Long time...long day...long post

Someday, I'll look back and wish I had made more posts because there isn't a day that goes by that something happens that I wish I'd remember. But time flies and I get sleepy at night and laziness wins over the desire to post on my blog.

But I thought I'd post about another one of our Jansen firsts today..."Select" Tball. Yup, Trace was asked to be on a select tball team in a tournament this weekend. So, we had our first (and only) 1 and a 1/2 hour practice last night where I thought I had driven to the wrong place because it was downright serious. The coach was doing drills, teaching the boys signs on where to hit the ball (OMG, I mean really) and was hard core with these boys (or babies, as I still see them).

Trace is the ONLY one not even in school, these boys are either in kinder or 1st grade. Trace is still scared of the ball a bit...but the boy can hit and run better than others his age and I guess got some notice. When Trace was introducing himself to the team - or shall I say whispering his name (somehow I have a shy one...I think that is from his Daddy) - one of the boys was like, "Yeah - he's [Trace] younger than me but he's way better than me..." We got a laugh out of it of course, and the kid's dad just shook his head.

Then comes today - our regular season Texas Rangers game was at 12:45 - we beat the undefeated Astros 20 to 19! AND - Trace got his first homerun finally. He's been hitting to outfield but never made it all the way in for the score. So that was really fun...

Then two hours later (after a 30 minute power nap for everyone except me) - we start our FIRST of TWO games in this tourney. We smoked the first team and Trace did well hanging in there with the boys. If we could just get him to stop chewing on his fingers from being nervous. Then after the first game, Trace comes out of the dugout with all his stuff, and I'm like, "No honey you have another game"...and then came the tears...he was like, "I don't want to play again, I'm tired." And I'm like..."JP, deal with this" - only because if I had "dealt" with it - I would have picked my baby boy up and taken him home. BUT, JP calmed him down and reminded him of how they won the first game and he got his wind back (he is also ultracompetitve...I think I'll take credit for gifting him that trait).

Second game - a little tougher team, but our group ends up winning. JP ended up having to hang with Trace in the dugout to keep him cool, but I was all for that. I just want to make sure he is really having fun in all of this and don't ever want to turn him against it since he seems to love it.

So, here we are...9:36PM...twelve hours from now we'll be back at the tourney. Games at 10AM and 3PM ...this is serious stuff. I just pray for a little trophy and a good nights sleep tomorrow. Then we might just go back to regular season and try all-stars next year.

That was quite a bit of rambling, but I'll want to remember it someday...and on that note...it melts my heart literally to tears almost every game when I see Trace in his uniform all down (or "baseball ready" as they call it) and ready waiting for that ball to come...precious little man.

...ps...just so we don't forget memories of Elizabeth...the other day we were at Trace's practice and in front of all other parents she's says, "Momma, my panties are up my butt." Well, what can we say to that...and like I said to all the parents laughing and looking at us, "Well, at least she knows when she has a problem and wants to solve it." What a mess pot...but a beautiful one!

I LOVE YOU BLUE...

Just another day at work for me... I attended a luncheon honoring some very talented folks in Austin presented by First Tee of Austin (a really cool organization) and got the treat of hearing Luke Wilson as the speaker. It was really more of a Q&A with the MC, but it was still fun. I was that person who went and took a picture with him (there were a few others too thank goodness). He was very nice though and didn't look at me like a goof. So - the only lesson learned for me today was to not have a man take the picture with my Iphone - shaky hands leads to fuzzy picture.

Enjoy!

Time flies

I knew it had been a while since I posted something. Now that I check, it has been almost an entire MONTH! I obviously have no concept of how time flies. Another story to back this up...JP and I visited an attorney a while back to work up our wills. I have been meaning to look it over and get it back to him. I finally thought about it the other day and looked back at the email. Want to take a guess on when the attorney emailed me the drafts? I thought it was just a while back...oh no...it was in 2009! I mean come on, Dena. JP and I got a little laugh out of it. At least we're still alive and haven't needed to use the wills. But now I get to go back to the attorney and look like a goof...I wonder will he charge us the same as he quoted us then, have laws changed so he'll have to start from scratch??? Silly me...

Your lookin' at a winna...

On of JP's pigs won Grand Champion Swine at the Hays County Livestock Show! This is very exciting news for our bunch. JP, Jimmy (or Pops...JP's dad), and Blake (JP's brother) work really hard and every year the piggies coming out of Jansen Farm Show Pigs have gotten better and better. It is fun to see hard work pay off.

Bad for planet...good for me

As promised, here is one picture of this weekend's purging. This was a couple of bags of trash and a couple for donation. This was from JP's closet (it took him over two hours to go through his closet) and some odds and ends I collected as I moved around the house. More to come...

Binge and Purge

definitions:

BINGE - excessive indulgence in anything
PURGE - (1) to rid of whatever is impure or undesirable; cleanse; purify. (2) to rid, clear, or free (usually fol. by of or from )

Get your attention? I am tired. Tired of junk in every single room of my house, junk drawers, toys the kids don't play with, clutter, old things that I can't decide if I should keep or toss. I hear myself say, "You never know when I might need [insert thing here]"...sound familiar? It seems that we (not only me and JP, but maybe you and just Americans in general) BINGE on THINGS and then I have nowhere to put them or can't make a decision on what to do with them and I get overwhelmed, so what do I do, you ask? I do NOTHING and it makes me feel like things are never done.

My new answer and my new plan is to PURGE. JP and I are going to go room by room in our house and rid ourselves of stuff. We will get a new box (or maybe 2) of trash bags and do some damage. We'll donate what we can or pass along to others or fill up our trash can, but no matter what, it will leave our house. I have done it a few times and it does wonders for my soul. It just makes you feel lighter.

I'll keep you posted...maybe room by room and how many bags. Just as a teaser, I already started this past Sunday in the two bathrooms and I had one full trash bag to dump and one other to pass along to others. Good start I'd say...

Philippians 4:4, 6-7

Started a Bible verse exchange with a friend today...it happens to be one of my favorites and of course it fit the feelings with my new start this week...

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.