Our favorite season

It's here! It's here! It's here! Baseball season is here! It is one of my favorite seasons :)!

We have 3 ball players this year. Tanner decided to umpire instead of play ball this season.

Carter is on the Padres for a 3rd year in a row.

Garrett is on the Royals and Brody is on the Tin Caps(a minor league team).

I love that the boys have made some wonderful friends through our crazy adventures in the sporting world. These boys have played lots of sports together and continue to do so. As crazy as our schedules can get get, trying to get everyone, everywhere, John and I would not trade it for the world. We are thankful for the friendships that have been formed through our boys sporting events.

.

Opening Day was fun! They announced each of  the teams as they walked out onto the field. They were all lined up, smallest to biggest on the field. There are over 900 kids playing in our league this season! That is going to a lot of baseball. They also announced Carter's Padres team from last year. They were 25-0, rolling through TOC's and bringing the banner home for the league. It was such a fun morning for the boys and for our entire family.

Carter was the only one who had a game on opening day. It was the Padres vs. the Diamond Backs.We won, 21 - 4. the boys looked great. Carter was the starting pitcher and did a great job.

I love this photo of Coach Kruppy. Coach Nick gave Carter that nick name several years ago. Carter has always had no fear of cheering the team on and coaching them when he thought they needed some extra help/guidance -LOL. The coaches tease that he is a part of their coaching staff.

It's gonna be a great season! Go Padres! Go Royals! Go Tin Caps! 

Living in the 1800's

Garrett and I went on a fun field trip to the Bernhard Museum in Auburn, CA.It is a piece of property that that county was able to purchased after it sat vacant for many years. It is such an awesome piece of history pertaining to the Gold Rush years in California . You are asked to come dressed as if you were living in the 1800's. You are asked to bring your lunch in a basket, pail. etc... They like to keep it real and have you experience life on the farm. During their time there, the children got to make crafts that children in the 1800's would have enjoyed. They made their own biscuits and butter. They work with leather. They played marbles. They tilled the garden. They washed  laundry by hand and they got to make their own little crate to take home! It was a fun day, filled with learning and fun experiences. At the end of the day, Garrett and I both agreed that we are thankful for the modern day luxuries that we get to enjoy!

 I am pretty sure Garrett's favorite part of the day was the bottle of Root Beer I packed in his lunch. Keeping it real...no boxed juice or plastic water bottles in the 1800's.

Annual Moms Gone Tired Weekend

I really look forward to this weekend each year. My friend, Lisa did the math and figured it was my 6th year attending this Beach Weekend with the group of girlfriends. We rented a new house this year at Dillon Beach. We agreed that we loved the layout of the house but were not fans of the ants that invaded the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning on our first day/night there! As usual, we stayed up way too late. We enjoyed lots of yummy meals. We went for beautiful walks along the beach and up that GIANT hill. Some of us scrapbooked. Some of us made cards. Some of us read. Some us received massages. We laughed. We cried. We took lots of photos. We enjoyed an 80's themed weekend...80's movies and music. We met Baby Andrew for the 1st time. One word, ADORABLE! We enjoyed our yearly girlfriend gift exchange.We made lots of memories and created the silly quotes that will be remembered as the 2013 Moms Gone Tired Weekend!

 "No! Not the tape gun!"

 My dear friend, Michelle!

 Friends! Eve, Lisa B.,Denise, Lisa H., Debby, Izzie, Michelle, Sheri and me!

Baby Andrew

Scrappin' while watching Better Off Dead.

 My sweet friend, Lisa H.

Debby caught napping at 10 pm. She looks so peaceful!

The layouts I completed. My lowest number to date. I figure it is more than I would have completed at home!

 Michelle and Debby...team RED!

Raimi and Sheri...team PURPLE!

One of the gorgeous sunsets!

The trek back up the HUGE hill! It ended up being my daily exercise while we were there!

Izzie and Lisa

 Our ENCOURAGE squares. We each were given a letter and asked to make it look cute. We all used pattern paper from the same line and in a sense, created our own little 3 by 3 scrapbook pages. We swapped letters and now have our own ENCOURAGE art work. FUN!

It was so hard to narrow this post to just a few photos! I am already looking forward to next year!

February by the numbers

ONE a. February marks one year since I have lost my 100 lbs.. Proud to report that I have kept it off!

ONE b. book read. The Theory of Relativity

THREE blog posts recorded. This actually makes me sad that I didn't record more of our happenings.

NINE notes sent via snail mail. Love sending little love notes to friends and family.

TWELVE Valentine cards were sent.

EIGHTEEN basketball games played by the boys/attended by us.

TWENTY FOUR sweet treats were delivered to friends and family for Valentine's Day!

SIXTY TWO. SEVENTY FIVE miles were logged. 1/2 Marathon here I come!

ONE HUNDRED days of school were celebrated...kindergarten style.

February in Review

The weeks and months are flying by. So much so, that I didn't blog much during the month of February.
Here is a little recap of our month, in no particular order.

