What Holiday Weekends are Made of

 Colin's team had their first Babe Ruth League game this weekend.  I did not get a photo of him in his uniform....will try harder this week.  They play double headers -- which is rather difficult on the little ones, and it also means that we have to go to the ballpark a little earlier than usual, which is hard on mommas with set in stone daytime schedules!

 Other than the one trip to the ballpark, we have had the weekend completely free.  It was so nice to get to sleep in, play in the yard with the kids,  and do a few odds and ends before next week comes knocking.

 We attended the cemetary mass this morning, and then broke out the new swim suits for a trip to the pool.  Not that anyone has counted down or anything!  It was all Quincy could do to go to bed last night because she has been waiting.  She has proclaimed this as "the summer she learns to swim with NO life jacket!"

For the record, Saige was not the least bit impressed by the city pool.  She did not like the cold water, she is not friendly with all the people, and she ended up sleeping almost the whole time we were there!  She better get a new attitude, summers were made for swimming according to her siblings!!

Holiday weekends go by too quickly and I am sad it is almost over!

Official start to summer

 It never feels like it is officially summer time until I start hanging out at the ballpark.  Preston had his first game at Appanoose this week.  He was so excited that when I got home from work at noon, he wanted to get dressed.  It was a long afternoon of waiting!  His team did not win their first game, but he sure did play good!  He can really smack a ball!  I guess all that practicing with Colin in the back yard paid off!

 Harper had a wonderful time re-organizing their rocks!

 Quincy also had her first game this week.  She played at Osage City at the same time as Preston played, so Jim took her, and I did not get to see her play.  Her game ended in a tie.  This prompted a conversation on what a tie is.  I explained it is when the teams score the same amount -- like 1 to 1 or 2 to 2.  She spent the next half an hour saying or 3 to 3, or 4 to 4.......?  She has a firm grasp of the concept now!! 

 She also insisted that I take a photo of the back of her shirt - she is the same number as Colin which thrilled her!

 Cameron and Colin are on the same Flint Hills League team.  It is nice to go to one place and watch them both play!  Of course, Colin is also playing with some of his friends on a Babe Ruth League team, which has not had their first game yet. 

 Colin was pretty insistent that if I had to take his photo, it had to be one of him hitting Cam in the head with the bat.  Nice brother huh?  I like how Cam is flinching like Colin would really hit him......!! 

 At least Cam stood still and let me take his photo....

 I had to snap quick to even get Colin to stand still long enough for a couple of randomly weird pictures!

You may notice that Cam has a glove and sleeve on.  This was not a fashion statement this year....yesterday he had a little unfortunate incident with his smoker, some pork roast, and some lighter fluid.  He has some burns on his hands and arm, and keeping a damp glove/sleeve on them helped a lot with the pain!  He couldn't be talked out of playing last night, it was the first game!  He is really quite lucky, he only has a few minor burns and a little hair loss!  

Quincy's first

 lost tooth!  She was very proud and excited.  Of course, it isn't the tooth that needs to come out, the one that the dentist is going to have to pull out, because the grown up tooth is coming in behind it!  She even voluntarily went to bed so that the tooth fairy would be sure to come!

 Cameron got a shipment of new frames for the beehives.  He was pleased with himself as he told me he knew how to put them together all by himself.  I am trying to document his bee progress for his 4-H project, and went out to take photos only to discover that he was using the girl's car as his workbench.  SHHHH we aren't going to mention this to the girls!! 

 And Quincy and Harper looked lovely in church yesterday morning, thanks to the Clearance Queen's latest shopping trip!  Thank you aunt Jeanne and Grandma!  :)  For the record, even in new clothes, Harper does not sit still or be quiet during mass!  We did find out that our priest is leaving, so we were very sad, we really love Father Anthony. 

We started our new summer jobs today.  Mallory reported that her first day babysitting was easy, and even fun!  We have previously been lining fields for high school games, but little kid games are a bit more involved.  Colin and I did ok I think, for our first time!  Nobody complained about our magnificent chalking!  And the concession stand ran smoothly too!  Of course, Mallory and Madison helped the lady who ran it last summer, so they have a great grasp on this job already!  The  little kids had a good time playing at the park.  I hope that they want to play at the park a LOT this summer!!  :)

When does the pool open?

 When is my first game?  When can I use these paints that were left over in my school supplies?  Can I have another glass of chocolate milk?  Can you bake us some cookies?  When does the pool open?  What time does dad come home?

 Our first couple of days of summer we are quickly learning how to entertain ourselves again, and that we can fix our own drinks,  and that we CAN read a calendar for ourselves to figure out the activities of the day, and when the pool opens!!  Not that it has been bad, it totally hasn't, it just takes a little adjustment from school, where every minute is structured, to home, where momma doesn't roll that way!

 Saige is happy to be surrounded by people! 

 We also did a little back yard camping.  Sorry Grace, my kids are not scouts, and I am just not that fond of nature.  I like to sleep in a bug free, critter free,  air conditioned environment, with running water nearby!!  The kids still had a wonderful time roasting stuff on a fire, and playing around in the tent.  I did almost die of disgust when I found out that they were using the garden shovel to roast things over their fire.  Colin was in charge of the cooking!  I guess I should feel better after he told me he 'washed it off' first! 

We are enjoying this week, as next week we fall headfirst into ball games, concession stand running, field lining, summer weights, summer football, summer basketball, summer wrestling, and story time at the library.  I filled out my calendar and then quickly turned the page back to May, I don't want to face June just yet!

Teacher Let the Fools Out...!!

