Baseball with Uncle Resto

Some of our best baseball memories are those that include the children's uncle Michael. In the baseball world he is known as Resto. He has had a fun career in the minor leagues with some time on various major league teams, even spending a season in Japan. We have loved getting to peak into this lifestyle and share in some of the ups and downs. Uncle Resto is always so generous ans tries to spend as much time with us as he can when we are blessed with a chance to see him.
Last week we packed up the kiddos and headed to Round Rock, Texas. Due to the baseball schedule, Dad and the teens work schedules, and our travel plans we could only fit in one game this go around.

The day started as we waited for our family friend G to join us and for Pooker to get home from school.

Then we drove to Round Rock where we got to have lunch with Uncle Resto.

Dad and Uncle Resto were deep in conversation most of the meal. Seeing Uncle Resto made us miss his family, Aunt Erica - Dad's sister, and Allie and George the cousins.

After awhile we came to the park. Jumba was so excited when he realized Uncle Resto was playing the game.

My girls love baseball, they always have.


The older kiddos used to watch Uncle Resto several times a season, but we have not had that opportunity lately so the little ones were a little taken back.



Jumba and Pickle were the ones that talked the entire game. Pickle was asking baseball rule questions and Jumba was asking Uncle Resto questions.


No matter how the game goes, our favorite part is seeing Uncle Resto after the game. We would have loved to have stayed in town and gone to dinner with him but we had to get back.



The night was so special. It is worth even the Texas heat to see family.

Thank you Uncle Resto for taking such great care of us.

Do your kids ever fight?

Only over a cute newborn who is waiting for hugs and kisses. Mrs. G with precious baby K. They were so generous to share her with each and every Texas T. That is a lot of people to let hold your very new baby.

Bear with K.
Goobers with K.

Pooker's turn.
So even mom and dad needed a turn. Do you see how adorable she is? Let me tell you she had just had a bath and smelled just like a baby should. She had tons of hair and a beautiful round face that just screams "kiss on me!".
Possible so loved holding that bundle.
Pickle also just loved looking at all the faces a newborn makes.

Princess would have held K all day if we let her.
Look at K with Bagel. The little foot in the corner, so cute!

Jumba is declaring, "I want one, Dad, hey dad, I want a baby!"
It is this wonderful family's anniversary this weekend. We pray that God continues to Bless your marriage and we thank you for letting us be a little part of your lives. K is such beautiful baby. Life doesn't get better than looking into the eyes of a baby, feeling her breathe and knowing what the love of heaven feels like.
Thank you so much for showing my young ones how life should look. We loved spending time with the entire G family and can't wait until you live a little closer.

Cuda Season is Over for the Texas T Family

A happy (yet little sad) day was had by all at our N1 Divisionals at the Natatorium. All five teams come together to battle is out for the placement of the season. The final results looked like this: Hurricanes 301Seals 293.5 Marlins 229 Cudas 214 Waves 202.5 Those numbers fail to show the fun and excitement this huge meet can be. The kids wait outside in a covered area to swim. It is still very hot but being in the shade helps a little. The parents, volunteers and those swimming get to be inside the huge air conditioned complex. Still a pool so it was somewhat steamy but not as bad as pool side has been the week before.

Two pools back to back, one holding the big kids meet and the other holding the little kids meet. This is a very efficient way to run things. We were finished with a meet with 5 teams by 1:15.

Staying cool outside was the challenge but the payoff was having your name in lights when it was your turn to swim. It is a great experience to swim in such a neat place. I would compare it to playing a t-ball game in a professional minor league park.
The little ones were a little afraid of the high blocks but still enjoyed their chance to swim. The water was cool and the pool has wave blockers (or whatever they are called - they are pads that are secured on each side of the pool that catch the waves and don't let them come back out.) So it is known as a fast pool.

Pickle had set the goal for himself to make All Stars. He did in breaststroke. The Texas T kiddos are not the fastest swimmers but they sure do love the team and the fun the meets bring. I love that each one gives their best and tries so hard.

Having Pooker as a coach this year just made things extra special. I loved that I got several complements about her from parents that day. She is known as one of the coaches that really cares about the younger swimmers. She is less worried about the end result and very worried about how the swimmer is learning and if they feel confident. This really touched so many of the mothers of the young swimmers.

