Yep. It's August

And that means...Beau's birthday ((!!!!)), football practice, back to school shopping, meet the teacher night, first day of school, schedules, homework, blah, blah, blah. 

Not sure I am ready for this, but here we go. Doesn't help that this is a full travel month for me, but we can do this, because really there is no choice, right?

And now that I've turned a whole year older and my sweet boy is turning two digits, my daughter also can't wait until she gets older. And this is what she wants to do when she gets older (in no particular order): ride in the front seat of the car, get the big red cups at the deli, ride the bus, and buy chapter books like Mom and Beau have. That's it. Gosh. I love her spirit, but if she only knew how much I want to delay those very things for her and keep her little.

Stay tuned for birthday week and our last week of summer fun!! 

P.S. grown up girl is also on the verge of losing her top center tooth. That will definitely be an August post too.

I had a birthday. Yee Hah.

And this was the highlight of my day. I love family, particularly the little ones.

Brenley. I can't help myself.

This girl. She is my other half. She is my best friend. She is full of love and I am so enchanted by her. Every day is something new to learn through her eyes and soul.

Out takes from the life of Bren from our girls weekend.

Shopping Target clearance

After our day of shopping.

Yep. I bought the hat. How could I not?

Picture she drew for her Pa Pa.

Picture she drew for Me Ma.

She wanted me to take this picture too.

And this one too.

She loves to draw. Loves it. 

She helps me do laundry and we sing. She unloaded the dishwasher with her Dad tonight and she danced. Life lessons from a 5 year old, huh??

Dance. Express yourself. Give Love Feeely.

Beau celebrate's turning 10 a few weeks early!

So trying to make our son's summer birthday  - literally a week before school starts - special has proved to be difficult over the past few years, as it is hard to track down friends that are actually staying around town the last few weeks of summer.

This year we tried to get a little jump on things when we saw that the KC Royals were in town against the Detroit Tigers. Two favorite teams, one just happens to be the team his baseball team is named after. And it happened to be a "free" weekend with no other plans. Now the only thing left to do was to convince some parents that they should let us take their child to KC for the weekend?!?

After some thought, and finding two special friends, Mom and Sis stayed home and we let the boys have a fun weekend at the ballpark. From pic's that Dad took and from the look on bub's face when he got home, I am pretty sure he had a good time and this will be a 10th birthday he will remember.  At least I hope when August 6th rolls around he remembers!!!

Making a Difference

So I've been in San Fran this past week for our Spring 2014 sales meeting. Four nights and almost 5 days away from my hubby and kids is tough. Especially tougher with a two hour time difference and long work days.

One experience was very special and I felt like blogging about.  We were doing a team building exercise Monday afternoon and after a lot of sharing and meeting of different people in the entire organization, we ended with an actual exercise of building a bike. I'll spare you the "learnings" of the exercise mostly because you had to be there to really understand, but the end result is we built 44 bikes and donated them to some precious "in need" children that attend a local donation based YMCA.

Our little guy Timothy was so thankful and so happy. It was a humbling experience, and truly one of the best team exercises I have ever participated in.

Here he is with his bike and my team that helped build it. I totally lucked out and got all dudes. I didn't have to touch a thing, but I think they were impressed I knew what allen wrenches were. Score one for mama grant.

If this little boy only knew that it wasn't me and my team that made a difference in his life, but that he made a large difference in my life that day, and hopefully forward.

Enjoy that bike, Timothy!

It is the 1st - Year is half over!

Just a little randomness about where the year has gone. Really. Where has the year gone?  Wasn't I just writing my New Year's Day Post?

But we turn the page on being 6 months away from Christmas. School starts in 5 weeks. We've almost played 50 baseball games this summer, and I am guessing we played about that many basketball games earlier this year.  Before you know it, football practice will start. Geez.  I just need a nap.

The sky after the storm the other night.  It was after 9:00 when I took this. So amazing.

State Baseball Tournament - 9U AA STATE CHAMPIONS!!!

What a weekend it was!  Our Tigers baseball team went 6-0 in the Kansas AA State Baseball tournament for 9U, and they came out the big winners in the end.  Long 3 days, but the weather was mild, so mama and sis didn't melt. We had a great time. Lots of smiling faces. Lots of memories made.  Proud of how hard these boys and coaches have worked this year. They have come along way.  Three more league games and then this season is in the books. And next year? Well, sounds like they are moving us up to the top tier - AAA. Guess that what happens when you run rule your opponent in the state championship!

But first, here are some cute pictures of Crab Daddy. We ate at Joe's Crab Shack for dinner Saturday night. So good. And the kids were good sports to let us go there!

Crazy boys between games.

Hold on a sec while I get in position.

Boom

Getting his Championship trophy!

Great group

Doing some Royals thing.  

My heart.

And my favorite little Jedi, Spencer. Playing. Always playing.