A Saturday in the Life....

10:45 am on Saturday...meet the baseball team at the donut shop to drive to Jackson's away baseball game. Savannah Grace's hair is in sponge rollers.

11:20 am...We arrive at the field. All the 5-6 year old boys are staring at Savannah Grace's hair.

12:00 pm...Jackson plays baseball with a sprained ankle. Jody has him playing pitcher, until the mommy intervenes and says "Please move my baby to 1st base, he's in so much pain, I can't stand it." Jody says he'll think about it...and does, because you know he doesn't want to hear from the mommy again.

12:35pm...Mommy runs to the car for ice and ace bandages to wrap Jackson's foot between innings.

1:20 pm...game is over. Our team won 14-4. Jackson hit 3 singles and hobbled around the bases to score twice.

1:30 pm...Jackson's foot is iced and propped up for the long drive to Oklahoma City for Savannah Grace's dance competition.

1:35 pm...On the road for the 3.5 hour drive to Oklahoma City.

4:55 pm...Jen starts getting text messages from the other mommy's..."where are you?" Almost there.

5:00 pm...Jen and Savannah Grace get dropped off at the competition to get her ready. Hair is still in sponge rollers.

5:45 pm...Jen takes Savannah Grace's sponge rollers out....Uh oh. I knew I hated sponge rollers.

6:45 pm...Savannah Grace is ready to go...hair has been re-rolled with hot rollers. We head to the auditorium to await the girls' warm-up time.

6:55 pm...Jen calls Jody. It looks like the competition is running at least 30 minutes behind. No need to get here until at least 8 pm. Savannah Grace is having a fabulous time dancing to all of the songs of the other dances. She's in a good mood...yay.

7:35 pm...Jen calls Jody. Ummmm...somehow the competition caught back up...9 dances away from Savannah Grace's dance. Jody send Jen a text that says, "#$%^&*!" Uh-oh. He's at least 20 minutes away.

7:50 pm...Dance Teacher comes and get's Chloe's mom. Chloe is having a meltdown. Oh good. Maybe they will post pone the dance a few more minutes until Jody can get here. Yay Chloe.

7:55 pm...One dance away from Savannah Grace's dance...Jody, where are you? 5 minutes away.

7:56 pm...The judges announce a break. Go Chloe, Go Chloe!!

8:00 pm...Jody, Jackson, and Lilly Claire arrive at the competition.

8:05 pm...Miss America dance announced. They dance the best they have EVER danced. SG had some moves going on, I'm not sure where she got them. Very cute.

8:07 pm...Jen goes backstage to get a beaming Savannah Grace. Lots of hugs and kisses. We go change her into her competition warm-ups.

8:20 pm... We head to the lobby for pretzels, 100 games of duck-duck goose which includes the parents and Lilly Claire.

8:55 pm...Savannah Grace and I head to the bathroom. She asks me about tampons and I matter of factly tell her it's a booty bandaid for mommies (Thanks, Rox). She just looks at me like I'm crazy...but she doesn't ask anything else.

9:15 pm....We head back into the auditorium to watch the final dances.

9:20 pm...They call for all of the dancers to head to the stage for awards. I go with the girls to make sure they hold hands and find their team.

9:30 pm...Miss America....Platinum Score and 1st Place for 5-6 age division. Yay!

9:45 pm...Can we buy the trophies? Nope. Can we go get a picture of the team with the one trophy the won? Nope, the dance teacher is no where to be found. Can we borrow another teams trophy and pretend like it's our so we can take some dad gum pictures of proof that they won? Yes! "Girls, smile, look here, not a fake smile, Chloe stop crying, let her hold the trophy, girls smile, smile, smile! I told you to smile, now smile!"

9:50 pm...Call Googie..."yes, we won...thank you. Love you, too."

10:00 pm...Head to the car and wrap Jackson's foot in ice. Duck Duck Goose did him in again.

10:10 pm...Head towards home. Can't spend the nite in Oklahoma City. We have church and 2 birthday parties tommorrow afternoon to attend.

10:25 pm...Jen's hungry. Hasn't eaten dinner yet. Stop at subway.

