Maddie turns 6!

My Maddie girl turned 6 today! I really can't believe how big she is getting. Every year when I look back I am both sad and excited to see just how much she has grown. We had a birthday party on Saturday since family was going to be in town for the ballgames. I had asked Maddie weeks ago what kind of party she wanted and she told me Hello Kitty, and I think everyday since then it changed. Finally last Wednesday I said "Maddie you are going to have to tell me what kind of party you want so that I can buy plates and napkins and make a cake." To that she replied "you know my favorite flower, violets, well I want a purple party with flowers and small jars with purple flowers in them." Ok, I can do that...

Here's Maddie with her purple flower cake.

Here is her birthday table. Notice the small jars with purple flowers.

Opening Day!

Baseball and softball season has started! We have two kids playing this year and it is already hectic with practice and now games. Opening day started with a parade...


Here's Ian pointing to his name on the truck. The boys rode in the trailer and were super excited. Go Mustangs!!!


Maddie in the back of the Ladybug truck.


Here's the truck from the front. Isn't it cute! They won 1st place for their float...go Ladybugs!


Cole just hanging out being cute!


Maddie is up to bat. Look at my sweet little slugger all ready to hit the ball. She definitely has her stance down.


Here she is on first base! I think her softball tattoo makes her run faster.


Cole exploring the park!


Coach Daddy giving Ian some pointers.


My big slugger hydrating himself. Man, it was hot out there!


Ian up to bat. They are using a pitching machine and it scares me to death seeing that ball fly at him. I would have gotten a better picture of him at bat but I was trying to watch for foul balls. There seems to be a lot of them and I'm pretty sure they hurt.


At the end of the day everyone was tired, but the boys had just enough energy to teach Grandaddy how to play Angry birds!

Here's my sweet baby...oh, how he loves his Mickey!

picture for mommy!

Maddie always draws pictures for me. It's one of my favorite things! When I pick her up from school I ask her what she did that day and I'll go through her schoolwork. She always has lots of drawings, some from other kids to her, some from her to other kids, even some for her daddy and I always look at them and secretly wonder if there is going to be one for me. I remember months ago when she practiced for days to draw a heart so that she could give me a picture with one on it. It was so sweet and I think I cried when she handed it to me. And I keep them all even against Ryan's wishes. He thinks we should just take a picture of her picture and keep it on the computer, but there is just something about having the actual piece of artwork. Like reading an actual book - it's just comforting.Well, this is the picture she gave me yesterday and it's one of my favorites so far, complete with bees, flowers, bugs and even a worm. I could hang these things all over my house! I love my Maddie girl!

I don't think I posted a blog the entire year of 2011. In fact, I know I didn't. That's really sad because we had a lot happen to us as a family that year - growing kids, tornado, lightening strike killing our dog pepper, tornado, celebrating 10 years of marriage, did I mention a tornado... I'm actaully not sure that anyone will read this because if there was anyone that read my blog to begin with they have most certainly quit for lack of postings. Anyway, I believe I'll start posting again (I go through kicks), and I want to start off with Coleman who is now 2 and loves chocolate milk or as he calls it "choc". He would drink it all day if I would let him and he refuses to drink white milk. He makes me laugh every morning because he gets so excited when he gets his first cup.

this is Coleman excited that I am getting him chocolate milk. I know it's a close up but he wouldn't stand back from the camera.


this is coleman mad and upset with me because I didn't put enough chocolate in his "choc". He actually followed me to another room just to fall on the floor as I turned around and then he fussed at me saying something like "no, no choc, no mama, no" And I knew, because I have been trying to wean him from so much chocolate, what I had done and why he was mad at me. So, I did what any good mom would do who has a boy who loves chocolate milk as much as mine - I poured in more Hersheys syrup until it looked like there just might be more syrup than milk and then I handed it back to him. The boy sure does love his chocolate chocolate "choc"!