Stay away from McDonalds

So, Jason is forcing me to write this one. After the results of his blood test came back, his cholesterol wasn't as bad as the doc thought it would be (which we are very thankful for) and his blood pressure wasn't as bad as we thought either. So, all in all, a good report. Dr just told him to stay away from McDonalds!! But, this was a good wake up call for him because he knows that he's headed in that direction very quickly if he doesn't change some things. So far, things are going great. He's only managed to have time to get to the gym once since then. He ran a couple miles on the treadmill before his hurt shoulder started bothering him really bad, and he also did some reps on the bench press. And we've eaten healthy, homemade dinners every night since. As much as I love to cook, I really hope I can keep it up! I've already got his lunch made for tomorrow and he knows I'll wring his neck if he doesn't eat it, so I think we're good!
Yeah for Daddy!!

Just Kiddin' Baseball's NOT over...

I missed the phone as I was packing Braden's lunch for the community center this morning. On the answering machine was Wes, the All-Star coach. He said we will be traveling to the State tournament in Van Buren!! We thought we were done, but we were wrong. We did get invited to the tournament after all!

So, nevermind about the previous blogging. We're back at it with practice tomorrow night at 5:30. I'll keep ya posted!

Local Celebrity!

Summertime fun at Berryville's Ice Cream Social

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Braden Kennett had a good stringer started during the Kiwanis Fishing Derby at George Pond Saturday morning. Officials said there were 106 young entries.

David McNeal / Carroll County News

This picture/title/caption was on the front page of the Carroll County News last week. We were so excited! Yes, I have SEVERAL copies of the paper for keepsakes :-)

Get healthy...

Here's a pic of my husband setting a mighty fine example for our children... climbing on top of the very high playground equipment. Of course, they think he is "Awesome" for stuff like this, so I try to teach a quick safety lesson and then shut up about it!

So, today's blog is all about Daddy.


The love of my life now not only has high cholesterol, but also high blood pressure... I'm a little weirded out about it. Jason was prescribed medicine for his cholesterol a couple years ago and refused to take it. He said he didn't need it. Now that he's a couple months away from the big 3-0, he's been thinking more about it, I guess. After surprisingly little probing from me, he agreed to go to the dr if I made the appointment for him. So, he went today and we're still waiting on the results from the blood test, but we're pretty sure it will still be high. A year ago, it was higher than it was the year before... but the high blood pressure is new. So, hopefully he won't be so hard-headed and will try a little harder to eat right and take better care of himself. It's the truth that he is one of the busiest people I know, and on the go and on the road constantly, so eating right is not an easy feat. I need to try to do a better job helping him too.... I need to pack healthier lunches and make healthier meals. And I need to quit asking him to take me out to eat so much too! When he knows I'm tired and don't feel like cooking, all I have to do is ask, and he will do anything. Even if it means eating pizza that is slowly sending him to his grave... And as much as I love him for that, I'm vowing to work harder to take care of my man. I can't put it into words, but I simply don't know what I would do without him. He's the "cheese to my crackers" and the "peanut butter to my jelly". :-)

Go Rhett Go!

Here's Rhett on 2nd base

Hit the ball Rhett-ster!

Here's some pics of Rhett playing baseball. This was his first year in Coach's pitch. He was really a little too young, but they made a mistake on calculating his birthdate. He only missed it by a few days, but he was the youngest one on the team. This boy played every game with a huge smile on his face and had so much fun! He also has perfect batting form. If he decides to continue with baseball, I think he'll be a great ball player!

We had so much fun watching Rhett play this season!

Baseball

Braden running to first base!

Our little All-Star

Mamma and Bubba

Kennett #21

After 6 games in the District Tournament, we're out. Today, we drew an unlucky card and ended up having to play the #1 team in the 2nd round of the tournament. A team that we already played before in the "pool-play" and they beat us by the 15 run rule after only 3 innings.

Our boys played well today, much better than the last time we played them. They were intimidated, but gave them a run for their money in the first 2 innings, but couldn't keep it up. They were from Washington County and man, they were good.

