Boats 'n' Horns

This past Saturday we hit the lake. Our temperatures have come back up into the 100's (gag) and JL had a new wakeskate he wanted to try out, so we loaded up the kids and set out.

It was one of the best family trips we've had this season! James and Dad surfed without the rope for a LONG time! JL rocked the wakeskate, I rocked the surf board, Isabel tried out the tube (and loved it!) and Wyatt swam and splashed around and occupied the co-pilot seat. He's such an easy going dude, he's happy to just be outside with the gang. :)

Trying out some new tricks. Here I'm riding the back, high side of the wave.
And here I decided to ride low and fast at the front. It was fun!
My girl Iz enjoying the ride
And here's James and Izzy on the tube.
This is a huge deal - usually Isabel won't have anything to do with the tube. But this time around, she was determined to go with her big brother. She wanted Daddy to go slow - but after a while, she was begging to go faster! :)

After boating, we rushed home to meet the cable guy. It's been a couple years since we've had cable - but this fall I just had to do it. A girl's gotta have her college football! ;-) And that Sat night was a huge horns game! So we came home, washed up and put on our burnt orange!

Wyatt LOVES football! A lot like how his brother loves baseball!
Me and Wy Guy watching the pre-game show. We are die-hards!
There may or may not have been loads of popcorn and chocolate chip cookies consumed during the game. :)

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First Practice

Little League has begun! Last week, James had his first practice...

JL is assistant coach - he is loving it!
Meet the 2011 Hot Rods!
James waiting for his turn to bat
He cracked the ball - first time up!
About to run bases at the end of practice
The most impressive part of practice was the throwing. The goal was to throw the ball and try to knock an orange, plastic cone off the bucket. I watched as kid after kid attempted to even get near the cone. James comes up - and SMACKO! He hit the cone dead on and sent it flying on his first throw! He hit it another 4 times before his turn was over.

I mean, I can brag. I'm his mom. But seriously- the child is gifted! We knew he was good at baseball, but it's obvious that he has natural talent after seeing him among his peers. I can't wait to see what this season will bring!

Up To Lately

Wyatt thinks he is a cowboy. He rides this horse ALL THE TIME!
He also thinks he is a construction worker - in charge of moving trucks around
Isabel thinks she is a fashion designer
And a Diva
This picture I just had to throw in. Wyatt loves to be just like his big brother!
Speaking of the big brother - he had his first homework assignment over the weekend. This is him working on it

The finished product: "All About Me" collage.

5 yrs in the Making

Tonight is James' first Little League practice! We (his Dad and I) have been waiting for this day since James showed an interest in baseball somewhere around 6 months of age!

Yesterday, we took him out to get him all geared up!

New Bag
New Helmet, Shoes, and Bat
I love his little cleats!

Bonding

Isabel and Wyatt are really bonding lately. I wondered how Izzy would do while James was at school - he was such a big part of her daily fun and entertainment. I'd say the first week was super hard on her. She missed James a lot and asked about him often. She'd wander around asking me what she could do almost like she was lost without her leader to show her how to play and tell her what to do.

Lately though, she has really found herself and has discovered that while James' is away - she's the boss! Not much has changed for Wyatt - other than it's Isabel bossing him around now instead of James. :)

Isabel loves to read to her kitty. She's also started reading books to Wyatt. Often she will get out a big picture book, call him over, and the two of them will take turns pointing and saying the name of the objects. Warms my heart.
Wyatt loves looking at books with trucks, tractors, and cars in it. He will sit for quite a while and make "brroom vroomm woo woo" sounds. I am a huge fan of this stage (I remember when James was in it!)
Isabel is huge into fashion right now. She's selective about what clothes she wears, and often times will change 2 to 3 times a day! She also loves to have her hair all prettied up. Today - she wanted every clip we have in her hair at the same time. I have to admit - she's got style!
Wyatt likes to sit in Isabel's room and play while she plays dress up and dolls.
Speaking of dress up, this was her earlier this morning. I pulled out all her small clothes to box up. She found this dress and immediately put it on. Then she threw a fit about it still fitting her and how she wanted to keep it out of the box so she could dance around in it. She finally was content to simply play in it for a few hours before she took it off and I snuck it back into the box :)
Izzy and Wy Guy playing magnets while I fixed lunch. The two of them get along really well. Isabel takes care of and helps Wyatt a lot of the time. She has taken on the role of my main helper quite well. She loves to play "mom" and she's great at always completing a task with a smile and a song!

PS - Every one of these pictures (except for the first one) is from today. Do you notice that Isabel has been in 3 different outfits? Seriously, she cracks me up!

Holiday Weekend Fun

We had a great holiday weekend! We started it off Friday night with our last Express baseball game of the season. It was an exciting game and all of us had a great time.

Saturday we started out day with a little service work. We'd been assigned to clean the church with a couple other families. The kids always do such a great job - James helped Dad Vacuum, Isabel helped me clean windows while Wyatt made sure all the nursery toys were in working condition. :) After that, we hit the bowling ally!


We hit the arcade after we bowled. Wyatt loved the motorcycle game!
James and Izzy racked up the tickets on the toss game

Sunday we rested after church. The weather was still hot and muggy, so we cranked on the a/c and watched John Wayne movies all afternoon.

Monday we woke up to a cold front! The temperatures were in the upper 70's! We haven't felt air that cool since April! James did a little hunting (Dove season opened this past weekend - he's convinced he can get one!) with the dogs, before Isabel and Wyatt woke up and we headed for breakfast.




Seriously guys, it's in the upper 70's! I guess after 80 days in the 100+ range, 73 feels like a frost!


We decided to try out a new local BBQ joint for breakfast taco's. They were great - but quite by accident we discovered what they are really good at is making pancakes! Together, the 5 of us had 7 breakfast taco's, and 4 giant big-as-the-plate pancakes! Man - it was good food! Immediately after that - we took the kids to a park, burnt off a bit of that food, and then hit the stores. James needed little league gear, the animals needed feed, and we needed groceries!

But mostly, we just played outside on the ranch. Weather like this makes me happy!

My stylin' new galoshes. Nobudy says I can't feed my pigs and goats in style!
This big, yellow plane buzzed by us a couple of times. It was flying low and the kids (and myself) thought it was awesome!


It was a perfectly wonderful weekend. I love spending time with my four muckles!