Moving into New Rooms

When we found out baby #4 was coming we starting thinking through options of bedrooms and where everyone would sleep!  After multiple visits and quotes, we decided adding on was not an option right now.  The girls "think" they want their own rooms, even though both refuse to sleep in the room alone when the other is gone!  So we came up with an idea for loft bed for them so they could have their own space as well as move their American Girl Dollhouse out of Drew's constant reach in the play room.  We also opted to have someone else build the beds for us due to time or lack thereof.  The results are amazing and the girls are so pleased with their new room!

We did opt to paint the beds ourselves which took a bit of time.  And with the help of Naggy and Pappy we added shiplap under the beds with some recessed lighting too.  It all turned out great!

We took the girls old beds and moved them to Drew's room.  He will share with the baby once she's old enough to sleep in a bed.  :)  Until then she'll bunk with Keith and I.  We changed out the background of the bookshelves to look like pallet wood and added back on the bed rails for Drew.  He's loving his new high bed!  I'll have to get more pics of his room once we get quilts done for he and baby.

Gobble Gobble Slam, Wedding Showers and Bells

Started our weekend off with hitting lessons with Coach Jeff.  Ava started hitting lessons with Coach Jeff about a year ago as a tballer.  She was his youngest ever pupil and she's made sure to make an impression on him.  He's challenged her to do better, hit harder and yes...even run if she tries to bunt at a high ball.  He's made her cry and she's made him laugh.  It's been a journey for them both!  This Friday, Ava hit a goal that is a pretty big deal at Coach Jeff's...she hit the cow bell at the end of the batting cages.  The excitement from both Ava and Coach Jeff sure did make the sweat, tears and challenges worth it!  :)

Carli had a tourney in Cedar Hill on Saturdasy so after hitting lessons, she and Keith headed to DFW.  Carli was so excited to get her own hotel bed and not have to share with anyone!  Ava, Drew and I met Grammy and Pa at Chili's for dinner.  Pa treated Ava (and Drew) to a molten lava cake in celebration of her accomplishment!

Back home in time to play games and watch big trucks on kindles before I got my two minions into bed.  Sibling bonding at it's best.  ha!

We are still trying to figure out Drew's reflux and it turns out I think it's somehow related to pasta.  He ate so good Friday night, but he shared pasta with me and he and I were up very late into the night b/c of his reflux.  :(  Ava on the other hand slept like a baby pretty much all by herself in my King sized bed!  Our long night, meant Drew was a bit tired Saturday morning and when it got quiet while I was working in the kitchen this is what I found...

While Carli and her Texas Glory Team were playing ball, Ava, Drew and I got to go to see Ms. Patty, Kayla and Kinsey at Kinsey's wedding shower.  It was really good to see them and Drew had a lot of fun picking on Ms. Patty!  :)  And of coarse it's always a good day when we get to see Kayla!  Since he had an early morning nap, Drew knonked out all the way home after playing so hard at the shower!

Carli played in Cedar Hill this week at the Gobble Gobble Slam.  She pitched the first game and we were disappointed when she was pulled b/c she didn't keep an eye on her runners.  Once again, she pitched against the team that ultimately won the tournament.  But, this Momma swallowed her pride and saw through the fog to know...although it's hard there's still a lesson there.  Pa got to meet Keith and Carli at the tournament so he was able to go talk to her and get her to continue to cheer her team on and be a team player even if she wasn't happy with the decisions being made.  Ultimately, we can't control it all.  She came back after being pulled and got a hit to score two runs and eventually made it home safe sliding under a tag.

While Carli never got the chance to pitch again, she did play an awesome right field for a couple of games, throwing out a girl at third and almost getting on at second.  Overall she did have a good day and our goal for today was to be a team player no matter where you are...on the bench, on the mound or in the field.  Keith and Pa both said she achieved that today so that alone makes me one proud Momma!  The team ended up in 3rd place for this tournament after playing six games in one day!  Keith forgot to take any pictures...men!  ha!

Once again, Keith and Carli got home late Saturday which allowed us to be able to all go to church together.

And finally...love this picture.  "Brother & sister are kind of like Tom & Jerry. They tease each other. They irratate each other. But they can't live without each other."

Donating Hair and Losing Teeth

 I have been trying to get Ava to donate her hair since the summer but she just didn't want to.  But it got to the length now that even she was tired of the heaviness and knots while we brushed it!  So she asked if we could still donate her hair to a kid who might need it and of coarse I told her yes!  So we made an appointment and got to Mrs. Terri's house only to have Ava get cold feet!!  So I did what any good Mom would do...I told her I'd donate my hair with hers.  Oiy.  My hair has never been this short but we did it and she is so pleased and proud of herself!

Then on top of losing over 9 inches of hair she decided she'd lose her other top front tooth!  Guess we know what she'll be asking for for Christmas!  :)

The Wasted of Most All Days...

...is the one without laughter.

Arlington Metroplex Fall Classic

Second Glory Tournament is in the books! Carli pitched against one of the teams that ended up winning the tournament.  She did a good job and ultimately this fall is shaping up to be what we were hoping - a good lesson to learn from!  Pitching is so mental and Carli needs that experience to grow.  She's got good mechanics so she's conquering the mental part of the game and figuring out...sometimes the hard way...that her body is a scoreboard.  How she reacts and her body language on the mound will ultimately translate to her teammates and their attitudes about the game.

Her stats for one game...faced 18 batters, 57 pitches with 34 of them being strikes.  walked 3 with 4 strikeouts.

