Baseball season begins!

Here we go again! But this year we have TWO players. They are both very excited about playing and have been practicing for the past couple of weeks.

They both had practice games this week. Unfortunately, opening ceremonies was cancelled Friday night due to bad weather. But Saturday was sunny and beautiful and a great day to play some baseball. 

Reese had to be at Heard Magnet School at 8:00 to take his test for entrance in to Montana next year. We were there until about 10:30 which meant he missed his first game?! Grady played at 10:30 and then they both got to play in the afternoon. It was a fun day at the ball park!

I wish I could say Elle has been a supportive fan, but she mainly loves to go so she can run around with friends:). And they all love to get fries. There are few things better than ball park french fries....

My favorite quote was from Reese on practice game night. I bought some powerades for them to have after their games {they don't drink soda, so the post-game free coke doesn't appeal to them}. 

On the way to the game, I say,
"Reese, are you so excited?"

Reese: "I can't wait... to taste that Powerade!"

Ellary Anne Phillips

My sister-in-law gave birth to a precious baby girl by c-section, a little over 7 weeks early. She was 4.8 pounds and they are both doing well at Sacred Heart in Pensacola. So thankful to the Lord for NICU's and medicine and doctors and nurses who help make things go well with potentially scary situations. Can't wait to meet this beautiful baby girl!

Welcome to the world, sweet Ellary! We love you!

Taking care of business, teeth edition

This week seemed to be all about teeth. But thankfully, Grady's teeth were not involved. Monday was a first for the Salter kids with Reese having a cavity filled. Boo! I've always held my breath each dental visit for the "all clear" from the hygienist at the end of the appointment. I had lots of cavities growing up {and still continue to deal with issues from silver fillings--although I'm almost at the end of the teeth fixer upper tunnel} and I hoped the kids would get Steven's strong teeth. Anyway, even though it seems as though Reese may have gotten my teeth genes, he was a champ and was not scared or upset at all.

Then Wednesday was another first when Elle got braces. Unlike the cavity, which I hope will be few and far between, our future with the orthodontist is looking pretty promising. Elle gets very nervous and anxious about things when she doesn't know what to expect. We were praying for God to help her, and other people were praying for her not to be anxious. And God was so gracious to answer those prayers! She did awesome! She was sore for several days and we are still eating softer foods and cutting things up in to very small bites, but overall, she is doing great. And for the record, she looks adorable with braces, if I do say so myself:).

 

 Last night, Steven and I took Elle to see Chris Tomlin in concert here in Dothan. The tickets were part of her Christmas present. The boys stayed with Dad and Sandi. We took her to eat at Cracker Barrel--she wanted pancakes and cooked carrots?!--then on to the concert. Rend Collective and Tenth Avenue North opened for Chris Tomlin. It was a great night of worship. We had a great time doing that with Elle, too. She was getting tired though and we needed to get the boys, so we slipped out before it was over. But we made it two hours and 45 minutes!

The bathroom renovation is complete and I hope to post before and afters of that soon. We are so happy with the finished result! Baseball season has started and with two boys playing this year, we are spending lots of time at the ballpark. Grady moved up a league and is playing "coach pitch" and Reese will play his first season of T-ball!! And it has NOT been nice, pretty baseball weather yet. Rainy, cold and cloudy hours of practice so far. But, we are looking forward to two fun baseball seasons!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Yes, yes I did. I went to Universal Studios for a long weekend. Valentine's weekend in fact. Without my husband. Without my kids. But with my sister! This was our Christmas present to each other. I am not ashamed to admit that I am a huge Harry Potter fan and knew one day I would make it to Orlando and experience the books come to life. And I was not disappointed!

We made it down there Thursday night. I didn't get in until about 10:00. We booked a hotel right across the street from the park, so early the next morning, we walked over for the adventure to begin. We headed straight to the newer "Diagon Alley" and the "Escape from Gringotts" ride. AMAZING! So amazing that we would ride it a total of 5 times over the next 2 days:).

