Summer is Kicking My Butt

Where have I been? I honestly don't know. Maybe it'll get better for a little bit now that baseball is done. S3's team ended their season 1 and 21. Yes, you read that right. One win, twenty-one losses. It was a looooooooong season. I have to say that it was the first year Exeter had a Prep Legion team and it was the first year our coaches have ever coached and it was a fact that we were not provided with a field to practice on but really this was a little ridiculous.

At first I didn't really have a problem with the way things were going. I fully expected our boys to pull together and improve; after all they are some of the best players in the area. But there was a distinct lack of morale which I think can be directly blamed on the coaches.

Baseballs sometimes come in large buckets. Our team had two such baseball buckets upon which our coaches perched through the entire game. Toward the end of the season the parental grumbling got louder and louder and I heard the phrases, "Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dumb" and "Frogs on Lilly Pads" and my personal favorite, "The Bucket Boys." We were informed about a fall league and I heard parents say their sons would not be playing if the same guys were going to be coaching. It was bad.

Anyway, Steve was home for a week and now he's gone again. I think he'll be home every other week now through August. I miss him but I'll be glad to hog all the pillows to myself. He had the most amazing compliment from one of the head-honchos at the place where he's been working. I would share more but I don't know how much is sensitive (large corporations can get touchy sometimes) but you gotta trust me on this one. I don't know that he's ever received such a compliment and he's gotten a lot of accolades over the years.

S3 went to camp two weeks ago and last week Ty and G went for a week. It was the first time any of them spent more than a night or two apart from me. Funny enough, I didn't really miss them too much and I don't think they missed me at all. They had a blast and they're looking forward to going again next year. I think that's a good sign.

Steve's grandmother's family had a reunion this past weekend. Although I've been married to this man for nearly 14 years and although I mail out Christmas cards to these folks semi-regularly, I've never actually met most of them. It was interesting. They were all very nice (it's obvious if you know Steve's grandmother at all that her family would be wonderful) but still I hid in the side yard with the kids and my BIL most of the day. I'm not as good in a crowd as I used to be.

What else have we done this summer? Hmmm. Well my BIL has nearly finished fixing up my back yard for me and I must say it looks gorgeous. He put in a teared veggie garden, did some major flower bed reconstruction, tore down my old fencing and put new up, made a bunny pen, mulched and even mowed a couple of times. He's wonderful. I've had Steve's sister and her family over for a few barbeque's to enjoy all their hard work but I don't think I'll ever be able to convey my gratitude properly. It's such a relief to have a beautiful haven in my back yard.

Speaking of bunnies, soon it'll be bunny shaving time. My sister's friend has angora clippers and she's said she'd come over and help me de-hair the hare. Being crazy spinner/weaver types they're both excited for the fiber. Mel had me laughing one of the last times she was over. Beck had shed a big clump of hair on my shirt and she was all excited about how well it {insert spinning/weaving term that I can't remember here} and then she started to twist and show me how strong the fibers are. We've decided she'll spin me some yarn and I'll crochet a scarf. Then I can really be the crazy bunny lady.

Ok I've babbled enough. Maybe I'll manage to post again but sooner than a month from now.

It's Official

On this very day, thirteen years ago, a little boy was placed in my arms for the very first time and I became a mother.

On this very day my baby takes his first big step into the teenaged years.


Thank you God for blessing us with thirteen years of joy. Here's to 100 more.

PS His baseball team won their first game today 7 - 6!!!

Hello Summer

Sorry I've been MIA for a while. We've been busy with soccer, baseball and summer! On Memorial Day S3 ended up marching in a parade with the American Legion which was pretty cool.

Waiting for the parade to start:

Here they come:

School let out at the end of May and besides all the sports, we've been hanging out with Beckham, gardening (pics of both coming soon) and swimming at the pool. The water is freezing and I don't how the kids can stand it but they do.

Look at the look of pure evil on S3's face. Splashing his brother.

Holy Sports Weekend Batman

I must be nuts. That's the only reason I can come up with for why I would say yes to two kids playing soccer and two kids playing baseball all in the same weekend. Here's how my weekend looked:

Friday 6 PM Ty had baseball at our home field
Saturday 7 AM Ty had soccer 30 minutes away
11:20 AM Ty had another game - same field
1:30 G had soccer 1.5 hrs away - 1.5 hrs back to...
4:20 Ty had another soccer game - same field as before.
Sunday 7 AM S3 had baseball 1.5 hrs away.
12:30 PM Coaches for S3's team decide to play a double header
5:30 PM Ty had another soccer game 2 hrs away.

