Baseball Buddies

This Saturday the girls had the chance to be "baseball buddies" at the Loons game. A baseball buddy gets to hang out by the Loons dugout during warm-ups and when the players are introduced they get to run out on the field with their "buddy." They stand with their buddy out on the field during the national anthem and then they return to their seats. Emma's buddy was 3rd baseman, Chris Henderson; Moriah's buddy was shortstop Christian Lara. They had a lot of fun and of course they were THE cutest baseball buddies out there!!

     Here they are hanging out with some guy with crazy hair...Mo pulled his wig off

when he bent down!

Check out their cool shirts!!

Here's the whole bunch! We brought along a friend, Hayden, to see the game too! Aiden loved having another boy around!

Enjoying their snack...one of the best things about baseball!

Sweet sisters...and baseball buddies!



Bigger Than T-Rex

 Saturday we were running errands, and we went to the library to pick up books for school.  When the kids saw the Center for the Arts they remembered that we had not been to see the dinosaur exhibit. It opened sometime just after the accident, and we weren't up for going when the homeschool group went for a fieldtrip. Of course I heard, "Mom! We never saw the dinosaurs!" Since Sunday was the last day of the exhibit, the girls and I along with our friend Evan, went to see the dinosaurs after church! Evan's very tiny, but much loved elephant, Ellie, came along as well.

Here the kids tried to feed little Ellie to the T-Rex:

Here's a group photo, including Ellie! Evan's holding her on Emma's shoulder.



And here it is, the one bigger than T-Rex, the maposaurus (?)!!

The kids tried to pose like these dinosaurs and as Evan posed he said, "Is this good? Because I can't

make a tail!"

And it was here while we were working on this 3D T-Rex puzzle that Evan said, "How about Miss Michelle and I hold it and we let Emma and Moriah do it all!"  This puzzle was tough! You can see the left leg, up in the air...we never did figure that out!!

There were several hands on stations where the kids could draw/color dino pictures,

search for dinosaur bones,

and search for fossils of their own!





Here are some fossils they found, and again we see Ellie!!



Loons Baseball and Little League Softball

We went to our first Loons game of the season on Saturday. We have had a small season ticket package through Ryan's family business for a few years. After the accident, we weren't sure if Ryan would be up for attending games. We explained our situation to the Loons office, and they offered to move us to handicap accessible seating so Ryan could sit comfortably in his wheelchair.  We decided to give it a try! We are so glad we did! Ryan had a great time! Towards the end of the game he looked over at me and said, "I think this is the most normal night I've had in the last 6 months!" Because of his jaw, he did miss eating some of his favorite ballpark food. Emma and I had to eat all the nachos ourselves!

    Aiden had a great time cheering on the Loons, although he didn't really want his picture taken--

It was a great way to spend Mother's Day eve! The Loons won, Ryan was able to get away for awhile, and we were given something to look forward to this summer! In fact, our next game is May 21, and both the girls are going to be baseball buddies--which means they'll run out on the field with a player as they are introduced and sing the national anthem with them!

It's also softball season, and both girls are playing Little League softball in Coleman. Moriah is on a coach pitch team, and Emma is on a Minors team.

Moriah has never played before and she really wanted to try catching.  She has had the chance to catch in one game, and  she really enjoyed it. She was so cute in all that gear! Her one complaint was that she "couldn't hustle in when coach called them in--she had to walk." She has also played 2nd base and did well there, as well as center and left field. 

Emma has played before, but she has never pitched. She was really hoping to have a chance at pitching this year...and last week she did! 

She has also played shortstop and right field Several of her friends are on her team this year and she is really enjoying that! She's a bit like her mama...baseball is about the people and the food! .

And there's this little boy, he's their biggest fan! He brings his dump truck to every game, and when he's not cheering them on, he's busy hauling a load of dirt or sand! 

Happy Mother's Day!

Today's the day when everyone says this, but I do have the best mom in the world! I'm so thankful for my mom, and for all the wonderful things she has done for us!

Here's just a few great things about my mom:

She is one of the most generous people I know! Numerous times she has given of herself for her children, and for others as well. For example, she was not able to help us pay for our wedding as much as she would have liked. Just before the wedding I went into the florist to settle our bill and the florist told me that my mom had been coming in every week to put money on our account.

She's really funny and she's able to laugh at herself! Of course my sisters and I love to laugh with her, not at her!

She is thoughtful! She never forgets a birthday, anniversary or a thank you! She sends many notes, cards and letters to many people!

She loves the Lord with all her heart! She has a desire to please Him in all that she does and that makes her so beautiful!!

I love you mom!

Corn From the Future

At the end of the summer the girls and I freeze veggies for the summer to eat through the winter. We usually freeze green beans, beets and corn. We make a day of freezing corn, working with Jan out on our back porch. Grandma Ruthie used to help too. The corn must be cleaned, blanched, cooled, cut off the cob, and  packaged into freezer bags. The final step is writing the date on the bag with a sharpie. Last summer that was Moriah's job. Last week I pulled this package of corn from the freezer:
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                             In case you can't read her writing, it says: 2020 corn from the future.

Imagine me standing in front of the freezer laughing! That girl is so funny! We had a good laugh that night about eating corn from the future!

Our New Wheels!

This is for Angie, she's been asking to see the new van for awhile now!  We had a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country and this one is a 2008. We decided to go with the same kind of vehicle because we really like our  van and we must say, it held up pretty well in the accident (with some help from God, of course!)
She doesn't have a name yet, we just haven't been inspired! Our first van we affectionately called, Vannie. The one we lost we called Vannie Dos, or Dos for short( Dos meaning 2 in Spanish!)

                                                                    Here she is!

And this little guy looks just as cute in this one as he did in the other one!