Little League

I've had a Little League post brewing in my brain for quite a while. For various reasons it hasn't come together. Primarily because 1. all of my free time is spent at baseball games, and 2. by the time I have time to sit down and write, all of my thoughts leave me. It becomes an incoherent jumble so I don't even try.

We started way back in early September. We had one practice and then it rained for 3 weeks straight. The way the schedule was organized, all of the practices were at the beginning, followed by mostly games with minimal practices thrown in. Each team has one weekday game and one Saturday game. Most weeks this puts us at the ball field 3 nights, and at least half of Saturday is eaten up entirely by baseball.

Four year olds play tee ball. They smack the ball off the tee and run to first base. Sometimes. Other times they walk to first base. Other times they run to third base... Sometimes they just stand there and other times they run straight for the pitchers mound. In the field, four year olds stand ready for a ball to come to them. OR they stand out in the field covering their face with their gloves. They pull the rim of their hat so low over their eyes, there is no way they could possibly see whether a ball was coming towards them. In four year old baseball, in the event someone gets thrown out they still get to run the bases.

The six year olds are slightly more focused and know a little more about the game. They can run the bases properly and even know a little about fielding. They generally run the right direction, they rarely put their gloves over their faces. Which helps greatly in their ability to actually catch the ball. They are still adorable in their uniforms. Sometimes squirrelly and fidgety during the late games. The coaches pitch at their games and if they can't hit after four pitches, they bring out a tee. If they get thrown out, they have to go back to the dugout.


Seven year old baseball is a little more serious. This league is machine pitch and the kids can actually strike out. A lot of the kids can actually catch a fly ball. They can throw a ball clear across the field. You can definitely tell a difference between the kids who have played since they were four, and the ones just starting out. (Mine)... The thing that amazes me about the kids on Eric's team is that they genuinely get excited for the kids who aren't as experienced when they have a success. Yet, they don't get upset if they don't do so well. It is remarkable.

For the last 2 months we have lived, breathed and eaten baseball. It takes me back to when my little brother played. Some things never change. The lingo, the excitement, the nerves when you are hoping against hope that your little boy will hit the ball, or catch it, or just get the darn glove off his face. The snack bar food. The kids begging for the snack bar food. Cheering in the stands for the kids. The pride they feel when they do well.

I can't wait until the next three weeks passes so we can have our evenings and Saturdays back... and yet, a big giant part of me is sad to see it go.

12 Days

That's how long it's been since I've posted. Probably not the longest gap ever, but definitely the longest in quite some time. It's been a combination of being really extremely busy, and not having a hundred things a day popping into my head to write about.

Anyway, for the past twelve days I have prepared my house for company, worked on Halloween costumes, dealt with sick kids and gotten sick myself. I'm still sick, in fact and had forgotten just how crazy things can be when Mommy is not 100%.

The house falls apart so fast.

They jump on my bed.

They empty linen closets.

They dump out dirt out of the potted plants on the patio.

They take every toy out of every bin in the toy room.

They (well one of them) decide that now is a good time to stop taking naps, and or if they (he) do take a nap, they fight bedtime until 10 PM.

I really need to get better so I can catch up around here. Then maybe life will fall back into some sort of routine and I can get back to blogging again.

Costumes

Have you gotten all ready for Halloween yet?

To be honest, I hadn't given it much thought until today. The boys have been telling me what they want to be and I've been telling them, "we'll think about it later. Right now I have to do x, y, or z. Today I found myself with some time to breathe, and started thinking and looking online for ideas.

At first Zack wanted to be a pirate. Score! We totally have a pirate costume. Only, now he wants to be a spider. No batman. No... a spider. I've been thinking and I *think* I can make a spider costume by dressing him all in black. His arms and legs can count as 4 legs, and I am thinking of sewing a big black circle and stuffing it. To that, I would attach 4 pairs of black tights stuffed with fiber fill. Then put it on him like a backpack. It all works in my mind, but we'll have to see how it all works out.

Eric wants to be a werewolf (which I didn't even know he knew what that WAS!) I've looked around a little online and most werewolf costumes are 1. too expensive and 2. have a big giant whole head mask which he won't be able to wear to his school character parade. I did find a really cute kiddie werewolf costume, but $30.00 is more than I want to spend.

Mark wanted to be a monster, and then a ghost (which I was already thinking of ways to spruce up the sheet over the head version), but now he wants to be a Power Ranger. *Insert eye roll here.* I will give him another day or two to see if he changes his mind. Maybe he'll agree to be Spider Man again, because his costume from last year would totally still fit.

