I am SO gonna be "that" mom

You know, the one who is loud at her children's sports games? The one who is on the front page of the paper for getting in a fight with a parent on the opposite team? But at least I will have my teeth...well, most of them anyway.

Baseball makes me competitive. It always has. It seems as though I can watch any other sport & be okay, but not with baseball. I remember going to watch my little brother, Lee, play. I was in High School. I would be up in the stands with my mom & we'd be screaming our heads off. I guess I take after her. Maybe it is the cheerleader coming out in both of us. Because I'm telling you, my mom is even louder & pretty ballsy.

I know it is a game. I know that. But I seriously can't help it. It is a sickness I tell you!

Trevor plays for the Pirates. My step-dad coaches & my brother in law helps him coach. I try to go to as many games as possible. I'll drag the kids along. They even know what to cheer. They will sit up in the stands with my 5 year old twin nephews & start chanting, "Lets Go Pirates, Lets Go!" without anyone prompting them.

Tonight was the start of the tourney's. The Pirates were up the first 2 innings & then the Red Sox took over. Boo! Red Sox won by three runs. This was after 3 hours of playing & the lights going out at the diamond. We had to move to a different one to finish the last inning. They just couldn't pull it together. I'm a nervous wreck when Trev gets up to bat or when he pitches. And poor Duane (step dad) gets the brunt of all of us. We don't want him to put Trevor in situations that could be bad. But, as a coach, he has to.

The Sox have a rowdy bunch of parents. One lady in particular stands out. She sits out there & screams, "You call that a strike! Open your eyes! You may as well swing at everything because all they call is strikes!" She's loud & obnoxious. And when I hear her, all I want to do is scream across the diamond back at her. But I hold it in. I'm telling you though, I could rip in to her face. All my peacefulness goes out the window when baseball is involved. She'll stand up & scream at our coaches & so on. I asked Duane & Aaron how they hold it together. If they ever felt like putting up the "time out" sign & walking over directly to that lady, while everyone is watching, and call her out? They would get in trouble, I know.

So I'm going to apologize in advance to anyone who reads this & lives in my hometown. If your kiddos play on the opposite team as my kids, IT'S ON! :)

Trevor & I made the paper...

Ashley called me this morning & said, "I think you & Trevor made the paper. It didn't have your names, but I'm pretty sure it was you." So I got online & here are the excerpts from the paper:

"Floating down the Big Blue River was so much fun that even the family whose canoe flipped three times wants to do it again next year." - I don't remember saying I was doing it again next year.

And this...

"One woman and her nephew had their canoe overturn three times," Wallen said. "We had to retrieve the canoe each time and once had to recover her waterproof camera. But she was still smiling after it was all over.""The little boy wasn't scared," Rogers added. "He said that he wanted to do it again next year." - They must not have heard the expletives coming out of my mouth. :)

So I guess Trevor & I have a year to think about whether we will be doing this again next year or not. Trevor?

Canoeing = Death

Last year I went canoeing with my mom, niece Kayla & nephew Trevor. We went for the Healthy Community Group & the Environmentalists. So, yea, I know I'm not the picture of health, but I do love my environment! We had a decent time. It rained the entire day & the water was so low we just skimmed the rocks & constantly had to get out to push our canoe's off, but it was neat. Kayla was my riding partner. We ended up beating mom & Trevor to the finish point, so we thought we were tuff stuff.

Fast forward to yesterday. The day of my almost death. Maybe I'm exaggerating a tiny bit, but it was still scary. It was a nice hot day. The water was up because of all the rain we've had. I was stoked. We may actually be able to canoe & float down the water instead of hopping out every 3 minutes to scoot our boat off the rocks. Mom couldn't go this year. So Duane, my step-dad, went. He & Kayla rode together & Trevor & I rode together.

The guides told us of a few places that may be hairy. Some trees were down across the river & we may have to get out & walk our canoes for a few steps, is what they said. We launched our canoe & off we went. It started off nice. We flowed down the water. We were ahead of Kayla & Duane. And then they passed us & that would be the last time we would see them for 3 1/2 hours.

I sat in the back of the canoe, naturally. I mean, I am bigger (a lot bigger) than Trevor. I paddled & Trevor thought if he shifted his weight in the opposite direction we were going, it would even out. Not sure that worked out for the best. And then we came to our first obstacle. A giant log that was down. We had to bend our body's backwards to make it under the log. Too bad we weren't in the Matrix, we wouldn't have had any trouble. But, we weren't in a movie. We tipped & dumped our canoe. We laugh & go off to the side. Some canoers helped us get the water out of the boat & Trevor & I got back in.