Although I would've loved to see the team take it all the way, being in the top 8 of 24 teams is awesome. And truth be told, I'm ready for this long baseball season to be over. I'm tired. And I'm ready to try to enjoy what's left of summer vacation and spend more nights at home instead of on the go 5 nights a week.

So, look-out summer, here we come!

Reunion Fun

Class OfficersMindi & Me, "Midori, anyone?!"
Jodi and Me
Mindi and Tasha
Melissa and Me
Me, Shannan and Ashley

Time flies...

It's been 10 years in the making... our class reunion. Wow, so hard to believe it's been 10 years since I graduated from High School. And after months of planning, it's already over. It was SO much fun. We had a great turn-out. The other officers and I just kept talking about how we couldn't believe how we all still felt really connected with everyone. Our class was really close and we seemed to just pick back up where we left off 10 years ago. It was so great to see everyone and except for a couple people, everyone looked almost exactly the same. I can't tell you what emotions I felt, but I just couldn't stop looking at everyone and trying to remember the "good-ole days". It was so cool. I'm glad I got to be a part of putting it together and I can't wait for the next one!

All Star

Braden is playing baseball on the All-Star team this summer. What a privelege that he was asked to be a part of it. He is having so much fun and getting better everyday. It's a great group of kids and parents to be involved with.
This is the machine pitch league & the ball comes out of the machine 5 mph faster for all-stars than it does for our regular season. After being a pretty consistent base-hitter all season (except for a 1 or 2 game hitting slump about mid-season) he has had a heck of a time getting the hang of that 40 mph ball. Being someone who is naturally athletic, and it always comes pretty easy to him, this has really taken the wind out of this sails. He got to where he didn't even want to go to practice because he just already knew he wasn't going to hit the ball.
Jason and I (always trying our best to seize any opportunity for a teaching moment) kept encouraging him but never let him miss one practice or batting opportunity. We practiced form in the yard and in the living room and Jason even bought a new MLB Wii game over the weekend so they could "practice". I laughed it off and thought it was just good father/son fun, but you know what... I think it might have helped! Jason modeled the perfect form for him as he held the Wii controller in his hand and I laid on the floor behind him so that he had to step straight towards the tv (the pitcher) as he hit. Plus he's listening to the announcers on the game as he's playing and learning more about the game; stealing bases, strategy, etc. Pretty cool! I love technology. Especially when it brings our family together.
In another effort to help him mentally, his MeMe Lisa decided to offer him $1 for every hit. Even foul balls. For a boy who's all about saving money to buy things he wants that Mamma and Daddy won't buy him, this was music to his ears. He replied to the offer with his natural response, "Sweet!" So cute!
Tonight they had a scrimmage game and Braden got a foul tip on his first time up to bat. We were so proud that he even got a piece of it! $1.
Second time up to bat, base hit! $2.
Third and final time up, base hit! $3. He even got to steal 2nd base on this one. And it was a perfect looking slide too, for someone who was a little apprehensive about the whole sliding thing.
Jason made it home in time to come to the game. We had a nice cool shady spot right outside of our team's dugout to watch the game. MeMe was there to help entertain Gracie, and Rhett was off playing in the dirt with some of his buddies. What a great evening at the ball park!!
Today was day 4 of 10 straight days of baseball. Tomorrow night's practice is promised to be shorter than the usual 3- 3 1/2 hours and non-strenuous. So that will be a nice break for the boys (and their parents!) before their District Tournament in Springdale starts with a double-header on Thursday evening.
I'll keep ya posted!!

Welcome Terrible Twos??

Gracie is approaching "Terrible Two-dom". Well, she is approaching the age of 2 at least. Another month and 9 days. In the past week or so, she has begun the daily ritual of throwing at least 1 major temper tantrum. I mean, the laying on the ground, kicking and flailing the limbs, head shaking, arms and body shaking, piercing screaming kind. It's even more fun when she does it in public, like today. I love it when every person within ear shot is staring at me. Oh, do I love it.... The boys didn't really throw temper tantrums like that. I mean, yes, every once in a while, they got a good one out of their systems, but they weren't typically a daily occurance. They didn't hit the "terrible two's" until they were closer to 3. Then it was the "tumultuous threes" (or whatever it is they call it these days...) 3 was a very hard age for both of the boys, but 2, I don't remember being so bad. But Miss Gracie, on the other hand, she is getting the hang of the terrible twos pretty quickly. Hopefully that means that after this stage, there will be smooth sailing for a while! Here's to hoping! And here's to my sanity. Say a prayer for me, will ya?

