Preschool, Girly Things, and T-ball

Jeter is 5 years old.  He technically should be going to kindergarten this year, but because of his late birthday, and lots of thought on the subject (basically since the day he was born), we decided to have him wait until next year to start.  So he started preschool the day we got back from Oregon.  The kids were way too tired and let's be honest here, I was too lazy to wake them up and give them a bath before he headed off to preschool.  So his first day of preschool, he went with a big "O" on his face.  (I didn't feel quite as guilty/lazy when we got there and one of the kids was in their pajamas.) 

Jeter was pretty excited for preschool to start, but not happy about me taking his picture.

So every Tuesday and Thursday morning while Jete's at preschool, me and Jerzi get to hang out together, just us.  I've seen a new side of Jerz.  She doesn't yell, cry, scream or throw fits when it's just me and her.  She's fun to be around, and funny too.  We do girly things like paint our nails, do our hair, go shopping, and sometimes I get her to "help me" clean.  This day we straightened her hair.

Jeter decided he wanted to play tee ball again this Fall.  He's on the Rockies team this year.  It's so fun to watch him get better, try so hard, concentrate, and get competitive.  Makes me so proud!





Jerzi thinks she is on his team too. 

She sits with them in the dugout, and cried at the first of the season when she couldn't go on the field with them.. 

She's all ready for Jete's baseball practice, completing the look with a baseball hat, pink and black cleats, pink polkadot glasses, basketball shorts, and her "workin out" shirt.  Horse in hand in case he needs to run as fast as her and the team. 

My thoughts as he fields the ball, "Throw it to first Jete, quick!  Oh wait..... not hard.  The kid on first is never gonna catch it.  He's gonna get drilled in the face.  Aghh!  Look out~

In some people's neck of the woods, Fall means cool temperatures, layers, different colored leaves, and fun stuff like that.  Here it means none of those things.  I think it's actually just a word they use to say that school has started.  Anyway, during one of Jete's baseball games this "Fall", it was a super hot sunny day, and Jete wasn't acting like his normal, happy, competitive self.  I went out on the field to tell him to get playing OR ELSE, and he kept saying he was too tired.  I just thought he wanted to get out of the sun cuz it was so blasted hot!  So I told him to finish the inning, and he could have a rest in a minute.  He looked at me like he was gonna cry then told me his stomach hurt.  Again, excuses to get out of the heat.  This time when I looked at him, his face wasn't bright red like it usually is when he's hot.  It was white as a ghost, so I ignored my initial thought of not wanting to be one of those parents that just let their kids run off and on the field, and it quickly changed to ok, he's not lookin very good.  I better get him off the field, he's gonna puke. I told him it was ok to come to the dugout and get a drink, and started walking off the field.  When I turned around to see if he was coming, he was doing a dizzy little walk like when you've spun around 40 times with your head on a bat.  I rushed back to him and just as I got there, he passed out.  I barely caught him before he hit the ground.  I'll never forget that terrifying feeling for a few seconds as his eyes rolled back, and his body lay limp in my arms as I carried him to some shade.  SCARIEST FEELING EVER!  I yelled to Had who was helping the kid up to bat.  He came running, then everyone came running and soon we had a big group of people gathered around with water, ice, juice, and gatorade.  Luckily, he was only out for about 5-10 seconds.  I'm sure it was due to the heat, and their all black uniforms didn't help.  It was scary.  To me now, Fall is just another word here in Texas.  It doesn't mean anything.  It's still summer.  People still wear skimpy clothes.  You still sweat when you walk outside.  You still have to water your yard.  People get heat exhaustion.  And my hard-playin little munchkins can still pass out. 

We're Ducky And We Know It

Like I said before, we love the Oregon Ducks.  We, as a family, even get our pictures taken in Ducks apparel.  And we are so lucky, cuz John and Melissa rented a big RV and took all of us to an Oregon Ducks game (vs Arkansas State) in Eugene, OR.  How cool is that?  We found out that is the best way to travel as family.  So much fun!

Even the little kids get all ducked out!

GO DUCKS!!!

Not only did we drive there in a big motor home, but they rented this little beauty for us!  A lake house.  And by lake house, I mean a house, literally on the water.  It was sooo cool!  We had so much fun here swimming, hot tubbing, sitting by the fire pit out on the deck, playing games, watching football, eating, talking, canoeing, and laughing. 