Pooker coached her with her heart. Jumba cheered for those that hold his heart. My kiddos swam their little hearts out.
Another great season and another collection of wonderful memories of family and friends for the Texas T group.
We headed out to eat to celebrate. We were honored to have a few friends join us. The meal was delicious and the conversation was all about the love of the Cudas.
Jumba crashed after the meal was complete. The rest of us had to wait to get home for a nap but after a great season I think we could all use a long summers nap. Thanks Cuda friends, we love you!

No Toy Left Behind

To say that my family loves the Toy Story movies would be a huge understatement. If you follow by blog or are friends with my son on facebook you would have noticed the countdown to the release of the movie. We were looking forward to this for months. We were so excited. These movies have been family favorite for years. We all remember seeing Toy Story 2 on Thanksgiving after cooking and eating our huge meal. We just packed the entire family that was there and headed to the theater. I remember laughing so hard with my brother at "Zerg, I am your father!" I cried. I can't even remember who I was pregnant with at the time but that night holds such great memories for Jason and I and the older kiddos. We had plans to go to one of the first showings of Toy Story 3 at midnight. We invited friends and bought our tickets. Hopefully that very night we would create a few more great memories with all the kiddos as we enjoy the movie together. While the kiddos went out for a bite to eat I set out all the Toy Story gifts. They came home to my little Toy Story 3 display with their new t-shirts and socks. Jumba was the most excited by the display and was heard yelling, "I love it, I love it, I love it!" Over and over again. One of the kiddos said it almost feels like Christmas. So cool to surprise them with gifts when they didn't expect them.
The surprises included rub on tattoos, socks, t-shirts and candies. There was much excitement in the air. At this point no one was tired. That is a fact that would change as it got later but we were all so excited.
All that fun Toy story stuff. Now to prepare for our adventure. Everyone had a bath an then we put on a tattoo and a new shirt. We grabbed our Toy Story Toys from Christmas and packed our Toy Story candy.
We were all getting more and more excited. The closer the time came the slower the clock went.
Our friends arrived and we planned our departure.
Kat and T-man joined our family with Larry and dad being the most sleepy in the group. This is just one of the ways that they prove what great dad's they are. Jason and Larry were tired from a day of work and knew that another day of work was ahead. It didn't stop them they drove us, got us coffee (thanks Larry) and made sure all the kids that met us there felt welcome.
We invited everyone because just like the movie we didn't want any toy left behind.
Once inside we realized that we got there too early. We reserved the best seats in the house for our group of 27 people.
It was now around 11:15 pm and we didn't know how we would stand it.
The perfect seats were saved and then we got bored waiting. Time was crawling by.
What do you do with that many bored people . . . play cards.






Then it was time to go back into the theaters. Our hearts were racing with excitement. With each new preview we grew more and more anxious. Then to our delight a preview was shown for The Voyage of the Down Treader. Go ahead and click the title to see the preview we saw (Thanks to Caroline @ http://mysticalrosedesign.blogspot.com/ for the link). Wow that movie looks awesome and once we get over the excitement of Toy Story 3 we will focus of that one. It was cool to hear the kiddos sitting among their Friends getting so excited as they recognized the Characters.
We even got the kids into place and then even the Toys got ready.
I will not give any plot away but I do want to mention that I loved this movie but found it sad. Andy was going away to college and I couldn't help but think of Pooker. Her siblings are much more important that any Toy but the relationships will change a little. That pain of growing up was a big part of the movie. To my husband that hates changes, he found it a little upsetting.
While standing outside I enjoyed listening to the teens and kids and adults all discuss what they liked and what they loved about this movie. I heard "epic, wonderful, best movie, so good I cried (3 times), sad, not sure - I have to see it again, best one, I missed some characters, awesome, we will own that movie, etc."

I hope that when you get to see the movie that you enjoy it as much as we did. Thanks... to all our friends who joined us. "At least we will be together!"

For the Texas T family and our friends it was a night of adventure and joy. A night of growing up and staying out late. It was a night with pop-corn, new t-shirts, and movie quote contests.

Memories were made and smiles were on our faces as we headed to bed keeping out new Toy Story socks on, our tattoos on our faces and arms and Jumba in his new Buzz PJ's.

Thanks Disney-Pixar for giving us the excuse to act like kids and enjoy our toys again. Thank you for helping us to create great family memories.

This really is a must see. Please make it fun. See it with your family. Take the old and the young together. Laugh together/cry together/create that memory.