Garth and Trisha=yes

Can I just say that the Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood concert was the best I have ever been to?  I mean it was AWESOME!  We've been looking forward to it since our Bunkie trip and it did not disappoint.  We went with Brett & Anna and Chris & Sarah.  Anna's 2 friends, Chris & Andolyn joined us.

We ate at Tejas and it took a sweet forever, making us arrive at 7:30 for the 7pm concert.  We had to park all the way down the parkway not in the parking lot.  This was going to make us even more late!  And then the heavens opened up and a Stretch Hummer Limo drove up to us.  I flagged them down and asked for a ride.  He said YES so we all jumped in!  He took us right to the front.

My sign= :)  I'm not lying..her mac and cheese is fabulous.

Get it, Garth!

I love Garth and Trisha!

Catherine let me borrow her "I've got friends in low places" t-shirt.  YES!

This picture must have been right after Garth called me out about my poster and I was on the Jumbo-tron.
No Big Deal.
Just kidding!  It was a huge deal! I was so freaking excited!  I got numerous texts and calls about being on the Jumbo-tron.  And when I say numerous it was like 3!  Wooohooo! #famous

Life-Sized Candyland

One of our favorite things to do in the summer is to enjoy all the programs at the library.  The kids call them "our libraries!" Our 2 favorites are Broadmoor and Hamilton-South Caddo.  They have so many fun programs in the A/C!  We love to play outside, but not in the 100 degree, 100% humidity of the Louisiana summer. So, library it is!

We've been looking forward to life-sized Candy Land for a while and it did not disappoint!  They had so many fun stations and then we enjoyed Johnny's after the Bakers.

decorate your own popsicle station

she is serious!

5 boys and 1 girl.  Not pictured: Shep and Sarah Kathryn

Summer Movie!

Sarah Kathryn got to experience her first movie!  Thankfully we did the $1 movie for her first time because she hardly sat still or watched the movie!  We met the Raines and Shirleys there...7 boys and 1 girl!  

Summer Pool Day

I thought I better take my camera out to the pool with us considering I have't take 1 picture on my big camera since Bennett's last day of school!  Bad Mama!  I got some good ones of my people!

Catherine and her niece, Elise

McCann loved his ice cream sandwich!

VBS week!

All four of us had a great VBS week.  This is the first year I volunteered since Bennett was 8 months old.  All the other years I was needing a break from teaching or I was working.  It was such a fun week!  It was nice to be with 50 other moms, all our kids, and be at our church.  I had the BEST job around, too.  I was the teacher snack lady along with another mom.  We basically made up carts with drinks and snacks and walked around to each classroom and passed out snacks!  BEST. JOB. EVER!  We made it a little more awesome by passing out a festive favor each day.  We made it go along with the theme of the day.  The teachers loved it!

Since we had just gotten back from our baseball tournament in Alexandria, we invited our new baseball friends to VBS.  We were thankful Jude, Graham, Bennett, and Conrad could all hang out all week.

Jude, Bennett, Graham, Conrad, and Cy.

We went to Bass Pro one day after VBS.

Crazy hair day!

A little birdie told me that Henry's group (Blue Bats) were the worst group.  :(

Someone played with a marker.

I was so glad Catherine joined me in the kitchen!!

Last day celebration!

Singing his heart out!

Bennett was not into singing.

I loved getting pictures of my girl in the nursery!

State Little League Tournament

Bennett made the team for Little League 7U All-Stars!  We were thrilled for him, but we never thought we would be traveling to the state little league tournament!  The coaches decided it would be a great idea so we all jumped on board!  What a great experience it was!  We met so many great families that are focused on having fun, sportsmanship, and just plain old being together!  Neil has said numerous times how glad he was that we took the chance and went to the tournament.  I was getting all emotional when the tournament was over.  I will miss seeing these people every week!

My all-star with his Snap-Chap (as Henry calls it) filter

Family selfie in the hotel before team spirit decorating time! Thankfully, Gammy kept SK so we didn't have to chase her!

Since all the moms got together to make fun stuff for the kids...we knew we'd be the most spirited!

Love that pennant!

Rocking it!

It was only about 102 degrees.  Love this all-star!

We lost our first game 15-8. Tough loss, but it's OK!

Bennett was so good!  He played pitcher and really takes his job seriously.

Dr. Beck and Shari drove up from New Orleans to see us and to watch Bennett play. We enjoyed a fun lunch with them while Bennett went to the movie with his team.

They all showed up at the restaurant we were at after the movie!  Sweet!

Ready for Game #2!

Our other sweet friends, Amy and Daniel, drove down to Alexandria to watch, too!  We have some pretty great friends.  Beck said "does Bennett have the most fans out of any of the other players!?" hahaha!

We received so many texts and calls about the games and how they were going.  What sweet family and friends!!! I am not just saying this because it was our team, but the umpires were complete crap.  We weren't going to win the 2nd game, but our kids were having a pretty great inning and the other team called a time-out!  They made our kids stop running!!!  It was complete nuts.  Beck yelled "EXPLAIN IT!  EXPLAIN IT!" to the umpires. Shari and I are still laughing at that!

Also, the ball is supposed to be dead once the pitcher has the ball and is in the pitcher's circle.  So, Bennett would get to the circle with the ball and the runners would keep running.  The umpires allowed this to happen!  Bennett would try to chase after the kids making the ball "live" again and then other players would get to run.  It was a nightmare for our boy.  He just takes it so seriously and when the rules aren't enforced it is tough.  He got to the dugout one time and told Neil "I am going to the circle and they are still running!"  He was so upset!  We ended up losing to South Lake Charles 25-8.  But, we gained some really great friends!

After game pep-talk

These sweet boys are 4th in the state for 7U boys!!!!

go 4th place!

So happy that Daniel and Amy shared this with us!

Love these boys!

We went to dinner with Amy and Daniel and then met the team at the Mexican restaurant.  They surprised Bennett with singing Happy Birthday!