Softball Smiles

Last weekend, we finished twenty years of travel softball - which began when Carrie was 14 years old. There were a couple of years where we had Katie and Colleen playing on an 18U team and Chrissie playing on a 16U team - and Bob and I splitting our time between the three of them. Those years were full of wonderful friendships, more than one trip to an emergency room and a chance to bond with our daughters over something that they loved. Kelli's final weekend was probably her best of the summer. I captured this photo of Kelli following a stand-up double (the first of three for that day). Nothing like finishing your summer season with a big smile on your face.

The "On Deck" Circle...

A new inning begins. A pitcher takes her warm-up pitchers, the catcher throws down to second and the infield meets on the mound. At the same time, a batter waits on deck and another is “in the hole”.

As you can see here, Kelli and Lauren are watching the pitcher and mentally preparing themselves for their turn at bat.

That is, until you have to wait for the opposing catcher to get into her gear. At this point, the seriousness turns into an episode of Star Wars and the bats become light sabers.

May the force be with you!!

Tools of the Trade…..

For nearly 20 years, Bob and I have been following our daughters throughout Indiana, Michigan and Illinois on summer softball travel teams.  Living out of hotel rooms, packing coolers, numerous injuries and emergency rooms.  But I wouldn’t trade those summers for the most glamorous vacations in the world.  A month from now, the softball travels will come to an end, but the memories will last forever.

 

Summer Ball

For the next three weekends, we’ll be on the road throughout Indiana with Kelli – living out of coolers, perched in our lawn chairs and working on our tans.  This will also give me a chance to practice my “sport  shots” with my new camera.   The camera is doing an awesome job – it’s the photographer that needs some lessons.

 

Footloose and Fancy Free….

Oh, to have this much energy! These are some of the “girlfriends” of the baseball team. Note the matching shirts. One of them came up with this concept, and $15 later, they all have their boyfriend’s name and number on their back.

It really doesn’t seem that many years ago that I was a teenage girl, sitting in the stands cheering for my boyfriend on the baseball field. Now, he’s my husband, and too many years of baseball and softball are telling him that he needs a new hip.

I’d need one too if I tried this jump.

The Classic Pose…..

Prom photos have changed over the years. Sometimes they like to do “silly” things – like the girl holding the guy’s tie over her shoulder. Kelli and Ben did this at their mid-winter dance in January and it was cute. But, when I wrote out the check for the prom photos, I requested “nothing silly”. Last night, she handed me the envelope of photos and smiled, and actually agreed with me – that you can’t go wrong with the classic pose.

Thanks Kelli and Ben – for granting my request. You both look WONDERFUL!!!

Prom Night

I just sent my fifth (and last) daughter off to the prom. She looked beautiful – he looked very handsome – they were very happy.

Oh, to be 17-18 again.

Photos with friends. A stretch limo for the evening. Dinner at the LaSalle Grill and their prom at the Century Center.

Memories to last a lifetime.

Growing Up Too Fast.....

Seventeen years ago, I was pregant with my 7th (and last) child. My friend, Mary Lou was pregnant with her 2nd. I gave birth to Kelli in February, and Michael was born in June. The two of them have grown up together. They learned to crawl, they walked, they road bikes, they went to DisneyWorld together, they graduated from grade school, and they got their driver's licenses this past summer. They are like an "unbiological" brother and sister team.

No matter who they have for a mid-winter date, Michael always comes over to our house and poses with Kelli - it's a tradition. And this year was no different. Even though Bob and I were in Chicago, Mary Lou and Michael came to our house - the kids posed, and Mary Lou took the photos.

From a mom's point of view....STOP GROWING.

High School Sweeties

Kelli and Ben have been dating since early summer. He's a senior and she's a junior. I look at the two of them and can't help but remember back just a few years. Bob and I met as juniors in high school and look where we are today - 7 children and 6 grandchildren and 35 years of marriage.

Enjoy these years and every moment of your high school activities. They'll be gone in a blink.

