Too Bad...

Too bad I didn't have this picture before last week. It would have been a decent entry for the I Heart Faces photo challenge for "Angles".

On a side note, don't you just love how Bethany's hair is sticking straight up? I wonder why it is?

Project 365 (#14 - #20)

Sunday ~ 14/365

I know I took a picture of one of the seasons we own last week, but we just got this one! And since we choose not have tv in our home (we own a tv and a dvd player, we just don't have tv stations in our home) we haven't seen this yet. Very soon we will know the answer to who killed Trudy Monk!

Monday ~ 15/365

Elisha had a practice game and so Bethany always plays with this little boy when she is at his games. Ironically they were both wearing the same shirt!

Tuesday ~ 16/365

Our cat Sky always sleeps like this and I never get it. How is sleeping with your face straight down comfortable?

Wednesday ~ 17/365

This picture of the clouds looked much better in real life than the picture I took of it but oh well.

Thursday ~ 18/365

Elisha and his compadres play Star Wars during Bethany's practice. See the light sabers attached to their belt loops? It's kinda funny cuz' Bethany's team has all older siblings running around, and Elisha's team has all younger siblings, so my kids always have someone to play with. Another reason for them liking this time of year, not only do they make new friends in their own team mates, but they make new friends while the other one is at practice too with all the brothers/sisters running around.

Friday ~ 19/365

We (meaning me and my friends from Life Group) made 100 prize baskets for Easter. Every year our church does a community Easter Egg hunt where there are 10,000 candy filled eggs given away.

Saturday ~ 20/365

Bethany got player of the game on Saturday! Yay! Coach said it was because she always has a smile on her face, is cooperative and does her best. Great job, Baby Girl!

Can I just say I'm lovin' this photo challenge! It's a lot of fun and is almost like a photo journal of our days. Almost. This photo challenge is courtesy of Sara. You can join in the fun at any time, so if you are interested get out that camera this week and link up with her next week!

The Mom Song

Have you ever seen this? I saved it in my e-mail because I'm crazy like that and every once in a while I go back and flip through the funny stuff I've saved if I want a laugh. I came across this one tonight and thought it would make a great Friday Funnies post, even though Friday is almost over here in my neck of the woods. Hope you enjoy it and crack up as much as I did!

I especially like the part that says "Stop crying before I give you something to cry about." I've only said that a handful of times, but I remember my mom saying it to me, which must mean I cried way too much as a kid!

I'm linking up today with Kim at Homesteader's Heart. Check out her blog to read more great Friday Funnies. (Sorry Kim, I looked for the meme button but couldn't find it)

You Are So Beautiful....

So tonight we were sitting in church waiting for the Baptism part of the service to start and Elisha starts playing with my hair. After running his fingers through it and smoothing it down again he finally stops and tucks my hair behind my ears.

"Mommy, you are so beautiful like that."

"Oh," I reply, "Thank you, Son."

"You're welcome, you look just like you got out of the shower."

So apparently to my eight year old son, I look beautiful when I get out of the shower and my hair is all wet and dripping. Go figure!

Project 365 (#7 - #13)

7/365 ~ Sunday

My family often naps on Sunday afternoons (mostly because we still make the kids) and so since I had a killer headache I got my blanket and pillow and entertained my mind while waiting for the Excedrin to kick in.

8/365 ~ Monday

A sunset at the ball field. We'll be seeing a lot of these this time of year.

9/365 ~ Tuesday

No practices, no games, just a night at home! We played Mad Libs off of the back of a Wendy's bag the kids had saved during dinner time. My favorite line, "Every morning when he wakes up he rubs his dirt on me to wake me up." We were laughing so hard at this one.

10/365 ~ Wednesday


Always a comedian!

11/365 ~ Thursday


Harmony had a practice game so we dropped by for a bit. She's learning how to play catcher and not doing too bad for never really playing the position before in her life.

12/365 ~ Friday


Yes! 20 is the best score you can get and I did it! Of course, I choose which tests he used to measure my brain age instead of him giving them to me randomly. Nevermind that I picked the ones I was especially good at!

13/365 ~ Saturday


Entertaining themselves on Opening Day while waiting for the other one to get their pictures taken.

That's it for this week! Care to join in? You can start at anytime and it really is a lot of fun. This little bit of fun is courtesy of Sara!

Opening Day (SWS & Gonna Miss This)

My six words this week, when my kids get older:

I'm really gonna miss opening day!

Even though we had to get the kids up early on a Saturday...

Even though we had to wait a long time for the parade to start...

Even though it took what seemed like forever for the kids' teams to get called up for pictures...

Even though we were at the ball fields all day today, I'm gonna miss when they are too big for this anymore!

This week I'm linking up with Cate at Show My Face and Pam at You're Gonna Miss This. Check them out if you'd like to play along too!

St. Patrick's Fun

I bought some cheap dollar hats at Target, one for each of us.

The kids had so much fun with us all having a different green hat. Too bad mine was too big for my head and kept falling over my face all day!

