I'm Tree Hugger

I'm a tree hugger. Not by choice by accident. I have on average about 10-15 kids cruising in and out of the house at any given day. Today when the 9 ft. Christmas tree topples over on me...nothing, nobody, no help. Just me and the tree...Huggin' each other.

I'm done hugging now, the tree is technically back up if a little smooched looking. But that's okay, because I hugged it all better when it fell down...on me!

St. Louis Boys Trip

Baseball is a huge part of our family life. It wasn't always that way though. It started about the time Z. started playing t-ball. From there he learned the game and we learned the game and we all loved it. Z. and Hubs are of course much bigger fans than me and out of those two it is of course Z. who has the passion. His dreams are to grow up and be a professional baseball player. When asked what happens after that he says I'll be a paid select boys baseball coach. Yeah, we'll need to revisit that one as he gets older. But out of all the teams out there, Z.'s favorite is the St. Louis Cardinals although he does love the Texas Rangers also. And his personal MVP is Albert Pujols. For as long as I can remember he can tell you more than I ever want to hear about Pujols stats. He has always begged to go to Bush Stadium someday to watch Albert Pujols play in his home stadium as a Cardinal. He was very specific about this.

Anyway, with all the travel that Hubs has done overseas we had lots of air miles about to expire. Not enough for all six of us to go to Hawaii like I wanted but enough for five of us to go. So instead I told Hubs what he need to do was take his boys to St. Louis to Bush stadium and see Albert Pujols. After a bit of planning the boys trip was on. The girls and I would stay home and do "girl stuff". So they packed themselves off over Labor Day weekend and hopped on the plane.

They stayed a half mile from the stadium and the arch. So since I gave Z. the camera to take pictures with I wasn't sure what I would end up with on the small camera. He didn't do to bad, well except that it looks like dad never made it into any of the shots and I have more landscapes and landmarks than people.


They woke up early on Saturday and hit the arch first thing. They had no line and got to ride all the way to the top. By the time they got down the line was super long so Hubs and his earliness OCDness worked for the greater good this time.
From there they could get a birds eye view of all that they really cared to see (i.e. Bush Stadium)


Then they went around the area and did some sight seeing. Since I wasn't there I couldn't tell you what one thing is from another.


Finally they headed to the game and got there early. The special promotion was for them to go on the field that day but I think it was very crowded so they didn't enjoy it as much as they thought. The boys were very excited and anxiously waited for the game to start. Did you notice Z. wearing his Pujols jersey...and it's tucked into his shorts. Seriously, I can't get the boy to tuck anything into his jeans and he tucks his jersey into his shorts.


Z.'s favorite player ever on the big screen.

Sadly, they lost the game that day. But honestly they all had so much fun that I don't think they were really upset about it.

Then it was back to the hotel and an early flight home the next day. With souvenir Cardinals shirts for everyone.

Sharks Soccer Season Synopsis

OK, now that you've read the title of my post, time to uncurl your tongue and wipe off your face. Hoss played fall soccer again this year, along with fall baseball. Whew was it hard to accommodate everything this season. It was the first time we have ever had a lot of games conflict with each other. But we made the best of it and did lots of running around. There were some games that conflicted where we had to take turns seeing which game we would have to miss.

Then there were those Saturdays that Hoss and I loved most of all (can you detect just a hint of sarcasm). We would go to K's. entire soccer game, then head over for the Sharks game. Hoss would have to play the entire first half then before he had a chance to catch his breath I was dragging him to the parking lot. Once we reached the car, I proceeded to try and strip down one very sweaty little boy and get him into his baseball uniform. Not an easy feat even when you take away the stinky sweaty boy part. Hoss always wanted privacy to change and it didn't always happen in the busy parking lot. So he would be struggling to get his shin guards off then his slide pants on. All while ducking as low as he could between the seats. (I swear I had flashbacks of doing the same thing in the front seat of my mom's car while I struggled to get into my gymnastics leotard. But that was many hours of therapy ago so there's no need to revisit that now) Then he would get the rest of his baseball uniform on and we would be off. I never got any pictures of these Saturday struggles since I was usually to busy swearing I'd never do this again to take any.

