Dodging Summer Boredom

With baseball of course! Tommy had a tourney this weekend with his 8 & under team and got 2nd place. He is also on the 9 & under team but didn't play with them because they were in a 10 & under tourney. Last week he had practice every night, sometimes 3 hours with both teams. He played pretty well but was by no means flawless. He played 2nd base and every time the ball would get hit to him my heart skipped a beat because he tends to throw wild and I just don't have the confidence with him on the field like I do when he is on the ice. Anyhoo, he'll stick with the 9's now since he played with them last year. I don't know, he says he'd rather ride the pine with the 9's then be great with the 8's. (Like my hokey rhymes?) I guess with him on the pine I have less stress. He's having fun though so I guess that is all that matters. And we are having fun hanging with great parents and watching America's favorite past time.

Down & Ready Reese!


Hoping to score from 3rd


The Reese Rockets


Sherri's puppies enjoy their day out at the game.


Runner Ups

Movin' on up

Dreadful days...Ashley has to move out of her bassinet. She is getting too big and yesterday decided to roll from back to belly. She has a beautiful crib upstairs awaiting her arrival but I just don't want to let her go. And I know it's the right move. She sleeps through the night for the most part so it's not an issue of having to go get her in the middle of the night but I just like having her close to me. I have an angel care monitor and it has a ticking light and I can just glance over in the middle of the night, see the light and know that she is still breathing over there. I had the same issue with Tommy but we all just moved upstairs. But they are in that bedroom now and I like our current bedroom so the boys can't move down here...I don't know. Joe is willing to put her crib down here in our bedroom but I know that isn't the best thing. Sleep is not an issue for her, why am I trying to make it an issue for her a year from now when I do want her upstairs and out of our room? I think I am going to sleep horrible with her upstairs, heck I had trouble when we moved downstairs at Thanksgiving leaving the boys up there. What's a helicopter Mom to do? Maybe I should just get a twin bed and sleep up in her room. ;)

I survived spring hockey!

And after thinking I might quit after the first week I ended up really enjoying it! Of course it helps that I don't have to go to work on Tuesday mornings now. Everyone got so much better during the 9 months I was gone. I went from being one of the top players when we were all starting out to one of the bottom dwellers. Oh well, since I had paid for it up front I was in it for the 6 weeks and I did get better and I didn't die like I thought maybe I would.

It's kind of comical because I guess I got the "Austin" experience being so unskilled. One day the drill was to skate backwards down the ice and the girls are just flying by me and I'm yelling "right behind you," hoping not to get plowed over. The "head honcho" hockey coach then has one of his high school goonies take me off to the side and try to teach me how to skate backwards. Not happening. Another time we were skating forward to the blue line and then transitioning to backwards and back to forwards at the next blue line. I looked more like an oversized figure skater as I'd clumsily pirouette at the blue line and usually fall. Finally one time I did a beautiful smooth transition to backwards and everyone cheered for me. We would often scrimmage and all the girls would be very encouraging and "rah, rah, go get em" it was nice. Even the "head honcho" said "great job tonight kid, you're coming along" and dang that felt good. I guess in a twisted way I am enjoying this new view as "underdog."

Next week I'll be back and it's drop in learn to play hockey and then hopefully come fall I'll get a chance on a team again. One positive is that most of my equipment did still fit after my body was drastically stretched except for my head and my feet. (Strange I know) I did break down and bought a new helmet for my birthday because I couldn't stand the old helmet after about 20 minutes. Maybe Santa will bring me new skates at Christmas time. Or maybe I'll get an anniversary gift this year...hint, hint, nudge, nudge. Guess I need to tweet that I want skates because I don't think Joe reads the blog anymore.

Oh and get this, they have on Wednesday nights "play with your kids" drop in hockey. They really need to call it "get a butt kicking on ice by your 8 year old!" However, Tommy is really, really looking forward to sticking it to good ole Mom. So if I ever get up the nerve to go, I'll let you know how that comedy goes.

My beach beauty!

What can I say, I'm a sucker for sales! Why everyone is already putting swimsuits on clearance is beyond me!

Diet Schmiet!

I refuse...

Joe is on what seems like a perpetual diet and after a rough winter decided to hit it again last week. I'm usually all supportive but I've had enough of his dieting and have set out to sabotage it right away. I bought the biggest bag of Reese's pieces, cookies, chips, pop, anything to help me win. Besides just like the hippos on Madagascar 2, "I like em big, I like em chunky!" Well he hasn't succumbed to my devilish food delights and is almost 10 days in. Maybe now with it being a game of "can't cave into Dawn" he'll actually lose some weight. And I will gain because I can dumpster candy like no other.

Speaking of the hippos, my Grandpa has found love again at the ripe old age of 79 with a 75 yo Philly named Willie (Wilma). They are so cute together and I haven't seen a happier couple. They are both big people and I can just see my Grandpa getting up the nerve to ask her out by saying "girl, you huge" in that deep Will.I.AM voice. Gotta get that vision out of my head. However they got together I don't care, I have not seen my Grandpa this happy in a long time. Young love, it's so beautiful.

Baseball Pics

The local photographer took these pics. Here are some links for you to check out when you get a moment.

Tommy 1
Tommy 2
Tommy 3
Tommy 4
Tommy 5
Tommy 6
Austin 1

And some of my own of Austin.


The pic of Austin on the base is interesting because his coaches were telling him to stand on it with his right leg forward ready to run. He has a hard time weight bearing on his right. He can stand on his left leg alone for a long time; on his right he can barely make it 3 seconds without support. He was trying but you can see that left foot down supporting him. He did so awesome and had so much fun. I hope he can play for a couple more years. People and kids for the most part are very supportive of him. We had a school fun day in January and there was the game where you tie the balloon to your leg and run around popping everyone's balloons. I was cracking up when kids would go to pop his balloon, see it was him and then retreat. This went on for quite a while until finally a 4th grade girl said enough and popped him. ;) It was cute. In July we'll visit the physical medicine doctor in Ann Arbor. He's probably get fitted for new AFO's and we'll talk botox again. I hate botox and what it does for him initially. Austin Botox We'll see what the doc says, he's done better with stretches and such so maybe he won't need it anymore.

And here's one of Ashley enjoying a game on a cold day in May.

R-E-L-I-E-F

June 8th is here.

*School is out!
*Tommy is done with hockey!
*Austin is done with baseball!
*I survived another 8th grade graduation!
*Austin graduated Kindergarten!
*TV season is over!

And the house is still standing...albeit destroyed. We're working on it!

Life should slow down a bit now! Hooray! I'm looking forward to a fun and relaxing summer with the kids! I know it'll go by way too fast.

Ashley is doing wonderful and has started sucking her thumb. I guess she is going to take after Tommy in that regard though she'll still take a paci too which would be like Austin. Interesting girlie! You should listen to her blab. It's so cute! She is really getting interested in toys and she'll crane her head towards the TV when Tommy plays guitar hero. I could have a music maestro in the family.

Here are a few recent pictures. Life is good.