"Itchiwawa"

The boys are home for the summer now, and while in a time out, Braden heard our 2 dogs barking like crazy. He asked if he could go check on them, so I let him. We discovered that there were a few dogs in the neighbors back yard on the other side of the fence. Our dogs were trying to dig holes to get under the fence. So, we took Daddy's suggestion, and locked them out of their little fenced dog area and let them into the larger part of the yard. In order to do that, We had to open the 2 crawl space doors (1 is on their side of their dog fence, and 1 is on the other side). The boys got a kick out of that. The dogs came right through, just like we planned. As Rhett was walking back out of the dog's yard, he said, "Mamma, that dog over there on the other side of the fence is a Itchiwawa." I started laughing so hard I almost couldn't ask him to repeat himself. I finally did, and he said it again, exactly the same way! Braden caught on this time and he started lauging and he said, "Did he say Itchiwawa?" I said, "Yep, but let's not say anything because that was really cute." We all 3 just smiled and walked back into the house.
Yet another day that I realize how fast the boys are growing up. All the cute things they used to say, are no more. They talk fine now and can say anything. So, I was fine and dandy with not correcting him on the type of dog. He'll learn soon enough. Thank goodness we still have Gracie, who's just learning to talk. Today, she said "Water". A new word in her vocabulary! Yeah!

Here's Braden with his project board and his 2nd place trophy at the State Science fair.

Introduction

I've been wanting to join the blogging world for a while now. I LOVE to keep up with people I know through their blogs. Probably for the same reasons that I LOVE reality tv... Although I don't know what those reasons are exactly...
So, not that anyone would actually be interested in reading this, but I'm getting with the times and doing it anyway!

Our family leads a very full and very busy life. We are always on the go, either working or playing. We're tired alot too, but want to get the most out of life and limit our lazy resting days. We're starting to think we should have more of those lazy days too, though. Who knows, maybe this summer will bring about some of those!

We love to go out in our camper. We bought it last year and can't get enough! We've been out 4 times already in '08, and are hoping for many more trips. We mostly stay close to home, traveling 2 hours or less to our weekend destinations. We did visit Crowley's Ridge State Park, near Jonesboro a few weeks ago and that was a 5 hr trip. Actually, we took a different route on the way there and it took 7 hours; needless to say, we tried a different way back home! The above photo is of Jason and the kiddos in front of the water plume on one of the trails at the park. It was beautiful.
This was our first trip to Northeast Arkansas. The Elementary State Science Fair brought us there. After winning 3rd place at his school, and 2nd place at the District science fair, he competed at the state level. His "Amazing Volcano" project won 2nd place! We are so proud and so is he!
He's been bitten by the "science bug" and can't wait to start working on next year's project. We can't be more proud of that!!

We're hot and heavy in the middle of baseball season with the boys. We've been at it for a couple months now, I guess. Braden is in the machine pitch league and his season just ended tonight with a loss in the season ending tournament. His little team played very well and only lost by 1 point at the end of the game. He is going to play on the All Star team this summer and has his first practice tomorrow, so baseball is far from over for him! Rhett has 2 more games to play in his season. This is his first year in the coach's pitch league and he is the youngest one on the team. He has near perfect batting form and most importantly, plays with a smile on his face. He is so fun to watch!
Gracie, our little princess, is growing like a weed. She is learning new words everyday and keeps us on our toes. She loves to sing and dance and she makes the funniest faces imaginable. She loves her brothers like crazy, but can also be mean to them when she doesn't get her way. She's a very lucky girl to have 2 big brothers to protect her for her whole life!

That's a little about us. So... until next time, Adios!