Grandpa Stauder this one is for you!

Just found out I can post from my iPhone! This is very exciting! Here are some pics of Austin and I off to a Halloween party. Just thought we would dress as our true selves! I have wanted to be a punk ever since I was in 3rd grade and my grandparents sent me a postcard from London of two mohawked punks on the street. The party was with our baseball friends. Austin said that they were going to be so surprised that "the grandma who knits at the games and never comes out past 9 is dressed like this!"

Words of Wisdom

I am running my fifth half-marathon in a couple of weeks and I am feeling a little burnt out with running, ready for some laying on the couch time! Anyway, this morning I just finished my 12 training run, which I was seriously dreading last night and didn't want to do.  So I told this to Will.  Here is how the conversation unfolded:

Me: Will, I just REALLY don't want to run anymore.
Will: Then don't Mommy, just don't show up for the race.
Me:  But I have already paid for it and I can't get a refund.
Will: It's ok Mommy, if you don't want to do something, just don't do it. That's what I always do.


Really? Wow, didn't notice that one.

Interesting perspective Willy! Maybe we have gotten to the root of your uncooperative attitude!

Epic Battle for State Championship Goes Down to the Wire!

In an absolutely epic battle of two North Carolina All-Star Little League Powerhouses, the MARA MOJO (Cooper's team) faced the fearsome, Porter Ridge Pirates in the North Carolina State Championship. The Pirates were a hand picked "Super Team" (for those of you Friday Night Lights watchers). They essentially combined two All-Star teams and added a couple of other players from travel ball to build the equivalent of the NY Yankees of little league. These were all 120 pound, corn-fed, country strong 10-year olds. On different occasions, all but one of their players had hit one over the fence. This was in contrast to our team which had two players who had hit it over the fence in their lifetime.

We had played Porter Ridge 4 times up to this point, and were 2 - 2 against them. Without taking you through the long hard road to the state championship, we had played 12 games to get to this game. We were in the winners bracket which meant that our opponent had to beat us twice. We all knew Porter Ridge was capable of this, but wanted to beat them in the first game and celebrate early.

The coach decided to start Cooper in the State Championship. As his Dad, I was a wreck with nerves despite only watching. The state championship this year was on our home field, which made it even more special. Of all the places in North Carolina, we were playing in front of our home crowd (the same place Cooper and I had spent countless hours practicing the last few years).

We were the home team and the little league equivalent of Jeter, A-Rod, and Texiara were up to bat to start the game for Porter Ridge. First batter goes to a full count, fouls off 3 pitches before getting fooled on a change up by Cooper - 1 out. The next batter fastball, change up, cutter - 3 pitch strike out. The next batter fast ball, fast ball, cutter - 3 pitch out. Coop had just struck out the side! The place went nuts and was absolutely electric. Coop went on to pitch the game of his life in State Championship and pitched 4 shut out innings and gave up 2 hits. By rule, since he had pitched 2 innings in the previous game, he could only pitch 4 innings in this game. MARA went into the sixth with a 2-0 lead. They say the hardest three outs in baseball are the last three. That proved to be true this night. Porter Ridge scored 4 in the sixth and won 4-2. After a brilliant performance by our team in the first 5 innings, we were left crushed with disappointment. Did we just choke the state championship away?

We now had to play Porter Ridge again and this time they had all the momentum and we were pretty down. But the boys battled and we were once again  ahead with a precarious 2 run lead headed into the bottom of the last inning. But Porter Ridge would not go down easy. Hit, Walk, Hit, Hit, Walk. It was now 3-2, the bases were loaded, there was one out, and their best hitter at the plate. Was this really going to happen? Back to back crushing collapses? Why not just rip out my heart and stomp on it -- I think that might feel better.

Then the coach, seeing the nerves on our pitcher who had just thrown 4 straight balls to walk the bases loaded, decided to make a change. He saved one inning of eligibility with Cooper. But this was a heck of a time to come in. If Porter Ridge even makes contact, they probably tie, if they get a hit, they win the game.

