Day 2,166

The Favorite Babes

Ella Mae LOVES giving kisses. And it would appear that Monroe likes to give them just as much! Ah! The sweetness is unbearable. 

We spent our last day in Spokane hanging out at Grandma’s house. We watered all her plants...

...discovered old pictures on her fridge(!!)...

...hunted spiders...

...and loved all the puppies!! This special guy’s name is Jack Jack - special because this is actually Bearett’s puppy that he grew up with! And he’s also the only pup (of SEVEN) that Amelia felt comfortable hugging. My heart. 

Then we drove back to Ellie’s to watch this hunk throw a ball. REALLY hard. 

For the first time in his life, Adam officially recorded a pitch above 98 MPH!! 98.3 to be exact! He pitched one inning and punched out two. We were ALL screaming!

Two things:

1) I told the kids a few weeks ago to yell at Dad to “sit him in the truck,” which is a funny way to tell Dad to “punch him out,” or in regular baseball speak, to “strike him out.”  Bearett has since mixed the two sayings and screamed at the TV, “PUNCH HIM IN THE TRUCK!”

2) In which case, Amelia said “AND LEAVE HIM THERE!”

They’re the best. And she’s pretty great too ;) Love you Mama!



What a trip! If this doesn’t scream that we’re exhausted, I don’t know what would! We’ve had SUCH a sweet time with our family and it’s always the hardest to kiss everyone goodbye before falling asleep that last night. The kids were all upset and it crushed my heart a bit, but we’re hoping that in the future, we’ll be able to have more and more visits from our family down to Florida so we don’t have to miss them so much! 

Thanks for hosting us, Ellie! You’re so generous and gracious to us and we are grateful to have an auntie so thoughtful! 

Day 2,419

The

Another day. A lot more smiles. What. Is. Happening??

Our hearts are content in Christ being sufficient. That’s what’s happening. Plus, we’re finding fun! And plenty of it. We swam for two hours (for free!) yesterday. Bearett dove into an Olympic sized pool from the platform and swam the entire length. 



Amelia swam half. 

Not too shabby, kidlets! 

Ella Mae just mostly floated. 

Also worth noting yesterday...Amelia FINALLY overcame her fear of mascots. FINALLY. After much coercing and extensive explaining, she’s now fully come to terms with the fact that Boudreaux the Nurtia Rat is actually just Mr. Bob - a real human that she knows. She’s been terrified with these “monsters” since she was a baby but I think we might just officially be past this most painful hurdle. 

And thank goodness for that!

Because “Bear”-dreaux is actually quite sweet!



“Ella Mae”-dreaux even sweeter!! 

Day 2,400

The End of Spring Blessing

Dad’s last day of Spring Training meant that he was finally able to make it to Bear’s tee ball game!

The Riverdogs played so well yesterday that they got to take some coach-pitch swings! Bearett is about a mile late on swinging at live pitches, but he has made so many strides elsewhere that I wouldn’t be surprised to see him hitting line drives by the end of his season. We’re so proud of you, Bubba!!

This beauty is too. 

Favorite photo of Bearett’s tee ball year yet. What a treasure to have Daddy there watching and cheering as Bearett showed off his new skills. The pride he carried yesterday was so adorable. It was as though his extra bit of swagger was purposeful to say “I’m so happy you’re here Daddy! Look what I can do! I’m just like you!”

Speaking of Bearett being like Dad, before the game yesterday, Bear came up to me and told me he was about to go to work and make some money playing baseball. I asked him how much he was going to make and he said, “ten monies.” I can’t believe how much I love this family. Insane. They are the absolute best. 



After the game, we came home to about seven loads of laundry. We had to pack Dad’s bag for the season, which meant pulling everything out, cleaning everything up, and finding all the lost socks. It’s about to get crazy y’all. 

Also, while Amelia was praying last night, she said, “And dear Lord, help Dada go to New Orleans so we can watch him pitch...and he’ll get super big HAs.” Adam and I died laughing. Right in the middle of her prayer. In this family, a HA is what we call a strikeout because of the sound the umpire makes when he calls the third strike. And apparently she wants Dad to get SUPER BIG ones!!  Can’t get enough of the hilarious things she comes up with! Also, while we were reading our bible, Amelia tried copying Daddy saying the word “persecution.” Yeah, it came out of her mouth “poop-r-cution.” Gotta love it. 

Day 2,305

The Friday Fun

The sound of music fills my home all the day long (among other shrieks, laughs, screams, and squeals), and now Amelia’s homemade music is part of my soundtrack. I can’t get enough of watching her sing while playing her guitar. Yesterday she was singing and playing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and “Behold our God,” and “Nothing But the Blood.” This child!!!! Blesses my heart so much!

She makes me cry with joy and she makes me laugh till I cry!! Love you, Big Sis. Infinitely. 

Later, we celebrated Brady’s birthday at the bowling alley. 

Played some arcade games. (Bearett won the prize for best facial expressions)!

And Daddy made it his mission to win a 400 token pink giraffe for Amelia. She walked away one giraffe richer. Named her “TwoRose.” A good day, I’d say. 

Day 2,249

The Together Family

We shower together. 

We "study" together. 

We say bye together. 