I put somewhere around 250 miles on my minivan iin two days. That was a lot of running, even for me. And now onto the pictures...

Ty is the one with orange sleeves and black socks.

I'd forgotten how much I like to watch him play. He really focuses on the game and plays hard and even though they usually lose, he's always in a good mood afterward.

Waiting to sub in.

She hasn't been terribly aggressive with the bigger girls but when the ball comes near her, she wins it every time.

I've decided I must need to invest in some catcher's equipment because look who else decided to give the position a try...

Honestly at first I was a little disappointed because he's so good in the 2nd base/short stop position plus I really felt like it was cool that Ty had something kinda special by being catcher but once I saw S3 play I stopped being disappointed. He was fantastic.

It must be genetic. My dad was a catcher too.

Poor E. Doesn't she look totally worn out by all the sports?

The girls were driving me crazy by the end of the day so I let them play with my camera so they'd let me watch the soccer game. G accidentally caught a generational pic. It's not a great pic of any of us but I thought it was kinda cool.

So that was my crazy weekend. Now I'm going to go crash. If you need me, I'll be in bed.

Who Is That Masked Man?

Ty's baseball season has officially started. They had their fourth game last night and Ty seems to have fallen somewhat naturally into the catcher's position. It's really nice to see him trying something different from his brother. I don't remember ever seeing S3 in the catcher's position.

He needs some work; he's still not sure what to do with his other hand while he's catching but last night he caught more than he dropped and he really seems to enjoy it. It's so awesome to see him really get into the game.

Ty has been an every-other year player since the first time he picked up a bat and glove. Every other year he says, "Oh, I don't want to play baseball this year" and then we'll go watch his brother play and he'll say, "Oh I wish I had signed up for baseball!" This year is an on year and I think it might break the every-other pattern.

It's funny, neither of my boys are very strong batters but they're both above average fielders. I'm not sure why that would be other than maybe it's easier for them to practice catching than it is batting. Ty had some batting instruction on Saturday but he still looked a little awkward at the game last night. I know he will improve as the season progresses.



I'm late in blogging this but I didn't actually miss the event. Ty turned ten years old on May 4th. We went with my grandfather out to eat at Friendly's and Steve (who pushed to get home for the special day) took him to the driving range. We let him pick out his own birthday gift at ToysRUs and he chose a Nerf semi-automatic dart gun. I think having his dad home for those couple of days was the best gift though. It never fails to amaze me (no matter how good I think I'm doing) how much a boy needs his dad. No pictures. I accidentally deleted them when I was taking pictures of Beckham on his first day home. {blush}

Happy First Decade Ty!

Even MORE Baseball Drama

So I told you about S3 and the school team and S3 and the City-County team right? Well the Jr. Legion guy called and said he also really wanted S3. I said thanks but we've already accepted another offer. That's when he started telling me how Ex. has instituted a "no tolerance policy for those who leave the league."

I was like

So he goes on to tell me that if S3 leaves Ex. to play city-county, he can't come back and play for Ex. ever again. Freaked me out. Maybe I misunderstood but I don't think it matters because no matter what he said, that's what I heard.

So I called one of S3's old coaches who I knew had older boys that had gone thru the program and I said, "What the heck?" because I signed up with Ex., S3 had try outs with Ex. and the C/C coach got S3's name from the Ex. signs and trys so how are we leaving the league?

The ex-coach explained it all so that a first-time mom could understand and long story short for a number of really valid reasons (one of them being I have FOUR children in different activities every night of the week and the practices were close enough for S3 to walk) we decided to stick with C/C and called the Jr. Legion guy and declined the position.

The next day the C/C coach called and said he was really very sorry but they couldn't field a team this year. Really. Veeerrrrysorry. Really.

I went to bed and cried for an hour. That's the truth. I couldn't do anything but lay there and cry I was so stressed out. I just can't believe all the politics and headaches that are going along with my child playing Little League. I mean COME ON PEOPLE! What's with that? He isn't 30 and playing for a million and half dollar contract; he's 13 and I have to pay a million and half dollars for him to play.

So here we were, turned down from or turning down four different teams in one season. Everyone wanted him and noone wanted him all at the same time. OMG how does that happen?

I called that poor Jr. Legion guy about 100,000,000 times and finally he called back four days later and said S3 still had a spot on his team if he wanted it. So I'm saying this very quietly because until I see the uniform on my kid, I don't think I'll believe it but S3 is playing Jr. Legion this year.

Whatevah.

Now That's What I Call BASEBALL Baby!