It had a canoe tied up out the back door, so we immediately had to go do a little canoeing as soon as we got there.  Once again, Jeter had to be forced to go in it, the little scaredy cat. 

And I think it took all of about 10 minutes of us being there for the boys to start jumping off the upper deck into the lake.  Lets take a vote, who has better form?

Brayden??

Hadley??

Game Day

We went to the tailgate party in our big rig.  I didn't really get a good picture of the rv, which I'm sad about.  We must have been having too much fun for me to think about that.   John cooked us some yummy tri-tip as we tailgated our little brains out.  Here's some pics of the all the festivities.

As Had was playin catch with Jeter and Jerzi, he was approached by some drunk dudes that bet him they could throw this little nerf football farther than him.  Silly little drunk guys, those are the kinds of bets Had loves!  Hadley won the bet.  He felt bad taking their money, so he told them to keep it.  (He sure has changed since high school.)  :)   They ran and gave the money to Jeter so we still got it.  Yes!

Handin out the tickets before we got in the stadium.  Oooh, the excitement!

Go Ducks!

The Ducks game was all that we thought it would be and more!  Cool uniforms, sweet helmets, a funny mascott, snacks, cheering wildly, family togetherness, stinky guys in front of us, and tons of touch downs!  The final score ended with a big Ducks victory 57-34.  It was so much fun to be at their stadium.  We were all so excited to be there.  But Jerzi was by far the funnest to have there.  You probably think I'm being sarcastic.  I'm not.  She was so fun!  To say she loved it is an understatement.  When we were counting down the days until we would go to Idaho, she would say, "I don't wanna know how many days till Idaho.  I wanna know how many days till the Ducks game."  So she had a different countdown than us.  She is a football girl.  She would get mad at the guys in front of us for standing cuz she couldn't see the players.  She yelled "Go Ducks!" louder than anyone around us.  And she would shriek with excitement when they scored, or got a first down, or got an interception.  One of my favorite things about being a parent is being able to see them so excited and happy.  This was definitely one of those moments.  We all loved going to the game!

Our vacation didn't end with the Ducks game.  We went back to the house on the lake for another day and a half.  We ate a lot of food while we were in Oregon.  Ya can't help but eat if it's just laying out like this.

Doin a little house-jumpin!
Here's Brayden gettin crazy!  He scurried up the roof, checked it out and wasn't sure if he wanted to jump off anymore.  We all coaxed him, taunted him, and teased him, and waited.  Of course he did it, he's crazy.  Then as some of us went shopping, all the rest of the boys jumped from the roof as well.  They're all crazy, it was so high!

With a house surrounded by water, and grown boys, it was bound to happen sometime.  They all started trying to push each other, and throw each other in.  It was actually quite hilarious to watch. 
Here's Jake and Had tryin to throw Broc in the water. 

"Save me Mom!"

Brayden found a pretty good hiding spot from them for awhile.  Turns out they didn't care if they had to barge in on a momma nursing.  Luckily Diana was ready for them.    

And last but not least, I couldn't leave out a picture of this game. 

Settlers of Catan.

The boys only played it every spare second they could.  I've played it before.  It's fun.  Not quite as fun one game after another, and not quite as fun when us girls are ignored.  So as a friendly little joke, me and Diana each carefully snatched up a necessary piece of the game.  Not one of the boys noticed us hanging around them.  It was like stealing candy from a baby.  :)

It was pretty funny to watch them count and recount the pieces, and check everywhere a million times.

John and Melissa knew we had them. Sam knew.  Kenzie knew.  No one said a word.  Oh it was funny!

At one point I heard Jake (the only guy that was playing that wasn't married) say, "I bet it was one of your wives.  Hello, none of them want you guys to be playing."  They must not have listened to him cuz it took them awhile to figure it out.  Eventually, I think Sam got tackled to the ground and searched cuz she was laughing when they were asking about it.  They finally checked us all, as we are laughing our heads off.  I'm pretty sure when they found out I was the culprit, they all wanted to throw me in the water for messing up their game.  Lucky for me, I only got a few threats and a couple stink eyes, but we all got a good laugh.   

 

We owe a huge thanks to John and Melissa for such a fun and memorable vacation.  We love you guys!