Fall Ball

We were surprised when we recieved the sign ups for Fall Baseball this year - Austin is moving up into the big leagues! His birthday is right before the cutoffs - so we did it...tryouts and all!
He got placed on a solid team with a very good group of dads/coaches. No one that we knew particularly, but we enjoyed the season with them. Games were sometimes 3 nights a week and with the new start of the school year, it was alot to balance.
We were right in that Austin was the youngest on the team...in fact, he was the ONLY 6year old plaing with a team of 7 and 8 year olds ( and against teams with 7 and 8 year olds!) We were so proud of how well he did. The coach put him about 6th in the batting line up because he would almost always make contact with the ball in some way ( and he's a lefty). He definitely was not one to hit it out of the park, and some of those kids do at that age ( its really amazing to watch!) But sometimes after the big hitters causing all of the outfield team to keep moving back a little -Austin would be a secret weapon - hitting mostly in the infied and a lot of times right down the 3rd baseline. It was like the other team did not know what to do and he would almost always get on base and 9 times out of 10 bring someone into home...rbi's were his specialty.
He focused well and cheered for his team mates. His mom and dad were proud of a job well done as the season came to an end. At the end of season party, his coach did a great job - brought each player up one by one and spoke of the highlights of the season for each child and why he loved having them on the team. Each kid beamed with confidence and afterwards got to pick from some baseball memorabilia the coach had brought for them. What a way to end a season.

And we're off to a New School Year!

So, the uploading process still is not working - but I will write anyway...just so I don't forget.
First day of school was wonderful. Annah Grace moved to the second flor of the building with the upper classmen - kind of a big deal! Austin got placed in our beloved teacher, Mrs. Eliasen's class with is four amazing friends. Christian, Aaron, Nathan and Austin are the fabulous four as they call them!
Our sweet friend Joshua had his first day at St. Paul and it was a success! We were happy to see him excited to join his new classroom.
Overall that day was great...but my kiddos were already whining about getting up the next morning. How quickly that excitment fades to reality!
As the year has progressed, we have met many challenges...especially with the level of expectation, the amount of homework, and the heavy testing weeks that 3rd grade has presented. I often feel I have another part time job, just trying to support AG as she keeps up with everything.
The kids have started taking piano lessons from our good friend, Katherine Sasser, ( or Mrs. Sassy as my kids like to refer to her!) Austin just finished up Fall Baseball ( which you will hear more about later) and we are approching basketball for both the kids....the fun and craziness continues! Go Team Lee!

For the first time in several months - I am trying to post pictures again! We'll see if it works.
To catch you up - I have to go back to August before school started. We were in the thick of the remodel - the floor company came in to scrape and refinish all the floors, so we had to be moved out...everything - furniture and all had to go. So we moved the house, packed our bags and headed for the mountains. On the way, we picked up our dear friends, the Madsens. Brian and Rodney are best friends from high school and still keep up with each other. Jackie, Rodneys wife and I have become close over the years as well. They have two wonderful boys, Evan and Tyler. They still live in Lubbock where Brian grew up, so we broke the trip in half and picked them up on our way to New Mexico. Brians family has a cabin there - Glorietta, actually..where his mom and her sisters spent most summers growing up.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous - such a change from an august summer in Texas! We actually wore jackets throughout the day most every day we were there. There is a pretty little lake on the campus and we fed the ducks ( and the fish) - we went paddle boating - and enjoyed the scenery.
One morning the dads left to go golfing and we stayed around the cabin to be adventurous! The kids worked on painting treasure boxes all morning to take with us on our nature walk. They had a blast and of course left there mark on the cabin when it was all said and done! ( Hopefully, Jackie and I cleaned up all the marks!) My kids had just seen Spiderwick Chronicles, so everything we found was a fairy or a goblin or something from one of their houses...so fun!
We played on the playground and ran up and down the paths...even when it started raining. It was so sweet to our kids connecting with our friends children. They had a ball!
We also went to Bandelier mountain where the indians carved dwellings into the sides of the cliffs. We climbed up huge ladders to discover their homes and how they lived so many years ago. Austin came home with a very loud drum made of animal skins and Annah Grace walked away with a sword made out of animal bones.
We all, of course, ate tons of great mexican food while taking in the beautiful weather and fantastic views...it is easy to know God and his wonders when you are at the cabin...they are so obvious!
Our friends headed back to Lubbock after a few days and then in came Brians sister, Jenny with her boyfriend, Andrew and Brians parents. Jenny and Andrew had just gotten engaged - so the wedding planning began immediately, of course! It was fun to spend time with them right after their special moment.
We drove home from this trip - thankful. Thankful that we had such good family and friends to spend time with, thankful for the cabin and the views, and thankful that we did not have to spend 2 weeks in a hotel right before school started. By the way - we drove in at 10pm tuesday night and school started at 8am the next morning! We squeezed the last vacation in just in the nick of time!