I know we had some issues with S3 and our school league but the fact is, S3 had intended to play two leagues this year and so it was frustrating but no big loss to step away from the one. Saturday S3 had tryouts for three teams. When we signed up way back in January what they told me was this:

Lowest level: Senior's league
Mid level: Junior Legion (about 10 boys from this township would make this team)
Highest level: City-County (about 4 boys from this township would make this team)

So I figured, sure S3's pretty good. He has a good shot at Junior Legion. No way is he going to make the City-County because the odds are against him, right? Tonight I came home to a message on my answering machine.

My son is on the City-County team.

I swear this is one of the proudest moments I've ever had as a mother. And I can't help but feel a great deal of satisfaction that for one lousy month the school team could have had a player of his caliber. Ha.

Follow Up On the Baseball Drama

I was really proud of S3; although he was really scared to do it, he talked to one of the coaches from the juniors about getting a spot on the team despite his birthdate. We heard back last night finally that S3 was not the only one who had to be cut because of his birthday and therefore they couldn't let him on the team. While we understand, we are both also disappointed. There are rumors that next year they may actually hold tryouts and cut based on skill rather than age. That would be nice but I'm not holding my breath.

Anyway I am glad that S3 worked up the nerve to say something. If nothing else I think he's walking away having learned that he didn't die just because he asked a question and the answer was no.

And in the mean time the refunded sports fee we'll be getting happens to be almost exactly what we need to buy his metal cleats for the other team. That seems like a win to me.

Baseball Drama

I'm trying to decide if drama just follows me where ever I go or if I somehow unconsciously cause all this drama in my life. Either way, here's the latest installment...

Tuesday afternoon I had a phone message from a couple I know from school and baseball. Turns out the husband part of this couple is going to be coaching baseball this year and they're having a last-minute practice Tuesday night. They'd like to know if S3 is going to make it.

I started thinking about this couple and their children and I became very confused. See, they have three sons. One child is a good year or two younger than S3. Their next son is Ty's age and the youngest is somewhere around G's age. I thought S3 had just barely made the age limit for the older group - the "junior" team - so I couldn't figure out how the oldest son of this couple could possibly be on the same team as S3. I assumed they actually had Ty on their roster and just misspoke for the message. I prepared both boys for practice just in case.

Once there I quickly found out that they did indeed mean S3. Instead of putting him on the "junior" team, they'd put him down a level on the "A" team. I spoke to the head of the summer baseball and he said it was because of S3's birthdate. The cutoff is May. His birthday is June. So they bumped him down.

Here's why this is ridiculous:
1. Every single one of the boys on the "junior" team are classmates of S3. All the boys on the "A" team are at least one to two years (and grades) younger. So all his classmates bumped up but he did not.
2. It's ONE month people, not a year, not even a half a year. ONE month.
3. S3 is one of the best players in their league. If they're going to bump someone down, bump down a worse player, not one of your best.

Frankly I think the guy who is in charge of the league saw that the "A" team would only have 10 players if he didn't keep S3 down. You need nine on a field so that only gives them one substitute. If more than one kid is unable to make a game, they'd have to forfeit (ok technically I think they can play one man down but you get the idea). I think that guy is using this as a way to fill the roster. Steve says I always want to think the worst of people I don't like and maybe that's what I'm doing but I think this guy is being foolish and unreasonable no matter what. And frankly no matter what the outcome is, he's ruined the beginning of the season for us. This is supposed to be fun and instead I'm so mad I could spit.

I talked to S3 and now he's waffling over whether or not he wants to play for HP this year at all. It's not that he won't play baseball; he's signed up for a much more serious league that starts it's season later in the year. This was supposed to be his secondary league, the fun league, the league where he can hang out with his buddies from school and have fun. He's not only not with his buddies but he's playing on a team that (and this is going to be mean so take a big gasp of breath now before you read it) is going to lose because the roster is full of kids who either can't play or who have never played before at all. And he's my kid so he's also mad about the whole one stinkin' month conspiracy.

He's weighing that against the fact that he will be, hands down, the best player on that "A" team. He will absolutely get playing time and probably in any position he wants. Yes they're probably going to lose every single game but at least he'll be playing. It would keep him warmed up for his more serious team. Also he does feel bad for them that they've only got 10 kids if he backs out. And I'm trying to encourage him that he shouldn't step out of the program just because he's mad at the head of the league, although I'm having trouble with that one because I'm feeling like yanking him out for exactly that reason.

So anyway, he slept on it and he's going to talk to his buddies - you know, the guys on the "junior" team - and see what they think and I guess he'll make his decision later. He's a softie. I wouldn't be surprised to see him play anyway, even though he's mad.

Oh the drama.