BASEBALL BLISS

Baseball practice was shockingly rained out most of the week...Only because of the massive puddles on the field, but the head coach managed to secure a dry field to practice on even though he couldn't be there. It was at Union University, a private college here, and you have to get permission to practice there. We thought this was really going to be a nice place because the landscaping all around the campus is beautiful.

It's a giant U for Union (the picture is from January's big snow)WRONG! The so called "field" was filled with lumps and bumps, a few stumps for bases, and no back fence. Somehow, Nathan ended up hitting and pitching to the kids all practice long. Despite the junky conditions, I think he kind of liked it.

Brooke and I were an hour late because Brooke had a giant meltdown out of nowhere. She was perfectly fine and suddenly had these giant tears rolling down her face while I was brushing her hair. I know I wasn't hurting her hair, but she wouldn't tell me what was wrong. We sat down and she just hugged me and bawled and cried.

It took a while to get it out of her but she finally said in between her sobbing, "I wanna go home...I wanna go home to Texas!" And then she cried on my shoulder some more. She was just so sad that it felt like a dagger hit me straight in the heart. Turns out that on the way to practice Cole told Nathan that he is tired of Tennessee and wants to go back to Texas. What?!

The kids must have a had a pow-wow the night before and decided they would throw these words at us purposely trying to break our hearts. It worked, but unfortunately, moving back to Texas just doesn't work that way. We go where the job sends us.

They never mentioned anything about Texas again that day, and the rest of the day turned out really nice. Brooke had fun running around the giant trees during practice and playing with her toys, and then managed to sweet talk her daddy into eating lunch at Chick-fil-a.

We ended up buying one of those big tubs of baseballs and taking the kids out to an empty baseball field to work on some things with Cole before Nathan has to go out of town. We figured it wouldn't last long because Brooke would get bored quickly. While I was batting we made her stay in the dugout, and I guess she decided that her mommy looked so stinking cool swinging away that she wanted to do it, too. We were shocked that she wanted to try. We told her just a few things and she was ready to go.

OH...MY...GOSH!!!
Nathan and I think this has to be one of the cutest things that Brooke has ever done.

I put Cole's hat on her to keep her hair out of her eyes because the wind was blowing so hard.She stepped up to the plate 3 times...And the bucket has 3 dozen balls in it! Amazing. I think she was really proud of herself for doing something like Cole. She just may have the natural athletic ability gene that runs all throughout our families after all. Love it!

ONE YEAR HERE

A few days ago marked one year since we moved far away from all we've ever known in Texas and entered into the unknown territory of Tennessee. The relocation was sudden and all happened very quickly, but the opportunities outweighed the sacrifice of leaving those we love, as well as, a house we loved.

We went from this...

To this...

Serious downgrade! Mostly because we lost 500 sq ft of wonderful space and an awesome 3 car garage. It's much harder to deal with than I originally thought it would be, but there is a serious plus side to a smaller house...Less money. Our rent alone is $500 less, not to mention the utility bills that have pretty much been cut in half. Score! I'm grateful that the pressure has been lightened dramatically, but we all really, really, REALLY miss our old house.

The main reason we relocated so many miles away was to further Nathan in his career that he's worked very hard on for the last 10 years, but taking a time out from the often overwhelming expectations of others has been an added bonus in terms of mental recuperation. And, in a way, that's exactly what I was hoping for.There's not much to do here, and it's frustrating missing out on birthdays, holidays, and other special moments (and others missing out what our kids do), but I think we really are closer as a family and do many more significant things together than ever before. And, yes, it would definitely be nice to have a break and go on dates with my husband, but we knew what we were getting into. The kids had to sacrifice far more than we did by being ripped away from their grandparents and cousins that they love so much, but I hope one day they will truly understand and appreciate why we did it.
I've been accused of being a hermit, but I'm fine. I really am. Of course, I miss the social interaction with friends and family, but I really haven't been much of a social butterfly since Brooke was born anyway. I have a husband that loves me dearly and is my very best friend. And that's ultimately all I need. I admit that it would be nice to have some girls to hang out with, but that's not the reason we moved here. Besides, it makes our visits back to Texas with our loved ones that much more special.
Friends will come and go but family is FOREVER. And the friends that love you like family won't let distance or time phase your relationship. They will always be there in the end.

PRETTY EARRINGS

After 2 1/2 years, Brooke finally decided that she wanted to change her earrings. So, Friday night we hit up Claire's and searched through the mountains of accessories for just the right ones. We came home with 6 pair of big girl earrings and she chose to wear the "dangly" ones first.

Of course, she panicked when it came to change them and had tears rolling down her face before I even pulled the first one out. She's had some difficulty with her ears in the past, and has actually had them pierced three times. If you barely bump her ears they will probably ooze out something and leave a crusty mess around the back of the hole. They're not as sensitive as they once were, but it still happens sometimes.

I make sure every part of the earring that goes in or around the hole is dripping in the special ear cleaner (which is probably just alcohol and water mixed together). She says it stings a little when going in, but it's necessary. It's so nerve wracking trying to pull the backs off because they lock on there so tightly, and yanking them off the wrong way could cause her ears to get infected...Not to mention the tears that make you feel horrible.

She managed to hold on to her bear for dear life long enough for me to change the earrings. And she loves them! She loves how they make little sounds when they move. Oh my, she looks so big. After looking in the mirror, she actually said she looks likes she's 16. Wo! Slow down the growing up train!

