Take Me Out To The Ballgame

We took the girls to see our favorite baseball team, the Texas Rangers play against the Boston Red Sox Friday night. It was so much fun and not as hot and miserable as I was expecting it to be. I wish we could go at least once a month.

excited to go see a baseball game

Bransyn was so excited she fell asleep on the way there

We got them Texas shirts...they had to be pink, I could not talk them into the Rangers red or Blue

Daddy's favorite player is Josh Hamilton so all of them insisted on a Hamilton shirt. I tried to persuade Payton and Bransyn to get Murphy, Young or someone different than Kendal, but they were adamant on it being Hamilton. We were rushing, Daddy still had to look for his shirt (no Hamilton in his size :( so he got Lee instead), we had to wait in a very long, slow moving lane to pay and the game was about to start. It wasn't until we were in the bathroom and I was ripping off tags and throwing the shirts over the girls heads that I noticed it. When grabbing for the right size needed, I failed to look at the back of the shirt. Payton has a Kinsler shirt. I did not tell her. Bummer!

a packed house...47,159

GO RANGERS!!

having fun

so are they

Josh Hamilton up to bat :)

Everyone still awake and happy, even though it went into extra innings and there were fireworks after the game. It was looking pretty bleak for the Rangers in the 4th, but they came back to tie the score, 9-9 and in the bottom of the 11th inning, Nellie Cruz, first batter up and first pitch thrown, hits a home run to win the game. There were a total of 9 home runs hit between the two teams...IT WAS A FABULOUS, AWESOME GAME!!!! Then to follow that, was the BEST and I mean THE BEST fireworks show we have ever seen!

Payton

Bransyn

Kendal

All of them crashed soon after getting on the road and headed home. It was unfortunate that they had to get bathed once we got home before getting in bed. They were icky!

Until next time...

Seriously Outnumbered

4 Mama's + 12 kids = a little bit of chaos, but a whole lot of laughs. Earlier in the week, a friend that has a pool invited me and my girls and two other friends and their kids over for a day of swimming. Lots of fun, love those mama's and their kiddos!!

We swam for awhile in the morning and when the kids started having hunger pains, we loaded everyone up, still in our semi wet swimsuits (us Mama's did wear cover-ups...scary...speaking for myself, of course!) and drove across the street from her neighborhood to a little pizza place for Monday $1 pizza. It's a quaint, little place. They have steps that the kids could stand on and watch them make the pizza over the counter, but this is also where they kept the paper plates so at least half of them grabbed a plate for their pizza which apparently they are not supposed to do. We were then told about some kids that were playing with the plates and one slipped on one and hit his head on the floor. Ummmm......don't have the plates where kids have access to them, especially if something like that has happened before or don't have the steps for the kids to stand on. Just sayin'....

We get everyone situated in their seats while we waited on our pizza. The 4 and 5 year olds were in a booth together, the 8 and 9 year olds were in a booth together and us Mama's sat with the 2 year olds at a table. It was a great setup. Mostly. When the pizzas were ready, we each distributed them to our people after sprinkling a little Parmesan on their slices. We failed to take the Parmesan shakers off of their tables. Can you guess where this is going??? The big kids did OK, it was those crazy 4 and 5 year olds. They each started sprinkling some on their pizzas because we hadn't given them enough. After being told to be careful and not to make a mess (yeah right!) they were left alone. After a little bit, my friend Allyson leans over to me and says something like, "I don't really care, but you might...Bransyn is licking the top of the Parmesan shaker". EEWWWW!!!! I go over to the table to tell her not to do that and she tells me that she hit her pizza with it. Oh, OK then...not! The shaker is now just about empty and there is Parmesan cheese on the table, on the seats, on the floor and covering each of their pizza slices. At this point, my thought is "whatever". I'll clean up as much of the mess as I can and I'll tell them they need to wash the shaker before it gets refilled and go finish my food.

After eating, Allyson's boys ask if they can get a gumball out of the machine so she gives them each a quarter to get one. A little bit later, her "Little Middle" comes over and says "Look how many I got Mom!" holding 4 in his hand plus the one that he is chewing. That's curious, so we turn around and look toward the gumball machine to see Bransyn holding up the topper on the machine and her "Baby" with his hand inside grabbing a hand full of gumballs. Oh my goodness! I rush over and tell them that it's not ok to take the top off of the bubble gum machine and confiscate the second hand full of gumballs, which I think is another four. All the while, I was muttering about how stupid it was that they don't have the lid locked in place, I mean really! We gather the amount of money needed to pay for the gumballs and Allyson takes it to the man at the register and explains what happened. He was very nice about it.

Some of the kids wanted another slice of pizza so those got ordered and after the gumball incident, we had most of them back in their seats. Us Mamas were back in our seats having a nice conversation when I saw something a little weird out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and sure enough it was what I thought. This time I got to use the "I don't really care, but you might" line to Allyson. Her "Little Middle" had his head tilted back and was dumping the sugar right out of the packet into his mouth. This was especially funny to me because when they were ordering their drinks, Allyson told them that they had to get Sprite or Root Beer because it's caffeine free. Guess he showed her! Hehehe! Sugar packets were confiscated!

It was an outing with friends that turned out to be a little more event full than planned, but fun to be with our friends. I cleaned up most of the Parmesan cheese that the little kids had emptied out on the table and seats, took the empty shaker to another man behind the counter and told him that it needs to be washed because one of the little kids licked the top of it. I did not tell him that that child was mine. He was also very nice! Thankfully we weren't asked to never come back. :)

I am looking forward to school starting, but the time we've spent with friends during the day is what I will miss.

Until next time...

