2014 WVLL Twins Baseball

We wrapped baseball season with a crazy awesome tournament.  The city here does tournaments different that we had ever done them.  They take the same ranked teams from their season of playing and play a tournament against other local leagues with the same ranking (the 1 & 2's play other 1 & 2 ranked teams).  It was a great tournament and the kids played awesome.  They were playing to play in the championship game and it ended up being their last game, but oh..what a game!  Nail biter, 2 extra innings, steals, big hits, everything!  But we ended up losing by a run.  Despite the loss, Sam had a great time playing and learned so much this year.  This year we saw huge growth in Sam and I am excited to see his continued improvement next year. 

 At tournament the team recites a baseball pledge before every game.  It is pretty awesome and a great reminder to the boys to play hard, play fair, and be sportsmanlike.

 Of course, Sam's game wouldn't be possible without his own personal cheering section consisting of Max, Lyv, and Jack.  These three were troopers during tournament week.  Thanks to many concession stand trips, and the discovery of a small creek, they had a great time too.

Sam, Sam, the Iron Man

 There are times as a parent when you feel such an overwhelming sense of love and appreciation for you child!  Sam has always had such a desire to be the best, and to push himself by trying new things, which are traits I greatly admire.


In the last two weeks he earned his 100 mile club sweatshirt (he ran a total of 100 miles during this school year all by his wee-self!) AND - he participated in the Gap2Gap Jr. Iron race.  The race included a 1 mile run, a 2.5 mile bike, a .5 mile steeple chase, a kayak portion, and an obstacle course.  He had never kayaked, he had never really biked besides around the neighborhood, but he was determined to do the race.  He did it with his good buddy Luke and did an awesome job.  Watching him cross the finish line exhausted and shaky but so satisfied at finishing, was such an incredible moment!  Love this boy!

*Other cute pics I have to add - Sam could never participate in all of his extracurriculars without having his brothers and sister tag along, so his greatest cheerleaders need a moment in the spotlight:

Max is a little cuddle bug and loves to give us lots and lots of love - even Lyvie got a special hug fest while waiting for Sam to finish ball.

Jack & Lyv Graduate!

 Both Jack and Lyv had their last day of preschool last week!  They both enjoyed school and made great friends, which have been such a blessing for each of them.  Summer is officially about to begin once Sam joins the crew.  Am I ready for it?  Not sure...

Memorial Campout 2014

It had been four years since we last embarked upon a Memorial Day Campout extravaganza, so we were super excited to join in the fun this year! Luckily and Thankfully for us - the weather was GORGEOUS! Seriously, it is usually cold, wet, and often snowing, so my hopes were low for anything different.  The 70's were there to greet us, and we took full advantage of all that nice weather.  

The kids were hardly inside during our 4 day trip - either out on the reservoir getting wet, fishing, or getting disgustingly gross with mud/marshmallow/dirt/etc. 

The highlight of course was spending time with our families, and this year we had a special addition.  Christine and Tom's baby Dallin came to his first campout and the little girls couldn't get enough of him.  Lyv loved snuggling with him (so did I)! Holding this sweet boy made me think of Ryan, and how the last time I spent with him was at Memorial Campout 2010.  His absence was felt, and I can't ever really go camping up to Island Park with thinking of him, which I am grateful for.

 

Max did not like his life jacket - nothing restricting his ability to make messes.  On the other hand a little dirt never hurt, right?  This is how Max appeared 85% of our trip.

 As is Jack's life - if it's going to happen it will happen to Jack.  He happened to be standing by the water, and wet sand found his face!) He loved it.

 Sam at his second attempt water skiing - he no likey!  He hadn't even got in the water when he started to moan about not trying it.  To make matter's worse, the rope got wrapped around his ski and his skiing was over before it began.  Hopefully we can coax him into trying again in July.

 Razor rides were thumbs up for all the kids - awesome sauce.

 Random shots from camping - I was good about taking pics the first night there and then we got to busy.  So I guess it was a good sign that I don't have more pictures because we were having too much fun!

 These two little ladies had a great time!  I loved that Lyv got to have some girl time with such a girly-girl!  Princess Leah and Princess Lyvie did their fair share of dancing, singing, and playing "camp".

Max 18 Month Update

 This little cutie turned 18 months in May!  He is such a sweet sweet boy!  Seriously I have never had a child that gives out so many hugs, kisses, sweet faces, and snuggles - mostly for me.  He loves his momma!!

About 3 weeks ago, Max started to have some major bowel issues, and they weren't resolving, so we took him to the doctor, everything checked out normal.  That's when he started to vomit every time he drank milk!  Ahh…food allergies are something that I just don't think I could handle, but we went 10 days without milk for Max, and started to look up a bit, at least not vomiting anymore.  We decided to get allergy tests to rule out a celiac allergy.  The day, I'm not kidding, the day we got the blood test done, Max all of sudden got better!  They think he probably had a bad virus, that stripped his stomach and intestines of the good bacteria that helps you digest foods, like milk.  So he was "dairy intolerant" but it was only a temporary case while his digestive track got back to normal.  Seriously it was the most nerve wracking 2 1/2 weeks of my life trying to figure out what foods were making him sick, or if they were!  So he's back on milk again, and doing well. But I am extremely grateful that there were no further issues with allergies.

Max thinks he is a pretty big boy, and he tries his best to keep up with the olders.  He loves being outdoors, jumping on the trampoline, playing in the sandbox, running away from me - that's right, down the street - away from me!  He has a lot of Jackism, which is a little scary.  Case in point:

The one in the orange is Max, the one in the blue is Jack - twiners! I about died when I saw that he had crawled in the dryer! Talk about deja vu!

He loves Frozen right now, intact his first real words besides the usual is Elsa!  He even "sings" Let It Go - and you can recognize it when he does.  He is such a good player and will play with whatever is at hand - DVD's, scissors, rocks, my shoes, toothbrushes, etc.  Again, a lot like Jack!  BUT - he does play with real toys as well, so that is a positive. 

One Happy Momma

I had a great Mother's Day and felt extremely blessed to be able to be mother.  It is such a blessing to learn each day from my four kids how to be a better person.  I wouldn't trade any of them (at least not permanently) for the world.

Lyv had her first haircut ever last week!  I just couldn't bring myself to cut off the baby curls, but they were so snarly and ratty all the time, it just had to be done.  We only cut off about 3 inches - so not much a difference in the way it looks, but a lot of difference when I comb it out.  Lyv is almost finished with ballet until after summer.  She is continuing to love being beautiful with her friends.

 I went on my first field trip with Sam and his 2nd grade class to the Capital Theatre.  I was so happy that he was excited to have me there.  He even sat by me!  I love his classmates photo bomb!)

As we are approaching a year in Yakima, we are so grateful for this wonderful neighborhood we moved into, that helped make Yakima home.  Our kids have great friends, and we are never short on buddies to spend the day with.

Eye Candy

The latest joke amongst our medical friends here is that Shawn is the new eye candy at the hospital.  A few of the nurses commented on how good looking Dr. Summers is.  Well, they are right!  Shawn is especially fetching the past few months - due to a lot of hard work, and a lot of cottage cheese!)  I have always thought he was a good looking piece of of wool, but he wanted to loose a few pounds, and by a few he meant 40!  He looks great.  Watch out nurses - he's spoken for!