 

We went hard that first day and quite possibly logged several hundred miles walking, but we experienced and explored all the magic we wanted to. We ate lunch at The Three Broomsticks, had butterbeer in line for the ride in Hogwarts castle, perused all the wizard shops, jumped through the brick wall onto Platform 9 3/4, rode the train back and forth between Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.

We crashed back at the hotel around 5:00 and spent the rest of the evening chilling in bed watching TV. Saturday we started over again, but spent a little more time riding some of the other rides Universal has to offer. I loved the Transformers ride, too! After eating lunch at The Leaky Cauldron,we took a mid-afternoon break and went back to the hotel for a nap. We headed back to the park around 5:00 and tried to get in as much as we could before it closed at 9:00. However, we failed to realize there was a Mardi Gras parade scheduled so at one point, I felt like we might be in New Orleans. We were shoulder to shoulder with people, pressing through, trying to move. Not necessarily my idea of fun. But we got through to open space and made it on to a couple more rides while a concert was starting up {Jessie J? I had no idea who that was, but my knowledgeable college freshman sister filled me in!}. We ended up at Hard Rock cafe for dinner. It was crowded--it was Valentine's night--and took awhile but the crowds and people were entertaining to say the least. We got back to the hotel close to midnight!

Sunday, we got up and hit the park for a couple more rides and souvenirs before heading back home. It was such a fun trip and a sweet experience to share with my sister. I can't wait to take my kiddos back for a weekend there. It will be awhile though, because they have to read all the books first. And they're not old enough to read them yet:). Thanks Maddie, for a wonderful dream come true!!

An Unforgetable Weekend

We had the best time in Atlanta this past weekend. For Christmas this past year, Mom got the kids (& their parents:) tickets to see Wild Kratts Live in Atlanta. Two brothers, Chris and Martin Kratt, have a TV show on PBS called Wild Kratts. My kids have enjoyed watching the show over the past few years. We planned to arrive late Friday night, visit the Fernbank Museum on Saturday, see the live show Saturday night, and finish with a Sunday trip to IKEA before heading home.

We got off a little later than we anticipated Friday night {we've started renovating the boys bathroom--another post in itself?!}, so it was close to 10:00 when we finally got to the hotel. Mom was already there and checked into our room. We breezed in and went straight to the elevator. Our family of five was in the elevator and another man got on with us. We start going up and Steven says:

"Do y'all not know who this is?"

We stare blankly for a few seconds before we realize we are IN THE ELEVATOR WITH CHRIS KRATT!!!! After totally losing our cool and telling him he was the reason we were in Atlanta, Grady immediately asks him a question about why deer come to the sides of roads at night. He was so nice and gracious and sounded exactly like he does on TV. We got off on the same floor and started walking away and I said, "Steven, we've got to ask for a picture!" Don't think I didn't watch to see what room he went in, because I did:).

The show Saturday night: it was hilariously entertaining

We even saw him down at breakfast Sunday morning. He and his son, who is around 5 I think, sat at the table next to us. We told him how much we enjoyed the show and chatted with him a bit. The kids played around the atrium with his son. It was so cool and so neat that we got to meet him. I'm an even bigger Wild Kratts fan now!

Saturday morning at the Fernbank Museum

Mostly about donuts

The girls have started laying again after taking some time off to molt and deal with the shorter days. But Thursday! Oh happy Thursday, I found a beautiful egg in the nest box. And another on Saturday. So I'm hopeful we are heading back in to full egg production. We got three 4 week old chicks last March and it has been such a fun experience. But after some time {and beautiful tail feathers and crowing!}, we realized we actually got 2 hens and 1 rooster. We did a quick exchange with our farmer friends where we originally got the chicks from and now we have Applejack, Hazelnut and Penny. They lay blueish-green eggs and tan eggs.

We recently watched a few episodes of a show called "Donut Showdown" on the cooking channel.  So Friday night, we thought we would try to make donuts:). For our first attempt, we took the shortcut and opted to make them out of pre-made buttermilk biscuit dough. Reese and I were on frying duty, while Steven, Elle and Grady made the two glazes: original and chocolate.

