Meanwhile...

I find Cathryn unbelievably funny. She manages to occupy and amuse herself under the most grueling circumstances. This particular day, we had gone to one of Trey's games, it was too bright to see the screen of her Nintendo DS, and she had left her dolls at home. To make matters worse, there were no other children her age to play with. Never one to be brought down, Cathryn persevered:

She counted the individual blades of glass...

Cuddled with her Daddy....

Wrote, directed, and choreographed her own musical.

Children's minds fascinate me, and I pray that she will keep her sense of wonder, and her ability to make the best out of any situation.

Even if it means dragging me to the soccer field so that we can lie on the grass and make cloud animals, or play pretend soccer. Or my favorite, sit in the press box and call a pretend game.

Toodles!

USCL vs. Upstate Mavericks

A few weeks ago, the family headed up to Gaffney (all the way up in the upstate of South Carolina, at the very tippy-top of the state) for a baseball tournament at Limestone College. USC-Lancaster played a team called the Upstate Mavericks. Here are a few photos from the day.

Trey leaning against the fence, talking with us before warming up for the game.

Trey and Chris warming up before the game.

I love watching Trey warm up and take infield. He is so focused on what he's doing. He is totally in the zone.

I shouldn't love this picture as much as I should. It looks like he's dancing. But when you think about it--Trey is incredibly graceful and quick on his feet. On first base, his movements are so fluid and rhythmic, watching Trey play is like watching a dancer perform. It's just that the stages are different.

Ah, the requisite "Trey in the Fence Diamond" photo. I just can't seem to blog about Trey without having one. I love it! It's like the most appropriate frame ever.

Trey at first base, taking infield.

Even though this is "just" taking infield, Trey gives it his all. In this photo (one of my favorites), he scoops the ball from the dirt and throws it to second base.

In the next set of photos, I'd like to illustrate something called the "Trey shuffle", which is what Trey does after he's taken a cut at the ball, or steps away from home plate because he doesn't like the ball that was thrown:

Trey watched the pitcher throw a ball into the dirt, so he...

...backs away from the plate, swings his bat a couple of times...

...readjusts his batting gloves...

...and gets back into his stance. I love it!

Trey ended up getting walked at that at-bat.

Ha ha, he's looking at me like, "Really, Josie? Another picture? You're as bad as Grandma now!" Yes, Trey, I am. AND PROUD OF IT. You only get these moments every once in a while, so you've got to capture them when you can.

Hope to see you again soon, Number 26! I'll be there with my camera.

Toodles!

More Picks of Ashe, our clingy dog

A few days ago, I went a on a bit of a cleaning binge, and in a fit of anger over the copious amount of dog hair I found, told Richie that we needed to have the dog shaved bald.

Well, I felt a bit bad about that, so I decided to post some sweet pictures of Ashe. Perhaps to remind me that she is more than just hair.

You tell me this isn't the life. Eating while lying down on her bed!

Ashe playing with one of her favorite toys--an elephant that Cathryn named "Mr. Stuffy":

Finally, after a hard day's work, out sweet puppy beds down for the night, with her favorite baby, the kitty cat:

Yeah, I know. She's not so bad after all. If only she didn't shed so much. I guess I can live with it.

Toodles!

More weekend photos

It was unbearably hot on Saturday at the first set of games, so most of the pictures I took were of Trey. However, I did get a few nice shots.

Trey's Grandma Toni and I had to practically chase Trey down for pictures. He's become quite skilled at hiding, but a very nice teammate of Trey's rounded him up for us. This is Shawn Thomas, another of Trey's teammates who transferred from Coker College.

More of Trey's teammates pop into the frame. They just seem to get along so well! The team really seems to have a great dynamic. At one point, Toni and I could hear Trey cracking jokes and making the team laugh--right where he loves to be.

We also had the luck to meet Trey's girlfriend, Anna Catoe. She was a joy to meet because she is smart, funny, and so easy-going. Anna also has the cutest accent. They look really happy together, and I believe that she and Trey have a lot in common. Plus, I believe she's got Trey figured out. Richie and I like her. A lot.

For me, this photo was the highlight of the weekend. Richie sat right behind home plate in the heat, getting sunburned like you would not believe, waiting for Trey to take the field. When Trey did take the field, let's just say there was an influx of emotion on our side of the fence. This photo was taken on Sunday, after the first game of the day.

Don't let this picture trick you. Katie and Cathryn get along very well. Katie, like Trey does not enjoy taking pictures. Cathryn, as has been evidenced through this blog, lives for the camera. Katie is Cathy's niece, and she is twelve. She thinks of Cathryn like a real live doll, and Cathryn is more than happy to comply because she really looks up to Katie.

And of course, Cathryn got bored (even though she had her Nintendo DS AND her Barbies), and decided to roll in the grass and climb trees:

Posing. See what I mean? LIVES for the camera.
The next two, however, were candid:

Another case in point: she begins to climb the tree, and her Aunt Rosa asks her why she's doing it. Her answer? "So my mom will take a picture of me!"

Of course, I complied. What choice did I have?

A great weekend all around for everyone. Looking forward to more.

Toodles!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great Labor Day weekend. We went back to Pirateland and had a great time cooking out, laying by the pool, and riding around on the golf cart.

On Saturday, we went to a Pelicans game.

Splash is hilarious. He runs around a lot, pumping up the crows. There's also the Rally Shark, who runs onto the field each time the Pelicans score. I felt that the Rally Shark should have been given more to do. Also? The Pelicans has something called "The J-Team", which are college kids who work in between innings and run contests. The have an awesome opening based on "The A-Team".

