Gabe's First Baseball Game

Today a new Williams boy hit the baseball field for the first game of his career. :) He really had fun and was especially happy with the snacks after the game (Jacob and Jared don't get those). After Gabe's game we headed across town for Jacob and Jared to play a double header.

In Mourning

We are officially out of the tournament. All our picks mean nothing at this point since Vanderbilt tanked in the first round. On a positive?...you can't die of a broken heart.

The Madness Begins

I hope everyone saw the nailbiter between Duke and Belmont last night. We were all cheering Belmont on even though we had Duke in our pools. Jared had a point, if Duke got beat it will kill everyone except a handful of Belmont fans. (Sorry Cindy) We can't really talk too much since we all have Vanderbilt in the final 4.

I've come to realize that I'm a little out of my league. When we're watching the games, Jacob and Jared make comments like "Dude, did you see his form" or "They need to blah, blah, blah". They look to me for confirmation and I just shake my head in agreement. I enjoy basketball and can spot a hard foul, traveling, an awesome assist or a good pick but that is the extent of my knowledge. I'll continue to fake it cause I like it when the boys talk "game" with me but I'm sure it won't be long until they realize that I'm really just comparing each teams uniforms, if their shoes match, who has a headband or sleeve, and lets not forget the cheerleaders, etc.... Oh yea, I also watch so I can listen to Dick Vitale. I know most people dislike him (almost as much as they dislike John Madden) but I love an announcer with so much enthusiasm. That's right baby!

My Poor Neglected Brother

Just to prove to everyone (and to silence the whining of a certain young man), here is a picture of Mark at Gatorland in Orlando, FL on vacation. Mark has been spreading horrible rumors that he was mistreated as a young lad because he was rushed through Gatorland, given free passes with the promise of a return visit and therefore suffering a lifetime of disappointment when that promise was not fulfilled. Here is a picture that proves that we not only took time for him to hold a precious little creature, but we took a photo. As for not returning to Gatorland, the place suffered a fire so we were unable to return until they rebuilt. Take a look at http://www.gatorland.com/ . They have rebuilt and offer a virtual tour online that is sure to satisfy my little brothers curiosity for cold blooded, scaly creatures.

**By the way, before the fire, Gatorland was basically a trailer with a few ponds full of Gators out back. However, they had a very impressive entrance with a giant alligator that we unfortunately had to drive out of the way to avoid in order to keep Mark from crying.

A Must See

I rented the movie Dan in Real Life the other day. It's one of the best movies I've seen in a while. It's about a man who is a widower with three kids who meets a woman and has an immediate connection. At a family get together he finds out that the woman is his brothers new girlfriend. The movie is hilarious and borderline neurotic but a must see. I will say that if you only like movies with fighting and special effects, you probably won't enjoy this one.

March Madness

The brackets are out! Some of us aggonize and research our picks, some flip a coin while others go solely on which team has the highest seeding; whatever the technique, we have 5 brackets filled out and ready to go. Come on Thursday!

Scott's Final 4--UCLA, Memphis, UNC, Vanderbilt with Memphis vs. UNC in the final and Memphis winning

Michelle's Final 4--UCLA, Memphis, TN, Vanderbilt with Memphis vs. Vandy in the final game and Memphis winning

Jacob's (aka Killah J) Final 4--UCLA, Memphis, UNC, Vanderbilt with Memphis vs. Vandy in the final game and Vanderbilt winning

Jared's Final 4--Duke, Mississippi State, TN, Vanderbilt with MS State vs. Vandy in the final game and Vanderbilt winning

Gabe's Final 4--Drake, TX, TN, Vanderbilt with TX and Vandy in the final game and Vanderbilt winning

Quit laughing...what are your picks?

Spring Fever

I have spring fever in a bad way. If it wasn't for cellulite, you might have seen me in shorts today. Don't fret, I'll tan these legs up before I parade them around in public. Cellulite is much more presentable with a little color.

We gave the lawn it's first cutting of the season today so it must be spring. My friend Amy tells me that spring is here to stay because it has snowed on the daffodils--that sounds like a little southern mumbo jumbo if you ask me but I'll take it. Right now we have burgers sizzling on the grill mingling with the smell of fresh cut grass. The sound of the boys playing basketball is coming from the other side of the house. Darn near perfect evening!

