Weekend at home

It's so nice to have a weekend at home! I've been getting the house ready for visitors next weekend - my mom and dad and my sister and her kids are all coming here! We can't wait. So, we've taken down all the kids artwork in the playroom (since we just moved all the family room furniture in there two weekends ago), and I re-framed everything yesterday. Gary has spackled all the holes, and tonight we hope to sand and touch-up paint so I can re-hang the art tomorrow.

Last night was very relaxing. The boys each had a friend over and they all played outside til dark. I love that they are getting older and can run around outside more.

Today Alek had an early game - and they won!! Here are some pictures ...

Gary took the boys to the batting cages this afternoon, and I went shopping. Now, it looks like rain! Hurray ... we'll stay inside and maybe watch a movie, although I have lots of clean laundry to fold. Guess it's time to get on that!

Sport Climbing Regional Competition - video

Here's the video of all Ben's climbs from the comp on Saturday - 3 qualifying difficulty routes, two speed climbing routes, and one final difficulty route.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdssBu5vkD0

Big win for Prime Mortgage on Saturday

Prime Mortgage is now 5-3, winning their most recent game in the heat on Saturday afternoon.
Alek batting ... Pep talk from Coach Andy ... Alek is #11 with his back to the camera...

Taking the field ... lots of excitement! ... Alek is in the foreground ...

Team stretching and resting before the game ... Alek is on the left ...

Alek pitched to four boys ... walked the first, then three strike-outs!

The wind up ...

Regionals

These pictures are not in order ... I am so tired I can't even think about how to move them around.
Waiting to climb the final route ... Flashed the first route, tied in for second route...Team TRC took FIRST PLACE! We are so happy and so proud of all the competitors and coaches!

Youth D boys from TRC ... fierce competitors but also good friends ...

Wow, what a weekend at Regionals for Ben. Lots of fun, but the result is Ben got 2nd place in the Youth D finals and a nice silver medal, 3rd place in speed climbing for Youth D and a nice bronze medal, and 4th place overall Youth D and an invitation to Divisional Competition next month. We're going!

Happy Mother's Day

This has been a perfect Mother's Day. I was woken up with breakfast made by my boys and then they agreed to follow my direction and we rearranged the entire house! I love it!
The Living Room
First, the big old couch with the rip in it (the hide-a-bed couch) moved back into the living room, only this time it is up against the windows because the piano is along the main wall. The love seat is over in front of the bookcase near the dining room - not ideal, but it fits. The new rug I bought for the breakfast nook now lives in the living room because for summer we needed to expose the airconditioning vent in the breakfast nook, and the rug covers it.I know the red blanket on the covered couch is not ideal, but we really like the Penny Road Panda blanket with our name on it. Suddenly, there are a lot of pictures over the love seat. Someday, I'll get that clock working again. I love that clock ... mom and dad gave it to us as a wedding present.

What a pretty Chase in the picture. He was following me around.The Family Room

Is EMPTY! Oh yea, this is the most exciting part - almost everything is out of the family room and we went shopping today for a new sectional sofa to put in here! I can't wait, but it will be several weeks. We've narrowed the choices down to two ... on a nice brown leather and one a toasty colored cordoroy. Cordoroy fabric seems to be very popular on couches these days - and it's very soft and cozy. But, it does look like something my friends back home would have had in their basements in the '80's. So, we've got some more discussing to do.

The Play Room

Most of the family room furniture moved into the playroom. This is good, because now the curtains are back with the matching furniture. We had separated them three years ago when we built the addition. The boys don't need so much open space to play anymore, so now they have a couch, a double chair, a table and a coffee table in the playroom. There's still room for Wii, and dance parties, and grandma's table can be popped up for puzzles any time. They each space for their laptops, and the family computer has moved upstairs, since they really don't use it anymore.

The Breakfast Nook

Is unchanged, but was pretty with the sun shining in. We are managing to keep Ben's plant alive. Oh, and the plants outside in the backyard are doing very nicely too.

This is the flower Alek got me, along with the mug he decorated himself.

This is the new salad plate from the boys. It came with beautiful beaded salad tongs that were made by my neighbors Mary and Rita. I didn't get a picture of them, but I love them!

The salad plate is sitting on the buffet, ready for use.

Upstairs Nook

Several years ago we floored our two-story foyer, creating a nook in the hallway upstairs. This has been the most useful space. For many years it was a play area for Little People, Thomas Trains, remote control cars, slot car racing, etc. Most recently it has been a dog hang-out. Now, it's a peaceful reading area with the striped chair and ottoman from the family room next to the computer on the computer table. This is where I'm working right now, because this computer is the one I use to download and store all my pictures. Perfect for reading.

Well, I hear Gary and Alek coming home. Oh, they put up my hammock first thing today, but I haven't had a chance to sit in it yet. We put it up and take it down each time we use it so it doesn't get dirty. There's a nice place to store it right in the backyard shed.

We're heading out for dinner tonight and I'm supposed to decide ... I hate deciding. But, I am getting hungry.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

US National Whitewater Center

So, we did take some pictures at Ben's last comp ... just found them on my camera today!

This first picture was taken as we arrived - you can see the high climbing tower in the background, and some of the whitewater routes behind it. This is a lovely place, and we had a lot of fun that day before it rained. We will definately go back and raft and climb again. Gary and the boys ....

Part of the climbing team ... in back is Paxton, second row is Amanda, don't know the next girl, then Ben and Cameron. In front are another girl whose name I don't know, Megan the coach, and on the right is Cayley.

Ben's first climb was good ... before the rain started!

Baseball Game

Alek's team had another win last night! I think they've won three and lost two, but I haven't been able to attend all the games. More great pictures from the game!

High fives after the game ... love the teams' colors! We're so happy not to have black, grey or tan t-shirts this year! Celebrating after the win!

Alek warming up with a big stretch ...

Gary, front and center on the bleachers watching the game ...

Alek has pitched the last couple games and I'm so excited to have a picture of it! He got three strike outs! He's got a strong arm, and he's working on his accuracy.

Alek getting some last minute tips from Dad...

Warming up before the game! Love the backwards hat!

Baseball baseball baseball

So I didn't have time to post much about last weekend, but we had a lot of fun at the US National Whitewater Center and the boys did so well rafting that our guide took us down the class 4/5 rapids. It was great, but really wore Ben out for climbing that night. And with the rain (the comp was outdoors) he didn't last long. Didn't matter, he had already qualified for regionals so we had a nice day and evening and breakfast with the team the next morning.
This week was really busy for me, as I went to NY on Weds for an IBM meeting. It was a great day, and I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time, and met some of the people I've been workng with for the last 3 years who I'd never met. But, makes for a long week.

Thursday night Alek had a baseball game, Friday was a practice, and today (Saturday) was another game. One of the dad's on our team is a photographer, so we get some really great shots of Alek playing ball ... enjoy!