Kate's home therapist

I have probably mentioned before what a wonderful big sister Lanie is for Kate. Several years ago, when Lanie was five or six, I commented to her about how impressed I was with all the creative games she came up with to reinforce the things Kate needed to work on especially hard. It really was amazing. I'll never forget Lanie's quiet reply; it still brings tears to my eyes. "I'm Kate's home therapist."

On Saturday it was very difficult for Lanie not to be out on the baseball field mentoring Kate herself. I think the program is arranged so that family members are not the mentor for a relative. Soon after the game began, Lanie quietly left the stands. I hadn't really even missed her until I saw her clinging to the fence, as close to third base as she could be. She did eventually return to the stands to sit with the rest of Kate's fan club.

Kate's Baseball Game

I've started crying again already as I begin to write this entry. Saturday afternoon we went to Kate's baseball game. She plays in The Miracle League and it was her first game. It was amazing! Our Kate Kate is developmentally delayed; she has apraxia of speech and takes medication to control a slight tremor. She has made tremendous progress and now longer carries a "talker" with her wherever she goes. Her appearance does not indicate that she has any sort of handicap and I had never thought of her being eligible for something like The Miracle League, even though she goes to a wonderful school, The Academy at Riverdale, dedicated to children with speech/language disorders. Kate has been the bat girl for Lanie's softball team, which Stephen coaches, so she has a rough understanding of the game. She was so happy to be the participant instead of a spectator for this event! Here she is saluting the crowd!

I love this picture of two of Kate's biggest fans! (You would think Stephen was the one related to Tom; he ALWAYS has his eyes closed in pictures, just like his father-in-law!)

Each athlete had a mentor. Kate's must be giving her base running tips as they watch from third. Kate played third base throughout the game but, since I don't see a glove, she must be running the bases in this shot. After the game, I thanked Kate's mentor briefly but I wish I had been able to talk more to her. Several athletes had mentors wearing shirts signifying that they were a member of an athletic team from one of the various state colleges. This young lady moved like an athlete and had a lot of poise and grace. She did not, however, wear a shirt giving me any clues. I wish I knew more about her and had been able to thank her more profusely!

Look at that happy girl as she crosses home plate!!!

I wrote down the website for The Miracle League, www.miracleleaguear.com , and I intend to find out more about it. Until I witnessed a game, I had always been skeptical about a child in a wheelchair getting any enjoyment out of being helped to bat and then being pushed around the bases by someone else. Not any more!

Lanie's Soccer Game

Last Friday night EHS played J.A. Fair in Little Rock. The Wildcats were victorious 37 - 0! Those of us related to the defensive line coach love those shutouts! (Can't remember if I mentioned that we kept Magnolia off the board in the game the Friday night before too!) Since the game was in Little Rock, it worked out perfectly for Tom and me to stick around for ball games on Saturday.

The Pauls were visiting in Tulsa for the weekend so Tom and I stayed at their house to feed the animals. Lanie's soccer game was in Bryant so we rode with her family. This picture was taken just after she stuffed her socks with shin guards.

Kate immediately found two of Lanie's friends, who were there as spectators, and the three of them played hide-and-seek throughout. Jill took a picture of Kate when she was "IT" so I took this one of Jillers; I took a picture of my daughter as she was taking a picture of her daughter!

Tommy is enjoying retirement so much. Look how happy he is to finally be able to be present at all the kids activities! (That Jillers is pretty cute, isn't she?)

Here is Lanie B. in action. She moves well and is quick but she looks awfully small out on the field. I should have included a picture of her with other players so the size differences would be evident. Stephen is her team's coach and I think they are having fun sharing the soccer season.

Glamorous Grandma!

Just had to post this photo of Grandma Johnson! We surprised her last Wednesday but she looks as if she was expecting company, doesn't she? We are tremendously relieved that she has adjusted so well to her altered living arrangements.

Sunday, September 12

I went shopping with Jenny and Lucy in Atlanta just before Hattie was born. It is driving me crazy that I can't remember the name of the store but it was quite a trek from 1245 McLynn Avenue. The purpose of the trip was to purchase this double stroller. Wish I had caught Hattie smiling but I promise she truly enjoys her walks with her sister by her side! This Sunday morning I had taken Hannah to the Pauls' to take a shower. (I have not gone into detail here yet about our crazy weekend. One of the exciting events was the misbehavior of the Fussells' plumbing!) When she was all clean, she and the three Paul girls walked to Fussells; well, really Lucy rode her bike and the others walked. Going home, we decided that for the safety and sanity of all concerned, both girls would ride.

Saturday, September 11, Part II

The first three pictures were chosen to document how popular Hattie is with her older cousins! Kate is not shown in any of these but I am pretty sure I have offered photographic evidence of her pride in her baby cousin in an earlier entry. The M&M shirt belongs to Lanie's friend, Sophie.

Hattie's Aunt Julie gets in on the act too!

I am so proud of this couchful of cuties!!! Look at that tangle of legs! I was so excited that I had all seven grandchildren in one place and was dithering around, "Oh, I wish..."-ing when Jenny took charge for me. She corralled the big 6, plunked Hattie in Hannah's lap, and told me to start snapping pictures! Thanks, Peaches!!

Saturday, September 11 - Part I

Picasa saves my photos into folders by day and those pictures I borrow from others go someplace else in MY PICTURES. If I want to use Picasa to blog a single weekend, I end up with several different entries. This picture I borrowed from Jenny. It is the only one I have to post from DanMan's baseball tournament held in Sherwood, Arkansas, on September 10th and 11th. The team played in two games on Saturday. Papa went to the first one; Jenny, Hannah, Lucy, Hattie, Lanie, Sophie (Lanie's friend), Kate, and I were added to the fans in the stands for the second game. Lucy and Kate decided Nannah was softer than the bleachers!

