Celebrate Good Times....C'mon!

****Disclaimer*****I tried a bagillion times to get this stupid post to have paragraphs to separate the different days. I am sorry it is such a huge blob of words to try and read.******** This weekend was 90% full of celebrating and happiness and JOY......about 10% spent in disappointment and woe. Friday Night: Watched the Jayhawks spank the Richmond Spiders with our immediate Martens family. Love spending time with the in-laws watching basketball. Saturday: Kate, Jane and I attended a little boy-friend's birthday BOWLING party. I can't believe no toes or fingers got smashed from a wayward bowling ball. Of course, I was the parental nazi watching my kids and giving the stink eye to other parents that had mentally and physically checked out from watching their kids. Seriously. I do not expect little kids to know proper bowling etiquette, but there are some unspoken rules you just gotta follow! For instance, don't walk in front of someone in mid stride/walk getting ready to throw a heavy hard ball. Dumb. Don't walk out onto the actual bowling alley. They are crazy slick. And if you DO walk out there and fall....do not act like it is the owners fault. And for the love of Pete, if your kid doesn't know the slightest concept of bowling, maybe you should get off your arse and help your own kid....don't expect another attentive parent(ME) to do it. I have a gimpy back and two of my own kids to keep from becoming maimed by a bowling ball. I do not need the added duties. The girls had a great time, the chosen gift was a super hit(a dinosaur tent) and every one was worn slick afterwards. My kind of party. Saturday Night: Tess met with a college age girl who pitches softball in college. This is the first year Tess is old enough to play "kid pitch" softball and the coach is having all interested girls try pitching to see if they #1 like pitching and #2 are any good/have any control. Tess wore her Drake Softball T shirt (shout out to our oldest Samantha!) and the girl said her one regret was not going to Drake as they had recruited her........cool. Anyway, Tess was told she had a really good "feel" for the idea behind pitching and had a good start as far as form/concept. She worked with Jenny(Bock) for about 45 minutes and we both felt pretty good about the time being well spent. I think Tess was blown away by how much "work" it is to get each pitch to the batter. There is seriously no time to space off, and that might be a tad hard for this age! :) She was also given home work to practice on before her next lesson. The idea of Tess pitching both makes my heart soar, and makes my heart FREAK OUT at the same time. I seriously don't know if I could sit and watch a game my daughter is pitching. She says she likes it, but she is kinda scared to do it. I am pretty sure she has heard my verbage and taken on some of my anxiety about her pitching. Time to start encouraging her and stop thinking/talking out loud. I think after a few more lessons she will know if this is something she wants to proceed with. Otherwise I have no problem with her wanting to rock the outfield, which is what she really wants to do......she has a wonderful older sis that has made that position look pretty crazy fun. We shall see. Sunday: Two aunts and I got to throw my sister in law a baby shower. It is almost time for me to become an official AUNT for the first time, and it has totally snuck up on me! In a month, there is going to be a new baby on the Martens side of the family, and my girls will no longer be the only grandchildren. (Greiner side is still dominated by my girls) We did all the typical baby shower stuff except for lame A$$ games(sorry if you are a gamer) and had a good time. The Martens 5 recorded one of those Hallmark books, "Goodnight Moon" for the new cousin....even Jane had to read two pages. Her lines were "Goodnight Air. Goodnight Stars" and took a promise of a bath, a bag of M&Ms, and 14 re-takes because she either half-a$$ed the actual reading, OR she would say "Goodnight poop stars....Goodnight poopy air...." and laugh hysterically at herself. Love that girl...but want to scream inappropriate words through my clenched teeth at her sometimes. Tomorrow is my father-in-law Loren's 60th birthday. Love love love him. He is the reason for my Jane Gracen's endearing smile. It is like his trademark smile has been transposed on my daughter's beautiful face. We've been saying her whole life that she looks like her grandpa Loren,.....which is fine with us, and I'm pretty sure is one of the things that brings Loren extreme JOY. That and the fact that she will run past a line of grandmas to get her her grandpa. Tuesday is my Samantha Jean's(my oldest daughter by another mother) 20th birthday. CAN NOT BELIEVE IT. We have been blessed to have Samantha in our lives for almost 10 years and thank God for her and her family every day. As the girls get older, our days intersect less often, but that doesn't mean we don't still count on each other for "family" things. I still care very much about how the girls are doing, and totally count on them to help raise my three girls! :) Samantha is a sophomore at Drake, playing softball and learning to be a special ed teacher. We are so proud of her athletics, her academics, her personality, her values/morals, and her growing faith. She is loved by so many people, but especially by the five that live just across the street (on Bluebell Terrace, that is.....) So much to be happy about this weekend, do I really need to describe the lousy joy-less 10% of our weekend? I didn't think so. Rock Chalk Jayhawk.......now Let's Go ROYALS!!