11:15 pm...Jen, you have to keep me awake. So we chit chat about the competiton, about how much Savannah Grace truly loves to dance, how proud we are of Jackson of playing thru pain today, about how this is only the first of many times we will be icing body parts, about how much Lilly Claire ate today, about how perfect she acts until she sees her mommy and then she whines non-stop, about TCS, about Belden Street, about adding on to our house, about future vacations, and most of all about how much we love those 3 sleeping babies in the back seat.

12:45 pm...We are 15 minutes from home. Jody, do you want me to drive? :)

1:00 am...We pull in. We wake Jackson up and he walks up to bed. Jody carries Savannah Grace and I carry Lilly Claire. I don't even remember getting in bed last nite.

The Best Days

Jody watering the flowers.

LC picking up Jackson's baseballs.

Lilly Claire pushing Savannah Grace in the stroller...and kissing her sister every chance she gets!

Lilly Claire chasing Savannah Grace. Yes, SG is in hair curlers. Big dance competition tommorrow!

Jackson often says, "Mom, will you throw the ball to me so I can practice hitting? It's ok if you hit me with the ball." That's usually when Dad puts down the waterhose and agrees to throw the ball to him.

I love this time of year! The weather is just perfect and the cool evenings make for long evenings playing in the yard, eating dinner on the backporch, and simply enjoying the slower things in life. Lately, every chance we get, we play baseball or basketball in the driveway. The girls chase each other around the circle drive....Lilly Claire is still crawling, but she is fast! Jody drenches the kids with the water hose as he nurtures our newly planted flowers. The kids pick up roly poly's and want me to go find a container for them. Our life can be so hectic, that evenings like these are priceless! I wouldn't trade being barefoot outside with my kids for anything. These really are the best days of my life.

Piano Lessons!

A few weeks ago, our sweet friends...the Tate's....offered to give us a piano. When they asked if we wanted it, I automatically said, "yes!"....even though I hadn't seen the piano. I didn't really care what it looked like or sounded like or anything! I just wanted my kids to have the opportunity to learn to play the piano. However, when I went to look at the piano to get the measurements, to make sure it would actually fit in my house, I was overwhelmed at the beauty and grandeur of the piano. It is a baby grand piano, well over 100 years old. It is so beautiful! It has fancy carved legs and it has been played by Liberace. It has a great sound and best of all, my kids love playing it!

I immediately signed Jackson and Savannah Grace up for piano lessons. They started with Mrs. Lisa Hicks this past week. The first week of piano lessons went remarkably well. Jackson can play some form of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Savannah Grace is learning her finger numbers. Maybe I'll learn to play the piano, too! Hey, I can already play a mean Twinkle Twinkle.

A Baseball First

At tonite's baseball game, Jackson made his first "in the air" catch. He also hit 3 homeruns. Texas Rangers, here he comes.

Hmmmm.

I've heard of "No boys allowed" or "No girls allowed".....but No Babies? Jody and I found this note posted to the kids' craft room door last night. I guess Lilly Claire is suppose to read that and stay out.

Easter 2009

Jackson

Savannah Grace

The Easter Bunny was very generous.


It has been a fun Easter weekend for our family. I have been really excited to see Jackson and Savannah Grace tell the Easter story this year. They are growing up and I am praying that as they continue to learn about Jesus, that the meaning of Easter will become very personal for them. Lilly Claire woke up with fever this morning, so she and I stayed home from church. However, Jackson, Savannah Grace, Dad, MaMaw, Papaw, Aunt Naomi, June, Jager, and Cheryl (Naomi's mom) went to church. LC and I met them for lunch at the Jalepeno Tree. We spent the afternoon visiting with family and napping! I didn't even get a picture of them all dressed up today! I'll do better next year!

Lilly Claire's 1st Birthday Party

The pearl necklace and bracelet that mommy and daddy got Lilly Claire for her birthday

Mmmmmm...Cake is sooo good!

The party kiddos...the one's that weren't scared of the Easter bunny, anyway.

Savannah Grace, Lilly Claire and Jackson

Lil' Claire and the Easter Bunny

The One-Year-Old

Jackson and Jager. Nicklas had on the same outfit, too.

