Gooooooooo Toppers!

Yay, volleyball! I played on a city league volleyball team this winter. Fun stuff. It was mostly my family on the team. My brothers' employer sponsored us, so we named the team Toppers in honor of Seminis. They deal with corn, and most of us have worked in the cornfield at one time or another. (I'm gonna again this summer.) So, Toppers for corn toppers, and the double meaning of, "We're the best and on top!"
But we weren't the best. :( Our regular season we had a poor record, 2-5. We did better in the tournament. Sort of. It was double elimination. We won two before we were out. However, in our regular season, they pitted us against all the best teams. We were a B team, as were most teams, but the few A teams they had played the B teams. I think we faced all of them. Also, we never had our team together. My mom was on the team originally as a back-up. She played most games. I was gone for two, since I'd just had surgery and my mean doctor said I couldn't play. Chris was gone for two, on business in Mexico. Autumn (the only not family member on the team) was gone for different reasons throughout, and at the end because she was having a baby in a couple more months. So we were scattered. But Mom is good, especially for an old woman. ;)

Dad came and took pictures one game. Some players were photographed more than others, so if it seems I am biased, I am not. I'm just working with what I had. Dad was biased. :)

This was a game that Autumn didn't play. Let me introduce the team.

First we have little brother Cameron. Cameron joined the family in 1990, but didn't really start enjoying volleyball until 2009 or so. He brings to the game humor, angry outbursts, amazing saves, great hits, and 100% effort, which is why you'll see him on the ground, or falling to it, in many pictures.
Just check out that concentration.
Cameron also brought the handsome. And I brought the...full bladder??

Cameron likes to combine ballet with volleyball for that extra spice.
Next up we have Christine. She joined the family in 2004, but has been playing volleyball quite well for much longer. You'll want to make sure you're not on the receiving end of her serves and spikes. No matter what position she plays, you can always count on Christine to give an A+ performance.
Christine has patented her signature move, the flamingo. Don't mess with it.

Stuffed!
Next up, team captain Chris. He made his family debut in '82, (that rhymes!) and I have no idea how long he's played volleyball. But he's an athlete, so it'd be best not to underestimate him. His serves mean business, his spikes are rarely returned, and he keeps the team focused and ready. (Tries his best to.)

Oh, and another thing; he levitates. The boy can hop, but not only that, he doesn't always land. You might think your spike won't be blocked since Chris is jumping several feet away, but Chris can jump straight up, decide in the air that he wants to be somewhere else, then float over there before he lands.

Mom is next. She started the family in 1979, and probably played volleyball since birth. Don't let her age and height fool you, she can bump, set, spike/hit-it-over-the-net-on-the-third-hit like the rest of us! (Come on, she's 5'4 playing on a men's net!) Her specialty is returning the hardest hit spikes with her nose. She'll always take one for the team.

Next up; Casey. Born in 1992, he's only played volleyball for a couple of years, but has caught up to everyone else, and surpassed several. He might not ever smile, speak, or even look interested, but he loves the game. Opponents hate it when he's at the net, due to his go-go-gadget arms, which reach to anywhere on the net to block the on-coming hits. Sometimes even free-balls. Certainly a good asset to have on the team.
Last and least we have Melanie. Joined the family in 1984, started playing volleyball as a beehive (12 year old girl in the church). She has improved since then, but not as much as the years would lead you to believe. Her serves are easy-to-return lobs, but almost all of them went over the net. About 1 in 5 of her sets are good, but at least she knows when it's her fault that the play failed. Melanie takes great pride in herself every time she uses her knee-pads, or when she gets a finger on the ball she attempted to block.



Oh, and Autumn was on the team. She was 5 months pregnant, and running, jumping, and diving. She was awesome.

Here's some more action shots.

The huddle.


Ka-may-ah-may-aaaaaaaaa! (Dragon Ball Z reference.)
Wha-bam!
No admittance here!

Seems like someone should be going for that...

I love this. The ball is on the ground and we're all just staring at it. Hmm. Do we actually know how to play this sport?
Dig!
I don't even know what's going on here, but it made me chuckle.
I'm excited to play again next year. We'll win it all this time. Goooooo Toppers!

I was wrong

I need to write down some more of the things that Morgan has said.

Yesterday Morgan was holding his Thomas train. In a mournful voice he said, "Chugga chugga choo choo, Thomas the tank engine is dead." I said something about the sadness of the situation, to which Morgan, now embarrassed, replied, "I wasn't talking to you."

Yesterday Morgan was in time out. He was kind of throwing a fit and yelling for me to go to him. I was choosing the ignore approach. My dad was closer to Morgan and told him not to argue with his mother, or something. I didn't hear their whole conversation, but I did hear Morgan tell his grandpa, "I don't appreciate that you said that."

Morgan's future wife can thank me. I'm sure I had something to do with his frequent confessions of being wrong. It's usually after I convince him that his initial choice about something maybe wasn't the best. So he'll say, "I was wrong. I do want to eat dinner."

St. Patricks Day

On St. Patrick's Day, we went to Jumping Jungle. A friend from my youth came to town, and we thought it would be fun to get together and catch up, and let our boys play.

Morgan didn't want to pause for a picture, so most of them, he is on the move.

g
Since it was St. Patrick's Day, everyone was wearing green. Most of the green shirts were even the same shade as Morgan's. So, I would be looking for him, catch sight of a green shirt zinging by, and would think I'd found him, but on closer inspection, would realize I was chasing a stranger.


We just happened to go on a day when they were trying to raise money for a charity, so there were characters and balloons and door prize drawings, etc.
The closer it got to lunch time, the more rambunctious the kids got. Soon it was apparent that it was time to go.
But first, we had to have a heartbreaking episode of an escaping balloon. Luckily there was an extra.


We had fun, and it was good to see Katie.

Cool girl

Morgan put these sunglasses on Lydia the other day, so I had to get pictures.

She didn't love them.

Morgan took some pictures too. I think Lydie's expression here is so cute, if not a little out of focus.

All clean

First Solids

Lydia reached six months old in record time, (figure that one out) and so it was time to introduce rice cereal.
I got Lydia all situated in the highchair with a bib, and got the mixture of breast milk and rice cereal all ready, secured a camera-woman, and we were ready to go!
Lydie was so ready for food. It's like she knew exactly what was coming. I got the spoon filled, she got all wiggly with excitement. Her eyes were trained on the spoon, and her mouth opened immediately. Spoon entered mouth, and she chewed. Yes, chewed. She was so cute to watch the whole time. I couldn't get her the next bite fast enough. She giggled for most of it; sometimes the giggles were mixed with complaints, like, hurry up Mommy, I'm so excited for my next bite.
This first picture is of her half whine, have laugh, face.

So happy to feed herself.

.Then Morgan turned photographer while we cleaned up.




Since then, we have tried rice cereal with just water, with watered down apple juice, some green beans, carrots, and squash. She's not as big a fan of the cereal when it's not momma's milk. She literally gagged on the green beans, gobbled down the carrots, and tolerated the squash.
Did I mention she has two teeth?