Our Days at the Baseball Field...

Justice, Gavin and Sloan Gavin (Another Grand Slam!? That's my boy!) Gavin Cameron, Sloan and Trevor

Hockey in the Cul-de-sac

A Quote for the Day...

"Whatever you are, be a good one."

~Abe Lincoln

Spring Concert

Trevor's Spring Concert was last night. Isn't he handsome!? The concert was SO SO cute and precious! And Trevor did really well! He's quite the little singer lately! And, of course, after the concert, we all went out for ice cream!

Another Field Trip

The father of one of Gavin's classmates is in the Coast Guard, so he arranged for their class to tour his ship! (And eat lunch in the galley!) We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!

For the Birds

Here are some new pictures of the baby birds in our yard. My best guess is that they are about two weeks old, now. Aren't they cute? I should probably stop checking on them pretty soon, and just leave them alone. I don't want to scare them. I'm scared for them when the boys play soccer out there! Yikes!

Purpose

One of the books I am reading right now is, "Life is a Gold Mine" by Dr. John W. Stanko. In it he quotes Richard Nelson Bolles from his book, "What Color is Your Parachute". I think this is great... "We need to unlearn the idea that our unique Mission must consist of some achievement which all the world will see, and learn instead that as the stone does not always know what ripples it has caused in the pond whose surface it impacts, so neither we nor those who watch our life will always know what we have achieved by our life and by our Mission. It may be that by the grace of God we helped bring about a profound change for the better in the lives of other souls around us, but it also may be that this takes place beyond our sight, or after we have gone on. And we may never know what we have accomplished, until we see Him face-to-face after this life is past."

Desperate Housewife!

Kim and I have been getting together every week to watch Desperate Housewives, lately. (Yes, I watch DH...get over it!) Usually she comes over here because my boys go to bed earlier than hers do. And, let's face it, I have fewer of them. Ha! Last night we decided to watch it at her house on their new, big, flat screen! DH in HD, baby! Well... I was driving on the dark back roads to her house when... I RAN OUT OF GAS!!!! (Are you freakin' kidding me!?) I pulled off to the side of the dimly lit road, just in time for the van to die completely and "@*%#!" to escape my lips! I then said a quick prayer for protection and reception and called Bryan to rescue me. (Notice the prayer came after the expletive. Whatever. Thank GOD for cell phones!) Fortunately, Bryan just happened to have a gas can with gas in it that he had gotten for the lawn mower! (I guess it's a good thing he didn't actually get around to mowing the lawn this weekend..!?) I said, "You'll have to wake up the boys and throw them in the car and bring me some gas! And, PLEASE HURRY!" (Not only was I not comfortable sitting on that dark road by myself, but DH was about to start! Ha ha!) Moments later, a cop pulled up behind me, which I was kind of expecting. I was on that road that is always teaming with cops, and I did pray for protection, after all! He came up to the window and said, "Is everything ok?" I said, "I ran out of gas!" By that point I was totally laughing! (What can I say? It's what I do.) He said to me, "Really? People still do that!?" Nice. He was actually very funny and very nice...and, as he was very quick to point out after checking my license...younger than me! (Thanks. He also liked my "soccer mom mobile"!) So, anyway, he stayed with me until Bryan got there and we talked Desperate Housewives! Turns out, he's a fan! Awesome. Kim just got Direct TV, so she was able to pause it till I got there. (Phew!) So, after my "Desperate Housewife" moment was over, we were able to settle in with some cheesecake and brownies and enjoy the show!

Happy Birthday, Kim!

Today is Kim's 30th birthday...and she's as beautiful as ever! Kim's all time favorite thing to do is RUN! So, that's what we did today for her birthday. We packed up all the boys and went to the track at the new Jr. High. Olivia met us there, too, and we ran while the boys rode their bikes and played soccer. It was very fun and, of course, it was exercise! Hope you have a super fun, blessed day, my dear friend! Love you!

Birdie Update

Sorry to disappoint you golfers out there, but this post has nothing to do with the Masters! Ha ha! I am talking about the nest I posted about a while ago. The eggs have hatched! The top picture was taken on Easter and I took the bottom picture today. It is so interesting to watch this process and to observe a "family unit" in nature! Mom and dad take turns going out to find food while the other stays with the babies. The one that's coming back with food will stand on top of the fence and look around for danger before taking a round-about way to the nest. All the while, looking around to make sure it's not being followed! As soon as it gets to the nest, the other one flies out to take it's turn looking for food. I try not to check on the babies very often because I don't want to scare off mom and dad so that they don't come back! The nest was built under a plastic chair that has been upside down in the yard all winter. It's actually a pretty safe place...As long as I can keep the boys away from it! The mom and dad are out there on the fence right now. They are keeping a very close eye on my boys and their nest! Sadly, daddy bird has some food for the little ones, but he's afraid to go in there with "danger" lurking about!

The Royal Treatment

Princess Smudge, sleeping in!

And, no, I didn't do that! She thinks she's one of the people...

...not to be confused with a commoner!

Happy Easter!

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will live."

John 11:25

Of Course...

Nothing says "Easter" quite like Star Wars eggs! (Lisa, see what you have to look forward to!?)

Happy Spring!

