Growing up

Since its well known this blog's main purpose is to document things in our lives for Bayleigh to look back on. Here's a funny one she will hate me for....I bought her her first bra tonight! Lol! 7.28.13 who knew they made a 30A in little girls?! She doesn't need it all of the time. She just has a few shirts that it's pretty obvious in so, we had that talk. She's humiliated, as I'm sure I was too, but I've explained it's perfectly natural and she's taking it well! 

My baby is growing up! :,(

Look how old she's looking!

I made her this ponytail holder for her travel softball team!

Folders with scripture for school! Yes please! I want God in our schools!

Wild Winners

Looks like I forgot to post pics from Bayleigh's fast pitch team Waldron Wild! 

They went undefeated all season! 

Indianapolis Indians Game

Friday, July 26th, 2013, my friend Jennifer P. took the three of us, along with her daughter Emma to the Indianapolis Indians baseball game. Her boss gave her the tickets so it was FREE! YAY! :) Numerous factors made this one terrific night! 

1. Free tickets

2. $5 parking in the garage just caddy corner from Victory Field! (Unheard of) event parking is usually at the very least $10! Thank you to Shawn for filling me in on this garage a couple of weeks ago!

3. GORGEOUS WEATHER!!! It was in the 70's! At the end of July! In Indiana! Again--unheard of! 

4. We were in the back row of the upper level down the 3rd baseline, but--we had perfect views. We had nobody behind us.  AND, we were in the shade! The opposite side was in full sun! 

And

5. Upon entering Victory Field, each of us were given FREE pillow pets too! Very cute! 

We had the perfect night with perfect friends! It was much needed after being so down in the dumps all week! Now onto the pics!

I never feel pretty, but I do in this pic! 

Our free pillow pets and the $6 mini bat I bought Bayleigh. We spent about $20 for the entire night there! We had an incredible night! Yes the bears have eyes! 

Just feeling a little confused...

I am going to blog how I have been feeling all last week, but due to the severity of it all I won't be able to go into full blown details. I don't know of many that actually read my blog so I am not sure it will even matter. My BFF does, but she already knows all the details, so I guess I just need to write this post for me.
Last weekend the neighboring town had a crime happen that doesn't happen much around here and it happened to the niece of a friend of mine on FB. How it came about that I know that information is that last Monday night, Cooper--our English Mastiff--was barking his head off outside. I turned the outside lights on and he didn't stop so I went out the front door and around to the west side of our house thinking maybe a raccoon or other wild animal was in our alley bothering him so I wanted to run it off so that Coop didn't disturb our neighbors. It was almost midnight. Once I got to the alley from the road, Cooper became very aggressive with his barking and he's never like that. I couldn't see what was going on because of the street lights on my end, but I had an eerie feeling that I needed to go back into the house. As I was walking back, I got to the corner of our house and saw two men, one is a teenager I am now told, and one I have never seen around town before, they were coming up my driveway, exiting my property. Due to where we are located and the way the lots are around here, they must've been up to no good. I don't know if they were trying to do something to Cooper or if they were attempting to break into our garage or what. Cooper's aggressiveness when I went out must've scared them off, but then they met up with me. (Thank you Cooper for protecting momma). As they approached me, the one I have seen around here before sped up and didn't say a word. The bigger guy stared me down, even turning to win the stare down without any words once he had passed me. The only things running through my mind at that time were, 1. Stand tall. Stand Firm. Don't show him you are scared and 2. I am going to get beat up right now! LOL! I can laugh about that now, but I was dead serious then. I was out there in my pj's, slippers, unarmed, and without a phone. I wasn't sure how I would handle myself. I was terrified to say the least.

I wasn't going to post what happened on Facebook until I decided I should so that others in my town could be on the lookout in case things started coming up missing again. Almost immediately the aunt of the girl that was assaulted private messaged me and told me to please be careful and why. She's been on my friend's list a long time and other than a few "likes" between the two of us here and there, we've not had much interaction. Until that night. I told her I was sorry for what happened to her niece and that I would pray they catch the guy and so on and so on.

The next day, the media outlets posted the police sketch of the guy. A couple things happened that lead me to an investigation of my own and I thought for sure that I had actually found the guy that did this. I was so sure about myself that I even turned all of my information and how I had come to that conclusion over to a police detective.
I was nervous and scared and humbled that with everything that happened and with everything that lead up to what I had found that God himself had used me to catch this criminal. That in itself scared me to pieces. Not really scared me, but really honestly brought me closer to God. I honestly thought, wow, I AM somebody! I AM doing exactly what I asked him to do just two days prior in Sunday School at church. Just those two days prior, I prayed the prayer for God to use me. I didn't just pray it, I meant it and use me is what I thought he was absolutely doing. It was an amazing feeling. It was so humbling...or so I thought...

