Dont Laugh!!

He was just pretending to scream but I love this picture and I think it sums up the whole night!! LOL!!





Last week, a friend of mine sent me an email, very last minute, to ask if we wanted to join her at a monster truck show the next night. Marsh and I talked about it and decided it would be tons of fun for the boys (and Joce-that good sport of a girl) and we needed to try to get there. Long story short, we did have a great time minus the "jet-engine" cars that were there. Any of you ever experienced these cars before?? Really, really loud! (That is an understatement.) The funniest part was that we were encouraged to sit "near the building because that is where the monster trucks do their stunts". Unfortunately, it is also where the Jet engine cars explode off the line! Holy cow loud! My boys were almost to the freaking out point, but we got them through and were able to stick around for the monster truck part. Nate's favorite was Gravedigger and Zach's favorite was Monster Mutt. I really wish you could here Zach say "Monster Mutt" cause it is way cuter than me typing it!! All that to say, that it will probably be several years before we take on an experience like that again, but we did have a great time together! (one last thing....did I mention that it was 96 degrees at 700pm when we got there??!!)

The "boys" checkin' out the insides!
Little did we know that this fire truck had TWO jet engines that we would "experience" later!!!


My guys in/on Terrordactyl's tire.

Joce's war wound

Man, I never thought my girls would get so roughed up playing softball. Here are just a few shots of Joce's shiner from a practice last week. Thankfully, she was wearing her glasses and the ball deflected downward from her eye. Had she not been wearing them, I think she would have had some serious orbit damage. She is feeling a little scared catching the ball since then, but hopefully she will work her way back. The funniest part (or not so funny, i guess) was that when it happened, I stayed away and let Marsh handle it, but when she wasn't calming down, I walked over. It really didn't look that bad to start with so I cleaned her up and sent her back our on the field. "Don't worry Joce. You will be fine. Really, there is no way that you will get hit again tonite. Nobody gets hit twice in one night!" Bam!!! Direct shot to the top of her ear. Bummer. I didn't get any pictures of that, but it was nice and bruised for a few days as well. I will keep my big mouth shut next time about double injuries!! LOL!!

My post for Sam!

Do you have one of those friends that goes waaayyyy back? I do and I got to spend some time with her on Sunday afternoon. She is getting ready to have Baby #1 and she looks AMAZING!! Talk about glowing.....she is all over it!! I have never seen her so happy and no one deserves it more.
I have so many memories of Sam and me together. The bus ride to Memorial. Seriously, inseparable through middle school and most of high school. After school, when our homework was done, one of us would call the other and say "meet cha half way?" We would run out the doors of our houses and head toward the middle.(This was in the old days, before it was unsafe to let your kid run down the street alone). We lived "eleven houses, 2 streets a church and a graveyard" away from each other. Many nights, my mom had to call me home because we had played pictionary way too long! We used to sit in my '87 Honda til the last minute before homeroom to listen to our horoscopes before we made the mad dash. We saw boyfriends come and go and had many, many good laughs with each other. I was actually at Sam's house the night that Marsh came to ask me out on our second date. I ran all the way home in my socks after my mom called and said that he had just stopped at the house!
Now, Sam is about to have a child of her own and I just cant wait to see her in that role and meet this new little blessing! Congrats to Sam and Aaron! You will be wonderful parents. Sam, thanks for being a true friend and I am so glad that our friendship has stood the test of time, distance and age!! Love ya!!

Vacation Pictures!!

I have to say that I chose the song for my dad......ignore the line where they say...."this is the worst trip I've ever been on"...... It was a great time!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Some Much Needed Time Away

We are home!!! Yippeee!!!! We had such a nice time in Chincoteague for the last week. I headed down last Sunday with the kids and Marsh joined us on Friday night to finish out the weekend. We had sooooo much fun! Lots of good times with Pop-Pop and Me-Mom and then especially with Daddy when he got there! We fished and swam and saw the horses swim and rode on the golfcart around the campground and rode bikes and the list goes on........
When we got home last night, Zach didnt want to go to bed and was crying a little. (He doesnt EVER complain about going to bed, so this was unusual). So, I picked him up out of bed and sat on the floor next to Nate's bed and talked about all that we had done this week. I sat there and smelled his little beach bum head and dried his eyes and just had an awesome mothering moment. I tucked him back in bed and I heard this little voice from Nate's bed say "Mommy, hold me too." Ahhhhh......
I actually contemplated telling him that he needed to go to sleep and then I thought...no way!! In ten years, I will be wishing for the days when I could still hold him. So off we went, reminiscing about the weeks events.....Smelling his little beach bum head and kissing his little sun-tanned cheeks. What a special time it was for me!
I will put some pictures on from the week! Hope all is well with everyone!!!My Whole Gang
Me and my honey!!
Kay taking pictures of the horses swimming
The pony swim!

