What to Do?

Thank you all for your sweet and encouraging comments. You have reminded me why I love blogging so much. I have taken your suggestions to heart and feel like I, at least, have a starting point. I will keep you updated.

Richard and I brought the Special Needs application with us as we drove to get the boys last week. Our goal: to go over the list of needs and decide which needs we were willing to accept and which ones we aren't. The answer: I DON'T KNOW!! It is very difficult to look at a list of disorders and disabilities and know what you can and can't handle. Add to that, the fact that until you actually get to China and get your girl, you never know the severity of that need. It is very unnerving to me. I am supposed to be researching all the different needs, and know that this is important, but also know that the range of each is great. I have seen so many wonderful stories of children who come home with very little effects of any special need at all. I have also seen stories of children whose needs were much greater than the families realized. I know God already knows who our little girl is, but I still need to check the right boxes so I can find her!! Help!!!

Cade Has a Camera...and He's Not Afraid to Use it!!!

These are some random pictures I uploaded from Cade's camera this weekend. He got the camera for his birthday and absolutely LOVES it. He takes pictures of everything. Of course, his favorite subject is himself! He has to make sure that hair is looking just right.

This is the only picture Cade didn't take himself (obviously). It was such a momentous occasion, though, I had to add it...and he was the only one with a camera ;). For years and years, we have gone to the same amusement park in Gulf Shores to ride the "Woody" go carts. We started doing this before Bryce was old enough to ride by himself, so we had to make sure we had enough adults to drive all three of them. Well, those days are over. They are now all officially tall enough to drive their own cart! He had an absolute blast (except when Bryce turned him sideways). I need to put a post together with all the go cart pictures from the years. I didn't even take my camera last time because all the pictures look the same. Good thing Cade had his!

My adorable niece. We kept her for a day about a month ago. The boys couldn't get enough of her. They fought over who she was smiling at. While we were driving, Cade would take her picture over and over. Isn't she adorable? She is so tiny and has the biggest eyes you've ever seen. (Her nick name is Bugsy :)

And here's the brother. Rylan is a wild man and gives my boys a run for their money every time we see him. He is absolutely hysterical!

I have washed all the clothes and have them folded on the coffee table. We don't fly out until Friday, but I'm going to pack the boys today so they don't wear the clothes I want to bring for them. It actually looks like it might rain today!! Do you know how long it's been since we've had rain? Way too long. Everything is drying up! It would be nice to have a rainy day for a change.

Hope you all have a great week! I'm going to try to hit all my favorite blogs this week!

Happy 4th of July

We went to the club pool yesterday for a 4th of July celebration. We were mostly there with all the seniors who danced the night away. It was pretty funny, actually. We had a good time, though. My camera batteries totally died after about 5 pictures so this is what I have.

The boys have been gone for a little while. They spent a few days with my in-laws in Houston this past week. We got them back Friday, and I'm happy to have them home. I don't quite know what to do without them. Richard and I went out to eat every night and my stomach still hasn't completely recovered from all the rich, creamy food. (Guess I should have ordered something a little lighter!)

We are getting ready for a big trip at the end of the week. We are headed to Tampa to see the Rays play baseball. (If you noticed, Braden and Cade's little league teams are the Rays) Braden's 10 year old team is going together and will be able to meet the team and get lots of autographs. We have been looking forward to this all summer and can't wait. Hopefully I will have lots of awesome photos when we get back.

Championship Day

I can't believe it has taken me so long to post about game day! Things have been kind of crazy around here. My in-laws came to town Friday to catch the big games, and then took the kids back with them yesterday, so things have not been normal.

Cade's game was supposed to start at 6:00 and Braden's at 7:45, but wouldn't you know it, a huge thunderstorm moved in at about 5:30. You would know, we haven't had rain for months and it decides to rain right then!! The games were delayed an hour, so we started at 7:00. Cade started pitching, but couldn't handle the pressure and broke down on the mound :( It was pretty pitiful. Very frustrating, as a mom, to watch. Our team struggled through the whole game and fought back, but lost by one run. We were very proud of them and they were given a trophy bat for being second place in the league. It was a tough game. Here are a couple pics of the team, before in their huddle and after with their trophy.

