Peace for Papa Denny

After a long battle with cancer, Papa Denny passed away on Monday, June 3rd.  He was surrounded by his family.  We will miss his smile, his banter, and his love of us all.

May Madness!

Wow, has this month flown by!!  It has been jammed packed with lots of fun things:

Papa Denny turned 60.  We celebrated with a party at our house... the party was expected, but the number of guest sure weren't!  Jo even managed to sneak down from Marquette for the occasion.  It was super!

 

 

Mother's day was festive as usual.  The kids made many treasures for my special day.

From Owen

From Mitchell

From Lucy

From everyone!

I had a dance performance on the 17th with my shimmy sisters from Kimmy's class.

Mitchell had a field trip to Camp Kett in prep for his 4th grade trip there this fall.

Awards ceremonies for both boys.  Both earned Academic Honors.  YAY! 

The garden, multiple trees and flowers have been planted.  The waterfall has been up and running since late April. 

Owen has a field trip this Thursday to the Great Lakes Children's Museum and Moomer's Dairy Farm/Ice Cream Shop.  I get to go with him! 

Kicking Around

Fall means many things.... however, in the Rogers' house, it means it's time for SOCCER!  Practices and games are highly anticipated events every week.  For instance, yesterday was game day #2 for them both.  Owen was up and awake AND in his uniform by 6:15am (it isn't the up and awake by 6:15 that was shocking, but the in the uniform thing).  Even more exciting, each boy somehow got placed on a team that has their favorite colored jersey:  Owen is all decked out in green, and Mitchell and his "Angry Birds" are in yellow.

Owen stalking the HS ref during halftime week #1.

Notice the missing glasses--he threw so hard they came right off!

 

Another nice throw!

 

Mitchell in goal week #1.

I have to say I am LOVING the program this year.  The coaches have really got things lined up with some great skill practice.  It has been fun to watch the boys play.  Owen loves playing defense and goalie.  He can throw the ball in like nobody's business.  In fact, he throws it so hard, it flung his glasses off his face the first week (We accounted for that and remembered the strap for his glasses this time).  Mitchell has amazing hustle out on the field.  He's got a great kick and he also is good about trying to fake out his opponents.

This week Papa Denny and Barb joined us at the fields for both games.  Lucy played with them and chased her brothers when they weren't playing. 

Running the Bases and Just Plain Running

We've had a multitude of baseball and T-ball games and all have seen a nice progression of skills from the Rogers boys.  They both love playing catcher.  Mitchell loves to play pitcher (it's a fielding only position in his league, as coaches pitch). Owen has also enjoyed playing any of the infield positions;  he made a great play at 2nd base last night.

 

Mitchell all geared up behind the plate.

Mitchell playing 1st base last week.

We've had a great fan-base for the games;  Grammy B has made several games and Papa Denny has been in attendance as well. Lucy has been at several too.  She is always good for sideline entertainment.

We finish up Mitchell's season tonight, and Owen's tomorrow.  Then we'll be on to the next adventure!  Stay tuned~

Major League Action

Papa Denny came out to watch Mitchell's last "regular season" ballgame tonight.  Needless to say there was plenty of action, both on and off the field.  We watched Mitchell play catcher, pitcher, and 1st base tonight. It was a tough night at the plate for Mitchell, but overall he's made a lot of progress this season.

We also watched Lucy and Owen race each other down the side of the fence, much like the mascot races during games.  Up and back and up and back they went. They each harassed Papa as much as they could... until he fought back!  :)

 

 

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Saturday = Soccer Day

Today it wasn't just game day, it was picture day too. So of course it was 50 and rainy... again. It was a very dreary start, and the photos could be interesting...but thankfully the skies cleared as the games got underway and the sun even made an appearance. It was fabulous. The boys both played really well and both Grammies were in attendance cheering them on. Even Papa Denny caught a few minutes of the game!


Owen had some excellent throw-ins, and again was good at getting in the mix. He had some great passes and shots on goal. His game evidently did not tire him out enough as he was still manic on the sidelines during Mitchell's game.


Mitchell got a chance to play goalie for a bit in his game, then later he moved up to forward and really got his groove on. He had another goal today!


Lucy was a super sport, cheering on her brothers, picking "flowers", tackling Mama, playing with her Grammies, and holding hands with her cousin.