This is my story

i want to run fast like claire

you rock!!!!!!!! Claire!!!!!!!!

and to have your name on the wall. sigh. to be a rockstar. i wish i could be as cool as you!!!!

tradition

 

what tradition means the most to you?

us... July 4th birthday party for Claire.  we were lucky to have nice weather. a little too cool for me to swim.

and today i'm uploading photos and editing inbetween scrubbing out pans of crused potatoes and baked beans.

and asking god to bless america.

free will

 

happy easter.

That's the thing about free will, he told us. You can drag me along, but there's no way in hell you can make me have fun.  story people

if you could see the look on her face when i took this picture you would know why i cropped it out. holding tulips and vintage picnic baskets are not her idea of fun. and i'll never get her into another easter dress. ripped jeans is the only thing she'll wear these days.

 

softball noise

Some things just can't be captured with the camera. Like the chants from the dug out.

We don't wear no mini skirts...

we just wear our softball shirts.

We don't drink no lemonaid...

we just drink our Power-aid.

We don't play with Barbie dolls...

we just play with bats and balls.

 

I promised

I promised a picture of  the lean. Last week at Jr. Olympics Claire won a close race by leaning into the finish line.

Another basketball tournament on Saturday....

Purple aces won all their games.

As you can see I've been spending lots of time as a spectator with my big black camera in hand. But I did get some beautiful woodland photos on our geocash this weekend. i'll post them later. Right now the sun is shining and my seeds need to be watered.

First swim

Every year I say I'm going to write down the date - the first jump into the pond. But I've never written it down. So, 2008 the earliest jump is April 19th. Crazy, but I think it's been earlier in the past.

I have no idea when my husband put this up???

Another pile of muddy pants to wash...

He still fits in the kitchen sink. Sigh

Purple Aces

We took a long Sunday drive to Lakeland College for our first Purple Aces Tournament. The college is out in the middle of spans and spans of farm fields. Nothing green in them yet. I love to look at the old barns.

Here she is. She's playing with such amazingly talented girls. She's learning so much from the coaches. It's really been a great experience so far. She'll definately come out a better basketball player.

Some inbetween game advise. I think he's sandwhiching it. A little advise from my Mom. Give some positive feedback, follow that with what needs to be improved and finish with more positive feedback. 

We walked around the campus and played a little golf frisbee but it was so cold. Where are you spring? Please come soon.

And they took the whole thing. Congrates 5th grade Purple Aces!

apple pie saturday

I asked Claire if she wanted to make apple pies with me this morning. Made Ree's Scrumptious Apple Pie andPerfect Pie Crust. And I thought as long as I was making one, I should just go ahead and make two. Tried this Apple Almond Cranberry Pie too.

I kept Claire's attention for about 2 minutes. Then she said, "why don't you just buy one?"  Then she headed out to play basketball and talk on the phone.

I'm pretty sure I gave birth to her. She's got to have some of my genetic make-up. Yet, I never could play basketball like she can. I hate to talk on the phone. And for the life of me I can't understand how someone could think a "store bought" pie compares to homemade.

 

So I made pie. She played basketball. Opps, I had my camera set at 1600 ISO. That works nice in the kitchen but too much light for outside on such a beautiful sunny day.

I think we both agree that pie is good to eat. We liked the Apple Almond Cranberry Pie the best. And we consider it heathy (apples, cranberries, almonds are all good for you, right?)

Happy Saturday to you.

another Saturday that's much too short

Hope you had a beautiful Saturday. Mine was filled with basketball and some cleaning. Always some cleaning. Leaving you with a couple of scrapbook pages. I've comtemplated quiting this scrapbooking thing, but it's way too fun to quit.

Exhausted

This is the first nap Claire has taken since she was 3 years old. She's been playing lots of basketball. Lots and lots. A tournment Saturday. The last game of the night they won by one point. It was an exciting game. So much emotion. Then she practiced with the AAU team on Sunday night. She such a hard worker. I'm her biggest fan. I wonder if she knows that?