Howdy Everyone!

Can you believe that it is SEPTEMBER already?!? We are coming into fall, my favorite time of the year. We are excited for pumpkin patches and Thanksgiving and Christmas and all of those fun family holidays that are just around the corner. Most of all we are excited for the fact that Matt will be done traveling by the 20th of September – YAHOO!

This year has been very challenging because of the amount of time he has spent traveling – 25 days out of each month on average. Braelyn and I have done as well as can be expected between her activities and mine & keeping busy. We have spent LOTS of time up at the cabin this summer staying cool, spending time with Grammy and Grampy and being outdoors. Braelyn loves visiting the pond to see the tadpoles and frogs and eating breakfast in the fifth wheel each morning. The dogs love it too and they are always running and jumping around the logs and plants. Braelyn spends lots of time with Nana in the garden and Uncle Chris helped her make some pine cone birdseed feeders when he and Justin made a trip up one weekend.

Between trips to the cabin and our travel-filled August, we haven’t been home much this summer BUT we did get spend a lot of time with Matt this past month, taking several trips together to help make the days on the road go by faster.

At the beginning of August we took a weekend trip up to LA while he was scouting the Dodgers and Tom and Sheri met us up at the hotel for a 2 day visit which was nice.

2 days after we returned home, Matt & I took a trip together back to New York while he was scouting the Mets for 5 days. It was a LOT of fun and Braelyn was up at the cabin with my parents so she barely knew we were gone! We saw all of the usual touristy sites in the city as well as taking a couple of self-guided walking tours of different areas of Manhattan that we downloaded to our IPODS. I hadn’t been to NYC since I was about 10 and Matt hadn’t been in 2 years since he stopped traveling with the team. The weather was amazing, the city was clean and safe and we got to see and do so much in our few days. We saw Lion King on Broadway which is an experience like no other stage show that I have ever seen and we walked 5-10 miles every single day we were there. I would go back in a heartbeat – I really enjoyed our time there and it is always nice to get some time together as a couple. Thanks to both of our families for making the trip possible for us and allowing us to experience the city.

After flying across country, unpacking and spending 1 whole night at home, we were then off to San Diego for a week to spend time with family while Matt was doing some minor league scouting, as well as scouting the Padres. Braelyn had SO much fun with Kyleigh and they were hilarious together playing so nicely and getting along so well. They were both totally bummed when we had to leave and Braelyn still asks about her all the time. I stayed with Matt at the hotel for a night so B got to spend some good time with Grandma and Grandpa which she always enjoys. They visited the Natural History Museum at Balboa Park and we also went to dog beach in Del Mar. We took a trip up to La Jolla to see the seals in the cove as well and got an unexpected shower from a rogue wave that completely DRENCHED Braelyn, Sheri and I. We were completely soaked and dripping wet and even the inside of my purse needed to be dumped out to get rid of the water. When we went home 3 hours later, I was still WET, not damp but it makes for a good story and we were good sports about it!

When we drove home, we brought my cousin Sara and her daughter Emma with us and we had a nice family party for my Grandma’s 80th Birthday. I felt completely unprepared, not having been around for much of the planning BUT I just did what I was told instead of being the boss and it worked out great. Everyone had fun and we had some nice out of town guests that made the party even more special.

Once our company had gone home, you would think that we rested and relaxed but, OH NO not us! Braelyn started school last week and so we were back and forth taking her and dropping her off. She was nervous at first but she really seems to like it and her teacher is really good with the kids. They had show and tell last week and this week they have color week so they have to dress in all yellow tomorrow for class. I am a parent helper for the class so I get to do all kinds of fun things like cut out dinosaurs from construction paper, cut out and hole punch letter necklaces and all other sorts of crafty stuff that helps out the teacher and reduces her workload.

Braelyn is still taking dance/gymnastics and swim class and on Saturday she starts her acting class in which I think she will be a big hit because, if you know Braelyn, there is nothing but complete DRAMA to everything. From her facial expressions to her sweeping arm movements to her dressing up and putting on her makeup, I think this girl is headed for the stage – LOL! I actually can’t wait to see her up there performing because I think it will be so good for her and she will be able to use her natural dramatic talents! She told me that she was concerned about this acting class because ‘What if I get stage fright during the performance?’ I tried not to laugh and told her that she would be great and that she would do her best and that the teacher would help her if she forgot her lines. Too funny!

Things for me are going well with our new business. We are finishing up our current line of artwork and already prepping for new lines and designs. We are doing lots of live shows this fall to promote our products and we have retailers interested in adding our lines to their shops and stores. We are expanding into pet art, educational items and full size wall murals so be on the lookout for our stuff soon! If you are looking for customized artwork, we can do that too, just let me know size and design and my partner can create something AMAZING for you!