At the risk of sounding like a biased, over-the-top dad-about-his-own-son, Coop was made for this moment. Coop can be frustrating because he is a knucklehead. He sometimes is still immature and wants to goof around and have fun at practice when coaches want to be all business. On the flip side, he blows bubbles when he pitches and doesn't get too rattled in the big moments. When I asked him what he thought when the coach asked him to come in the game at that time he said, " I was excited the coach wanted me to pitch." That was it. Almost like he was oblivious to the fact that it was the state championship, the bases were loaded and we had only a one run lead.

And while I wish I could write that he struck out the next two batters, that is not at all what happened.

Cooper's first pitch is fouled off and inches from being an easy pop up out but goes out of play. His second pitch is drilled hard to centerfield. The centerfield makes a good play and catches the hard hit liner. The runner from third tags up, the centerfielder puts everything he can on it and it bounces at the pitchers mound. But then it took a magical MARA MOJO bounce off the mound and right towards home plate. The 120 pound man- child is running lights out at our 85 pound catcher. I don't know how our catcher keeps focused on the ball knowing this kid is about to literally knock him upsidedown at home. The ball comes in a half second before the runner. The catcher grabs it and tags the runner. The runner blows up the catcher. The ump is looking everywhere for the ball. On his back I see the catcher with both hands around his mitt shaking and showing the ump he has the ball. Game Over! MARA MOJO wins on a fly out - throw - tag out at home.

I honestly think if we tried to do this play 1,000 times again, we might only do it right a handful of times. So many things have to go right for this to happen in little league, but the baseball gods were with us on this magical night. Cooper's MARA MOJO were State Champs and now move on to regionals. I will write a report on Regionals next week.

Can you stand a little more MARA?

Me and my not so small baby after the big win. Woo-hoo!

After a lot of blood, sweat, and tears...

Here they are, the 2011 10U North Carolina State Champs!
(long and detailed blog post by Austin to follow)

Southside Player of the Game

Cooper's baseball coach pours more love into these boys than I have ever seen before. He is also tough and doesn't accept excuses. One thing I really like is that he choses a "Southside Player of the Game" after each game. It is a great way to encourage the boys and he really makes sure that everyone gets this honor for something that they did that was better than they could have done before. Here are a couple of the times Cooper won this honor:

Swimming at the Y

On the days we don't have baseball, I struggle with what to do with the kids to keep everyone happy. Cooper just wants to search YouTube for useful tips like how to make a fireball you can hold in your hand with lighter fluid. Will would rather die than leave the house (and trust me his screams when I say we are leaving to go somewhere sound like he is dying). And Paris usually just goes with the flow.

So on Thursday we decided to go swimming at the YMCA pool that we have a membership to. It was a great time! Cooper and Will played games together and didn't scream at each other at all. And Paris even jumped up and down with joy and said, "This is the best day EVER!" She also enjoyed practicing her swimming skills without a life vest. We will definitely be back!

The Treehouse

Austin won a one-night stay at the Treehouse Vineyards in Monroe in an actual treehouse. It was a beautiful place, I never knew just a few miles off 74 is such beauty. We don't drink alcohol so we didn't have the wine there but we did taste some really yummy muscadine cider. We also ate at two really cute places, The Stone Table and Sweetea Cafe. The historic downtown in Monroe is great, I never knew.

The Treehouse was just what you would expect, a teeny little kitchen, bathroom and couch for the living area, then upstairs in the loft was basically a bed and dresser. It was so much fun doing something out of the ordinary.

View from the deck of the Treehouse

Another view, I was clearly hogging the hammock chair the whole time!

Ottoman Refreshed

Notice the classy duct tape. I promise I only put this on to hold it down when the slipcover is on it.

