Homeruns!

Something super cool happened to Hannah and I on March 11th!

The two of us were at our softball game. It wasn't going very well. The first two innings were pretty terrible. Our team couldn't hit or field. They were really down. 

So its the last inning and its the bottom of the line up. The girl who you would least expect to get hits started getting on base. Once the top came it was long bombs over the outfielders heads! We started scoring runs like crazy. I was batting 5th and Hannah was batting 6th. I got up to bat and hit a homerun over the outfielders heads! It was really cool. Then Hannah gets up and hits another homerun over the outfielders head! That was just incredible! Hannah and I just hit back to back homeruns!!!! The whole team was super pumped up not to mention Hannah and I! We still ended up loosing the game but it wasn't quite as terrible of a loss.

 (Hannah and I with our homerun balls and crazy hair)

That was super fun! (By the way mom lost her voice for the next few days because of screaming so much. The day after she had to direct he Challenge A class. Perfect time to loose her voice, right?)

The Braves Game....oh...um...I mean...The Rays Game!

Outside of Tropicana Field

A few weeks ago the Atlanta Braves were in town playing against the Tampa Bay Rays.  Jeremy loves the Braves so we decided we were crazy enough to take the kids to a game.  Once I got over the sticker shock of taking 5 people to a baseball game :( get use to it Michele:( and the fear of a child having a tantrum in the middle of the stadium, we actually had a great time.

Jeremy walking his son into the stadium to see the field for the first time.  This was a big moment for him.  Jeremy I mean ;)

We got there early and watched the teams warm up. We tried to catch some balls out in right field during batting practice, but never got one :(

Watching batting practice.

Let me say...the Rays stadium is VERY kid friendly.  I would most certainly go back again with the kids.  They have a whole family friendly section.  We didn't get to explore much of it, but we did get to let the kids sit down and color for a while.  They also have a carnival game area (where the games are free to play...isn't that nice?)  If we want to touch the sting rays, we'll have to go even earlier next time.

We had seats with a great view.  We were in the upper deck....just to the right of home plate.  It was great.  The girls borrowed some binoculars from some neighbors and that kept them busy most of the game.

Hahaha...so silly!

Nate watched for quite a while and was busy eating snacks and lollipops, until I ran out of treats.  Then, he got to play on the phone :)

I took this picture, anticipating the steal. 

Isn't our camera cool?!?!  From the upper deck, this is the detail I got.  Clearly he was out!

It was  a wonderful family afternoon.

Golfing

Nate went golfing with Jeremy and Greg while we had our Fancy Nancy Party.  He was very well behaved, and apparently had a lot of fun.  At the end of each hole, when asked his score, he always said....."TWO".

Way to go Buddy! 

I need Jesus my dear one...just as much as you need him

The great thing about homeschooling is that God is always using me to teach my children (OK, I know you don't have to homeschool for that to happen...but this examples ties directly into our curriculum) Case in point:

A few nights ago I "lost it" with my children. As in...I exhibited no self control in my attitude, my words and my actions. It was terrible..and yet another time of teaching forg...iveness and repentance.

Fast Forward to today....our new memory verse for the week comes up in our My Father's World study. It is....Proverbs 29:11 "A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control." Yep...we brought up the other night and how mommy acted like a fool because I gave "full vent to my anger" and not like a wise man who keeps himself under control. Then...Nicole confesses, "Mommy, the other night when you were mad, I wanted to remind you about our Bible verse "Pleasent words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Because your words weren't very sweet or healing.

*sigh* Yes my dear one. I need Jesus just as much as anyone else. Such great conversations can come from our sinfulness along with great rejoicing over God's grace to cover those sins with the blood of Jesus.

I share this...not to get everyone to remind me I'm a great mom or to make me feel better about my attitudes. No...I was wrong and acting in full fleshly sin at the time (and I knew it!) But to remind you to take those moments, seek forgiveness and reconciliation and draw your children back to their need (and Your need) for Jesus.

It's Potty Time!

