Monday, March 30, 2009

Pretty Please??? Just To Make My Day...

Hey guys. It doesn't hardly seem like I've been blogging just shy of a year now. I love it and am so glad I started...for different reasons.

I know I have fallen into a pattern of not posting every day though, mainly because of baseball season and just life in general. I keep wondering if I will lose (am losing) readers, especially on days where I only get one or two comments.

So, give a girl a reason to smile....if you read faithfully, leave me a comment. Or if you just lurk, then PLEASE leave me a comment. To settle my curiousity. I would LOVE to know you are there and will continue to visit even when I become a slacker. No incentives or giveaways....just because you love me! (you do, don't you?)

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Allies

Just wondering if anyone else would agree that one week is most definitely NOT long enough for Spring Break? Maybe I should take up homeschooling.

Friday, March 27, 2009

A Spring Break Post (in Pictures)

and maybe just a little writing...(just because I like to talk so much).

MONDAY:

Yeah, I guess it wasn't hard to figure out that we spent the entire day on Monday shopping and eating. Not a bad deal.

TUESDAY:



It took me the entire week to do all the laundry, but you can stick a fork in me...cause I'm DONE!

WEDNESDAY:






THURSDAY:


This shot doesn't reflect the "before", but notice the neatly labeled bags and tub...winter clothes, summer clothes. You know the drill...we do this twice a year, but we didn't work hard all day long. Our evening was full of pampering.....






FRIDAY:


I've tried not to talk too much, but I've just got to share captions for these next few pictures from tonight...

My handsome 1st baseman...



snagging that ball hit right to him.....He's OUT!!!


Runner headed to 2nd base....hmmmm...my handsome 1st baseman throws it to 2nd baseman..


And he's OUT!!! And yes, that would mean my handsome 1st baseman got a DOUBLE PLAY!! Go Big Dan!


All kids gone can only mean one thing. Hubby and I get a night to ourselves. Yum. I ate so much I felt like such a sinner. (You know...the gluttony thing. lol)

Hope everyone had a wonderful week...Back to work on Monday.


Tuesday, March 24, 2009

About A Girl

Yes, this post is an ode to my birthday girl / fashion queen!

The birthday fell on Tuesday of last week. Not the ideal time for partying it up, but she did get to hang out with the grandparents while I went to Big Dan's game. We had a day of fun planned for Saturday of this past weekend and here's what we did.....

We gathered up an aunt, an uncle, and a few little boys....

A daddy to foot the bill and ride go-karts with her....

A mom who played some skee ball with her, followed her around snappping lots of pictures..

cleaned up all the wrapping mess...

and kept up with ALL THOSE TICKETS!!

We went to Playtime Pizza and they had a blast! It was totally a Chuck E Cheese on some major steroids.

With all the craziness of baseball and just life in general last week, she decided she would rather have Cold Stone Creamery instead of a birthday cake. She's not much on cake anyway, and it sure made it easier on me. HOWEVER, we were so full after an all you could eat during the day buffet, we decided we would save that until our "girls day out" which was yesterday....the first day of Spring Break.

We had such a wonderful day yesterday. The weather was gorgeous! Perfect for some shopping....and let me tell you, this little fashion queen hit the mother load. We found some great deals and some super cute stuff including these...

The ice cream trip got changed to this...

Highway robbery if you ask me!! lol. Anyway, the goal of the day was to not come home without an Easter Dress. The MISSION was ACCOMPLISHED, and we had some wonderful quality chick time to boot!! I am lovin' Spring Break.

Friday, March 20, 2009

A Baseball Blurb

I love watching my son play baseball. Did you know that?

Our team is doing great this season so far. We have won every single game with only 2 teams even scoring on us. Everybody is in super spirits....although Big Dan has had some moments of distress. He has been down on himself because he's worked so hard gearing up for the season, and even in spite of that, he is still feeling inadequate. I think he just gets so nervous when he's at the plate. Instead of really focusing on getting on base, he focuses more on getting it over the fence. His fielding has been good though. He in is competition with another senior for 1st base and so he doesn't get to play all the time, but he hasn't had any errors and that says so much.

Ok, with all that said, I got some super shots at the last couple of games that I wanted to share and a couple of tips...if anybody is interested.

Do you remember when I talked about the sports setting here? In sports mode (in good lighting), you can shoot continuously which is what I did here. This is Big Dan fielding first base.





I was extremely pleased. All I did was tweak the contrast a bit in my photo editing software because I like vibrant color. One thing I will note is even with my 75-300 lens, instead of staying in my seat and zooming in, I like to get up close and personal with my subject, and I find that zooming in at the max sometimes causes me to lose clarity.

