Day 681

My middle two have their spring pictures today. It meant taking baths and doing hair this morning. Here is the end result! Isn't Samantha beautiful??? Isn't Caleb a handsome little dude??? Love these guys!

Day 680

Easter is coming! YAY! Behind Christmas it is my favorite holiday! It also means choir is getting ready. This year the adult choir AND the Gathering Singers are singing. Well you know that I sing in both. Those of us that sing in both will get to wear our usual singer all black along with the other singers. The choir will get to wear the robes. Those of us that do both will be in the center of the front row....this was my view tonight while sitting!

Day 679

How about some Hannah funnies from the ballpark today? Marc, Hannah, and I were sitting on the front row of the bleachers. On the 3rd row behind us one of the kids grandparents were sitting. The man was sitting there with a blanket over his head because it was cold and he had a pretty thick kind of long beard.

Hannah: Mommy....Jesus

Me: yeah Hannah

Hannah: No mommy, Jesus is behind you!

Hannah: Mommy look!

Hannah: Mommy, Jesus loves me.

Me: yes Hannah, Jesus loves you.

Hannah: Mommy look its Jesus.

Me: finally looks.

It was HILARIOUS!!!!!!!

Next Hannah funny....another mom and the older brother of a kid sit down. She is holding a bag of sausage links. She hands one to the older brother who of course eats it.

Hannah: EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW Mommy...poop! He eat poop!

Me: uncontrollable laughter before I can tell her, no that is sausage.

Funny, funny, funny! Oh and Caleb's team won!

Day 678

I am seriously committed to not eating crap every night because of baseball! I got the call this morning about our make up game being scheduled for tonight. We had our own picnic lunch at the ball park. It was complete with wraps, pineapples, and strawberries. It was good! This is Hannah chowing down on Samantha's wrap.

Day 677

Looking at a screen shot for my April calendar makes it obvious why I seem to fall behind in my updates!!! This is JUST the stuff already scheduled and does not include things that will pop up. One of those being my bi-weekly eye dr appt to get my contacts just right or anything that might pop up with the kids, OR our weekly chiropractor visits (I haven't figured out where to fit it in yet). It does not include the obvious church on Sunday and grocery shopping, just the stuff that I am committed to right now.

Sunday 3/21

Day 676

Opening day for baseball means I get to see the sunrise! How beautiful is that picture??? Ignore the fact that is was taken through my horribly dirty windshield while I was driving. It was just...WOW!!!!!!Here are Josh and Caleb waiting for the ceremonies to begin.
We sat in the car before Caleb's game watching these clouds....what do you think?
Here is Caleb warming up before the game.
My little Indian!
The outcome of the game..... postponed due to a horrible downpour. I am sure you could have guessed from the "cloud" picture. :) They managed to play one inning and all 5 of us were thoroughly drenched by the time we got in the car and went home.
Saturday 3/20

Day 676

Today Samantha had a play date. I realize this is NOT a picture of Samantha, but it fits into the story. Samantha has a friend from church that lives near us. I don't like having people over from school. If you follow my blog or most likely my facebook you know how I feel about the kids in our hood/school. I blame most of it on the parents and the constant turnover in the neighborhood. I don't think my kids need friends who are bullies, cuss, make bomb threats to the school (really happened when the kid was in 3rd grade), or are just downright mean! I also don't want to deal with parents who don't care and don't know where their kids are...which is the case around here. I also don't want to become the neighborhood babysitter for friends and their siblings---that has happened also. Anyway, back in the fall when a nice girl sat next to Samantha in choir they became great friends! One Sunday morning a man introduced himself to me and said his family lived in our area. Now, I was not really in the right mind---I think I was chatting with someone, so I didn't think anything of it. I did not put the father/daughter together until the Christmas pageant. Kind of like a slap your head 'duh' moment. LOL Anyway, Samantha had been bugging me since school let out Friday to have a play date. Our schedules didn't meet up until Friday. So...they played. They painted nails, played in the backyard, watched Hannah Montana, rode bikes, scooters, skateboard, and rollerblades. I am sure you have figured out that if my kids are in the front yard---so am I! The picture came about when Hannah saw Josh ride through the ditch. She decided to go too. She was on the driveway and ended up flipping a few times before the landed. Then she just laid there. LOL When she finally got up she put her bike back at the edge of the driveway and decided to crash again...she thought it was fun! Gotta love baby girl. A good time was had all around. The only down side is that I am still not adjusted to the time change and our play date ran long. Just as we came inside her dad called about getting her...oops.