Watching the swim from poppop's shoulders. Cool dudes!!!

Cuties!!
Kay working on her summer reading for school

Feeding the ponies outside of McDonalds.

A week of good friends......some old, some new!

I thought I would post a few pictures from this week. We had a very busy past few days.....hanging out with the Henry's at Burger King and the "U's" at the Schiers Pool and friends at softball games! Tonight was the first night of the state tournament for both girls. Jocee's team won and Kay's lost. Bummer.....I was really hoping for two wins tonight. It is hard to watch Kay listen to Jocee and be happy for her, but she was. What a good big sister!! They are both exhausted (as well as mom and dad!) and we still have several more days of playing ahead of us. We are headed out tomorrow morning, bright and early, for Kay's second game and then Jocee plays again on Sunday at 8am. Ouch!! That is going to be EARLY!! (Considering that Marsh and I have a wedding to attend tomorrow night) Oh, to be 20 again and be able to survive on 4 hours of sleep!!
Thanks to all of our friends, new and old, for a fabulous week of fun and great company!!! Let's do it again, soon!


I wanted to post this picture too and say a big "Thank You!" to the "C's" for our trip to Great Adventure!! We had such a good time and couldn't have gone without your generousity!! Thanks!!

My "Atta Girl!!!

**WARNING** This post contains lots of parental bragging and longwindedness!! Stop here is you do not wish to listen to my blah,blah,blah....


So tonight was the championship game for the U-8's!! Let me back up and fill you in on some details from the weekend. The girls played in the 'Districts' tournament this past weekend. 16 hours of softball between Saturday and Sunday. Both girls had 2 games each day....it was crazy! (Thank heavens there was a playground at this site or else I would have never made it with the boys!) Anyway.... Kay's team placed 2nd in districts which means they go on to the State Tournament in 2 weeks. Joce's team won the district title tonight! Now, you have to understand how big of a deal this was. It was a double elimination tournament which means that you continued to play after one loss, but had to fight your way back to the winners bracket....and boy, did they fight! They were handed their first loss by Hamilton Township....let me tell you about Hamilton..... They have an indoor complex and play year-round starting from the age of 4! Need I say more? These girls are little machines!! (I digress!) We lost the first game 9-7. Respectable, yet a loss. We went into the losers' bracket and won, therefore, we had to face Hamilton again yesterday. They won that game 16-13!! What a comeback that was! So, due to the double elimination, they had to play Hamilton again tonite! It is such a long story....but I will highlight it for you.... At the bottom of the 6th, we were down 6-2....(In my head, I was already preparing my "loss" speech for Jocee) We had last ups and the girls just rallied! We were back up to 6-6 and the ball was grounded to the outfielder. She jogged in a tagged 2nd as the 7th run scored. The ump called her out at 2nd and it looked like we were tied, but our coaches protested stating that the rule was that an outfielder cant make the out at 2nd. She must throw the ball to an infielder to make the out. Long process of protesting and appealing and AMAZING restraint on the part of our coaches. I cant say enough about what a great example they were of good sportsmanship to our girls.....(I cant speak so highly of the coaches from Hamilton) but .......we didnt win the protest and on we went to extra innings! Hamilton scored 1 run in the 7th to make it 7-6 and then we were up! Still with tears in their eyes....our girls started swinging. One run scores to tie it up and.... Up comes Jocee!!! She hits a line drive into centerfield to drive in the winning run!!! Way to go Jocee!!! I couldnt stop smiling. I am so proud of that girl!!
This was the first ever season for the U-8's in this district and they won!! They all got trophies and medals, but the coolest thing is that by next spring, they will have a HUGE billboard at our home field with their individual names on it and the District Champs Title! We have many more years to play at that field with the boys and I know that each time I look at it, I will remember this night and the part that my "atta girl" played in the win!!
Great job Girls!!! Love you Jocee!!!