Pitching with Papaw

Post birthday party fun in the yard.. Papaw was catching the heat!!!!!!

More birthday pictures....

Addie and her friends after the "Judy Moody" movie...

Asher and his buddies at Cars 2 in 3D.....

Addie and Asher Turn 7

Addie and Asher turned 7 several weeks ago. I'm still learning how to post pics through blogger, so these are all out of order. But, whatever! We had a great family party, and for the first time.....Addie and Asher decided they wanted separate birthday parties with their friends. Fun for them, but bittersweet for me :( They are definitely not babies anymore, and they are definitely different. No more matching outfits, etc. etc. Boo!!!!! And yet, I love them so much the same. They are so fun right now and it is so exciting to see the kids they are growing into! Scroll around, I'll do several posts of pictures!!!!

Addie getting the big Birthday song at gymnastics on the day of her birthday :)

At the family party with the Big 7 year olds!!!!!

Birthday breakfast. Birthday hair :)

Majorette Camp at UT

Addie and her friend Emma attended the twirling camp at Tennessee several weeks ago. It was a good camp for Addie because it was only three hours a day and it gave her the chance to twirl a little more! The girls had a good time and did so great during their performance on the last day :) Here's a few pics from their time on stage.....

We managed to get a picture with the girls and the Rock on UT's campus. It was all painted for the twirling camp!!!!!

This last pic is Addie and Emma with the UT majorettes........Not sure if she'll follow her Meme's footsteps or her momma's footsteps, but she sure looks cute posing with them!!!!!

Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck......

I'm late posting about stuff. Summer is just too hard to find the time to sit and do this. I'll do my best to play catch up, and you'll have to be patient with me until school starts back! Most of you know about our duck incident earlier this summer. A momma duck chose our pool area as a safe spot for her eggs. Specifically, a small patch of monkey grass in our landscape. We found the eggs one day when Sadie stuck her big ole nose in the grass and out jumped the momma duck straight into the pool. We couldn't believe it! Jody looked up mallard's and their patterns when laying eggs and such, and we decided to just leave the eggs alone so as not to harm the babies. We read that if you put floats/beach balls in the pool, the ducks will stay out, so we left stuff floating in there for a few days........until one morning I look out the window and momma and 9 little ducklings were swimming around the floats! Gah! As I watched and took pictures I could feel myself stressing out. Why in the world would she lay these eggs right next to our pool when we have 3 loud kids and 2 big dogs?! I couldn't understand why she would do something so stupid. There was no way she could get them out of our yard without something happening to them. As I pondered this, I could hear God saying..."Lexie, you have done some stupid stuff too. I carried you out, and I will provide a way for the ducks to get out too." It was quite a teaching moment. Nonetheless, it also occurred to me that the momma was swimming frantically because, now that the ducklings were in the pool, she couldn't figure out how to get them out! It's a long story. So, to make it short, my dad came to the rescue (as he always does) and we fished them out one by one. Momma duck freaked out half way through the process and left some of the babies :( I think at least half of them went with her! We did our best and, looking back, I know exactly why God told her to lay those eggs where she did...........a gentle reminder of whose in control of our lives! Here's a few pics of the babies...

The Pitcher

Baseball with Bay

Batting...

I know this isn't a picture of Bay, but this seemed like a good pic to describe his season of Baseball this year. This is Ty at one of Bay's games.....kind of sums everything up, non? Bay has had a rough season, but I think.......I hope he's coming out a better ball player in the long run. Early on he had to push through a fear of being hit by the pitch (this year was kid pitch). It took a few games, lots of encouragement, and some extra batting lessons, but I think we're working through the fear. He's managed to hit the ball some, and if we can get him believing that he's a good batter, I think we'll really start to see improvement! Mind over Matter sort of thing. Anyway, he played pretty well in the field despite being all over the place....3rd base, 2nd base, 3rd base, outfield, dugout, 2nd base, outfield, dugout, well.........you get the picture. If you ask me, he's done pretty well adapting considering he hardly ever played the position he worked on at practice. Anyway, the year stunk. We have one more tournament next weekend, and I think I speak for all of us when I say "PRAISE GOD!" It's been like watching a train wreck........the bad news bears with out the bears........we're all ready to just call it a year. I am proud of my little man. I am particularly proud of his courage, his character, his sportsmanship, and his passion for the game. It hurts to lose, and I'm proud of the way he's lost this year. The passion for the game is still there.........we'll see where it leads us next year!

Baseball with Bay (continued)

The boys in the dugout.....the coaches this year told them not to cheer like a girls softball team. So.......this is what they did in the dugout. This picture was taken in the middle of the game....

Playing third base....

Number 14....


This picture looks like he's talking into his glove. I imagine, if he could, he'd say "mom, dad, this game is ridiculous. Let's blow this joint and go eat pizza." Until next year.....:)