To make a very long and detailed story short, it wasn't the guy. I will tell you this though--the guy that I found was a dead ringer for that police sketch. It made me sick to my stomach and made the victim literally vomit because she too thought I was correct.
Once I realized I was wrong, I, 1. Got brought back down to my level--because I was pretty proud of myself--which in itself is probably the #1 reason it turned out to not be and 2. I realized I was back to just being a nobody. God wasn't using me at all. As a matter of fact, it was more than likely just the devil himself helping to make a butt out of myself. Talk about a truth to knock the wind right out of your sails!

I thought to myself, Why? Why in the world would I put myself out there like that? I should've just kept my mouth shut and not been so dang nosey. I have no business being in that business that doesn't pertain to me at all. That's what I get I guess.

So, this last week was tough. I have been very hard on myself. I keep trying to take the advice from my BFF, but I think it's just simply feelings that will have to pass with time. And they will--God won't let them not. :)

League and Tourney Champs!

SO, I've been posting pictures from Bayleigh's softball teams, but haven't been giving much information as to what is going on.
The league here in our small town ended on Friday, July 12th with a championship game that the girls won. They lost one game all season and it was the game that was a make-up--on a Thursday, that should've NEVER happened bc girls are only supposed to play on Monday's and Wednesday's, that Bayleigh and two other girls couldn't make it to.
We have had trouble this entire season. The coach Mark was not very nice. His temper is terrible and I am not 100% sure he ever came to one game sober. I was told that the game the girls lost he stomped off of the field, didn't huddle the girls, or say anything to the parents. He just left. Yeah, nice influence on our kids. I don't care if people drink. I enjoy a drink a couple of times per year myself, but to lead children in a coaching position drunk is a bit much. I kept my mouth shut. Bayleigh is in his daughter's grade so I will be around him more in our lives and I just don't want trouble.
The league made up a few rules and while I get the point of doing so, the new rules were dumb. This is the way they SHOULD'VE been in place in my opinion. If a ball is over thrown to first base then the runner can ONLY go to second base IF they can make it. That way a homerun can't be made out of an over throw. I get that. HOWEVER, it was that if there was an over throw at first base then the ball became a dead ball and every runner, even if someone is on third with second base being empty, got to advance one base. WHAT?! NO, that should've never been made. During the championship game, our first baseman simply dropped the ball at her feet and the ump called it an over throw! RIDICULOUS! Speaking of the ump...
She has been the ump on this diamond since Bayleigh was 5 years old and started there and for some reason, the last week of the games she turned into a total jerk face to me. She became really defensive about EVERYTHING, whether I was talking to her or someone beside me. There was a time when the other team had a girl do something and I started to tell her that that would've been the perfect time to TEACH the girl and both teams that rule. She cut me off and shouted, THEY'RE JUST KIDS! As if I was asking for an out or something. So, I was frustrated and told her that before she interrupted me I was saying it was a great learning opportunity since that is what that small diamond is supposed to be for, but that'd I'd just keep my mouth shut!
Then we went to watch Bayleigh's BFF play the tourney game and there was an over throw and the parents on the BFF's team shouted that it was an over throw so why did the girls have to go back? Well, I wasn't aware, nor were the other parents aware that the overthrow had to go foul. She walks up to me at the end of the game and rudely says, in a threatening way, I KNOW YOU WASN'T ONE OF THE PARENTS YELLING AT ME! I said, well as a matter of fact, yes I was! What the heck! I was down by the scoreboard and had no intentions of speaking to her and then she came at me. The only thing I said was it was overthrown. That was it. Nothing more than what the other parents had shouted.
The final game, the championship game we had to play and we played against Bayleigh's BFF and I was running the dugout, like I had every time we were not in home position and that ump always hands the bats to me around the fence so I can hang them up. She looked at me at one point and said, I'd like to hit you with this bat! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! I told her that if she ever hit me I WOULD hit her back and I am not a violent person! I don't know where her attitude came from or why, but I am pretty sure that between her and the drunk coach, we won't be going back to this league.
This was a winning season for Bayleigh. It should've been SO MUCH FUN for her, her team, and us parents. Instead, it was terrible. Nobody wants to go sit for over an hour at a diamond where there is so much rudeness and hostility. It isn't worth it. It's sad too because softball is a sport that Bayleigh LOVES and is really good at, so to feel run off on our hometown fields feels pretty bad.  The whole thing is just really sad. I don't want to see this league go under, but I refuse to stay in a league that is so full of attitude and inconsistency. (in the umps calls and her rules). A lot of people don't like the board members, I can honestly say that I DO. I am friends with several of them and I have never had a problem with them. They have always been nice to me and I like them. I don't want to go to them with my complaints because I don't want to give them a reason to not like me. It isn't my program to run and I am just a mom. I won't overstep my bounds and offer my suggestions when I don't know all of the rules myself. I am just saddened by the whole thing. Decisions at this point need to be made and I do already know which way we are leaning in those decisions. :(
Here's pictures from the final game. Trophies for winning the championship game. Medal for being 1st in the league.

 Emma Pearson, Alyssa Benson, Bayleigh

 Emma, Alyssa, Dan the Asst. Coach, Bayleigh, Sophie Hudnall