Here he is still at the same position, but I turned my camera to shoot landscape for a different look, and also to include the runner.



To me, the batting pictures are a bit more challenging. I have to be 100% ready and the continuous shooting here is the only way I'm really going to capture the hit. Out of about 10 shots, this is the only one that was really good, but I LOVED capturing the blur of the bat as it rebounded off the ball. That's some good action right there.

Good News! Last night Big Dan got a great hit! He got a double with a hit that went all the way to the fence. I was so happy because he really needed that pick me up. I was mad at myself, though because he had a face first dive into 2nd and I totally wasn't ready to capture that on camera. I'm sure you will notice the dirt in these next 2 photographs though. haha.

Remember I told you how I like to get up close and personal? Well, it's the best way. I get funny looks sometimes and I had to travel far from the stands clear to the other side of the home dugout to get over to 3rd base, but look what it got me!!


I'm so glad Big Dan has finally gotten out of that "mom, you're embarrassing me" stage. I thought that day would never come, but it's so funny....now the first thing he wants to know is "if I got any good pictures!". Makes getting out of my seat totally worth the smile on his face.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Eleven

Although it is actually 11:00 and the day has almost ended, it was a very special day....and no, not just because it was "St. Patrick's Day", although it was.

My baby girl turned eleven today.

She was up this morning before anyone else in the house. By the time my alarm went off she had already had a bath and painted her nails green for the occasion. I made cinnamon rolls especially for her birthday breakfast.

While she was at school, I scurried around knowing this would probably be my only chance to get chores done around the house. I'll be baseballing pretty much the rest of the week, but savoring every last moment of it. My parents picked Little Ann and my nephews up from school and they went to celebrate over supreme pizza and a root beer float, while afterwards heading to wally world to pick out a gift. I, of course, went to watch Big Dan, but if I had to guess, she had a great day. We will be celebrating more this weekend gearing up for "Playtime Pizza" and some "Cold Stone Creamery". I'm sure you'll be hearing more about that birthday celebration in detail..(with pictures!)

They grow so very fast. It's hard to believe that my sweet little chubby cheeked baby....


has blossomed into such a beautiful young lady.

Happy Birthday! I love you, my sweet Little Ann.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Catching Up....List Style

I've been reminded again lately that I've been lagging behind in the blogging department. I know. It seems that I want to blog, but by the time I settle in for the night, my brain is too tired to write anything comprehensible. And such is the case tonight, but I'm going to try to fill you in on what I've been up to by way of a list.

1. Friday I accomplished a great task. I actually paid off my van. I was ecstatic. I knew I was in close range when at the beginning of the year I numbered the pages left in the payment book, but God blessed us with a tax return in excess of the amount I still owed as pay off. It is a great feeling I tell ya. So great, that I felt the urge to detail it out, had Pete put on 4 brand new tires, do a brake job, replace a headlight...and today I had the transmission serviced. So!! I'm good for what...at least another 5 years or so, right?

2. Saturday, the Girl Scouts took a field trip to the Arkansas Historic Museum for a tour and a little hands on. I must say it was worth the $6 for the 4 hours they got. Of course, you must know, my Little Ann went in costume courtesy of my mother. I warned her everyone else would be wearing their girl scout tee shirts, but she didn't care. She looks for opportunities to be different. I guess that's a good thing...or is it? Here are a few shots from the day:

They made beautiful music.

Made sweet little corn husks dolls.

The toured homes, stuffed pillows, played with wool and even watched this lady spin.

Little Ann loved it so much, I am feeling a possible Natchez, Mississippi girl trip over Spring Break.

3. Sunday Little Ann had a relapse. She missed 2 days of school last week with tummy troubles. Keep her in your prayers for she has been having some issues and I'm not quite sure what the problem is. I have an appointment made in April with a specialist. Could be allergies, could be other. May be nothing. Just don't know.

4. Today, I made a trip into the big city with a friend. We had put clothes in a bi-yearly consignment sale, and needed to go pick up our checks. I sold everything I took except 2 pair of shoes and a tank! YEA. Now I can go buy more!

5. And last but not least, we finished the night off with baseball. Overall our team is doing excellent. We had 2 more shut downs tonight. The team we played never scored a single run. It's been a great season so far, but Big Dan has been somewhat down. He's been working so hard. Staying late for extra batting practice, and giving it his all, but it seems that during the games, he is just not hitting right now. He wants to take this to the next level SO BAD, and I just hate when he's down on himself. Mom's job is to help him keep his head up though, so I just keep encouraging him and telling him how proud of him I am. (Because I am ...no matter what he does.)

There you have my list. Happy "almost" Tuesday.