Curve ball

I don't remember signing myself up for baseball.  I am perfectly content to sit on the sidelines to watch, socialize, and cheer on my children.  Why therefore am I standing in the batter's box being thrown a curve ball?

I sense God is trying to push nudge me out of my comfort zone. Am I listening or trying VERY hard to tune him out? It reminds me of a mama bird nudging her baby bird out of the nest to use it's wings and fly.

Am I crazy brave enough to take a leap of faith and attempt to swing at the curve ball?

I could strike out :(  It could be a foul ball.  It might be a pop fly.  Heaven forbid...it's a homerun.  How do you handle the curve balls life throws your way?

Run, Jump, Throw

The boys had a blast at the second track meet of the season this past Saturday.  Since we had the weekend off from baseball, the track meet fit nicely into the schedule.  Carter's best friend, Colton, is quite the little trackster and "cleaned up" in the running events. Drake and Braden came down to participate and everyone had a great time.  Austin is too old to participate, but was able to join in for a couple events this time around.

Carter got first in the softball throw with a distance of 90 feet 4 inches.

Drake performing in the broad jump.

Braden demonstrating quite the hurdling form!  You'll notice the poor little guy had knocked over the last hurdle.  He went tumbling down, but hopped right back up and finished with a smile on his face!

By far the favorite event of the morning was the parent/child relay.  Thankfully Aaron had just shown up because I was wearing flip flops and can't run to save my life.  The kids were so excited to have the parents participate.  Kasie and Braden came in first in their age division!  Way to go Kasie!  You represented the moms well :) (Next time she'll wear flip flops like me!)

Next up were Tim and Drake, Matt and Colton, and Ace and Carter.  Who knew my brother had such speed?  He was off like a light and left the rest of the field eating his dust!  However, little speedster Colton easily made up time and brought home a first place finish for them.

Aaron left before the awards ceremony unfortunately.  I sent him home to work on my the kitchen painting and making the last layer of seven layer jello for Easter.  I'm sure he will hang his green participation ribbon proudly at work!

Check out this brotherly competition!  It was a pretty close race at the end.  I think Austin edged him by a nose.

We are so thankful the all the opportunities the boys have to participate in within this community!

He is Risen!

Easter Blessings to all from the Clayberg family!

We have been celebrating this joyous season with family over the past two weekends with great food, great company along with conversation and many laughs, egg hunts and more.  

Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia!

Dead Eye

Austin has waited patiently for the opportunity to go turkey hunting with Papa.  This is something he has been dreaming about for a very long time.  A couple of years ago, he went to the Turkey Banquet with Papa and was the winner of a 20 gauge shot gun.  (I think Papa was really the winner, but he kindly let Austin think it was all him!)  This little guy of mine has been waiting for the day that he was deemed "old enough" by all of us to do some real hunting with Papa.  (We won't mention how heartbroken a little brother was to have to stay behind.)

Austin gathered all of his camoflauge stuff together and waited for Papa to pick him up after school.  They were going to meet up with Tim and Drake for a couple of days of hunting and male bonding.  He was so excited because Papa was pulling the camper down for them to stay in.  It was going to be quite an outdoors adventure for him...and Papa :)  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate very well for them as it was quite cold and rainy, but it sure didn't dampen Austin's enthusiasm.  In fact, he woke up at 2 am because he was so excited.  That's definitely different than trying to rouse him out of bed on a school day.  He told Papa he only wakes up early for "important events like this and the cruise."  YIKES!  They weren't even heading out to the blind until around 5 am!

Within the first two hours of Austin's first ever hunt, they heard some gobbles and spied their prey!  With Papa doing the calling, he told Austin to get the gun aimed and ready to fire.  (Keep in mind, Austin has NEVER EVER shot anything other than a bb gun at some empty pop cans out at the cabin.  We had tried to arrange some practice shooting time with Papa but schedules just didn't allow it to happen.) Papa whispered in Austin's ear to shoot and that's exactly what Austin did!  Not realizing how the gun would feel or sound, after Austin shot, the gun "jumped" out of his hands (I'm sure Papa's heart skipped a beat or two) and Austin claimed to be "blind and deaf" :)  Papa told him he had actually shot the turkey and the bird just dropped to the ground.  Austin couldn't believe it and was in such shocked that he had to sit in his chair for a few moments before going out to inspect his kill!   I can only imagine the look on Austin's face.  I'm sure it was priceless, and I'm so thankful that my dad got to share this moment with Austin!

Austin's first hunt yielded a  22 lb turkey with .75 inch spurs and a 9 inch beard!  One shot...one turkey! Way to go Austin!  We are so proud of you :)

Easily CYdtracked

Aaron and I had a blast at Cy's House of Trivia on Saturday night!  I hadn't laughed that hard in about...hmmm...probably 2 days!  If you know me well, this shouldn't surprise you :)  We were invited by the Jensen's clear back in the fall.  I warned them that I only know useful information and was really only good for a laugh, but I would bring along my trusty sidekick who knows a whole lotta useless information trivia!  Needless to say, he was our "ringer" and fulfilled his duties!  I think he'll get invited back, but I'm not sure if they'll let me come back or not.

Heidi did a great job of coming up with our team name!  It definitely suited us well.  We were CYdtracked by every ISU celebrity that joined us at our table and those who we were hoping to join us.

This was the cutie we kept waiting for...(as if he needed a nametag)

I sure would like to know where I was when these two found Freddie.  I'm so jealous!  I just got to snuggle up to this cutie instead :)

  

Failure

I do not like to fail.  Don't get me wrong, it happens all the time. It happens more times than I care to admit, and I don't like it.  Call it whatever you want, but I. DO. NOT. LIKE. TO. FAIL...and I'm failing miserably
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laundry.

I can't keep up and it feels as though it's a never-ending battle that I can't win! Therefore, I quit.  If you see my family walking around naked you know why!

Baseball

Six baseball games later, our weekend has come to an end.  If you are looking for us in the next month and a half, look no further than the baseball diamonds! Thankfully the sun was shining most of the time.  There was even enough to give all four of us rosy cheeks to head into our week!  Apparently it's time to throw the sunscreen in the van :)

Carter taking his turn on the mound.

 

Home Improvement Helpers

My husband was less than thrilled when I started ripping down wallpaper in the kitchen over spring break.  Of course I assured him that I would get it all taken care of during spring break.   Wallpaper would be down, walls would be primed, Ace could paint the ceiling, and I would take care of the walls. In my defense, I would like to point out that it was necessary to bond with the boys over break and 

technically it's still spring :)   Never mind break was over in mid-March and we are still looking at primed walls with painters tape all around the kitchen.   

A freshly primed white wall is just begging for a little fun before the real work begins!

Both Drake and Braden wanted to put their last name on the wall too.  We ran out of reachable white space by the time Austin and Carter got a turn.

I'm not sure Aaron was thinking it was quite as adorable as I did :)

The finished masterpiece...

It may be a little longer before you see the FINAL masterpiece of a completed kitchen.  Baseball games start tomorrow and will be occupying most of our Saturdays and Sundays as well as a few weekdays.  I would just like to point out that technically spring lasts until June :)  If you have a strange urge to paint, come on over!