The Kindergarten Thanksgiving Play

Kindergarteners are SO cute! That's the age when they still do sweet things at school for holidays. Zach's class did a Thanksgiving play that Steven and Elijah and I were able to attend. As you will see, Zach is the Town Cryer. His teacher said she gave him that part because she knew he would be loud and would not get stage fright during the performance. He is definitely my child! I just wanted to share the short 4 minute video of the play with you. Hope you enjoy it!

Co Champions!!!!!

2008 PRYAA Pee Wee Co Champion D'backs!

Well, after not winning too many games during the actual season, Joshua's Pee Wee team came back something fierce in the tournament. It was double elimination. They won the first game, then the next. Before they knew it, they found themselves in the championship game against the 1 loss Yankee team. With Joshua pitching (very proud to say that!) and some good hitting to back him up, our D'backs pummeled the Yankees 17-5! The game went 5 innings and lasted about 2 1/2 hours.

However, because that was only the Yankee's first loss in a double elimination tournament, we were going to have to play them AGAIN, right after the first game! We all agreed that we didn't want to do that. Too long for us and the kids. I know they were exhausted! So the coaches agreed to be called Co-Champs and leave it at that. (Secretly I think the Yankees coach knew that they couldn't beat us, so they made a compromise. But that's ok. Joshua was pumped!)

So everyone got another trophy. Exciting! We took Joshua out to his choice of restaurants...McDonald's. I am so proud of him for sticking with it and being a good sport. It was a great team and a great season. Now we'll just wait until Spring!

Halloween 2008

The kids were so ready for Halloween. They have had their costumes for over a month, using them to play in. Now it was finally time to put them on and accomplish their one major goal...GET CANDY!

First, we went to a neighborhood Halloween party. They had pizza and cookies and games. It was a lot of fun. We got to spend time with our neighbors and meet some that we didn't know.

This is the pile afterwards...and this is just Elijah's. Steven took the kids out while I stayed home and handed out the candy. I thought I would be pretty busy considering all the kids in our neighborhood. However, they were either doing other things or came in big groups because I only answered the door about 4 or 5 times. But those kids got lots of candy from me! I don't need to have any left over!

Steven brought Zach and Eljah back early. They were done. Then he and Joshua went out to a few more houses. Of course, when everyone got back, we had a candy feast! Yum!

Steven's New Office

This is Steven, Financial Advisor, and his new Branch Office Administrator, Mary Ann, in front of Steven's new office on Satellite Blvd in Suwanee. Yea! Steven has been working out of someone else's office (sort of like a mentor) for the last year since he's been here. He finally got to the point where they gave him his own office. It's really nice. And the BEST part is....it's only 2 miles from our house! His commute to work and back consists of a left turn out of our neighborhood and a left turn onto Satellite. That's it!

He moved in on Monday, October 20, 2008 open for business. Here he is working hard his first day in his office. Trying to get everything set up and organized was a bit of a chore, but well worth it. Having his own office is great! And his BOA is very nice!

Steven is hard at work on the phone with clients and home office people trying to get everything smooth and running. Elijah and I went over and helped him set up a few things. Then we took Joshua and Zach over there after school so they could see. After a long day, we all took him out to dinner at Chili's. It was a nice time. (Except that Chili's doesn't serve their Awesome Blossom anymore. What's up with that?)

This is Elijah checking out Daddy's office. He enjoyed running around and making a lot of noise. Since "Daddy's office" is right down the street, it's on our way to the grocery store and many other places that we frequent. So we wave and say "hi" and "bye" to Daddy every time we pass it.

We are so very proud of Steven! He has worked very hard to get to this point. God has truly blessed him and us as a family. Steven loves his job, enjoys being with and helping people, and is pretty much his own boss. He's been looking forward to this for a long time...he just didn't know it until it got here. God is good...ALL the time!

Elijah's First MAJOR Boo Boo

This is it. You can't see it too well because his hair is covering it up. But, yes, Elijah had to have about 5 stitches in the back of his head. He didn't want me to photograph it, so Steven tried to distract him while I took a picture of it. This is the best I got. Here's the story.

We were at Joshua's baseball game yesterday. Elijah was playing in the scorer's tower with Zach, which he has done MANY times, before the start of the game. (The scorer's tower is made of metal with a jagged floor to help get dirt of people's shoes so it doesn't get too dirty up there.) Elijah was sitting on the bench trying to get out when he fell flat backwards onto the floor of the tower. Obviously, he started crying and I ran over to him as quickly as I could. I just held him and rocked him saying, "You're ok. You're ok." Then I pulled him away from me to look at it and discovered blood. That's when I said, "No you're not!"

