Tonight's Practice....good lord what were they thinking?

 Her new team! We'll call them the 12u reds. These girls are all so much fun and each one is first year select so she's in good company! They have her at second base and she loves it. Although, their catcher advanced to the older team this week so at practice they pulled her.

 And put her in gear. Oh boy. Obviously they don't know my child..... which turned out to be pretty funny cause she did okay for a catcher. They sent the gear home and told us she had two weeks to work on it before the first tournement where she'll be catching. Lord help us. She is excited. I'm nervous!

 Then it was sliding. Obviously my cell phone doesn't take good action shots, I kept missing the perfect sliding pic. But funny enough, second base is the only base where they send them feet first. The rest are arms/head first. Good Lord! They practicing full body leaping back to bases in the event of a botched steal. That was hysterical. She's pretty agile. And boy do I have some laundry to do tonight.

See she caught one.

Then after practice, they ran 2 W's and then had a water balloon fight. Fun stuff.

Up next: Duchess and the great piano adventure! Stay tuned to "As the Griswald turns"

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HOLY TOLEDO

My kid is on the team! YO!

So we showed up and she played hard. About half way through, nerves started eating her and when she wasn't playing second base or making a throw she was holding her glove over her mouth and an arm over her stomach. So proud that she didn't puke on the field. lol

Afterwards, we got our next practice schedule and the coaches went over to my jeep to break the news. She started hyperventalating and we had to hurry and leave. She burst into tears as soon as we rounded the corner. Bless her heart.

She's earned it and it just blows my mind.

So proud!!!!

Go Prin Go.

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Sunday Morning Coming Down....

So even though we just got back from North Texas late last night, my kiddo was up and at them early this morning. She drug me and Duch out of bed at 6 so we could all have breakfast before hitting the field at 8 with Billy. And since she's OCD like her momma, we have to get there 30 minutes early so she can warm up. Which includes blaring music from the jeep and throwing the ball around, stretching, and booty dancing. It keeps us in shape! So when I wasn't assisting, I was taking pics.... so join us on our Sunday morning softball practice. 3 hours of fun. Not to be mistaken with the 3 hour practice this evening for select.

 We take several buckets of balls to the field for practice with Billy, and we need them! At least she totes her own gear. Billy made her run laps once for my toting it so she learned that lesson quick, lol.

 And sometimes digging around in his truck for equipment isn't the safest thing but he always have enough gear to outfit two teams at any given notice. Die hard softball fan much?

 So they started with pivoting......

 And hitting.........

And laps but I was assisting......

And line driving, but I was shagging balls.........

 And then my favorite: sacrificing. I.e. sacrificing oneself for the play. Or better known as eatting dirt. They complained that they didn't know how until some 34 year old woman went out and demonstrated, catching the first ball thrown down so the challenge was up and running. Hint: it wasn't BA (whose kiddo comes to Billy's practice too) cause she was "wearing a brand new white tank and hell to the no".

 And they worked on it............

 And worked on it......... look Duch is in the dirt too!

 She was all up in the dirt!

 And worked on it..........

 And yet some more......

 Yep, BA is still clean!

 She got one! Sidenote: notice our small country town's high school football statium in the background.... do we do it hardcore about our sports down here or what? And the field we're on is the softball field which is nicer by far than the baseball field!

 Opps, malfunction......

 Which means pushups.........

 BFF didn't get out of those either!

 Mom, I'm hot.

 Breaktime. One hour into practice. lol. These kids crack me up. You gotta be completely addicted to the sport to endure this type of work and still push for more.

 Second base mechanics........

 Duch was on shagging duty! Then got to field some with me hitting during the girls' breaktimes.

 Did I mention that we were filthy?

 Relacing gloves and breaktime. They have to have their gloves relaced about once a month down here they get so much use!

 BA looking fresh as a daisy while I was covered completely on my left side in red dirt.

 Then at the end of practice, the smackdown came. If it's muddy, they get rolled up in the mud or slide into a waterhole..... if it's not, they get windmilled.

 Mudhole! At this point, he was remembering that she's a colored belt in taekwondo, cause girlfriend has some serious knee jabs, kicks and punches. He couldn't keep a hold of her to dunk her in the mud.

 But he kept trying........lol.

 Then gave up and went for BFF.

