Staying Busy Playing Ball

Well the ninjas were at it again Monday morning. They were all dressed in their gear and came to visit me at 6:30. I was still recovering from whatever had me down on Sunday and wasn’t ready to get up. Thankfully they entertained themselves for a while and then Andrew got back from the office to get ready for the workday. So he got them some breakfast and I made myself get up and start getting ready. My mom sent Molly over so she helped around the house as I tried to get things back in order and then she ended up taking the boys over to my parents’ house.  Ellie stayed at home so she could play with her friends.  I think they were planning a “dance recital” and were going through old dance costumes. I still wasn’t feeling that great so I kind of laid low and just tried to finish up some laundry and a few over things around the house. The whole time I was thinking that Ellie’s game would be canceled since everything was so wet and there was more rain in the forecast. But the rain didn’t come until about an hour before the game. It was just a little shower though so Ellie and I went ahead and headed to the ballpark. But it started raining more and when we got there, some people were waiting but others were pulling out. They still hadn’t canceled the game but we saw lightning, so I knew there was no way they were going to have it and we went ahead and headed to my parents. My mom had spaghetti ready for us which was delicious. Andrew came by a little later. He was prepping for a trial and stayed at the office a little later. Then he took the kids home and told me to hang out my parents for a bit. So we talked about vacation plans and then I headed home.

The next day I had a hair appointment, so my Mom took the kids for the morning. After I was done, I went by their house and most of them were swimming. Ellie loved showing off her trick she discovered with her suit. She had a tankini on and she could blow air into the top and the whole thing would fill up. It would even help her float J.

My mom helped get the kids out of the pool and we headed home for nap time. Then I spent all of nap time packing up stuff for vacation. I know it is still very early, but since it takes me so long to get stuff done I am getting it done early. I was able to pack up most of our clothes. I just kept most of them on their hangars so that they will be easy to unpack and hang up once we get there. I know it takes of more space but I was able to get them all pretty compact. That evening Sara had pizza delivered to us which was so nice. The kids spent a lot of time outside until it was time to come in and get ready for bed. I had tried walking around my room a bit while I was packing so I was sore when I went to bed that night. But I had the hardest time getting to sleep. Ellie had told me she was going to get up early the next morning and collect the trash she was supposed to do for her chore and then maybe go back to bed. And she did do it early-around 6:15. Then she was out on the couch. She and Lincoln finished up their chores that morning and headed outside to play with their friends. Ellie and her friends were determined to catch some of our rabbits out back and worked on a trap for quite a while. Jackson helped them out a bit and helped me out a lot around the house. I thanked him for all of the work he has been doing for me (without any complaints) by letting him get a Harry Potter movie on his Kindle. He played outside for a while and then watched that while the twins were napping. Before the twins napped, I let Ellie and her friends take them outside to play for a bit then I came out to watch them so they could do other things they wanted to do. And Jackson took it upon himself to take down our gate on the stairs. We haven’t needed it for a while since the twins can get in and out of it but it did slow them down a bit and I could hear when they were coming downstairs. We have had that gate up since we moved here over seven years ago. We do need to patch some holes and touchup paint, but that can wait until later.

Later that afternoon I actually made dinner. It was a very simple dinner, but we are slowly getting back to a normal routine. I had some taco meat I had frozen earlier, so I had that thawed and then kept it very simple by baking the tacos in a disposable pan and we just had broiled corn to go with it. But my kids loved it. After our early dinner, it was time to drop off Jackson and the twins at my parents so Andrew and I could take Ellie and Lincoln to their ball games in Brashear. Thankfully they were both there, but we spent the whole evening there since Ellie’s game was right after Lincoln’s. I actually took my camera again and tried to get a few pictures. Lincoln’s game was his usual-not much idea of what was going on but having fun. And Ellie had a good game with a few good hits and she got to play third three innings which is her favorite position.

After the games, we picked up the kids at my parents and headed home and to bed. Andrew had a trial on Thursday so he was out early and we didn’t hear from him all day. Michelle was coming to clean the house again, which meant everyone had to pick up beforehand. I also did a little more packing. Then we all loaded up and headed out. We had to stop by the thrift store and drop off some stuff and then we went to Sonic to get everyone lunch and took it to my parents. The kids ate and then swam for a little bit. It was pretty cloudy outside so that didn’t last too long. The twins went down for a nap and then Ellie went with me to do our grocery run. She got to be my cart pusher and help carry in groceries.

Friday morning Andrew and the kids were up really early to head out to the ranch. Andrew and Jackson were going to help gather and work his cattle while the other kids were going to play at Matthew and Kristin’s. She took them over to hang out with everyone a bit while they were working the cattle and ate some lunch with them in Elmer. While they were there, the twins were excited to watch a train go by. Andrew came home around 2:30 or so while the kids stayed out there and played in the pool. Kristin put some pictures up on Facebook later of all the fun they had out there over the last several weeks.