Friday 3/19

Day 675

This is my photo for the day. It is poor quality because I pulled it off my facebook page instead of searching for my phone and emailing it to myself. I took this picture as somewhat of a joke. One of my friends replied on my "going to baseball" update. She lives where it snows...and snows....and snows. Still snowing on the day of this photo. I took it and posted it just for her! The warm sun, baseball, shorts, and flip flops....love the warmth! (no comment on todays--Sunday- weather!)

Thursday 3/18

Day 674

The weather for day 2 of Sea World was perfect...we were just dressed for cooler. The asphalt walkways heat up fast! Our first stop was Dolphin Cove where we got to feed the dolphins. Our strategy was to arrive before the park officially opened. Most of the time it is perfect because a lot of people don't know you can get in before 10. Well....I guess someone let the secret out! The line to get fish was long....before the park opened. Either way, it is always a fun experience.
I am not sure how these pictures got out of order, but I am just going to go with it! LOL I mentioned yesterday that the Shamu show was different because the trainers can't get in the water with the whales. We did get to see a baby Shamu! It was born in January. I was too busy watching the baby to really watch the show. LOL

Hannah is just precious!
Ahhhhh, back to Dolphin Cove! Feeding the dolphins is always a favorite thing.
Caleb LOVES to ride Shamu Express. The line was crazy long...I am guessing due to spring break and the beautiful weather. Samantha even saw someone from church in line! Josh saw someone from school in line for a different ride.
If you remember last year Josh did the Beluga whale interaction. At that moment Samantha decided that was what she wanted for her next birthday. While I was making arrangements, Josh decided he wanted to do it again this year for his. They both decided to do the Sea Lion Interaction Program--SLIP. It was a totally awesome experience that left me and Marc wanting to do it also! First we went backstage at Beluga stadium for the intro video and then the kids got into their wetsuits. WE had to walk all the way to Sea Lion Stadium while the kids and other participants got to ride in a cart around the outside of the park. Then they got to walk through the crowd of people in their wetsuits. It was too cool to listen to the reactions of the passersby.
If you look closely you can see Elrod (the Sea Lion) smiling! It was hilarious when the trainer told him to smile and he did.

This was a heart stopping moment for me as a mom. It was also a WOW that is too cool moment. I think the picture explains it all!
He was swimming pretty fast with them too!
The group got to give Elrod different commands.
That is just way cool!
Floating!!!!!

My camera battery died, so I didn't get many pics. I also planned on doing a video like last year. I ended up buying the CD of the whole thing, but it contains every person in our group. Anyway, after they were done we had to go all the way back to Beluga stadium! I knew mom couldn't handle the walk, so I went and left the rest of the family at the market. Well....when we got back the trainer took us to see the dolphins from the Azul show. Then she took us over to the Beluga pool. Luckily, I did have my phone to take a picture! It was just awesome!!!!
After that we hit a few more show. It was getting HOT and we had an hour to kill before the next show...what to do??? Play in the kids water zone of course. Sounded like a great idea at the time, but that water was ICE COLD! Caleb was mad at me because he didn't want to get all wet and I chased him through a waterfall.
Samantha still had on her suit. What you can't see in this picture is her blue lips! LOL
All in all it was a great trip. Our last for the year. :( Our season passes expire April 4. We are choosing not to renew them this year because we are taking a big road trip this summer. Either way, it has been a fun few years of Sea World trips!
Wednesday 3/17

Day 673

The long awaited birthday Sea World trip! I have made a deal with the kids regarding birthday parties. I won't go into details, but Josh and Samantha wanted to do a Sea Lion Interaction Program (SLIP). YAY!!! That means they get to do that instead of a birthday party. Donnie took his vacation for the same week we were going, so he and mom decided to go also. For some silly reason my brother thinks everything is a race, so he left around 6am just so he could get there before us...for the record they also live almost an hour closer. We left around 7:30 and stopped for gas, ice, and coffee. Of course there were a few "where are you? We are here already" calls...we just laughed. Then we got the 'we are lost' call...again we had to laugh because Donnie has a GPS. We arrived about 30 minutes after they did and found them pretty quickly. Hannah was happy to see her Uncle Donnie...as you can see in this picture.