As soon as Cade's game finished, I ran (all out sprint) to the next field for Braden's game. Because of the rain delay, this game didn't start until 9:00. It was a VERY late night. The home plate umpire was a guy who had thrown Richard out of a game a few weeks ago for absolutely nothing. For whatever reason, he doesn't like Richard or our team, so I knew there would probably be fireworks at some point. Richard was very good at keeping his mouth shut, and the umpire did a pretty good job until it was the last inning and it looked like we were actually going to win. We were the home team and were in the field. There were two outs and we were up by 3. This umpire decided that he would start calling all of our pitches balls. It was so bad that Braden was catching and turning around to the guy asking where pitches were. They were all very frustrated. He continued to call balls until we had walked in the go ahead run. Finally, one of their players got out, by hitting the ball. When we came up to bat, the umpire then decided that balls thrown at the boys' ankles should be called strikes. It was completely unbelievable. Our boys fought so hard and one of them even hit a triple on a very high ball. They had to, the umpire was completely controlling the game. There were some fireworks, as promised, and a couple of our coaches were thrown out for complaining about the calls (not Richard. He didn't say a word), but our boys kept fighting. The other pitcher was so nervous (there was alot going on, in fact, my voice may never recover) he couldn't throw a strike. He ended up walking in the winning run because the pitches were so bad, there was no way the umpire could get away with calling them strikes.

We were so proud of our boys for not giving up and fighting every second. We are very disappointed in the ballpark for letting this happen. An umpire should never be allowed to do this. It was so bad that LSU's football coach, whose son was on the other team, came over and said it was the worst officiating he'd ever seen. I wrote a letter about it to the "bosses", but I'm sure the only good it did was to let me get it off my chest.

The good news: WE WON!!! As hard as that guy tried, he couldn't keep us down! Here are some pics of the "dogpile" and the whole team. They were very proud.

We didn't get home until midnight and the boys had to swim in the city meet the next morning. It was so hard waking them (and myself) up at 7:30 that next morning! They did it, though, and I'm proud of them.

They are with my in-laws for the week...what do I do now?

Dog Days of Summer

Talk about hot! We have had record breaking temps here for the last couple of weeks. We're used to it being hot around here, but this is ridiculous! The kids don't even want to swim because the water in the pool is so hot. When I woke up, this is what I found on the back porch. I just thought it was funny.

Today's the big day. Both boys are in their championship games tonight. Thank God they're not at the same time. I might just die!! Hopefully I'll have good news to report tomorrow!!

Have a great day!

Whoo Hoo!!!!

To say we've had a couple of exciting days around here would be a huge understatement. We left Saturday to spend a few days at the beach with my family. They are still there, but we had to come back on Tuesday for, what else, baseball games. Braden and Cade both won on Tuesday and advanced to the next level. Cade plays Friday for the championship. Braden had another game last night (YES, during the college world series!!) Both of his games were really hard fought. They won each game by one run and my heart was pounding the whole time!

In Braden's game Tuesday, we had gone into extra innings and the score had been tied for a long time. It was a true battle. We were the home team and up to bat, there were 2 outs and we had a runner on 2nd. Braden was the next batter up. I was about to freak out!! He had two strikes on him and then hit the ball in between 1st and 2nd base. It was on the ground and I thought they would get him out for sure, but the ball hit the ground right in front of the fielder and bounced way up over his head into the outfield! We couldn't believe it!! I asked Braden about it later and he said it was a "power up". I asked him what that meant and he said, "That's when something really amazing and special happens. I've been saving it." Well, glad he decided to use it! It was so awesome.

Last night's game was just as exciting. Again, the score had been tied for quite a while. We were playing great in the field, but couldn't seem to hit the ball. Finally, one of Braden's teammates hit a little dribbler and their team made some huge mistakes. Cole made it all the way home and scored!! After that game, we all rushed over to one of our favorite restaurants to watch the second half of the LSU game. It was such a blast!

My super stud!

Braden's awesome team.

Cheering the Tigers on to victory!!

Almost as exciting is the fact that I am posting this from my new laptop. I know I am so behind the times, but I am so excited to be mobile now!! And it's SO fast!!!

Crawfish, Strawberry Pie & Tiger Baseball...oh, my!!!

Yesterday, LSU played in the College World Series in Omaha. We decided to have a crawfish boil and get together with some friends for the game. It was an absolute blast! We had lots of crawfish, homemade strawberry pie (yes, I made it) and LSU baseball...it doesn't get more South Louisiana than that!!

I posted lots of pictures because they were all so cute. There were 15 boys here (not 1 girl!). They played wiffle ball most of the time, but then changed to hide and seek when it got dark. Of course, they ended up in front of the TV for the last couple of innings. They wouldn't miss the Tigers win!!

Charlie is 4. The crawfish was pretty spicy, so he's holding a piece of ice to his lips :-)

Cajun boys!!

Huge wiffle ball game. They had a blast!

Catching the end of the game.

Tigers Win!!! I know it's blurry, but it's too stinkin' cute!

Hope you're having a great weekend. I have a couple of extra boys staying with us for the weekend. It's been alot of fun!