trival pursuits

The Overbrook Library hosts trivia night once in a while.  You might recall last time when Cameron formed a team and won trivia night.  There was some smack talk and a rematch was ordered.  The great re-match was last night.  Jim was on a team of city people.  He did ask me if I would join his team, but I was afraid of the retaliation if we won, not to mention it was supposed to be girl's night, so I politely declined.  Cameron did not have any luck getting his old team together, but he did manage to get a new team who he felt could win.  Preston also  formed a team of his own.  If they ever got together, there would be so much less competitive man-talk in my house!

Cameron's team gets the picture of a trophy again!  Jim said they won fair and square.  Preston said otherwise.  I heard that my boys were smack talking elderly people.  I blame their dad.  :)  

My girl's night got postponed.  The littles were super excited because that meant I was free to take them to night swim.  Of course on the one night we had no ballgames, we would go to night swim!  :)  Actually, it was a nice evening to be among friends and I enjoyed it!  I truly do not understand the allure of night swim, but my kids sure do love to go!  

Wednesday night, Harper and Quincy slept outside on the trampoline.  Saige was going to as well, but she fell asleep instantly on the couch when she got home from her game.  I was laughing about her not even wiping off her eye black.  Last night, when we got home from night swim, they decided to sleep out on the trampoline once again.  This time, Saige slept out there too.  I left the door unlocked and the porch light on because I figured she would not make it all night.  When I got up to walk this morning, there were 3 girls, 2 dogs and a cat all sleeping away.  I think they are crazy, but I am happy that they are sleeping outside, swimming, playing hard and acting like kids!

ball pics

Last night, Quincy was asked if she wanted to run the score board.  She said "no, I have to take pictures of Harper while she plays ball, so I can't."  It was a flimsy excuse at best.  She did take these pictures.  They aren't too bad.  I got a kick out of her coaching Harper from the bleachers though.  Quincy has put in quite a bit of time helping Harper with her pitching at home.  Harper does pretty good with it.  She had quite a few strike outs last night.  Harper likes playing, but sometimes it is hard to tell because she is very hard on herself.  

Preston is having a pretty fun season.  His coach's wife sent me these photos.  He does such a good job of playing where they need him to play, and seems to be pretty good at several spots on the field.  He actually really likes playing 3rd though.  

I think he took his eye off the ball here?  :)

I really like these pictures.  It cracks me up how Preston looks so much like Colin when he plays ball.  He moves like Colin, he is built like Colin and it is a little like having a flashback watching him play.  I mentioned it to Jim, and halfway through the evening, I got a text from Jim saying he thought I was correct!  I have to document these things!  

I guess he thought the pitch was a little bit inside? 

This is not the best, most skilled team that Preston (#10) has ever been a part of.  They don't win every game.  They don't really win much at all.  But Preston is having a really good time.  He has some good friends playing, and has met a couple of kids who are homeschooled who he really likes too.  That is why we do this.  Jim often talks about how much playing ball meant to him as a kid.  He busts his butt helping with the Park and Rec commission, he has spent countless hours working on equipment and fields, and used our personal vehicle to go pick up stuff for the parks.  It makes me proud of the time he puts in when I see our kids making new friends, making memories, and having a great time playing.  I have not been home since school got out.  I sometimes get caught up in wishing we had an evening free.  But I also know that the time will come when we won't have kids to run, and so I am trying hard to enjoy these moments.

When your sister gets a house...

Yesterday, Madison was home...she had the day off.  She decided to make cream puffs.  This translated into Harper and Quincy skipping out on pool time so they could be the first ones to sample the puffs!  Saige was pretty insistent that the sun was shining, she should swim for a while.  I don't mind taking her, but there were not many kids at the pool (probably because it was not warm enough).  She swam for a little while, but didn't really stay in the water long.  She was cold.  She was also sad her friends weren't there!

As we come and go from town, we actually drive past Mallory's new house.  We happened to notice as we were driving by that Mallory seemed to have accumulated some sort of collection of men in her yard.  One was mowing, one was power washing her siding.  