I know its an old photo, but it sums up my title!!  :)

Yesterday was the last day of school.  The kids were overall pretty excited to be finished.  The one exception was Quincy, who actually told me that she really loved having Aunt Diane as her teacher this year, and was sad about going to first grade where she would have to have a 'stranger' as a teacher!  She also said that she was worried about her best friend not being in her class. 
The older girls were saying they are feeling like high school is going pretty quickly, especially considering they are now half way finished!
Cameron was also a little bit  sad because his really awesome teacher who used to live next door, is moving to Nebraska.  He actually said to me that it was a shame and sad that the district is losing such a great teacher.  Nice that he took the time to notice!  He is really, really excited about going to Jr High next year though!

I know it will sound bizarre, but I think the biggest duck in the countdown puddle was me.  I was tired of the morning routine, the endless list of needs from school, and the never ending projects!  So sue me, I never said I was going to actually win mom of the year!  I am happy to have the kids home, with fewer responsiblities, and less neediness.  I am happy to spend afternoons at the pool and evenings at the ballpark.  I am happy to not have to drop everything at 3:30 to go pick them up, and I am happiest of all to not have to wake up anyone and drag them out the door, only to get halfway to school and hear the "MOM I FORGOT my backpack, lunch money, cell phone" or whatever else!  Call me in a month, we will see if I am over this or not!! 

Of course, we spent our first afternoon 'off' in a weird situation.  The kids got out of school at 1 yesterday.  Our realtor called and said that they needed us out of the house for a showing between 11am and 1 pm -- that was fine - part of that time we were at work anyhow.  We took Colin out to lunch and as we are there, the phone rings and they ask if they can move the showing to between 1:30 and 3:30.  I told them sure - after all, we can't sell a house if we don't show it.  I picked up the kids from school and we headed out to grandma's house to take care of the hogs and kill a little time.  After watching a movie, cleaning out the hog pen, and visiting with grandma a little bit, we headed back into town, only for me to discover that the showing had been cancelled altogether.  I really needed to do laundry yesterday -- it felt a little frusterating.  However, I promised that I would NOT focus on the house sale.  I will not let it consume my thoughts or worry about it.  So now I am done venting and am back to my carefree summer loving self!

1/2 Birthday Girl!

 Our Saige Grace is 6 months old!  She may be a tad bit spoiled, may like her momma just a bit too much, and may not be the world's best sleeper, but we love her like crazy!! 

 Its hard to believe that 6 months has gone by since I was miserably pregnant and wishing for this kiddo to come into the world!  How come the last month of pregnancy feels like the same amount of time as the first six months of the baby's life? 

 She is a little over 17 pounds now, has 2 bottom teeth, has suffered from several colds and ear infections, and has been dragged to so much stuff she can't even begin to list it all!  She takes her little tag along status in stride though!  She seems to only like plain rice cereal, other attempts at eating food have not met with pleasant results!!  Oh, did I mention that for person who cannot yet talk, she is highly opinionated?

 And pretty dang sweet!!

I am pretty sure that no photography can occur unless your highness is included!!!  She does love Saige though.....even if her patting gets a little over zealous at times!!

Swine weigh in day, and bonus fun too

 It was swine weigh in day for Osage county today.  Preston felt that he needed to watch the scale operator!  Preston's pig weighed 82 pounds today. 

 The rotten Hampshire, which Quincy has adopted as her very own Frank the Second - weighed 44 pounds today.  We are pretty sure he won't make weight, but will be very tasty this fall!  :)  Madison tagged him today - mostly because her Duroc is so big, we are afraid that he will be overweight by August.  So she has the biggest and smallest hog!

 Colin's hog (Preston) weighed 93 pounds, a weight that we feel our Preston may never reach, considering that he only eats chicken nuggets, apples and grapes voluntarily!

 Cam's pig weighed 92 pounds, and Swinderella - who weighed 34 pounds when we bought him was up to a whopping 74 pounds today!

 And the Duroc - well I was right about him being too big --- he weighed 151.  He may well be ready for a freezer way before the county fair!  He will definitely be getting his own quarters with a hand selected high fiber, low calorie diet before the summer is over!

 Harper was not really impressed with the pig weighing process.  Pigs tend to squeal a lot more than she would like!  She was also a little bit on the cold side, since I didn't really realize how cold the north wind was when I was dressing her this morning!  She was very happy to be home!

My cousin Melissa graduated with her master's degree today.  We had a great time at her party, and somehow ended up with her big boys over here for the night.  They play really well with Colin and Cam though, so it is ok!!  Plus they are pretty funny - we always get a kick out of them! 

We also had our first work session on the county fair auction stuff today.  I am trying really hard to put the information we got into a spreadsheet, and make mailing labels.  After this year, I think things could be much easier - a lot less writing will need to be done!  I am very glad that we chose to do this when Jim was home though, as he is a real lifesaver when it comes to computer stuff! 

For Mother's Day, I asked the kids for a day with no fighting, no complaining, and one where I could get a couple of projects that I started, finished (meaning they will help with Harper and Saige).  We shall see if I get my wishes!

Colin graduated 8th grade!

 Colin has told me this 'slogan' so many times in the past couple of months, that we decided it was a good idea to put it on his cake!  We are proud that he accomplished graduation, and that he can now boast an '8th grade edu-cation.'

 I gave Colin a little lecture about this being a special day, and he needed to cooperate with my photographing the event, this is how he responded!  Well, that and a few other poses which are not G rated.

Congratulations Colin, we are very proud of you!