Carli only got to pitch one game this tournament and she was disappointed.  While we wished she had gotten to pitch more, she did get to play in the field.  Her body language in the field ultimately probably helped in the decision in her not pitching another game.  It was disappointing and a very hard lesson to learn.  But fake it til you make it is not an easy lesson to get the first time!  She was disappointed but she got over after a good long talk and came back to cheer on her team and bat EH in the last game of the day.  They played 5 games in one day and made some huge steps forward together as a team.

Meanwhile, Ava and Drew spent Friday night with Grammy and Pa so they could go to Eady's 4th birthday party.  Ava started the day on a treasure hunt and found lots of cow bones...lucky me, she brought them home!  ha!

Apparently Drew just needed a good birthday party to get his appetite back that he had lost this whole last week. Whatever works!  He was in little boy heaven getting to see cows, pet them and Logan had A LOT of John Deere tractors to play with!  One happy boy to say the least!

A great Saturday for our whole crew!  Now we are blessed to get to spend Sunday with our church family.  Another perk of one day tournament!

Where's Ava's Turkey?

Ava and her very specific ideas really test our ability to communicate! But her Daddy came to the rescue and we finally figured out why we've been saving all these bobble heads for the past 12 yrs...it was obviously to disguise Avas turkey to be a softball catcher.

Catch of the Day!

Drew LOVES Alto days.  He talks about it all week and as soon as we get to Grammy and Pa's he is ready to go see the Moo-Cows, Cluck-Clucks and haul hay!  Then he spends the rest of the week talking all about the animals and tractors until we go back!  Pa got new chickens last week and Drew thinks they are awesome!  He has no fear unlike his sisters.  Pa said he literally runs through the houses grabbing chickens and proudly showing them off!  Finding such joy in small things!

Carli's first Glory Tournament

Carli played in her first tournament with her new Texas Glory team yesterday.  It was a one day tournament with 15 10u teams.  Pretty much, it was a whole different experience from what we were use to!  Their first game started at 9 am and we didn't leave until 7:30 pm!  There were four games squeezed into that day.  Carli got to pitch two full games and play in left field one game.  This was the first time the girls had all played together and for some the first time they had played kid pitch ball.  Overall they did well.  We didn't win but really we didn't expect to.  Many of these teams have been playing together and in tournaments all year long.  We had a mixed bag of experience and the girls just needed to get on the field and get comfortable.

Carli faced 47 batters and pitched 156 pitches this wkd.  Only gave up 4 Earned Runs and 4 bases on balls with 5 strikeouts.  Her pitching coach calls Carli a contact pitcher right now b/c she throws strikes and depends on her defense to help her get the outs.  She averaged a 63.5% strikes with 63% of the batters she faced seeing a strike on their first pitch.  Many times the ball was put into play and tested her defense.  Her defense was fully capable of getting the outs for her but nerves, error and a few times a bad call worked against them.  But that means there's room to grow.  And for Carli too, she's learning that her body language is the scoreboard.  So she's got to be able to show her teammates that she believes in them just as much as they believe in her.  Overall, I think she grew a lot this wkd.  She was put in some tough spots.  In one game, we had 2 outs and a legit blown call at 1st that would have been out 3 and turned around and gave up 6 runs on a multitude of errors.  Another game, we got a very experienced team held at 1 to 1 with 2 outs in bottom of second only to make error after error for them to take a substantial lead.  A lot of what the girls need, Carli and her teammates, comes from mental toughness and believing in themselves that is gained from game experience...the ability is there.  

Carli's siblings did a very good job cheering her own.  Drew even managed a 1 hr nap at the restaurant!  We had a great day and overall were pleased with the whole experienced.  We wanted Carli to gain game experience b/c that is something you just don't get from practice and this wkd she gained a lot!

Ava and Monkey Bars

Three years ago, Ava fell off the monkey bars at her cousin's house and got a buckle fracture.  It took us almost a whole week before we really determined that she wasn't bluffing from the random bouts of crying and two xrays before they found it.  So when her teacher msgd me that Ava had fallen from the monkey bars at school on Tuesday and was still complaining about her wrist hurting we were a little concerned.

Cap that off with Drew escaping from the bathroom after his bath that same night and peeing on the concrete floors, followed by Ava slipping and falling in it resulting a hysterical crying - we kind of figured we better get her checked out.  It was the same wrist as last time, so that worked well for digging out her old brace and making her wear it until we saw the doctor.

Thankfully, the xray came back clean and Ava was told to use her wrist as she feels comfortable.  The swelling finally went down and she wore the brace the rest of the week.  She keeps asking to do the monkey bars again and is aghast when I tell her no!!  Oiy...

No Cavities Celebration!

Well, I threatened them for six months about brushing versus holding their toothbrushes in their mouths.  I made their lives miserable about not using ACT wash or flossing, with stories of cavities and rotten teeth.  And wouldn't you know, they go to the dentist and both walk out cavity free.  So I swallowed my pride and did what any good parent would do...gave them sugar and told them good job!  ;)

Dental Cleaning

Six months ago the girls both had cavities at their semi-annual dentist visit.  He told them to make sure to brush for 2 minutes morning and night and to try to use ACT to help their teeth enamel.  They refused to use the ACT and I have two full bottles in their bathroom that has set untouched.  I kept telling them...the dentist is going to get on to you guys b/c you didn't do what he told you to do!!  Go figure, today they got glowing reports and no cavities!  Stinkers.  They were told to make sure they flossed better and keep up the good work.  Being the most excellent mom, I promptly took them to get Bahama Bucks after their cleaning...