But occasionally the stars would line up just right and we would have no overlapping games. The core group of boys have gotten so much better and the new boys picked up alot along the way. Hoss is still the slowest runner out there and although I know nothing about soccer I'm told he is a decent player. I'll take their words for it. It's still just nothing but fun for the boys and a chance to be with their friends to hang out. But their skill level is noticeably improving so you have to cheer them on.

The favorite part of soccer for Hoss (besides the free coke at the end)is still being able to see his friend E. But we did finally decide that he needs to pick one sport come spring. So we will see what he picks baseball or soccer, until then I am just going to enjoy the off season.

A Knight to celebrate Birthdays

We celebrated lots of birthdays from the end of Sept. to the end of Oct. So I thought it would be fun to take everyone out for dinner to Medieval Times. Grandmama and Pappy joined us of course since they were part of the birthday celebrants. (Along with Hoss and myself) I remember going to a show years ago and thought the kids would love it. But for some reason I was the only grown up who seemed to think it would be fun. But everyone went (to humour me I'm sure) and surprise surprise, everyone had fun and enjoyed it. So we donned our paper crowns and cheered on our knight. The kids loved getting to eat their dinner with their hands and really got into the show part of it all. They were super excited when "our" knight even won the tournament that night.


We went on a tour of the torture museum and I found something that I think every wife should have.

He was a good sport about it but still hasn't built me my very own one to have yet. The kids are already asking when we can go again so I'm taking that as a sign of them enjoying it. After all who can resist a paper crown, eating without silverware and sword fights.

Somethings missing from this smile

It has finally happened. After what has seemed like forever to her, my K. has finally lost her first tooth. I'm not surprised it took her 6 1/2 years to lose this tooth she didn't get it when she was a baby until she was almost a year old. But after promising her that if she ate the apple her tooth would come out, she tried it. And it did. At school of course because that's where you get the cool little tooth treasure boxes to keep it in for the tooth fairy. So now we just have to wait for that other bottom tooth to fall out and then she will have a nice big "picture window" on her bottom row of teeth

Halloween 2010

I have to at least put up a picture of my kiddos in all their glory. Since I've been so busy with all the busy scheduling of 3 kids and 4 teams. Z. decided to forgo the dressing up this year and instead stay home, pass out candy and watch the Rangers and Giants play in the World Series. So that left me with the three younger ones. We had Hoss being a zombie of sorts (not sure exactly but it was the grossest thing he could find). K. decided that she had to be a lady bug. I was hesitant at first because with that kind of costume you are guaranteed to have a chilly night so be forced to wear of jacket and cover it up. But it stayed warm so she got to wear it just as it was meant. Then we had A., who at 4, enjoyed it more than anyone. She was a mermaid of course. It's what she's been planning on since August so I was glad for her.

Since we didn't have Z. with us, I was able to keep our trick or treating to about an hour and we didn't have to go to the Nightingale house of carnage. So with A. leading the way we hit as many houses as we could. Grandmama came with us and laughed at Hoss and K. remembering dad's strategy from the year before. Zig zag back and forth across the streets so you don't have to back track this way you hit the maximum number of houses in the shortest times. Funny what things kids remember but I'm not really surprised, anything to get more candy. A. soon picked it up and was going full force. We came home with three very heavy bags of candy which were immediately Dad and Pappy taxed which meant that all the Butterfingers and some Hershey bars were soon confiscated. Funny but I don't remember them out walking the neighborhood. I'm thinking that was a definite case of taxation without representation going on there. But since the kids were to busy bouncing off the wall on a sugar high, they didn't notice and everything was fine.

Does this make me a Shredhead?

I bought the 30 Day Shred months ago and never got around to doing it. Finally I decided to get off my arse and get with the program. I really didn't have any grand visions of losing the 20 pounds she claimed we could lose up to (although I would of course be very excited about that if it happened). Instead I was hoping to get a bit more energy and get a bit more motivated to start regular exercise again. So when a friend on Facebook mentioned she was starting it, I jumped into it with her.

