A Thousand Words Thursday

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Today's thousand word Thursday post needs a few words with it. There's a special reason for this picture. Yesterday afternoon, my dad fell and broke his hip! He is in the hospital and will have surgery tomorrow afternoon. This picture was from last Halloween and it makes me smile to see him standing tall and looking happy - because he looks so small and helpless in the hospital bed.

So if you are reading this, could you please say a prayer for him? A prayer for the surgery and a prayer for his recovery. A hip is a tough thing to recover from but for him - he has diabetes and Parkinson's disease - it's going to be a long, hard road. We would appreciate any prayers!! Thank you!!

(And for those of you that might be confused after my Father's Day post - this is my stepfather but he has always loved me like I was his own! It doesn't always take blood to make you family - LOVE makes you family!!)
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And the season comes to an end...

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Well, sadly, we lost our game on Saturday. It was really hot and our kids seemed to be "down" from the beginning. They pretty much beat themselves. It was a shame. They started off strong, scoring 4 runs at our first up to bat. But the other team answered with 4 and then 4 more and then 5 more and didn't allow our kids to score. We did rally and come back for another 4 or 5 runs, but it just wasn't enough.

Our kids have nothing to be sad about though! It was a long season and they made it quite a distance!!! We loved the games and watching the kids play, but it will be nice to get our lives back to a normal schedule!

And so...Mason started football camp this morning!! LOL!!! (It's just a 3 day - 3 hour each - mini camp, but he'll love it!!) He's my little sports fanatic (he's a mini Uncle Mike!!) :)

We are really proud of him!! :)
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WE WON!!!!

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They did it!!! They won the game 9-3!!! It was a great game - kind of laid back and real easy!!

So now they play tomorrow afternoon (change in the schedule) against a very good team - #3 team in the league (we are #4). So keep your fingers crossed. I really hope they can pull it off. It would be SO awesome to come back and end up in the finals!!!

I'll keep ya posted!! :)
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STRIKE, SAFE, OUT.....

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These are the words I hear the most lately!!! LOL!!

We are into playoffs for Mason's baseball team this week and it has been CRAZY!!! Monday night a game - it got rained out halfway through so we had to finish it Tuesday night. Unfortunately they lost that game. But it's double elimination (phew)!! Wednesday night's practice got rained out (thankfully). We had our second game last night and those kids came out charging and won 18-3!!!!! It was awesome!!!

So now we play again tonight. We SHOULD beat this team (we beat them in the regular season) but it will all depend on the kids. (Fingers crossed!) If we win tonight, we play again tomorrow morning. If we win that, we play tomorrow night. If we win THAT game, we play again Monday night and that might be the championship game. However, if we lose tonight - we are done.

I have loved this season. Mason being on the bigger kids team has been so exciting. As much as I look forward to getting back to a normal schedule and getting the kids to bed at a decent hour, I will miss this. It's been a great family event for us (Rex coaching, Mason playing, Syd and I in the stands cheering!!! And that little girl is a great cheerleader. She knows all the kids names, she's learned what to yell and when!! She's awesome!!) It's been so nice to do these things together as a family and I will be sad to see it end.

I'm really proud of how much Mason has grown through the season. Last night he pitched the entire game and only walked 3 batters and of those 3, 2 of them were at Full Count. He struck out 7 batters. He did fantastic. He's hitting the ball now and he's been doing great. He has so many nicknames this year - Deuce (he's number 2), M&M (obvious), Flash and Wheels (cause the boy can RUN!!!!! He is FAST!!!! You wouldn't know it by his size, but he can FLY!!!) I'll be anxious to see if any of the nicknames stick for next year!!! I'm proud of you bug!!!! :)

WAY TO GO AFC!!!!!!
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A Thousand Words Thursday

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Happy Birthday Mikey!!!

