The Ray's Days

Saturday, May 4, 2013

may the 4th

early saturday morning!

matt was up and moving by 4:30 to make it to andrews on time and the boys and i were not far behind him by getting up at 6. i made the boys some bacon and eggs (i'm always happy to cook when i have people that will actually eat what i'm cooking!) and we were off to charlotte hall. i dropped them off (an hour round trip) and rushed home to get little girlies packed and ready. on my way home i saw this guy...

this is something you don't see every day, even in amish country.

the 5k was a big success. the girls and i hung out close to the finish line and cheered people on as the crossed. i was so super bummed to not have been able to run. :( not that i would have won, the winning time was 20 minutes, but just to have participated. i don't even think i can wear my shirt, it's just all so lame.

from the 5k we headed to the other side of the county to chancellors run for a make-up baseball game. the girls and i played until the game started and laney thinks she's hot stuff playing on the playground.

little daredevil.

and big daredevils.

the game started at 12 and before 1 laney was done. she laid on the floor and cried, but didn't want me to hold her or do anything for her. i finally laid her in the stroller and walked around the baseball diamond. after a few laps frankie decided she wanted in on that action, and when she promised not to talk to or touch delaney i let her. they both looked like this within 10 minutes.

those are some tired sisters.

one of the dads has been taking pictures at all the games and he uploaded them to a shutterfly account. since i have yet to upload all of my awesome pics, i decided to use his. :)

it was another rough game.

we played the first team we played this season, the only team we've beat so far, but this time we lost. by more than 10 because they pulled the mercy rule on us (again).

it's not just about winning, but it is about having fun, and sometimes it's hard to keep having fun when you are never winning. and there are some great players on the team, so i'm not really sure why they're not winning.

it'll come.

my #4 played 1st base for awhile and did a great job ifidosaysomyself.

#4 struck out again this game. i pointed out to him that when we were practicing with the pitching machine every day he never struck out, but in a true stroke of teen logic, he came back with the fact that midway through the season (?) they switched the bat requirements and now his bat swings up.

of course it couldn't be that he hasn't practiced.

#4 has been #1 in the batting line-up, so he better get it together soon if he wants to keep his awesome spot.

he's a bunting maniac.

unfortunately this bunt went awry and came back and hit him and then he couldn't pitch when the coach asked him to.

more teen logic.

(although the bunt did come back and hit him)

i love the faces the boys make.

too high, boy!

and.... missed.

it was a nice sunny day but when the wind blew it was icy!

didn't stop me from getting a nice farmers tan burn on my chest.

darnit!

i'm out of practice in putting on sunscreen!

i got my face but missed my chest.

as we were looking through these i said "look at you all jumping to catch the ball! did you get that one?" and he said "nope."

haha, oopsie.

we came home to a very sick lulu. she called in to work and luckily got someone to cover her shift. otherwise it was gonna be a good lesson on how it's sometimes no fun to be an adult.

after crying the whole way home

(and frankie repeatedly saying "delaney! you are waking me up!")

i put delaney back down for a long nap. she's still super congested and looks pretty miserable, poor girl.

matt finally made it home at 6 and we ate leftovers and gave girls baths and talked for a few minutes before it was bedtime for bonzo's.

chris and robbie went to the fair. as a parent of teens i kind of hate the fair. every time it comes to town i know we sre gonna battle. it's so expensive and i just don't love it. the boys didn't leave till after 7, so they weren't there that long, so whatevs.

all day everyone has been saying "may the 4th be with you" which is just kinda funny and also just kinda annoying.

but anyway, that was our may the 4th.

and may it be with you.

Friday, May 3, 2013

today

we had lily and curtis over to play this morning, which was nice because the kids all kept each other occupied in the basement and i finished the laundry. so nice that they're getting old enough to play on their own for awhile! laney-lanes slept from 9pm-11:30am!!! i finally went in and woke her up, even though that goes against everything i believe in as a mom. she's still super congested and she did just get shots on wednesday, so maybe she was just really sleepy, who knows?

matt had a meeting at church tonight so we had katie over to watch the little girlies while we (alexis and peter, who surprisingly let me sit with them! chris, zane, anthon, and brian) went to see ironman 3 at our ghetto theater. it was really good and action packed and i loooooove going to the movies so it was a fun night.

the boys are all spending the night tonight and then we're heading over to the boy scout 5k bright and early.

another little bit of excitement today was that christian's new bat came in. he needed a new one for the division he's in and he was soooo excited to get it here. he's promised some good hits for tomorrows game! he requested a pic while he was at school and frankie was an all too willing model. :)

poor lexi lu is not feeling well, the family cold has come around to her. delaney, frankie, and matt all have runny noses but so far the rest of us are holding steady.

now it's almost midnight and we've got an early morning of work (matt) and many, many activities for the rest of us.

and so g'night.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

like sands through the hourglass

can't believe it's may already!

