Summer, Part 2

I am soooo behind. Life’ s a little too busy for blogging right now. We had such a fun summer though that I want to share for those few of you who are still reading.

Caleb had another awesomely fun year of baseball. It was a hard ending though. His team came in second in their league in the end-of-the-season tournament for the second year in row. So hard on my super competitive boy. He’s more competitive than your average boy, I promise. Just yesterday he was bawling in the floor like a two-year-old because his fantasy football team lost by 1 point!

Here’s the team in a huddle between last two games. Tommy coached his team.

Here’s Caleb with his trophy. First smile after final loss. Rest of team had moved on 30 minutes before and were enjoying their ice cream, but not my Caleb.

Here’s the team. They were AWESOME! So proud of them!

Here’s Rachel and Grandpa at the ball field.

Here’s my cutie pie again!

Titus had a great first year of t-ball. He’s so much fun to watch! He imitates Caleb because he’s watched him play so much and played with him in the backyard.

Here he is with his trophy given to him by his daddy. Yes, Tommy coached both Caleb and Titus’ teams this year. It was crazy.

I think I posted this before, but I LOVE this photo of Titus and Rachel! These two are always having some kind of adventure.

In July we celebrated Titus’ 6th birthday!

I don’t know what these two would do without each other.

Titus enjoying his Chronicles of Narnia cake

Titus enjoying the pool

Caleb and Robert eating popsicles

Best Friends!

Caleb’s Sleepover

Yes, I am a bad, bad blogger! Moving on.

Caleb wanted to have a sleepover this fall. Reason: In the spring whenever he has his birthday sleepover, it’s baseball season. So he needs to have a fall sleepover so that he and his buddies can play football.

He had three friends sleepover a few weeks ago. (I had some friends sleepover, too! We had a blast!) Friday night it was pouring rain and lightning. So when they asked if they could play football, the answer was “NO.” They found plenty to do inside with the Nerf guns and game systems.

In the morning Caleb awakened me to ask if they could play football. I told him to take a bunch of towels out with them and they could. They spent several hours in the mud and at one time pouring rain and had the time of their lives! Here are the photos.

At this point they are playing football on their knees. And, yes, some of them are playing in their socks. Why? I do not know.

Be sure to wash all the mud out of your hair!

That’s what friends are for!

We MADE them get muddy again for a group photo. You can tell they had a rotten time doing it!

Here is Caleb and his best friend, Robert. They have an unusual bond for nine-year-old boys. They were born 9 days apart. Linda, Robert’s mom who is also one of my dearest friends, and I think that they were best friends before they were even born. BUT there is still that competitive male nature.

Here Robert is trying to flip Caleb.

I LOVE THIS NEXT PHOTO! Just look at the sheer determination and the muscles at work in Robert’s left and Caleb’s right leg. Robert is determined to take Caleb down, and Caleb is determined that his foot is not leaving the ground! LOVE IT!

Just had to put this one of Caleb

And, finally, a group photo

Love Without Boundaries

I’ve shared about Love Without Boundaries before. I LOVE this organization and what they are doing in China! They have programs ranging from providing nutrition assistance to orphanages to foster care sponsorship to healing homes for cleft lip/palate children and children with health problems that need extra attention in order for them to thrive. We sponsor a precious little girl in foster care in China through LWB.

In 2004 they published the book Love’s Journey: A Collage of the China Adoption Experience. Any of you adoptive families who are interested, right now they are giving away copies of their book Love’s Journey 2: The Red Thread. All you have to do is mention the lovewithoutboudaries.com website on your blog or facebook page and send the link to them along with $5 S&H. I have already received my book because Love Without Boundaries was my Facebook birthday wish. It is a nearly 300 page, lovely coffee-table book filled with photos and adoption stories. Here is the link with steps to getting your own book.

I mentioned that I posted Love Without Boundaries on Facebook as my birthday wish. I cannot find the link to this, but I think this is also an awesome way to help people. Most of us do not need one single thing for our birthdays. Not really. This is a great way to help others by using your birthday wish to raise funds for your favorite charity.