Summer of fields

When I came across this photo on a Softball website, I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
This is our life. Summed up our summer right here!

I'll just let the pictures talk for you :) And as for the photo with Lincoln just above, as though we can't get enough ball between the girls. Nope!, he wants to learn just as quickly as the girls!

Camp week

For the last 4 years, Regan has attended a local camp that has stolen her heart and brought her back year after year. While it's only a week of her summer, she loves the Kumbaya feeling of it all, learning survival skills and trying new things. After 3 successful years of sleeping in a tent, this year, Mother Nature won and she/friends landed at the local Armory instead of in a tent. Our smart girl decided that sounded like a horrible plan and requested her own bed for the night. It doesn't make for a cute picture, but I assure you, it did not spoil her week at camp!

 

4th of July 2018

Time is sure flying by, seems like we just had the 4th of July! I'm a little behind as it appears. We had another great 4th of July, starting out with our annual Fete on the 3rd.

 

The kids adore bouncing around all of the inflatables while we wait for the sun to set. And us parents enjoy socializing with friends who are more like family.

 

 

This Ninja Warrior type inflatable had us cracking up. Check out the video below....we are good parents, I swear!

 

 

As we settled into our usual spot, we waited for the sun to set and enjoyed the company surrounding us. Some long time family friends on one side, and some new ones on the other. The kids oooh'd and aaah'd at each firework that boomed above us. I absolutely adore the beauty in the reflection of the lake, almost as much as I love this sweet face.

 

The next day we were greeted with rain and thunder. We almost thought our pool party would be cancelled, when the clouds eventually broke away and the sun came out. Sidney insisted on making our annual "flag cake", even walking up to the store to buy a few more ingredients.

 

 

Ryan enjoyed giving us his own show from the end of the driveway. Not to worry, the rest of us were tucked up close to the house, safe and sound :) Our kiddos seemingly love this stuff as much as he does.

 

His finale was quite impressive! 

 

We ended the evening with a night swim, complete with the pool light illuminating the backyard. It's been tradition for as long as I can recall, and something that the kids look forward to all year long! It won't be long and our night swims will become common place, but in this current state, of 9pm summer bedtimes, it's definitely a treat they all enjoy.



Sibling love

It's not always puppy dogs and flowers around here. We have our share of screaming, door slamming and arguments.....

Thankfully those moments take a back seat in my mind to the tender sweet together-moments between these three siblings. 

These three can be the most incredible siblings and have our whole hearts. 

Father's day

I'm a little behind, just getting around to our Father's Day weekend. It's one of those days that brings me heartache and joy all wrapped into one. This Father's Day weekend was filled to the brim with ball and ball and a lot more ball, let's just say it was actually a pretty good distraction. 

The kiddos both had a tournament which left us on the field all weekend. We had 6 games on Saturday alone, and due to a rain delay, we played them in a span of 9 hours. Talk about exhausted! 

To top off the long day, the opponents we faced were a notch above both of our girls' teams. Which meant we were on the losing end for every single game. It was a long day, playing against A ranked teams in 90 degree heat. But they both went out and gave it their best each and every inning and we were so proud of them. Our rock star Regan is the sole catcher on her team so she spends every inning behind the plate, and it's a tough job!

Following the completion of games on Sunday, we had enough time to treat Ryan to dinner at his favorite local pizzeria where we feasted on fancy antipasto plates and amazing pizza with our sunkissed cheeks. 

It was a jam packed, completely exhausting weekend doing just what we love to do most: hanging out together. 

By the end, we all were ready for a good night's sleep :) 

Summer fun

Each summer we spend as much time as is allowed doing all sorts of summery type activities. So when I had a few days off from work recently, I asked the big kids for some ideas of fun. Sidney instantly chimed in that she wanted to go to an Aquatic Center. 

Living in a metropolitan area, there's no shortage of options. Thankfully the weather cooperated (minus an hour long lightening delay/break) and we had the most fabulous time! 

Regan perfected how to "walk on water"; or maybe I just clicked the photo at the exact accurate moment. 

I love that Lincoln is tall enough to go on big kid water slides now. He had a blast, only wishing he was tall enough for the solo body slides. 

