Waterpark and Baseball

The boys are at a fun age! Monday we spent the day at Cherry Hill riding the slides and swimming. We packed a cooler full of goodies and made a day of it. Crew was able to stay home with Grandma and while we did miss him it sure was nice to be able to spend some "quality" time with the older boys. They really needed it.

We topped off the night with a Bee's game. Who would've known that we would become so sports driven. My sister, Sheri, said "You're such a TRADITIONAL family". Um.... that's okay with me;)

Oh, today I ran my first double digit training run.... TEN MILES! I used the Power gels for the first time and after I took my second one I got a side ache. I ran through it and it went away. I had some chafing so I will need to look into getting different clothes or trying Bodyglide. I'm loving it!

All-Stars Tournament

I'm sad that our Baseball season has ended. The All-Stars was a good experience for S. His team played hard, they were competitive, they had fun! The coaches were very knowledgeable which was what S needed. They battled hard and came away with 2nd Place.

Saturday at the game Crew fell out of his walker and face planted in the gravel. I was right there but I couldn't save him this time. He came out of it with a hamburger chin, one cut finger, and a bruised elbow. When he falls I feel like its all my fault. It's hard finding a balance between giving him some freedom and making sure he's safe. Usually, I have my finger hooked in the collar of his shirt just in case he stumbles but not this time... unfortunately. I try to tell myself that most kids his age (developmentally) are getting their fair share of bumps and bruises too.

ALL STAR PLAYER

Our little Red team wrapped up the season with just ONE win. I'll tell you it was tough to sit there and watch and in fact I've probably chewed off a nail or two. I'm not proud to say I approached the coach during the last game and let him know I felt his "strategy" is what lost us the game. We were ahead until the last inning and he muffed it up. However, I did feel a little bit better when he admitted to the team afterwards that it was his fault that they lost.

Throughout the season I contemplated taking pictures of the various teams and posting here on the blog to show how poorly the teams were matched up. Our boys were clearly the smaller of the bunch but I have to admit that they were UNITED and seemed to have fun for the most part. If anything, they learned to work hard, give it all they got and still hold their heads up.

Monday was the end of season Banquet (Potluck). Today I realized, I really don't care for the word "potluck"... it just sounds like a gamble or something. Maybe it should be "pot yuck". Oh, and we have another one on Friday. Oh wow, I'm getting off topic here:) They gave out the awards, "MVP, Most-Improved, and Sportsmanship". Then at the end they announced the boys that were chosen to play on the All-Stars team.

S was one of the lucky ones. I gave him the choice as to whether or not he wants to continue playing and I think he is going to go for it. He will be competing in a 3 day tournament in a couple weeks with baseball teams from some of the communities in our neck of the woods. I look forward to watching S play another game or two. We'll see:)

PERSPECTIVE

I've posted about the "Everyone Can" program before. S took it upon himself to submit an entry for their art contest. I didn't give him any ideas... it's just something he decided to do on his own. The art was judged by several artists and not only was he picked as a WINNER for his age group but his picture was selected to be on the cover of a calendar.

I love the way this kid thinks:)

Oh, the Places You Will Go...

by Dr. Seuss
Congratulations
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own....

We visited Grandma and Grandpa at their farm yesterday. Crew is going to love summer this year. I followed him around the farm pretty much walking and wandering and meandering. He was loving every minute of it and I thought of the Dr. Seuss book, "Oh, the Places You Will Go". We don't own it... maybe we should.
Today, we started our second week of baseball. I love baseball! Unfortunately, I was all tied up in knots over it last week when I came to the realization that the teams were clearly stacked. Things are getting evened out a bit and I think S is having fun! Really, I hope they win a few 'cause I'm not sure I can stand another season of solid losses.

We live in a gorgeous part of the country- don't we!

Go Go Go

The past week has been play play play.
Monday night was S's last baseball game.

Tuesday night was the baseball banquet for H's machine-pitch baseball team. They gave out character awards like, "Most Theatrical, Intuitive Batter, Girl Power, Enthusiastic". H got the "Serious" ball player award. This really made me giggle because I'm thinking it will be the last time anyone refers to H as "serious". However, ever since H was a little tike he tends to put on a serious face anytime he is really enjoying himself. Then when you smile at him he tries not to smile back and kind of wrinkles up his little nose and then covers up his dimple with his hand. So funny!