I have to say, waking up at 5 am is not my favorite thing. Actually, it's got to be one of my least favourite things. But since it was the only time I could guarantee to have the time every single day I did it. And I can't believe I'm going to say it, but I got used to it and it's not that bad after all. I started it at the beginning of Oct and did it every single day (except for one) even on weekends. And that's not fun. But today marked my day 30 of the Shred. So I thought I would share a bit of my Shred results here with you. In case you care, and if you don't that's okay too. I had heard that I should really take measurements in order to see the results even if you don't lose weight and I'm glad I did. Otherwise I would be a bit discouraged I'm sure. Sorry no pictures here, I'm not that bold just yet.

So here are my 30 Day Shred results:

Weight: nothing spectacular, I wavered between gaining and losing the same 3 pounds all month long.

Hips: Lost 2.75 inches
Thighs: Lost .75 inch
Arms: Lost .75 inch
Belly: Lost 3.25 inches
Bust: Lost 2.5 inches
Waist: Lost 1.5 inches

So that means that I lost a grand total of 11 1/2 inches lost. I'll take it. I'm definitely stronger than I was when I started. I can do push ups now where I couldn't before and I do have more energy. I even had muscles in my arms now (I showed them to Hubs just the same way my A. shows him her muscles and he saw them) So I will continue on doing it for a bit more and add in some other videos as well. I am thinking it's about time I finally get around to using that couch potato to 5k program I downloaded a few months back. Better late than never, right?

Family Portraits

It was decided that when my brother and his family came to visit we were going to get a big group family portrait done. It's been years since we had one done and we have added a few children since the last one. The question then became where would we go to have it done and who has the patience to deal with this many of us. We decided to use our neighbor across the street. She has a photography studio set up in her home and we could get both indoor pictures taken along with some out by the lake. For those of you here in the area, she is amazing and you should check out her site.

So we got all dressed up and got to her house. We got some of each family taken and then we got some of us as a group.



We then went outside and got some by the lake.


Then she just kind of hung out and got some random ones of everyone.


They turned out great and we were all excited to get them. And the best thing besides getting all these pictures, it wasn't that much of a beating to have done.

Sweating at Six Flags

Every summer we try to go at least once to Six Flags. This summer we did it when my brother was in town. So we knew that we would be at least 11 of us going. But then my cousin Sandy and her family decided to join us as well as long as my cousin Sally's son. So we ended up with a grand total of 16 of us going to Six Flags.

We planned to get up early and be there by the time the gates opened and stay as long as we wanted. It was a very hot day and we knew we were going to be drinking lots. We planned on having a picnic lunch outside the park so we wouldn't spend a fortune on food. That worked out well since we got to sit in the shade trees and visit a bit more. Some ducks came up to us and were very aggressive in getting our food. The kids liked them until one of them got bit, then they were a little more careful.

I had to laugh because it's been a while since we saw my cousin and her family. My favourite quote of the entire day was when Sandra told us her nephew Johnny saw us all walking up to them and said "We're related to white People, how is this possible?" But once she explained how it was possible I guess it was all good.

Everyone rode the rides, even Grandmama and Pappy got in on a little action.

I was forced to ride a few roller coasters this year since I no longer had the excuse of having to stay with the baby in the stroller. I really miss those days. But for the most part, it wasn't to bad.

The big boys were able to go and do rides together and Scott, Stacey and James tried to be manly and hang with the kids. I don't think Scott and Stacey were quite as manly as James in that department though.

We got lots of pictures of us looking hot and tired and very sweaty.



My kids even got in a quick picture with Scooby but Hannah wouldn't go near that character figure to save her life.

I still don't think she goes to see Santa Claus either so I wasn't all that surprised. But it was fun to get to be all together again and see Sandra and James and the kids.