I am still doing agility with Casie. We have taken a break for the summer from our regular classes and so I have been filling in with some seminars from past instructors as well as getting to know some new ones. Casie actually now looks like a dog that you see on TV, weaving in between all of the poles and going on the teeter totter and over jumps and through tunnels. I have currently started taking private lessons to replace the group lessons so that we can work on things specific to Casie and I. I MAY start competing this fall but mostly I am doing it for fun and because Casie has had such fear issues in the past and still to this day, she can be skittish. It is really good in building her confidence and really good exercise for us both as we run around the courses.

Matt is finishing up his scouting in Dallas and Seattle over the next couple of weeks and then he will be done for the season. He is very worn down from being on the road so much and being in so many hotels. The GOOD thing about his travels is that we get LOADS of hotel points and air miles so that we can take some fun family vacations in the off-season and get lots of stuff for free! We aren’t totally sure what he’ll be doing next season as lots of things are still not finalized with the GM situation BUT we know he will be working in baseball somewhere next year and hopefully he will get to stay put where he is. Things are supposed to be hammered out in the next few weeks and then the scouts will start finding out what they will be doing and people will be moved around and shuffled to fill vacant spots left by people vacating them this year. There will be lots of opportunities and new teams to see, we are just waiting and hoping for a contract extension before October.

We hope everyone is doing well and that we will see you sometime in our Holiday or off-season travels this fall. Take care and enjoy the cooler weather and the fun family times ahead. Love to All.

MLB Mama

Well, I remember writing her Birthday post last year and thinking that 4 years old was so far away BUT today the day is here

We had a great time at Braelyn’s party, despite the rain and she was so excited to have everyone here to celebrate, thank you all for coming. To those who weren’t able to join us, we hope you enjoy some pictures……

We love our little girl so very much and are amazed at the beautiful person she is becoming. Thank you to everyone who spends time with her, loves her, thinks about her and supports Matt and I on our parenting journey. She is the light of our lives and we are so lucky to have the time to be able to spend with her and see her grow, learn and change everyday. Being a parent is the most amazing job in the world and I am so glad that I spend each and every day with my daughter! She is perfection and I love her from the bottom of my heart. Happy Birthday Beetle Bug!!!

We hope you are having a good Valentine’s Day weekend!

I have some short video of Casie doing agility that I wanted to post and some funny pictures of Braelyn getting into mischief -- pretty much an everyday occurrence as well as baking with Nana.  Enjoy your weekend and Happy Heart Day!

We thought that with the stress and hustle-bustle of the season, that you might appreciate these Christmas carols and hopefully, they brighten your day!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night

It’s about that time for our annual Tolmachoff Farms pumpkin patch visit.

This year the set up was much better than the last few years and because we went earlier in the day, it was cooler and less crowded.  Braelyn enjoyed petting the animals and picking out her perfect pumpkin but she did not enjoy the chicken that was following us around the entire time.  It was hiding in the corn by the pumpkin picking area and jumped out right above her which prompted her to run and yell and have uncle Chris pick her up the rest of the visit!!

We also went in the corn maze this year which started off to be quite simple and ended up with us lost and going around in circles for 25 minutes.  It was funny and we ended up escaping by plowing our way through the middle of the corn and then finding the exit path   Braelyn was also brave and big enough this year to ride on the ladybug train which was pulled by an ATV down a trail next to the corn maze.  She was proud of herself that she didn’t get scared or dizzy when it went around in circles.

We are excited to be going to Disneyland next week and we will have lots of pictures and information to report about the trick-or-treat party at California Adventure. 

We hope you are all picking your “perfect pumpkin” and celebrating the beginning of the fall, holiday season.

Love to All!!

Swimming in September, wearing cool shades, crocs and NOTHING ELSE

Wishing you all this type of fun and happiness!!!!

Happy Saturday Afternoon!

Our family just got back from lovely (and HOT!) San Diego so, I thought I would share all of our fun times with everyone   Because we were gone for a whole week and packed a TON of activities into that time, I decided to make a list of all of the adventures and fun times we had rather than writing paragraphs about each one.  I also have a bunch of pics for everyone to enjoy so…. here we go….

THINGS WE DID/PLACES WE WENT/PEOPLE WE SAW

(These are in no particular order!!)

1. Kyleigh’s 1st Birthday Party

2. Legoland

3. The Sea Life Aquarium

4. Dinner with Sara and Emma

5. Dinner downtown and the show, Wicked

6. Time with family

7. Time at the beach

8. Matt’s Birthday

9. Time in the water (to cool off from the ridiculously HOT weather!)

I will leave it to you all to figure out which pictures below came from which of our destinations   We hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend & hope to hear from you soon!

Love,

MLB Mama

Hello everyone!

We have been enjoying the summer and having Matt around a bit more now that the draft is over. He only works about 5 days a week now, like a normal person, so he gets to join in more activities with us which is nice.