Off we went. We started traveling pretty good. We came upon a few spots, but were able to get out. The next spot we came to had a women guide who was standing on a piece of dry land in the middle. She said, "This is one of the parts we were talking about. Some people get off here & walk the canoe around. Others have been making it around just fine. We haven't had anyone tip their canoe." I look at Trevor & say, "Let's just go around it in the canoe. We'll be fine." WRONG. We started going backwards & tipped. The canoe with one paddle took off. The current pulled us down the stream as well. I was well in front of Trevor. I kept screaming back to him, "Are you okay?" Luckily, I could see him still. Once the water calmed down, I swam & was able to get the canoe. Trev caught up with me.

Let me say this, I was barefoot! Freaking barefoot! If I ever choose to do this again, I will be investing in some nice water shoes. I can't even begin to explain how my feet feel. The soreness is awful. I have little cuts up & down my legs because of the rocks on the bottom of the river. Trevor had on sandals that had straps around his ankles...thank God! He kept telling me to just stand up. I couldn't. I honestly couldn't. The rocks were horrible. And I would get up, step down a foot & it the water level would change, therefore causing me to fall. At this point, I was over canoeing. My legs were cut up & my feet felt like I had bruises all over them. I had worn flip flops that morning, but every time I tried to put them on, they would just fall off my feet.

Our canoe got lodged on the side of the river, upside down. It wouldn't budge. Trevor & I stood in the river hoping that we weren't the last ones. A little while later, a man in a kayak came. He got out & tried to help us. It didn't work. He kept stopping & saying, "Let me catch my breath." That canoe wasn't budging because of the current. He informed us that were a few people behind him. And by this time, the lady who saw us flip had called in help. We got the canoe flipped back over & drained & once again...we got in.

Only a few minutes later, the next obstacle was in front of us. There were 3 guides who were waiting. We had to get out of the canoe & walk a few steps in the water while they pulled the canoe over a log that was at the water line. We got back in the canoe for a few feet, only to have to get out again. A large log was blocking the path. We had two options. We could either lay down flat in the canoe & go under the log, or we could get out & float on our backs underneath it while the guide pushed out boat thru. I opted for floating on my back. I mean, crap, I had already been in the water for over 75 % of my time on the river, what was a little more? We made it thru & back on the canoe.

At this point, we knew Kayla & Duane had been done for a while. We wondered if they were wondering about us. We continued on our journey only to find ourselves heading for a tree branch. I reached out my arm & tried to stop us from hitting it. We went sideways & were titled up on our side. Trev & I looked at each other & said, "Please God, no." The devil must have intercepted that message because after our look, we tipped. The current took us both down but the boat stayed. And sank. It was flipped over & all you could see was barely the top of it. It layed under this tree that put us down.

Once again, I was way in front of Trevor. There was no standing up; A) because the current was pulling me & (2) i was barefoot! There was yet again, another tree down. I headed towards it & it pushed me under. It was one of those ordeals where you are physically restrained under the water. I panicked...big time! And yes, we had on life jackets. I thought, "This is it! Trevor is going to see my die." I know, I know...dramatic. I came up from under the trees & screamed. Trevor yelled to me, "Are you okay, Shannon?" I said, "Yes! But I'm done. I'm over this." I was so tired.

We found some soft sand to stand on. We started talking about what we were going to do. We saw no one in the distance, yet we were sure there were a few people behind us still. We waited & waited. Believe it or not, we had one paddle that we held on to after we flipped. We layed down on our bellies & each of us held on to one side of the paddle. We were going to let the river take us down. I could hear the interstate, so I knew we were hopefully not too crazy far from our stopping destination. And then in the distance, we saw the man in the kayak. He came upon us but continued on. He said the others were behind him. Along came a guide. She said, "Where is your boat?" I told her it had sunk back a few hundred feet. She called in to let the other guides know. Along came another guide & she said, "We found a paddle!" We all waited for a few minutes & saw a couple of guides pushing our boat next to theirs. Luckily, someone spotted something on the side of the water. They went to it & saw it was our boat. The guide told me they became frantic because they thought maybe Trevor & I were trapped underneath it. Thank God, that wasn't the case.

So, they loaded us in & tied us up to the back of their boat. We got taxied the rest of the way. It was a huge relief! We unloaded & waited on a truck to take us back to our starting point. I told the lady that I had no idea where my step-dad & niece were. She said, "I think we picked them up about an hour and a half ago. He told me they still had 2 people that weren't accounted for. And he dropped his phone in the water, so it isn't working." She drove us back & there sat Duane & Kayla. The look on their face was relief. Duane said he heard where there were 2 canoers that needed to be "rescued".

