Catch Up

Seems it's extremely hard to get organized and back in the swing of things these days. I have no idea what's gotten ahold of me but I can't seem to get everything in order again.

We've spent an awful lot of time at the ballpark and very little at home it seems. Between doing things at school and being on the baseball field seems I'm constantly playing catch up. Lucas started travel ball this year and we played in our first tournament two weeks ago - we ended the weekend 2 and 2. We play in our second on this weekend - I think once I get everything in order with the new team things will settle down (I hope so at least).

I never get tired of watching him play ball - I get tired of all the huss and fuss that goes on around the ballpark with 3 other kids but I could sit and watch him play all day long. Then again I know that it will seem like no time has passed and the 3 others will be grown and gone so I think I'll stay right where I'm at right now.

This little girl sticks right by my side the entire weekend! Wherever I am - behind the plate taking pictures,sitting in a chair, walking behind the dugout,on the first base line - she's running after me. The other two are usually playing somewhere but not her - she's my sidekick!

He's stuck in this rut with his arm right now - he is still hitting well but his arm is obviously not in the right place. One more thing I'm sure they'll be working on :)

                                               Love this one!!!! He looks like a natural!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Everybody knows we're a baseball family. We live, breathe and eat baseball it seems 24 hours a day. If David could start the boys playing at 3 yrs old then he would. Fortunately the local league around here won't start them until they are 4 or 5. Of course he thinks Allie is going to play too - I have other things to say about that though. I deserve a gym for gymnastics or a dance studio at least once in my life I think.

T ball is cute and funny because the kids are first starting out but when you're going from action packed kids pitch games to a t ball game back and back you kinda get the feeling you're sitting there watching paint dry. You can't start coaches pitch until you're 7 around here so this is Jacob's first year getting to play what we call "the first years of REAL ball". He's really enjoying it and he's far beyond his age in skill right now. He still needs a little work on batting but let me tell you that boy has an arm. Not only does he have an arm but he's got a straight pitch that's fast and clearly has something to it. He wants to be a pitcher - he made his mind up a year or so ago and has not wavered since. He's still got 2 years before he's able to actually pitch and I hope the desire doesn't leave him.

I think he may even get a little bored at this level -here is what he was doing during the game. I have no idea what was going on in his mind but he obviously was having a good time.

Backyard Baseball

The kids love to play baseball outside - I know, Gasp!!! Baseball at our house? They have a certain spot they used that is home plate EVERY single time and it has to be right in that exact spot too!!!!

They have bases - pool is first base - the used to be tree that was just cut down was 2nd - now I believe a chair is put there and another tree is 3rd. On this particular night I think they were playing a mixture of baseball and kickball.

It's hilarious watching them play. They constantly argue - well Lucas and Jacob constantly argue about whether or not someone was safe or out - if the ball was fair or foul - strike or ball. Constantly yet at the same time they are making fantastic memories that I know they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

I love Caleb's backwards pj's in this picture - trying to be such a big boy like his Daddy and brothers yet still shows how little he is :)

Everytime someone gets up to bat - a hand goes up in the air and the bat (golf club in this instance) gets smacked on the ground several times in order to better prepare to hit the ball :) Metal bats have been put away in our backyard - it's only for the safety of our children's bodies and heads because someone would absolutely be hit several times if they were available for play. The plastic bats that were out there have been broken so for now they have resorted to using plastic golf clubs.

He Has A Dream

                                                               This guy has a dream :

                                                             He wants to be a pitcher...

                                                                       with a passion!

He's only 6 and surprisingly he can throw the ball very well and even straight most of the time.

By the looks of it - he's going to go far - therefore I won't be leaving the baseball field anytime soon.

Allstars

Lucas has been spending his summer so far playing allstars for baseball. It's been tiring and hot - did I say it's been HOT??? We've had temps in the mid 90s for about 2 weeks now with no break in sight. In fact it's supposed to be in the upper 90s at the end of this week.

It's always so funny to see the ball his his glove and the dirt come off - that's one dirty glove - I think he must store dirt in there at night or something.

We've played one tournament already and let's just say we didn't fair so well at that one. For some reason it seems as if the excitement and hustle is just missing from the team this year. We practice 7 days a week though we have taken a couple of days off here and there - they have it at practice. They are excited and they look awesome on the field - then when we get to the game it looks as though we just picked people up off the side of the road to play. Hopefully they have just been saving it all up for the real tournament this weekend.  Maybe I'm comparing it with last year when the team was always up and cheering as were the fans and everyone was into the game and hustling along whether it was 70 or 90 degrees outside. It's been totally different this year . We have another tournament this weekend which will determine if they play again or if they are done. See we play subdistrict this weekend and in order to go to district we have to finish in the top two. Hopefully these kids will come alive for the weekend!!

 I love this picture - when he gets up to bat and there's already 2 outs he warms up with the bottom half of his equipment on just in case - I think he looks so cute that way :)

Of course during all of this heat Lucas is behind the plate with all the extra equipment on too - I'm sure that doesn't add to the heat at all now does it?!

Happy Monday!

I woke up last night to thunder followed by downpours of rain-I woke up this morning to rain and more rain. I am not a happy person this morning. Don't get me wrong I love me some rain! Love it!!! I want to just sit in my bed with a book and the window open and listen to the rain for the entire day. BUT I don't want to be stuck in a house with 4 kids and no husband on a holiday in the rain-that just sucks! So here I am knowing that my house is going to wake up and very quickly sound like the monkey section at the zoo and I'm going to wish I could just throw them outside and let them play in the rain. You tell me that's a good idea?-well let me share a little something with you. It rained yesterday too and yes we let them play in the rain-fun,huh? Well the kids thought so until I had to do baths at 230 in the afternoon because the little ones were so dirty and cold. Then they had to stay inside the rest of the day because really I don't get my pleasures off of doing more than 4 baths a day so I think we'll avoid going outside to play in the rain today.