For some unknown reason, the boys did not play well in pool play on Saturday. On Sunday they got it together but, because of their poor play on Saturday, they had to play the top seed in the tournament. El Dorado Powercats were ahead for most of the game and extra innings were needed before they were defeated and eliminated. DanMan had a good tournament and batted a thousand!!!!! This weekend we will be going to West Monroe, Louisiana, for another two day tournament. I THINK we only have one more tournament scheduled after that and then Fall ball will come to an end.

On Friday, September 10, we left El Dorado around eight in the morning in two cars. Tom and DanMan were in Tanya's Honda; Hannah and I were in my car. We drove to the Fussells' house in Little Rock and left my car in their garage in Jill's spot. Her little Nissan would live at the Little Rock airport for the next few days. Then the four of us drove to Springdale - with a yummy stop at What-ta-burger in Russellville. I had high hopes of making it to a knitting shop in Fayetteville that carries a brand of yarn that I want to meet. We didn't get to Northwest Arkansas with that kind of time to spare though.

I had been disappointed, when we were in the area for a wedding about 18 months ago, that we did not get to take kids on a true tour of Springdale, a town we lived in for a year and a half when Jimmy was 6/7, Julie was 4/5, and Jill was 2/3. We were living on the G.I. Bill and savings at that time so our entertainment was of the free variety. The local library had a wonderful story hour and, during our first visit, I met a lady who had just moved to town with her husband and their three children. Enter the Alversons into our lives! They have a son, Floyd, who is six months Jimmy's junior, a girl, Christy, who is six days younger than Julie, and a second daughter, Kathy, who is about nine months older than Jill. I have always said it was as if God plunked the Alversons down in Springdale to keep me sane; they moved there the same month we did - and moved away the same month we departed for Baton Rouge! Much of our time during this period was spent playing at the park adjacent to the public library. After showing the kids the house we lived in, we drove directly to that park. I took LOTS of duck pictures especially for Julie, who has multiple bird stories where she gets wet, is pecked, has her buttons bitten off, etc. I was also thinking MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS because Jill and Stephen were in Boston. (Stephen even brought me a postcard from the Boston Public Garden showing the statues of Mother Duck and her eight ducklings! Made me cry 'cause my mom had sent me the same card many years ago and I did not keep up with it. Thank you, Stephen.)



Well, dang! Somehow, I just deleted a picture of a sweet family of ducks! Here is DanMan by the pond...

...and here is Hannah!

Couldn't resist a shot of this baby. He was very careful not to let any of us get too close.

I had better get busy now. I will be going to DanMan's Parent/Teacher Conferences in a little while and I need to get ready for the Fussells to spend the night with us before I leave. I plan to hide a little Christmas shopping, clear the yarn from Jenny's bed, and make some brownies.

Bo and his kids in Springdale

I am home after a very busy four and a half days!! I don't have time to write a long journal entry now but I wanted to get this picture, that I absolutely love, posted before it disappeared somehow. I took it with my phone; I took two others with my real camera but they didn't turn out nearly as well! I never have any luck sending phone photos to facebook or e:mailing them. I can usually send them as an MMS though. I sent this one to my kids and Julie was able to post it to her facebook page and I stole it from there!

Before we left home for our busy weekend+, we had made arrangements to meet our friends, Connie and Marion Harris, at THE MARKETPLACE in Springdale at four for an early dinner. When we arrived at the restaurant we saw all the football buses parked in the next lot at the Holiday Inn. We had no idea that the team was staying there Thursday night. I texted Bo and told him we were next door and when he came out to board the bus to let us know so we could come out and say "HI". He texted right back and said he could come then. I will never forget seeing his children break into a run as soon as they saw him coming across the parking lot! (Tearing up just thinking about it!) Wonderfully enough, Connie and Marion drove up right then so they got to visit with him for a few minutes - and they got to see how thrilled his kids were to be with him!

I will not make you wait until I have time to post again to find out that we were soundly beaten in the game. No excuses - except that we were playing the #1 team in the largest classification in the state. More later.

Friday, September 3, 2010

I already told you that we won our game on Friday night! Maddy had never been to a home game before but you can tell she's got the spirit when you see this picture, taken at the pep rally held just outside the stadium pre-game. Usually we buy a meal from the Wildcat Booster Club before the first game but they were all sold out. That meant we didn't feel guilty taking a free meal from Matthew Shepherd's campaign. He is a candidate for state representative. Matthew is a very nice young man and has several connections to our family: he was the Wildcat QB while Jimmy was a Wildcat coach; he is a lawyer in the office where Julie worked for several years; he and his family go to church with the Junior Johnsons. Last year, as we were tailgating before the state championship game, we set up Stephen's wonderful gumbo next to Matthew's tent. He was handing out Wendy's chili, which was good but could not compare to Stephen's cooking! Many people thought our group was part of the campaign effort and we did not bother to correct them.

DanMan was just a little nervous before kick-off. I took many more pictures of him pacing than these two but you get the idea!

This picture, taken just before kick-off, shows our wonderful new turf! EHS fans are so very proud of our brand new field!!!

Hattie is five months old!

It didn't hit me until I saw the date pop up on my last entry that it is September 4th and Hattie is five months old!!!!! We are so glad the Easter bunny brought us you, Baby Girl!

Wildcats claim first win of the season!

The El Dorado Wildcats claimed their first win of the 2010 season by beating the Camden Cardinals 43-13 last night on our newly installed astroturf!!! The photo below shows defensive line coach, Jimmy Johnson, at the scrimmage game held in Nashville a weeke ago.

I am hoping to download the new pictures on my camera, and maybe take a few more, during this Labor Day weekend. I just wanted to get this picture - and news of the Wildcat win - posted quickly!