We desperately need new furniture, ours is beat up, has cracks from people's butts sitting in the same place, burned marks where I had to clean off hot-pink nail polish with acetone, and various rips. We can't decide whether it is better to get new furniture so we don't look like white trash, or just keep the other furniture for awhile because the kids can't really make it worse, right? I thought about making slipcovers for all the furniture for a few minutes but I think I would regret that right after I cut into the fabric and couldn't return it anymore. But I did do a slipcover for the ottoman and I really like how it turned out.

Add caption

Last Day of Preschool for the P

Paris loves having pictures taken, posing and smiling big. Then she loves to look at the pictures of herself!

My Big Project This Week

Recently we had our house painted inside. We've now lived here for over 7 years and the walls were looking pretty dingy. So along with the new paint, I have been trying to do a couple other updates. We have one big great room that has really tall two-story ceilings and I have always struggled with trying to fill the space. I had a bookshelf in the corner that I liked but it was really small and this week I found something that works!

I love hunting through the old furniture at Salvation Army and Goodwill to find things that I can repaint and redo to my liking. So I found this big ole piece of oak junk at Salvation Army for $35.55. I knew it would be a lot of work but I had a vision.  Here is what it looked like when I bought it:



Notice the sweet 1990s oak, the frosted glass in the doors and the lovely hardware.

I knew what I wanted to do - replace the hardware, take the bottom doors off, move the shelves around a bit and add a new shelf. Then take out the glass and add chicken wire, oh yeah, and add a back pice to hold it all together.  Here are a few pics of the process:

I painted a coat of primer, and then a coat of the bluish color I liked. After letting that dry for 24 hours (did I mention the weather was in the 90s this week and it was REALLY hot working on this in the garage.) I took out my new sander and a file and my antiquing stain and went at it. The thing I like about distressing furniture is that you can't mess it up. So I had to hit the whole thing a few times with a sledgehammer to get the nails in? Who cares, love the dents it makes.

So after all that work - here it is, and I love it! Though it did occur to me that I took an old piece of crap, and made it into . . . another old piece of crap!

Bits and Pieces

• Is Paris 15 years old already? This morning she told me that I am "ruining her life" because I wouldn't let her have a popsicle for breakfast.
• By the way, Will wore two different shoes to school today. Whatever, at least he didn't scream at me when I woke him for school.
• Cooper's new favorite pastimes are searching Youtube for useful tips like making a fake quarter to hack into a vending machine and using cologne and a lighter to make a blowtorch. In case you were wondering how to do this, it really works.

You know you are getting old when . . .

You wake up and are so busy that you both forget it is your 13th anniversary! I had given Austin an early present so I wasn't thinking about our anniversary today. I was focused on all the errands and cleaning I have today and how annoyed I am at the Siskey YMCA rennovations that left me with a crappy little weight room with only two sets of weights this morning.  Austin was a little late for work and then had to come back because he forgot his laptop so he was a little frazzled. Then when I looked at the calendar I finally remembered that our anniversary is today!

I called Austin to tell him Happy Anniversary and we both laughed that we forgot. I also complained to him that I felt so stressed about the day. He said not to worry and just get what I can done. Then I said, "I know I will be happy when you bring home my 2-carat diamond today! " He just chuckled, alas I don't think this is the year, again.

Happy Anniversary to you Austin, my best friend, confidant and person I can always trust and be myself with. Thank you for always trying to lift me up and tell me positive things. I'm glad that we can still laugh together. It's fun when we joke that it feels like we've already been married for 20 years. I love you. Here's to 70 more great years and hopefully eternity after.

Really, Cooper?

Cooper and his buddies have been working diligently on a fort in the woods behind our backyard. It has been fabulous, boys outside playing, not in front of the TV, etc. Paris and I were just settling down for a little snuggle and reading time today with the monsters outside, when they came back in all worried.  Apparently Cooper was preparing to spray paint the fort. Spray paint? I didn't know that was part of the plan. Anyway, the can exploded and Cooper got spray paint all over his face, and arms. He was crying at first because it was in his eyes, but after a nice water eye bath he was fine. Then after a lot of baby oil, scrub and elbow grease, he is clean! (mostly)

Freakshow

I bought Will a new suit last week for church and just wanted to take a couple nice pictures of him but instead this is what I got . . .

