Planks and Squats

Ava has wholeheartedly embraced becoming a catcher.  The Monday before school started Pa took her over to Centerville and she had a private lesson with Logan's Catching coach.  She loved it!  And this week she spent a whole hour at her teammate, Ava P.'s, pitching lesson catching her.  I was impressed.  Then she promptly came home and demanded a family squat challenge!  Last night, she went to Carli's pitching lesson and she may have been a bit sore b/c she didn't make it the entire hour but she did demand a family plank challenge before bed!  I'm loving this!! :)

Mud Kitchen Fun

I am pretty sure this mud kitchen gets the most play time of all the toys we have!  They'd spend all day out here if I didn't make them come in because it was so hot!

Good Bye to my Shea-Shea

And just like that, my sweet Shea is gone. Within 10 days she went from perfectly fine to gone. My sweet singing little girl. She was the third in our trio of Shih Tzus. My first babies. She had the cutest over bite and the most annoying yip! It always took us a minute before we realized that wasn't a dead battery in a smoke detector barking at us! She was a bit of a diva, and the reason why I made all that homemade dog food bc of her food allergies. I'm gonna miss her little snores at night and her nuzzles in the morning. Thirteen years wasn't long enough. Good bye my Shafer-mafer, my sweet Shea Shea. Another piece of my heart is gone.

1/24/06 - 8/19/19

Illusions Softball

Carli's Synergy Team didn't make the transition to 12u this fall.  Half the girls were young enough to still play 10u ball and our head coach was stepping down to take care of family matters.  So we were on the hunt for a new softball team and after talking to Carli decided we'd reach out to the Illusions team that was based in Alto.  

This team has evolved from Threat and before that they were Attitude which is where Carli almost started her Select Ball career in 8u.  There are 4 girls on this team that also played with the Sassy Sluggers so Carli knew them.  That helped a lot when it came to playing in their first 12u tournament with a new team.  Carli did awesome in her one inning on the mound.  Was rusty at the plate but we will keep working on that and played a lot of outfield.  The walked away with 2nd play losing to a team that actually was half full of girls who will be moving up to 14u!  Not too shabby!

First Day of School 2019

Today, my big girls headed off to start another year in school.  This year Carli is in 5th Grade and Ava is in 4th.  I'm not really sure how that happened so quickly!  I completely failed in getting pictures on Monday at meet the teacher but the girls were cooperative enough to let me follow them to school this morning to snap one.  Not sure how often that'll keep being allowed!

Carli grew at least 2 inches this summer!  She was excited to start school and switch classes for every subject!

Ava was one lucky little girl.  Not only did she get the same teachers that Carli had last year, she also got every single on of her best friends in her class...what are the odds with five 4th grade class rooms?!  Her buddy Will Cody from up the street is in her class too.  

When Ava started Oak Tree Academy in 2012, I randomly was able to snap a picture of the girls holding hands as they walked toward the school.  Every year, I've managed to convince them to recreate this picture.  Something I hope they will let me do each year!

And a new school year wouldn't be complete with out a good luck hug from one of our most favorite teachers, Mrs. Hultberg.  She was vital in helping us with Ava's anxiety last year and has always been a huge supporter of both my girls!

Amarillo Day 3

Woke up early this morning to go meet Grandpa Herb for breakfast.  Went to a new restaurant that basically served all different kinds of biscuits.  It was pretty good!  Was really good to see Grandpa Herb.  He looked great!

After breakfast we headed to the playground for a bit before it got too hot to be out.  The littles wore themselves out pretty good.  The bigs even got their softballs out and threw the ball around a bit.

All the kids even got to enjoy a quick ride in the "new" and improved jeep!  Uncle Kevin bought Pappy's jeep and has been fixin' it up!

After a super full morning, it was nap time for all!  Some napped longer than others, so a little extra one on one play time was in order.

And we couldn't not go swimming today with Cousin Jackson!  Maggie and Drew picked right back up where they left off!  

Then Maggie discovered a chair just her size...and suddenly the pool was not as much fun as this chair!

It was a full, fun day!

Amarillo Day 2

We started off our day with some pancakes made by Pappy!  And then we played around the house until it was time to head to the theatre for lunch and a movie!  We went and saw the new Lion King.  It was really good and the food and heated, reclined seats were awesome!  We did have a first when we got nearly to our theatre only to realize Drew was not with us!  Talk about an adrenaline rush!  He was just chilling at a table waiting for the food he ordered and wasn't concerned at all about where we were.  Aiy!

We spent the rest of the day at home relaxing until Uncle Kevin, Aunt Megan and Jackson drove in.  We had a great evening playing in the backyard and visiting.  Pappy's yummy burgers were a treat too!

Amarillo Day 1

It's Amarillo Week!  Today we had a lot of fun being spoiled by Naggy and Pappy!  Started our morning off with cinnamon rolls and cleaning Naggy's porch of spiders!

And then it was time to go swimming at Mrs. Jerry's.  The bigs jumped right in.  The littles were a little more reserved by after an hour, Drew finally trusted his floaties and was easing around in the pool and Maggie didn't like her floaties but was content to have someone help her motor boat around the pool.  She even made the motor boat sound!

Drew brought his favorite game to play with Naggy and Pappy...Maggie thouroughly enjoys just demolishing it!

After swimming the littles were flat worn out and while they were napping, Carli and I went out for a cupcake and lemon bar before we met up for a short visit with Mrs. Stephanie and her kids.  When we got back, we were going to go to Wonderland but Ava wasn't 100% and we decided not to go.  So Ava and I went and had our toenails done.  Ava is forcing me out of my comfort zone finding designs on Pinterest and asking for matching toes.  She at least didn't make me get pink on mine!

We followed up our pedicure with dinner at Buns and a trip to the mall for some school shoes!

Now it's off to bed to get ready for Day 2...Jackson, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Megan are coming!