Fall Sports 2010

  Boys, we are having so much fun playing fall sports this year.  Jay and Cody are playing football, and Riley is playing baseball.  Jay and Cody's teams are both called the Red Panthers, and Riley is playing for the Braves.  We are having to either go to a practice or a game just about every night....sometimes more than one.  But, it is so much fun seeing you boys playing ball and having fun.
  Jay is playing offensive line...either right guard or left tackle.  You are just about the biggest boy on your team, so you can really open up some holes for your running backs to run through.  Your coach, Chris Giroux, has commented many times about how good of a blocker that you are.  This is your 3rd year of playing tackle football, and you have really came a long way from where you were last year.  You have made tremendous improvement.  Mom and I are so proud of you!

  Cody is playing linebacker for his team, and he is also the backup center.  This is your first year of ever playing football, but you have caught on really well.  You are making tackles and bringing the other team's runners down to the ground.  You have some very intense coaches, Barry Vickery and Butch Wilson, and they don't take no slack from any of you boys.  Your team is really good!  Mom and I are very proud of you, too!

  Riley is playing pitcher for his team.  He is one of the youngest players on the team, but he can hold his own with most of them.  You are hitting and fielding the ball very well.  You LOVE to play ball....doesn't really matter what kind of ball it is, you just love it, and EVERYBODY sees it.  You are by far our most competitive little boy.  You just don't love to play, you love to win!  We are so proud of you, too!

Labor Day "Camping" Trip

Boys, every Labor Day, Grammy's family goes camping for 3 days up in the mountains between Hayesville, NC and Franklin, NC.  This year, we went up for a few hours on Saturday.  I guess that this was our first "camping" trip....even though we didn't stay overnight.  They had about 7 or 8 tents set up at their campsite, and they had a big fire pit going.  They were right on the riverbank as well.  The water was so cold that I put one foot in it and got right back out, but it wasn't too cold for you boys!  You guys went right in it and had a blast.  You skipped rocks, floated in tubes, and did all kinds of crazy stuff in the river.  You put marshmallows on the ends of some long sticks and roasted them over the fire.

I was talking to Grammy's daddy...everybody calls him Paw Paw.  He said that his family used to own the land that they were camping on, and he told me a lot of the stories about how they used to run around and play on it when he was a boy.  He said that there was an old mine up there right beside the land and that there were said to be someone's body buried up in that mine.  I think that he's told that story before to scare the younger kids.  He told me about seeing bears and cougars roaming around that area before, too.

We had a good time for the few hours that we spent up there...especially Cody, I think.  Maybe we will do the "camping" thing again one day soon.

Football in the rain!

Cody, today you had football practice, and it was pouring down rain.  At first, mommy and I didn't even think that your team was even going to practice, but then we heard from some of your teammates that said that practice was ON!!  We got to the field and it was POURING down rain...there were HUGE puddles everywhere on the field.  It was your very first practice with full pads on...upto this point, you had just practiced in your helmet and shoulder pads.  But, today, you guys started hitting!!  Everyone was a little but scared to put that first hit on somebody...including you.  But, I believe that you will pick it up pretty quick.  When practice was over, there was not a dry spot on you...you were soaking wet!!  You were covered in grass and mud!  We stopped at Wendys on the way home to get you some lunch...you earned it this morning!!!

Grammy & Grampys vow renewal

Boys, today we went to Grammy and Grampy's renewal of their wedding vows.  They have been married for over 39 years and had the renewal on the 40th anniversary of their very first date.  They got married when Grammy was 14 years old. All of our family from mommy's side was there, and everybody commented on how handsome and how big the 3 of you were.  They had the vow renewal at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Gainesville.  Mommy got Grammy a shadowbox and put her original wedding dress in it.

Boys, marriage is one of the toughest things that you will ever experience, but is also one of the most rewarding.  I can't explain to you how great it is to know that I have someone like your mom that loves me unconditionally.  To know that I have someone like your mom that is going to be by my side for the rest of my life is such blessing for me...and for you boys.  Marriage takes a lot of work from both the husband and the wife....it is not easy at all.  Like everything else, it has it's ups and downs.  The trick is to love each other unconditionally and to respect and honor each other.  Treat your wives better than yourself.  I'm positive that Grammy and Grampy would tell you that their 40 years of marriage have had it's tough stretches, but they would also tell you that they would do it again with each other tomorrow.

My parents divorced when I was in college (after they had been married for over 20 years).  Mommy's parents were never even married at all.  Both of us have made a commitment to God, to each other, and to you boys that the word "divorce" is not even going to be in our vocabulary.  We promise that we will do whatever is necessary to keep us all together as a family for the rest of our lives.  We both love you so much, and we hope that we are setting good examples for what a husband and a wife and a daddy and a mommy should be for you boys.

I pray that each of you find a woman that makes you as happy as your mom has made me.  I pray that each of you find a spouse that will love you unconditionally, and one that will stand by your side for the rest of your lives....but unlike Grammy, you don't need to find a spouse when you are 14!!!

The Home Depot Kids Workshop

This morning I took Cody and Riley to The Home Depot's kids workshop.  They have it the first Saturday of every month, and the kids get to make some type of craft, usually with wood, hammers, nails, glue, etc.  It gets them to using tools and is a great way for me to get to spend time with them.  I was trying to think of way to get to spend time with Cody, since he didn't want to do the Falcons Training Camp with us last weekend.  This was right up Cody's alley.  He and Riley both had a blast.  They got a kids Home Depot apron just like their employees wear, and they got a pin to put on it.  The craft today was a divided pencil holder with stickers that made it look like a school bus.  The pin that they got for their apron was a picture of the school bus.  I guess that the pin changes each month to match whatever craft is being made.  I believe that we will make it a point to go back and do this again on the the first Saturday of each month.  We really had a blast!