Today at Cutler’s tball game we decided to give the kids a couple of pitches and if no hit they could hit from tee. On Cutler’s second at bat he crushed a ground ball to short stop. He was so happy and telling everyone about it and for some that it was a “really big hit” and so big that it was a new record. I wish I had video of it, but it’s hard to video while pitching. This pic of him at the game in his awkward smile stage will have to do.
When at Lowe’s with Mason he jumped up on the tractor and declared that we should buy this for Grandpa. Such a thoughtful and generous boy…with my money.
Ah, I am loving getting a free pass on my post per day quest when I get to wish happy birthday. I wish I had thought of it when the trio of Hopkins girls passed through.
Sorry, back to the original reason for the post. Happy Birthday to Betty Jean, my MonsterMother-in-Law. Thank you for raising such a wonderful woman for me to marry. You done good.
Here is a video of her playing it cool with my mother at the opening ceremonies on our Disney Cruise.
Today is the birthday of my mom’s favorite grand child, Jordan. She is one of a kind and a very special, sweet, loving, talented, and compassionate young woman. I am proud to call her my niece. Today she turned 16 and I am sitting here in shock wondering where the time went. Good luck to all southern Illinois drivers.
On Sunday it was time to release our small family of butterflies that we watch grow from caterpillars. As each one would either jump on the boys’ fingers or just fly straight out they would name them. One of them, with a gimpy wing, appeared to either not be able to fly or just have no interest at first and decided to hang around on Cutler for an extended period of time. When he did finally start to fly away he went a little too close to the pool causing a panic from Cutler as he screamed out that he didn’t want him to die. I honestly don’t know if he made it across the pool, but as far as Cutler is concerned he not only made it over the pool but landed happily on our roses. We did this last year as well and the boys (including me) get so much joy out of it.
Yesterday Mason was nice enough to do some yard work with me while being very impressed with my ability to snap branches in half with two bare hands. As my friend Adam would say to his son when asked how he can do that…”I am quite possibly the strongest man in the world.” Had I used that line, I am quite sure Mason would have believed it, instead I handed him some of the thinner branches to give it a go on his own. When it came time to bag everything up I needed help opening the large paper bags and so I decided it would be best to just put him in the opening and let him open from the inside out. While he was doing it I offered up the question as to whether or not he was strong enough to fight his way out of the paper bag, but it was lost as he had never heard of the saying. However once I told him about it he wanted to give it a try, but I held him back for fear of not having enough bags. I will admit, had the Cardinals not pulled out the game last night and been swept by the Cubs this post would have had a whole other twist about the new look of the Cards fans, but alas Yadi had to step up and ruin my potential post. Karma is clearly tough on me as the Rangers are getting roughed up by the Rockies at this very moment.
Today we took an enjoyable family bike ride. It’s the first time we have done this without towing Cutler in the buggy behind me. Of course Cutler had to stop multiple times, unexpectedly, to practice leaving skid marks. Mason had a fairly nasty wipeout, but got right back on the bike and road on like a champ.
Those are socks, not blue shoes. His shoes were too small. For his next trick he will play barefoot.
Mason was really quiet this afternoon before his game and so I went to check on him and found him reading. I hope he keeps it up.
Team Fricke 