T-ball Round 1

We branched out this year and decided to sign Madelyn up for summer t-ball and we were hoping for a good experience since she is a year older than last year's soccer attempt. Just in case you don't remember our soccer experience you can check it out here. So it couldn't be worse than soccer last year, right?? Well, it definitely started out rough!!

Madelyn and I drove to the recreation commission to drop off our registration in May and I started talking about t-ball hoping to get her pumped up to play, WRONG!! She starts out telling me she doesn't want to play t-ball she wants to play soccer (such a lie) and by the time I actually hand in the paperwork she is full on wailing that she never wants to play t-ball and she is going to live at Jan's house (daycare lady) so she doesn't have to play. To which I tell her that's fine if that's what she wants but I just paid for t-ball so Jan will take her to play. Such a great parenting moment, not! After I get her back into her carseat, still hysterical, I call her father just so he knows what were dealing with!! This was our first clue that t-ball might not go well!

Then a few weeks before the league was to start I hadn't heard anything from the coach so I called the recreation commission to find out our coach hadn't picked up his things yet. No big deal but I did ask a few questions about the league and found out there was no instructional piece or practice just games. Well great! Who doesn't have any instructional piece in a four year old league?? Clue number 2.

So the first night of t-ball we get all prepared. Camera, check. Water bottles because it's 95 degrees, check. Adorable pink t-ball glove, check. What's missing? The team t-shirt! Our coach brought the t-shirts to the first game and the kids changed on the field. This is where it all went horribly wrong!! There was absolutely NO way our little one was taking her shirt off in front of anyone. There were tears and tugging on our arms to get us to leave, a large fit. Eventually Madelyn and I walked way out away from everyone else just to switch shirts. Then there was a little hat issue. She wanted nothing to do with their team hats. Not having it, no way! So we didn't wear the hat.

By now Matt and I are tired and Madelyn's team has already taken the field. But we're ready to play now! So Matt starts to walk her to the dug out and I can see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice, this isn't going to be pretty. So I hurry to get out the camera. They made it almost to the dug out and this is what happened. A full on dead spring back to mommy! Clue number 3.

I love this shy, cautious girl! She reminds me so much of myself. Sometimes that makes me sad because I know she will be so guarded that she will sometimes miss out on fun things so I'm trying to model more outgoing things for her. I know regardless, she is who she is, and I love her!


Eventually she and I made it to the dugout to cheer on her team.

A big step, sitting in the dugout by herself!

Looky there, she made it out on the field

In the end, she did field for a few innings and even threw the ball back to the coach. And she batted once! So there was definite progress.

My Little Gardener

For Easter this year my mom and dad gave Madelyn a little gardening set complete with her own princess gardening gloves, a shovel, and cushy pad for her knees. She sure loves them!

This year we had some new fiber optic grass to plant up front in the flower beds that Matt's mom and dad gave us. And we did our annual veggie shopping trip in the pouring rain which makes it interesting because we grabbed as quickly as we could and apparently I was in the mood for peppers because we sure bought several variety of pepper plants and I'm the only one that eats them! We also bought roma tomatoes, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, pumpkins, cilantro, basil, oregano, and cat nip. They are really doing great will all the rain we've had!

Easter at Home

First there was the annual coloring of the eggs which we all love to do. I don't know why but there is something fun about dunking eggs into colored water, putting stickers on them, and using a wax crayon to write on them that takes everyone back to fond childhood memories.

Concentrate, Concentrate, don't drop it

I love this photo! Such sweetness and innocence!


Easter is the holiday we usually celebrate at home by ourselves because our school doesn't give us Friday or Monday off and that would make it a super short trip to share between both our families and extended families in Larned. We did church in the morning and had our egg hunt just after church. In order to get the eggs hid I took Madelyn to the back yard to start hunting while Matt hid the eggs in the front yard. She looked and looked all over the back but couldn't find any and just when she was starting to get frustrated Matt came out and suggested the bunny might have hid them in the front instead. She said, "Good idea Dad, let's check!" Off she went!

It is so fun to see her excitement and joy through the holiday!

