summer, baseball, school, and fall-oh my!

I can't believe I haven't updated since July! 

We had a really great summer full of baseball and fishing!  Matthew and Riley both entered a youth fishing derby and had a blast.  Here is the trout Riley caught:

Matthew caught quite a few big fish that day, here he is with one of his catches of the day: a nice catfish!

One of the most fun things we did was go camping for the first time!!  With as outdoorsy as we are as a family I can't believe it's taken us this long to go camping.  It's definitely going to become a regular thing.  Matthew and Riley had such a great time and even this reformed indoor girl has to say-it was fun!  We went to Audra State Park in West Virginia. 

The park was absolutely beautiful.  I really can't wait to go back.  The boys had a great time swimming and climbing and just being boys!

We also spent a lot of time at Kennywood this summer.  Some of my favorite memories with our family are from Kennywood.  The sweetest thing that happened at Kennywood this summer was that I got to see just how protective Matthew is of Riley.  He would put his arm around him and hold him tight.  So sweet for a mother to see her sons love eachother like that.

One of the most exciting things that we did this summer was go to our first concert as a family! We went to see Big Time Rush!! It was such a good show! I remember how I felt when I got to see my favorite band in person and it was great to see their eyes light up when they saw their favorite band right infront of them!

This was Riley's face when the band first came out on stage!

Matthew and Daddy enjoying the show!

So, as you can see we had a very busy but very AWESOME summer! We made memories that I know we will always remember.

Now it's finally my favorite season-FALL!!! Fall means pumpkins, hayrides, Halloween, and Fall Ball! 

Both of the boys have started their Fall Ball seasons and they are doing great!  Matt is helping coach Riley's team and it has been great seeing him enjoy it so much.  I know that Riley really likes having Daddy coach just as much as Matt really likes doing it!

Matthew has had a great season so far! He's even recieved the game ball in two games so far! He was and is SO happy!  Here he is after getting the game ball last week

School is in full swing and infact, we just had Riley's open house tonight! Matthew's is coming up later on this week.  Here they are on the first day of school.  My 1st and 4th graders!

Tonight we got to go to Riley's open house.  I look forward to Open House every year.  I love going to see their classrooms and meeting their teachers.  This year the school is having two open houses-one for the lower grades and one for the higher grades.  So you know what that means?! TWO open houses for me! Woo hoo!  Here's my 3 favorite people waiting to go into open house tonight

Here's my first grader!!!!

Well, this has turned into a pretty big update! I really need to keep up on this better.  Hope you're all still out there ready-I promise to check in more often!  In closing-here's to a Fall that is filled with as much fun and as many memories as this summer!

 

Summer Fun and Baseball

It's hard to believe I haven't updated this since January! There are many times that I have wanted to sit down and write and have felt like no one reads this anyway so what's the big deal if I don't get to it. Well, the big deal is that I love to write and it shouldn't matter if anyone reads this or not (even though it still does) but I'm doing it anyway.

A lot has happened since the last time I updated back in January. Matthew and Riley are both done with school for the summer. I can't tell you how nice it has been to not have homework assignments due and fundraisers to keep up with. I really enjoy their school and I like to think I'm pretty active with everything but it is really nice to take a break for the summer and just be with my kids. Riley had a lot of fun this year in kindergarten, which is now full day, that's a huge change from when Matthew went just a few years ago. Riley made a lot of friends and he liked to come home and tell me all about them. He brought home wonderful pieces of his artwork and his reading and spelling skills are very good. Matthew had a great year in 3rd grade and at the end of the year he even brought home the super speller award for making 100% in spelling every single 9 weeks. Matthew also won first place in an art contest in the photography category. He was even awarded money! I think they both learned a lot this year and are well prepared for 1st and 4th grade.

 The main reason I haven't had much time to update is because of baseball. We're always either playing baseball or practicing for baseball. Matthew can't drive by the baseball field without asking to practice. I love that he wants to practice and improve and work hard. I love that he loves the sport so much. This year was Riley's last year of t ball and he is finally ready to move up to 8U baseball this fall! He can't wait! He has been wanting to move up for some time now and be like his big brother :-). It was kind of bittersweet when Riley's season ended. I knew it was the last time we'd be "t ball parents" and we were now officially "baseball parents." I am happy for him that he's doing so well and so excited to be moving up. This season in baseball and t ball was a season of firsts for the boys. After spending the last 5 years with one of my kids in t ball-FINALLY one of my kids was on the purple team. I think we all know that I'm a tad obsessed with the color purple so I was really happy haha. Riley was on the purple team and I really think he enjoyed every minute of this season. His coach was the nicest guy and really encouraging. Riley didn't use the tee this year, his coach would pitch to him to get him ready to move up to 8U. He had some really nice hits! I'm very proud of my Riley. Matthew was on the 10U team for the first time. He did play 10U for fall ball, but this was his first spring season in the 10U league. The big difference in 10U is that it is kid pitch instead of coach pitch. I am so proud of Matthew for the way he played this season, but more importantly than the way he played I am proud of him for the way he behaved. This season Matthew showed me yet again that while sometimes his emotions are hard to figure out as he is quiet and introspective like his father-when you get to see his heart..wow. Matthew never gave up this season, he kept trying and kept learning and kept going, all because he loves the game. A huge first for Matthew this season was that he started pitching! It was really exciting to watch!
I love watching my sons play a sport that they both really enjoy. I love being a baseball mom :-).