I worked on stuff for vacation most of the day and did pretty well walking around the house without crutches. It is so much easier and quicker to get stuff done without them. I was sore but it wasn’t too painful. So short distances are pretty good. Kristin brought the kids in later that afternoon and I think they were all pretty tired when they got home but Lincoln had to change quickly and I took him to have his ball pictures taken before his game. We parked by his field but walked all the way over to the other fields for the pictures. I was glad I had my crutches for the long walk. After pictures were done, we headed back over to the field. I didn’t feel like going to the car and getting my chair so I sat on the bleachers which was uncomfortable. Lincoln didn’t have the best game. I think he was exhausted and it showed. The dad pitching, another attorney in town, said Lincoln was bad mouthing his pitches. He was joking about it but I didn’t actually hear Lincoln do it. I told him he should have mouthed Lincoln about his batting because he wasn’t really trying at all. Then one inning he was playing first base and Benson was backing him up which is what he was supposed to do. But he told Benson to not do that and he would just get the ball himself. It was not his nice and we had a stern talk when he was done.

Andrew didn’t go to the game because he wanted to head back out to the ranch that evening and make sure the cows weren’t getting out of his fence. He said they weaned some of the calves and he didn’t want the cows busting out trying to get to their calves. But they rested a bit before they went. He has a video that shows Ellie and Bennett asleep on the family room floor while Miles is sitting on the couch eating Triscuits while sleeping. His eyes are closed and it totally looks like he is sleeping but he is still chewing on the Triscuits. Then it was time to wake up and head out to check the cows which everything was fine and they got home around 8:30 and were to bed soon after.

Andrew was up early Saturday and headed to the office. Jackson had a couple ballgames in the afternoon so we all headed there in the afternoon. His first game was at 2:15 and he had another one right after that at 4. Andrew and Jackson went early and I brought the other kids later.  Just as Andrew left, Jill stopped by with her kids to drop off a few shirts she made for me for the kids for camp. I did the design and sent them to her since she does such a great job with cutting the vinyl and also has a heat press. The kids loved them. And we also surprised Molly with a couple shirts to thank her for helping us out so much.

We got to the ballpark just about the time the game was supposed to start, but the previous game was still going so we just hung out in the car until they were done. Jackson’s game finally got started and it was a hot one out so we all were sitting wherever we could find shade under the trees. Overall we were at the ballpark almost five hours as Jackson’s second game got done close to seven. The kids spent their time going through all of my snacks, trying to climb a tree, chasing each other around and I even let Ellie take them over to the playground for a bit. Andrew’s parents came and since Jackson’s second game was running so far behind they were able to watch him for a bit. They boys were still improving but had a couple of rough games.

After the game, we went to La Fuente for dinner even though we were all looking pretty rough. We tried to keep it quick because we knew the twins weren’t going to last too long. I was just thankful I didn’t have to clean up their mess from dinner at home. When we got home, Andrew took Jackson and Ellie out back and played some catch while I swept out the garage and gave the younger three baths. We had some big storms on the way so I called Molly to see if she wanted to come over but she said she was good. I had told Ellie the night before that she could sleep with me so we watched The Little Couple together while the storms rolled through. As we tried sleeping through the night, my phone kept going off with storm notifications. But they didn’t cause any damage at all except for more rain. I was surprised that Andrew went out for a bike ride on Sunday because I thought everything would be so wet. And then I found out he went 50 miles! It was the perfect way for him to start his Father’s Day. While he was gone the kids and I got ready and started getting things cleaned up and ready for the day. The kids also started making Andrew some pictures for Father’s Day. Ellie headed it all up. She helped Miles and Bennett make one by tracing their hands and then she made her own that she drew some ties on. Lincoln made his own that had a picture of Andrew in a cowboy hat and then a pistol that was shooting a multicolored deer. He was very proud of it. And Jackson told his dad that his present would be that he would try hard and have a good attitude at the game. Small tokens of their love, but they really love their dad!

Jackson was supposed to have a game at ten but they pushed them off a couple of hours so that the field had more time to dry out. So they started at noon. I actually dropped the kids off with Molly since I felt bad that they had been at the ballpark so long the day before. This game was much better for the boys. Jackson played third base and did a great job. They did have one bad inning though  where the other team scored enough runs to get away from them, so they got down about that. But again, the improvement was there. After the game, Andrew and Jackson went home while I picked up the kids at my parents. Molly offered to lay them down there but I thought there was a possibility his next game could be rained out since we sat in a light mist the last inning of the previous game and it looked like rain could be on the way. So I laid them down for a nap at home but then the sun came out. Lincoln spent the next couple of hours playing with Alex, while Ellie watched God’s Not Dead in the basement, Jackson read, Andrew took a nap and I got some stuff done around the house and rested for a bit. Then it was time to head to the last game. I again dropped the kids off with Molly but my parents were also home by then. Ellie came with me to the game and my parents came a little later. And it was a great game which they won. The boys and coaches were all very excited. We had played this team two times before and they beat us. Jackson played left field and didn’t get any play out there but he did some good base running. He definitely fulfilled his present to his dad and it was great to see the team get excited and have some confidence. Plus I went without my crutches. I figured I wouldn’t have to walk too much since the twins weren’t there and they are just a hassle.

I picked up the kids after the game and they weren’t too happy to have to head home but we made it. We were going to grill for dinner but with the game being later Andrew thought maybe we could just find whatever to eat around the house. I then offered to make some pancakes until we realized our eggs had expired. So off to the store I went to get a few things to get us through the week before vacation. We still had some freezer meals and gift cards to use for meals which would help us get through the week meal-wise. Again, I tried without my crutches since I could lean on the cart and it wasn’t a huge shopping trip. I just had to get a few things at Aldi and Walmart. And it went pretty well although it was starting to get a little painful at the end. I had help getting the groceries into the house which was good.  Then it was time to get the kids to bed and get ready for another week.