Easter at the YMCA

We attended the Easter event at the Platte County YMCA where Matt works and loved it. They had the Easter Bunny to get photos taken with but you'll seen no photos with our little doll with the bunny, you know how that goes for us!! She did sit "close" to the bunny after several hours of being there but there was a definate NO for the photo! Oh well, it was a little chilly so we enjoyed a very quick egg hung outside.

Showing off all her goods!

Inside their gym they had several cool kids activities. What kid doesn't love the bounce house?!

She is getting so much better at trying things and not being as shy, especially around other kids. She still has to warm up a bit but as she grows in confidence and makes new friends she grows braver and braver every time. I'm so proud of her.

Such concentration on the balance beam!

Learning how to do a flip on the bars. She totally loved all the gymnastics events. Matt and I have always thought with her short body type she would make a good gymnast and it was fun to see her try out some of it.

Coming up next, pictures of Easter at our house. I know I'm still behind but I'm getting there!

When Mommy's Away...

...Daddy buys toys! Recently I had lunch with some friends and Matt took Madelyn to Moon Marble in Bonner Springs and spent a small fortune in unusual gifts. They also had fun watching how to make marbles and picking out unusual ones but, oh my they bought stuff! This shark is to suppose to grow to six times it's regular size so we let it set hoping for wonderful before and after pictures but no such luck! The stupid shark didn't really grow at all. Oh well, it felt like we were doing a science experience and Madelyn totally loved it.
Now let's play with the Jacob's Ladder, growing crystals, or rhinestone by number crowns!

Brew to Brew

Way back in March, yes I March, I ran in the Brew to Brew race along with some other fantastic people! The race starts at Boulevard Brewery in Downtown, Kansas City and finishes at Freestate Brewery in Lawrence. That's a whopping 44 miles that takes all day but it is tons of fun!

Special thanks to Tammy!! I roped her into doing even though she wasn't quite sure.


Most of our team at the start line



None of us really knew what to expect for the day, one of the pleasant surprises, ice cold boulevard beer at 8:00 am!! Tammy and I getting our beers.

Pretty fresh faces and smiles before the race.

See Jacque in the red shirt right in the middle. Poor girl was our first racer and we didn't know what the heck we were doing so we dilly dallied around the start line for a while. Then when we decided to load the cars to go to the next drop off point we got lost, a lot lost. So Jacque ended up at the finish of her leg of the race before we made it there to pick her up and drop off runner number two. Whoops!!

Somewhere in the middle of the first several legs we managed to fit in an urgent potty break, having to stop and unload the minivan because one of the coolers had dispenced water everywhere and the back of Mindy and Chris' van was inches deep with water, and a shopping stop to buy shoes. Who shops in the middle of a race you ask? Well, only those that forget their running shoes several hours away! Eventually Chris found new shoes and we were off and running again!

Chris recently took up running more long distances and actually did a couple of the legs of the race.

You can count on Kansas weather to be unpredictable and this day was no exception. It was the windiest day of the year and Mindy and Sarah had one of the least sheltered legs. They were both nicely covered with a thin layer of dirt when they were finished.

And there's me, why do I look so happy, I'm not sure. My leg of the race was hilly to put it nicely. But I made it through despite a limb nearly falling on me because of the wind.

It also turned out to be 90 degrees, yes in March! They dispatched some ambulances when we got closer to Lawrence. It took us about 7 hours and 5 minutes to finish the race and then were headed off for a nice dinner and more beer!


Costumes, did I mention costumes. We had know idea how people went all out for this event! Look out for us next year. Here are some of our favorites, and yes, they do actually run in these costumes.

Risky Business

The Elvis Crew

Can you imagine having to run several miles in these?

The Urkels

Lots of tutus

Thanks to Sarah for all of the organizing and Mindy for letting me borrow some of the pictures. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Wobble Goggles

Also known as goggles will be used this week. We leave for Florida today!!! We'll are headed to the Tampa area for my cousin's wedding this weekend so we are going to do Disney World for a day and visit Matt's uncle for a few days. Many pictures coming soon!