Homecoming Fun

A couple of weeks ago, Kelli was involved in a week's worth of fun activities surrounding high school homecoming. Of course, each day they had to dress up in some wild and crazy outfit. I have no idea WHAT this day was, but I knew I had to grab my camera. When I asked her "where in the world did you find that stuff?" - her answer was "Goodwill". I mean, where else are you going to find leopard skin tights and pink fairy wings??

Employed!!

Kelli has a job!

While she was hanging with her friends last night and enjoying high school football, I was on the phone with Martin's Supermarkets, accepting her new cashier position. She has orientation today and training next weekend. I'm so thrilled she can now pay to put gas in her car!!!

Growing Up

I love this photo of Kelli and her big brother Bobby, taken a couple of weeks ago at the ND/San Diego State tailgate. He's a typical big brother - extremely protective of her.

While I was looking at this photo, I couldn't help but think of another photo of the two of them - taken six years ago. I just had to go and find it - and I did - taken on a cold, January morning as Bobby was preparing to deploy to Iraq. Hey Bobby - your baby sister has grown up before your eyes!!

Back to School With a "New Do"

This morning, Kelli is off to her Junior year of high school. OMG - did I just say she's a Junior???? Didn't I just watch her kindergarten graduation at Corpus Christi?

OK, so last night was mad confusion at our house. She and her friend Katie both needed a new look before the first day of school. Here comes big sis Colleen to the rescue. The salon is closed on Mondays, so Colleen brought the salon to my kitchen. I arrived home at 5:30 with two bags of carryout food and this was the scene that met me.

We have color....




We have mixing containers....

We have celebrity ideas....



Kelli's highlights are done and the cut has begun....



...while Katie's highlights are processing.



...and then the finishing touches are added to Kelli.

In between all of this "beauty", her dad, the neighbor man and I also managed a haircut. My little kitchen chair was buzzing with business on Monday evening.

Successful Summer

I just found this photo on the Wahoo Softball Website. This was the organization that hosted the four tournaments our travel team played in over the summer. Of those four tournaments, we finished 3rd in the first one and won the third and fourth tournament. As for the second one, according to the website - MOTHER NATURE was the champion. (The entire weekend was a washout).

We saw many of the same teams throughout and we were the only team to win two of the four. This photo was taken after winning the final tournament.

A Week at the Beach....

Ben's mom emailed me some cute pictures from their vacation week at their summer cottage. Kelli joined them for a few days last week and it looks like she had a great time - which would include fishing for the first time. For those of you who knew my father (an avid fisherman), he would have been so proud!!!

The Last Inning of the Last Game of the Last Tournament.....

This past weekend was the final tournament for Kelli's travel team - this one in Columbia City, Indiana - and like the tournament two weeks ago, we swept right through this one to the championship.

In the bottom of the 5th inning, Kelli came to bat with two on base. She executed a perfect slap and was in the process of beating out the throw at first, when the first baseman stretched wide to catch an off the base throw and tangled up with Kelli. It happend so quickly that I couldn't tell you what happened. A couple of the fathers thought it looked like their arms got wrapped up. Anyway, there was a collision and they they both went down hard, with Kelli landing on her right arm. I was sitting near home plate and I could hear her crying. By the time I got to the fence, two of our fathers and our coach were in the dirt trying to console her. She was covered from head to toe in dirt, with tears streaming down her face. Coach Olinger told me he was just happy when he pulled off her batting glove and didn't see a bone sticking out. They eventually got her off the field and got the arm iced down. We won the game a few minutes later by the 10-run rule, got another huge trophy and the much anticipated championship t-shirt.

Kelli was in a lot of pain and in no mood to join the team for dinner, so we started for home. As we drove through Warsaw (still an hour from South Bend), we stopped at the hospital. I had a feeling our wait time there would be substantially less than at Memorial in South Bend. The staff in Warsaw were wonderful!!! Luckily the arm is not broke - the diagnosis was a severe sprain with hyper-extension. She is in an arm brace for two weeks and very thankful it's not a cast. It was nearly 10:00 before we got home and we were both exhausted.

I'll post some weekend photos a little later.