Summer days...

I'm still around - I've been reading your posts everyday and commenting infrequently, but I'm still here. I just haven't had much to say lately. We've been really busy with baseball. Both boys went to their state tournaments and both teams took third. Colby's was great, as always. He hit a homerun over the fence, but this was really DJ's year to shine. He has always really gotten the shaft with baseball. He's good, but he's in with a mix of boys that are really good too and for some reason he's never really hit it off with the coach, but every three years, that coach moves up with his son and DJ gets the chance to have a really good year. This was it. During the season, he was an awesome catcher and then for the all-stars, his dad got to coach him.

There was a little bit of "coach's son" attitude a few times, but this tournament was outstanding. We took boys from 4 different communities and raised money to help with travel expenses. The boys all really "gelled" together and I think they've all made some lifelong friends. They all got to play, Darrell was really, really fair. He felt they all deserved a spot on the team and did a great job getting everybody in. The victories they achieved were done so as a team and everyone felt like they'd made a contribution.

DJ did an exemplary job behind the plate. He got beat all to heck (I even had to take him to the chiropractor when we returned), but he has had the season of his life. In two of the "important" wins, he was the winning run over the plate in a bang, bang play at home - and he's one of the slowest runners on the team. His short little legs were just running like no get out! It was wonderful to see that as a mom and I know Darrell was beaming with pride as well!

All the kids have had a good summer with sports and now Colby starts football. Sonya is excited to go into the 4th grade and Heather is ready to move to Mizzou. I'm ready for her to go, but a little sad to lose her. She has been seeing this boy and I sure hope it doesn't interfere when the time comes to go. I'm sure it won't but we visited the campus again this weekend, just to make sure the excitement was still brewing. This is the first "boyfriend" she's had and the timing couldn't be worse in my eyes, but I think she's got her head on straight. She's looking forward to the next phase of life.

Everyone is good in my neck of the woods and here's a few pics of summer for you.

Heather and Sonya making silly faces...



DJ resting after a hard game...



Colby watching a baseball game on Mizzou's field. He doesn't care who's playing, he just loves being at the field...