A love filled weekend

While I am often left feeling a little short on time these days, I am never left feeling short on love.  This weekend was a great example of the wonderful things and wonderful people who fill my life and the lives of the three little people I love the most.

Friday evening we were back at the baseball field.  If, for some reason you can't find any number of people from my family (including my mom and dad), you should come to the ball field first.  So many times this spring one of us has said, "Wait there's another game tomorrow?"  If there's not a game, there's practice.  The great thing is that we love the parents and kids on this team.  We all look forward to our evenings together.  Even Kinley has made some new friends which makes hanging out at Danny Green Field a little more manageable. 
Cooper had a couple of special guests come out to cheer him on this past Friday.  Ryan, Sara, and Deacon and Kyle, Cady, and Blake joined our usual crew.   It warms my heart to know that our favorite outfielder has people who support him on and off of the field.  As luck would have it, Cooper scored a run and we recorded our first win of the season. We have been teasing Ryan and Sara, suggesting that they must now come to every game and serve as our good luck charms. 
Coach Rowe treated the team to ice cream after the game and we got home just before the skies opened and the rain came down. 

I was up before the sun on Saturday morning in order to get the girls ready with hair and make-up in order to make their 8:30 call time for dance.   After a run through of the program, we headed downtown for them to dance at the Arts Festival.  This was Kinley's first time dancing in front of a crowd that was not effectively blacked out by stage lights.  There were a few tears leading up to the performance but once she got out there she was all smiles.  I think that once she gets over her nerves she really does love to perform.

Watching McKenna dance her ballet dance this year absolutely melts my heart and makes me cry every.single.time.  I love the song, I love the choreography, I love the costume, and I especially love the time and effort this girl has put into it!

Speaking of love - Carolyn came to see the girls dance too!  Kinley was over the moon excited to see her there.

After the dance performances we went in search of our favorite festival foods.  Cooper was in heaven with the foot long corn dog.   However, he says it wasn't as good as our favorite corn dog nuggets from Disney.  No worry, because we will be sitting on Main Street eating those while we watch the parade before you can say "Mickey Mouse".

Oh look, who would have guessed, back to the ball field on Sunday afternoon?  Pappy was kind enough to pick Cooper (and Kinley up) on Sunday afternoon to take Cooper to batting practice and his game. This was not just any game though.  Coop's team assisted with the challenger division game.  He got to meet a lot of pretty awesome kids who come out to play baseball despite some significant physical limitations.  One of the little girls from Kinley's class was on team that we played so that was an added bonus.  According to Kinley's teacher they are pretty good buddies at school and it was awesome to be there to cheer her on!

I have barely had time to catch my breath and here we are on Monday afternoon.  However, it's great to look back on this weekend fill with things (and people) that we love.  I'm heading out to begin the school pick-up process before feeding the kids a quick dinner and heading to... a baseball game. 

The Current State of Things

For all the time I spend on this computer that I should definitely take a few minutes to update the blog.   I guess given the current state of things in our life, a photo dump is in order.  When I scrolled back through my pictures there was a whole lot of this:

Baseball.

Baseball is pretty much running our lives right now.  Multiple games and practices each week.  Somehow getting everyone picked up after school, fed, and delivering Cooper at the ball field by 4:45.  It's a little crazy but we are having so much fun.  We have made new friends and though we haven't won a game yet, it is amazing to watch the boys improve every single game.

The girls have been good sports about the whole baseball thing.  They have gone to a few games and they have stayed home a handful of times too.  Last Friday we had a beautiful evening for ball at the Milton fields.  The best thing about baseball fields thus far is that they have adjoining playgrounds which is a special treat for Kinley.

Speaking of the girls, they had a wonderful time at the Father Daughter dance a couple of weeks ago. 

Kinley was over the moon excited to "go dance and eat a lot of junk".  It was reported back to me that she certainly enjoyed both of those things.  McKenna was a great big sister and accompanied her sister to her very first dance.  I have a feeling that will be the last dance they attend together so I'm especially proud of McKenna for spending her Saturday night making such great memories.  I received sooo.... many texts and comments about how grown up she looks.  At a certain point I started plugging my ears in an effort to continue to deny the inevitable. 

We are gearing up for the start of "dance season" which officially begins this weekend with a performance at the Arts Festival.  Today the girls brought their props to dance class to practice.

 This marks Kinley's first festival appearance.  I'm a little nervous about how it will go because the crowd is very close and very visible.  But I'm counting on her to rise to the occasion and dance her little heart out.  I think it will help that McKenna is dancing immediately before her.  Fingers crossed. 

It's hard to believe that April is almost over.  I knew that the spring would fly by...it always does.  My classes have added an extra layer of crazy and seems to make my world spin a little faster.  Midterms are this week which means there is some light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.   More importantly, week 10 will mark the completion of all research classes and our much anticipated vacation.