Ranger Game

Carter loves watching the Texas Rangers.  Most evenings we have the Texas Rangers on our TV.  We bought tickets one evening to take him to a game at the Ballpark in Arlington.  As a side note, Caleb had the choice to either go to the game or stay with the babysitter.  He chose to stay home.  So, the three of us spent the evening at the Ranger game.  Steve saw one of use umpire buddies down on the field as part of the ground's crew.  So, he tossed a ball up for Carter to keep.  Isn't it every little boy's dream to catch a ball at a baseball game??  Carter didn't care that the ball came from someone working on the field!  Ha!  What a fun night!

3 Years Old

Look who turned 3!

Brenner celebrated his third birthday in a low key get together at the house.  His girl cousins were staying with us during their Texas visit, so we made a party out of it.  He opened new trains and other toys after eating pizza and cake.  Doesn't take much to thrill this little guy.  He's just pure joy!

LMFAO and Coldplay

In June I went to two wild concerts at the AAC with my friend, Marla.  Back in March I won tickets to see LMFAO through Sirius Radio.  They are an outrageous act to see live on stage.  We were in the midst of five hours of straight party music with silly, stupid lyrics and over the top dancing.  I think I laughed all evening.  The following weekend we saw Coldplay.  This concert was a complete 180 from the previous weekend.  The show was absolutely phenomenal!  We all wore colored bracelets that lit up and were synchronized with their music.  I had the most amazing time at both concerts!  It was fun to get my Party Rock on with Marla!

Blue Man Group

In June we took Caleb and Carter to Blue Man Group at the Bass Hall in Fort Worth.  I exchanged my balcony seats for front row "Splash Zone" seats for Blue Man!  The boys were so excited until they saw they needed to wear rain ponchos.  Once the show started and then saw that they really wouldn't get wet they settled in and enjoyed the show.  Carter really had fun while Caleb just watched wide eyed (and later talked about how great it was). 

Baylor Baseball

In the spring we were able to see a few Baylor baseball games.  Carter especially loved going to the ballpark.  We are lucky that Nanny, Papa, and Papaw will share tickets with us.

Brenner at the Dentist

Brenner is such a big boy now!  He's watched his brothers go to the dentist for a long time.  Now it's finally his turn!  Wearing sunglasses, counting teeth, getting a sticker and a prize!!  What's not to love!

Potty Time

 Brenner potty trained in early June with Steve the same weekend I took the big boys down to camp.  I continued to work with Brenner while Steve was gone to umpire in New York.  Brenner did such a good job!  He even night trained as well!  Good bye diapers and pull-ups!

Gorham Adventures and 4th of July Fun

 Nanny and Papa came to Highland Village to get the boys for a week of fun.  Before heading back to Waco they stopped in Glen Rose and drove through Fossil Rim.

In Waco they spend time at the Cameron Park Zoo and the Mayborn Children's Museum.  These are two favorite stops for my boys.  Good thing my parents have season passes to both places.

 Papa is always looking for a reason to take the boat out on the lake.  I couldn't believe how excited Brenner was to take a turn tubing on the lake.  I'm afraid he is the most fearless of all.

 Andy, Emily, Kayla, and Caroline all met up with the gang in Georgetown at the Inner Space Caverns.  After touring the caverns they all headed back to Waco for some farm fun.  The cousins had lots of fun together building forts in the treehouse upstairs, playing trains, playing in the hot tub, swimming in the Brazos River, and creating lots of memories.

 July 4th capped off their week of fun.  The family cooked out hot dogs and smores and had fun shooting fireworks.  Notice the not-yet-3-year-old holding his own sparkler.  Fearless, I tell ya.  I think they all had a great time being together.  As much as I know I missed out on all these fun activities I did enjoy my quiet week at home with my husband.  I am thankful for all the photos though.  I know my boys had a fantastic time.

Carter's 8th Birthday Party

Carter's 8th Birthday Party was a Flag Day pool party at the house.  Steve was in Cooperstown, so I hosted the party solo.  Thankfully I had a few mommy friends stay around and help.  I hired a lifeguard to watch the kids in the pool and a babysitter to keep up with Brenner.

 Pizza, fruit, pretzels, and gifts

Carter is not a fan of cake- no cupcake, no cookie cake, no kind of cake.  I couldn't figure out what dessert we could have that would hold his "8" candle.  Then it was suggested I get brownie bites.  Perfect!  He does love him some brownies!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Tart!  We love you and are so proud of you!

Cooperstown

Steve was invited to umpire in Cooperstown, NY for a week with a team from Highland Village.  Each team that goes to Cooperstown has to bring an umpire with them to be in the pool of umpires assigned to various games.  Although he traveled with the HV team, he stayed in dorms with all the other umpires from around the country.  I think he had a great time.  He brought home several photos for me to post.  He was utterly exhausted, but so glad to have the experience.

In the group photo, Steve is in the second row sitting behind the umpire with the white beard.  And yes, they're wearing jackets...highs in the low 60s for half the week.  Cooperstown has photographers on every field.  They take pictures of the umpires as well as the players.  The collage above is from those photos.

This is Steve's crew chief:  Ramon (pronounced like Ramone).

A field where teams can warm up or just practice.  The teams walk to every game field and can only throw once on the field for warmups.

Another picture of the field.  Notice the forrested hills in the background.  One of Steve's favorite part of the trip.

The teams lining up for the opening ceremonies.  There are 104 teams with roughly twelve 12 year olds on each team with 3 or 4 coaches as well. It took a while to get everyone into the stadium.

These are a couple of pictures taken with the camera Steve took with him (by one of the coaches he went with).

Steve found Nolan Ryan's plaque at the Hall of Fame.

The outside of the hall of fame.  You don't realize how little you know about baseball and its history until you start walking around that place.

Doubleday field...they sometimes have the old time hall of famers back to play on the field.  There was one such gathering the weekend scheduled to take place the weekend after Steve was there.

A look of one of the aisles between the barracks.  Each team stayed in one.  The umpires had a few to themselves as well.  The teams had bunk beds...the umpires had one umpire per bed (12 in a barrack)

Another view of the complex. (above)

Steve with his crew chief (on the left).  The guy on the right is from Orange, TX...and knows Steve's second cousin (Dorraine) and her family.  Small World.

T Bar M Camp

 Caleb and Carter celebrated their birthdays while in New Braunfels with their cousins.

All 5 boys went to a week long day camp.  Cole, Carter, and Caleb all went to T Bar M while Mason and Grant went to another local camp.  Aunt Shanan did a great job getting the boys to and from camp each day!

The theme for T Bar M this summer is Play It Out! 2012.  The boys spent their days with their group (10 boys and 2 leaders per group) where they played organized games, sports, and also spent time doing devotionals and learning more about the Word of God. 

I've been so impressed with T Bar M.  They know how to run a fun, organized, Jesus-filled camp that the boys can't get enough of.  We are hoping to send Caleb next year for the Swim Camp and Carter to the Sports Camp where they would stay overnight all week.

Schlitterbahn

Caleb and Carter headed south the weekend after school got out.  Shanan and Shannon decided it would be fun to have FIVE BOYS in their house for a week. First up was a trip to Schlitterbahn.  I think now I can say this is the first ANNUAL trip to Schlitterbaun.  Seems the boys had a great time at the water park.  Carter was more adventurous than Caleb, but Shannon and Shanan did a great job convincing them to try most of the rides.  The great thing about Schlitterbahn is that it is super close to their home and they have season passes.  Many thanks to Aunt Shanny and Uncle Shannon for a fantastic time at Schlitterbahn!