Balfball the Next Great American Pastime

Golf and Baseball all rolled into one.

WE HAD A DATE NIGHT!!

When you move across the country one of the minor inconvenience is finding a babysitter in a place you really don't know anyone. Well, last night one of Cory's coworkers, who is super sweet and has been such a joy to get to know, watched the kiddos, so we could go to a really nice dinner. It was a work related deal to thank one of the teams for their amazing hard work, but it was at an awesome restaurant Capital Grille. I was so thankful to have time with adults. I was soaking in the ambiance like a child at Disney World. Before we knew it 3 hours past, thankfully it didn't take us too long to get home. We sure didn't want to take advantage of the amazingly kind gift of childcare.
Caleb loved our time away. He said 2 things that made me confident this was a successful date night for all of us. As we were getting ready to leave he said, "You can go mom, and if you need me just give me a call." And as L. was putting him down for bed he asked to have another date with her. It brings tears to my eyes that my little guy who doesn't like being away from his Momma had so much fun. Makaylee was a good little girl and they both got gold stars for their behavior.

Day Two in Virginia

Virginia Tech does it seems a ton of research in the area of agriculture, so we were able to spend the day seeing animals. Caleb loved every minute of it. We started out with the sheep, which were not very social.

We then moved on to horses. We cautiously feed one with very long blades of grass.

As we were leaving we noticed a board that told about each group of horses and notice one group had been exposed to the swine flu. I was a little concerned, but thankfully they had a diagram of where each group was located and the horse we feed was not a potential swine flu carrier. Fewwee!!

Makaylee seemed most comfortable in my arms during our time with the animals

Caleb loves cows so he kept asking to see the cows.

They have a dairy farm on the campus, so we headed over to check it out. Some of the research they do is on what the cows eat. They can actually open the thing on the cows back that looks like the end of a plunger and take stuff out of the stomachs.

Caleb was determined to get as close as possible to the cows and he saw they were herding them to the back of the building so he insisted we go back there.

I was glad we did. We got to see modern technology milking a cow.



One other historic piece they have preserved is a plantation house. We thought about going inside for the tour, but 2 kiddos near nap time in a confined space seemed like meltdown waiting to happen. We did take a look at the outside.
I got some super cute pics of sister cruising around.




We needed to get on the road so we could get back to Pittsburgh at a reasonable time, so we put on our newly purchase VT gear and took a few pics.



This is Franklin the cat. Caleb and Franklin became buds while we were there, so we wanted to capture the moment on film.


This is my amazing Aunt Cathy. She really is one of the kindest most generous people I know.

Visit to Virginia Tech

After we arrived in Blacksburg we went to the Virginia Tech campus. My cousin is a professor there, so we got the grand tour. We started with a nice picnic at a beautiful duck pond.
Caleb enjoyed feeding the ducks and it just felt like a place you could stay for hours and relax.
We then headed over to the campus to start our tour. It was a stunningly beautiful campus. All the buildings had a historic feel. I really thought it was the most beautiful college I've ever seen, and there was so much history preserved.

It just so happened the first place we came to was the April 16th memorial for the lives lost in the tragedy when a gunman opened fire in one of the buildings on campus. It was heartbreaking looking at the faces of the students and teachers lost that day. They did such an honoring job with the memorial.Each of the stones had a name engraved and were cornerstones of different buildings around campus.

We then continued the tour and went to the chapel were they honored different Virgina Tech students that have received the metal of honor through the years. On top of the chapel there was a memorial to the students who fought for our country during WWI and WWII. One of the school's mottos is 'Ut Prosim' meaning 'That I may serve.' This was etched in the stone on the memorial. A visual reminder that people have served this great nation, giving their lives, so I can have my freedom. I really want to make sure my children are aware of this, and touring this campus gave me a greater appreciation.
Caleb is standing on top of a block that was part of this memorial.


From the memorial you can see this entrance to the campus.


It is a huge archway that Caleb thought was cool. He loves going under tunnels.

Next, we went to the communication department to check out my cousin's office and then on the way back to the car we saw a statue of the first student to come to school at VT. He had a mere 20 mile walk to get there.

The last bit of excitement before we left was walking through another tunnel.

Healthy Alternatives

I thought it would be fun to start making Mondays a day to communicate healthy alternatives. I've been really convicted lately about how lazy I am with feeding the kids what is easy and convenient, which for me is usually not very healthy. I wanted to try and make this a focus of our family and figured if I set aside one day a week to be creative I would start to get back on track. I thought I would put foods we eat regularly that maybe aren't real healthy and find an alternative that is good for you. Would love to hear your recommendations!! I had a great one, but I will save it for next week. This week I decide to give a heads up to anyone reading this; drink the new Juicy Juice with DHA with caution.