With two older siblings, Lincoln has some pretty good role models, which has turned him into a bit of a daredevil. This aquatic center has 2 diving boards, a low and high (REALLY high!). Lincoln was quick to announce he was heading for the high board. Um, hold up little man! It’s not that I didn’t think he could do it, I knew he’d jump. It was the aftermath of swimming all the way back to the edge, alone, without a life jacket, or goggles. I made him start by going off the low board, just to prove he could handle a short swim. Then we checked with a lifeguard on the rules. Turns out, the rules are exactly what I expected: no life jackets, no goggles, and must be able to swim on his own (no helper in the water). Alright buddy....give it a whirl. And he did just that, without any problems! Stinker.

https://youtu.be/2TBu_3iOMy8

Not to be outdone, Sidney loves that she is tall enough to easily handle the zipline with a quick splash at the end. Lincoln cannot wait until he too is tall enough :)

https://youtu.be/J6kTKpC4m_U

We had a blast and love our adventures around town over the summer. Only question is, where to go next! 

Softball all around us

We have spent every night for the last 15 days (and counting) at a ball field. That is A LOT of ball! Some nights it is a practice, and other times it is a doubleheader. And then occasionally we have a 12 hour day at a tournament. Those are the longest days for Lincoln.

 

These girls work hard, from practices to games to private lessons, we are beyond proud of their dedication and determination to do their best. Regan has landed a spot as the lead catcher on her team; it's not unusual for her to play this position for 3 games in a single day at a tournament. How her body can handle this is beyond me. Frankly, why she likes catching is beyond me! Ha :)

 

 

During our first practice, a mom approached me and knew where I grew up....she coming from the same small town (what a small world!). Her daughter is a pitcher so our girls would be spending a lot of time over the season together. We chit-chatted and turns out, we graduated only 1 year apart. Then my mom showed up to a game and I introduced the two. My mom promptly went on to ask who her family was, only for us to all realize we're related. Which means Regan and Sienna are making quite the duo out there as (distant) cousin pitcher/catcher.

 

 

And while Regan is rocking it behind the plate, Sidney is doing the same from the mound. She is new to kid-pitch softball this summer, having moved up from 8U to 10U where all rules apply. She has been taking pitching lessons for over a year and doing amazingly well with applying her knowledge during games. She tries hard and throws more and more strikes each and every game. It's not unusual for her to strike out several batters in one game, and it's also not unusual for those hitters to make the rest of the team work with all of their hits. She's growing so much in her abilities and it is fun to watch I tell you. Stressful as well!

 

 

It's not often I sit down during a game. Between one pitching, and another catching, I'm generally to nervous for them to be sitting down. So I stand and make the rounds chatting with parents and chasing Lincoln. We giggled when we turned around and noticed Ryan was sitting on a bleacher watching a game, entirely by himself. Not one other soul was sitting next to him :) I may have joked that he forgot deodorant that day!

 

 

Between games at a recent tournament, Lincoln crawled up onto my lap and snuggled in. I sighed as it was nap time and I knew there was no chance he was getting to go home during nap. In a desperate effort to make him sleep, I rocked back and forth and told him if I were him, I would close my eyes and nap on my mommy. So he did!! My back was killing me, my butt fell asleep, my arms were on fire and my mom finally sat behind me so her knees could be my backrest. For an entire hour, that little boy slept in my arms and kept me warm. Every parent that looked my way would smile and give me that "I'm so jealous of you" look.  

 

 

We have been lucky enough to have many spectators join the games. Sidney is not shy about asking her friends to come watch her play, and they show up to cheer her on! Sometimes it is in between their own games....

 

And other times, it is the cutest/sweetest little friend from school who wanted to see her in action! My phone is filled with photos from ball and our favorite players.

 

Love our ball players and all of the excitement they bring to our family in this active season!

End of school yea hoopla

The end of the school year came and went. We had parties and field days, report cards and field trips. Both girls ended the year on a high academically, Sidney isn't actually "graded" yet, but Regan pulled off all A's (a couple A-'s but apparently in middle school, those are the same as an A). All things considered, especially the horrendous experience with a teacher who is no longer employed by the school, we were incredibly proud of her to persevere and finish out the year as well as she did. Never in a million years would we have expected the year to go as it did, but for her to rise above and still pull off all A's was amazing. We even got the sweetest note home from her track coach/school counselor who commented on how great of a kid she is and how she is not only a great athlete, but also a positive leader.....glad she can pull it together for everyone else :) 

Not to be outdone, Sidney also did great this school year. No major obstacles to overcome, but she did have to work hard in class to climb the academic ladder. She has to work a little harder than Regan in school, but when that girl puts her mind to it, she can move mountains. Some lessons come super easy to her, ones that I would expect her to struggle with. It's the more common sense stuff that she can't grasp so quickly. Then again, this is the girl who recently had a conversation with me that went like this: 

Me: Regan, I remember when you used to hum the day away. 

