Baseball practice on a real field

Saturday morning, we took the boys to the SAS softball field for some batting practice on a real baseball field.  Their good friend Alex joined them on the field.  The three of them took turns hitting, fielding, catching, etc.  They absolutely loved it.  For three year olds, they all hit the ball really well.  We didn't get to play as much as wanted as it started raining so we had to pick up everything and go to the car.

After we finished putting up the baseball equipment in our cars, it stopped raining and the boys saw a soccer ball.  It became an impromptu soccer game.

The boys had a lot of fun playing baseball and soccer.

Look at some of these cute pictures:

This is how you keep your eye on the ball.  - Mark

Batter and catcher.  What cute brothers.  

Play time

Friday night we invited some of our friends from church over that are in our Sunday School class and that have a child in the boys' Sunday School class.   Out of the three couples we invited, two came over as the third couple had a sick child.  The plan was to have pizza and ice cream (and macaroni and cheese for Jack) and to just let the kids play outside.  Well, it went as expected.  The pizza and ice cream were good (Jack said the mac and cheese was good too)  and the 7 kids total all had a good time.  The only unexpected was Mother Nature, who threw down a massive yet common downpour when we were getting ready to eat.

It was a good time had by all.  Maybe next time it won't rain.

Last Day of Soccer

Over the past few months, Jack and Mark have gone through 3 separate sessions of soccer over at the XL Soccer World.  They have learned an awful lot about some of the basic fundamentals of the game in a fun environment.  We are going to take a break from soccer for a few months as it is tee ball time soon in the DeVault household.

Here are a couple of pictures from the last day of practice:

It's go time.  One on one.  Mano e Mano.  First one to score wins.

Jack goes to the outside to try to score.

Mark slips back to the inside and scores!

The party afterwards.  Fun times all around.

An unexpected visit to Pullen Park

This past weekend, we were planning on going to Kingsport to see Mimi, Poppy, as well as to celebrate Kate and Macy's birthdays.  Well, due to some sickness, the weekend trip got postponed.

The boys, Mommy, and Daddy, were all disappointed.  We wanted to do something fun Friday night so we took the boys to Pullen Park.  They had lots of fun.  We rode the train.  Afterwards, Jack and Mark went around and went to the playground area where they went down slides, and played in the sandboxes.

Here are some pictures from the evening:

Do we look like we are on the top step of the dugout?  - Jack and Mark

Wait a minute.  We are on the caboose.  Let's see what is inside.  I am going in now Mark.  - Jack

This is Poppy's favorite picture ever. Grandchildren and trains.  What a combination.

I am practicing for riding real horses later.  - Jack

Hmmm...where do I want to go next?  - Mark

I went down that slide REAL fast!! - Jack

This is so much fun.  - Mark

Look how far I can pull this thing back.  - Mark

Let me wipe off this table before I fill it up with more sand.  - Jack

Best friends at Pullen Park.

Did we mention the boys like baseball?

The boys really have taken to baseball.  In fact, they like playing so much that they are starting to wear out baseballs.  Case in point.  While in Gastonia, the boys played a lot of baseball.  Their cousin Evi joined them sometimes.  Daddy noticed that one of the red whiffle balls was starting to get pulled apart at the seam.  After it was used a couple of more times, this is the end result:

Father's Day

On Father's Day, we were in Gastonia as it was the day after Papa's funeral.  It was really good to be with family during this time.  Mommy was glad to be with Grandpa so she could be with her dad.  Mark and Jack were happy to be with their Daddy.  

Daddy is really lucky.  He has the two best children in the world.  Those two boys do something every day that makes me take a step back and say wow.  Are they perfect?  No.  No one is.  But they are really good boys.  The things that they say stop me in my tracks sometimes.  The things they do (especially how far they can hit the baseball) is so impressive.  The love that they show each other along with their other friends is heart warming.  The way they get so excited when Daddy picks them up from school is one of my favorite parts of the day.  Thanks Jack and Mark for everything you do to make my life as a father one of the best things I have ever done.

Here are a couple of pictures from Father's Day:

Daddy and his two boys.

Daddy looks at the Father's Day card from the boys.