School Supplies Are Purchased...LET'S START SCHOOL!!!

ready to start getting their school supplies

ready for Mama to purchase their school supplies

These pictures are very misleading. Both show two smiling happy girls. What isn't shown between these two pictures is the little girls that were complaining, whining, fighting with each other during this shopping experience. It was a miserable trip, they were possessed by something evil during the time that we were there. Either I will totally forget about this and repeat it again next year or I will remember and choose to pay the extra for the prepackaged packs or take them each separately. Probably the latter because next year I will have ALL THREE of them in elementary school. YIKES!!

This is one Mama that is definitely ready for summer to end and school to begin!!

Mama's Little Helper

One would think that she should be called, Daddy's Little Helper, but mowing the yard is a "house job" that I usually do. Crazy as it sounds, I enjoy it (not so much in the extreme heat we've had lately) and it's about the only exercise I get. For awhile, Kendal has been pretty good about washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen with out being asked, but lately has BEGGED to mow the yard when I'm out doing it. Sometimes she can, other times I just want to get it done!

she can even get it started herself

She's actually pretty quick. Too bad neither of us can do the edging. That's a job that has to wait for Daddy.

She is growing up so fast!

Until next time...

Special Guests

My Aunt Nancy spent her two week summer vacation with my parents so they took her on a little road trip to see some family and friends which also included a stop at our house for a couple of nights. It was really good to see them! We hadn't seen Aunt Nancy in a few years so it was great to spend some time with her.

Everyone settled in watching a movie...Old Dogs, pretty funny!!!

Spoiled child!

Nancy with Tank

Jake and Tyson who has a wink and a smile for the camera :)

Kendal holding Tyson and Jake. Kendal can actually lick her nose with her tongue also...pretty gross!! Maybe it'll keep the boys away! :)

This was as close as the three brothers got to be. Tank had to be kept by himself the whole time because of a hurt leg. Doc thought it was a pulled muscle, turned out to be ANOTHER broken leg. This time a back one. GRRRR!!

My Mama, Aunt Nancy and me

saying goodbye

As always, the time they were here went quickly and we were sad to see them go. We had a nice time with them, even if it was a short visit.

Fourth of July

We spent our 4th of July at church in the morning, followed by a potluck lunch, a little rest and relaxing in the afternoon and then took the girls to watch fireworks.

Daddy and his girls before church....the girls July 4th festive, Daddy, not so much.

It occurred to me on this morning that I never did anything for Father's Day on here because he was out of town, so a little late, but a big hug and lots of love to our awesome Daddy!!

even their toes were festive :)

Waiting for the fireworks to start

On our way to our usual fireworks watching spot...the mall parking lot...there was a change in plans on where we would watch them and ended up being in a grassy lot. Grassy lot=many bugs flying around, mall parking lot=not so many bugs flying around.

still waiting

the girls made a little friend who shared some of her firework streamers

Payton got streamed

the girls sharing their red, white and blue glow sticks (although they don't look very glowy here) with their new friend

Payton and Bransyn went into hiding in the car because of all the june bugs...is it june or joon??...anyway, because of the bugs that kept "attacking" them

FYI----glow sticks attract bugs :)

Kendal soon joined them

Once the fireworks got started the girls retreated from the car. Kendal sat as close to Jeff as she possibly could in her chair. Payton and Bransyn, instead of sitting in their nice, comfy chairs that were brought for them, had to sit in my lap so as not to be attacked by any more bugs. That was not the case, it was hot and I didn't get any more pictures! Next year, I think we will be back to our usual spot or at least some place with no grass!!

Vacation Bible School(s)

Part of our summer routine is attending Vacation Bible School. Not just at our own church, but the church I work at during the school year as well as a friend's church. This year was no different, however my "work church" and friend's church fell on the same week. Work church was during the day and friend's church was in the evening so it was a tiring, but fun week for the girls. Work church does an extended type of VBS and calls it W.O.W. (Week of Worship). Bransyn didn't get to go to that one (still too young), but next year she will get to go also. Payton was there from 9-12, but Kendal was there from 9-3 and did all sorts of fun stuff like laser tag, rock climbing, bounce house and video games. The theme was Saddle Ridge Ranch so they got to hang out on the "ranch" and hear and learn all about Jesus....the most important part of the week! Kendal and her friend, "Sissy"

waiting to do their end of the week performance

my cowgirls

After Kendal got home from W.O.W. each day, she had a few hours to rest, play, eat some dinner before heading to our friends church for their evening VBS. The theme there was Fire Fighters and "Pulling them out of the fire" from Jude 23. Bransyn got to go with them as well so she was happy about that and all three of them had a lot of fun.

Bransyn and Payton with "Super Christian"

and "Mr. Incredi-Bible"

friends

We had a few weeks "VBS break", but then our church's VBS started. We had an Egyptian theme and were on the "Treasures of the Nile, an Expedition to Jesus". Bransyn was finally old enough to go this year and so this was also my first year to volunteer for the week. It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I was put as a helper in the 10-12 age group which was a little different when used to working with preschoolers. I was very glad that it was a man that was the leader for the group because there were a couple of those pre-teen boys that definitely needed that male influence! Phew!!


getting ready to do their end of the week performance

the next Vanna White :)

Kendal's friend "Sissy" came with her

and her brother, our buddy, "JT"

friends since they were babies...awwwww

Vacation Bible School is the best part of summer for us. Not only does it get them out of the house for a few hours each day, but more importantly they are filled up with Jesus. I have "caught" each one of them separately or together singing different songs from each VBS they were at and the other day my friend called me and put JT on the phone and he sang Riches in Jesus to me which was one of our church's VBS songs. It just doesn't get any better than that!!