The Trophy

Another t-ball season has come and gone for our youngest, Joshua. Overall, I think he has shown quite an improvement over last year's games. This year he actually went out and played without me being on the field by his side continuously. The first practice was a little rough, though. I took him up to the dugout and his team was already out on the field practicing. I thought I would go out with him and get him adapted to things again, but he refused to leave the dugout. When I tried to reassure him that I was going out with him, it still did not matter. Then he burst out crying inconsolably,which he did the same thing at the start of the practices last year. I think part of it this year was he didn't know anyone on the team except for his cousin Logan. We ended up finding out when the next practice was and left. He was crying and I was mad. I had thought at that time- GREAT! another fun year of t-ball is on the way.

So after a week of coaxing, by Missy and myself, and telling him how he was going to have so much fun, we made it back to the 2nd practice. This time it was as if we had a totally different child. He took to the field immediately, without shedding a single tear I might add, and practiced like there had never been a problem the prior week.

It was amazing to us, how much Josh and his whole team had improved since last year.
This year they were pitched balls by their coaches, and only used the tee as a last resort.
Of course, they were still a lot of fun to watch. On many occasions, when the opposing team hit the balls, practically the whole fielding team would all converge upon the ball, and try to fight over it. There were also still the occasional players, Josh included, who became sidetracked easily by the alluring wide open expanse of DIRT, or the occasional bugs, birds, cars or trains who happened to pass by at just the right time, leaving them oblivious to the line drive heading straight for them. Missy and I decided Josh was a professional at looking busy and ready to catch the ball. He was usually in position and waiting for the ball to be hit, but if it came in his direction he would kind of run towards it, but never seemed to quite gather enough energy to get there 1st to pick it up. We called him an "official ball guide". He kind of ran along beside it, "guiding and protecting" it, until it was finally picked up. Oh well, he still had a lot of fun.

His best asset was hitting. He rarely had to use the tee, and was a strong hitter. Thank God, they wear helmets. One occasion he swung so hard, he missed the ball, but hit himself in the back of the head. Ouch! It didn't seem to bother him though.


Of course by the last couple of weeks of the season, Joshua's whole focus turned to the coveted
"Trophy". As you probably know each member of the team receives a trophy at the end of the season. We heard more than once, "When do we get our trophy?" This year they had the official ceremony on a Friday evening, where all the t-ballers got together after a game and received their trophies.

Josh was so proud of his and we had to make the rounds to show the grandparents the prestigious TROPHY after the game! I wanted to say a special thanks, to the Beltz family-yes even Beth, who shoved my head into a water fountain at church Sunday-while I was getting a drink, for their excitement they expressed to Josh over his trophy. They were the 1st ones we ran into as they were on their way to the band concert, so of course Josh had to show them his prized possession.

When we got home, we had placed the trophy on the middle of our dining room table.
The funniest thing was the next day, it wasn't where we had put it. I started to ask Joshua where he had put it, but then I went into the living room, and had to laugh. Joshua had placed his trophy in the window, for the whole neighborhood to see. :)


Waiting in line.






Josh, with his cousin Logan.

The TROPHY on display!

Rain Drops Keep Falling........

Yesterday afternoon, after I arrived home, the kids and I were outside messing around, when the sky started to cloud up-like it could rain, and the air was thick with humidity. The kind that makes you sweat just by walking around in the front yard. It wasn't long before it started thundering off in the distance, and then here came the rain. It started out intermittently at first and then slowly proceeded into a regular ole"gully washer."
It rained so fast that it poured over the gutters, because they couldn't drain the water away fast enough.

We had retreated to the front porch, and then the kids asked to do something they hadn't done in a long time. They asked if they could play in the rain. What an ingenious idea! Since we have a pool and all, they usually get their needs to play in water quenched there. I told them sure!! Why not?

Your only kids once, your Mom's not here, and that occasional lightning bolt flashing from the sky looks like its a LONG way away. It's not like they asked to go SWIMMIMG submerged in 4 feet of water. I also justified my answer by looking over toward my sister's house and seeing my 2-yr old niece Hannah doing her own little rain dance in their driveway. They would never let her outside if it wasn't safe.

Watching the kids reminded me of the times when I was young. We lived in town and whenever we would have big downpours, my friends and I would take our plastic boats about 2-3 blocks west of our house, behind a grocery store and turn them loose in the ditches.I can still see my tugboat, which was red and had yellow life preservers hanging on the sides of the deck. There was a gradual slant in the layout of our neighborhood that was perfect for boat races. The best part was when they would go through the culverts that went under the streets, and you wouldn't be able see them for a few minutes. It was a tense time, wandering if your boat was going to make it through the torrential river racing by. It could get snagged on those nasty" log jams"-twigs or trash that might be caught in the middle of the tunnel. I can remember just when we thought we couldn't take it any longer, the boats would emerge and we would run along beside them, as they hurriedly headed for the next tunnel.

Oops!! sorry I digressed. Anyway here are some pix that I snapped while the kids were having fun.

Hot Diggity Dog

It's been a few weeks since the death of our golden retriever, and while she was sick and getting worse and worse,I kept telling the kids that if she died we were not getting another dog for a long while.

