Patriots End of Season Tournament

The first weekend of coldish weather usually means fall baseball is coming to a close...sunscreen and the mister move out of the baseball bag to make room for cozy blankets and gloves.  We still pack a cooler of cold drinks...because I've never been so cold that I didn't want a Coke Zero and Keaton didn't want a Gatorade at the baseball field! 

The end of the season is always a bit weird...I mean, I've just spent the better part of 10 weeks with these families and there is a good chance we may never see them again.  I don't love that.  I like consistency, I like having the same people in my lives, I like not having to learn a whole new set of names (and numbers for the boys) every fall and spring.  Oh well, 10 weeks really isn't time enough to get too close to anyone, so although I will miss the routine of it, I doubt I will lose any sleep over it!

 It was a weird tournament - lots of teams getting disqualified...the last tournie always means you have to play subs...and that can be tricky depending on the tournament officials, rules, websites, paperwork, etc.  We did get to play Keaton's old team, formerly the Barons, now the Tarrant County Bulldogs.  We beat them - thank goodness!  Keaton got a couple of great hits, which means everything to him.  He loves to play first base, but he walks on air when he's up to bat.  I truly can't remember anything else about the tournament because during the game against the Bulldogs a foul tip came from the opposite field and hit Keaton on the head...dropped him to his knees...scared us to death.  Luckily, one of our moms is a nurse, checked him out, someone got ice, lots of us prayed, I didn't embarrass him or cry or swear (yay!) and he was okay.  Bless his heart...once the dust had settled and it was time for them to go back out on the field, he grabbed his hat and headed for first.  Coach made him sit, but I was so proud of him.  He ended up batting - I think he walked, but who knows - it was all a daze. and then he did go back out and play first.  WOW!  I still think of him as my fragile baby...and when we got home, he was my baby, but at the game - he was rock solid.  I did ask Miranda, one of mom's nurses for advice and she gave me one of the light pointers to check his pupils every two hours...I rarely can sleep, but give me a night when I have to set my alarm for every 2 hours and I'm sleeping like a baby!  Figures!  Long story, but in the end - the Patriots took 2nd place.

Murph and Alex with their trophies

A Pictorial Tour or Meadowlakes...aka...Memory Jolt

We are about 10 days from Mom being released from Bishop Davies...she has completed her OT, but still has some days left (and recommended) for PT and ST and she clearly doesn't remember why she would ever leave this "nice place" or where she used to live before...except Lima...and she does remember that that probably isn't where she is going back to...and she is scared.  I thought it might be a good idea to head over to Meadowlakes to take some pictures and see if that helps her remember and try a bit harder to get well and get home...

The drive up entrance

 Her front door

 Her entryway ... all the way down to her favorite chair!

 Her favorite (and only) chair

 Her pictures (these have one of mom and I's great stories...but she doesn't remember it...we bought these at Woolworth's in Lima probably 35 years ago when mom decided to have friends over for dinner...no big deal until about the night before they came over and suddenly she was convinced that her home was 'dull' and needed some color - so off to the Lima Mall we went...I was ready to spend whatever it took to just be able to go home, but NOOOOOOOOOO...Peg wanted lively color for the walls on a budget...and wanted to look at every picture in the place...OMG...I actually love these little prints now, there are two other ones hanging by her bed that we scored from Elder Beerman on that same trip...I don't even remember what we had for dinner at that party...but I remember the pictures...and mom and I giggling like school girls when our guest remarked on these little ones and mom acted like she'd had them FOREVER!...what a con artist!)

 Slim (the tall one), that Daddy got mom at the Rose Shoppe in Lima and the cowboy that my        Aunt Betty painted for her in ceramics class...doesn't everybody have an Aunt Betty that's taken a ceramics class???

 Bed and Dresser...lamp that she won playing BINGO at the place where she met Bob!

 Tammy

 her elevator

 The dining hall - and most importantly - where she gets her coffee!

 Mom's table

 The piano - mom loves a sing-along

 The Girls

 Cleta

Celeste

I showed these to her the evening after I took them and it was a BAD idea...it got all mixed up in her head...but I saved them on my phone and they actually brought her a lot of comfort the day it was time to move her home.  She was so scared about leaving Bishop Davies, but when I showed these to her and let her flip through them in the car on the way there...she was excited to get back 'home'!

Home Improvement

One of the worst parts of mom being sick isn't actually all the time and energy it's taken to get her well...even though that's what I've been whining about...it's the hit her memory has taken.  I'm pretty worried about her ability to live independently for much longer.  She can't remember the day of the week, how to read her clock, she doesn't remember Meadowlakes (the place she has lived for the past 3 years) or even Bob, her late husband.  She remembers me and the kids and Daddy.  She remembers Patrick, but has trouble placing him with his name and that seems to make her madder than anything else these days.  Sooooo....we've talked about the idea of selling our home and buying a place with a downstairs master suite or guest suite where mom can live.  EEEEK!  Right?  but the other option is a skilled nursing facility - the Medicaid route - and I am not quite ready to give up on her.  Having her at Bishop Davies, in the Medicare section, has been bad enough.  It's almost like a human storage facility if you don't stay on them all the time.  If I'm not there at least once a day...she is not getting the level of care that she needs.  Meadowlakes isn't skilled nursing, but they geniunely seem to care about her, they communicate with me, they watch out for mom and the residents watch out for each other.  The only other alternative is a big lottery win so we could pay for private memory care or moving her in with us....and that means we have quite a bit of work to do.  Patrick and JMC did the tile in the upstairs bathroom, the thresholds downstairs, Patrick is about half way through the baseboards...so now, we need to think a bit about the outside.  Let's face it, our backyard will make our home more attractive than most of the homes in this area...we have about a fifth of an acre, but we don't have sprinklers and this dreadfully hell-hot summer has taken it's toll.  That and my detest of weeding and this wild spreading grass-like weed that has taken over most of the flower beds.  Bring on the Mulch Guys!...