We cry when Dad leaves together. 

But we always seem to manage well together regardless of what the next day brings. 

I love my little family. And I miss Daddy already. The annual hunting trip with his dad was calling him away. Only this time, he's coming home with meat for sure, so that makes it sting a little less. But not much. 

Also I HAVE to remember this:

Amelia got soap in her eyes while in the shower yesterday. She screamed, "Mom!!!! My eyes are burning like the burning bush!!!" (Moses and the burning bush reference) Haaaaaa!! Can't make this stuff up. She's listening and learning and making similes like a ten year old. Cracks me up. 

Day 2,233

The Red (Ant) Eye

What started off as an innocent day of fun, complete with jumping, 

and diving,

and singing "The wise man built his house upon the rock!" in the rain...

...Turned quickly into this. 

Fun: stolen. By a teeny tiny red ant that I swatted off her face probably two seconds too late. That guy got three bites before I crushed the life out of him. 

And now our big girl is wounded, reacting as per usual to bug bites: severe and extreme. Florida bugs...LEAVE MY GIRL ALONE!!!

Ella Mae, now girl, don't get too carried away looking at those lights. They're not THAT interesting. I already have one babe nursing a messed up eye. I don't need another :(

Day 2,215

The Conleys Require More Hours in a Day

Backwards dress. Lego builder. 

Cranky baby. Laundry disabler. 

Mattress walls. Fort creators. 

Night swim. Pencil diver. 

Now, happy baby. Princess jumper. 

Yesterday was constant moving, packing, cleaning, sorting, playing. Next destination: Washington State. 

Overheard Amelia say today:

"I gotta put my phone right here cuz my boobs are growing too big!"

Overheard Bearett say today:

"I gotta go to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let my people go!"

Day 2,208

The "Holy Spirit" Builder

Yeah for new pjs!!!

And for kisses too! Bed time is always so cozy around here. 

And surprise! Adam threw an inning out of the pen last night a bit unexpectedly. Apparently his manager had mentioned that he wanted Adam to get another inning or so in order to leave season better than his last start. And well, he pitched a clean inning and ended up getting the W. So, yeah, we'll take it!

My favorite part of the night though...

"Amelia, what are you making?" I asked. 

As matter of factly as possible she said, "I'm making the Holy Spirit, Mom."

Bahahahahahaha. I was first shocked that she even knew the words Holy Spirit, and then I was busting up laughing because of how serious she was when she said it. This girl, guys. So smart. So funny. Check out her "Holy Spirit." And when Bearett broke it in half, she cried, "Mom!!! Bearett just broke my Holy Spirit!!" Haha I can't even. So funny! Not even close to understanding the meaning, but I'm thankful she even knows the words. God is so good. 

Day 2,193

The 30th

I rung in Year 30 with two surprise treats delivered to our Philly hotel room while spending the whole day packing it up and getting three tiny gremlins and their gremlin mom ready. Amelia smushed the cupcake my Mama sent me (she knows my expectation of cake on birthdays! Love you!) and I ate the "Happy Birthday" paper on the giant cookie, which I mistook for frosting. We didn't leave the room until 5:45PM, but I managed to snag an iced coffee before boarding the bus en route to the series finale against the Phillies. Day made. All in all, though we were impossibly busy, I enjoyed the sporadic celebrations as they came and am thankful for the hectic moments because of why they exist. We're safe from Irma and all together. I couldn't ask for more. 

The Marlins have offered a family bus to every game while we've been on the road. The kids may have found their newest and most favorite way to travel. They also now have more reason and better understand of the song "The Wheels on the Bus," and sang it the whole way. 

On my 30th, I checked another stadium off the list. Citizen's Bank Park, hello. 

And they checked another state on the map. It's wild, but I do love traveling with them. My three miniature best friends and I wouldn't choose anyone else to do this with. 

Best gift of all: Dada!! We got to ride the bus with him all the way to the aw-pwan and flew through the sky into the wee hours of the night all together. Favorite part: ALL TOGETHER. 

Second favorite part: the 45 minutes Daddy and Mommy got to enjoy all alone while the kiddies snoozed. We were given two rows this trip and it sure makes things easier come sleep time!! We landed in Milwaukee around 1 AM and finally hit the pillows around 2:30AM. 

Thank you to all those who wished me a happy birthday yesterday. I'm truly grateful for your kind words and sweet encouragement. I'm more busy than ever, so I apologize if I didn't reply yet on Facebook, but I haven't had any time! We were originally scheduled to fly back to Miami yesterday, but due to the lingering effects of Irma, the series against the Brewers was moved to Milwaukee. And rightfully so. Our roads aren't completely serviceable yet, our condo still doesn't have air conditioning, and the city of Miami needs all the resources available to them and not split between emergencies and a baseball game. So, we're on the road again until Sunday night, when we fly back into Miami. We're hoping to have power in our condo by then. Apparently, all is well at our HOME home, though our special Rainbow Tree was fallen by Irma, which we'll replant once we're home! Thankful we were protected as we were from Irma because not everyone can say the same thing.  

So grateful for such rich years behind me and for the ones that lay ahead of me. I'm looking forward with great expectation to what the Lord has for me this year. Much love, my friends.