This is some barbecue sauce that Jack made for Daddy at Children's House.

In Loving Memory of Papa (Paw Paw)

On June 12, just one week exactly after his 90th birthday, our dearest Papa passed away after a rough 6-week period. Six weeks prior he fell at their house, which seemed to cause his dementia (which he had had for the last year or so) to progress. He was in the hospital for while following the fall recovering from dehydration. Then, he was moved to a rehabilitation facility and then to an assisted living memory care facility. The Sunday before he passed away, his blood pressure was extremely high which took him back to the hospital for a couple of days before then moving to a Hospice House, where he passed away on Wednesday night.

We will forever cherish our memories of what a sweet grandpa and great-grandpa he was to us. We enjoyed our visits with him and he truly enjoyed every moment he spent with his great-grandsons. Our last visit with him was the Wednesday two weeks before he passed away. While visiting him that day, we asked Jack and Mark to salute Papa and they did. While his dementia had progressed significantly after his recent fall, he still knew to salute them back! It was really neat to see!

We will miss Papa so much! It just won't be the same without being able to call him or visit him in Gastonia, but we know he is so much better off!

We love you Papa more than words can say!

Here is a tribute that Heather, Doug, Rachel and Roger wrote and Eileen read at Papa's funeral:

First we would like to thank everyone for being here today to pay his or her respects to our Dad and Paw Paw,Allen Dills. He is pleased to see so many of his friends and family here today. Whether you knew him as a husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, uncle, or friend, you probably had the same level of appreciation for him that we did.

Our Dad and Paw Paw was a great man. When we think about him the words that come to mind are: hard worker, caring, patient, loving, Christian, humorous, faithful, respectful, storyteller, craftsman and family man. These are just a few words that come to mind, but it is impossible to summarize how great a person he was in words.

We would like to share just a few of our memories with you.

We will always remember some of his great quotes:

“Time waits for no man.”

“Having the right tool is half the job.”

“There is not but one of you and you are both of them.” (we never did understand this saying, but we always thought it was his way of saying “you’re special”)

“Awe, don’t leave. You can go home when you can’t go nowhere else.”

“Always look out for the other man.” (which has two meanings, a safety tip when driving and brotherly love)

“The shortest pencil is better than the longest memory”

“I love the ground you walk on”

“I already miss you” (said as you were walking out the door to leave their house)

We all share so many memories of times spent with our Dad and Paw Paw. Some of our fondest memories are from Sunday lunches and spending the Sunday afternoons and holidays at their house.

Dad was always so helpful, always willing to lend a helping hand. He was very handy helping out in so many ways around the house through the years. While he only had limited educational opportunities, he was one of the smartest men we knew. He could figure out how to do just about anything.

He was famous for the way he read the daily newspaper. He would read it in its entirety twice each day. He always said he got things out of it the second time that he missed the first. He was an avid reader. He loved a good book, which was always a good gift for him for any occasion.

He was also famous for his garden and gardening skills. He absolutely loved plowing, seeding and then reaping his harvest to share with his family and friends. He loved every aspect of nature. He loved to talk about trees and birds. He would look out their back porch and count the squirrels he could see in the backyard at any given time. He could appreciate the beauty of the simplest things in nature.

After he retired from working so many years, he was known to time himself doing household chores and was quite proud of how few seconds it took him to make a bed or iron a shirt. And most recently, he began timing Mom on how long it took her to mow the grass on their John Deere riding lawn mower. He told us her best time was 56 minutes.

He was very proud of his country and his service during World War II. You couldn’t be around him long without him sharing his war stories with you. As most of you know, he served in the Battle of the Bulge and would always talk about even with the dangers of being in war, it sure was cold that winter in Europe.

We sure are going to miss our Dad and Paw Paw’s jokes, his wisdom and his love. One day in the future we will meet again in heaven. Until then we will strive to continue to pass down his wisdom, uphold his values and stay close as a family, just as we know he would want us to do.

Dad and Paw Paw, we want to thank you for being such a wonderful person. We thank you so much for all that you have done for us, for your family, your friends and your country. We will all miss you and love you always.