After the long day at the park, we headed home. I was told by Hannah that I was driving the cool car since I had the kids with me and all the loud music. My parents, Scott and my brother were in the boring car listening to Pappy's music. Even the kids are tired of listening to Piano by candle light and they haven't had near as much of it as us grown ups have. Rhonda gave that up for the ride home and hopped in my car. I don't think I ever told Hannah that the reason the music is so loud in my car is because I'm trying to drown out the noise of all the kids so she may not have realized it. My kids already know this and so just scream louder to be heard. But anyways, it was another fun day with the family and I enjoyed every bit of it.

A visit to Cowboy Stadium

My brother and his family came to visit us this July. It had been too long since we saw them last. But since they moved out to NC, it's just not as easy to see them anymore. But by far the highlight of my brothers trip was not seeing me. (Not sure why though) It was going on a tour of Cowboy Stadium.

All I can say about the house that Jerry built is Wow, Wow, Wow. That man can build a stadium better than he can tick off die hard Cowboy fans. I must say it was very impressive.

We went on the VIP tour so got to go in the locker rooms and VIP suites. The kids had to get thier pictures taken in front of some of the players $10,000 a piece lockers. We weren't allowed to sit on the benches in front of them.

And so did mom.

It's definetely the suite life and I doubt I will ever be there again unless I go on another tour. But my poor brother was just besides himself with happiness. I've never seen such smiles on that guy. Well unless you count the smiles on the kids as well.


We got to see the suites, the press room, both the player and cheerleader locker rooms and the field. Here is my brother with a big grin as he poses in the Cheerleader locker room. The big dork.

We normally would get to go out on the star and kick field goals but they were changing the astro turf for a big soccer game at the time so we didn't get to do that part.

It was very entertaining to say the least. And if you ever get the chance to go on the tour, then do it. It's a lot of fun even if you aren't a Cowboys fan.

A Snapshot into the Sillyness of Everyday Life

Such typical behaviour for these two.

The Road to Omaha

We went to Omaha this summer with my son's baseball team. None of us had ever been and we were going up to play in the College World Series tournament they had going on. So we packed up our van and Grandmama and Pappy's truck and headed out. Naturally I got window paint for both vechiles so that everyone from Texas to Nebraska knew where we were going and why we were going there. All I can say is that it's much easier to put that paint on then it is to take it off. But it was still fun for the kids to have it on the cars. And it was amazing to see how many people wished us luck going up.

Our intentions were to play games and be done by 4 every afternoon in order to go catch some of the college games that were being played at Rosenblatt Stadium. It never really worked out for our group though. Some of the other players on the team made it to some games but by the time we would get back to hotel the rest of us were just worn out. So we would spend lots of time in the hotel indoor pool. We would then go out in groups of all sizes and walk around downtown Omaha until we found a place to eat at. Whichever place could fit us first is where we ended up. Then we would head back to the hotel and hang out with everyone there in the lobby. In the picture below, I think all 8 of the players with us at dinner that night somehow crammed themselves into that old English telephone booth. Very funny to watch them coordinate that one.


It just so happened we were staying at the same hotel as the UCLA team. They eventually were one of the teams that made it to the finals with USC. It didn't take long for our Viper boys to discover what floor the UCLA team was staying on and that is where they would run off to. That team was so patient with our boys and really made it fun for them. We actually went to Rosenblatt stadium one afternoon after our game and got some pictures of the team there.



Then we went inside only to find out that UCLA was practicing at the time. So we sat down and watched them. Amazing to see how much they can get done in a short practice time. Our boys caught the eyes of some of the players practicing and before we knew it they were passing out NCAA College World Series baseballs to our boys and started autographing them. I don't know who had more fun, them or our boys. But it was just another cool thing for these players to do for our boys.

After the practice was over we went to a local spot which is legendary for it's burgers and ice cream.

All I can say is WOW, that was a huge hamburger and no one was able to finish them, not even the dads. Grandmama thought she would get an ice cream cone to go along with her malt she shared with Pappy. I don't know where she had the room to put it, but she ate it. All 10 inches of it!! And I am not kidding, I've never seen such a huge ice cream as that before. But it was she said and just like the Frosty restaurant in Alamogordo that our grandparents owned for years.


