Baseball Awards Ceremony

Spring baseball has quickly come and gone. Fortunately, this season we discovered a baseball league like no other. "Sandlot" has been such a blessing to Noah and our family. This baseball league is a ministry that was started by a husband and wife team. They have a passion for kids and for baseball. The thing I think I like the most is that no one is turned away. When I say no one, I mean no one for any reason even if they have a disability.

All teams in the same age level play each other. They foster friendships with ALL players regardless of teams. If one team is short on players for a game they will pull a teammate from the opposing team to play on that team. It works because they are all friends.

Noah said his favorite thing about Sandlot is that there is not as much pressure. There is no angry yelling... from coaches, other kids, nor from parents. There is plenty of yelling though, along with lots and lots of encouragement.

Noah and Coach Mike at the awards banquet. 

After a two year break, because of our last experience with little league, we are very thankful we found Sandlot. I can honestly say I look forward to Fall Ball. You can find out more about Sandlot here.

Noah's Birthday Party

This year for Noah's birthday party he wanted a cake from Baskin-Robbins.

yum!



He had several of his closest friends come to help celebrate this special day.



Time for presents. Yeah! A nice new football.



And a few Halo action figures and legos.



Now for the big one from mom and dad. What could be in such a big box?



Another box of course! Look at that paper fly. And what do you think could be in that box?



You guessed it... a third box.

pay no attention to the wrapping. This was a last minute idea and I ran out of paper. I just had to roll with what I had!



Okay, back to the boxes. Surly, there is a present in this box. Right?



NOT YET! But finally there is something other than a box.



What is this?... A note from the TOOTH-FAIRY???? Evidently, the tooth-fairy has been slack on her job of collecting Noah's most recently lost teeth and has decided to make up for it by leaving a birthday present under his pillow.



WOW! How did she know you really wanted a rip-stick. Happy birthday, Noah!

Masters End of Year Celebration

Well another year of Classical Conversations has come and gone. Seth and Noah were really looking forward to the End of Year Celebration. This year their tutor took them to Celebration Station to reward them for all their hard work.

Seth was excited to finally be big enough to ride the big go-carts by himself.



Go Seth! Watch out, Logan is hot on your trail!



Noah had fun riding the smaller go-carts...

He didn't quite meet the height requirement for the big go-carts. He was bummed, but it gives him something to look forward to next year.

It was a beautiful day. They enjoyed getting soaked on the bumper boats.



It was girls against boys.



I think the boys lost!



Well, he wasn't completely soaked.



Mrs. Sherri riding with Noah on the big go-carts.



He's ready to go!



Looks like they are having tons of fun.



Here they are waiting for another turn.



Now Noah will try his hand at golf.



Noah the score keeper.

hmmmm, wonder who will win?



Now it's Seth's turn.



Batter up!

ahem, I mean FOORE!



Noah riding the bumper boats.



Wow! What a fun day. I can't believe another year has gone by so fast. Good job guys!

The Joys of Homeschooling

There are many things I love about homeschooling. One advantage is having more time to work on each child's individual needs. Homeschooling allows you to think outside of the school room box when it comes to education. For example boys tend to be movers and do better when they are allowed to move around a little.

Recently, I was reminded of this lesson. After eight years of homeschooling you think I'd know everything about how to home school. But I don't! At the beginning of this school year I was dreading getting back to the books a little. Why? For one thing, I love summer and hate to see it come to an end. I enjoy the free time to do the things that I don't get to do during the school year. And well... honestly, homeschooling can be quite tiresome sometimes.

As a home school mom, you tend to be very critical of your ability to teach your child well. So inevitably when your child struggles to get a concept and you've tried everything you know to do, but they still are not quite getting it, you can start to panic. Then fear creeps in and you start having thoughts like, "I don't know what I'm doing... I'm not qualified to do this... I'm ruining my child's future!".

It's in those moments that I have to regroup, refocus, and reflect. I need to get alone, have some mommy time and reflect on the Lords calling for us to home school. Usually, what I find is that I have been relying on my own strength too much. I have let doubt and/or fear creep in and steal my peace. So I get into the word and readjust my focus back to the Lord and His calling on my life. That doesn't mean we still won't have struggles, but I can have peace knowing that He is there to guide our steps in this adventure called homeschooling.

Sometimes a solution can be as simple as a hammock! For a while now our youngest has struggled with learning to read well. He could read, but not to my liking. The other two boys took off with their reading, but for Noah it has been a constant thorn. It was a nightmare to have him sit for 15mins to read aloud to me. He was constantly squirming in his seat. I was at my whits end. Until one day I was talking to another mom about our struggles and she told me her sons story. He too did not enjoy sitting still to read until... they bought him a hammock and now he does his reading in his hammock. Later I repeated the story to Noah and asked him what he thought about having a hammock in his bedroom. He went nuts! His begging for a hammock was nonstop!

So guess what Noah got for Christmas?... You guessed it A HAMMOCK! A few months before Christmas we set up an incentive reading plan. When he read 5 books (that I approved of for school) then we would be rewarded with a trip to the bookstore to get a fun book of his choice.(he loves Calvin and Hobbes) Noah is very competitive and likes rewards, so for him this plan was working well...