We took Braelyn to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Scottsdale this past week for the “Dog Days of Summer” Family night. The kids got to look at 3 of the exhibits, including William Wegman who photographs the Weimeraner dogs in costumes. They also had a puppet show put on by the Great Arizona Puppet Theater and an art project for the kids. At the very end of the evening, they turned on the fountain outside and had bubbles, juice and popsicles for everyone. It was really fun and Braelyn had a great time looking at all of the colorful exhibits and she really loved being in the water with her Barbies. I love finding unique things like that to do as a family!

We have also been in the pool EVERY DAY and Braelyn is getting a little bit of a tan Today she was swimming as a noodie and sporting some very cool shades!

I also wanted to show everyone how good Braelyn is getting with her writing and drawing. The picture she has drawn is a self-portrait and she wrote her entire name WITHOUT HELP (except for letter N) this morning! She is getting close to reading now – she knows all of her lower case letters and the sounds they make and she has been practicing sounding out letters to spell words. I think the next step is recognizing words and then reading. I am trying not to push her because I want her to enjoy it so I am letting her tell me when she is ready.

We hope all is well with everyone and we are looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you all soon!

Love,

MLB Mama

Hello everyone – it’s been awhile! We have been really busy with traveling this last month and it hasn’t left me much time for writing and blogging. We are home now and I wanted to share some things from our latest trip since it is so fresh in my mind.

Matt and I took our delayed anniversary trip which we were initially supposed to do for our 4 year anniversary last fall. Due to some unexpected circumstances, we had to push off the trip to this summer & we are glad that it worked out.

We spent 5 glorious days in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada and we now remember why we love it so much! The weather, the views and the people make is such a spectacular place to visit. We had sunny, warm temperatures in the high 80s/low 90s which is heaven to us at this time of year. The skies were blue without clouds and you could see the surrounding mountain ranges, lakes and trees forever. We got to be outside everyday whether we were walking, hiking or listening to live music in the village and it was such a nice change.

The first day of our trip was Canada Day, similar to July 4th here in the US so there was a local parade and people were singing the national anthem and dressed up with red, white and maple leaves. Since Whistler will be hosting the 2010 winter Olympics, the mascots and torch were there at the official opening of their Olympic store.

Thursday we decided to be adventurous and we took an ATV ride up to the top of Blackcomb Mountain for a yummy waffle breakfast. The view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking and made us appreciate what a beautiful place we were in. We also went through a mud pit, saw a deer and fawn and a bear sitting on the side of the mountain. Bears are a pretty regular thing to see in Whistler – I have seen one each time we have been there for the past 12 years – but it is still pretty amazing to see wild animals in the “wild”. He just sat on the mountain munching on grass and plants and was completely unaffected by the noise or the fact that 8 people were staring at him taking pictures.

Friday we took the ski lift to the top of Blackcomb Mountain and hiked for a couple of hours back to a lake that was partially frozen and surrounded by snow, even though the temperature outside was about 70 degrees. Matt hiked without his shirt and I was wearing a tank top but there was still several feet of snow on the ground and thick ice on the lake!

After our lake hike, we took the new gondola built especially for the Olympics – the Peak to Peak. This gondola takes you from the top of Blackcomb Mountain to the top of Whistler Mountain in 11 minutes which is REALLY fast. It is however, also REALLY scary as there is NOTHING below you but a creek and trees and you are VERY high up in the air. The engineering is as such that there is no support stations between the 2 peaks so you are just kind of hanging out there in between 2 tall mountain peaks. All I can say is that I am thankful that it was only 11 minutes and that I did it for the experience but won’t be doing it again When we got over to Whistler mountain we took an open-air ski lift to the peak for some amazing views of the whole valley. We also got to eat a yummy BBQ dinner at the lodge and listen to live local music.

Saturday was our last day to eat, shop and appreciate the time we had together. After lunch, we got into our rental car (which we hadn’t driven since our arrival! In Whistler when the weather is nice, you can walk everywhere and Matt calculated we walked about 5 miles each day!) and drove back to Vancouver to stay at a hotel near the airport since we had an early morning flight on Sunday morning.

We had such a great time and it was a much needed vacation for us away from all of the realities of normal life. We got to sleep in and do whatever we wanted with no schedule and no time commitments and it was really nice to be able to do that for a few days. My parents and grandparents took care of Braelyn and Casie for us up at the cabin so that we could get our time together and we really appreciate it (as always) and it made it easier for me knowing that she was in a really fun place so she wasn’t worried about us not being there.

We hope you enjoy the pictures but I must say they do not do justice to the true beauty of Canada. If you ever get the chance, VISIT because I haven’t met anyone yet who hasn’t absolutely loved being there!

Have a good week!

Love,
MLB Mama