On a positive note I hit 100 followers last night!!!! Wow! I am speechless that there are people out there that are actually interested in my life. Not only are they interested but that I've developed some wonderful friends through this blog-I've found strong loyal people that are there for me when I just don't have it in me. I'll admit and those of you that have been around for a while know that this past year or two has been tough! I won't lie-there have been days I've felt like just sitting down and quitting. There was never a day when I felt that way though that I didn't get a comment or email from someone lifting me back up. What a godsend you all have been in my life! I'm so thankful for all of my followers!!!

Now since I can't leave you without a picture here's a couple from Lucas' last baseball game. We got knocked out of the tournament with 2 games to go so basically finished 3rd. It was a tough year-we had a few kids on our team that weren't out there to give it their all and were only there because their parents were making them play. Those that were there to play with heart and soul suffered. Thankfully we're starting all stars on Tuesday and that's an entirely different group of kids. They are those that live and breathe baseball - should be a fun summer :)

This picture is blurry bc I had my camera on the wrong setting-I don't know why - really I didn't have anything else to worry about while I was there like a kid spilling orange gatorade all over her shirt or sticky hands from a ring pop all over my body.

At Home on the Field

I'm so proud of this kid! There is nothing in my life that I enjoy more than watching him play baseball. I never thought I'd be a baseball mom-riding back and forth from field to field and actually enjoying watching them play and getting into the games. I thought I'd be sitting there clueless painting my toenails and reading a book from the boredom. It's turned out to be anything but that!

He's had challenges this year in and out of school. What a transition year 3rd grade has been and I can't believe we're only 2 weeks away from surviving it. Nevertheless the baseball field has been his home many a nights-in fact more than I can count. He lives for the sport and I love that we are able to give it to him.

We start tournament play tonight-here's hoping we get a better outcome than last year when they rained out the championship game!!! Here's hoping we make it to the championship game :)

\

Done!

We're through with baseball. Done..Finito! I am exhausted and ready for a break. I still need to plan and organize a end of season party but I'm taking a couple of weeks off and then I'll figure it all out. The kids had a great time and we all enjoyed it but the constant running is finally catching up with me I believe. We played our last two games tonight and finished 3rd in our final tournament.

Other than spending 99% of our time at the ballpark there hasn't been much going on around here. We spend one day last week outside most of the day on the slip and slide. I need to upload those pictures but I haven't even attempted it yet. We did smores one night and I need to get those uploaded too but once again not there yet.

We played in a tournament this past weekend and had double headers both Saturday and Sunday. Lucas got hurt in Sundays game. He went to catch a foul ball and slipped on a bat that the batter had thrown down..when he came down he landed on his kneecap. The scream I'll never forget! When David got out there he just knew it was going to be broken the way that Lucas was laying. Thank goodness I think it scared him more than anything and today he hasn't complained with it at all. I didn't get a picture of the knee but I have pics of him playing yesterday...not uploaded though of course :) He played in the outfield for a couple of innings after he got hurt and he was excited about that.

Since I don't have any new pictures these are from the tournament last week...Jacob has begged all season to be bat boy but David always told him he wasn't big enough..he finally let him last week and Jacob loved it..for 2 games that is until he got tired of it and it was exciting anymore. I think he thought it was going to be so much more fun than it actually turned out to be. Cute while it lasted though :)




My goal is to get pictures uploaded in the next day or so and catch up on my posts. We're leaving out Friday morning for a much needed break in the mountains. I am soooo ready to leave and get away for a couple of days.

Weekend Chaos

I think I'm actually glad it's Monday now. That rarely ever happens but this morning I'm so glad we don't have to go back to the park in 90+ degree heat for another double header.

We started out the weekend with 2 games on Saturday...we lost the first and finished with Lucas getting hit in the face with the ball. We won our second game though and that lifted the kids spirits up a big. Sunday we played two games again and lost both and almost sweated to death in the heat. The kids just weren't into it this weekend...they had spurts when they were excited and ready to go and during those periods we hit and fielded with the best of them but then it'd fall back down again. Jacob got to be bat boy yesterday and I was so out of it I didn't even pull out my camera....I can't imagine why I'd have been busy but that's my excuse for the time being. He's been asking to do it all year and David finally let him...he had so much fun!!!! I am going to try and get a picture of him tonight if he does it again. I'm hoping we got that out of our systems because we play every night this weekend except Wednesday. It's kinda nice to only have one game tonight...like an ice cream treat :)



Here's my princess at her second home. She did exceptionally well given the amount of time we spent there this weekend over about 10+ hours. I'm beginning to think there's no way we're going to avoid her being on some sort of a ballteam....I'm thinking I may could play one of those tapes that just repeats things time after time in the middle of the night and she'll wake up living dance or something. I mean really after all these years at the ballfield being in an air conditioned room watching a line of girls in tutus might not be such a bad thing :)



Here's Lucas after the game...had to get a picture of the injury again. We immediately put ice on it and that helped it alot!!!!!!! He was in a bad mood after the game even though this was the game they won...he got in trouble because he broke the water cooler bracket so he wasn't happy with his dad. Oh well....documentation is all that matters,right?