Wednesday night was S's Baseball Banquet. His team tied for second place. S was awarded the "Most Improved Player" award and received a very nice plaque. Isn't that cool!

On Thursday we rented a little UHaul trailer and headed down to happy valley to pick up a piano that I purchased through a free internet advertisement. I paid a whopping $200 for this old thing. My DH and BIL were great sports about loading it and I was a good sport too when they dropped it. Pictures will come after I get a chance to clean it up and glue the leg back on:( Currently the piano sits in my garage where S practices daily. He had his first lesson last Monday and he loves it.

Friday was Lagoon Day. Grandma took little Crew for the day. It was fun being with the older boys and not worrying about Crew getting too hot or tired. However, we missed him and while it was a lot of fun the 105 degree temps nearly killed me. I didn't blink an eye at spending $5 for two bottles of water because I thought I was going to die.

DH started playing in our community softball tournament.

Saturday we attended a family reunion and yet another Softball game. C and his team played well. The Ump made them all bat backwards during the last inning because they were 19 points ahead. So funny!

Today.... I'm so thankful for the Sabbath Day and the chance to slow down.

Tis the season for Baseball

H and Crew watching the game. Crew does not enjoy going to the games which is really hard because I just want to watch the game but I'm constantly walking him around. We've found that a cup of rootbeer from concessions keeps him happy for a little while.

Before the game. S is playing quite well this season. We have games 3 nights a week plus practices.
This isn't a great picture but I wanted to show the piles of cotton which have fallen off the Cotton Trees. It was coming down so thick that I got some in my eyes. While playing catcher, S lost the ball a couple of times because the cotton behind home plate was 6 inches deep in some areas.

Bullet review

• The visit with Dr. Rehab last Friday went well. We've decided to start Crew off with some Botox injections in his hamstrings. The tightness in his hamstrings prevents him from sitting flat legged. I have scheduled this for the 7th of June.
• S pitched one inning again in his Baseball game Monday. He struck out two batters and got the 3rd out on First base. Yahoo!
• H played his second baseball game of the season on Tues. He did well at bat hitting the ball into the outfield.
• Today, I am so thankful to stay at home and spend some time with the kids, mow the lawn, and prepare for tonights cub scout activity.
• Today, I heard the devastating news that my 28 year old friend has stage 4 breast cancer and it has spread to her bones. They are waiting to find out if its in her organs. She has 5 young children. This is horrible:(

Triple Header

I have baseball on the brain. S played his 2nd baseball game of the season last night. They lost 7-9. The boys are ages 9- 12 and its his first year for pitching. Last year it was coach pitch but now the boys are learning to pitch and its so stressful watching them struggle. Coach put S in as pitcher the first inning. S had never pitched before. He was a bit rusty but I thought he did a good job for first time. The other team had several good pitchers and we really only have one. 12 year olds are only allowed to pitch one inning and so these younger boys 9 and 10 years old are learning.

H has his first game of machine pitch ball. The league has been taken over by a very disorganized woman. First game is tonight and I still have not been given a game schedule or the jersey. I'm thinking tonights game is going to be very interesting:)

Crew's ear has been draining for almost a week. Today when I took out his hearing aid there was dried blood in there. I'm so worried about his ears and his hearing. We don't need one more setback. Tomorrow morning we have a triple header with Dr. visits: 9:00 Physical Therapy, 10:00 Audiology, 11:30 ENT. Hopefully we will figure out what is going on.

Good news is that I had an excuse to come home early from work today. The babysitter is sick and so I only worked two hours so I could make it home in time to meet the Preschool bus. The weather is beautiful and now I need to go pull some weeds:)

I lost sleep last night over our culdesac woes! A nice quiet family moved out and some witchy weirdo lying ho bought the place. Rumor is that she bought it on a short sale and so hopefully she is just fixing it up to re-sell. She's been scouting out our culdesac for weeks sitting in her car watching our houses and our kids. I finally sent DH out one afternoon to see what was going on because I was concerned about the welfare of our children. She said she was just looking at houses but she drove by several times a day for weeks and now she is acting like she hates all of us! What the hell! Nothing adds up with this woman and I'm so sick of seeing her here! Pray that she never moves in. Gag!