I Love Homework

I know I have NO IDEA what's to come, in terms of homework...

...but I loathe it already.

Cleaning Spree Adventure in Drew's Room

Do you ever get to the point where you're fed up with all the CRAP in your kid's room?!?

I know my mom never was, but that's beside the point.

I went on a massive cleaning spree and this is what I found under Drew's bed.

And yes. That's a box of breakfast bars.

 

Cub Scouts

Drew is so excited to finally be involved in Scouts. After years of sitting through his sissy's meetings, watching his sissy sell cookies, and staying behind when his sissy got to go to outings, Drew is finally a CUB SCOUT!

And I mean. How handsome is he in his little uniform?!?

Who wants to buy some Boy Scout POPCORN?!?

 

Fall Ball

Because Emma enjoys softball so much, we signed her up for Fall Ball this year. We initially signed her up to play at AYBS, but unfortunately they didn't have enough interest to form a league.

So we signed her up to play at OYO, Oaklandon Youth Organization.

Where we make the trek all the way up there twice a week.

But actually - it's turned out to be a fantastic league. We are very impressed with their structure and how well-organized everything is. Much more so than AYBS, I must say.

She's playing in the 10U league, which means it's player pitch. Which means she's no longer the top-dog. Which also means it's uber-boring. 

I mean. For the love of the good Lord. 

These girls are just learning how to pitch, so every pitch is basically a ball. The girls rarely get a hit off of a pitch. They mainly walk to first base, then steal the remaining bases from player errors.

And Emma's gotten frustrated. She hasn't hit a single pitch so far. She's walked plenty of times, but she's also struck out plenty as well. And Emma doesn't do too well with failure...because in her eyes, she's failing if she's not hitting.

Imagine it in her eyes: in the spring, she was the Top Dog. Always getting huge hits out to the field; even getting a grand slam! Now, she only walks and "steals" bases.

So I've been telling her that this year kinda sucks. It's the year where everyone is learning how to pitch. And she gets it...heck, she's still showing interest in it and in fact, wants to take some additional pitching lessons to get it down. So that's promising.

But in the meantime, it's been a challenge to watch. I can't say they're the most exciting games to watch...

Veronica, Emma, and Sydney

She's a hefty lefty!!

 

A Visit to a Hall of Famer

Drew thinks he's a pretty big deal.

Not only is he playing flag football at Chartard, but he's also the son of a real, life Hall of Fame-r.

His dad.

Back-To-School Night

I always enjoy Back-To-School night because it not only gives me a chance to meet the kids' teachers, but it also allows me to see all the neat things they've learned - and will learn - at school. 

And I must say, it was pretty cute to see these life-size figures that the 3rd graders made.

And how about this sweet note that Emma wrote to me?!?

 It reads:

Dear Mom,
Thank you for letting me come to this school. Make shure [sure] to be carfel [careful] when you open up my desk. Thank you for being my mom i love you so so much. That is all i have to say.
love your dater [daughter],
Emma
P.S. bring home my water bottle

First Day of School 2015 - 2016

Summer Lovin'

We feel pretty lucky to have some great people that we call friends. With the - somewhat - hard summer we've had, it has been nice to kick back and relax a bit. 

Relaxing on the Wilson's boat.

Panoramic view of Morse Lake.

Emma and Sydney having some fun on the tube!

Sydney: 8 yrs, Emma: 8 yrs. Just a bit of a size difference there!

We love the Indy Indians!

AYBS 8U All Stars

Andy and Eddie were asked to coach the 8U AYBS All Star team.

I know Andy loves coaching. It's one of the things he misses most. He loves working with kids, whether that be teaching them in the classroom or coaching them on the field.

I know Emma loves softball. And I know she loves being an "All Star." 

And guess what?

She got a grand slam (kinda, it was due to player errors, but hey...it happened, and her team was psyched). 

Mission accomplished!

Back Row: Sydney, Emma, Josie, Catherine, Ava S.  Front Row: Maura, Mariana, Grace, Ava P.

The GREAT Flood of 2015

So that previous post, saying I was over it?

Yeah, that was an understatement.

Two weeks after getting flooded, we - yet again - had another flood. This one was the worst flood we've ever experienced.

THREE FEET of water came into our house. 

And the city won't do a damn thing about it.

I have no more words to use to express my frustration, my heartache, my broken spirit. I'm beyond sick by the situation that we have - that we LIVE in - that I just have no more words.

Here it comes....

Trying to stop the water. Pretty pathetic, huh?

Our backyard. Normally, you'd be looking at beautiful green grass.

We had to keep moving our cars further and further up the driveway. Eventually, we had to park them in our neighbor's driveway for safe-keeping.

And here it is. The aftermath.

Water came up so high, it went into our dryer. Broke our washer, actually. And zapped our internet, as our router was on a table that got washed away by water. Oh, and our air conditioning got zapped. So we had to replace that as well.

Here, you can see the water line. Came up 3" in our house.

Water line on our garage.

Flood of 2015

We experienced our 6th or 7th flood this summer.

What more can I say?

I'm so over this.

Water line. Came up about 12".

Water came up into our Accord. Beautiful, huh?

Ripping up the carpet. Again.

Camp Invention

Created by the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Camp Invention is a summer program focused on creativity, innovation, real-world problem solving and the spirit of invention.

At Camp Invention, Emma and Drew focused on programming in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 

Emma posing with her certificate and invention

Drew posing with his certificate and invention

The double-decker invention!

OBX 2015

Backyard Camping

What says "Summertime" more than Backyard Camping?!?

AYBS: The Orioles

Against my initial hesitation, we chose to put Drew in the Minors league this year. (And by "we," I mean Andy.) With him being younger for his grade, coupled with the fact that Minors is technically for 1st/2nd graders, I was less-than-thrilled to learn that Andy had registered him in this group.

But that quickly changed.

Yes, he was still one of the younger ones. But he learned so much.

And had so much fun.

His team was a younger team, with 4 total kindergartners....so needless to say, they weren't gunning for a spot in the championship. 

But that matter to him. He knew no difference. He just loved playing!