T-Ball and Ice Cream

Friday night was Matt's first regular season t-ball game.  We didn't think we were going to get to play because of all the rain and storms that were in the forecast.  Our game was at 7:30 and it started raining and a little lightning at 7:00.  It stopped by 7:15 and the game was on.  We got to play for about 30 minutes before the rains came again, but that was plenty for the kids especially when we broke out the snacks!  After the game Matt, McKenzie, Betty, and I went to Spencer's for some ice cream.  That might have to become a Cummings tradition!

Matt's Video and Cassie's Party

As promised, here is a video clip of Matt's first t-ball game.  The clip includes the infamous tagging of his teammate, chasing down a ball on defense, and getting a good base hit.


Thursday night all the Cummings family met up in Winona to celebrate Cassie's birthday at Woody's.  We had a great time eating and laughing.  Here are a few pics from the party!

Happy Birthday Cassie!!!

Thursday is my niece, Cassie's, 18th birthday!  Cassie was about five pounds when she was born and she was so tiny and fragile.  I was 22 and without any baby experience.  I was scared to pick her up (I'm sure Jan was scared for me to pick her up too!), so when I got to hold her someone handed her to my while I was sitting down.  Her tiny little head fit in my palm and she wasn't even as long as my forearm.  She's grown into a lovely, funny young woman and I can't believe she's about to graduate from high school!  Happy Birthday, Cassie!  We love you!

First T-Ball Game

Tuesday night was Matt's first t-ball game.  He was very excited and wore his cleats all day long!  We had a large group of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins forming Matt's cheering section.  Matt did well - he fielded a few and tagged a couple of runners out and he hit the ball well.  The funniest part of the game was when Matt was a runner on second base and one of our batters hit the ball and Matt ran and picked it up and then chased our batter down and tagged him out!  I'll post a video clip tomorrow night.  Here are a few pre-game pics.

Ashland

Sunday I had the opportunity to take pictures for Ashland King.  We took them at her family's beautiful house and at the depot.  Below are a few pictures from the session.  You can click here if you want to see more.

Great Saturday

Saturday was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed it doing some of the stuff we love to do.  The kids, Caleb, and I started the day off by going to the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast.  Matt hasn't seen Caleb in two weeks because of our trip to Alabama and Matt getting sick, so he was very excited to see his favorite person in the world.  After pancakes and a trip to Wal-Mart, Caleb, Matt and I went to the Grenada High JV baseball game.  It was a great day for baseball, and while the boys were enjoying the game, the girls were at home enjoying working in the yard and then ice cream.

The afternoon included more baseball and more gardening.  Caleb, Matt, Andy, and I went to play ball for a little while.  My arm will probably be very sore in the morning!  It's amazing what 40 years will do to a body!  Then we went to the GHS varsity game, which GHS won 2-0 over Winona.

Matt and McKenzie spent a little time playing in the sprinkler and then eating Krispy Kreme donuts.

Betty got to finish planting all of her front yard plants which made her very happy.  Here are a few pictures of the fruit of her labor.

Enjoying Spring!

We are really enjoying the beautiful spring weather. McKenzie is playing lots of basketball and David and Matt are loving playing baseball in the backyard. I am getting the outside all spruced up for spring. I am loving making this house our home!

For spring and summer, I hung a small, grapevine basket wreath on my back door and put a pot of real ivy in it, along with a bow.

I found this new doormat at The Gift Box here in town. Since we always use the back door, I like to make it welcoming with seasonal things.

On the front door I hung my basket wreath that I always use, just took the fall stuff out and had The Flower Co. freshen my old spring stuff up and make me a new bow. I also hung my initial canvas that was at my other house by the front door. Kimberly Queen ferns are in the urns beside the front door. I plan on doing a few container gardens, just when I find some time.

Here is a picture of the established bed beside the driveway. The azaleas have been beautiful. I have enjoyed seeing this bed come to life. This bed needs alot of cleaning out, though. The groundcovers have gotten a little out of control.

We still have not finished the front beds yet. After having everything dug up and beds prepared with soil conditioner, we discovered  a drainage problem that needed to be fixed before planting the shrubs. It feels like it is taking forever for this project to be finished. After talking with Marty and showing her our problem on Monday, I got a call from her the next day saying that my brother-in-law, Kenny, wanted to hang gutters for me and lay a drainage pipe in the flower bed to take the water out of the bed. I was thrilled. He did a great job and we really appreciated his help. Now hopefully with a few bags of topsoil from Wal-Mart, I will get this behind me. We decided on the brown gutters and also to leave them brown and not paint them to match the rest of the trim. I really like the way they turned out. They are not an eye sore like I thought they would be. Kenny said the other gutter was barely hanging on so no wonder the bed was being overloaded with water! We extended the length, so hopefully it will do the job of keeping excess water out. After talking to several people in the neighborhood who have been here forever, they all say our neighborhood is very low and the soil is not good. Maybe the things we have done will help matters! Either that or help me develop more patience! Our sod is getting greener every day, so I am happy with the way things are turning out. Here are a few pictures...

Day Out With Thomas

Last weekend we went to Calera, AL to see Thomas the Train for Matt's birthday.  As you know, Matt loves Thomas and had been looking forward to this trip for a while.  We added in a couple of trips to Target and some good eating and it was fun for the whole family!

We stopped on the way in Columbus at a park and let the kids get out and play a little bit.  The park had a train on display, so Matt got a little teaser for what was to come.

Saturday morning we finally got to see Thomas!

This is Thomas at Action Canyon.  Matt has been wanting this set for months.  It was the reward he picked out when we started potty training, but we couldn't find it anywhere.  I found out that it was not being sold anywhere anymore for some reason.  Well, the only sets for sale anywhere besides eBay was at the Day Out With Thomas.  Matt parked himself at the demo and you'd have thought that he worked there as the demo guy!

Here he is with his prized possession he bought with his birthday money.

Matt and McKenzie played a little golf at Thomas' mini golf course.  McKenzie got a couple of holes in one!

Time to ride Thomas!!!  Acutally, according to Matt, we were riding on Clarabel which is one of Thomas' passenger cars.

There are several old trains on the grounds of the museum.  Matt wanted his picture taken on a caboose.

One of the tents was called Imagination Station, where they had several tables set up where the kids could play with the trains.  Matt was in heaven!

It was a madhouse!

After playing with the trains, it was time for another ride - this time on a small steam train.  I decided to sit out this one - it didn't look too friendly to my aching back.  I was right.  The guy driving the train must have been paid by the trip because Betty and the kids said he was going so fast it felt like a roller coaster ride!  Matt said it was his favorite part of the day!

Here they are barreling around the corner!

Here's a look at part of the layout.  The tents housed a gift shop, Imagination Station, mini golf, and food.  There was also a story center on one of the train cars where a lady read a Thomas story to the kids.  We had a great time and we'll probably be back after Thanksgiving to ride the Polar Express!