Spring Ball

Harrison played baseball for the first time this spring/summer. He had such a good time! He played with a bunch of kids from school, and almost half of his team went to church with us as well. 

He had a great coach and Matt got to help coach as well. They let the boys play every position which is not what a lot of teams do, but it let the boys try and improve at every spot. Harrison loved playing pretty much every position and he improved SO much this season! I am so proud of him! He worked hard and played hard and did great. 

Friday Fun Night

We usually designate the first Friday night of summer as a fun family night, however, this year we were heading to LR to visit so we finally got around to having our fun night out this past friday. We started with dinner at Red Robin, the kids choice. :)

Then it was on to play mini golf! There was a day that taking all 3 to golf was miserable, but we have finally moved past that tough phase and into the fun phase. Hallelujah! We had a great time! 

These 2. I looked up to see them standing the same, hand on hip, ball in hand.

We promised the kids YumYos for dessert but first we made a stop at Cabelas to check out the fish.

They loaded up on sugar at YumYos and then we headed home. Poor Charlotte didn't even make it all the way home before she asked me, "Mommy, can I just go to sleep in the car." It was late when we finally got home, but it was the perfect night of fun.

Camps, Galore!

Beginning with the last week of school, the kids have been involved in camps non stop for 4 weeks. It's one of the things I love about our little community and town -- they have summer sports camps and the kids love going and seeing their friends and working with the high school kids. And as an added bonus they are CHEAP! 

90% of the documentation from these camps is video (because they want to see themselves IN ACTION, of course!), but I did manage to snap a few pics. Madeleine had dance/pom camp the last week of school. I pulled Charlotte from gym early to get there to see her perform and we made it just in time! The dances they did were so cute! I only took video of the dancing, but Madeleine had a great time -- and she's even taught Charlotte the dance so now they can do it together. :)

The first week of summer, Harrison went to basketball camp. He loved it! He got to play bball with all his buddies and then they scrimmaged for the parents at the end. It was a great experience for him. Here he is with a few kids from school at the end of camp. 

The next week, Madeleine had volleyball camp at the high school. She wasn't really sure at first about going, but I told her this is a good chance to see if she likes volleyball without making a full season commitment to it. Volleyball starts in 7th grade and that's just a year away! Wow! She ended up having a great time and learning a lot!

This week we finally wrapped up camps with Harrison in football camp. I knew he was going to love it because this past year at recess a group of boys have played football nonstop. Harrison has improved so much because of daily recess football! ha! He loved football camp and learned so much! He even loved some of the drills, although his favorite part by far was the daily scrimmage. :) He took a finger to the eye on the first day and it took several days for his eye to look normal but it didn't keep him from having a great time!

So, with camps over, we can start working on our summer fun list! I am ready to have some time with my kiddos home. I know August will be here soon enough and we will be back to the grind so I'm trying to soak up these next few weeks as much as I can!

Summer Bucket List -- Part 1

We dove in right away trying to tackle our summer bucket list. Charlotte has gymnastics 3 days a week and on the days that the big kids have to sit through it, I try to plan something fun afterwards. We hit Fun City to play games the first week of summer. 

 We joined our pool and as soon as it decides to stop raining we will start enjoying it again! ha!

 Poolside popsicles with friends are the best!

 We played family baseball. Actually, we've done it several times -- one of our favorite things to do in the summer! This night Harrison had a friend over and our neighbors came over and played too so it was extra fun!

 Any and all bats are acceptable in our game. :) Harrison was using an old pink HUGE bat!

 The kids let Mattox score a homerun every time. Since it was boys against girls I guess it pays to have a 2 year old on your team. :)

 We had sno cones after Charlotte's last softball game. As much as she liked it, I think she was ready to see it end. I had to convince her to go the last few games.

Odds & Ends -- Part 1

Well most of these pics are of Charlotte. She's the one that with me the most while the big kids are at school. :)

One afternoon she was busy in the playroom, singing to herself and banging around in her kitchen. She called me in there and showed me that she'd made "sunday lunch" for us! 

We did some baking at the end of the year -- this one was happy to be my "taster."

Charlotte is big into art right now -- she will sit and color and write by herself for the longest time. :) This day she was in the playroom just singing and coloring before we headed out for the day.

Madeleine had some friends home after school on day....I love these silly girls!

Harrison's class traced their bodies and then cut out and placed their organs inside them....when I took a closer look I noticed that the spleen and left kidney were up there under his arm. When I asked him about it, he told me that "yeah, I didn't think that seemed right." Ya think!? Matt kept this just in case he goes to med school one day! Ha!

This girl. Love her.

It seems like we lived each evening at the ball fields for several weeks....3 kids playing ball....2 games each week per kid....it was NUTS! But we survived! Charlotte was my little sidekick at Madeleine's games and I often looked down the bleachers to see her getting in a little extra beam practice during the game!

This girls never tires of gymnastics!

These 2 had one last playdate before the big kids got out of school for the summer. They are the best of friends. Notice the makeup they'd put on -- and makeup on baby too!

Between gym and ball games this one was worn out! Catching some sleep in the car one night.

Another ball game. This was 50 cent corndog night at Sonic. It takes so little to make us happy. :)

And, finally, our summer fun list! We are going to pack in the fun this summer!

Cousin Love

We took a super quick trip to LR the first weekend of summer and got to love on this sweet boy! These kids have some crazy love Cormac.