Gingerbread Houses with Nonni

Every year if Nonni is here, she makes gingerbread houses with the kids. Here are some cute pics of them constructing their masterpiece.

Oh, you didn't know that a hair dryer is an essential part of the gingerbread making tool kit? Well it is, just need to hurry the drying process up a bit.

What, you don't use all natural, organic cleaners to polish your microwave? 

Squishy face

 

The finished product and Paris with her Fabio hairy chest action.

Nonni asked if we were going to wait until Christmas to eat the gingerbread house, yeah right, not in a house with five candy fiends! This was taken less than 24 hours after the house was finished.

Black Friday Bonanza

Cooper and I and our stash - actually the nicest picture of Cooper I have seen in awhile!

Cooper and I went on our yearly black Friday shopping sale this morning.  After looking at the ads yesterday and doing some online shopping, there wasn't really anything that I felt compelled to wake up at 4am for, but Cooper had his heart set on it, so we went. I told him that I would prefer to wake up closer to 6am than 4am but that he could choose. In the middle of the night he came down and woke me up, and guess what? It was 4am.  ( This is from Cooper, the boy that likes to have a 40 minute window to drive to MARA 2 miles down the street to make sure we get there on time.)

Our first location was Gamestop.  Cooper decided that he wanted to get a new xbox 360 so I told him he could try to trade in all the Wii stuff to see if it would be enough money. So he lugged the Wii system, the remotes, the accessories, the Wii Fit Balance board and all the games. Cooper called Gamestop before we arrived and they told him that Wiis are worth $160 and the Wii Fit is worth $30. With all the extra things he brought, he thought he would definitely have enough for the $199 price tag on the xbox 360.  When the lady at Gamestop told him that all his stuff was worth a grand total of $70, he was fighting tears as we figured out that the pre-owned Wii and Wii Fit prices are what he was given on the phone, not the trade-in values. So we took back all our Wii paraphernalia and he picked out a couple of new games and accessories for Christmas.

This was the drama of the morning, we next visited Target; Kohls; Bed, Bath and Beyond; Hancock Fabrics; World Market and Costco.  We got lots of great presents, stood in long lines and are happy to be home!

Will

Will has been especially sweet to me lately, often surprising me with a big hug and telling me that, "I just wanted to tell you how much I love you mommy." He also has his moments where I feel like I am going beserk, but I guess that is all part of the deal. We took this picture when we went on a speical date recently, he was pretty easy - a quick trip to Bruester's for a dinosaur sundae and then we came home and played Mancala.

It is finished!!!!!!

Over a year ago, a couple friends and I had the crazy idea that it would be fun to make a copycat Pottery Barn advent calendar.  After many hours of blood, sweat and tears, it is done! Halleluah! I sent mine off for an early Christmas gift with fun ideas for each day of December tucked inside the pockets. I hope they like it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Thanksgiving was a great day for us today. Austin and the boys left early to play in the annual Turkey Bowl leaving Paris and I to a leisurely morning. We went for a short run - I ran, Paris rode in the jogger.  Then we came home and Paris helped me make our special Pumpkin Crunch Cake and then peeled potatoes.  Later we ate dinner at our beloved friends', the Gunsons, house. We stuffed ourselves silly and ended the day giving thanks for all we have.  Here are some snaps from the day:

Paris working hard on the pumpkin cake

Peeling potatoes is so much fun! Cooper was trying really hard to get out of the picture, he hates having his picture taken lately.

I told Will that it would be the happiest day of my life if he would wear a button up shirt and jeans to Thanksgiving dinner today. I don't think it was the happiest day of his life though - he said he kept tripping over his jeans.

Austin and I at dinner

Paris, Cooper and Will in a forced by mom pose

Happy and stuffed!