Life on Spring Break

Lets see, how have we spent our first week of spring break...

Monday-went into work for a few hours. I just couldn't stay away :) I really want to get the website complete so I can go live with it our first week back to school. I'm about 90% complete. Monday afternoon we had baseball practice.

Tuesday-slept late, hung out around the house catching up on housework and soap operas (I'm ashamed to admit that I enjoy my stories). Tuesday evening we played ball at home against Charlotte. Varsity got smeared 10-1 and JV won 3-2.

Wednesday-Gabe and I cleaned the leaves and debri out of the pool and treated the water in preparation of opening it. The weather was gorgeous. Gabe looked up at me and said, "This feels like old times". He sure is cute. We traveled to Cheatham to play baseball. Varsity did the smearing, winning 12-2. JV racked up another win 3-1.

Thursday-Jared had a friend spend the night Wednesday night. The boys played paintball all morning and spent most of the afternoon showing off their paintball bruises. Boys are so funny. Gabe and I went out for what was supposed to be me jogging and him riding his bike. We got to the end of the driveway and I realized that my MP3 player battery was dead. There is nothing I like less than hearing myself huff and puff so I decided to walk instead. Gabe said, "It's okay mom, we can just talk". What a blessing, instead of drowning myself out with music, I had the opportunity to take a walk and really listen to my six year old. He pointed out birds, mooo-ed at the cows and let out a big belly laugh when they mooo-ed back, and showed me all the cool tricks he can do on his bike. That evening we traveled to Sycamore to play ball. Varsity had another big win 9-0 and JV won 6-0. Jacob is hitting like a mad man. I'm almost afraid to say it for fear that I'll jinx him but he is busting the ball.

Friday-I went into work for a few hours in the morning. The boys weeded the flower beds in preparation of spring planting. Our game was rained out so we went to Cinco de Mayo with friends for dinner. YUMMY!

Saturday-Well we made a list of all the things we should accomplish today then we decided to lay around and watch movies and have a family round of rock band instead. Scott and I took a walk. Scott's trying to get in shape for his big Alaskan hunt. He loaded down his backpack with a 50 pound rock and we walked down the road. It's times like this that I'm glad we don't live in a neighborhood. I don't have to explain to the neighbors why my crazy husband is taking a walk in hiking boots and a backpack.

Spring Break?

Today was our last day of school before Spring break. It would be nice if Spring automatically came with Spring break. Instead school was released 1 hour early because snow is headed our way. It's about 4:30 and still not a single flake.

Jacob abd Jared played ball last night with varsity winning 10-3 and JV winning 3-1. It's good to start the season with two solid wins.

Our Brother the Hero

Joseph was traveling home from work the other night when he noticed a middle aged women on the side of the road having car trouble. Being the good samaritan that he is, he stopped, rolled down the window and asked if she needed help. She did require some assistance so he told her that he only lived a few minutes away and that he was going to run home, change out of his dress clothes and would be back to help. Joseph said that something just didn't feel quite right so he grabbed his pistol (he has a concealed carry permit) and returned to help. As he pulled up, the lady came walking toward him with her hands together and her coat draped over them. I'm a little sketchy on how it happened, but the lady had a gun, there was a scuffle and it ended up with the lady tied up and the police being called. The police said that the lady was drunk and she was driving a stolen vehicle. She was probably intending on stealing Joseph's car or worse. Thankfully she got more than she bargained for with Joseph.

Joseph will have to leave us some comments and give us some details. I for one am glad that he listened to his instincts and saved some other unsuspecting, less capable person from whatever plans this lady had in mind. Thanks Joseph, you're our hero!

It's Officially Baseball Season

After a brief lull in our schedule, we are back in full swing. We hosted a baseball tournament this weekend. Rain threw a wrench in our plans requiring many, many bags of quick dry and several hours of raking to prepare the fields for play. Mom and Jack were down for the weekend and we found that a rake fits Jack's hands quite nicely. Thanks for all your hard work Jack!

In true Tennessee fashion, the weather is nuts. Friday we had buckets of rain, last night we were bundled in blankets with our portable heaters blazing, today it's supposed to be 70 degrees and sunny, while next week we're supposed to get snow. Wow, I must be aging because I'm sounding like The Farmer's Almanac.