We ran to the bathroom where I tried to wipe off his head and see just how bad it was. (It was about a year ago that Zach had cut his head open in Montana. I'm getting good at this!) He was screaming hysterically and didn't want me to touch it. People were offering me paper towels and ice and everything. They were really trying to help. That's when I remembered that one of the dad's was a doctor. So I took Elijah back out and got Rick to come look at him.

After washing some of the blood out of his hair, Rick agreed that he would need stitches. So, since Steven wasn't there yet (he had a meeting in Athens that morning), I left Zach with the other baseball parents and took Elijah to an Urgent Care center down the street. He DID NOT want to go. He started screaming, "Mommy, no doctor. No doctor. Go home!"

We got in to see the doctor and agreed that sedating Elijah would be the best course of action so as to make it easier to stitch up his head. So, they gave him a shot in the buttocks, which he DID NOT like, and we waited for him to be out of it. This was probably the worst part. Watching his eyes cloud over while he is screaming at me. I am trying to smile through all my tears and tell him that it's ok and I love him.

After fighting a bit, he gave in to the sedative. The doctor numbed his head and started stitching. Elijah wasn't completely out and didn't like someone touching his head so he started to fight. Then the nurse had to help hold his head while he screamed. All this while he was laying on my chest. It was AWFUL!

Thankfully, he is ok now. We'll get the stitches out in about 5 days. He was a bit wobbly on his feet all day yesterday from the sedative. I kept thinking he was going to hurt himself again. And he crashed hard when he finally went to bed. I would go in every now and then and poke him and check to see if he was breathing. Especially when he slept in so long this morning. But he spent all day at the ball field again today and was fine. And yes, he wanted to get back in the scorer's tower. I, of course, told him, "No way!"

If you ask him, he'll tell you that he bonked his head and has a boo boo on his head. He's a trooper! Thank God it wasn't any worse!

Proud Mom

Well, we just got home from a morning of baseball...again. That has been the way it is this Fall with both Joshua and Zach playing. Elijah, sweet thing, has been dragged from one field to the next and doesn't complain...very much.

But today was a special day at the ball field. Zach had a game at 9:30, one of his last games of the season. He loves the game of baseball and has been improving his playing all year. He's been playing outfield because sometimes he has trouble paying attention. But today, and yesterday, he got to play 2nd base. Last night and today he was able to field a ball and throw it in. I was so proud. But more than that, Zach hasn't needed to use a Tee in the last 2 games. (In Tball, the coaches throw 3 pitches. If the batter doesn't hit one, then they hit off the tee.) That means that Zach has hit off pitches his last several times at bat! He got an RBI last night and the game ball! It was awesome to see! He has gotten SO much better!

Today Joshua had his first tournament game, double elimination. For the tournament, it is entirely kid pitched. His coach told us that, to help ensure a win so they could play again, they would put their best pitcher out there first. Well (pride welling up inside), Joshua pitched the first 2 innings! He did great! He got 4 strike outs and had an RBI single. He has improved as well and, I must say, is the best pitcher on the team right now. They won today 3-2 so they get to play in the winner's bracket next week.

I am so proud of both of my baseball boys! But I should also say that I am very proud of Elijah for going to all these games, sometimes back to back, and not fussing about it. His day will come too, I'm sure. Today, I am one very proud mom!

Joshua, the Ace

On Friday night, September 26, Joshua and his team won their first game 9-5! Not only did they win, but Joshua went 1 for 2 with a walk and a run scored. He ALSO pitched both innings and struck out 6 batters! (In Pee Wee, the first 2 innings are pitched by a machine, and then kids pitch the last 2 innings.) He was the winning pitcher!

And, to top it all off, we got to meet Andruw Jones! He was there watching his son play Tball, the game before Joshua's. He was just sitting there. I freaked! I'm so glad I recognized him. After his son's game, all the kids went up to him and got his autograph. So I met him and shook his hand and got 2 autographed baseballs. It was a great night!

Zach also had a game that night. He did really well. He's learning to hit and field. His favorite part of the game is talking though. He'll talk to whoever is next to him whether he's in the field or on base. We think he might try soccer in the spring.