Rub-A-Dub-Dub... 3 Men in a Tub!

It took a little coaxing to get Caleb back in the tub, but I just had to get a shot of off 3 brothers in the tub. Plenty of bubbles to cover all the goods. Love my boys!

Carter Playing T-Ball

Carter started playing t-ball this season.
He's so cute in his baseball uniform! The coach first pitches the ball a few times and then it's placed on the t so each kid gets a chance to hit the ball.

Here he is waiting on first base. Isn't he so cute?

And then running to 2nd.

Carter gets several times to bat each game. You see Steve behind the catcher. There's no umpires in t-ball, so he plays the role as back-up catcher.

Here's his team ready to give high fives after the game.

And the team huddle. Go Yankees!!

Umpire Injury

Here's Steve's arm. Above is what his arm looked like after taking a fast ball right off the bat. Catcher never touched the ball.

And below is his arm a week later. We made a trip to the ER for x-rays because he was having so much difficulty using his arm. Diagnosis: deep contussion.

Girl's Weekend

In mid April my girlfriends and I went away to the lakehouse for pampering and relaxation. The weather was fabulous and the fellowship was wonderful. Steve and Shereda spoiled us in every way possible... wonderful meals, flowers by our beds, and just quietness..... ah, so quiet.

The Hill Country was covered in wildflowers. The bluebonnets were stunning!


top row: Randi, Amy, Stacy
bottom row: Vicki, Jenny, Kim, and Michelle


Love these girls! Each of them have taught me so much. They are all ahead of me in the parenting game. There seems to be nothing I've faced that they have not already survived. Wisdom and love pours from their hearts. A girl can only be so lucky to have friends like these.

We added up all the children we have. Would you believe that the 7 of us have a total of 25 children??!! And sweet Tate was the lone child to join the weekend. She was such a doll. I know Shereda loved having a baby girl in the house!

The Shans flew in for the weekend too. We got to spend Saturday night with them.

Here's our group enjoying breakfast on the lake. We took a 45 minute boat ride to breakfast. So much fun!

Thanks, Steve and Shereda, for a wonderful weekend. I know we'll all be ready to come back and get rejuvenated very soon!!

Goals, Hits, Keys, and Puke

This was such a beautiful weekend. Here's the highlights and lowlights:

* Planted lots of new perennials and annuals

* I played keys in the band at church this weekend- haven't played since last summer. Loved it!

* Carter scored 2 goals in soccer. We missed it though! Steve was home with sick baby and I was at church. Apparently after his first goal he turned to his friend and said, "Bet you didn't see that coming" Oh, that kid is a hoot.

*Caleb got 2 hits in his baseball game. Steve was the pitcher :-) I missed it b/c I was home with the sick baby. And, Caleb got the game ball!

* Brenner is now on the upside of rotavirus. He's got a little sparkle in his eye today; although he's still just lying around.

*Carter started puking last night. The joys of parenthood. Interesting evening with Carter's puke and Brenner's nasty diapers. I'll leave it at that.

So, here we are at Monday morning. Kind of the morning after the never ending storm. Caleb is at school. Steve is at work and my 2 youngest are chillin' in front of Noggin. Steve is planning to be home this afternoon so I can crawl back into bed. In the words of my mother, "Life is never dull."

The Difference a Day Makes...

Here's Brenner yesterday morning (above)

and

Here's Brenner this morning (below)

Fever and vomitting have this guy down for the count.

Nothing Sweeter

Pat-a-Cake

9 Months

Hard to believe! 9 Months Old! I love the 9-12 month stage. I know what to expect: crawling everywhere, climbing into everything, putting anything in his mouth. It's an exhausting time. The word "no" means nothing to him. Just elicits a cute grin and then he quickly continues whatever he was doing. But, he's learning so much and discovering new things everyday. His newest trick is "Patty Cake"- I'll try to catch it on video. He's always so proud of himself!

Here's his stats:

Weight: 18 lbs, 14 oz- 25%

Length: 29 in- 74%

Head: 46 cm- 74%

Caleb was 21 lbs, 8 oz and Carter was 22 lbs- both 75%

Caleb was 29.5 in and Carter was 30 in- both 90%

Caleb and Carter both had heads measuring 46.5 cm- 90%

So, the boys are all similar except on weight. Little Bren is just a skinnier version of his brothers.

Some other highlights from the past few months:

* pulling up on everything

* has even let go and stood on his own

* sleeps from 7pm - 7am every night (knock on wood)

* starting to explore the world of food- avocados, bananas, bread

* cut 2 teeth on the bottom

* claps his hands

* calls everything "dadadada"

* loves to smile and giggle- especially with his brothers and dog

The Easter Bluebonnets

Women's Final Four

Another weekend, another series of basketball. This time it was the women. I'm a big believer of going to cheer on my team, because you never if you'll get that far again. Steve and I went to the NCAA Women's Final Four in 2005 in Indianapolis. This year it is San Antonio. Baylor is a 4 seed this year and really was not expected to win the Sweet 16 against our 1 seed, Tennessee. Not only did we beat them, but we also beat Duke, the 2 seed, in the Elite Eight. That gave us a ticket to the big dance. My dad was confidant and had booked hotel rooms before the season started. So once the Duke game was won, we made plans for San Antonio.
We stayed in the Marriott Rivercenter. We had Sunday, yes Easter Sunday, lunch at a Mexican food place down on the riverwalk. There were so many fans down there enjoying the parade of bands and cheerleaders. Baylor was joined by Stanford, UConn, and OU. But, it's not just fans from those 4 schools that come to the Final Four. Coaches from every Division 1 school are there along with fans from all schools. It was like a huge pep rally!

The NCAA Women's Final Four is played in the Alamodome this year. They cut the place in half and put up bleachers on the shorter side. Stanford and OU played first- Stanford won. Then it was Baylor and UConn. Anyone who has followed women's basketball knows that UConn has won 76 games in a row. They arguably have the BEST team in the history of women's basketball. And, they have beat every opponent this season by double digits. It's a big bummer we had to face them in the first game, but at least we weren't in the same bracket as them!

We made plans to only be in San Antonio Sunday night (that's how confidant we were) and planned to make it a good time no matter the outcome.

It's fuzzy, but that's our Lady Bears in a huddle with Coach Kim Mulkey. Our coach is the only person to win a national championship as a player (La Tech), assistant coach (La Tech), and a head coach (Baylor). And, she won a gold medal in the Olympics. This lady is good.

Hard to see, but the score was 41-38 with less than 15 min left in the 2nd half. This was as close as we got it. Our young team did it's best to keep up with 2 All-American players that dominated the game.

The spread was 24 points. They beat their previous opponent by 40. So, we were actually really pleased with a 20 point difference.

Fun, Fun, Fun! This was a quick trip, but always fun to cheer on my Lady Bears!