I got home & was relieved & tired! Trevor had a baseball game last night & it was one of the best games he had played!

I've realized one thing...there is no way in he^% I could ever be on Survivor! But, my flip flops were rescued along with our water camera. Maybe I'll have a few pictures later!

Conversations this afternoon...

We haven't changed that much, right?

While going through some old pictures on my computer, I had forgotten I scanned this. I am guessing this first photo was in 1982.

Left to Right - Me, Caroline (Cousin), Ashley (sister), Andy (cousin) & hanging by his arms, Lee (brother)

2010 - Left to Right ~ Caroline, Lee, Andy, Me & Ashley

Glory Days

Who cares about muddy clothes, when your kids can have memories of running through the mud? At least I hope they will!

The last day

Summer is here. The kiddos last day of school was on the 9th. I'm going to be honest here, people...I'm SCARED! For the last 9 1/2 months or so, I've become quite accustomed to having 2 1/2 to myself in the morning. The beauty of taking a shower in the morning, in silence, is gone. The beauty of having nicely shaved legs versus kind of nice/kind of hairy legs, is gone. The beauty of driving over to the Red Barn to get my fountain Diet Pepsi, is gone.

Seriously, its like I had forgotten what the previous 3 years were like. I got a taste of some freedom & I went hog wild. Well, not really, but gosh darnit I am going to miss those fountain pops! So here we go. I will make it through. I'm hoping to keep the kids busy so we don't have too much boredom to make them go crazy. Anyone who has a pool that I know, better look out. I will be coming for you! With my 3 beauties in tow!

Here are some shots from the last day of school.

Jonah

The girls getting ready to wash up for donuts! Yes, I am the best mom! I tried to take donuts in every Friday. It helps when you are "in the family".
Aren't they so cute!?

Lily - One of the kids' good friends & she happens to be the daughter of one of my good friends from college.

The class! That's Tristan in the front. I heard lots of stories about Tristan!

With Miss Teresa! She is awesome & happens to be the grandma to Lily & mom to my friend, Alicia.

Their school. The school is closing & this was the last year. Its sad because we are losing some of our elementary schools.

With their bus driver, Miss Christie. She is the kindest bus driver ever! Jasper looked at her one day & said, "I love you Christie!" She told me she would be their bus driver again next year. Yippie!

With Mr. Payne...one of the aides.

This was part of Isabel's room on the first morning without school. Needless to say, the house was trashed. But then again, it always is.

And of course it rained the next morning. At least it kept the boys attention

We have family's of our own...

My cousin, Caroline, came to visit us from Tennessee. We miss her! We were very close growing up. It was always, Andy (Caroline's brother), Ashley (my sis), Caroline & Me....and little Lee (my brother). I'm very fortunate to have a family who stays in contact & is still very close. When Caroline got married, she moved to Florida because her husband was in the Air Force at that time. After that, they moved back to Indiana & then down to Tennessee a couple of years ago.

She & her three kiddos made the trip up & we all got together at Ashley's house for a cook out. It brought back memories & it is hard to believe we are all grown up & have families of our own. Where has the time gone?

Caroline, Lee, Andy, Me (of course the shortest) & Ash

Caroline's dog, Daisy, and her youngest, Ella
This was a storm that was headed our way. Luckily, we were already done eating outside. We had a tornado that touched down not far & I was hoping to get some pictures. Yep...the crazy one outside trying to take pics. Luckily, JoAnna had my back & was willing to hold me down to get the "shot". But, nothing crazy happened. That's probably a good thing.

Jonah looks like he just got out of bed & is waiting for his coffee to brew

Jasper wiping his nose on his shirt. I've taught him well :)

Carter (Andy & JoAnna's) giving Andy a "look"

Will was not happy about something

These next few photos are of my grandma loving on Kisen. She is almost 89 years old & still gets around like a spring chicken.

My aunt Nancy & Ella

Aaron & Kayla (she's going to be as tall as her daddy soon!)

Ashley, Caroline & Me

Granny, Jasper & Ella

Aaron giving Lee a ride on the tractor

I love this! Jasper & his cousin, Ella

My uncle Donnie & Caroline

Aaron giving a ride to Alyssa...Caroline's oldest

Caroline's middle...Isaiah

Duane, Izzy & Granny

Caroline, Andy, Jo Jo & Nancy

My mom & Kisen boy

Granny & Kayla