Take me out to the ball game!!

Oh softball. What a fun time! I sure wish our Parkland softball season was a little longer! It was so much fun to play this year!  I am by no means athletically inclined, but I go to be a part of a team, and to have a good time. I hope that I helped my team mates have a good time too.

I'm going to brag here for a few seconds. But our last game of the season, I played my very best. I caught 2 balls at home plate to get out runners. My last time up to bat, I hit the ball right passed the third base man! And while that hit didn't allow me to get any further than 1st base, I did make it the 3rd base in that inning. I really wanted to make it home! Okay, I'm done now. I'm just proud that my skills improved, at least for the last game.

Initially, I didn't think I'd even consider playing again next year, but it's just so much fun, I'm not sure I can help myself. I really love it! I also love having my boys come and cheer me on. Josh is my very best cheerleader, and I love that they have a fun time coming out to the ball game. I hope that by watching me play, the boys will in turn be interested in group sports. I (vaguely) remember playing softball as a kid, and what I remember is mostly good. I think I got hit in the shoulder at one point by a ball, but it must not have scarred me. Haha.

I'm pretty smart about sunscreen on these weekends of softball, so I didn't get any bad burns, but for the first time in as long as I can remember I burnt the backs of my legs. But just my calves. Weird. And my legs almost never change colour, but checking out my legs this morning, they have a slight pink to them! Yes! My legs do change colour! Hip hip horray!

Oh, why isn't it April of next year yet?! I don't want softball to be over!!


Hey Human Beings team -- I'll see you next year on the field!!!! (Well, and probably all year until then at church... ;) )


I probably lost a lot of valuable packing time over the weekend of softball, so I'd better get to it! I may not be back for a bit, so in the meantime, Enjoy your summer, friends!

Weekends are too much fun!

Wow we sure packed a ton into this past weekend! It felt like a good pace, we didn't rush it too much, and naps were still had, so that's always a bonus. Here's what we did this weekend!

Saturday:
The Rodeo was in town, and we decided to be brave and venture out even though we were told it would rain. It most certainly did not rain, and I got a mighty good sunburn out of the day. I think I've only even gone to the Cloverdale Rodeo maybe twice back when I was a teenager, and I don't remember it all that fondly, but I was probably broke and couldn't do anything fun :P This time around, it was a blast! Both boys were really into it, and had a great time on the rides and checking out all the fun stuff. We met up with some friends who have 2 boys around the same ages as ours, and that just made it even more fun!

We bought enough tickets for Thomas and Elliott to go on 3 rides each, but Elliott only ended up going on 2 rides, as he got scared on the second and wouldn't go on any more after that. Thomas, of course, had a blast, and wanted to go on every ride he saw. His favorites were the Monster Trucks and the Motorcycles.

Sunday:
On Saturday morning Thomas asked me if it was an owl he could hear "hooting" through the night, and I told him that, yes, it was an owl. (Our house backs onto a ravine and there's definitely a lot of wildlife back there!) He was so excited by the thought that there was an owl right out back, he wanted to go see it really really badly! I had to explain to him that owls sleep during the day, and that it would be very difficult to spot one having a snooze. Lucky for Thomas, I knew of a place where we could see some owls (and other birds) up close and personal. (Well, not too personal.)

So we went to O.W.L. Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society in Delta. What a great experience! The boys might have been a touch young to really understand all that we learned there, but Josh and I had a great time and learned a lot! Thomas thought all the Owls were so cute, and really thought the Turkey Vultures were hilarious. Elliott was good at spotting the birds in their enclosures, but once he pointed them out, he wanted to move on to the next enclosure.

If you're looking for something a little different, I definitely suggest checking out O.W.L. :)

I think our next family adventure will be to the Urban Safari Rescue Society.

Invent me a Housework Robot, please.

Why are the weekends so busy?! I feel like I didn't sit down until sunday afternoon. Saturday morning I took the boys to see a movie (Elliott's first in a theatre) because we won passes from a friend of mine's blog. The show we saw was DisneyNature Bears. It was so good! I want to see it again (without the distraction of children haha). I'd never though about what a mother bear does to keep her babies safe, this was certainly eye opening. And seriously, their paws are just SO cute! Thomas did a great job sitting beside "Auntie" Sharon, and Elliott was more or less bribable with licorice and his soother. Then we were off to pick up Nana's birthday present from Voyageur Soaps. If you have children I strongly recommend you go there without them! What was I thinking?! They behaved okay considering they'd been up early, sat through a movie and hadn't napped. NEVER AGAIN! Haha. It's good I can laugh at it now.

Saturday night I went out with my bestie and we hung out at the bar her boyfriend works at. Good times had by all. :) It's always wonderful to hang out with Ange. We think the same, but differently. It's a good mix. Always laughter, and some pretty decent dancing, if I do say so myself. ;) Sunday held some sleeping in, some errand running, and then it was Nana's birthday party! What a fun weekend we all had! And the weather was awesome.

The problem with having such a busy and fun weekend is that while we're all doing our thing, our house seems continue to get dirty. And then I spend my entire monday and some of my tuesday cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. Could someone please invent a housework robot? I'd only use it for weekends, I promise... okay, fine, I'd use it all the time... but who wouldn't?!

Hope you all had a great weekend, too! Here's to more sunny, fun filled weekends!

Sunny with a chance of Happiness!

Oh goodness. The sun is shining. It's over 10 degrees. It's absolutely lovely!

Thomas has been eagerly awaiting for the sun to come, asking everyday to go to the park. We didn't quite make it to the park today, but we did make it to our back yard, which is huge, so it's like a park. They rolled on the grass, we kicked the ball around, we played a little tag, they slid down the slide, we had a picnic, and explored all the places water had puddled since the rain. It was just fantastic. None of us wanted to go inside.

I'm not a fan of winter; I can distract myself with how fun the decorations for Christmas are, but once Christmas is over, I want winter to be done, NOW. We all take vitamin D to stave off the winter blues, but there's just nothing as good as bright, golden, sunshine. We didn't even have to turn the heat on in the house. That's my kind monday!

I feel that Spring time is a symbol of starting fresh. So much more than January 1. I like to make my "New Years Resolutions" as soon as spring starts to set it. It seems like an easier transition to me. I am going to start running again this week, and I'm elated. Nothing feels better than running in the sunshine. Running in the rain does not have the right effect on me. Anything in the rain just hits the mark, but maybe that's just for me.

The change of weather also means our church will be starting softball soon, and that definitely makes me so happy. I'm certainly not the best player on the team, (hopefully not the worst, also), but I sure do enjoy playing softball with our church league. I can't wait for our season to start up and really test my hand eye coordination. Goal for this year: not to throw the bat after I've hit the ball. I may have almost taken a catcher or two out by the ankles throwing the bat... whoops.

I'm working on teaching the boys graciousness right now. Nothing grates me more than when they demand something, without any sort of manners, and then don't say thank you. I want them to be gracious, and thankful for what they have. Obviously, they're very young, so I won't hold the bar too high, but it still would be nice to hear them independently say "please" and "thank you" to me. They have their manners down pretty good with other people, but I guess because I am the one with them 24/7 manners get lost in the shuffle.

Does anyone have an suggestions for a great children's bible? I have a few bible apps that the boys think are fun, but they have limited stories.

We hope you enjoy the sunshine this week, if it's sunny where you are!