Brody and friends celebrated the 100th day of  kindergarten. He came home sporting this headband.

Our San Francisco 49ers made it to the Superbowl. They lost. My boys were bummed. This photo was taken before the game started so there were still happy smiles.

The boys Kaepernick-ing it! This was right after the quarter back(Kaepernick) scored a touch down. Our boys are so funny!

We have attended ALOT of basketball games this month. All 4 boys played Hot Shots this season! They all had amazing seasons!

What do you do on Valentine's Day when you have a fever and don't feel well? You eat donuts in the bath tub with your brother, of course!!! Poor Brody had a  high fever and a horrible  cough. He had to miss his Valentine party at school and was so bummed about it!

 Valentine's party for the 3rd graders. I am the Room Mom in Garrett's classroom this year. We decorated cupcakes, played pin the heart on the giraffes, made Valentine cards and enjoyed a LOVE themed word search.

I love this photo of John, Carter and some of his Tar Heel players. John loves coaching basketball. He sure enjoyed  his team this season. They were undefeated and won the play off game for the title. SO MUCH FUN!

Can't let February pass by without mentioning Girl Scout Cookies. We bought some of our favorites from our friend/neighbor Susie! I love that she came to our door to sell them! Not to mention that I love her receipt and thank you note that we receive each year with our order. So cute!!

The boys started receiving happy mail from their Great Grandma Shore this month. She was calling it the Mercury draw. She decided to cancel her subscription to her local newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News. Hence the Mercury draw title. She put all of her Great Grand kids names into a drawing and is randomly sending them a note with $10.00. She has divided the money she would have spent on the  subscription and sharing it with the Great Grand kids. She is so fun, loving  and kind. We LOVE her!

Carter received his his 2nd class rank at the Court of Honor this month!

We are still working on our bedroom make over. It has been  such a S-L-O-W process. Things like time, $ and finding the right pieces/accents have played a little part in the slowness.  Despite the slowness, I am loving how it is coming together!

Ahhhhh! I love February for the simple fact that it is Valentine's Day. I love the colors. I love the crafting and baking that accompanies it! I love the extra chance I have to tell and show the ones I love just how much I really do love them! I made John this heart attack jar. It was filled with his favorite dark chocolate See's candy and little hearts that had notes/phrases attached to them.

This is one of the little details I worked on for Garrett's class party! I found these fun black and white paper straws. I used my favorite heart punch and attached them to the straws. Made there water bottles a little more fun and festive.

I decorated these fun little fry boxes that I found online. I filled them with a Strawberry Muddy Buddy type treat(recipe coming soon). We shared them with the boys teachers and friends. Fun, festive and yummy!

Time  is flying by! We attended some orientation and registration nights at the high school for Tanner! CRAZY!!! Our first born will be heading to high school in the next few months! Still trying to wrap my brain around it!

Garrett earned his Wolf badge at the Blue and Gold dinner this month. John is still the Cub Master and had a Survivor theme for this months Blue and Gold dinner! The boys had a blast completing Survivor type activities. FUN!

I enjoyed a super fun weekend at the beach with girlfriends!This weekend was at the end of Feb./ beginning of March. I will have create a separate post about it!

I am sure that I am forgetting a few things.Our 2013 is off to a great start. We are happy, healthy(for the most part) and are enjoying the many blessings in our life. 

right now

I saw this blog post idea on Sarah Champion's blog. I don't personally know her but I love reading her blog.

In the theme of right now, this photo was literally taken right now! I never got around to curling my hair or putting my make up on today!  This is real life! This is MY life. This is right now!

DIGGING: My clean kitchen. I worked hard today.

DRINKING: Blackberry Apple Sparkling Water that was frozen. YUM!

EATING: Chocolate Chip/Oatmeal Cookie dough! What can I say? The boys twisted my arm and we are baking cookies

LISTENING: To the dryer. I am on my 4th and final load of laundry for the day! YAY!

WEARING: American Rag jeans, Soffe long sleeved shirt and slippers from Old Navy.

READING: Drawing Closer to God by Henry B. Eyring.

FEELING: Content! The little boys are playing the back yard. Tanner is playing football with friends down at the park. Carter  is doing homework on the laptop and John is almost done with work and will be home in a little bit.

WEATHER: Sunshine with a slight breeze. Gotta love the Cali sunshine in the winter months.

WANTING: To exercise. I am having a foot issue and am trying to stay off of it for a day or two to see if it helps and gets better.

NEEDING: A free day :-).

WISHING: I didn't love those Chocolate Chip Cookies so much !

THINKING: About what I should make for dinner. I have some chicken ready to go but I am not sure what I want to do with it!

ENJOYING: My life. My family. My boys. My friends. Friends who are willing to serve and help friends out when needed. Kind people. Honest people. My home. 

Let me know if you play along. This was such an easy, simple blog post. A fun way to record your life, right now!