My filthy little softball stars then took us for lunch and a quick trip to the mall (in their cleats, lol) for a shoe sale. I love these kids!

PS: Duch was so filthy that when she took hers off, I threw the socks away and bought her some new flip flops, lol. YUCK.

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Exhausted!

I'm back from roadtrip #....shit I lost count. Oh well. What a crazy couple of weeks. More updates/pics/true stories (unfortunately) coming soon.

But till then, some news:

1. My mom and photo-elusive daddy have left the state of Utah, drivers of Utah rejoice! Noone will be screaming at you in Anglo-Cajun and flipping the bird cause any longer. They are TEXANS, like me! And also where I've been lately.

2. Dave is coming home for a visit............maybe.

3. Prin got a call today. She's been invited to come to the practice for the select softball team that she tried out for last month and didn't make. Rumor has it, she is on the team replacing a girl with a huge attitude problem. Will know more tomorrow. I have a sneaky suspicion that my best bud, BA, had a hand in this. Couldn't love her more, cause she loves my kids!

4. I'm exhausted. And we have to be somewhere at 8am so why am I on here and not snoring?

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I've Been A Little Busy.... Snicker

 So thinks are going great down here in Texas. I spent about three hours today attempting to "tan" the sports bra tan I have going on thanks to softball session! And I learned a huge lesson today as well, if you allow your twelve year old and her bff to pick out your swimsuit, you'll end up with a hot pink and black number that you'll never wear in public. Hello!

And while I was sunning myself, the children were working on their gil breathing skills. Nothing beats the 100 degree heat like the pool!

But we started our day by making homemade apple fritters. I love having B's kids over because they love all my favorite things: cooking, movies, and swimming. Such easy kids. Although trailing through Academy with four little girls today was quite the production.

This explains why B's littlest was sooooooooooooooo hyper.... random handfuls of powered sugar. Bustest littlest B.

 This was after I busted her snitching the apples as I cut them, this again explains why I had to keep cutting more apples.

So the kids and I spent some time with my fabulous family this past week. Me for the weekend and the kids for the entire week (their pics coming soon). Here is Prin with the littlest family member. Prin is truly babysitter material as they just gravitate to her!

 Duch is schooling the grownups on dominoes! Hello!

 The only picture I have in twenty something years of my fav uncle!

Cousins! Sunning themselves in the yard.

 My baby! Posing during the family luncheon!

 Me and my Nanny, the coolest, classiest person on earth. Who pointed out that my tan line was tacky! lol.... hey, I'm working on it. But also note that "she who never wears a dress" wore a dress for Sunday service at the fam's small town church which was so lovely......... good service. Especially since my roughneck cousin who I never ever thought would accept The Lord much less join me at church and sit next to me sharing a bible was there! He rocks!

And while everyone else had the bestest pizza on earth, I had chinese from the buffet across the road, smuggled in under my shirt.

 The newest family member, Landry, will be here soon.... and after this shot I found out the reason for her face was the airvent she was standing over, lol.

Being in my hometown I got to revisit something that floored me. As a high schooler I didn't get out and do much but school dances was the one thing I always got to attend, until 10 pm that is, lol. So when I was golfing next to the building where they were held, I had to see. I held my breath and opened the door that wasn't locked shocker! It not only looked exactly the same before we'd decorate it, but it smelled the same too. Those dances were a small part of normalcy and good memories of my childhood so I sniffled and sniffled as I did a quick walk (and don't tell anyone but dance) down memory lane.

 Then I took over control of the golf cart.

 Shopping with my Nanny! Who waited patiently for 45 minutes after my golf outting so I could get presentable before going to Wal-Mart. lol

 My girls hamming it up!

 See, proof I now own a dress that has not been worn to a wedding!

 Went running each morning back home, this is my favorite run. Around the lake in town, watching the ducks, turtles and deer hang out.

 Watched the boys show little man how to get in trouble by playing ball in the house!

 My aunt trying on my newest sunglasses. I sat on the others, again.

 The ladies, only minus my momma, who is in the process of relocating from OOOOOOtah to only 2 hours from me!

And lastly, my mugshot. Turns out thanks to the new security system, I have to have a new security badge. This is one of the four shots they took for my badge, seems I have a horrible blink habit.

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