My Slugger

Well Baseball season is in full swing!  Colton is playing Pitch ball this year and it is so much fun to watch the boys, it is so different than Tee Ball.  Colton seems have just figured out baseball overnight too.  He is one of the stronger hitters on the team, he has only stuck out once so far this year and we are about 6 games into the season already.  He is getting quite good at playing in the field as well.  Last year he would still shy away from the ball when someone threw it to him but this year he is doing everything he can to make the plays.  He played second base tonight and made two outs at his base.  The next inning he played first base and he got another runner out at his base.  The boys play only 6 innings at this age which is probably enough as that already take two hours and anymore than that can be tough for 7 and 8 year olds!   It has been so much fun to see him grow and excel with this sport, I think we might have found his calling as far as sports are concerned but only time will tell.  He told me sad when going to bed tonight, I asked why and he said because baseball was over.  He said he loves baseball this year which was so good to hear.  Sometimes I think as parents we push our kids to play sports because we want them to so for him to say that he loves it made me feel much better about this choice!  

 

 Mason has also been a trooper this baseball season.  We always bring a stash of snacks, a supply of toys and books and sometimes we are lucky enough to have a park right next to the field where he can play while Mommy watches the game and can still see him!  He is such an easy three year old considering we spend two nights a week at the baseball fields (for up to 2.5 hours some nights).  Gotta love this kid.  He is Colton's biggest fan!

Beautiful Mommy-to-be

I had the honor to take some maternity photos for one of my oldest friends!  I met Margie when I was 12 years old and moved from small town MN to big city.  She lived just two doors down from me and we quickly became great friends. We spent everyday of the summer just hanging out, talking about boys and course getting into trouble (yah right, we were angels)!  After high school we kinda lost touch a little as we went our separate ways but have reconnected lately (thanks to Facebook)!  Anyways, I was honored to help her capture her first pregnancy and here are some of my favorites! I look forward to her little one making his grand entrance sometime in the next couple weeks, I need some baby snuggles and already have some fun ideas in mind for his newborn photo shoot.  

Our Garden

So we have had a garden for the past 5 summers and have always had great success.  Well this year we weren't sure if we would be planting a garden or not.  With the house going on the market in early May we didn't even think about putting time into a garden as we were too busy finishing up last minute household projects so that buyers would fall in love with our home.  Well the house has been on the market for one month and no offers yet (plenty of showings though) so I decided I couldn't look at the empty garden beds any longer, just seemed like such a waste!  The boys and I went to the local green house and picked out our veggies, we decided to keep it pretty simple so that the new owners could maintain it in case we do get an offer in the near future.  We planted sweet white onions, Champion tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, jalapenos, cayenne peppers, bell peppers so we can make some awesome salsa.  And then knowing that we would still have space in our garden we decided to give Strawberries a try this year too! Gardening is something that I really enjoy and my boys do as well.  Mason helped weed the garden and we finished just before it started raining (at which time we headed inside to let the rain pass and Mason passed out on the couch, gardening is hard work)!! Colton helped me plant our new plants, although he did stop a few times to play with the worms that we dug up!  Mason couldn't stop talking about his pepper plants tonight over dinner (he picked out the bell peppers), he said they aren't ready yet but will be soon!  Here's to hoping our garden grows great again this year even if it isn't us who gets to enjoy the produce in the end.

Last Day of 2nd Grade

Today was Colton's last day of Second Grade!  He had another great school year in which he made huge improvements in his reading and writing and continued to excel in math.  He has made a few new friends and really started the whole playdate thing, I swear he gets more calls on my cell phone then I do (we don't have a home phone so he uses my phone number as he is almost always with me anyways)!! Colton really enjoyed school this year and was sad when it came to an end today, he said he even cried which I thought I was cute.  I hope he continues that love for school for a long time to come.  I still can't believe that my baby is going into 3rd Grade already.  

Colton you have grown into such an amazing little man, you are so caring, determined, loving, funny, outgoing, competitive (you get that from me) and smart!  But most of all you are mine, you are my son and I am so very proud of you.  Congrats on another great year of school, my 2nd Grade Graduate!

Academy Awards

Today was the end of year celebration for Colton's class.  The theme all year in his classroom has been Hollywood with the students as the stars and today was the Academy Awards!  Mamarazzi and Paparazzi were invited to the ceremony and encouraged to bring cameras and family members with them.  Well Mason and I wouldn't have missed it for anything.  Colton had been practicing his acceptance speech all week and we were excited to see him accept his award.  The classroom was packed and then the show started.  They kicked it off with a slide show of behind the scene images taken throughout the year in his classroom.... I was crying in no time (I blame the song she added to the video)!  Here is a link to the video: Bahl's Hollywood.