She does look very pretty. She ran around at Cole's baseball practice swishing those darling, dangly earrings around like a little diva. And you know I can't resist a good photo op.
Brooke was 8 weeks old the first time she had her ears pierced (before our digital camera days). This picture was taken about a month after the second time when she was about 10 months old.
And this was taken a couple weeks after the third time during a road trip to Louisiana when she was 4 1/2. She asked for it this time, but it was absolutely dreadful when she actually got in the chair and had the first ear done. She cried for sooo long afterwards, and we had to buy her some Hannah Montana junk, ice cream, and rides on the carousel in the mall to get her to calm down.
I found this video when I was almost done with this post. Brooke will NOT be happy if she finds out this is on here.

My advise is to pierce your little girl's ears when they are babies and can quickly forget about it. Yes, everyone stops and watches to see you torture a screaming baby, but the kid can't punch you and remind you repeatedly of the pain, and it's over and done with quickly. And, boy do those teeny earrings look so cute on those teeny little ears!

GETTING THERE

After just a few practices, Cole is already showing tons of improvement. He's having to take in so much information from several different people each night, but he's absorbing the majority of it fairly well. We've been working on his catching and it's coming along...If he could only squeeze that glove shut all the way.

And by we, I mean me. Not all the time, but most of the time since Nathan has to work so much. Yes, I can throw a baseball and catch it...And no, I don't throw like a girl...That much. I never played softball (but I wish I had). I just tried to fit in with the boys in my family growing up and did what they did. And I always loved watching baseball more than any other sport and learned everything I could about it.
These people are serious and baseball is THE thing to do. So far it hasn't seemed to matter how cold or rainy it is, practice will be held. And it will NOT be cut short. On field practices are twice a week and batting practice in the cage is held once a week. They're not playing around.The season doesn't start until mid April, but scrimmages have already been scheduled for next weekend. This coach and half of the same kids the played together last year and made it to the championship game. They lost it near the end, so a goal has been set that this year they WILL beat the Chick-fil-a team. Don't forget to have fun, guys!A few batting clips. This was only his second time to bat on the field. He's definitely getting there. As long as he can perform under pressure, I think he'll do just fine come game time.

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN

When I was in school and it was a big deal, I never had to worry about wearing the color green on St. Patrick's Day because I was lucky enough to have some green built in. My green eyes. The kids got to wear green shirts today, but still had to wear their uniform pants. They always enjoy getting to wear something different to school.Brooke said I had to wear green so I put on my pukey green shirt that Nathan can't stand. I got it because I thought it would bring out the green in my eyes and make them "pop" more. He disagreed. Probably because he forgets what color my eyes are.

A little back story: Nathan said that my eyes were brown the very first time I asked him over the phone when we first started "talking". What?! I couldn't believe he didn't notice my eye color when one of the very first things about him that stood out to me were his beautiful blue eyes. Ridiculous. This was nearly 15 years ago, and he has yet to live that one down...And probably never will.

So, just this past Christmas, as I was wearing my festive pukey green shirt, my sister-in-law had the nerve to say that my eyes were more of a hazel color...In front of Nathan. No way! Oh, he jumped on that bandwagon real quick trying to say that hazel was like brown. Puh-leeze! They are GREEEEEEN! Green, green, green I tell you!
I've spent unhealthy amounts of time today, when I should have been working, searching for a definite green eyed picture of me. I don't have very many pictures of me anyway, and what I do have aren't very pleasant. And the coloring MUST be off on all of them.

However, as much as I hate to admit it, my eyes appear to not be as green as they once were. They actually appear to be more of a hazel. I can NOT believe I just said that. What is my old age doing to me?! This stinks.
But, I swear, they really were a distinct and very obvious green for at least the first half of my life! Right, Mom? Right?!

SHE WANTED THIS

Nearly every time I brush Brooke's hair, it's not pleasant. Some days are worse than others depending on how bad of a tangled mess her hair is in. Jumping on the trampoline is the best thing to do if you enjoy a whining kid hitting and yelling at you because you're hurting their hair.

I really try hard to be careful, use a few different combs and brushes, and go slow to work it out. It seems like she has an extra sensitive scalp or something, but sometimes she is really just over dramatic about it. She has wanted to keep her hair long, and didn't even like getting just a few inches cut off when school started.

A couple of weeks ago while I was fixing her hair during her tears, I asked her if she wanted to cut her hair short. I ask her this every week knowing good and well that she will say no because she loves her hair long. And thus my point is made that she has to deal with the pain of making her hair pretty if she wants to keep the length.

But, much to my surprise, this time she said YES! What?! And she put her hand right above her ear and said that's where she wanted it. Hold on now, let's not get crazy here. She also said that she didn't want me to do it. She said she wanted to go to a "panneshanul" otherwise known as a professional. I'll trim her hair a little bit, but I wouldn't dare attempt a drastic cut. Sometimes we cut Cole's hair ourselves, but we know that we can always shave it off if it goes terribly wrong. Not the case with a girl.

This past Saturday we went to the lady that cuts my hair. Brooke was so excited even though she looked completely disgusted during the whole process. The second she got out of the chair she was smiling and happy and loving her hair.
Nathan couldn't believe she wanted her hair so short. We both like it long, but it really did need to be chopped off in order to look healthier. Hopefully, this will help keep it from looking so scraggily after she's been running around and playing outside.
She wasn't up for pictures. She just wanted to bounce around with her hair swishing about. She loves her new short hair. She did let me fix it a little bit, but only long enough to see how it looked. I had to promise to take it out and paint her fingernails when I was done. Her hair does look really cute in ponytails and clips. She knows she has to have it out of her face for school, so I'll have to try and snap some cute pictures later on.

Doesn't she look so big?!

I'm glad I just mailed out school pictures of her that were taken before she lost her two front teeth and chopped her hair off. She looks so much different...Still sooo very cute though for sure!