Fall Baseball Tournament

It's fall tournament time. The first game didn't go so well. The other team had an incredible pitcher. But the loss didn't keep our boys down for long. They made themselves feel better by setting the scoreboard to say they won by 99-2. To the right is a picture of Brendan and 2 of the boys from the team playing with the scoreboard. See how broken up they are about the loss??

This is Brendan on second base. He's become quite the second baseman. Nothing that is hit in his direction gets by him...pop flies, line drives, and especially grounders. But...check out his pants. He gets his fashion sense from his dad. ; )

This particular time at bat, Brendan got walked and then stole 2nd, 3rd, and home. In the next 2 pictures he's on 3rd base, and then he's getting up after stealing home. I missed the actual slide. I'll have to get it the next time.

The second game they played today (these pictures were taken during the second game) they won. Go Astros!! They play again tomorrow. I'll let you know if they make it to the championship. : )

The First Soccer Game

Today was a busy day for us. Not only was it Kaelin's first soccer game - Brendan had a baseball tournament. His first game was at 8:00 this morning followed by another game at 10:00 followed by Kaelin's soccer game at 11:00. I went to Best Buy yesterday and took care of my camera issues, so you have probably guessed that I have pictures. I will take it one sport at a time...starting with Kaelin's soccer game.

After the scrimmage we had on Wednesday night, I was a little concerned that the kids on my team were under the impression that we are playing rugby as opposed to soccer. You see, there was quite a bit of tackling and pushing going on. And there are still a couple of them that think it is a rugby team, but for the most part, they know they are playing soccer. We do have one little boy that thinks soccer includes using your hands...he tends to pick up the ball and move it where he thinks it should go. And when we explain to him that we don't use our hands in soccer he looks at us and says he understands. So then we start playing, and the ball is out on the field, and he is running after it, and apparently it goes in a place he doesn't think it should go, so he reaches down, picks it up, and puts it in what he thinks is a more appropriate place. But I guess it's better than tackling.

As is the custom with most leagues these days, we don't keep score, but I know the other team scored more goals than we did. However, we did manage to score several goals, and we have a few players that have great potential for playing soccer. I was pretty impressed with our Cheetahs!! : ) And I was pretty impressed with Kaelin. She got out there and ran after the ball and kicked it quite a bit. And, no, she didn't tackle anyone!! ; )

Anyway...time for pictures!

I took this one at the baseball field. Just a pretty picture of Kaelin in her soccer gear.

The Cheetahs are wearing red. Kaelin has the blonde ponytail.

The pictures are out of order...this is the end of the game. Walking off the field.

The Girls!!

Go Cheetahs!!

Yeehaw!

Yesterday was Cowboy Bob day at preschool. Who is Cowboy Bob you ask? Well, this very nice man named Bob has these wonderful ponies and the kids get to ride them. If the children's parents want to pay the money to have Cowboy Bob photograph the children dressed up like a cowboy while sitting on the pony, he will do that. It's adorable. I've done it every single year since Brendan was 1 1/2. Sometimes I've had 2 kids in the program at once and I've paid for both kids to have their pictures taken on the pony while dressed up like a cowboy (or girl as the case may have been).

Collin's class had their turn yesterday and Collin wouldn't get on the pony for his teachers. So I went out there with him, and luckily his friend, Sam, was sitting on the pony when we walked up, and all of a sudden Collin was all about sitting on the pony. Peer pressure is an amazing thing - even at age 3. He was the last kid to sit on the pony yesterday, so he got to ride the pony back to the trailer with Cowboy Bob, as you can see in the last picture. The pictures I'm posting are pictures that I snapped very quickly...Cowboy Bob's will be much better.









See why I pay for Cowboy Bob pictures every year?? Wait til you see the ones that Cowboy Bob took. : )

What My Birthdate Means

I copied this from Wendy. I thought it might be fun to do on my birthday. When I read what it said, I just kind of went, "Hmm."

Your Birthdate: September 26

You lucked out the the skills to succeed in almost any arena. Put you in almost any business or classroom, and you'll rise to the top. You're driven and intense, but you also know when to kick back and cooperate. Your ability to adapt to almost any situation is part of what's going to make you a success. Your strength: Your attention to detail Your weakness: You can be a little too proud of your successes Your power color: Turquoise Your power symbol: Arrow pointing up Your power month: August

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

It's My Party...