Here are some pictures of Papa and his great-grandsons throughout the past 4 years...

July 2009

November 2009

February 2010

June 2010

July 2010

October 2010

May 2011

September 2011

December 2011

July 2012

December 2012

Jack's Parent-Teacher Conference

On Monday, June 10th, we had Jack's annual parent-teacher conference. We learned that our son is doing really well.  He is on track for almost all of the milestones that his teachers are expecting.  Jack's teacher said that if she had a whole room of "Jacks" that she could single handedly handle 25 kids. It would put the other 2 teachers in his room out of a job!!! 

Jack is a very hard worker. His teacher said that he has the concentration, initiative and attention span of a child much older than he is. She also commented on what a picky eater he is (nothing we didn't already know!). 

Here is a short summary by his teacher:

"Jack is so sweet! He gets along well with everyone - teachers and kids. Jack stays very busy during worktime - he loves to challenge himself. We love him!"

Super Regional highlights

On Saturday afternoon on June 8, after soccer and the airport and a good nap, it was off to the first Super Regional game between NC State and Rice.  It was a great game that the Wolfpack won 4-3 when Jake Fincher hit a game winning single in the bottom of the ninth.  The next day, we saw the Wolfpack win a 17 inning thriller 5-4 to advance to Omaha (although we left after the top of the 10th as the boys had been there for 4+ hours).

It was a great time to see the Wolfpack win.

Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend:

Did the Wolfpack really win?  - Mark

I do not believe what I just saw.  - Jack (in his best Vin Scully impression)

This has been a wonderful day.  - Jack and Mark

Going to the Airport

There are two things that could cause the DeVault family not to go to Omaha.

1.  The Wolfpack doesn't win 2 of 3 versus Rice
2.  Either Jack or Mark don't want to fly

Each of these is a distinct possibility.

To alleviate the latter, after soccer practice, we took the boys to the RDU airport observation deck.  Here, we watch planes take off and land.  This is something we have not done in a long time and it was good to let the boys see how airplanes function.  We hoped this would make the boys excited about the chance of going to Omaha.  Jack was all in.  We had to make sure that Mark would feel comfortable on a plane so this was an important experience for him.

As we left, we asked the boys if they would want to fly to Omaha next weekend.  They both said YES!!!

Here Jack and Mark are acting as if they are the planes taking-off and landing:

Time to turn toward the terminal.  - Mark

Building up speed for take-off.  - Jack

Omaha bound?

The NC State baseball team is in the Super Regionals of the NCAA tournament.  They host Rice for the right to go to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.  The Wolfpack has not been to Omaha since 1968.  Daddy has always said that if the Wolfpack makes it to Omaha, he would be there as well.  This week, we had been asking the boys if they wanted to go to Omaha if the baseball team was going.  We explained that it would mean the family would get to fly on an airplane to Omaha.  Did the boys want to go?

You decide.

Parents Day for Mark

Mark's class at Children's House does not have a separate celebration for Mother's and Father's Day.  In between the two special days his class has "Parents Day."  This day involves all of the parents showing up and there is a wonderful surprise for each parent.  The kids (with their teacher's help) have made strawberry and orange (although it was like lemon) sorbet to eat.  It was really good.  Mark was proud of his sorbet he helped make.  He wanted to eat strawberry while he wanted Mommy and Daddy to eat the strawberry and lemon sorbet.

After we ate the sorbet, Mark showed us some of his work that he does on a daily basis.  The work is anything from drawing on a kids size chalkboard to using a syringe to move water from one cup to another to  polishing silver with a mixture of toothpaste and other ingredients.  One of the kids' favorites is to learn the continents, North and Central American countries, and finally the states of the union on a map.

Mark showed us 5 or 6 things that he works on regularly.  He was so excited to show off for us.  It was so cool for Mommy and Daddy.

We enjoyed spending the hour with him for Parents Day.  We look forward to it next year, when we will see what new work he is doing.

Here are a couple of pictures from the event:

Eating Sorbet.  A favorite father/son tradition.

Eating sorbet.  A wonderful mother/son tradition.