Nathan is potty training...I mean, potty trained.  I mean...potty training. Well, I'm not sure what I mean.  I guess it depends on the day.  Nate has been potty training for about 2 months.  That is 1 month, 3 weeks and 2 days longer than the girls potty trained.  It has been hard.  It has been frustrating.  Yes, I have cried and prayed through it...and I still don't think we are done.  Well, since he just wet his undies again, I know we are not done.  BUT...he is in undies 24/7, 100% of the time.  He has been for a while now...which is why I guess I can declare that he is potty trained...but really, he is still training ;)

Whew, boys are harder than girls.  At least my little guy is.  He did horrible at first, then ok, the really good...then worse than horrible, then ok, then bad...and for the past few weeks it's been great.  (I define horrible as "several dirty (i.e. poopy) underwear changes per day".  I define bad as "never once going pee in the potty through the day" and I define great as "Only pees a little in their undies when they realize they have to go...or one accident when we aren't at home".

So, as you can see...I have very loose definitions of success here.  Apparently, this is somewhat normal for potty training boys (maybe girls too...I don't know...my girls were a dream! - and it felt like it at times).

I would like to label this next section as

"Things my daughters need to know when they become mothers and have to potty train their son."

(Nathan, I apologize now for any embarrassment I cause you as a grown man when you read this.  I promise not to break this article out at your wedding...but I may at the birth of your firstborn son ;)

1.  Your son MUST run around absolutely naked for the first few days.  I made the mistake of keeping undies on him for a while thinking "When he has an accident, at least it won't spray around everywhere and will form a little puddle at his feet."  A mother of a boy told me this was wrong thinking.  Let me explain.  There is a good chance your little guy has NO IDEA what his little "pee pee" is for, except perhaps for grabbing (which mine rarely does because he always has clothes on...I like clothes, I force my children to like to wear clothes too...unless we are potty training ;)  A little boy MUST SEE HIMSELF pee.  As in...he must see it come out so he knows what is going on...and why it is happening.  This was our first step of success.  My poor little guy had no idea what I meant when I sat him on a toilet and told him to pee.  After a day or two...he had a better understanding ;)  Now, it's up to you when to clothe your child again I guess.  Once I could tell that Nate had this concept down, we put undies back on (again..I am "For" clothes).

2.  You son MUST sit BACKWARDS on the toilet.  Ah, yes...This...This is the key to successfully potty training a boy.  At least in my experience it is. 
   
Let me stop here and say this first....for the first two years of Nathan's life...I was constantly asking about what to do when I started potty training him.  Does he sit? Does he stand?  No one gave me a solid answer.  So...I sat him on one of those dorky little Cars potty seats with a lame excuse for a pee pee splash guard.  Since the splash guard wasn't tall enough, I would force his little, you know...down into the toilet, because as it was, it would just allow pee to be sprayed in my face, which would induce more crying (by me of course, he would probably laugh).  I also bought a really expensive Baby Bjorn potty seat, with a more respectable size of a splash guard.  However, it was a super hard seat and hurt poor little guy's tush (haha...man up, right?  I'm sure Nathan will be utterly embarrassed when he reads this as a teenager...then, completely grateful again as a father.)
   
Anyway...back to the issue at hand.  A very wise mother of 5 boys all under age 8 gave me extremely wonderful advice that No One every suggested.  Put him on the seat backwards.  Backwards?!?!?  I don't understand...why?  Put him on and you will see. 

The pee will *almost* always go down in the potty (once he's figured out how to make it fly high over the seat...deal with that immediately ;)  So....accurate aim is important and backwards potty sitting sure helps with that.

Remember rule 1 and the importance of a boy seeing himself go potty.  Well...think of all the entertainment, just a little bend at the waste and he gets to see himself in full action.  It's a boy thing I think...and it works ;)

Finally, the seat is narrower towards the front, so his little tush is supported.  He's not holding himself up...dangling over a pool of nasty water that he most certainly will fall in if his arms give out.  Nope...not gonna happen with a backwards sitting boy.

I would also assume this aids in transition to going pee while standing.  I, for one, am not brave enough to explore this option quite yet.  At such a time, I do plan on incorporating Cheerio target shooting into our potty moments.   