Our boys went up to play baseball and we weren't sure how they would do competing against all these other teams from around the country. They didn't do to bad at all and won enough games to put us in the middle bracket. We were soon out of the tournament and done. But we were so proud of how all those boys did playing their hearts out. So we packed up and headed back home and got ready for the AAYBA World Series Tournament held in Flower Mound a week later. No rest for the weary or so we thought, we ended up getting rained out of a lot of that so I am extra glad that they played so well in Omaha. It was a fun trip and we have some great memories.

Another year blows by

Time is moving to fast. I blink my eyes and it seems like months have passed by in a blur. So I am going to try and catch my breath a bit and recollect a bit of what has been going on.

We celebrated my baby turning 4. Hard to believe it but she is. Unfortunately her birthday also happens to fall in April which is smack dab in the middle of baseball season and soccer season. Makes for planning a birthday party for her a little difficult. We celebrated with a small family birthday dinner like we always do. I mentioned it in a previous post. Finally, a month later we finally found a free time where we could have her "friend" party.

She picked none other than Chuck E. Cheese. It's not my favorite place but she really loved it and having her friends there to play with. She met Chuckie himself and seemed a bit impressed.

Then she went into the ticket wind tunnel with Zach to help her. She liked that, but she loves anything that her big brother Zach does with her. It was a fun time for her and her friends and that's what really matters.


So after celebrating Anna's birthday a month late, it literally was a blink of an eye until we celebrated my big boy turning 12. I can't believe I have a 12 year old. Seems like yesterday he was still a small baby. He also had a small family party and got his desired and highly coveted PS3. Instead of our normal chocolate cake, he made his own dessert. He spent the day at Grandmama's and Pappy's house and decided that he wanted Peanut Butter Rice Crispy treats. So not only did he turn 12 on me, he made his own "cake" so to speak. See what I mean by growing up so fast. And they were good too. I think I'll let him keep on making those. But I was keeping with the lack of birthday planning and forgot to take my camera out. So I didn't get my picture of my birthday boy on his actual birthday.

Two weeks later we celebrated Kate turning 6 years old. She turned 6 the day before we headed out to Omaha for the College World Series tournament Zach's team was playing in. So naturally we had another small family birthday dinner to celebrate.


And yes, the chocolate cake was there. Although Kate had been at grandmama's house and helped to frost it. I've never seen such a brightly colored cake before. She went to town with it. She enjoyed her pink DS she got and got to use it plenty over the summer. But in keeping with this awful habit I started with Anna this year, her friend party was about 5 weeks late.

She decided she wanted her first ever slumber party. So she picked a few friends from her summer camp and invited them over. It was a small group to begin with but it ended up being just three girls at the party. All the other kids were sleeping over at friends houses or grandmama's. So we went to the movies Friday night and swimming Sat. morning before all the fun finally ended. She loved it and wants to have another slumber party soon. Anna is begging to be included in the next one though. And again, I never took out my camera. Truly, I'm lacking in my pictures here aren't I?

So there we have another year flying past in a blink of an eye. For the time being, I am allowed to say I have a 12 year old, 7 year old, 6 year old and a 4 year old. It will change in a month's time when Michael finally turns 8 but until then I'm allowed. Hopefully his party won't be so late in arriving as the girls.

At the ballpark with Big Z

It's been a while since I've been at Z.'s game. With all the other kids and the games they have, it's been a real juggling act getting everyone where they need to go. But I did finally get to one of Zach's game and remembered my camera. He was pitching that day so I got a few shots of him on the mound and then the rest that I got were of him at 3rd base.

Watching to see what his pitch will be.



He gets set.


Winds Up.


And Releases


I was even able to catch him getting a grounder down the 3rd base line before he threw to first. I can't remember if it was an out or not but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.


Not a bad day for Zach at the ballfield or me and my camera. Always fun to get some good action shots of him.