When it began to rain, I took Cathryn for snacks and shelter. In the Pelicans store, we ran into Dinger, another of their mascots. He totes a bucket full of balls for the umpires. He is very, very friendly and loves children.

Once the rain ended and the game was finished, they brought out the fireworks. They were incredible and so beautiful. Majestic, even. A few more fireworks pictures follow:

I just can't say it enough. A great weekend.

Both Monica and Stacy posted this on their blogs, and I loved it, so I thought I'd use it on mine, too, in honor of my great Labor Day weekend.

How long was your labor?
About eleven hours. I started labor at about 2 in the morning, after one of Trey's All-Star games, and Cathy had walked me all around East Bay Park. Cathryn was born at 1:36 pm.


How did you know you were in labor?
I had passed my plug that morning, but nothing else had happened. I went to work as if nothing was different than the day before. Heartburn woke me up. Terrible, painful heartburn and what I thought were contractions. I immediately got up and started to read the chapter from "What To Expect When You're Expecting" about labor. I was sitting at our kitchen table, staring at the clock on the wall, timing them. They were already five minutes apart!

Where did you deliver?
Georgetown Memorial Hospital in Georgetown, SC

Drugs?
I told my OB/GYN that I wanted drugs on our first visit. They were quite happy to comply.

C-section?
Luckily, no.

Who delivered?
Dr. Regina Boggs and Nurse Linda Brenicky. Truly, two angels from heaven.

My labor was nothing like you see on television. It wasn't dramatic or slapstick. It was a calm, peaceful birth, even though my contractions were extreme and painful. Once the epidural came, though, I alternated between singing and sleeping. I have very happy memories of my labor with Cathryn.

Toodles!

As promised, there is video of my amazing cartwheel. Leslie has it up on her blog...

Shumard Scoop

Enjoy! The Thames Clan has thoroughly laughed their behinds off watching.

Toodles!

Cathryn makes a new friend

I am incredibly behind in my blogging! I still have so much more to share!

In August, Trudie, my best friend from high school came to visit. She brought her mother, Vivian, and her daughter Sabrina, who is three month older than Cathryn.

Funny story--Trudie and I did everything within three months of one another. Engaged, married, and expecting. The girls had never met so we thought it would be fun to get them together.

Trudie and I were so excited, but not really surprised, to see how well the girls hit it off. They ran, giggled, and watched movies at Trudie's Grandpa Rogerson's house.

Here the girls have moved into the dining room, and are wearing the earphones to better hear the movie. Another thing Sabrina and Cathryn have in common--like their mothers, they immediately take off their shoes upon entering almost anywhere. Barefoot is better!

The girls also discovered that they each had an obsession with The Phantom of The Opera. Here they are singing. Look at all those movies! I think they watched snippets of them all!

Sabrina and Cathryn at our house. Trudie told me that Sabrina loves to play dress-up, and if it wasn't already clear that these two were a match made in Heaven, well, that should have been my clue! The girls played until 11 at night, while Richie, Trudie, and I sat in the living room and caught up. On the way back to Andrews, Cathryn sacked out in the backseat, but Sabrina was still going strong. It was so wonderful to see the girls get along the way they did. I wish we had more time to get them together.

I wanted to take pictures of me with Trudie, but for some reason, it was never the right time. And suddenly, it was time for them to go back to Missouri. They'll be back, and when they are, I'll be ready with my camera!

Love you, Trude!

Toodles!

Happy Birthday, Richie!

Richie kept saying that his birthday (August 23) was just another day, no big deal, he didn't want to do anything. Well, obviously, we could n0t let that happen. I mean, Number 4-0 is a big deal. How could we let such a milestone pass?

Since Richie's birthday fell on a Saturday, we celebrated at Pirateland. Richie and I met Richard, Cathy and Cathryn at China Buffet and did some serious damage to their culinary offerings. Then, when Richie took the dogs out for a walk, Cathy and I started setting things up:

Cathy picked this cake up from the grocery store on the fly, and had one of the ladies from the bakery decorate it in black frosting. The inside was yellow cake, and for a grocery store cake, it was incredibly moist and delicious. Ice cream on the side didn't hurt, either. I had wanted to have Paula from Cupcake Betty's do a cake, but Richie shot down my ideas, saying he didn't want to celebrate. Next time, I'll have to be clandestine with my birthday plans.

We let Cathryn put the candles on the cake, hence the, um, "creative" styling.

Here's the cake all lit up. Richard made the joke that we needed to call the fire department, so they'd be on standby to put out the flames.

The birthday table. I've noticed that as you get older, the presents get smaller in size, but better in quality.

When Richie came in from walking the dogs, he was quite surprised. See Ashe there at his left hand? It looks almost like she's got her head thrown back, laughing with him that we put this little surprise shindig together. "Ha ha ha, Daddy...we really got you!"

Richie blew out his candles after we sang "Happy Birthday". It took him two blows.

Richie was thanking his dad for the gift, so I took advantage of my opportunity and took a nice picture of them together.

Cathy doesn't like taking pictures, but Richie and I convinced her to let me snap one of them together.

I should have more pictures. Like, of me and Richie together. And Cathryn with her Daddy. Maybe some photos of us at the restaurant, or Richie at the man mall, aka Bass Pro Shops. But, I don't.

I am lame. I am a poor excuse for a blogger. I was so busy taking pictures, that I forgot to have someone take pictures of my husband with his wife and daughter. Go ahead, throw tomatoes. I'll stand here and take it, because I totally deserve it.

Toodles!