Congratulations, Eric and Becky!

Emalyn and I went up to Cincinnati for a short visit over the weekend. Eric and Becky had a beautiful wedding! Sorry Tony and the boys had to miss it... Papaw Wayne needed them with him for his huge operation on his spine (which went very very well, Praise the Lord!) Here's just a couple of my favorites that I had to post. Did I ever mention that window lighting is my FAVORITE??? Just look how beautiful these are! I'll post more pics from the wedding next week...


Eric & Becky Schmidt


Kelsey Schmidt (The Little Bride)

Quick Baseball Update

So, we are loving our baseball season so far! Last weekend, Brayden's team won both games - so they remain undefeated - YIPPEEE! Brayden had a GREAT game. I recommended him wear his glasses while he was at bat for this game (just to see if that was the problem, why he had been having trouble hitting.) I got some gruff from Tony and Brayden about it, but they did go ahead and he wore his glasses. He hit the ball everytime he was at bat! So, AH HA! I figured out the problem... poor guy couldn't see the ball until it was right in front of him! Anyway, he had a couple good plays in the outfield, too, so his great job earned him the game ball for that game. He was so excited! I video taped that game and Ashton's game, so I will work on getting those on here for you to see some great hits and some great fielding plays. Ashton was on fire at the pitcher mound... had many outs there! A couple times, he got 2 in a row! We're very proud of our sporty boys. =)

A Fun Week

This was a great week in Cleveland! It was nice weather all week (until Friday... it stormed really bad and they cancelled the ball games). But, we really enjoyed playing outside everyday. On Tuesday, I layed out, reading "And the Shofar Blew" by Francine Rivers (sooo good!) while the kids played outside. I ended up laying out there for 4 hours and was a lobster! I just went back out while they napped, etc. so the hours just slipped by. Trust me, if you've read that book, you'll understand! =) I'm in the peeling stage now, but it still hurts! Anyway, here's some fun pictures from the week and a few of the kids taking advantage of the great weather!


Funny


Emy and Grey Davies playing in their own worship band.



The sprinkler is so fun!

Ashton is going for it!

Emy loved it!

Update on Baseball Games today

We finally got to play our Saturday ballgames! YIPPEEE! Ashton's team lost, but Ashton did great. He hit big off the pitches, ran fast to the bases and made great plays on the pitcher mound. We're so proud of what a GREAT job he did!

Brayden's team won their game - 13-7 and it was an AWESOME game! We had two boys on our team hit home runs; one of those had been striking out every time at bat. It was so great! Brayden did so great, too! Tony worked with him ALL day at batting. He struck out twice, but strugged it off well. The third time at bat (Tony, Linda, Wayne and I were all praying out loud - PLEASE JESUS! Let him hit it!), AND he hit it and made it to first base! We were so exicted! You can only imagine how great he felt (b/c he really was losing interest since he hadn't had a hit since the pre-season scrimmage). The players after him hit well, too, so he was able to run fast to each base and make it home! He said this was the BEST day! He also said he didn't want Saturday to END! So cute. We're so proud of him!

THIS IS WHY WE LOVE BASEBALL SEASON! GO PIRATES!

Brayden's First Game of the Season

Brayden had his first game of the season last night. GOSH! It was a good one! This age group is so exciting! It's all coach pitch - no tee anymore so it's real tough on some of them (Brayden is one of them). He has become afraid of the ball for some reason and hasn't been able to hit anything. He struck out everytime. So, we've go to work on that A LOT. Anyway, we ended up winning the game 8-6. We played against the Nationals, which is coached by our coaches from last year (remember Ryan and Sam?). It was good to see them and strange to not be on their team b/c we had played with them for the past 2 years. Oh, well. at least we won and it was a good game. Here's some fun pictures! They both play again tomorrow. (Ashton's was cancelled tonight b/c of the storms).


Brayden


Swing hard, Brayden!


LEFT FIELD - He made 3 good plays here in a row.

Laughing at himself...

Brayden's Basketball Team Picture

Ashton's First Baseball Game of the Season

Well, let's just say that April Showers are DEFINETLY here in Cleveland! All of our baseball games have been cancelled because of the rain, except one - Ashton's that was last Monday. Our Opening Day ceremony and first games were supposed to be Sat. March 29th, but those didn't happen. Thankfully, Ashton's team won the game Monday night, 10-7. It was supposed to be a tournament, which meant that their team would play in the next bracket, but the whole tournament ended up being cancelled b/c of the rain. Hopefully, we'll get to play again next weekend! Here's some cute pictures of Ashton at his game.


Up at bat



Just got out at first, but still smiling!



His best position, pitcher - made a lot of good plays here (throwing to first.)

Brayden's Spring School Picture

Ashton and the KidStuf Target

Every week at KidStuf, we have a kid from the audience hit the Target to reveal the virtue of the month. Ashton was chosen on Brayden's birthday!

Mitchell, telling everyone "Look at those arms!"

COURAGE - Being BRAVE enough to what you should do even when you're afraid

Great job, Ashton!

Brayden's 7th Birthday Party

Happy 7th Birthday, Brayden!


It's a bowling party!


All my bowling friends:
Drew, Jacob, Liz, Camron, Alex, Michael, Autumn, Brayden, Lane, Easton, Steele, Elleise, Lauren, Ashton (mad b/c bowling was over), Gage, Braydon, Faith and Lillian



Brayden, already choosing which piece is his. =)

7 Years old, how did this day come?

To see more pics, click http://picasaweb.google.com/BrAshEm/BraydenS7thBirthdayParty

Brayden's Treasure Hunt Birthday

For Brayden's Birthday, we decided to make him work a little to get his present. =) So, we made a treasure hunt with 7 clues.




CLUE #1: Go to where you brush your teeth



CLUE #2: Ring the door bell



CLUE #3: Go to where you play, "Spongebob.com"

CLUE #4: Go where Daddy goes potty

CLUE #5: Page #7 in "HOP ON POP" by: Dr. Suess

CLUE #6: Find "Brayden" in Emy's dollhouse

CLUE #7: Where Daphne goes when we leave the house

THE PRESENT IS IN THE CAGE

YIPPEEE!!! Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii and a Nintendo DS case!

Nice Weekend Visit with...

Memaw T and Papaw Steve who brought us Easter Gifts we LOVE! (Daphne has already chewed up Emy's horse rider, so Daddy bought her a new one - so, now she has two horses -or pursies, as Emy calls them- and a cowgirl.)



Daphne, Sadie, Maxi, and Mia - the Maltese Bible Study Group



Tiffany and Brittany

Jenn and Chad

Nate and Ashleigh (who works at the Tanning Bed AND went to Florida...)

Tiffany, remembering the funniest thing she has ever said in our house...

Story goes like this...

(We were playing "Clue DVD")

Tony asked, "Where's the remote?"

Tiffany, so brilliantly replies, "I don't know, but here's this."

-Tiffany then shows us (the object above that is in her hand), the lightsaber SPOON (the spoon detaches, it's a fav toy of Ashton's) and actually thinks it could be a REMOTE!!! Everyone in the room cracked up and haven't let her live it down since.