(hey lana, look who we ran into at bruesters!)

we hit up bruesters last night, mostly because i wanted chris to drop off an application, partly because i had a coupon, and partly because i'm taking a mourning break (dumb foot) from my diet and wanted ice cream.

some kids i know where super excited for ice cream.

addie and frankie were too.

best laid plans... i wanted to get ice cream before weds night church, but life happens and we didn't have time, so we went after, it was cold and late. and chris couldn't find the application he had filled out.

c'est la vie.

the kitchen looked like a bomb went off in it. i've been tired and seriously lacking motivation lately, and the house was showing it. so after the big kids and matt left for seminary i hit the deck and got 'er done. i usually like to make that a family job, but i couldn't handle it one more day. life just runs so much more smoothly in a (semi) clean house.

tonight we got to watch the yankees lose their 4th game in a row. :(

we were on top of things until the last inning and then all you-know-what broke lose.

chris had his first strike out of the season. it was looking like his 3rd at bat was gonna be a strike out also, but he took one for the team, right in his hand. our poor boys lost 12-6. the good news is that we play again on saturday, another chance to do moh-bettah.

before the games we play at the park.

i forgot to write here, but last week i drove chris up past dc for an interview to be a lifeguard at our neighborhood pool. we had a great looong drive (up and back), we talked and it was really nice. the interview went great... until they realized that christian is only 15... yes, i thought we had that little fact covered.

big deep breath.

christian was apologetic and i know that kids make mistakes, so i wasn't mad. it is sooooo much easier to be calm about things like that when the offender doesn't have a bad attitude. i know it probably shouldn't matter so much, but it really does.

today we spent all morning at gymnastics, dropped addie off at school, and then i had about an hour before my mri for my foot. it's gotten worse (more painful and swollen) and i just want to make sure it's okay before i run on it and potentially make it worse. i went to the orthopedic dr yesterday and he thinks it's probably a stress fracture. i had no idea what a stress fracture even was, but apparently you can get them when you increase your distance (check) and your intensity (double check). i just thought i was being pretty wimpy and that i really should be running 10 minute miles. so i did it and felt good. then i thought that since the furthest i'd ever run was 5 miles that i really should start going 6. so i did and felt good. for a few hours.

the dr put me in a boot and it feels great, i mean there's no pain walking anymore. the boot is huge and itchy and hot. but here's what i'm hoping: no stress fracture, just a sore foot needing to be babied and walking in a boot for a week is just the babying it needs and then i can get back to normal. either way i can't run the scout 5k on saturday. :((((( it's not that i love to run, it's just that i love to eat more than i hate to run. and i've worked really hard to get to where i can run 6-10 minute miles. so now when we're traveling i buckle the girls in and then take off my boot (right foot injury) and then when we stop i put the boot back on and unbuckle little girls. this little inconvenience is actually a good reminder about what a good and easy life i have.

lexi has been working at applesbees m, w, and sat nights. last night she went in at 4 (we have to go into addie's school to pick her up a little early) and didn't get off until 10. they were super busy and super unprepared. of course this morning she didn't want to go to seminary, she wanted to stay home and "help" me, you know with my foot and all. i took her up on it (she seemed a little surprised) and let her keep d while we were at gymnastics. i figured it would be a little difficult to have a squirmy 1-year-old in a front pack and a giant boot on my foot. doable, but difficult.

you know what this is?

that's 4 years of gymnastics paying off.

(and a mom shadow standing like a trucker. it's the boot, you know)

laura and i are busy, busy, busy planning our north carolina mothers day lighthouse adventure.

it's gonna be sooooooo fun!

our days have been nice and our mornings and nights cool.

loooooove no heater/no ac weather.

delaney had her 15 month check up yesterday.

she looks great, has met every milestone and finally gained a little. she weighs 18.14! yay, almost 19lbs! skinny lady is in the 5th %, 50th for head, and i can't remember her length, but she's on the longish side. tall and skinny. everything to eat or drink she calls juice.

she must be frankie's sister.

on monday night (this post is all over the place) matt and i went with the missionaries to visit meka. she reminds me of myself - single mama, living in a cute little apartment, working, going to school, and raising her babes. it was a good visit.

that's chris out there guarding 3rd.

i know, it's a great picture. i just thought i should document us all f-f-freezing out there tonight.

i love his team - the boys, the coaches, the mama cheerleaders, it really is so fun.

and a bonus shot:

big and goofy delaney teethmarks in my... deodorant.

gross, right?

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

april wrap up

lexi pic's are sometimes few and far between, but franks is working with me to make sure that stops.

gotta love these sistah's.

and since we're talking about alexis, she did a really cute book report on friday night lights where she compared everybody in the book to peanut's characters. it was cute and she got a good grade.

proud of her!

lexi is also taking a psychology class and right now they're studying all about stages of development. sometimes she comes home and she's excited to try things out on the girls. so one day she filled 2 identical glasses with water and asked addie if there was the same amount of water in each glass. addie studied them and said yes, there was.

then she poured one glass into a square bowl and asked if they were still the same.

addie studied them out...

and decided that nope, the glass had more water than the bowl.

lexi couldn't believe it.

so she tried it again.

and addie decided again that when they were in different shaped containers they were not equal.

gotta love 4-year-olds. :)

baseball, baseball!

it's a good thing that i really love going to these games. :)

frankie always wakes up early, no matter what time she goes to bed.

that can sometimes lead to a cranky frankie. this morning she pouted under the bar stool and then when she was ready to come out she hit her head on the bar stool.

double whammy.

(and please disregard the messy chair!)

last week we celebrated sarah's birthday with a fun potluck lunch at shelly's.

alecia made a yummy ice cream cake and we all sang happy birthday.

it's nice to have nice friends. :)

sleeping kids are the best.

the.best.

addie went on an elm's beach field trip on monday. it poured all day and all the little pre-k'ers got soaked. they were only able to take 4 parents so they put all the volunteers into a hat and drew names and i didn't get chosen. tina sent me pics, so it's all good.

acting like blue crabs.