Demolition Derby

This is Wayne being smashed by two other cars at the demolition derby last night. Thanks goodness we survived a night without injuries, which was my biggest fear. Tracy and I (my good friend who's husband Joe was the mechanic for the car) were both having butterflies before the derby started hoping that #107 would not be the first one to put their flag down. Wayne was not the first one out of the derby but his good ole' radiator overheated, thus the flag went down about midway through the derby.

This was a picture before the derby started, car #107 was voted to be in the pretty car contest, we didn't take home that trophy guess our fan base was not big enough. I was so looking forward to seeing that giant plastic trophy being shared between our garage and Joe & Tracy's. It would have been so funny if the guys had won the trophy because when it was Joe & Tracy's turn they could have put it on their mailbox so their wonderful neighbors could have wondered what rock they climbed out from. Sorry guys, just couldn't resist.

Here are some of the cheerleaders for car #107. Rachel, Heather holding Reagan and Tracy.

Another part of the fan base: Marva (Wayne's niece) and her boyfriend Jonathan, Andrea (Wayne's niece) and her husband David.

Wayne did end up running the car twice last night, there was a break between the two runs, so the guys changed out the radiator and tweeked a few other things. There is an interesting story about the radiator being rigged up the second time but I'll leave that for Wayne and Joe. Plans are already being made for next year but guys Tracy and I hope you will start a little earlier so we are not so exhausted.

Blueberry Muffins

Yesterday morning I had some blueberries that I needed to use before they went to waste so I went in search of a great blueberry muffin recipe and thought I'd share what I found. I modifed the recipe to suit me so here is my version. The original recipe came from my favorite cookbook of all time (The Original Sunday Dinner-Meals from family kitchens). Enjoy!

Maine Blueberry Muffins
1/3 cup salted butter-softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
1 2/3 cups flour
1 3/4 baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pint fresh blueberries

Cream butter and sugar. Add beaten egg, salt, and milk. Add dry ingredients and vanilla. Fold in blueberries. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes. Makes 12 large muffins.

Scrapes & Cuts

I had to work this past weekend, actually did 3 days in a row (Sat, Sun, Mon) which is exhausting 12-13 hour days on a critical care floor but that means I'm done for a few days. Sunday night as I was driving home and was about 10 minutes from home my cell phone rang and my husband was on the other end asking me what should they do. Alex who is a friend of the family had just wrecked on the dirt bike back in our woods. Alex apparently was riding and crested a hill (going pretty fast and without a helmet I might add) and laid down the bike the foot pedal chewed up his leg. Since I was only 10 minutes from home I told Wayne to wrap it up and I would look at it as soon as I got home. By this time Alex is not feeling so well and is getting really lightheaded. I walked in the house and Alex is all propped up on the couch looking mighty pale, his leg had a three inch gash that cut through the subcutaneous tissue, through the fascia and all the way down to the shiny muscle but at least it did not go through the muscle which was a blessing. His girlfriend got some tylenol out of the cabinet and gave it to him before we left and we headed to the local ER, thinking they will take him back right away but no we ended up waiting 2 1/2 hours before he got back to the trauma room. Needless to say Alex ended up being in the ER for 4 hours and got 12 stitches and a very sore, sore leg. Poor Alex is headed out to catch a flight today for a much anticipated vacation and will be navigating airports with an injured leg. His girlfriend will be keeping us updated on his progress. Needless to say I was pretty exhausted for Monday's events at the hospital but the day progressed quickly and busy. Now I get to go school shopping for Caleb as he starts school on Monday. The joys of being a mom, our jobs are never done.

Summer fun

This was a catfish that Wayne and Caleb caught while fishing in our pond. We feed the fish along with our 6 ducks that we have pretty much every night. They caught this catfish by using a hotdog as bait. We grilled the catfish the next night and it was quite tasty. Wayne was talking on his cellphone to his dad about the big catch because feeding the ducks and fish is something Larry (my father-in-law) totally enjoys. He can stand on the bank for hours watching the ducks and fish.

This is Caleb enjoying the water, he loves to lay on the giant butterfly and float.

This is my nephew Spencer, he was sitting on the patio table, under the umbrella while everyone else was in the pool.

My brother, Jonathan and his wife Aytha holding niece Savannah. They were watching Caleb go down the slide.

Wayne and his dad eating out on the deck at Caleb's birthday party.

This one is for you bubby! Gotcha with your mouth wide open stuffing pizza in as fast as you could. You asked where your picture was well here it is. I almost did the swimming pool picture but thought it just might reveal toooooo much. Love ya!

This is Nathan, my brother and his wife Telesa holding daughter Savannah.

What a weekend

Wow! We just finished a very busy weekend. All of my family came in this weekend to celebrate Caleb's 10th birthday, attend a wedding and just enjoy some family togetherness. Caleb's birthday was on Thursday but we waited until the weekend to celebrate so everyone could be here. Needless to say his birthday lasted for a week, we started out by going to the Riverbats baseball game where he ended up catching 2 baseballs, getting a baseball cap signed, received a coupon for a free whitecastle (we've never received so much stuff at a baseball game before, I told Caleb they must have known we are celebrating your birthday). We went and saw Ratatouville (such a cute movie) and then had a pizza party with the family. All of this was spread out throughout the week. Summer is going so quickly and Caleb will be starting school in 2 weeks.

This is my mom holding my nephew Spencer who just wasn't too sure of the party hat.
This is a picture of my niece Savannah who just had the most precious expression on her face, as soon as she got to my house on Friday she was asking to get her swim suit on to get into the pool. She absolutely loves the pool.

Back from Regionals

This is a picture of my little man all tired out from playing baseball. When we got into the truck to come home we stopped at Bob Evans and ate, we probably were no more than 15 minutes down the road and Caleb was out for the next couple of hours.

This is a picture of the team before they played their first all-star game, the uniforms were so clean with no grass stains or brick dust rubbed in. Their all-star coach (Mark-in the center back)did a wonderful job coaching, this will be his last year coaching this age group because his boys will both be in the next age group.

Well, no championship at regionals this past weekend but the boys played so very hard. There was a pitcher on an opposing team (Rushville) who pitched perfect strikes every time, mind you we are talking about a 10 year old boy. Interestingly enough this little boy was from a family of 5 boys and he was the youngest, his dad said this little boy practiced every single night. I'm sure we will see him playing major league one of these days.

Caleb had a great time playing but just was very disappointed about the way regionals turned out. It is tough being a parent sometimes but we kept reminding him about the way the game was played in the district tournament. You win sometimes and lose others. Wow! Even we adults have to learn that hard lesson from time to time.

This is a picture of the Cal Ripkin District 4 Championship Team holding their trophies. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CLAP!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!CLAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Moving up to Minor Boy Regionals

Caleb's team is headed to regional's this weekend, we won the championship game on Monday night 10-5 and went down in Lanesville history as the first 10 year old undefeated team for the district championship since the league started. Needless to say because we are from a small town their picture will be in the paper. The boys were so excited about the win. Caleb hit a home run Monday night which was his first in the all-star season bringing in 3 base runners. I started crying because I was so happy for him hitting the home run (which I'm just a big bucket of tears-ask my best friend and she will tell you all about it). Regional's will be about 3 hours away for us and we play the first game tomorrow evening.