Happy Birthday Chad!

Today is Chad's birthday! For the most part it was just a normal day. We had basketball camp all morning, mowed grass this afternoon, played outside with the kids, etc! The one thing that Chad requested was an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins! I know it probably sounds really terrible but he went and picked his own cake up! Is that terrible??? He was already out anyway!! He got to pick the one he wanted doing it that way :-) I do think he picked the messiest cake they had...bright red icing! We all enjoyed cake after supper and the boys went directly into the tub after cake! Cade and Chance also gave Chad the homemade cards they made for him..with the help of Rah Rah!


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Basketball Camp!

Cade spent every morning this week at basketball cub camp! He LOVED it! The coaches did an outstanding job with the boys. I think Cade's coach (Brian, who plays for the LIONS) had the hardest job of all. He had the 5 year olds (and one 4 year old) all week. He was so good with the boys. Chad ended up helping with camp too this week. He had a group of 3rd graders! He enjoyed being there with Cade. We found out today that he and Brian (Cade's coach) share a birthday...which is today!! That was neat. Here are a few pictures from Cade's week! Click on collage to see pictures enlarged!!

Baseball Camp!

This week Cade had had baseball camp. He loved it and I was glad to be able to spend a couple of days there watching him. Chad was able to go a couple of days and watch too. Chance and Cooper loved being at the baseball field. Chance would have loved to be able and get out there with Cade. His time will come soon enough. Here are some pictures from his week (the two days I was able to go watch)

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Practicing hitting plastic golf balls! He actually did pretty well despite how it looks at his feet! Some of those balls belonged to the boys who went before Cade. He did add a few himself! The field looked so big with all of the little kids on it!

I loved the pictures of him batting from the "real" home plate!

Today the boys got to "practice" their sliding on a slip and slide. Most of the boys took off and slid across the tarp on their bellies..that's what Cade did! Let's hope he never does that in a game...that could hurt! He had lots of fun!

Cade with his certificate and t-shirt! My camera was having trouble focusing and I missed the shot of him actually receiving his stuff. Oh well! He just stared and smiled at his certificate after he got it...funny!

To help stay cool this week we ate popsicles at the field! That was a treat for the kids. I loved the picture of Chance staring onto the field where Cade was practicing his batting!

Game Ball!

Cade has really been enjoying baseball season! After each game one of the players receives the game ball. Cade has really been struggling with his batting the past couple of games. He hasn't hit a single ball in 2 games and I could tell tonight he was a little discouraged. He does great fielding the ball and is a great encourager to his teammates. Tonight was Cade's night to get the game ball. It really helped brighten his night! After every game he ask, "when will I get the game ball?" Now he's gotten one!!! He has his ball sitting on his dresser and is hoping it will bring good luck for future games. I told him as I tucked him in that I knew he would start hitting the ball again soon. He said, "do you really think I will?" I KNOW you will!! Bless his heart!! He starts baseball camp on Monday so we're hoping that will help some with his batting. He's looking forward to going and being there with some of his friends!

Slip-N-Slide

Today I let the kids do the slip N slide. It was actually not as warm as I thought it was supposed to be outside but they played anyway and had a blast! I had already told them twice this week that they could play on it and twice I cancelled because it was cooler than weather.com said it was supposed to be!! Today was no different but it was warm enough that they enjoyed it for a little while (it was in the lower/mid 70's but it was supposed to reach 79 which I'm not sure if it ever did.) It would have helped if the sun would have come out and stayed but oh well! Here are a few pictures of them slipping and sliding!!

A Great Weekend

This past weekend was a busy one for us. Gramps came in on Thursday to spend a few days. His primary reason for coming was because his daughter (our Rah Rah-aka Chad's mom) was graduating with her Masters!!! She has worked so hard and has FINALLY finished. We are all so proud of her and are really looking forward to her not having to be gone so much for classes! Way to go Rah Rah!!!



Gramps came on Thursday so he would have time to build a new swing set for the boys. Chad's mom has one at her house but he wanted to build them a bigger one that would work as they got older and bigger! He worked so hard on the swing set all weekend! He built a 12 ft swing set for the boys that we can add a 10 ft slide to later. It's really big! Friday night the boys helped out a little. I don't have a picture of the final product yet! I'll post that soon!

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After graduation on Saturday Gramps came to the house for a little while to visit with the boys for a few more minutes before he left on Sunday. We are so thankful that he was able to come for a visit!

Don't see this everyday

This morning I went out to mow the yard. I was cleaning up toys and had a shirt full of balls to dump in the bucket (actually it's a planter) we keep them in. Right before I dumped them in I noticed movement in the bucket. I saw a tail and a body and knew we had a mouse.



I ran in to get Chad so he could get the mouse. When I went back out I noticed something I hadn't seen the first time. The mouse's head was sticking out of the bottom of the bucket. You know how planters have the little holes all around the bottom to drain the water...well the mouse had put it's head through one of those tiny holes and couldn't get it out.


I actually felt really sorry for the little mouse! From the looks of it the mouse had been there for quite a while...notice under the bucket. There was a lot more in the bucket. Chad took the bucket to the woods and tried to pull the mouse from behind but couldn't get it's head back through the hole...the ears were in the way. I think he ended up pushing on his head and finally managed to get the poor little thing out. Did I just say "poor little thing"??? Well the mouse has been freed but it better not come back. I may not feel so sorry for it the next time.