The End of A Season

Well, summer baseball is officially over.  West Raleigh Red 9U won first place in the last two tournaments and went undefeated in the last nine games of the season.  Quite a finish, huh!  Jackson has two big trophies that he's very proud of.  Sawyer likes them too but only because they have rotating baseballs that he likes to spin.  As a result, Jackson is keeping the door to his room shut now because Sawyer has discovered where big brother keeps all of his valuables.  Haha!

We are enjoying time together at the beach now.  I've missed this home away from home.  It's so nice to be together as family again.  We'll have a few weeks of vacationing (and mama recuperating from travel baseball:) before we have to get back into a new routine for fall. 

Sawyer seems to have gotten over his urge to eat sand so this trip has been especially enjoyable.  He loves to kick a ball on the beach.  I think he'd rather do that than play in the water.  There was a nice wave pool on the beach today so Jackson skimboarded while Sawyer waded in the water.  We also had relay races.  Jackson loves to race me when we are here.  I can't get him to run with me in the mornings but he loves to race short distances on the beach.  Yesterday, he wanted to do a long jump competition and I obliged.  I told Webb that sometimes I just want to go and sit on the beach but I know that Jackson is growing up so fast and I have to make the most of the moments when he wants me to play with him. 

It's been pretty hot lately and I hear that the 105 degree temperatures are heading our way just in time for the weekend. We certainly are going to enjoy the nice little ocean breeze until then! 

Top Gun "Battle Of The Best" First Place Trophy

Cousins cooperating

Jackson and Sawyer's art:-)

 

He found the wave pool

Offering to return a seashell to the ocean:-)

A Week Off

Last week was wonderful!  We got to spend six days together as a family without any plans without any scheduled baseball practices or tutoring sessions.  I missed our annual 4th of July beach trip this year but the boys helped me out at home by entertaining Sawyer so I was able to catch up on cleaning and organizing, you know, the stuff that's never really done.

Jackson and Granddaddy rode their bikes to McDonald's for breakfast twice since last week.  Jackson is a bundle of energy so it's been a good outlet for him since he wasn't practicing baseball last week.  Today, I took Jackson, Colby, and Sawyer to Marbles Museum in downtown Raleigh.  That place is amazing!  It had been over a year since my last visit to Marbles.  I really didn't want to take Sawyer until he could partake in many of the activities.  Since the temperature reached 100 degrees today, I thought that Marbles would be the best place to play; apparently, so did the hundreds of other people that were there today.  It was crowded but the boys had fun.

Sawyer played mostly in the "shoeless" section for babies and toddlers up to 18 months.  After getting knocked over by big kids on two separate occasions, I thought that this would be the best place for us to stay while Jackson and Colby explored the rest of the museum.  There's a nice fish tank in the baby section along with climbing mats.  Sawyer's favorite part was the bendy balls.  I think he was the only child in there that was kicking a ball around.  He was well entertained which made the trip (and dealing with the crowds) worthwhile!

Apparently both of my boys love science and nature.  They'd live outside if they could.  Inside the house, I'm constantly finding things that look like science experiments.  On numerous occassions I walk into Jackson's bathroom only to discover a sink full of water with soaps and things mixed into it.  Just this week, I found pieces of paper with writing wrapped in plastic in our refrigerator.  I've yet to ask Jackson what that was for but I heard him say that he was trying something.  As I was typing a few minutes ago, Webb went to check on Jackson in the shower.  Apparently, he was in there mixing concoctions of tea tree oil.  He's always been full of curiosity.  He at least has moved past the tasting everything stage and we don't have to worry about him putting everything in his mouth, unlike little Sawyer.  And speaking of Sawyer, he has become a birdwatcher like his mother.  He loves to stand by the kitchen window and watch the birds bathing in our bird bath.  When we ask him what the bird says he replies, "quack, quack, quack, quack".

It's hot here but life is good at the White house.  The boys keep me busy playing and cleaning but I have so much to be thankful these days.  

Jackson, sporting his American flag tattoo before the fireworks with Colby ( our favorite distant cousin:) 

Slip N Slide

Checking out the pirate ship

Underwater exhibit

Water table

He's got mad hula hoop skills like his daddy (who won the 1999 Carnival Cruise hula hoop contest)

He's so happy that there is a nursing room at Marbles! 

I love this!

Checking out the fish

Playing at one of the many game tables

We have enjoyed (well, mostly) a fun weekend of baseball.  Webb and Jackson stayed one night in an RV with a teammate and his dad.  This was a first for Jackson. I'm sure that was a dream come true for him.  I remember when he was four or five and we were riding down the road and he told me that one day he wanted a house that is "kind of flat and everything is on one level".  Well, it took me a few minutes to figure out what he was saying.  I realized that he was talking about a trailer.  Needless to say, the RV experience was one that he'll never forget.  Webb said that the boys stayed up until midnight.  They had so much fun. 

We just finished up with our tutoring for the summer.  Ms. Lisa is taking some time off and we aren't complaining.  I know Jackson would like a break and I am glad that we will have two days of not rushing out the door.  Last week, Ms. Lisa told me that Jackson had made wonderful progress and was getting through his lessons at a great pace.  He's certainly overcome a lot of obstacles.  Just this year, we were talking about things that we could thank Jesus for and he said, "I want to thank him for my dyslexia because maybe there are some gifts that come with it."  He's come a long way!  I think that I have too.

Our sweet lab mix, Poppi, gave us a scare last week.  I got up on Sunday morning and went out to feed her but she wasn't anywhere to be found. The search began but it didn't end until Wednesday, when we finally got her home.  I spent hours online posting on various sites and spent quite some time making posters and laminating them so that we could hang them around neighborhoods in our area.  Long story short, a man saw one of my postings and sent me an email.  Poppi was in his neighborhood, less than a mile from our house.  I headed out there with the boys and joined another friend for the search.  I had to leave early to go get Sawyer down for a nap so Holly took over the search.  She prayed and within in a short time, there was Poppi standing at her van.  We were all so thankful.  We now refer to Holly as the "dog whisperer" because Poppi is the second dog that she's brought home safely.

Sawyer is all over the place these days but he's so much fun.  He now climbing and loves to climb on his Mega Blok table and on his infant/toddler chair.  He has the cutest look on his face once he's accomplished his goal.  He's still putting everything in his mouth but the doctor said that it could be helping him develop a strong immune system so I try not to stress over it too much.  He loves potting soil, mulch, pine bark, stones, and cat food!  Of course we try to discourage him from eating those things but still...he's eaten his share.  His new favorite song is "Who Let The Dogs Out" and he loves when Granddaddy plays it while his brother and  cousins dance.  He also loves to sing and hum right before going to sleep.  We usually can settle him easy at night with a song. 

We have another day of baseball and then we're off for a week.  I am so excited about getting to spend a lot of time together at home as a family.  It should be a good week.

#14

The underground dugouts at the stadium in Wilson

Even Sawyer is glad that Poppi is home again!

Playing in the dog's water bucket

Sawyer was talking about something when I took this picture.  I didn't know what he was saying but it was probably something about having to share the water hose with Davis last week.