How fabulous is this?  Patrick pulled out the big dying bush and they worked their mulch magic!

Look at my side flower bed!  Beautiful.  I should have taken pictures in back...before and after...it's breathtaking!  I keep catching myself standing outside on the back patio just smiling!!!

More pix from October...

Life doesn't stop just because your plate seems too full...

 Middle school means projects...Murph and Photosynthesis...great effort - last minute, of course...our son is a true procrastinator and unless pushed, a bit too happy with "good enough", but once he puts his mind to something - he is a very creative young man!

The finished project...how it will survive in his athletics locker until second period is anybody's guess!

 Monday Night football post game coach talk...another Huskies victory!

 Tuesday night Volleyball - siblings are welcome and encouraged to help out!

 Karly likes to visit mom at Bishop Davies too!

 My silly friend Theresa telling a story about a Y member at a much-needed girls lunch

 Saturday morning Stingers Volleyball - won one, lost two

 A reluctant Sophie, posing with her brother!

 Jerseys and jeans instead of dress clothes - Hallelujah!  Murph was in his glory!

 Tuesday evening volleyball coaching...

 Volleyball picture day...we were late...we put on white knee pads instead of black knee pads and had to run back home so she looked spectacular...and she did!

 Saturday afternoon baseball tournament

 Ted E's for lunch/dinner after the game - Peyton and Laurel being Peyton and Laurel!

 Saturday shopping = her first flat iron...how can she be so grown up already???

 Fabulous!

Brothers from different mothers...between baseball games, Playstation 2 baseball games!

First Volleyball Game - Go STINGERS!

Stingers Volleyball...Game 1

 Coach Keeley and Coach Lynn getting the girls prepared for their very first game...about half of our girls (Peyton included) have never played a real game before...there were some nerves!

 Ready to start..."Peyton-at-the-Net", ready to return!

 Peyton's first in-a-game overhand serve - she rocked it!  4 points in a row!

 Ready to return serve...you know, if the serve makes it over the net!

 I got it!  Mine!

 Stingers WIN - "good game", "good game", "good game"...

 9/10 girls volleyball still has snacks...I miss snacks in Keaton's sports...heck, Keaton misses snacks in Keaton's sports!  anyway, Coach Keeley is clearly pleased!  Yay Stingers!!!

ONE, TWO, THREE....STINGERS!!!!

How did we manage to keep up???

October 2012

Throughout mom's pneumonia and recovery - nothing else stopped or even slowed down...thanks to my brilliant idea that since they did away with C atheletics at Hillwood, and after seeing the enormity of the other boys at the Central High School football camp, and therefore assuming Murph would probably not make the team...we signed him up for a Select Fall League with the Dallas Patriots.  Brilliant!  Of course he made the team, of course she decided to play volleyball with Gracie, of course she accepted Mrs. Evans reading challenge...so here we are, heading from Bishop Davies, to a Patriots game, reading...multitasking at 9!  I'm sure there is a 'car picnic' is in her future...my made-up, trying-to-make-eating-lunchables-in-the-car name for most of our meals!

 Peyton and Laurel on the hi-tech playground equipment before an early Saturday game

 Heyyyyyy Batta, batta, batta....

 SWING!  (result:  a double!)

 Like I said - B-Team football - every Monday night at 5:00

 Complete with cheerleaders...we're HMS (clap, clap), we're blue and gold (clap, clap), we're HMS (clap, clap), we're blue and gold (clap, clap)

 the glamorous non-car-picnic dinner of choice...Kraft Mac & Cheese!  She's the expert!

 Tuesday nights...volleyball.  Peyton's very first practice with "the Stingers" - and her very first attempt at a serve!  She ended up pretty solid at the overhand serve, but this is where she started.

 Look at that technique!

 A bright spot in all the craziness...gas under $3.00 a gallon...and let me tell you, I am putting some miles on the Kia trying to keep everyone happy and where they need to be!

 Second volleyball practice - at Alliance Park - this will become the classic "Peyton-at-the Net" stance for all practices and games!  I got in there and helped...my shoulders hurt for 2 days afterward...but we had so much fun!  It was a perfect fall day...this is why you live in Texas!

 Now I know why Coach Keeley stressed serving so much - getting it back over the net proved to be our biggest obstacle until about half way through the season...she could hit it, but it usually flew back over her head.

 "All the other kids are wearing black and red or gray...."...Murph's second "game day dress clothes"  So Handsome!

 post game stinky boys - but they won, so what's a little stink between teammates?!

 Mom on the road to recovery...

 Peyton loved the mechanical bed...up feet, down feet, up head, down head, up both, down both...yikes

 Murph had to get his turn too!

 5:30am - Peyton manning the packet pick up table at the Trinity Trot

 Annual Mother/Daughter Volunteer Morning at the Trinity Trot - Starbucks, a few hours of packet pick up, cute run shirts, home by 10:00am!

 3rd Volleyball practice - got to use Fossil Hill Middle - MUCH better than Eagle Ridge and we had the gym all to ourselves...AND we're seeing progress!

 Coach Womble tossing balls to the girls...I took a break from running all over the gym to "fetch" the balls to take this picture!  I may not be a coach, but I can shag balls with the best of them!

Notice a theme?  The classic at the net stance at its finest!

Believe it or not, throughout all this, we had some fun, we made lots of memories, we learned that responsibility is a drag sometimes, but you really feel great when you do what you know you need to do...and we got to eat 'way more fast food than I am comfortable with...and the kids LOVED that!