We Won!

Jake is so excited! His Millhouse 9U baseball team won their tournament this weekend! Yeah! They did awesome! They won their game yesterday and all three games today! We are very proud of Jake! We are especially happy because we saw him smiling and having lots of fun all day too. :) Such a great group of boys! I forgot my camera today.... Thanks so much mom and Denise for taking pics for me! :)

After getting up at 7am and playing baseball nonstop from 9am until 4:30pm we almost skipped Jake's very first Clayview swim meet. However, we decided as a family that the water would actually be refreshing and that there wasn't any pressure... Just fun relaxing swimming... No pressure to win. So, we drove immediately to Clayview where Jake had to start warming up (funny to have Jake "warm up" after the workout he had all day... :) )at 5:30 for the 6pm swim meet. With it being Jake's first swim meet we were shocked to find out that he placed first place in both the butterfly and the backstroke! And, he placed second in the freestyle and the breaststroke! Wow! And he got to hang around with a few buddies at the meet too which made it even more fun. Looks like Jake added another sport to his list of "sports he loves".

Taylor did awesome too! She was signed up for the freestyle and backstroke, but our little "go getter" asked if she could swim the breaststroke too. She said "But, the breaststroke is my favorite... Can I swim it?" They let her swim it... And she placed 5th out of 10! Awesome! She also placed 5th in the backstroke. She's actually doing the pre-swim team practice instead of the swim team so we are super proud of her jumping in there and doing so great!

What a fun and exhausting day we had! I better get to bed as tomorrow Jake has swim practice, basketball camp, and an away tennis match... And Tay has swim practice.

Goodnight! Have a wonderful week!

First Place...

We won both of our games tonight! Yeah Millhouse! We are now first place in our league! 9-1... Once again Jake's coaches gave a wonderful speech to the boys at the end of the game... I'm starting to really look forward to these! :) It really emphasizes to me how much of an impact a coach has in a child's life... (And these 8 and 9 year olds are still children... sometimes we forget this) :) In the five minutes a coach talks to a team after a game it can make a very positive or very negative influence in the entire life of each of these kids. Jake always feels uplifted after Coach Dave's (and the other coaches) "speeches". I have a feeling Jake feels the same way after coach Dave's speech as I do after Merle or Vernon's sermon on Sunday... A feeling that we're good and have done great, but there is always room for improvement... A feeling of wanting to strive to be better whether it's in life or in a baseball game. Good job Jake, the entire Millhouse team, and the wonderful coaches that are impacting these awesome boys!!! I'm proud of you all...

Baseball...

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend! This is the first Memorial weekend that we haven't went to the lake with the same group of friends in 10 years. We were disappointed, but it has turned out to be an incredible weekend! Anytime, we are together as a family we make it a great time! Jake had a baseball tournament this weekend so we stayed in KC. Jake (and his team!) did awesome! We had a cookout yesterday with the team and we all had an awesome time! What a great group of kids and parents! We have definitely been blessed with a wonderful group of coaches! Jake started out the season not knowing anyone so he was pretty nervous. However, this weekend was his turning point and he has totally warmed up and become a very important part of the team! Great work Jake! We are so proud of you. I will post pictures tonight or tomorrow.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend and let's all be so thankful for all we have been blessed with! God is good! Remember "something good comes from everything"... There is always a good side... Some good sides are just harder to find... Remember to always look for them. :)

Nicole

Verse for today from Klove...

I love turning on my computer every morning and getting the daily verse from Klove...
I really like today's verse so thought I would share it with you. :)

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news.
Isaiah 52.7
We have been given the wonderful privilege to be able to share God's Good News with others, his news of redemption, salvation, and peace. (NIV)

Happy Monday to everyone! I'm so happy to have another sunny day! After I finish cleaning my closet (yuck!) I plan to make a trip to Lowe's to purchase my flowers and get to planting! Yes, I know! I'm so late this year. :) I usually start forgetting to water them after a couple months.... So this way they should last thru the summer! :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We did... Paul went on his yearly fishing trip with the guys. I'm so happy that he is able to have this "guy time". They had so much fun fishing, golfing, and hanging out.

The kids and I had a blast as well. Of course, we missed Paul! :) Friday: Mom and Dad, thanks so much for taking us to the Royals game. Wow, what a place! The Stadium Club was so nice and fun. I know we will frequent the "K" quite a bit if Jake has any say in the matter. Saturday: Jake and Tay both had friends over so we hung out at home, had a picnic at the park, and went to the batting cages. Wow, Tay had her first attempt at the softball batting cage... She rocked! They both "attacked" the balls... Great job kids! We finished off Saturday hanging out with Grandma Jean, Carla, Ron, and Brandon's family at mom and dad's. Great dinner mom! Sunday: Wow, I can't say enough about PVBC... We love it! What a great message about "cleaning the clutter out of our closet"... Of course, they mean the clutter inside of us and not the clutter that I'm cleaning out of my closet. :) I'm already looking forward to next week and the new series... I wonder what it will be? Jake then had a great baseball practice. And we finished off the evening at Mark and Denise's house celebrating my nieces graduations. It was a great celebration of all their hard work. Congratulations Alex for signing with Newman University in Wichita! We are looking forward to attending one of your soccer games!

As a last note... I want to encourage all of my friends and family that have started and are getting ready to start their new workouts and healthy eating. I know you can all do it! I'm already so proud of you all. I'm determined to eat better and exercise more too. :) YOU CAN DO IT! Just think how great you will feel and look! And you may be adding ten years to your life! :) Now that's incentive! :)

Love you all!
Nicole

Millhouse Baseball...

We had another fun night of baseball last night. Jake did great! They have played 6 games now and their record is 5-1... Yeah!

Take your kids to work day!

This was Jake's third year to attend "Take your kids to work day" at Cerner. He looks so forward to it every year. It's such a special day for Paul too! Since Taylor is in kindergarten she was able to go this year too. Unfortunately, Paul had an 8am until noon meeting that he had to do so Taylor decided to stay home with me until noon as that did not sound FUN to her. :) They both had a wonderful time! Taylor chose her outfit... Well, this was number three... And I "okayed" it. :)