Yesterday we had a little cookout/birthday party for my upcoming birthday on Tuesday. We won't discuss my age, but my party was a lot of fun! And to those of you who were in attendance...thank you for coming. I'm so glad you were all there!! : )

Now for pictures. I need to make a little disclaimer: I'm having some camera accessory issues right now. My battery chargers aren't working right and my USB cable has a worn place on it. So that leaves me with 2 problems. My rechargeable batteries can't be recharged, and regular batteries don't last very long. My USB cable is not working, so I'm having to use my smaller memory sticks that hold like 30 pictures each because I can't plug my camera into the computer. So I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I would have liked.

Anyway, the first picture is of Wendy, me, and April. They are 2 sweet friends of mine who I love dearly.


And this is Angie and me. She is another wonderful friend who blesses my life daily.


A rare picture of Cole and me.


These are my parents. As parents go, it doesn't get any better than these 2. My brother and I are very blessed to call them Mom and Dad.


A little known fact about me. I come from a long line of amazing women. I'm not saying I'm an amazing woman...I try, but I fall far short. In this picture are 2 of the amazing women in my family. On the left is my cousin Kelly, who is actually younger than me, but she has already proven herself to be a phenomenal person. She just recently moved back to Texas and I'm so happy that she is close to me again. The next person in the picture is my mom. I could go on and on about her for days. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe her. She is beautiful inside and out. Then there's Kaelin. She's only 5, but she amazes me every single day. I'm sure she will be an incredible woman someday, too.

I wish I had more pictures to post. I'll have to get my camera issues taken care of soon. Thanks for a fun day, everybody!! : )

When I Grow Up, I Want To Be 5

That's what one of the kids in my preschool class told me today. I was doing an All About Me page with him, and we got to that question, so I asked him, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" He held up his hand, showed me five fingers, and replied emphatically, "FIVE!"

Cute, I tell you, they are so incredibly cute!! : )

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful!!

That's in reference to Kaelin..not me!! : ) And her new outfit. Is this adorable or what?




I saw those pink camouflage pants at The Children's Place and I knew Kaelin just had to have them. So cute!



Oh...and here's my usual extreme close-up picture:

Is she beautiful or what??

AARRGH!!!!!

That title is for you, Jamie!! : )

I had to go back to the outlet mall today to exchange some clothes that didn't fit the kids, and Brendan was with me, so of course we ended up with more than just clothes that we exchanged. We ended up with a Jack Sparrow costume from the Disney Store. It's a pretty cool costume. Check it out...here's Brendan wearing his costume next to a picture of the real Jack Sparrow:





That's Brendan on the left. ; ) See? Not bad. The best part is the wig. Here's Brendan close-up in the wig:





I'm thinking the wig isn't going to last very long on Halloween, though. I give it 30 minutes at the most. And my plan is to draw some facial hair on Brendan's face with my eyeliner pencil...we'll see how that works out. Brendan might have other plans. He usually does!

Today is September 17...one costume down...2 to go...that's not bad!! : )

Mommy, girls talk.

Collin said that to me on our way to the outlet mall today. Actually it was one of about 250 things that he said to me during the 20 minute ride, but that's beside the point. I have no idea where it came from. I don't remember what I said in response to his statement, but I thought to myself, "you're 3 years old and you've figured out that girls talk...just wait. You haven't seen anything yet!"

We had a wonderful day. I knew when I heard "Sister Christian" on Bob FM I was going to have a great day. If you haven't heard me talk about Bob FM, you just haven't talked to me much lately. I love that station. Their catch phrase is "we play anything." They really do. Anything. It's awesome. I listen to that station all the time now. If you haven't listened to Bob FM...go listen. You'll be glad you did. : )

So back to the shopping trip. The Round Rock outlet malls opened at the beginning of August and I had not been until today. I had no idea what I had been missing. We started at the Disney Store. I bought Collin a stuffed Lightning McQueen toy and that kept him happy the whole time. We went in several other stores and ate pizza in the food court, then I discovered my new favorite store, Eddie Bauer. I had never been in one, but I shopped in the Eddie Bauer store today. Cole is probably going to wish I had never found it. But I did...and I will be back!

Yep...lots of fun at the outlet mall today. Collin talked nonstop...mostly asked questions.

Questions like:

What does that spell?
Is that pizza?
Who is that?
What time is it?
Is that my stroller?
Why does that flush by itself?
Why is your shirt pink?
Is that your phone?
Why are you stopping?
Can I see the water?
Is it time to go home now?
Is that shirt for me?

And at least a hundred more that I can't remember. It was fun to spend a day with just Collin...despite all the questions. : ) He's a funny kid. Before I know it, he'll be in kindergarten, and I'll be wishing I could have another day at the outlet mall with him when he could ask me a million crazy questions. Thank God for the little things, right?? : )

I Survived the First Week of Preschool!

