BROOKS' FIRST BASEBALL GAME

To make a long story short, apparently Brooks' first game scheduled for today was cancelled because the field was too wet. Our team showed up but the other team didn't. The field was not wet so we practiced a little, and they need it. Four year olds, of course, don't know anything about baseball. They sure looked cute though. I got a couple of pictures and I know they are not very good but the wind was brutal.

He did great hitting the ball. He hit it hard, and the first time, both times at bat. We have been playing baseball with all the neighbor kids and hopefully Jax and Brooks will pick up on some of the rules of the game that way. It is a lot for a kid to learn.

One little funny to tell....We got Brooks' uniform the other day and told him his team was the Diamond Backs and he said "no, I am a razorback!"

I am watching tv (The Doctors) at the same time I am blogging and Jillian from "The Biggest Loser" is on there. She just gave some long explanation for why artificial sweeteners can make you fat!!!! So not only are they bad for us they make us fat too. Nice. They also were talking about how artificial colors are really bad for us too and they have been banned in a lot of countries. Artificial colors are in everything. Oh I try to be healthy and do the right thing for my family but sometimes I am completely overwhelmed. Oh one more thing.....I love spray butter and the label says that it has zero calories but the whole bottle of spray butter actually has 900 calories. Still way way better than butter but it is frustrating the way they are able to lie to us.

{Back on Schedule}

So we are home from Arkansas and back on schedule. We got to see our new baby neice/cousin and she is precious. I can't wait to see her again because I know she will have changed so much. I got to hold her a lot and get my baby fix. Newborns are such a miracle.

Jax went back to school today and wasn't too happy about it. Tomorrow Jax has golf lessons and Brooks has his first baseball practice. We are about to be really busy but that is just part of having kids. I have avoided all the activities and summers full of baseball until now and I can not put it off any longer. The time has come and they are both excited. I cannot wait to see how this all shakes out. Jax's age is coach pitch so it could be interesting.

We all just got finished with our bedtime snack. Chris had pretzels and ice cream, Jax had a bologna sandwich, Brooks had turkey lunch meat and I had a banana with yogurt. There is no way around it. Jax gets home from school at 4:00 and he is starving. So I either let him have a snack and is not hungry for dinner or we eat dinner at 4:30 or 5. Tonight we ate dinner at 4:20. I made homemade baked french fries and deer meat patty melts. It was soooooo good. Anyway, so by 8:30 we are all hungry again. Oh well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Artificial Sweetners........

Well, okay, I have been having an inner struggle with this topic for a couple of years. I keep hearing about how artificial sweeteners are not good for you but I kind of ignore it because I am always trying to cut calories. It just seems to creep back into my mind and I feel guilty about drinking the diet drinks and the splenda in my coffee. The Doctors (one of our favorite shows) was talking about it again the other day. Chris and I were talking too and decided to quit drinking diet sodas (I have done this before and relapsed). Seriously, I was drinking about 3 Pibb Zeros a day and Chris was drinking that many or more. So what about my coffee??? I have to have the coffee!!!!!! I started my research online and have decided to not consume any more artificial sweeteners. I went out to lunch today and I wanted to order a diet coke but I didn't. I guess that is a step in the right direction. I wish I could learn to drink my coffee black! It is an acquired taste right?? Kind of like the dry red wine that I have learned to like. You know, come to think of it, my Grandma (love ya Granny) is in her 80's and is in great health and doesn't take a single medication and the only thing I have EVER seen her drink is water. No wait, I've seen her drink black coffee and I think some wine at the holidays. Anyway, water is what I should be drinking all of the time. I know I am rambling but that makes me think of something that caught my attention a couple of days ago. Chris has this really big sports bottle with a lid and lately he has been filling it to the top and drinking on it all day. Jax was curious about it and Chris told him why he was drinking it. The next day Jax got his water bottle and went over to the refrigerator and filled it up. We didn't say anything. He carried it around all day and then when he finished it he showed it to his Daddy. Chris thought it was cute and I reminded him of how his boys watch his every move. They want to be just like him and that is fine by me.

Here is just one of the articles I read if you are interested:
http://www.splendaexposed.com/

Hockey Rocks!

Chris got 4 tickets to the Houston Aero's hockey game from one of the guys at Academy. We thought it would be fun for us to go to and best of all it was free!! Well, it wasn't fun, it was AWESOME!!! Chris and I both agree that it was, by far, the most exciting sporting event we have ever been to. The boys loved it too. Jax was so pumped! We were on the 3rd row right behind the goal. We were surrounded by die-hard Houston fans that knew what was going on. We were lost and confused a lot of the time but it was so fun. Pretty much the whole game is a lot of guys beating each other up. The refs let them throw off their gloves and helmets and fist fight until they get on the ground and then they break it up. When they beat each other with their hockey stick they have to go to the penalty box for like a minute and a half. We watched one guy get slammed into the Plexiglas and have to go for stitches. It was crazy. I had no idea how physical it was. There are 3 games this week and I hope we get to go to one of them. We are hooked on hockey around here.

Oh yeah, I WON!

We had a little fishing contest the other day and I won. I caught the biggest fish. It was cloudy and sprinkling so that is why the picture is bad but I had to post the winning photo. Jax caught a few tiny ones but I got the big one. Chris and Brooks got big fat zeros. So here is a rare photo of me!

Golf Lessons

Today was Jax's very first golf lesson. He was so excited. There are 3 boys in the class. He has a female instructor and she started with about 20 minutes of class time then they went to the putting green. We were in the car watching them and had to laugh because we could not hear what they were saying but we were imagining Jax telling her "I would putt better with a Bridgestone." His favorite ball is a Bridgestone! So he has lessons every Tuesday for 6 weeks and next week is Chipping and putting.

100th Day of School Party

SORRY!!!

I know I am a little behind on my blogging. I have been really busy. I got a little wild and decided to redecorate my bedroom so I had to do a lot of shopping before I chose my paint color. I painted yesterday and when I get it finished I will post pictures. We have been busy doing fun and not so fun things. I will start today with pictures from Jax's Western Day at school. It was really cute and they did a lot of dances. Jax put out minimal effort, he knew the moves but didn't want to do them. Most of the kids were real theatrical but not Jax, he barely moved. I was mad at first but then laughed at him because that is just him. He was very proud of his new boots that are like his Daddy's.