We took a fun trip to Virginia this weekend. I will post more on this through the week, but back to the Juicy Juice. I gave each of them a sippy cup full to start the trip. We were doing great until about 3 hours into our trip. We stopped to go potty and Caleb had to do a number 2 and this must of opened the floodgates, because we stopped at almost every McDonalds from Morgantown to Blacksburg for a potty break. And then it got so bad we were stopping on the side of the road for him. He had a terrible case of the runs. It didn't seem to hurt, but it turned a 5 hour trip into 7 hours. I wasn't sure of the cause and then about an hour after we arrived Makaylee came down with the same horrible issue. My babies' tummies did not handle this drink well at all. Needless to say we were interesting house guests for my cousin James and his wife Adrian. They were very hospitable and we had a great time, but we won't be drinking anymore DHA Juice.
I also thought it would be fun to post pictures of something we did as a family that was fun and active. This is Caleb and Cory running up a hill and turning a parking block into a balance beam.
We had fun trying to do some pull-ups at the ranger workout area on the Virginia Tech campus.
Caleb got alitte nervous hanging 8 feet above ground.



So easily amused.

And Makaylee got her own little workout walking around in the rocks. She was very proud of her ability to maneuver through the rough terrain.

Music Recommendation

Loving this CD

Show Us Your Dress

I recently moved across the country and have no current social life, so I've become somewhat of a blog addict. I came across Kelly's blog a few weeks ago, and I thought it would be fun to take part in her Show Us Your Life.

I only have my bridal portraits, because we went cheap on a photographer (big mistake) our actual wedding day, so we have no digital photos.


I remember feeling very pretty.

I thought I would dedicate this little diddy to my beautiful both inside and out hubby, Cory to show how thankful I am to have married him 5 years ago.

Stay Beautiful

My favorite verse in the song:
Cory finds another way to be
The highlight of my day
I'm taking pictures with my mind
So I can save 'em for a rainy day

It's hard to make a conversation
When he's taking my breath away
I should say
'Hey, by the way'

Pursuing the Drama

Why do we do it?
I feel like this question is popping up all around me lately. Whether, it is in the movies I watch, the music I listen to or now in my Bible reading. It seems to be begging me to answer. While I might not have the answers I thought for two reasons I would do some analyzing. First and foremost, I would like to help lead my children to make healthy decisions and second because I love to analyze life.

With Friendships
When I look back over my life I made a number of amazing friends, but I also had some friendships with people that didn’t treat me right. Their behaviors were hurtful and yet for some reason I continued to pursue them. The movie Mean Girls comes to mind. The girl that says such sweet things to your face, but behind your back is plotting to ruin you. I can think of a few people in my life that were like this to me. I think for the most part it is jealousy and insecurities that drives that behavior. Being jealous hearted is such a terrible way to live. Currently, I am working on eradicating any hint of covetousness in me. Jealousy it seems is the driving force behind so much hurt in this world. But my question is why we allow people who have such evil intentions to be in our lives and even call them friend? Is it that we like drama? Or maybe it is that we think they are something special, so we are special if they are our friends. Whatever it is, I sure don’t want Makaylee making friends with the mean girl or heaven forbid being that girl even if it is as subtle as not celebrating in her friend's victories, but rather being jealous of them.

I've been reading the Proverbs and came across this section that was a great caution and encouraging. Ultimately, they will be exposed.

Proverbs 26:24-26 (This is the Message version)
Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend, all the while conniving against you. When he speaks warmly to you, don't believe him for a minute; he's just waiting for the chance to rip you off. No matter how cunningly he conceals his malice, eventually his evil will be exposed in public.

With Relationships
We have all heard the story of girls being attracted to the bad guy, and what about the saying nice guys finish last. Is this true and why? I recently watched the movie He is Not That Into You. If you haven't seen it I really enjoyed it. Total chic flick, but it really got me thinking. Why do we go after the guy that doesn't want us or treat us right? The theory in the show is for the drama. I can believe that. But here is what I don't understand why do we crave unhealthy drama? Taylor Swift’s song That's the Way I Loved You sums this up perfectly. She has the perfect guy, but wants the dysfunction.