Sidney: What song is "the day away"? 

#facepalm

Oh how we love her! 

Now onto the fun photos: 

End of year party with a group of her besties

Regan joined us and I couldn't resist taking a picture of Regan with her former teacher (now Sidney's former teacher too!). We love love love Mrs Newman! No one will ever top her teaching! 

More fun on field day at the elementary school. 

End of year comparison pictures for Sidney. 

Look at that growth! My brother says her shorts are too short...
I told him that statement means he's getting old. 

Life of a middle schooler, Regan learned a tough lesson as she shattered her screen. 

Phones don't belong in our waistbands (though she learned that from me). 

This was the best I got from Regan for a last day of school. She hung out with this group of friends all night long (where she also shattered her phone screen). Which means between all of the chaos, I didn't get a comparison photo of her, darn it! 

Here's to the school year wrap-up! We not have a 4th grader and 7th grader! 

All night morning

Lincoln has the best sayings, ones that we have to write down because they change every few months as he catches on that what he's saying is incorrect.

His newest saying is "all night morning"...which means "all day".

For example, he'll ask "are we going to softball all night morning?" We all giggle at this saying and sometimes even encourage it!

Love him to pieces.

Random May photos

It seems like time is moving at warp speed these days. Sometimes the days just seem to run together, and I wonder if I just stayed awake all night to get things done if I could function normally the next day! In between the chaos, I do sometimes get a chance to pull out my camera and take a snapshot of the cute (and not so cute) randomness that happens around here.

 

Lincoln takes after me as he basks in the warm sun.

I made dinner one night and peeked outside to check on him as he played in the backyard, only to find him like this.

 

Our sweetest kindest Sidney asked to wash my car one night. She did such a great job, except gave up when her siblings came outside to "help" her and ended up causing her more problems than help.

 

We had lunch at school with Sidney and her friends....Regan doesn't really let us do that anymore :(

 

I started working a little from home, and I adore my home office completely! Now I need to invest in a sun shade for that laptop because it's hard to see that thing in the warm sun.

 

Regan and I made a run to IKEA and then barely fit into the truck to drive it all home. This trip was a sight, we laughed so hard at how ridiculous we looked, each of us trying to push one of those carts on wheels with all of our boxes. And the cart going in any direction it wanted. Even other customers laughed at our efforts :)

 

Sidney participated in the annual end-of-the-year gymnastics meet and placed herself happily on the podium. She was pretty proud of herself and how much she accomplished this year.

 

At Christmas my mom bought the kids these fun "submarines", and they've been a constant staple in our pool this spring. Too bad those batteries take all night (and then some) to re-charge. Lincoln can dive all the way to the drain in the deep end and then come right back up to the surface. So fun!

 

All of my pictures with Regan look something like this....ahh, these pre-teen years are fun. At least she's still taking selfies with me.

 

This one isn't much better some days!

 

I often resort to taking pictures without our faces. Plus Lincoln asked to hold my hand as we crossed a street recently and I couldn't resist taking a picture of our shadow.

I love our random days, and I love that I remember to take pictures of our fun together :)

Friends from afar

We were blessed to spend some time with our dear friends who live in Germany while they were here visiting family. The kids had so much fun getting acquainted, having not seen each other in 5 long years.  And us parents picked up right where we left off, although social media and technology makes it easier for us to connect from afar. 

We spent one softball free evening (thank you coaches!) at Minihaha Falls with a bunch of Ryan’s college buddies and their families. We all wondered why we can’t pull this off more frequently, seemingly only manage to make it happen when Paul and Renata come to town.

 

 It was a perfect summer night and I loved watching this ice cream melt around Lincoln’s fingers, knowing it would leave him a sticky mess but with a fond memory of summer fun. 

 

As the parents get older, we seemed to have multiplied, and this was only a fraction of the kids! There were tiny ones too that didn’t make the picture or the hike down the falls. (I promised Lincoln if he’d smile nice I’d take him down the trails.....he was quite obedient!). 

While in town, with temps past 90, we decided a pool party was in order for Paul, Renata and the kids. They ran out to buy suits and we spent the afternoon poolside, enjoying each other’s company. 

 

 

 

 

Our girls decided they are joining Ryan on his next trip to Germany....in which case, I figured we should all join in! Look out Pollinger family, you may get to see our crew sooner than later!