June :)

Friday, April 16, 2010

Let The Games Begin....

The most ridiculous weekend ever. I have been dreading April 17-18 for a very long time. I have even had a few panic attacks trying to get our schedule straight for these next two days. Carter is in a soccer tournament in O'Fallon, Bennett is in a baseball tournament in Lake St. Louis, Scott has a highschool softball tournament in O'Fallon, and Brady has two soccer games. Oh, and it's my nieces senior prom and I am working a charity auction Sunday night. I googled "rain dances" but decided against trying one because I don't want to be responsible for a wet senior prom. Therefore, I'm going to take one for the team, drive almost 3oo miles throughout the entire weekend and do plenty of cheering! I'm so thankful Cate is such a trooper. A nap-anywhere-we-are kinda gal, and just plain fun to be with! We'll look for "hairpains" in the sky, snack on our bag of goodies, and root for our boys!! May be hectic, but life is good :)

Enjoying the warm breeze and sunny skies at Carter's last game

Carter and his St.Louis Scott Gallagher team play tomorrow in Ofallon at 8:30am and 5:30pm (could that be any less convenient??) Then Sunday at 10 and semifinals are at 1:45 and finals at 4:15. Potentially five games for him this weekend.

Bennett plays at 3:00 and 6:00 on Saturday in Lake St Louis, MO...which is 52 miles from our house. Times for Sundays games depend on their success on Saturday...but they will either play at 9, 10:30, or 12:00, with a Championship game at 1:30. Potentially four games for him this weekend.

Brady plays two games this weekend...Saturday at 10:15 and Sunday at 6.

I was less than thrilled when Cate grabbed a glove and ball at Ben's game and wound up to pitch. Little toe pointed out in front of her, just like the big girls do during the college softball games that her dad makes encourages her to watch :) And pitching left handed nearly brought tears to Scott's eyes!!! I was hoping she would skip athletics and just want to shop and hang out with her mama forever ! Looks like I've got lots of ballgame watching years ahead of me...

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Let's Go Fly A Kite

Brady's school hosted a Family Fun Day on Wednesday. Each student received a kite to decorate and then we all went outside to fly them. Scott took a half day so he could go with us....Uncle Tim, Meagan, and Reece were there too!!
Brady wasn't too concerned about the looks of his kite..he just wanted to get outside

Cate, Reece, and Brady

Brady had his flying soooo high :)

See it way up there??

Afterwards, we headed to Culver's for lunch

And baby Maddox joined us!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Playdate With Her Girls

On Sunday, Cate had her five best girls over for a belated birthday party/play date. The weather was perfect and I think everyone had a great time. It was a whirlwind, with six kids under the age of 4, but we survived!! Cate, Delaney, Gabby, and Brady eating lunch

The trampoline was everyones favorite!
Harper loved the sandbox (Jen...not so much)

Baby Luke slept through the madness :)

Ice cream and cupcakes!

Cate sporting her new rain boots and matching umbrella!
Playing with her new puzzles..still wearing the boots

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Saturday Sports

Today was Bennett's first game with his new baseball team, Team Illini. They actually had two games...winning the first 17-9 and losing the second 14-11. Ben plays 1st or 3rd base. His entire team played great!! Bennett went 9 for 9 with 6 singles, 3 doubles, and 9 RBI's. Not bad for his first day :)

Less than thrilled that I snapped a picture of him in the dugout

Cate making her way to the field

Bennett and Kadin making necessary adjustments ;)

Cate giving her daddy a between-inning pep talk

Entertaining herself in the dirt. This will be the last time I let her insist she wear a white shirt to baseball!

A very successful day for Mr. Bennett!!
Brady and Carter both had soccer games at the same time as Ben's first game this morning. The other team didn't show up, so Carter's team won by forfeit. Brady's team won 5-1 and he scored one goal. I couldn't take pictures today because I was in charge of the substitutes and it was very stressful!! The video below is from Brady's game last week...I love that he looks up before he shoots and places the ball in the far left corner away from the goalies reach (as Carter's coach would say "well done!")