Yeah right!! Well, the following weekend, while in Terre Haute, we found ourselves in the local pet store. Of course, it was MY idea, to go in and just look around to SEE what kind of dogs they have. I stressed several times that we were just looking, we weren't going to get one. The store was packed, as they were having a sale. Will told us he wanted to look for a part Bulldog and part Shih-tzu mix. Get it when you put the two together- :):) Teenagers are priceless!!

Of course the kids informed us they would like to hold some of the dogs when we got inside. Another big mistake! They looked at some Shelty pups, which we had owned one prior to our golden retriever, and Will also got out a golden retriever pup to play with. It's paws were HUGE!! Will and Josh played with him in one of the little play cubicles for awhile and then put him back. He was a maniac the whole time they had him out. But we quickly decided he wasn't too smart. They put him back in his cage, and immediately he did his business, and then proceeded to turn right around and EAT it-to which we were all mortified and 5 collective EEEWWWWWWWWWW's!!!(yours truly included) were heard throughout the store. Sorry I forgot to give you a warning there. Hope you weren't eating or have a weak stomach! I told the kids I felt sorry for the next people who got her out and let her kiss all over them! YUCK!! Then I asked Will if he had let her give him any kisses while they were playing. He didn't see the humor. :)

While Josh and Will were busy with the environmentally conscious golden, Maren and Missy had gotten a little white fur- ball out of it's cage. They were both having a fit over how cute she was. She was a Shimo-which is part American Eskimo and part shih- tzu. I had never heard of the mix, but she was small and cuddly and certainly knew how to "turn on the love" for Missy and Maren. They handed her to me and she immediately cuddled up , and started licking my chin. She was a cutey. So needless to say, by the time we were ready to leave, she had won everyone over, myself included. Of course, then the "Dad, Mom, can we get her?!" started incessantly.

I will say we actually got out of the store without her, hung around in the parking lot for awhile, having a family debate on whether or not to take her home , and then actually drove all the way back to Marshall, before finally deciding. Yep,I'm sure you guessed our decision by now. I'm a softy. So then Maren,Morgan-Maren's cousin, and I made a speedy trip back to the pet store to pick her up, before someone else could snatch her up.

So here are some pictures of the newest member of the Milbourn family.

Oh, by the way her name is Mo--short for Mary Margaret Moseman (just kidding, that's a friend of Missy's, it's really short for Mosie). The bottom picture is Mo with her best friend. It follows her wherever she goes.

Gamer-cise

Who says kids can't get exercise while playing video games?
They just need to spend some time with our "little gamer."
It made me tired just watching him! :)

My Buddy Joshua

Yesterday afternoon, I got to hang out and spend some time with my son Joshua. Due to some preventive maintenance on the equipment at work I got to leave at lunchtime. Missy had to be in town yesterday afternoon, as well, so we picked up our youngest, from the babysitter's and took him for lunch. Of course, when we asked him where he wanted to go, he said Mickey D's. So off we went.

As soon as we picked him up his first words were, "Dad, Can I go home with you this afternoon, instead of going back to the babysitters?" Of course, I'm a pushover when it comes to those big brown eyes, and I already felt like I hadn't spent alot of time with him, since getting home late Monday evening from our anniversary trip- which by the way- was SUPER!! I quickly gave up the few plans I had for the afternoon, and brought Josh home with me. I'm glad I did! We hung out in the pool, riding and wrestling an ALLIGATOR, then after we had him tamed, he even posed for some pix with us. :)

After that, it was time to pick up Maren after school, grab a quick bite to eat, and head to her 2nd ballgame of the week. There I had more quality time with Josh, since Missy led worship last night at church, and Will went to help her. My Mom and my 2-year old neice, Hannah, and nephew Michael came out to the game as well. Hannah is very..... lets say....energetic!! But thats another post, hopefully for tomorrow. Missy, her mother , and Will all showed up a little later at the game too.
Hope your day was a good one as well !































Just goofing around-at home and at the ballgame.

Leonardo? Michaelangelo? Donatello? Raphael?

Check out this turtle that was at the end of our lane today!

We decided that it must be in the military, with its camo shell on.

I think it is a snake undercover-posing as a turtle. That's the freakiest turtle head I have ever seen.

Travis, can you tell me what kind of turtle this is?

Saturday Morning

We awoke to a bright, sunny morning on Saturday, so I decided to cook our breakfast outside. Cooking outside is something that our whole family enjoys. We love fixing things like ham & beans over an open fire. I think it gives the food better flavor. -Could possibly be the bugs and dirt that fall in it while its cooking--I'm not sure, but anyway I didn't have the energy to start a real wood campfire, so I improvised and fired up the burner on the grill.

My assistant chef for the morning was Will. He has a built in radar that will find an open flame within a 20 mile radius.






















































Are you hungry yet??

While we were preparing breakfast, my lovey was on the deck, picking her toes, I mean painting her toenails!! Yes, she does have other pajamas, but it seems anytime I take her picture in the wee hours of morning-she has these miss-matched favorites on.

Maren was relaxing in the house, watching a little tv.

She is not much of a bacon and egg eater.

And here's the other little rascal, sneaking out on the deck to snatch a piece of bacon! Yes we really do buy everyone matching shirts and pajama bottoms, but they apparently can't seem to be able to put them together.

and here we are enjoying the fruits of our labor!!