Shreveport All-Stars

Bennett made Little League All-Stars! YAY!  We had a bit of a misunderstanding at the beginning and had some player/coach switch-a-roos, but its working out!  We ended up with some really sweet, dedicated dads who stepped up to coach our 7 and under boys.  

Bennett is the only kids from our season's team.  Thankfully, he knew Conrad and Wesley from pre-school...they made the team, too.  He is really loving being on this team.  He responds so naturally to different coaches.  My non-athletic self is amazed every time he catches or hits a ball.  I just beam with pride from the bleachers!

Our first game was not so good with a score of 21-1.  Bossier is pretty darn good.  They have been playing together for 2 years and we just met our team 2 weeks before.  The boys didn't seem too worried about the loss.

Game 2 was the next night and this was Bennett's first day of hives.  He asked the doctor if he could play and she said yes!  He was trying so hard to be excited, but he just didn't feel good.  Poor thing.  After he ate a couple fries he was ready to play.  He just didn't look like himself.  He still played, though.  Fell asleep on the way home which he never does.    We won game two 12-1!  Winning 1 game qualifies your team for state!  Alexandria here we come!

The sweetest cheering section!

Our favorite All-Star!

District Champ runner ups!

So cool!

Hives

So, Bennett woke me up the other night at 3am crying and itching terribly.  I turned the flashlight on and checked him out. OUCH! He was covered in hives.  I woke up Neil and he said "Look at his lips!"  Then I got scared.

His lips were so swollen.  Neil ran to get Benadryl and I went to call the doctor.  I felt just awful for waking her up, but not as awful as I felt for my B.  Thankfully, we did everything right by giving him the Benadryl and calling.  She didn't think we needed to go to the ER because he could breathe properly.  My sweet boy!

We went in the next morning and he just kept breaking out more and more.  Bennett's main concern was baseball.  She said he could play in his game if he felt OK.   He said he felt totally fine.  No itching once he had the Benadryl.  We were given RX for an antibiotic, steroid, pepcid, and to continue the benadryl.

We thought this was bad... his whole body would soon be covered.

poor thing!

So...since he was fine he wanted to go to Camp Jams at church.  I went ahead and dropped him off.  The top left is Bennett after they called me to come get him because he started breaking out again.  The top right is after I gave him the meds and 20 minutes later.  The bottom 2 are other times throughout the day.

This was the next day.  He kept saying  "I look creepy!" I kept saying NO YOU DO NOT!!  He looks sweet!

She said that we will basically not know what caused the hives. We went to an allergist and couldn't pinpoint anything.   We couldn't do testing due to benadryl and steroid in his system.  We will go back in  couple weeks to hopefully find out what he is allergic to.  

Father's Day

We got to spend Father's Day weekend at Aunt Catherine's house.  She is in Ireland for 2 weeks so we had the privilege of using her fabulous pool, house, and lake.  It was so nice to have veg out weekend.

We arrived on Friday evening.  Nana and Granddad had already gone to the grocery and had lots of meals planned.  Win!

I know 3 little kids who LOVE their daddy.

Too much!

Beau and the boys came out to the lake on Saturday to swim and tube.  I was the designated person to tube with all the kids.  FUN!  I am not really that fun though.  I am nervous the whole time that we are going to bump heads, bite our tongues, or fly off.  I am a basket case,

The boys sang "We will rock you" like champs. So serious and so cute!

Nana and SK and B

I made the fabulous dessert for our Father's Day meal.  Grilled peaches with cinnamon/sugar butter melted on it.  Served over vanilla bean ice cream.

The Festive Favor does it again!  My dad's Father's Day gift.  He said "I don't eat Pop Tarts."  #itsthethoughtthatcounts

Berry picking 2016!

It's no secret that heading out to the local blueberry farm with my babies to pick berries is one of my favorite summer outings!  It is just a sweet experience with the most precious people.  We really only last about 30 minutes in the heat, but it works for us!

This was Sarah Kathryn's first year to be able to walk and pick berries.  She loved it!  She really was a trooper and picked more than Henry!  I actually never know how many Henry picks because he eats every single one before we get to the car.

We let a bunch of people know we were going  to see if anyone wanted to join us.  The Favrots and Shirleys joined in the fun!  I love this tradition!

Beauty in Blue

She loved it!

Bennett is so helpful.  He loves his sis!

Jakey came with us after swim lessons because his mom had Drew's K graduation.

The best part: the blueberry popsicles! We brought some home this year! Some years they won't sell them to you.  

See?  He eats all of them!

The cute blueberry crew.

3 moms, 8 kids, and only 2 pounds of berries between us all! :)

BFFs

I love our annual porch pic.  Henry...why?

My crew!

Sweaty, tired, and dirty....sounds like a crew who needs Johnny's pizza!  That's where we went after.

I can't even handle all these fun memories!  They make me so happy!

Here are some memories from past years:Berry Picking 2015Berry Picking: 2014Berry Picking: 2013Berry Picking: 2012Berry Picking: 2011Berry Picking: 2010

Bunkie Corn Fest

We had a wonderful time in Bunkie, LA for the Corn Festival.  Andre is from there and invited us to stay at his parent's house for the weekend.  What a great idea! Thanks, Dicharrys! We arrived in Bunkie on Friday and did some porch sitting, dinner eating, kid bathing, and put them down with a movie.  We went to the town square for the big band: Chee Wheez!  ha!  It was fun!

They were giving these fans out for FREE!

We LOVE Bunkie!

Saturday: The kids were up bright and early to begin the day!  We started off at Andre's uncle's funeral home for the parade.  What fun and what a HOT morning!

Twins in our custom made corn tanks! We were def best dressed,

Here's the corn crew!

I love these people.  Great idea by us: we left SK with Neil's parents.  

All the girls!

One of the throws...

This is what was inside.  Not sure.

Maddie in the corn shucking competition

Neil won 1st place in the corn shucking contest!  He won a GOLD medal and $20!

Neil, Andre, Marc, and Erin entered the 4 man team shucking race to attempt to break the Guinness book of world records.  The # to beat was 31.  They got 22.  Another team actually did beat the record with 35 ears!

The team with the corn kids!

The tired, hot, corn fest group!

Some really cute kids with their winnings!  All that blow up stuff only cost $100 in games!

We were exhausted and HOT so we went back to Andre's parent's house and his dad sent us to the hardware store for a tarp.  Their neighbor has a pool so all 15 of us went over to swim.  We came home and Andre's dad set up this slip n slide for the kids!  How sweet!  He even cooked for us!

We had a great time on our summer vacation! Yes, our vacay was to Bunkie.  Henry told me later "Mom, I love Bunkie."  I'd say it was a WIN!