But after installing the hammock we have seen his reading level soar! He absolutely loves his hammock. He sleeps there. He does his math there. And the best thing about having a hammock for a bed, as he would tell you, is you can make up your bed in about 10 secs flat! Unhook it from one side of the wall and fold it to the other side. DONE!

Although there are struggles there are also many victories. And for that I am thankful and can press on knowing that He who is faithful will equip me for whatever He calls me to do. Lord, thank you for struggles. For without them I would not see my need for you!... And thank you for HAMMOCKS!

Nowadays, you never know where you will find Noah doing his school work. I had a good chuckle the other day when I went downstairs to do laundry and found Noah standing in the corner... reading!

Back to School

Another school year has begun. We hit the books (running!) mid August. There is never a dull or slow moment when homeschooling three boys. Joshua is now a sophomore in high school. This will be Seth's first year of middle school and Noah is in the 4th grade. I am learning so much!

like i should've paid more attention in school!

Two of my favorite subjects at the "Ryals Academy" are Fieldtrips and Service Projects! Our first field trip was to a local Alpaca farm.

Alpacas are members of the camel family. They are indigenous to South America. Alpacas are raised for their soft fleece.

I think we caught this guy still eating breakfast.

kinda looks like me before my morning coffee!



It was so hot, this guy decided to skip the fanfare and hang out in the tub.



This was a fun beginning to a new school year.

Once a week the boys go to a class with other homeschoolers. This is the highlight of their week. One thing I love about the class is that every week they have to do a 2-3 min. presentation. This week their presentation was on poetry. They were instructed to find and present on a funny poem or story.

We found the poem, "Friends" by David Harrison online. I thought it would be great for Seth and Noah to present together, because I am always talking to them about being best friends. We added a little something to make it even more entertaining. (if you are viewing this from your email, you will have to click the link at the bottom of this email to go to the blog to view the video.)

I didn't realize I hadn't turned on the camera, so I missed the first little bit, but it's still really cute!

My All-Star

A lot has been going on here the last few months... baseball, camp, ministry opportunities, birthdays, vacation, writing opportunities and the list goes on. The most important thing that has happened recently has been the Lord speaking to me about what I've been focused on.

The past few months my life has been kinda like this picture. You can see what's important, but it's not the focus. You can't see clearly what's important when you are focused on the wrong thing or too many things at one time.

His burden, which is suppose to be light (Matt 11:30), suddenly becomes heavy and bothersome. All of the things we are doing may be good, but only one thing is needed... (Luke 10:38-41)... and that is to focus on Jesus and He will show us what's really important in this life.

I've spent a lot of time lately cleaning house and getting rid of the unnecessary stuff that I had allowed to creep in. I asked some tough questions and let go of some things that are close to my heart, but in the end I know I wont regret choosing to focus on my family. I only have a short few years before my boys are grown and I don't want to look back and see that I was so busy ministering to others that I missed the opportunities under my own roof. God has entrusted me with raising three boys who will hopefully grow to be great warriors for Him.

I AM BLESSED!

I am also focusing on my role as wife, homeschool mom, and writer. Later this week I will share how the Lord spoke to me and the process I went through to narrow down what I am suppose to be focused on.

Now on to the good stuff!

Noah played spring ball for the first time this year. He loves baseball! He had a great season and after it was over he was asked to be on the All-Star team. He was so excited!

Noah knew right away he wanted to try out for pitcher.

So we called a friend and asked them to help teach Noah to pitch since he had never pitched before.

thanks lucas and levi!!!

Noah ended up being 1 of 4 pitchers. He did really well considering it was his first time pitching.

The three hour practices everyday for two weeks were challenging.



They played a total of 4 games...

... and lost a total of 4 games, but through all of this he learned a lot about perseverance and commitment. He had lots of fun, made new friends, and discovered a new passion.

i have never been big into sports, but I can't wait for fall ball!

Happy Birthday, Noah!

I can't believe my baby turned 9 yrs old on the 5th of July. Noah got to invite some friends to come play baseball and then stay for a sleepover.

We started the celebration by going to Walmart to pick out a cake. I usually make their cakes, but with things being kinda crazy around here we needed to go with plan B.

just to tell ya in case you didn't already know... cakes at Walmart are expensive!!! you bet i'll be makin' the next one!

At least it looked really cool!

Once the boys arrived we left for the fields to play some ball and eat pizza. Then we headed home to have that expensive cake and open presents.

Noah had plenty of help opening his gifts...

not like he needed any help... well, help with opening presents i should say... that boy always needs help!!!

Here Michael and Noah are opening the gift from Corbin with their teeth!



that boy cracks me up!



Ahhhhhh... SILLY BANDS!!!

After all the presents were opened there was still one more surprise. I had gotten some poppers, confetti poppers, and glow necklaces for some in the dark fun. When all the poppers were gone they played capture the flag in the dark with their glow necklaces on so they could see each other.

Then they played video games until midnight, when I just couldn't stay up any longer. About a half hour later we heard Michael yell, "Ya'll better stop rubbin' my head!!!"

Happy 9th Birthday, Noah!