We walked around and did a few things. We really hit the 'off' time for shows, so we rode rides....good thing too. The weather was not perfect so the lines were short....not so the next day!

Here are Caleb and Samantha in front of the Penguin house.
PENGUINS!!!!!
We spotted the shark while Marc and Josh were riding the Great White!
Our favorite Viva show was replaced by a new AZUL show. It was VERY good. The colors are brighter, the pre-show is very different, and there are birds! The animals also do more stuff.
Shamu had a baby in January!
Before leaving for the afternoon we went by the dolphin area to see if we could feed them. Of course they were done for the day, but the dolphins are usually more playful in the afternoon. The kids got to see them jump around for a while. It was pretty neat since we usually only see them getting food.
This photo was taken while standing in line for the Rio Loco. We were talking about eye color. You can't really tell from this picture, but Samantha has the most beautiful blue eyes of anyone I have ever seen.
Look! They really do like each other!!!!
She looks tired. :)
All in all it was a pretty fun day! It was also pretty cold! The Shamu show was good, but the trainers did not get in the water. Marc liked it, I did not. It was just strange to see after going so many years and seeing the interaction in the water. We tried 5 Guys Burgers and Fries for the very first time. It was AWESOME, but very filling.
Tuesday 3/16

Day 672

Another day at the ballpark. This was at Caleb's scrimmage. Hannah has turned into a run-away. Kind of a bummer when I want to sit and watch the game! I would give her a little more freedom, but Caleb's field is right next to the parking lot, so I am her shadow.

Monday 3/15

Day 671

I don't have a picture for this day either. We lost an hour of sleep due to the time change. We sang in spanish at church today. I mowed the yard while Josh used the weed eater. Then I jumped on the trampoline with the kids for a while.

Sunday 3/14

Day 670

Apparently we did nothing today. I don't have a picture and not really any facebook updates for the day either. I did get 12 hours of sleep though! That is rare...VERY rare!

Saturday 3/13

Day 669

Tonight (3/12) Caleb had a scrimmage! It was kind of cold outside, but he did great! I am so proud of my little guy. Here he is getting ready to bat.

Here is Hannah...she was spinning around.

Friday 3/12

Day 668

The season hasn't even started yet and I am already sick of baseball!!!! Today I had to pick Caleb up from school. The poor little guy doesn't feel well and the nurse wanted him rested up for tomorrow. They are having a rodeo day and it is supposed to be really fun. Caleb has been counting down and talking about it all week. We skipped Caleb's practice, but Josh had a scrimmage. We had to go it because we are missing Josh's other one next week. The scrimmage started at 7:00 and lasted nearly 2 hours....did I mention yet that I am sick of baseball? Let me just say that t-ball is much more entertaining than 9-10 year old baseball! Caleb rested the whole time. Hannah even got under the covers....By 8:00 I was wishing I was there with them sleeping!

(Caleb decided he didn't feel well enough for school and stayed home :( )

Day 667

Wednesday's are not short of things to do either! On Wednesday's I do the car rider line at both schools, then we head to church. We got a treat this week. When we pulled up there were TONS of kids outside. We found Josh and watched him play for about 30 minutes. Of course you could play "where's Waldo...Josh" in this picture.

Day 666

This bag contains Josh's dinner! Tuesday's Samantha has music lessons and the boys have baseball. This Tuesday the way the boys schedules happened required dinner. After I left Samantha's piano lesson, I went and got dinner. I put Josh's in this bag to keep it warm and went to watch the rest of his practice and pick him up. Marc was with him, but had to leave a few minutes before I got there to take Caleb to his game. No wonder why we are all so tired!

Day 665

Today we went to the rodeo! You can read the full story HERE. We saw Tim McGraw!

Here is a pig...it was a very pretty pink color. LOL
Josh and Samantha did this ride...it was their first on something like this and they thought it was awesome! That is until near the end when a dude near them threw up. EEWWWWW!
I always love this part...the bullriding and rodeo clowns.
Chuck wagon races are pretty cool too!

and he sleeps.....Every concert this kid has ever seen puts him to sleep. LOL

Monday 3/8