Then came the actual award ceremony. Each student was presented with their trophy and walked down the red carpet to the stage to give their acceptance speech!  So much fun to watch all the proud parents tear up as their own child Thanked them for all they have done to help them throughout the year.  The entire ceremony is wonderful although hard to believe how fast my baby is growing up! 

 Congrats on your Academy Award Colton, I am so very proud of you!

Memorial Weekend 2014

Glorious!  I don't think I need to say anymore about this Memorial Weekend.  The weather has been just amazing and after what felt like 47 months of winter this is exactly what all Minnesotan's needed!  The boys and I headed to North Country immediately after school/work on Friday to spend the weekend with Grandma Yvonne.  We arrived at the lake around 7pm, ate a quick dinner and then headed outside to see our friends and of course enjoy some smores around the fire!  The rest of the weekend was pretty much the same kind of relaxing fun.  We enjoyed many bike rides (Mason and I just got a need bike/trailer combo and we were excited to test it out), we played at the park, enjoyed several dinners over the campfire and ate more smores than anyone will admit, went into town for pizza and the best ice cream ever and even enjoyed an afternoon on the beach!  This was the best way to kick off the summer and now I am praying for many more weekends just like this in the future!

 

One thing we love about this campground is the friends we have made.  Just two sites down is a family with two boys... one Colton's age and one Mason's age! It is prefect and the boys have so much fun playing together!  Actually tonight as I am relaxing on the couch with Mason I can see Colton and his friend sitting by the campfire playing games on their Kindle/Nooks and just telling stories to each other.  It reminds me that Colton is no longer my little baby but is starting to find his own way in life and explore and learn things with his friends instead of just his mom.  It makes me proud to see him be socially confident, adventurous and able to make new friends so easily.  

Cub Scout Lock-In

Colton and I went to our first Cub Scout Lock in a few weeks back and I wanted to share the excitement of our fun night. We arrived at the church at 9pm with our tent, pillow, blankets, camera, two giant Lego bins and a crock pot of Nacho cheese (and chips of course)!  We got our sleeping quarters set up next to some of the other boys in our den and then it was time to eat!  We enjoyed sloppy joes, chips, fruit, salads and of course candy!  After our late dinner the boys had some free time to do whatever they wanted. Some played video games (as there were 6 TV's and the boys were allowed to bring their own systems/games), some played dodgeball, others went to legos and some played board games such as Risk.  Now I will say that the video game thing kinda drives me crazy but I know that is part of this generation however I do not support boys playing games such as Call of Duty (hello, 7 year olds don't need to play murder games, they are rated M for a reason)!  Colton didn't get to bring his video games... I felt he should play with his friends instead of electronics.  He asked me once to play as another boy said he could use his system, but Colton knew he had to ask due to the game (Call of Duty or some other killing game), I said "No" due to the game and he didn't argue at all because he knows our family rules.  One of the other dads heard me say no due to the game and he said "I completely agree with you, way to stick to it".  It felt like that was a small parenting victory.  Sometimes I feel we might be a little too old fashioned but come on there is no reason a 7 year is playing those games if you ask me.  Anyways, back to the lock in.  At about midnight we started some of the games.  The boys earned a ticket for playing and another if their team won!  There were several games played between midnight and 2am.   We also went outside around 1am to play with bubbles.   At 2:30 the drawing happened for prizes, Colton won a Lego set as if he doesn't already have enough.  Colton had no intentions of going to sleep but this mama was quickly losing steam as I had been up since 5am Friday morning. At 3am we had birthday cake as it was officially one of the scouts birthday now - seriously cake for boys at 3am is not a good idea!!  After cake Colton found an age appropriate video game and him and his friend sat down to play for a while while I crawled in our tent and passed out almost instantly.  I woke up at 6am to start cleaning up with the rest of the group... Colton was still awake (he was the only boy from my den who lasted all night - he was hanging out with the older boy scouts)!  We cleaned up the church basement, packed up our tents and cleaned up the Legos, loaded the van and were on our way home just after 7am.  Now the church is only about 8 blocks from our house but that was a long enough ride for Colton as he was out cold by the time pulled into the garage.   I woke him up and he stumbled his way into the house and crawled into his bed and slept until after lunch.  I was able to get another hour of sleep and then Mason was up so that was it for me... time to start my Saturday!  Here are few pictures from our first cub scout lock in!  This being a Cub Scout Mom is actually a lot of fun!