It's Basketball Time Again!

It's that time of year again-time for basketball!!! I'm so excited for this season! Matthew has had 2 games so far and his team won both games! The first game I think Matthew was still getting back into the swing of things and remembering everything he learned from last year and this year's practices. The second game he was right there in it, taking the ball down the court, passing, rebounding. It was great to see him have so much FUN. That is what I love best about watching the boys play sports, when you watch them you can just tell they are having a blast. With the activities the boys do I often see other kids who look bored or just plain miserable. I feel awful when I see that, I wish they were having fun too! When you look at my boys they are smiling and jumping (and even dancing-MATTHEW! haha). I love it!

Here's a picture of Matthew from his game the other day..go Matthew! He's the one dribbling the ball.

It's been awhile!

I haven't written here for awhile! My inbox hasn't been flooded with people wondering where I've been or begging for updates so I'm sure you haven't been too upset, but I hope you at least missed my entries at least a little ;-).

Our family has been keeping pretty busy. I am definitely aware of the drawbacks of over scheduling our kids and I don't feel as if we are OVER scheduled, but some times it seems like we really do have quite a bit going on. It's all in a good way though. Sure, some days I have those.."I really wish we weren't doing anything today" kind of days but 99% of the time I can't wait for basketball days or cub scout days, or karate days. The boys feel the same way. I talked to them the other day about being over scheduled. I wanted to see where their minds were. Are they too tired-do they feel stressed-are there things they just don't like doing? I asked Matthew if he had to drop one activity which one would it be? He answered with "none!" The thought of not doing the activities he loves was just too much for him to even consider! I think it's all about balance. If you don't have any free days to just do "nothing" or just hang out as a family, well then I'd say you are stretching yourself too thin and definitely over scheduling your family. Luckily, though we keep busy with our activities, we do still get those days of hanging out in our PJs all day if we want to. If you have to drag your child to activities that are supposed to be fun for them, then I'd say it's not serving it's purpose. The reason that we have our kids in activities is for THEM. It's for them to have fun, to learn, to be active and healthy. School work is also a big thing to consider. Matthew and Riley both make wonderful grades in school. They surprise me with how smart they are! It's not surprising because I didn't think they were smart-I've always known they are, it's surprising because they amaze me each and every day with something that they know, or say, or do..they are just wonderful kids.

School has been going well for both Matthew and Riley this year! They are loving being in the same school and riding the bus together. Riley had a holiday concert at his school in December and it was the cutest most wonderful thing. I cried! The cutest part was that Riley was so happy to see me there. He kept smiling at me and waving to me in the crowd. Matthew is doing well too. He has over 100% in spelling and has maintained that the entire school year so far. He's also my little math whiz-he's even had to correct me a few times!

Matthew, as most of you know, is my New Year's Baby! He was born on January 1st, 2003. So, is everyone here as good at Math as Matthew is? That makes him 9 years old! I can hardly believe it, it feels strange to type! We had his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese with family and friends. We all had a lot of fun!

Cub Scouts is going great this year as well. Matthew is a Bear now! The Pinewood Derby is next weekend and we can't wait! It is probably the thing we look forward to the most all year with cub scouts. Matthew's car is going to be awesome! He is going to be painting it tomorrow. I don't want to reveal too much about it yet until it's all finished. We've had fun so far this year especially at the Halloween party. This past week the boys made toolboxes and it was a great time. Here is Matthew with his finished toolbox



Our Den Leaders are really nice and include Riley in everything we do. They let him build a toolbox as well!



Matthew and Riley also recently started Karate (actually Tang Soo Do to be officially correct). They are loving it! I love it too. It looks like a lot of fun-I wonder if the boys would mind mommy trying it? haha. It will be awhile before either of them can test for a belt but so far they are doing great. I think Matthew surprised me most of all because if you know him you know that he doesn't exactly have the greatest balance...let's just say-he falls down a lot..but so far at karate, he's been doing awesome! I think Riley's favorite part is the end of class when they make a fun obstacle course where the kids have to use different aspects of karate, it looks like fun and he's smiling the whole way through!

Matthew had his first basketball game of the season today. This is his second year playing basketball. He is on the blue team again and even got the same number he had last year. They looked good at their first game today and they won! The season is pretty short, only 8 games I believe. It should be a lot fun.




Well, this has turned into a pretty long entry. Hopefully I can keep up with this a little better in 2012-Happy New Year everyone!