When I get medicine, this is how to properly use a syringe.  - Mark

This is how I practice cleaning.  - Mark

I use these tongs to pull out objects from the container.  It is good practice when Jack and I start playing the game Operation.  -Mark

I need to give a big hug to Mommy before she leaves.  - Mark

Likewise, I don't want to have Daddy leave either.  - Mark

Papa - Happy 90th Birthday

On June 5, Papa (pronounced paw-paw) turned 90 years old. What a day to celebrate the life of such a special man. The family had planned a little birthday party for him. But, unfortunately, we were not able to be in Gastonia for the party. We really hated to miss it, but were so glad that we were able to visit with him and spend so much time with him and Mama the week before. We love him so much and are so thankful for all that he has done for his family, his friends, his community and his country (a World War II veteran). We are so proud of him!! Happy 90th Birthday!!!

Raleigh Regional - NCAA Baseball

This past weekend, NC State hosted the Raleigh Regional in the first weekend of the NCAA Baseball Tournament.  The boys were very excited.  There were games twice a day all three days of the weekend.  With other things going on, we only were going to go to the games the Wolfpack played in.

The boys were so excited to be going to see all of the NC State games.  And it was even better that the Pack won all three games to advance to the Super Regional this upcoming weekend.  Here were the scores:

Friday:  NC State 4, Binghamton 1
Saturday:  NC State 1, William and Mary 0
Sunday:  NC State 9, William and Mary 2

The boys (and the fans that sit around us) loved all 3 games.  They enjoyed seeing the players and being at a baseball game.  Next up, the Rice Owls.

Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend at the Doak:

Two boys intensely watching the action on the diamond.

Mommy, I caught a t-shirt and it has Mr. Wuf on it.  - Mark

Daddy, am I going to catch a foul ball tonight?  I did bring my glove for that reason.  - Mark

Jack's picture of him and his brother

A couple of weeks ago, we went out to eat to celebrate Granna's birthday.  While we were there, the boys were working on writing their letters of their names.  After we did that for awhile, they started drawing.  Here is a picture that Jack drew of a man.  Pretty impressive if I say so.

This is really good.  Good job Jack.  It even comes with a legend.

Mark's Parent/Teacher Conference

A few days ago, we had the annual parent-teacher conference for Mark at Children's House.  We learned that our son is doing really well.  He is on track for almost all of the milestones that his teachers are expecting.  One of the interesting tidbits was that their nickname for Mark is "The Mayor."  He likes to know what each of his friends is doing.  One of his favorite activities is to "roam" the room in the afternoon and see what all of his friends are into.

One of his strongest areas is numbers and math.  He always chooses math work to do when he has to do individual work.  That sounds just like his parents.  I mean, a statistician and a CPA...did he really have a choice about liking numbers?

Here is a short summary by his teacher:

Mark is a great personality!  He is well loved by his friends and teachers.  We get great pleasure in his sense of humor.  He is beginning to be able to differentiate between occasions where humor is OK and when it is not appropriate.

Memorial Day at Pullen Park

On Memorial Day, we took the boys to Pullen Park.  We took them back to where they had their birthday party last year.   The boys remembered how much fun they had at the park the previous times we had gone there and were really looking forward to it, especially riding the train.

We got there early on the holiday in order to hopefully beat the crowds.  We did a good job of it.  We got there around 10 and we walked right onto the train.  By the time we left the park, lines were everywhere.  The boys rode the train and even rode in a row by themselves.  They loved that.  Then Jack and Mark rode the boats followed by the carousel.  After all those rides, they wanted to play on the playground some.  They had a fantastic time at Pullen Park and can't wait to go again.

Here is a video of them during their boat ride:



Here are some pictures of their adventures at the park:

I am ready for this train ride.  - Jack

Hey, this train ride would be cooler if Jack was sitting next to me.  - Mark

Here I am Mark.  Let's go.  We have our own row.  Excellent!  - Jack

Boat times are lots of fun.  But two steering wheels?  Who is actually driving the boat?

Best friends.  

I am the king of the world.  - Mark

This looks pretty difficult.  Let me see if I can get up without falling.  - Jack

It is time to build a sandbox.  - Jack

3 tired people after some fun times at the park.