My Prince Did Come...and His Name is Daddy

All together, Richard and I attended 8 baseball games this weekend.  This was fun, but the highlight of the weekend had to be Sunday night when Richard took the girls to their first dance.  For the past couple of years, I have watched my facebook page light up with adorable pics of daddys and their daughters going to this dance.  This year, I was on top of it and got the girls tickets for Valentine's Day.  They have talked about little else since then!  Part of the experience was that my mom and I took them shopping to pick out their dresses.  You might find this hard to believe...or child abuse....but my girls have NEVER been shopping!  I mean, they have walked in the mall before...a couple of times...but to be honest, I didn't feel rushed to let them know that they might have a say in what clothes hang in the closet :)  I have been just fine without their little opinions, and they have never know the difference. 

This made for the funniest shopping trip I have ever been on!  They didn't even know there were fitting rooms!  lol...  They were literally looking around in awe of all the beautiful clothes.  They must have tried on about 10 dresses each and came to their decision.  The whole thing took maybe 30 minutes :)  I loved seeing what they chose.

We then rode the carousel, ate lunch and headed home :)

This is what I've heard this entire week, "I can't believe daddy asked us on a date!"  "I can't wait to dance with daddy!", etc, etc...

 

We headed over to our friend Sara's house to get ready together.  There were curling irons, makeup, lipgloss and lots of sassy! 

 

The corsages were a big hit!  I had the same woman who makes our big girl corsages make them and she did not disappoint!!  

 

Three precious treasures...with their daddies who certainly treasure them!

Total Proud Mom Post

I'm just going to warn you ahead of time...this is a total bragging post from a proud mama!  I do not blame you if you close your computer now....but here goes :)

Many of you know that baseball has always been a huge part of our family.  Braden and Cade both inherited the love of baseball from their dad and have worked hard at it since they were little bitty.  Braden is a sophomore now, so the whole high school thing has been an adjustment for us (well...me).  Being the newbie...not quite sure how it all works or what to expect.  Of course, the goal for anyone is to make Varsity, but our school is so large, there are not many sophomores who do that.

Two weeks ago, Braden said he had been working out with varsity and was told that he was pretty much on varsity, but might go play JV if he wasn't getting enough play time. 

Last week, Braden seemed to be frustrated about his hitting performance in practice.  He ended up stopping at Cade's practice after his own practice and asking his dad for help.  Of course, this made Richard's month and he was more than happy to work with him.  Braden doubled up on practices most of the week and worked hard to get his swing back on track.

Saturday was our jamboree!  The first look at JV and Varsity.  To say we were excited was an understatement.  The weather was amazing and we were thrilled to be back at the ballpark.  Braden started at catcher for the JV game and caught for 4 innings.  He threw down to 2nd three times and got the runner out each time (2 steals and 1 pick-off)!  He also caught a foul ball at the fence.  Offensively, he hit a double his first at bat and walked the second.  He scored both times by stealing and taking advantage of passed balls.  By the time he threw that third ball down to second, Richard and I were about to lose it.  We were both biting out lip, making sure not to be obnoxious around the other parents.  It was hard though!!  Even Cade was excited for him, which was so heartwarming to see.

Cade and I had to leave after that game, but honestly, I did not think Braden would get in for the varsity game.  I was wrong!  He was able to play 2nd for two innings and short for two innings.  He made every play that came to him, including one amazing backhand play.  He also hit a very strong double in that game as well!  I don't think any of us have stopped smiling yet.  As a mom, that is what you hope for...that their hard would pay off when it counts.  Boy did it!  I am so proud of him for coming to Richard and asking for help.  I cannot wait to spend the spring in those stands cheering him on!  Next time I will bring my real camera and get some real pics :)

Time to Move On

When the boys were young (probably about 4, 6, and 8), they all 3 played basketball in our local league.  It was miserable.  Because of their ages, they were all on different teams and we were up at that gym every single night of the week.  Nobody really loved it, so I made an executive decision that basketball was not our sport.  Instead, we would use that season for the boys to hunt and have a little more time at home.  That's exactly what we did until Cade was in 6th grade.  The basketball coach really wanted him to play.  It was a big joke that he must not know that Cade doesn't know how to play basketball :)  So Cade is in the 8th grade now and he just finished his 3rd basketball season.  I cannot even begin to tell you the transformation that occurred in these 3 years.  It has been so much fun to watch Cade develop into a really good basketball player!

Last night was our last game.  He won't be playing in high school because of baseball.  I am so glad he decided to play for these jr. high years.  It's a little sad thinking we will never watch him play again, but then I remember... it's time for baseball!!  Here are some pics from last night:

My favorite part of the night was watching these boys celebrate one of their teammates making a 3 point shot.  This player did not get a lot of play time this season, so his shot was very exciting.  Love this so much.

Baseball has already started....Bring it!!  Can't wait to see both boys playing the game we really love :)