Joplin

I have no words to describe the devastation of Joplin.  We were sitting comfortably in our basement on Sunday night about 25 miles away from the complete devastation that was happening in Joplin, MO.  We watched in horror on TV as the funnel cloud began lowering into the city and began to darken with debris.  We saw the power lines being hit by the tornado before the television station went off of the air.

People are now desperately looking for missing family and friends.  St John's hospital was completely destroyed.  It is heart wrenching, and we are predicted to have more severe storms tonight.  

We're used to tornadoes here, but not this F5 tornado.... never this.

Please pray.

To donate, please contact the American Red Cross.

Softball baby!

My girls moved up from t-ball this year to coach pitch softball.

I have to admit that I am not out of the t-ball mentality yet. I laugh continually and am not yet feeling any competitiveness, much to the other parents' dismay. I do not yell at my girls to "make 'em pitch to you" or "throw the ball" or "swing level". I laugh. A lot. When Grace picks flowers and dances in the outfield, I laugh. When Sophie does gymnastics salutes and poses each time she sees the camera aimed on her, I laugh. Is there something wrong with me? ;-)

Here is Grace in full defense mode.  Why does she have her hands over her ears, you ask?  I don't know.  That MUST be some sort of very fancy outfield defensive move.

And Sophie noticing that I was taking yet another picture.  See how talented she is?  She can stop in mid-play to pose for me.  She doesn't even need to watch the ball.  Remarkable!

Sophie scoring!  She thought she made a home run just because she ran to home plate (which she happens to call fourth base).

And Grace in a VERY professional stance.  Notice the score?  We won.  By a lot.  And it was all due to the magnificent playing abilities of my girls.  HA

But we definitely have fun and, really, that's what it's all about.  Right?  :-)

Olympics Here We Come!!!

Okay, so maybe not, but Sophie did make the gymnastics team!  She is now an official "Shooting Star", and she is THRILLED.  Sophie told me that yesterday was the best day of her life. ;-)

She even asked me to take a picture of her tryout number on her back.  ha ha

The girls are famous!

Last summer the girls modeled for a swing set company called Adventure Playsets, and this past weekend I noticed their pictures in the flyer (flier?? Somebody help me here--- don't know which way to spell it) for the Adacemy sporting goods store. Sophie is under the slide and Grace is in the pink shirt on the swing.

Isn't that cool? ;-)

Dear 16 year old me.....

In memory of my dad, Richard Reynolds, who fought one hell of a fight against Melanoma, and in honor of my sister, Cyndee Martin, who is still fighting....



Moral of this story----- wear sunscreen. ALWAYS. And girls, please don't tan. It just isn't worth it.

Dancing Queens

See that girl, watch that scene, dig it the dancing queen....

My girls recently went to a wedding with my sister. The reception was a dinner and dance, and my girls definitely had fun.

Grace's braid soon came out, her shoes came off, half of her dress seemed to disappear, and she was flinging her hair like a wild woman. My sister informed me that she "looked like a hippie girl from the 60's on drugs".   Nice, huh?  ha ha

Although Sophie's dress and shoes also seemed to disappear, she was apparently a bit more conservative when she danced.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Since my husband and youngest daughter are half Mexican, we'll be celebrating Cinco de Mayo by eating a taco on the way to Gracie's softball game tonight (while Sophie sits home with strep throat).

Oh what fun.  ;-)

I would rather be having one of these sitting on a beach somewhere.....

 

Ah well, I guess a snow cone at the softball field will have to do......