Softball Season Begins

Ava has decided that this year she wants to play softball. Bradley has no doubt waited for this for years. ;) In fact, he has been asked to be head coach and I am looking forward to someone else in the family being in charge of an extracurricular activity for once. ;)

So Friday night, we headed out to get some necessities for softball. Of course she needed a glove and cleats. Next on the list is a helmet and bat.

Yesterday they had "try-outs" and Bradley said that she did well. They practiced yesterday afternoon and she is actually sore today. She is catching on, but in true Ava fashion she wants to be awesome from the start, and has a hard time taking instruction.

I wonder how many gray hairs Bradley will have at the end of this venture. :)

Ready for the try outs

 

Little Choctaws - End of the Year 2011-2012

Last week we finished up the year of cheer for Ava. The game pictures were actually Feb 4th. but the banquet for the end of the year was last week. Ava did an exceptional job this year with cheer. She had a great time and loved doing it.

The banquet however, was another story. Ava and I went while Bradley stayed home with Harrison. She had just been sick and I am going to say that was part of the reason she was so mean that night. We survived though and I am glad I got some pictures that look like she was super sweet. :)

Little Choctaws

Ava is cheering again this year with the Little Choctaws. We missed the first game of the year because of her being sick, but were able to make the second game. Last year we all laughed because Ava definitely had a mind of her own and pretty much did what she wanted when it was time to cheer. This year she has definitely matured and now she does what she is supposed to do and she did a fantastic job. I was so proud to see her up there cheering. She watched the video and said, "Next time, I am going to do even better!" :)

We stayed up late last night...

We stayed up, and when I say we, I mean all of us here at our house, to watch Game 7 of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers. It was a great game and at the end of the night, the Cardinals were victorious.

Living in what is pretty much Cardinal Country, it was all everyone was talking about at school yesterday and with Bradley being a lifelong Cardinal fan, I was hoping they would pull off a win.

Sure enough, somewhere between 10 and 11 last night, they finally won. We made the kids sits down to watch the last 3 outs and it was so much fun. Bradley asked Ava if she remembered the last time the Cardinals won the World Series. She was just a couple of months old in 2006 and Bradley talks about how he held her on a few late nights and they watched the World Series together.

It is sweet knowing that he has those memories of Ava and that they correspond to something he has enjoyed his whole life.

It was just an exciting night and I am glad to have experienced it as a family.

And how much do I love this picture with all the guys and their little ones. Such a special thing to see families incorporated into the celebration.

Soccer Recap

We wrapped up spring soccer this past weekend after the dance recital. Ava had a season that was pretty much high at the beginning and then downhill after that. The first game she absolutely loved. She was all about it and even scored the first goal. After that game it was downhill. She only wanted to play goalie and when she had to actually run, she didn't even try to keep up with the pack. She made the comment several times that they were all better than her and she just kind of gave up. She lived for playing goalie though and she wasn't too bad. You had to yell when the ball was coming her way because she's not that great at paying attention, but she did a good job of stopping the ball (but once again, they are preschoolers, so it's not like the ball is speeding incredibly fast!). I never want to forget her picking flowers for the ref, playing Ring-Around-the-Rosie with Ellie in the middle of the field while the game was going on, or her face after she scored that first goal. She was definitely done with soccer when we finished, but was excited to get her team trophy. I don't know whether she will play again or not. If she wants to, we will. I just thought it was a great experience for her to be part of a team and to have fun!

Waiting for her trophy

Getting her trophy

As you can see, it was a hot, hot day!