Just a Lot of Rambling

(and WARNING--I see that this could be a loooonnngggg post!)

Well, I haven't been online for several days and it seems like I haven't posted here forever (although, when I look at it, I see that it's actually only been two days--you can tell that I'm SO LONG GONE addicted to the Internet! LOL)

Anyway . . .just thought I'd update all of you on different things going on in our lives right now. So, this will be a LONG post with lots of MINI posts in the midst of it (if that's okay with all of you?)

A Rant . . .

Okay, the first thing I gotta ask is this--why in the world do I ever think that summers are going to be more relaxed and laid-back than school time? Sure, the girls sleep a little bit later, but then by the time they get up and around it's later and half of our day is gone and now I have to get all my work done in a shorter amount of time. And, hey, let's forget getting much of any writing and other work done. It just seems like my days are SUCKED up! There's always something to do!

And while I'm kind of on a rant, let me just confess that my last post on encouragement needs to really sink down deep into my brain. The thing I probably HATE in life more than anything is when just everyday, routine thing go WRONG and all of a sudden I'm fifteen minutes late to somewhere I wanted to be. Like yesterday, McKenna and her friend Traci arranged to meet their boyfriends at the park and by the time we got around a major road detour, we were 30 minutes behind .. . plus it was SO HOT outside and I seemed to get grumpier by the minute. You know, I just need to CHILL OUT and enjoy the moment. Because--I gotta say--when we got to the park, it was a lot of fun and kinda funny too!

"No, McKenna, this is not a date. . ."

McKenna knows that she's not allowed to actually "date" until she's 16, so she gets around it by doing a few of the things Gary and I will allow. Like, her boyfriend can come to church with her and he can go out to eat or other places along as I or we are there with them. So, we went to the park yesterday and Delaney, Sydney, and I played while McKenna and Traci hung out with Shaun and Brad. Too cute . . .

So, I knew I couldn't get away with taking out-and-out photos of all of them, so I found my way around that problem and took some pictures from FAR OFF ! like this one of McKenna and Brad riding the see-saw. LOL (I know you can't actually SEE them, but Brad's really cute and seems really sweet. We'll see how long it lasts with my sweet, but fickle daughter! LOL)

Then I got a little bit braver (AND acted like I was taking a picture of Delaney in the creek, then turned to McKenn and said, "Smile!" real quick! ha!) and got this pic of them. It's a little bit better . . .

Sydney loves to go to what she calls the "play park," and she had us cracking up when she slid down the slide by herself. When she got down to the bottom, she'd pop up and BOW to all of us. Too cute! Of course, I got a picture . . .

Here she is on two of the different slides, and here she is bowing afterwards.

Now, Delaney LOVES to go to this park because of the creek! As good as her intentions are at the beginning to not get wet, she invariably is SOAKED by time we leave. That's okay, though--because it was so hot and it made her MUCH happier to be wet! Took lots of great pics of her in the creek, but I love this one because it shows the water drops flying in the air.

Now, don't you wish you were in a creek somewhere getting cooled off?

Softball is Life . . .

The other big thing we're doing right now--in fact, I guess you could say it's "consuming" our life and schedule right now--is softball, and I'm getting a tad bit CONCERNED! I went from thinking we were an AWESOME team with an infield that could not be beat to being a little bit worried because very FEW of our girls are hitting (and these are girls who should out-and-out HIT!). Last night they had a very poor practice and we parents (at least those of us who are all in favor of our daughters being pushed hard when they don't do as well as they should!) we a little upset. Even Gary's gone from saying that this team is better to his travel team to saying that we may lose our first two games. And Gary is having a HARD time being an assistant coach; it is hard for him not to be able to make all the decisions!

This morning (Sat.), though, we had a much better practice and I'm hoping that last night was just the one token SUCKY practice we're getting. Hoping to have a practice game against another All Star team this week. That would be SO good for us to do!

Anyway . . .despite those times when I get too consumed by 10-year-old girls playing softball (c'mon Cheryl, get your priorities straight!), I still LOVE to watch Delaney play. She has so much hustle and is just amazing to watch! They had their All Star trophy presentations on Thursday

night and got some practice in (pic is of Delaney catching a ball and getting ready to throw to first). . .

Gary was at the All Star planning meeting today as a Board rep from our park and so found out the schedules for the district tourney. YAY! YAY! YAY! We got the bye on Friday night, so we won't have a game! My friend, Chris, is getting married and I just did NOT want to be distracted at the wedding wondering how Delaney's team was doing. And I haven't EVER missed one of Delaney's All Star games; plus, Gary is taking photos at the wedding and now doesn't have to miss a game! Seriously, I was praying for this to happen and it DID. Yay again! (I was also praying that McAdory and Pleasant Grove play each other in their first game, so that one of the three best teams would have a loss, but they didn't. So, we'll end up having to play them both anyway . .. we can now just cross our fingers on those games!)

I did one more layout yesterday and love how it turned out! It goes great with this part of the post, because it is of Sydney pitching. Yep, PITCHING! She winds her arms around and throws the ball. It is TOO hilarious!

Off to Regular Life . . .

Now, gotta get back to my Regularly Scheduled Activities! Tomorrow is Father's Day and do I have a SINGLE thing bought for it yet? You guessed the answer correctly--NOPE! Gotta get Gary something from the girls (at least I have an idea for that!), plus something for Dad and for Larry. Aargh!

We are heading off to a Father's Day dinner with Larry and Clara in another hour or so at the restaurant at Tannehil. That should be nice!

Have a great day with your dads tomorrow, and keep in touch please!!!