I did finally get him to pee outside last week...here's hoping there will more of that in the future...you know, when we're camping or probably just about any time he gets a chance ;)

And that...is my potty training for boys advice.  Don't breathe a word of this to my sweet little guy until he's a strong young man I can claim "forgetfulness" that I ever wrote this post :)

Camping

Our poor, sweet little Nicole has been asking us to take her camping for about 2 years now.  Last year was a wreck...and during camping season here, we just couldn't.  So...this year rolls around and we are in transition from moving our lives.  We kept trying to find a weekend to go, but it just wasn't working.  So...finally, a few weeks ago in early April, we put the tent up in our own backyard.

Nicole was appeased...all she wanted was a campfire and a tent.  Mommy was happy because I really didn't want to be in the woods with three children and a puppy dog.  Daddy..well...there was a fire, so that made him happy too:)

The kids "helped" set up the tent and loved every minute of it.  Nate and Hannah enjoyed playing inside the tent together and yelling at Lucy the dog to stay away. 

The best (ok, scariest...looking back now, we can laugh but this could have been really bad) part of the night was when the kids wanted to roast marshmallows.  Jeremy said to them "First you have to find a stick".  Nathan reaches into the fire pit and grabs a stick that is on fire!!!!  Jeremy was right there and controlled the situation immediately.  Nate was perfectly fine.  Mom and dad...well...we were a bit on edge after that ;)

Nathan got stung by a random wasp at night while exiting the tent.  That was weird.

Surprising the  kids all slept in the tent all night long! (yes...I stayed in the tent too...even though I kept thinking about how close my couch (or even my bed) was.  Lucy stayed in her kennel...maybe sometime she can stay out with us though.

I very much enjoyed camping the backyard.  Clean up was fairly easy.  I wasn't afraid of wild animals since we have a fence, and bathrooms were close by.  All in all...it was a great family weekend.

Soccer

Nicole and Hannah both get to participate on their first ever sports team...Soccer!  Although this is not the sport of choice for Jeremy or I, it is convenient and rather inexpensive, so we gave in and signed them up. 

Their first practice was last week.  Hannah is on a team for 3 & 4 year olds, and Nicole is on a team for 5&6 year olds.  It's amazing the difference between the two teams.

Hannah's team had at least one (but usually two or three) children crying at any given time (it was never Hannah though!).  The kids looks like a swarm of birds all following whoever was in front at any given moment.  However - Hannah scored a goal! YAY!!!!  She ran with her tongue hanging out the entire time and a huge smile on her face.  She was very excited and had a lot of fun!

Hannah getting ready to kick the ball (all of Hannah's pictures are on Jeremy's phone)

Nicole's team (no one cried), was more competitive.  She got the best coach for her (besides her daddy)...a father who had been preparing for this day since his oldest child was born (this was quite obvious).  Nicole's coach came out and did running and dribbling drills and really practiced the kids hard (I didn't see any other teams do that).  They played a scrimmage game where the kids still looked like a flock of birds headed no where, except for this one boy.  There is a super star on Nicole's team - we'll have to get his name.  This kid would explode from inside the "flock" with the ball at his feet and score a goal almost every time.  Nicole tried to stay out of the "flock" and wait for a ball to get kicked near here, when she would then study the ball and prepare a big windup of a kick, just for the superstar to come steal her glory....well, sort of.  I think she got a few good kicks in there, but aggression is certainly something we need to work on.  She is such a sweet young girl, that I think she was more concerned about others getting a turn than scoring a goal herself.

Nicole learning to dribble

Oh, by the way...Nicole has the BEST Assistant Coach Ever! Daddy of course!  Jeremy was asked to lead the stretching routine, which he quickly answered "sign me up".We may not know much about soccer, but we know how to stretch :)

Nicole dribbling the ball

Below are a few videos taken from my phone - these videos are usually less than 30 seconds each. (again...Hannah's videos are on Jeremy's phone). 

In this video, Nicole got a nice little kick in (then the ball go between her legs)

This video starts with Nicole pulling her pant legs up.  She had just got hit in the shins and was excited that it didn't hurt because of her shin guards, so she wanted everyone to see them...then, she changed her mind :)

OK, this time, Nicole got to kick the ball into play....then watch what happens:)

This is Jeremy's favorite.  It's the end of the game and they are clapping each other's hands...then, at the end, the coach has them huddle up and yell "Blue Bombers!"