Bryan found this birds' nest when he was mowing the back yard, yesterday! I know this isn't a very exciting post, but...it is what it is! (That's my new motto. Thanks, Pastor Steve! Ha! It works in pretty much any situation. You should try it!) I guess I can't say that I've been too busy to blog, because I still seem to find time to get on the computer and dink around. I will say, however, that I've been too busy to feel like blogging! How's that!? I'm sure I'll catch the blogging bug again, soon, though. So, stay tuned!

Trevor "baby-sitting" Jafeth...

Another Milestone!

Bryan took the training wheels off of Trevor's bike today!

Yea, Trevor!

Field Trip to the Aquarium...

Charlie, Trevor, and Skylar

Basketball Awards Assembly

Happy Birthday, Bryan!

Impromptu birthday celebration at Rooters, last night...

Visitors...

My sister and her boyfriend (Cara and Eric) are visiting this week, from Wyoming! The boys are enamored with both of them!

St. Patrick's Day Dash!

I DID IT!! I ran the whole 3.4 miles!! ...With Kim beside me, encouraging me the whole time! (Olivia even ran slow with us for a while. She eventually broke away and ran ahead, though.) It was so much fun and I'm so proud of this accomplishment! Here is Kim, Olivia and me, after running in the rain...

Skate Night

Whenever I take pictures of the boys skating, they turn out way too dark. Here's the best I have...

Another Busy Weekend...

Wow, I have some catching up to do! We have had a jam packed weekend! I'll start with Thursday, though... Trevor had Kindergarten Round-up at his school, which means that the Pre-K class went up and had Kindergarten for half a day with the Kindergarten teacher. It was so cute watching Trevor's face light up when he'd raise his hand in anticipation of being called on! I'm so excited for him to be in kindergarten next year! (I'm also excited because it's full day kindergarten, so I won't have to drive to the school 3 times a day any more! Not that I do that now...I carpool. But, you know.) Friday afternoon the boys and I went to Kim's and I baby-sat for an hour. Which was probably kind of a funny sight, because really all I did was run on the treadmill while watching the 6 boys watch Star Wars! Ha! Now, that's baby-sitting I can handle! On Wednesday evening (I know it seems out of order, but there is a method to my madness.) my mom dragged me (yes, against my will. Ha!) to a Dream Dinners "sneak peak". I must say, I was actually really impressed! And, this coming from someone who hates to cook! (http://www.dreamdinners.com/) So impressed that my mom and I signed up to do a session. So, in one hour on Saturday morning, I put together about seven meals for my family! And the best part is: I didn't have to clean up after it! You just can't beat that! Dream Dinners just got the ball rolling. From there I went straight to the boys' basketball games. Then, home for a quick lunch before Gavin went to a birthday party. From the birthday party we went straight to Skate Night. After Skate Night we went to IHOP for dinner. By that time it was past the boys' bed time, but of course, we thought we'd squeeze in one more thing... So, we went to Sports Authority! I know it sounds silly, but that is actually one of my boys' (all three of them) favorite places to go! They love all sports so much, it's really like an amusement park for them...with no admission fee! (And of course there's the youth Under Armour section! Gavin's favorite! Ha ha!) Poor Trevor sure took a lickin' that night, though. He fell twice at skate night and bonked his head and his cheek pretty good. Then at Sports Authority he fell trying to do a trick off of a skate board ramp. (hee hee) Then the boys were playing in some canoes and he got his finger pinched between two of them! Yes, I'm sure Sports Authority was glad to see us go! Ha ha! Sunday was only slightly less busy. Bryan played the guitar at church for his second time! I must brag on him a little... He is so musically talented! He never ceases to amaze me! He is the most amazing drummer, but in the last 9-12 months (or so) he decided he wanted to play the guitar. So, what'd he do? He taught himself how to play it! He's actually playing at church, now, and he even had a little solo yesterday and sounded great! That's my man! I hope you're all sitting down for this next part. On Sunday afternoon, Kim, Olivia and I went and registered for the St. Patty's Day Dash! That's right! I am going to run in my first race! (I use the terms "run" and "race" very loosely! Ha!) I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! It's only about 3 and a half miles, (that's what they tell me) so I should be able to run/walk that. I must say, I am so blessed and honored that my dear friend, Kim, volunteered to jog/walk with me! She could easily enter the timed portion and run the whole thing, but she chose to support me in my first "fun run" by going slow with me! What a great friend! Thank you, Kim! I love you! I've probably lost half of my readers by now, but those of you who are still with me...You win a brand new car! Anyhoo...After the race registration (and an early dinner. We were at a restaurant, after all.), I met Bryan and the boys at my in-laws house. We hadn't been over there in a really long time, so we invited ourselves over for dinner. Don't you just love family!? Ha! I did at least bring the dinner and dessert, though. (Dream Dinners! Yea!) We ate (yes, I had two dinners that night.) and played Rummicube and the boys played football in the cul-de-sac... It was a very enjoyable evening. We got home just in time for the weekend finale...Desperate Housewives! Ha ha! (You know you love it.) Kim has been coming over every Sunday night to watch it with me, which makes it that much more fun! Goodness! Look what happens when I don't blog for a week! Yikes! I even gave you the Readers' Digest Version! Thanks for sticking it out! Have a great week!