Pool Time!!!

The next day we were supposed to go visit my friend Steph at her kids and her in-laws place along the river in Hudson, but with the water levels being so high, they have no beach right now! So Steph and the kids came to our house and we headed up to the pool.

Sadie was so excited to see the girls and immediately jumped into "Mommy-mode"

(Steph, I have to apologize that I still can't tell these two apart...so the girls in the pics are either Elli or Claire...maybe someday I will get it straight!)

I think these next few pics are Claire...she loved walking around the pool and constantly looked like she would fall but never did. The girl has serious balance and coordination!

Steph and the girls

The boys...Charlie still had his floatie on from jumping in the big pool with Wyatt!

These two cracked us up. Charlie is about 9 months older than Blake, but the older they get, the closer in age they seem and they really had a blast together. My kids had some leftover chips from Wyatt's baseball game treats they handed out, so we brought them along and the kids went crazy over them (probably since neither Steph's kids nor my kids get to have DOritos or Cheetos very much).

Elli couldn't stop stuffing her mouth and Steph had to take away the food so the poor girl would actually chew it up!!

Claire was loving these goggles

The best pic we could get of the girls and I

And these boys again....I love the look on their faces!

Back home, while Steph and I made lunch, Sadie watched the girls. 

Even Blake got in on the action a bit....he looks at the girls like he thinks he is so much bigger than they are!! And he is bigger, but it's not like he's 10 years old and they are 1, which is how he seems to approach them. 

We had a great time with Steph and the kids and are excited to see them more now that they are living up in Hudson for the next month or so while Bill does a rotation in HCMC.

Baseball

I realized at Wyatt's last regular season game that I hadn't taken any pictures of him during the season. Partially it was because I missed several games due to coaching Sadie's soccer and I just plain didn't think about it. So on the hottest day of the season, of course, I remembered my camera!! It was about 95 degrees that night and SO humid! Poor Wyatt is just like me and does not like the heat. He couldn't believe he had to wear pants and tall socks in that heat, but Matt explained that all ball players wear it regardless of the temperature! I felt his pain, though! 

Blake loves trying out all the gear

And being with the big boys during warmups 

(Matt is on the right and he was playing catch with Wyatt, on the left side of the pic)

Grounders...

A 2-year old's favorite sandbox

I love watching the kids' faces as they look at Blake like, "What are you doing? You are clearly too little to be on our team." and Blake's responding look says, "What are you lookin' at?"

Wyatt's team listening to their coach's pregame pep talk!

Gettin' ready to bat

On deck

and up to bat!

And this is what Sadie does during Wyatt's games....she has a whole group of younger sisters of the players that she looks forward to seeing each game and this is what they were doing when I went to check on them at the park nearby (she looks forward to this more than her own soccer practices and games!) Yes, she is a social girl!

Matt was usually one of the base coaches and Wyatt always loves having him there

Coaching in the field with his #1 sidekick and Wyatt playing 1st base!

Such a big kid!

After each inning, Matt would have to drag Blake off the field...by the end of every game, Blake was covered in dust from the field. But it kept him happy!

He's got a great swing!

Watching his teammates hit

Just a glimpse as to how hot it was...

Wyatt had a great coach, great team and a great season. We have his end of the year pizza party on Sunday, so I am sure we will have a few more pics to post then. But this year was a huge change from last year--the kids all were able to catch fly balls and actually make plays, getting kids out and holding our attention!! We are excited for next year when Wyatt will play one year of machine pitch before kid pitch starts the following year. And I have heard that that year is the roughest!

Just like Dad...

Wyatt relearning how to mow again....he did a bit last year so we were in need of a refresher course for the year. He hasn't mowed the entire lawn yet and still needs help with the edging, but Matt told him we would pay him $10 to mow the entire lawn....he has yet to take us up on the offer but in a few years he won't make any money mowing our lawn and it will be one of his chores, so he might want to take us up on the offer while it still stands! 

Big Smiles!!

Blake 'workin' on the bike

And this is what Blake's feet look like every night...and often times they are worse than this. This boy refuses to keep shoes on and has suffered several cuts as a result, but I just can't keep his shoes on him!!

Strawberry Picking

We spent the entire week last week up at Stormy Lake, so I am back to trying to catch up on the blog!! We packed a lot of fun into the days leading up to our trip up north, so I have lots to put on here!!

We finally got to go strawberry picking with my friend Dixie and her kids. I waited way too long to go this year but needed to get some berries since we had just run out of strawberry jam. The kids love going and get really excited up until the point where they have picked about 10 berries and then they are ready to mess around with their friends and run wild. Knowing this, I went in with low expectations. This year as we were picking, I had flash backs to my first strawberry picking trip when Wyatt was 2 years old and Sadie was just about 3 months old. She slept in her carseat the entire time and I set it at the end of the row of berries...boy have we come a long ways!

Blake picked several berries and then parked himself next to Addi, which allowed me to go on a 'picking spree' while he was occupied!

Such a cutie!

So proud of their accomplishments

The sign of a good berry picker? Red stains on the mouth, shirt and hands!

And then he was off!!!!

The crew..most of them

I waited to pick until the Tuesday before we were to leave, so I ended up making the jam Wednesday evening until about 11pm. But thankfully several of us in my neighborhood were doing the same thing, so my neighbor Terri's husband made a 10pm run to the store to get more jars and SureJell for us all! What a lifesaver! And now my freezer is stocked with jam for another year!