Today is my Friday. Collin and I started preschool on Monday...he as a student and me as a teacher. He is in one of the 3's classes and I am an assistant teacher in one of the 4's classes. His first week was a lot of fun. On Monday, the big thing was getting to eat his lunch in the FLC, rather than in his classroom, like they did last year. On Tuesday, he painted a big, yellow star (s is the letter of the week, yellow is our color this month). And today, he made s'mores...life does not get any better when you are 3 years old than having a baggie full of chocolate chips, marshmallows and Golden Grahams. He was a happy boy when I picked him up. Even better than all of this...his little friend, Ally, from last year is in his class. He loves Ally. He talked about her all summer. You should see Ally - she has beautiful, bright red hair. Cute as a button Ally is! And Collin just adores her. Sam is also in his class. Collin and Sam are becoming good buddies. They were chasing each other in circles today after school around the table in our classroom and giggling the whole time. My favorite part about Collin's class - his teachers. I love them...they are fabulous! It's going to be a great year for Collin! : )

Here are 2 pictures from Collin's first day of school.

As for me, this is my second year to work with Carrie. To say she is an awesome teacher is an understatement. I feel so blessed to be working with her and we make a very good team. And our class this year is really sweet. We've spent a grand total of 15 hours with them and every single one of them has already made my heart melt. They're just so cute!! There's this one little boy that wears a Cars (as in the movie, not the rock band or the song) cap everyday and he has this cute little boy voice and oh my goodness he's adorable!! But they all are. : )

Not Sure What To Say Today

I feel like I should say something profound and meaningful about today, and what I'd really like to post about is Collin's first day of preschool (which was today), but it just doesn't seem appropriate. And I probably would have posted nothing, but on the way home from school, Kaelin was having a cow about where she was sitting and she was refusing to buckle her seat belt, and her big brother, who was 3 at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, hollered at her, "Get your seat belt buckled, nobody else needs to die on September 11!!!" And yesterday, the man that I'm teaching Sunday school with, who is a very big guy, with a very gruff voice, who was in New York City when it happened (he was a firefighter), was talking to me about it and is still visibly shaken by the whole thing. And it's still just so unbelievable.

My 30th birthday was 15 days after 9/11. Prior to the attacks I had been having a really hard time with leaving my 20's behind. After that day turning 30 became very small. I'm not sure I even thought about my birthday again...at all...including turning 30.

Those images from 9/11 are forever seared on my brain...just like everybody else in America. In Sunday school right now we're talking about super heroes - in the Bible. But right now I'm thinking of the ones from Sept. 11. One of the things Nichole told the kids is that super heroes never give up...the ones in New York City never did.

Congratulations!! It's a...

soccer team!! Yes, today I found out that I will be coaching (supposedly co-coaching...we'll see how that works out) Kaelin's soccer team. Do I know enough about soccer to coach a team? No, I don't. But they are 5 years old. Supposedly we are going to "focus on the rules at this age." That's the line the guy from the YMCA used to sucker me into it.



And how in the world could I say no to this face??

You'll be hearing about this guy, too.

This is my husband, Cole. He is part of the happiness in my life, too. That picture was taken recently when we - yes, I said, we - went to play golf. Okay, I didn't actually *play* golf, but I went. And I didn't complain about the heat or about being bored, so all in all it was a successful day! The golf course is on the edge of the Texas hill country so it was actually quite beautiful. And I didn't just see a bunch of guys chasing golf balls...I got to see deer and wild turkeys on the golf course, too. It was a neat experience.

Here are a few pictures from our golf excursion.

Remember the deer that I mentioned? I wasn't kidding.

A beautiful waterfall...

We drove down this hill in a golf cart. In case you're

wondering...golf carts don't have seat belts...it

was crazy!!!

Oh yeah...you might be curious as to what

I did since I mentioned that I did not play

golf. This is it...I drove the golf cart. Kind

of fun. They go faster than I thought!

Hello blogosphere..I finally made it!!

That's right...I am finally joining the rest of the world with my own blog. It's really not my own blog, though. It's mostly going to be about those 3 people you see in the picture to the right. Those are my kiddos and most of the reason that this blog is called, "Happiness is..." The other part of the reason for the title is that I'm a big Snoopy fan and I wanted it to have something to do with Snoopy. So I called it "Happiness is..." and it works for both things.

Thank you, Traci, for your help in naming this blog and setting it up. I'm looking forward to getting it started! : )