Steven garnished a few with some banana slices.  Sometimes a good presentation helps. In this case, it didn't. Reese bit in to the chocolate and was like, "Ehhh, I don't like this." And then the rest of us tried it and had a similar reaction. They were fun to try and we learned some things about glazed fried biscuits--they are not donuts. Now that we have some experience under our belts, we just may be ready to tackle real yeast donuts!

Please notice the chocolate donuts still on their plates.

Saturday we went to the beach for the day to look at some beach places with Mom. She is looking for her retirement home and we gladly helped her look for it! After raining all day Friday, the sun did come out and it was a gorgeous, though windy, day. We got to eat lunch at The Donut Hole and  have some real donuts. I can attest there were no issues with their chocolate glaze. I love eating here when we are at the beach.

 

In other news, Elle went to the orthodontist for another consult this past week. And she is scheduled to get a first "phase" of braces on February 25th! She is both excited and nervous. Which is exactly how I feel about the bill. Kidding.... Elle also begins communicants class at church tonight. AND, we start renovation on the boys' bathroom this week!!

The check in the mail

Elle wasn't feeling that great after the Hoop Shoot last Sunday. She woke up with a low fever Monday so she went to school with me. I took her to the doctor that afternoon and she had strep! Steven stayed home with her Tuesday and she was feeling much better after a few doses of antibiotics.

I'm trying to be consistent with exercising again and I won't list my excuses for why it's hard to find time. But my little buddy, who I share my afternoons with, LOVES to exercise and encouraged me by doing an "Insanity" workout with me this week. Mommy was ready to quit half way in {and I did!}, but he kept going strong until the end. Granted, he doesn't quite do all the exercises the correct way which may contribute to his stamina to get through the whole thing. At least that's what I'm telling myself. And the carpeted living room floor is also not ideal for a workout. But now I'm listing my excuses....

 

My sweet aide at school has a daughter who has been in India for 2 years serving as a missionary to women and orphans. She comes home Tuesday!!! So last week, while Mrs. Beasley was out for a day at her home with flooring being installed and painters painting, the kids made a "Welcome Home" banner for her daughter. It's been sweet to see the Lord cultivate their hearts for her as we've prayed for her every school day this year. We can't wait for her to visit and tell us all about her time in India!

Saturday was so beautiful, we took the kids to Troy University here to check out the bike/walking trails behind the campus. It was so fun! It was a little challenging at times for Reese, who is still learning how to work the 'ole pedal brakes:).  It was a great trail, very woodsy but well maintained and not crowded at all. I'm sure we will be back for more trail rides!

The Lord did another one of His surprise provisions for us over the weekend. I remember I used to listen to Frank Barker tell incredible stories of how God would provide for their needs and I would be so encouraged but also convicted. Did I not have stories like that because I didn't have faith like that? But, the Lord has done some miraculous things for us over our almost 15 year journey together and they are things that must be written down so I don't forget His goodness and grace and mercy.

Our church does their financial pledging for the upcoming year in December so the members have the opportunity to commit in faith and the church can get an idea of the budget for the year. I knew God wanted us to increase our giving for the year and so I made the pledge in December honestly not knowing where it would come from. Yesterday I checked the mail, and there was a letter from our mortgage company. We had to do some adjusting to our budget last year because both our mortgages' monthly payments went up a considerable amount {we still rent our house in Calera}, and we had just signed a year lease, so we weren't able to increase the rent we were receiving. Anyway, I sat down to show the letter to Steven:

Steven: "Is that a bill?"

Me:  "Just hold on a second." {I was reading to make sure I understood the letter.}

Steven:  "You know a bill does not help me on a Sunday."

Me:  "Just hold on."

So I show him the letter and a huge smile spreads over his face. "What is this?" It was a check for an overage from our escrow from last year and our monthly payment would now be lower. The amount lower was almost the amount I had increased our monthly giving in pledge. Our tenants signed a new year long lease with an increase in rent that will make up the rest of the amount! Needless to say, I was greatly encouraged and humbled at how God chose to provide for us to be able to give what we said we'd give.