I am not entirely sure how she managed to arrange this, but I was told they work cheap!  I'd say she is a lucky girl to have such nice brothers!

Harper had the late game last night at home.  Preston and Jim went to Carbondale for Preston's team's double header.  As we were leaving town late last night, we knew Mallory would not be home, as she was at our cousin's house watching their kids.  Quincy begged me to stop and let her turn on every light in Mallory's house and leave the TV on playing the Haunting on repeat.  While I did giggle at her idea of a prank, I pointed out that if Mallory is afraid to stay in her new house, Quincy can't get the bigger bedroom she is wanting!  :)  

Happy 21st Birthday

We are always happy to have a reason to eat cake!  Colin is 21 years old today!  We had a nice dinner, and enjoyed some time together last night.  This kid is always such a hard worker.  He is enjoying working for Westar this summer, and is hoping to get on there when he graduates this winter.  I am very proud of him!  He is a fun guy.  The younger kids are always happy to see him, as he is always willing to set up some crazy game in the yard, break out the music and turns things into to a party somehow.  I hope that he will have a great 21st year!  Love you Colin!

whirlwind

The weekend plans were out of control this time.  We had 4 base/softball games, a house closing, painting, moving, Stampede, baby sitting, cat sitting, and a birthday dinner.

We managed to get all the games in except for Quincy's.  Hers got moved (we do not have time for any more bad weather).  The kid's season is quickly winding down.  It has been a crazy June, and although the kids are having fun, I am ready to think about reclaiming evenings!  This is the last week of the regular season.

Mallory bought a house.  I am amused by her.  She and I looked at the house a few weeks back.  Then made Jim go put his critical eye on it.  When Jim found only a couple of minor things wrong, then she signed the contract.  She then swore everyone to secrecy in case we would be jinxing it by talking about it. I had no fears of the deal falling through....this girl is the extreme type A personality, and had every I dotted and t crossed before she even started looking!  There were really no problems to speak of with inspections, and the prior owner has been amazing to fix the few little tiny issues that the house had.  I really believe the house is well built and should be a great little house for her to make her own!  I do have to say that this accomplishment is pretty amazing to me.  This "kid" is 23 years old.  She put herself through college, graduated Summa Cum Laude, landed herself her dream job, saved her money by living at home, paid her bills down so she would qualify for the loan, and got the loan on her own.  She has earned every single penny that went into making this happen.  I couldn't be more proud of her.

She did have grandma and I over for a little painting party!  We enjoyed adding a little color to her abode!  Andrew, grandma, grandpa and Uncle Eric helped her move her furniture in on Saturday morning.  She is far from unpacked, but mostly moved in!

She may not be unpacked, but she does have a new cat.  The girls babysat the cat, and I watched the baby while she was moving furniture!  Don't tell anyone, but we know that we drew the good cards on this day!

Andrew and Madison had Stampede tickets for Saturday night.  They bought the tickets a very long time ago, and I had promised to watch Evie.  The Stampede moving to Topeka made it easy for them to get there!  We are close enough we could even hear the music from our yard!  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, and they ended up fleeing the storm and being home before 10.  As much as we love this little baby, she does not love us after 8:00 pm.  She likes to go to bed.  She likes her daddy to put her there.  She was not amused with the change in her routine at all!  Quincy did manage to get her to stop crying.  When they got home, she had the biggest smile and was so happy to see her dad!  Maybe someday, she will want to spend the night hanging out with Grammy and Gramps, but right now, she truly does not!  :)  

Sunday evening, we had birthday dinner for Colin.  Preston does not like lasagna, but he does get this happy look when he learns there will be garlic bread!   Jim and I got the lasagna in the oven, and then ran in to see Mallory's progress.  Things there are looking pretty good.  She did have a little bit of water in her basement, but we had 5 inches of rain, on already saturated soil.  I doubt there is a basement in our area that doesn't have some moisture in there! 

It was a really fun weekend, and I am thankful for the time with family!