HOME RUN BALL!

During our last tournament Colson made a memory his Daddy will never forget. He hit his second over the fence home run. Let me set the stage for you. His first at bat he struck out. There was MAJOR drama. Hey, it happens. But you would have thought that it was the World Series, last out, and we needed one run to win the game. He pouted like a pro. So his next at bat he decided to make up for it and CRUSHED the ball. It was 189' field and the fence was about 20' high because it backed up to the parking lot...the higher fence protects the cars more. Not only did it easily clear the fence, It went over the first row of cars, over the drive lane and over the NEXT row of cars....and then rolled all the way to this spot. I took this picture when we were leaving. This was the spot I found the ball, you can see the field in the way back ground.

I screamed so hard I had to sit down very quickly (the blood all rushed to my head) and then Wes immediately ran up to me and yelled "GO GET THAT BALL". So I missed the grin that I am sure consumed his face as he rounded third and his team mates were going crazy. Unfortunately he was the first at bat that inning so there was noone on base. One of the dads saw I went after the ball and came out to tell me that it would be way farther than where I was looking. I was looking to where I thought it had landed. He almost walked straight to it as he knew where it would have rolled.

And then the next day he almost did it again. He crushed the ball again and didn't quite clear the 20' fence...if it had been a normal size fence he would have had a 3rd ball to memorialize. Remember our grand slam last June? We have us a slugger!

TORTUROUS SCHOOL PROJECT

In middle school in Willis, as a girl you are given the option to take regular PE or Dance PE. Calli chose Dance PE and has had some fun in there. I think it's a pretty neat option. One of the projects that they worked on for what seems like FOREVER was to get in a group and make up  your own dance to music that was given to you by the teacher. The class theme was Broadway so all the music came from famous Broadway musicals. But when I sat through 20 routines, I didn't think any of them sounded like Broadway music and wasn't sure where they came from. They made up the dance in class and then they had to do all this extra stuff. I have always thought it was great that Calli always tries really hard to make her projects good. She never takes the easy way out and always likes to do things the right way. At the end of this project though I finally blurted out "IT'S DANCE PE!!!! ARE WE REALLY SPENDING THIS MUCH TIME ON IT?!?!" Somehow Calli and her friend Lauren ended up with all the work to be done at home and spent an entire weekend working on it. Apparently one of the girls said she couldn't do any of it and the 4th girl had been really sick for about 3 weeks and so they didn't want to impose any more on her....which was nice. And then we had the issue of the same girl who couldn't do anything not liking what Lauren and Calli were making up. I don't think the 4th girl really cared. So everything that was made up, she would say "I don't like that". Now, under normal circumstances I would be concerned that Calli was taking charge and maybe not giving anybody else a chance to make things up. But I was ASSURED by Lauren, whom I adore, that Calli was being very fair and NOT insisting that things go her way.

Anyways, we sat through 20 routines one night and Calli's group went last. They saved the best for last FOR SURE. The other 19 were pure torture. Calli's group really did good!! I know it took a lot of courage for some of those girls to get out there and perform in front of a gym full of parents and friends so I give them props for that. And you are going to think this dance is ending about 3 times...it was like that for every routine. She could have stopped the music WAY earlier but I guess she needed a longer program.

Calli has the yellow bow and salmon colored tank (in case you didn't know from the picture above) and she starts out the second from the right. Thank goodness this year is coming to a close!

GRANDPA YOU ARE LOVED

Both Grandpas are deeply loved by my kids. Yesterday Colson came home with a Poetry Journal. It was a little book with several different kinds of poems in it. Some he wrote himself, others he just copied from his teacher. I stopped to read this one...I'm not sure what kind of poem this is but it's safe to say it's not a rhyming one. It's call the I AM POEM. There was a list of prompts down the page and Colson filled in the blank.

I AM Colson Schubert
I WONDER how old God is
I HEAR the wind
I SEE my room
I WANT a bike
I AM 8 years old

I PRETEND I'm a baseball player
I FEEL angry
I TOUCH my mom
I WORRY about my grampa
I CRY when I get hurt
I AM sad

I UNDERSTAND books
I SAY yes
I DREAM every night
I TRY to do my best
I HOPE I can see my granpa
I AM a boy

No offense to Grandpa Schubert but I'm fairly certain that the two Grandpa's mentioend in this poem were Grandpa Murdock. He does worry about my dad traveling and he weekly asks when Grandpa is coming home. About 2 weeks ago he out of the blue stated that "Grandpa just needed to retire so he can come home"

MY SWEET KIDS

My "to blog" list has 10 items on it. Good grief how have I gotten so far behind. You can blame my bed...it calls me at the late hours of the night and I get so annoyed, I just give into it. So I think I'll just pick up from the most recent and fill you in on the others on those days when my bed goes to sleep before me.

I know it looks like I have some kind of very strange bow/flower in my head but it's actually something on the table behind the couch.

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Most days I feel like a pretty good mom. Sure I have days that I get annoyed too quickly. Or days when I scold for something silly. Or days when I tune out to keep my sanity. But for the most part I think I've created a safe, loving, environment for my kids. I play taxi really good and support them in both of their sports. I work with them on their homework and they both know they are deeply loved.

My sister does a great job too! She's got way more patience than me but she too has created a safe, loving environment for my two sweet nephews.

I don't think our good mothering skills came by happenstance. We had a great mother to model for us. She too created a safe, loving environment and poured lots of Godly influence into our lives. She went above and beyond at keeping us involved and thriving in school and our activities. How thankful I am that we had that example!

We had a nice evening at Christina's enjoying my Dad being in town and of course the usual chaos that comes with our 4 kiddos.

Colson made me this cute "wish" picture at school and wrapped it in this fabulous picture of a horse that he drew.

The WISH picture says (sorry I can't get it to rotated)

I wish I could keep you in my heart

I wish I could pretect you

I wish you happiness

I wish I could always see you

Calli had to write a paper in school about someone who is special to her. She wrote about me...awww!

Someone who is special to me is my mom, because she loves me, she cleans up my stuff, and many more reasons. I love my mom 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year, and I love her no matter what. I lover her here, there and everywhere. She is just so sweet. I show my mom I love her in many different ways like kissing her, help with the groceries and more things.

My mom does many, many, many, many things for me. Like buying me things, cleaning up after me, loving me, helping me with things and tons and tons more. My mom also disciplines me well so that I will be good. She teaches me what is right and what is wrong and she teaches me to love God. My mom is just amazing. She shares with me too! I just love her with all my heart and I know she loves me the same way.

I try to respect my mom even if it is hard because that is in the 10 commandments, honor your father and mother. I try to respect her by taking in the groceries, trying not to argue, always saying I love you and cleaning up my room when she asks. I should try a little harder to respect her. I could do that by picking up stuff right after I am done, not talking back and doing what she asks right away. My mom REALLY appreciates it when I obey and do what I am told and sometimes she even helps me clean up. I just love my mom. She is the BEST!

I think when she wrote this I had had a recent rampage of "pick up your stuff!!!!!" Regardless it's the sweetest note ever from the sweetest girl ever!