He is sensible and so incredible
And all my single friends are jealous
He says everything I need to hear and it's like
I couldn't ask for anything better
He opens up my door and I get into his car
And he says you look beautiful tonight
And I feel perfectly fine

But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain
And it's 2am and I'm cursing your name
You're so in love that you act insane
And that's the way I loved you
Breakin' down and coming undone
It's a roller coaster kinda rush
And I never knew I could feel that much
And that's the way I loved you

I would love to say that I didn't live that life, but until Cory every relationship I was in had dysfunction stamped all over it. Even with Cory in the beginning of our dating relationship to say the least he didn't cherish me. It wasn't until I communicated I don't need this things drastically changed. An indicator that we actually choose how people treat us. One other thing the movie mentioned that I thought was very interesting was girls are taught from a young age that boys who are mean really have a crush on them. I definitely remember having boys tease me and hearing he likes you and that is why he is teasing you. In many cases I am sure this is true, but isn't this communicating a confusing message to our children. I will make a strong effort when anyone mistreats my child to call a spade a spade and help my kiddos understand that being treated this way is not acceptable. They should never allow anyone to mistreat them.

I do have one theory on why we crave the drama, so here it is. When we are not totally satisfied with ourselves we find it hard to believe anyone else could be either, so when someone actually treats us amazingly well we call it boring. That person couldn't be too great or they wouldn't want us. We are attracted to those that treat us wrong, thinking subconsciously I am sure, if they care for me I am really special. We all want to be special. I am just thankful I've learned I am significant, because Christ loved me enough to die for me.

BEWARE OF DOGS part 2

I thought I would give a quick update on Attie after the surgery. After 40 stitches in her cute little face the surgery was complete. Thankfully from a scaring standpoint the majority of the stitches were in the inside of the mouth. I am just so thankful everything went really well and she is recovering. She is handling it amazing and being such a trooper. She also doesn't seem to be too traumatized. There was a dog in a car next to theirs and in a bubbly voice she said, "oh look it is a dog." I think she is handling it much better than me. I've been weepy all day. A flood of emotions. Mostly thankfulness that she is alright, but also this was such a tangible reminder of how not in control we are. I am so thankful that our precious little ones are ultimately in God's hands and nothing happens out of His control. I really think if I didn't believe that with all my heart I would be a paranoid over protective mom freak.

BEWARE OF DOGS

Last night I got a phone call delivering very scary news. My niece was attacked by a dog. I am so thankful my cousin was able to get the dog off her within seconds otherwise who knows what might have happened. My sister has always been very cautious with dogs, so when the news arrived in surprise with tears streaming I asked, "What happened!" They had run into a friend’s house quickly to pick something up. Attie is such a dog lover and always wants to pet the doggies, but my sister consistently has told her we don't go up to dogs we don't know. Her dad had just pet the dog, so Kaycee gave the okay, but said, "First, put your hand out and let her smell you. The dog took a whiff turned away and then like a tiger pounced on top of her. Within a blink of an eye it had her knocked to the floor and dealt out a number of puncture wounds to her little face. I will say again, thankfully my cousin being a huge guy was able to grab the dog and get it off sweet little Attie Jo. I really learned a valuable lesson. Going forward even if the dog seems okay if I don't know it personally my kids will not be allowed to touch it. As scary as it is to think about you just don't know. I also will find out about the dogs in my neighborhood, because you never know when a dog might accidentally get out. Attie is having surgery as I write this, so I am saying a prayer that it goes smoothly and quickly and God keeps her safe under anesthesia.

Another Day at the Science Museum

The Carnegie Science Museum resulted in another fantastic outing.
We started out seeing the inside of the submarine.

The highlight of this tour was climbing through the wholes and in Caleb's words, "I did it ALL-BY-MYSELF."
Next we went to a fun little Mr. Rogers show about the moon, sun and stars.

Then we headed upstairs for trains and robots.

The train village was a hit. We probably circled around it 10 times looking for Thomas. Alas we finally found him.

The robots were not really our thing, but this little exhibit kept Caleb's attention for a little while.


I thought this was pretty cool. We could see ourselves on the infrared.

We had fun looking at the sea creatures and fishing for plastic starfish.

The grand finale of the day was something Caleb has wanted to do for awhile, but either we haven't had time or he chickens out. Well today, he conquered the trampoline ride.

It was a mere 30 minute wait for 3 minutes of fun. But apparently it was worth it. I guess Caleb was feeling a little like I was the paparazzi by this point and was done getting his picture taken.