While looking around the internet for other ideas I happened upon this adorable choochoo costume. I thought "oh how CUTE!!" and then x-ed out the page. But I couldn't stop thinking about it and I think Ben is going to be a choo choo. Okay, he definitely is since I already have all the cardboard cut out. I just lack one empty oatmeal container, and a little time painting. His will be different colors because I am using paint I already have, but I am excited to have this ready. Even though technically, I don't need a costume for Ben. I am excusing it by the fact that it is going to cost me almost no money.

How is your Halloween planning going? What are your kids going to be?

Lost in Translation

Sometimes my kids don't quite get what I'm trying to say.

For example:

Me: Hey guys, I'm going to order a pizza, let's be quiet for just a minute.
Kid translation: Hey, why don't you all be even louder and follow me from room to room as I try to escape the noise.

Me: Mommy has a lot to do. Can you all play nicely and let me work?
Kid translation: I have a lot to do today. Could you please interrupt me every 3 minutes with an urgent request for a drink, or a complete freak out over something minor. I especially like tattling and screaming at each other.

Me: Yes, you can have some computer time when I'm done writing this in my blog. Please go play.
Kid translation: Yes you can have some computer time when I'm done writing this in my blog. Sitting here reading over my shoulder is fiiiiine. Sitting beside me snapping your fingers is good too. Asking me every thirty seconds if it is your turn yet, even better.

And even though I have a few more examples of my words being lost in translation, I must get off. Because my five minutes is up.

Failure

Goal: Remain patient, no matter how flustered I feel.
Fail: Lost my temper and yelled "What do I have to do to get you guys to be nice to each other!" on the way to school.

Bonus: (do we get bonuses in failure) I'm pretty sure the new neighbor (who happens to be the Nana of my awesome across the street neighbors) heard me yell at my kids.

Goal: To send a healthy lunch to school with the boys.
Fail: They would rather eat crappy cafeteria food. They complain about what I send (even though I put MUCH effort into sending a combination of healthy & fun things.) Today, Eric asked me to send a lunch and bought a cafeteria lunch instead. 2 bucks for a pb & j and milk. Because he found out they had strawberry jelly. I tried sending pb & j and they said they didn't want sandwiches.

Goal: To keep the stuff the school sends home organized and not piled up or scattered all over the dining room table.
Fail: I have a 5 inch tall pile on the dining room table to take to the school's recycle bin (only fair, right?) and another probably equal amount of papers scattered all over the table. What the hell am I going to do when I have double this amount of paperwork. Plus... another preschool fundraiser. AND another elementary school fundraiser. Can I cry now?

Goal: Cook a healthy dinner for my family.
Fail: I thawed out chicken but didn't really feel like cooking. The boys came home and reminded me it was Papa Johns night (wait, isn't that another fundraiser?) and I talked myself into ordering pizza. Only when I called the number it went to a voicemail. And not one that said anything at all about Papa Johns. Wierd. A while later someone called me back and said that their phones were down (dude, bad timing!) and were using employee cell phones to take calls. ONLY! They don't deliver to my neighborhood. Only the next neighborhood over. We are literally just out of the delivery area even though we are one mile from the school they are hosting the fundraising night for.

I can't even order pizza right. (I couldn't go get it. Well I could have. With four boys. That would have worked.) So I fed them corn dogs. Kevin and I will eat something. Later.

So, yeah, I might be feeling a little bit overwhelmed today.

I Totally Asked for It

You know when you say something, and it bites you? Call it karma, or whatever, but seriously, if something is working don't.talk.about.it. That's my advice to you. Ok?

The other night as I was falling asleep I made some offhand comment about how awesome it was that everyone was staying in their beds lately. How cool it was to sleep through the night. How amazing... well, you get the idea.

That very night I ended up with two kids in my bed. Two. Zack came down and was busily sticking his feet in Kevin's face, while I had Ben sitting on my head, absolutely not interested in sleeping at 3 AM. Finally, I took them both back to bed. Luckily, they stayed put, but it was enough to really mess up my lovely, newly rediscovered uninterrupted night of sleep.

The next night Zack was up 3 times in the night. Something I'm not used to anymore as my kids are all old enough to sleep through the night.

With that said, I'm going to bed. To maybe, hopefully get a full night's sleep. I'm not holding my breath.