Bubbles!

LC reading her cards

June

This is the eating area I had set up in the backyard

The Bunny Cake

Savannah Grace...she has a pretty basket, but it was overflowing, so we moved to a big baggie.

Houston

Jager

Nicklas and Grandfather

We had Lilly Claire's 1st Birthday Party on Saturday. We held it in our backyard and it was an Easter Egg Hunt theme. The kids played on the swingset, playhouse and trampoline. We had the bubble machine going. We cracked a pinata, the Easter bunny came, we had a big egg hunt, busted confetti eggs on each other, and we grilled burgers. Lilly Claire had a great time with all of her friends!

Baseball Season 2009

Jackson at 6 years old

Jackson and his 5-6 year old baseball team are having a great season! They have won the last two games, 15-3 and 9-6. They are currently 3-0. Jackson has been up to bat 9 times and has hit 7 home runs, 1 triple and 1 single! Can you tell I'm a proud mommy?!

Grandparents Day!

Lilly Claire, Jackson, PaPaw, MaMaw, Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Bennett

Jackson's Program...he's the one in the brown sweater vest on the front row

Our children are blessed to have 3 sets of very loving, involved grandparents! Thursday was grandparents day at Jackson's school and MaMaw and PaPaw Lipscomb came all the way from Texarkana for the program. Thanks for coming MaMaw and PaPaw, it was fun having you here!

Lilly Claire Turns One!

Lilly Claire's new accessory!

Daddy getting ready to pierce her ears

Birthday breakfast and balloons

Savannah Grace, Lilly Claire and Jackson...she was not in the moon for birthday pics at 7 in the morning!

The Birthday Balloons kind of scared her. Oooops.

Our baby turned one on April 7th, 2009! We started her day off by all of us waking her up with lots of balloons. Then she ate her cereal...more balloons tied to her high chair. She got her ears pierced by Daddy around lunch time and then we had cake and presents before Jackson's baseball game. She enjoyed her day! What a little sweetie she is! Happy Birthday, Lilly Claire! You are loved more than you could ever imagine.

Almost a Big Girl!

Tommorrow is Lilly Claire's 1st birthday! I can't believe my little and last baby is about to turn 1! Today was her first day to ride in her big girl car seat, and she loved it! She giggled the whole way to pick Savannah Grace up from school. It has been a whirlwind year, but she has made it wonderful!

Texas Rangers Opening Day 2009

View from the cheap seats. Apparently the cheap seats were VERY COLD, so the boys just moved around to different sections, moving again as people would say, "Those are our seats."

Jackson hit 2 homeruns in the outfield.

Plinko, anyone?

Jody has always wanted to go to an opening day baseball game...and well, we made it happen this year! Jody skipped work and Jackson skipped most of school to head down to Arlington to watch the Rangers win today. Hot dogs, peanuts, nachos, cotton candy and plenty of baseball watching made for a fabulous day for my guys. I am so proud of Jody for taking opportunities like this...days like these are what life is all about.

"Most Precious Little Divas"

Savannah Grace's dance team had a competition at SMU in Dallas on Saturday night. They won a platinum medal and the "Most Precious Little Divas" Award. Googie and Pappy came to watch this time. As we were driving home on Saturday night, I was telling Savannah Grace how proud I am of her. She said, "I know mommy, I am so proud of myself, too." I just thought that was sweet.

Homerun Hitter, Hitter....Homerun Hitter, Hitter!

Our little Power Hitter

Coach Jody and the team...Jackson is #13 of course!

Jackson had his first baseball game of the season on Saturday and he hit a homerun each time he got up to bat! That made for 3 homeruns! I was so proud of him. I got to be the dugout mom, which made the game even more fun to watch. His team won 15-1. Go Cardinals!

Last week, Jackson's team had a scrimmage before the season started. I was trying to pump Jackson up on the way to the field, saying "Jackson, I want you to hit the ball hard, run as fast as you can, blah, blah, blah, so that your team wins today." Jackson said, "MOM, it's not about winning! It's about having a lot of fun." Oh good grief, who's raising this kid? :)