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(Mason, Mike and Sydney at Disney)

Happy Birthday "baby" brother!! Still hard to believe sometimes that you are all grown up. You've come so far -wondering for so long what was in store for you. Now you have what you've always dreamed of. It took longer than you wanted, but I know it was worth the wait. This is an exciting year for you. You married girl of your dreams (and gave me an incredible sister) and now you are going to have a baby girl!!! Can you imagine? God has blessed you so richly and I couldn't be happier for you. You are SUCH an important part of my life and the thing that sucks is that you live so far away!!! I wish we could all live near each other so we could watch our kids grow up together. That would make it perfect! But we will have to take what we can get. No matter how far you may be, you are always in my heart and I love you so much!!!
We miss you both and hope we'll see you soon!! I hope your birthday is magical!!!! xoxoxo


(Syd, Mike, Shannon, Mason at Mom's house)
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HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Father's Day was a beautiful day!! The weather was gorgeous and we had a nice day. After church, we took Pop Pop to breakfast (Happy Father's Day Dad) and then came home and celebrated with Rex.

The kid's each made him an "All About My Dad" booklet. There were questions that they answered and drew pictures to go with their answers. They both had so much fun and their answers were so cute!! It was a great idea!!! (Thanks Care!!!)

Here's Daddy looking at Sydney's book:


Mason was so proud to show Daddy what he had made:


Sydney also answered some "Dad" questions at school. (Things like How Old is your dad...*23*. How much does your dad weigh...*25 lbs* and how tall is he...*13 ft*!! It was hysterical!!)


I tried so hard to get a nice picture of the three of them together. I asked and asked them to sit together so I could get one, but Daddy does NOT like to have his picture taken. So he continued to tickle the kids and I must have taken 20 pictures trying to get one. (Ay yi yi...)


And this is what I ended up with - which honestly, is beautiful to me!! Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband and the best Daddy!!! xoxoxo


I thought about my dad today too, who has been gone for almost 11 yrs. It's hard to believe it's been so long. Breaks my heart that he never got to see his beautiful grandchildren. But I hope he has a "window" in heaven and can look down to see them. I still miss him. I love you Dad!!

A Thousand Words Thursday...

My everything...

Happy Birthday Babe!!!!

Happy Birthday to the love of my life...





To the man I adore and am so thankful to be sharing my life with. God truly knew what he was doing when he brought you into my life. He knew I needed your patience (for I am not always very easy to put up with), I needed your strength (there have been many times I have needed you to hold me up), I needed your quiet calm (for all those times when I've just about lost it), I needed your gentleness (for taking care of me when I was sick or in labor or experiencing a loss), I needed your touch (for those times when I just needed to know you were there) and I needed your undying love (for those speed bumps in our road of life). He also knew that our children needed a man that gives all of himself to being the best father. You are a wonderful man and I am so proud to call you my husband.

I pray that God will allow me to live out the rest of my days with you, for you are the half that makes me whole and without you, I would be lost. Thank you for loving me enough to celebrate the victories and joys and to work through the lows.

I love you so much...forever and a day...

Happy Birthday Babe!!! xoxoxo

The summer "Do" and the Sixth Too..

...ok, that should say "the Sixth Tooth" but I couldn't resist the rhyme!! LOL!!!

So we've been trying to talk Mason into getting haircut for the summer (scroll down a couple posts and see his hair) - not because we don't like it longer (well Rex didn't), but we both love him with short hair and thought it would be so much cooler for him during the summer.

Well it took Saturday afternoon to hit 100 degrees and he said "Mom, can you please cut my hair?" So of course, I got out the clippers and obliged!! :) I think he looks adorable!

(This picture was taken this morning - moments before I pulled tooth number 6 - keep reading!! Don't mind the cut over his lip. He and his sister collided on Saturday and his face hit the big whisky barrel flower pot outside!! Ouch!)




