T ball Champions!!!

Let me start off by saying t ball is intense here in Texas.  There are 2 different levels of t ball; a 4-5 year old level, and a level for 6 year olds.  The 6 year old one has umpires, and if they get a good hit, or the the fielders miss or overthrow, they get to keep running, instead of stopping on first base like in the younger level.  Well Jeter played in the 6 year old division this fall and he actually got on a good team!!!  His coach knew what he was doing, and he had some really good little players on his team.  It was seriously so much fun going and watching them!  Jeter improved tons since last year and came away from the season a lot better than he started.  So that alone was worth it.  But I came away from his season a little more in love with my kid loving and excelling in a sport than I ever thought I would.  

 I loved watching Jete hit the ball.  He got to be a good little hitter... but mostly I loved watching him fill one side of his mouth up with air as he went to smack the ball.

I loved the shy, but proud look on his face when he hit his first home run.

I loved watching the parents and coaches get into it and yelling 

and cheering over a right or wrong call.  

I loved watching Jeter tear around the bases and hearing 

other parents say, "Man, that kid is so fast!"

I loved that Jeter was about the only kid who knew or cared 

about the score at the end of the games.

  I loved that he wasn't ever a kid in the dugout that was climbing 

the fence, or causing problems with other players.

And I loved that they only lost one game the whole season, played in a tournament, and won the championship!!!

I loved watching how Jete's face lit up when his daddy told him how proud he was of him. 

And I loved watching Had help coach, and get sooo excited for Jete's games.

We loved watching Jeter play and are so proud of him!!!

A Ducky Halloween

Halloween came and went. 

 It was layed back, and pretty low key this year, or I should probs say that I was layed back and low key.  I decided to let our kids have a little say in their costumes this year.... and with the help of Had, decided [was told] not to make costumes for us.  It made for a lot less stress.  I usually think homemade costumes are so much cuter, and even though I get stressed making them, I kind of like doing it and feeling like I can accomplish some sort of sewing project and creating stuff, when I really don't know what I'm doing.  But even though the majority of their costumes were bought, or they already had parts of them, I still think they turned out pretty cute.  And yes, I'm still a sucker for themed costumes.

I saw a little girl football player on Pinterest (I can't remember the site), and thought that it was about the cutest thing I had ever seen, and knew Jerz would love it. Sure enough, she did.  She got to be a little bit girly, and a football player at the same time.  So I whipped out her tutu and threw together the rest of her costume to make for one adorable little Ducks football player.  Jeter was excited to be the football ref.  I just ordered his gear from an actual reffing website, since there were no ref Halloween outfits for kids.

So proud to be a Duck!

Like I said, we didn't dress up this year, but Had couldn't resist gettin a little Ducked out with the kids for our ward Halloween party.

Jeter said he's gonna throw a penalty flag on Jerz every time she throws a fit or cries.  HAHA

Candy heaven!

Ooh yum, I see chocolate!  I'm sure they'll never even notice if it somehow goes missing.

Happy Halloween!!!

Birthday Girl

Jerz had a birthday shout hooray!  We hope her tantrums will leave today!  One year older and hopefully out of this phase, Happy Birthday... to Jerz!

Ok, that's kind of mean...but kind of true.  She threw tantrums all her life basically, but then she quit for awhile.  I thought she grew out of it, and that it really was just a phase like everyone tells me, but she's picked it up again, and we're hoping it won't last long.  She definitely keeps me on my toes.

But when she's not throwing a fit, she is the funnest, funniest little girl.  We love her spunk. We love how happy she gets over the littlest things, and we love to make her laugh.

Her grandparents spoiled her on her birthday.  She was in heaven with all the horses, barbies, and baby/baby clothes.

Every year we carve pumpkins on her b-day, and so this year we invited Christina (one of Had's co-residents, with no family here) over to come carve pumpkins with us and have cake and ice cream.  And because this year, Jerzi's b-day was on a Sunday, we didn't plan a birthday party for her.  Instead, we took her and her friend to Chuckie Cheese, and to a big bouncey jump playground thing the day before, like she wanted.  But on the day of her b-day, she was pretty upset she wasn't having a birthday party, like Jeter got.  And she insisted that she wasn't turning 4 cuz she didn't have a party.

So instead of carving pumpkins with everyone, while they carved, I whipped up a sad little attempt at a "princess barbie cake" to make the birthday girl happy.  

It worked.

She loved it and couldn't believe I "knew how" to make that kind of cake.  The inside cake part was even pink, strawberry flavored, like she wanted.

Yay for having all the things on hand to make this cake at the last second, and yay for being able to make the birthday girl happy!

The finished pumpkins!

Even though she ended up being happy, Jerzi still wouldn't believe us that she turned 4 without having a party, so I through together a little Halloween/birthday party a few days later, on Halloween.  She invited a few friends.  

(This, in and of itself, is a major accomplishment for her.  She normally doesn't play too good with other kids, mainly just follows Jeter around.  So I was so proud that she wanted to have a party, invite other kids, and Jeter wasn't even going to be there.) 

 The kids got dressed up in their costumes, ate a Halloween lunch, decorated Halloween cookies, played, watched her new Barbie horse movie, and ate cupcakes, while all of us moms got to hang out with each other and visit.  The party was a hit, and four days after her birthday, Jerzi finally turned 4 at her very own birthday party!!!