Second Baseman

Our son may have officially earned a position "in the dirt" as he likes to put it. Ever since he started baseball he's desired to play in field but has always played out field. I can appreciate his past coach's decisions to play him in the out field all season long. They were looking out for his well being as he did often look around a lot and did not always attend to the game. That can be dangerous if he is in field. But while I could appreciate it I also wanted very much for him to have a chance. We've often talked about what he needed to change to be given that chance.

On the way to his game Monday night we talked in the car. I reminded him of the verse I taught him last year when he was struggling to bat. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," Philippians 4:13. He told me last game he was a little nervous but that now he's excited. He was hoping to get a chance to play in the dirt at least once and that he was going to do his best.

And then he had his chance. He played second base the first inning and stopped the first ball, threw it right to the first baseman, OUT! Needless to say I was rejoicing for him. I could see the excitement in his face. His coaches told him great job. He smiled his shy, confident smile. The next inning he did it again, and then again and again, for a total of four outs during the course of the game. In addition he was doing his best to cover second when he was supposed to and be the cut off for the out field when he was supposed to. I'm not saying he didn't make any mistakes because he made a few, but his perserverance outweighed the mistakes. His focus was there. It was so wonderful to see. My little boy is growing up maturing and gaining confidence. Can you tell I'm proud of him?

He earned the game ball and his coaches told him they think they are going to leave him at second because he did so well. Second? He has an official in field position? No way! He's worked so hard, wanted so badly, tried his best. Second baseman. Our boy is a second baseman.

Saturday's Outing

On Saturday we went to one of our favorite local parks. It doesn't have a playground but a lot of walking trails and a view...

Actually I think we only went one time last year and so when we went this year the kids barely remembered it. But they did remember our tree...

...which they have always loved to climb ever since the first time we discovered this park when Elisha was three and Bethany was not even two yet. We've taken some neat pictures of the kids climbing on this tree.

In fact, the very first picture that I took that I was satisfied with and gave out to all our friends and family was of Elisha on this tree.

Koda, our five year old German Shepherd mix, decided he wanted to be in the tree too!

Not quite what I had in mind when I took this picture, but I love the way it turned out nevertheless!

Taking pictures of kids and dogs...

... can actually be quite comical!

Ah well, I thought the grassy hillside was perfect, but Bethany really wasn't havin' it and Koda was wiggly. This is the best picture of the ten that I took!

Running on ahead, being free, being kids, enjoying life!

Hmmm.... I probably should have cropped this picture, but since I already have it uploaded, so it is what it is.

Can I just tell you that our dog LOVED this bench. He's rarely in the house (only at night) and when he is he's not allowed on the furniture. I don't know what got into him, but he just had to sit up there.

This girl loves this time of year because the ladybugs are out in full force. At one point, my fearless ladybug hunter told me she had eight ladybugs in her hand!

Gotta love those trees.

A view of our city.

THE END!

(I have a feeling she's gonna be mad at me for this photo one day)

Project 365

Okay so I have been following this project on Mimi's blog for a while and I always think I should try that too. Then Michelle and I got to talking (okay, leaving blog messages and e-mails) and we both decided we'd try it out. So this is week one of the Project 365, we started on Monday.

The goal is to take one picture a day for an entire year.

365/1 ~ Monday

We went to annual church conferences and didn't get home until nearly 10 o'clock. Both of the kids went straight to bed (in their clothes too!) and were asleep within minutes.

365/2 ~ Tuesday

Getting a healthy dinner cooked is a trick during baseball and softball season, so during this time of year I take advantage of the crockpot for meals I need prepared almost as soon as we get home. Dinner tonight? Teriyaki tri tip, green beans and parmesean butter noodles. Quick and into the bellies within 20 minutes of arriving home from practice :)

365/3 ~ Wednesday

Yohn is doing what he does best as manager of The Source (and no, he wasn't just playing on the internet, that's my job).

365/4 ~ Thursday

Thursday nights we try to always make family nights and with Elisha not going to practice due to a sore neck (he's doing better by the way) we had extra time. It was Elisha's turn to pick, which almost always means we play a video game together. Yes, we still have our N64 hooked up, it's right next to our PS2. While we don't play it as often, some games I just can't give up.

365/5 ~ Friday

Friday brought lots of rain, and rain bring beautiful flowers! I know this is probably just a weed, but it's pretty just the same.

6/365 ~ Saturday

Friday's rain saturated the ball fields and the kids' games were cancelled. However, Saturday was a beautiful day and we spent some of it outdoors at a local park (not a playground type of park, but the kind where you just walk around and look). The ladybugs were everywhere!

Okay so I gotta admit, I almost forgot a couple of times, but by the end of the week I was anticipating and plotting what to take a picture of. I think this is gonna be fun. Can't promise I'll last the whole year, but since Michelle is starting at the same time, and I'm kinda competitive, I'll probably stick with it.

This project is courtesy of:

and:

If you're interested in playing along you can join in at anytime, just click on the project buttons above!