Too bad this picture came out so blurry but it was taken quickly before I left for work! That tooth has been so loose and he was so nervous to take it out. He's at a sports camp (day camp) this week and I told him I was worried about it getting knocked out and him losing it. So he finally agreed and asked me to pull it. Well, I barely had to touch it and it popped out. I'm so glad we got it out!! And now - another hole!!! :) But his bottom teeth were getting SO crowded - I'm thankful for that spot! (Although where will the new one fit in????)



Blurry or not, I still love to see that cute face!!! :) Love ya buddy!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!

My baby brother and my sister (in-law) are having a GIRL!!!!!!!! I'm gonna have a NIECE!!!!! My first!!! I am SO excited!!!!!

It's an amazing feeling to know your baby brother is going to have a baby of his own!! He has waited so many years for happiness. God sent along the most perfect girl for him and he had his soul mate (and an added bonus - I got a sister that I adore!) And now he will have his own baby girl!! I absolutely can't wait to see him with her. He's wanted kids forever and I know he will be a great Daddy!!

My heart swells with happiness for them!! What a joy - a little girl!!! It's a true gift from God and I am so thankful!!! Sydney will be SO excited!! She was hoping it would be a girl! Mason frowned when I told him because he wanted it to be a boy. But then he started smiling and saying "as long as it's healthy!!"

I can't wait - she's due 5 months from tomorrow!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

A Thousand Words Thursday...

And so ends 2nd grade...

Today was Mason's last day of school! He is now officially a THIRD GRADER!!! Wow!!! It's so hard to believe. I still remember putting him on the bus for Kindergarten!!! He's grown into such a big boy and we are so proud of him!!

I had to snap a couple pics of the big boy before I left this morning!!! He only had a half day of school and then he got to go out to lunch with Daddy, Rah Rah and Pop Pop!!! I think he had a good day! :)

(Look at the muscles he's developing in his arms! Ay yi yi!!!!)


(The caption on his shirt is so appropriate - it's like it's his response to my sadness about him growing up!!! )



My sweet, precious boy!! I love you so much and am so proud of you!!! I'm excited for you to start third grade. I'm so excited you got the teacher you wanted and I look forward to sharing all your third grade adventures with you!!!!! xoxoxo

Fun in the sun...

...and the water!!!

We came home from the baseball game on Sunday afternoon and it was H.O.T!!!! So Rex turned on the sprinkler and the kids had a ball!!!

(Sydney and Nanny went shopping last week and this is the bathing suit Nanny got her. Rex said "TOO MUCH SKIN!!" LOL!! But I think she looks absolutely adorable!!! :) )

(I love how you can see all the water drops in this picture. Click on the picture to make it bigger!)

(Action shot - caught him in mid air!!)

(I have been having some fun with my new camera and trying to get some real close ups of the kids!!)

(Rex calls Mason beaver tooth - lol!! I know it's terrible but Mason thinks it's funny! You know how their front permanent teeth come in and they are SO big!! Well with the ones around it gone, it really sticks out!)

(Little Miss Blue Eyes - ok so this picture looks a little evil!! LOL!! But I still love it!! You can see deep into her eyes in this picture!!!!)

(And I absolutely LOVE this one!!! She's so beautiful!!!)

I'm looking forward to all the fun pictures I'll get this summer!!! :)

My "baby" boy...

...is growing up so fast!!! :( It's so bittersweet!! I love to see him grow and do new things, but a part of me will always be sad.

He got his teacher assignment for THIRD GRADE yesterday!!! WOW!!! Third grade??? Is someone messing with me? Where has the time gone? *sigh*

He's doing so great in baseball - really coming into his own. He loves it and I LOVE watching him play. He's going to a sports camp the first week after school gets out. And this is a big deal for me because on the Wednesday of that week, the camp is going to Hersheypark - and I'm actually letting him go. GAK!! I will be a nervous wreck all day till I know they are back home safe. But at some point, I have to start letting him go.

Here are a couple pictures from this past weekend. He decided he wanted to "wittle" so Daddy gave him his knife and Mason sat for a while and worked on it. He just looked so darn cute...and so grown up.














But he'll always be my baby...