I am not any richer monetarily than I was when I went to the game tonight. The challenge in the Throw for Dough tonight was to throw three official baseballs through the same target we had thrown through before but the difference was we were throwing from the pitchers mound and the target was at home plate.

I was the last of the 4 contestants to throw. I almost got one in. However, I would have had to have gotten all three in to win the money.

Here is the bright side. I got to throw three pitches from a minor league pitching mound in front of a crowd of people. I had my on cheering section that yelled my name when I went to the mound. I heard the crowd groan when I just missed getting my first and third pitches in the target. I had fun and it was a great experience, and hey, there is always next year.

A night at an Astros game

Monday night we spent a most of the evening at the Astros game. The kids are members of the "Lil Outlaws" club so they got to go early for:


Photos with Dinner Table Guys Ralph & Brandon and


Autographs with the rest of the team.

Not all the players were available for autographs at the session so James & I worked on more players while the girls....


committed baseball sin. Reading at a ballgame!

Monday was Military appreciation night at the ball park. They asked kids to


help carry a big flag onto the field for pregame. Grace & James both have their backs the camera. Grace is in the peach and James has his legs crossed.

Then it was game time.


Ralph was the DH so he has to come out of the dugout before the inning and play toss with the right fielder, Brandon.


That was one serious pop up by Ralph. He ended up with a big hit later in the game but I loved that picture and all the heads looking up.


Here is Brandon heading to first after a good hit. And Grace is still


reading. She finished two books and went to Shannon's newspaper after that. She did stop reading long enough to watch a friend from school participate in the


Human Hampster Ball Race

Our other Dinner Table Guy from this year, Andrew Darnell, came in the game as a pinch runner for Ralph in the 8th and ended up getting the game winning RBI in the 10th.

Yes, it was a school night and we stayed for the end. Why? Because I had an activity to do.

Earlier this year, I was called to the field to do the "throw for dough" game. I made one out of three throws and qualified to come back for the semi-finals.


This is me preparing for one of my throws. That is Brandon's head in the bottom of the shot. He and the other Dinner Table Guys stayed around to watch and see how I did.

I qualified for the finals. Tonight I have a chance to throw for $50,000. There will be 3 other people throwing. I have very low expecations. I have already won two free tickets valued at $5 a piece and alot of fun, so if I don't win anything else that will be fine. But it is fun to dream about what I will do with the money if I win.

Book Tagged

Matt Elliott tagged me with these questions about books. Here is my attempt.

1. One book that changed your life: Wow that is a tough question. Probably the one book that has shaped my view of parenting and my work with foster kids was Parenting With Love & Logic

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: The Chronicle of Narnia Series.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Kon Tiki (a great read and a survival guide)

4. One book that made you laugh: Carryin' On: and Other Strange Things Southerners Do. The author grew up in the church of Christ. I have an excerpt from his book posted here.

5. One book that made you cry: Six Hours One Friday. The chapter where he is taking his daughter to kindergarten and singing “sunrise sunset” always gets me.

6. One book you wish had been written: Girls for Dummies (covers everything from How to flirt without hitting in middle school, How to size up your chances with a girl for a prom date, When to pop the question(s), How to keep your wife woo-ed, How to change your daughters diaper, How to fix your daughters hair, How to intimidate your daughters suitors, etc…) It might have to come in multiple volumes.

7. One book you wish had never been written: This is the toughest question. I can’t come up with a good answer.

8. One book you’re currently reading: The Games Do Count: America's Best and Brightest on the Power of Sports

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: Friday Night Lights

10. Tag five others: Let's go with Donna, Amy, David, Anthony & Denise

A well earned dirty face

You think James is enjoying baseball practice these days?

We had our last group of dinner table guys over Sunday. Brandon Barnes was back and brought Andrew Darnell with him. The Astro's season is almost over (only 3 more home games) and the guys are looking forward to their off-season lives. Our family is settling into our off-season life of school, girl scouts, piano, soccer, and fall baseball.

One of the rituals at our house is coupon cutting. The kids have been known to ask for something by asking "do we have a coupon for this?" Shannon cuts them out every Sunday and my sister-in-law, Jane is nice enough to send us the extras she cuts out. Although we do have to wonder when she sends us coupons for hearing aid batteries, just what she is saying (pun intended).

Ever looked closely at a coupon and read the fine print? It will say something like this "Cash Value 1/100 of a cent". That's not worth much. How many times do folks do away with pennies. People throw them in the "need a penny" cup at the gas station. They leave them on the ground in the parking lot (that makes my kids happy). Pennies don't have much value. So how can something of 1/100th of a penny have any value? Because when I take it to the store and buy the item listed on the coupon, it is REDEEMED. Can you relate?

Saturday was ALL STAR day for the Pee Wee League. James' team lost the first game in the last inning and won the second by the mercy rule. James got a triple in the first game and two singles (he remembers a double but the paper said single)in the second. He also caught a pop fly and doubled a runner off first. James is in the middle in the picture below.



The local rec department did a great job with the field. They had "ALL STARS" writen in big white letters in the outfield and a star burst of stars below it. They also had star outlines in the infield. They called the players out one at a time to get their medals prior to the first game. It was a good time.

School Days

Monday was the first day of school for Greeneville City Schools. Since Shannon has her teaching job now, I had the privilege of being the school parent for the first day.

Shannon made Grace a first day of school outfit and as usual, Grace looked stunning. She will be in 4th grade this year and will go to 5th for Math & Spelling.



James will be in 1st grade this year and his teacher is the wife of his ball coach. He will have to adjust from calling her Ms. Robin to calling her Mrs. Jones. Here is a shot of me trying to complete the enrollment form with James.



We are proud of both of our kids. They are both sweet, kind, smart and have a concern for others. Shannon got an email from Mrs. Jones yesterday. She saw James going into the classroom next door. When James came out, she kidded him saying, "did you almost go in the wrong class?". He replied that he thought he had seen one of his classmates in there who is an english language learner. Turns out he had seen her in there and she had gone into the wrong class. Mrs. Jones was impressed with James' care for another student.

Blogging breaks

This summer, I have taken several blogging breaks. They have not been intentional, they have just happened. I don't know what is behind it. Shannon keeps asking me, "did you blog today?" I simply say "no". I think of things to write about all the time, I just don't sit down to do it. I intend to but I don't. Unfortunately, that is also how my life is. I intend to do things that would be good for me, my family, my work, etc. but I just don't get around to doing it. I intend to change that about me.