Tuesday, May 26, 2015

A Little More Baseball

We typically spend a lot of time at the ballfield, but we've been spending a lot more time there lately. This guy has been playing on his rec team that Brian coaches, and he's also playing on a travel team. We haven't had many conflicts, but we have been on the go a lot! He usually spends Saturdays playing in a rec game and a soccer game, and then he has one or two games on Sundays, too. Now that soccer is over and there are only a few rec games left, things are going to slow down a bit!

A photographer came to one of his "mini-tournaments" a few weeks ago to take pictures of the team before the game and also got some action shots during the game.  And since I'm too busy during games to actually take out my camera, I figured I'd share a few!

He plays the "Hot Corner" a lot on his travel team.
 He's the one on the ground here!

Man, sometimes baseball is a tough thing to love.  When he gets a hit, I can see how pumped he is. When he doesn't make it on base, goodness gracious can you tell he's upset.  And the thing is, we try to explain to him all the time that that's what baseball is about.  That the best players are considered great if they make it on base three times out of ten.  That it takes work and practice.  But oh my goodness, this boy wants to win.  And he hasn't quite grasped the "it's not going to happen all the time" thing.   It's a constant work in progress!

Sometimes I also try to explain that he has a better shot of making it to first if he runs fast and doesn't watch the ball :).

But he's following his dad's advice here and using two hands...so I guess we'll take what we can get :)



Friday, May 22, 2015

April Little Things

April was full of excitement around here - Spring Break, Easter, and the beginning of baseball season!  This girl started the month without another tooth!  She thought that she would never lose a tooth, and then she lost two back to back!


I took these screen shots from a video of Hudson "pitching" at his t-ball game.  You can tell this kid spends some time watching baseball on TV.  He doesn't even have an actual ball, but his delivery is spot on.  He has had so much fun playing this season, he's learned a lot, but he's also had some of his best friends playing with him!
Reese's class watched eggs for several weeks before they hatched.  Once the chicks made their debut, her teacher arranged "visiting hours" for the parents.  Wyatt went down to her classroom before school to take a look, and then he came back down while Brian was there.  I had to miss it because I had a previously scheduled hair appointment, so I was happy to get a bunch of pictures of these four and the baby chicks!

My animal lover with a baby chick!

Wyatt spent some time watching Hudson play soccer, and he felt that Hudson was using the wrong foot to kick (he was).  So he arranged a little training session in the backyard.  He likes to be in charge, and he knows his sports, so he was in the zone.  He had Hudson running drills, doing toe touches, kicking with both feet - it was pretty funny.

Wyatt's "tournament season" started, so I had to get Reesie this shirt to wear to games!

We were able to make a trip to Busch Gardens over Spring Break.  We typically try to stay away while everyone in the world is there, but when our friends invited us, we decided to go, too!  They had so much fun riding rides and hanging out with their friends.  It also turned out to be a really great day to go - it rained for almost the entire week!
I even let Finley get out of her stroller and actually ride rides on this trip!  Since she's still my baby, I usually forget that when Wyatt was two he was doing everything.  She had a lot of fun being a big kid!
This was just before Wyatt, Reese and Jack rode the Loch Ness Monster.  Reese would have done it anyway, but Wyatt and Jack never would have gotten on the ride if they didn't have each other to encourage them...and it may have been a healthy dose of not wanting to back out in front of their best friend!
We took them all to the Tides game the following night!  It is one of the best places to catch a ball game, and they had a lot of fun!
Reese is growing up to be a tough cookie surrounded by all these boys!  She fits right in, and I love that they all treat her like a friend and not a "girl."   Wyatt is the exception of course, but even I know that she really is one of his best friends.  She makes him laugh harder than anyone!

I had to take all four of them to Target by myself.  That was an adventure!  I can't believe that summer is soooo close and it's about to be daily life!  Fortunately we still have 3 weeks left of school.
These two get along so well.  Hudson loves his best buddy, and Jeter sure loves Hudson.  As I write this, they are doing the exact same thing in front of me!
When we had another nice day we decided to head to the zoo.  I was able to convince Brian to leave work for a few hours to join us, which always makes us happy!  He makes everything more fun - even the zoo!
After we went to see Jack Hanna, we had to get this kid to baseball.  We had an issue with the van that week, so I was a little late, but he had a great game!  He was so excited when a random mom came up to him after the game and told him that he played great at third base, and she was going to see him in the majors one day - couldn't wipe the smile off his face after that!
He followed that up with his first home run and  the game ball at his game on Monday night!
This cutie helped me clean the garage and decided to go for a ride!
Hudson wanted to have a lot of "healthy fruits and vegetables" because he is convinced that he hits better at baseball when he has a lot of good food!  I'll give him as many strawberries and carrots as he wants!
And then he fell asleep on the way to the game.  I know I'm biased, but he is so stinking cute. I love his eyelashes and sweet little freckles.
He went through an "I want to wear my Dodgers shirt all the time" phase, too.  He wore it to school, to the park, around the house.  He also spent lots of time playing baseball guys!  We love these toys so much, and they get lots of time in here.  But this was the first time I ever heard someone line them up and say "Good game, good game, good game!"  He's quite the good sport, this one!
Homework was quite the problem around these parts at the beginning of the school year, and then I implemented the "Do you homework without complaining every day, and then I give you a slush on Fridays" special.  Pretty sure that everyone loves Sonic Happy Hour on Fridays!
The Admirals had their last home game, and it was the last game as an AHL team.  We're losing our Ducks affiliation to the West Coast, and we sure are bummed.  They're going to be an ECHL next season, but we all wanted to go cheer for our favorite players one last time!  It's all excitement here now during the playoffs though - the Admirals were affiliated with the Lightning back in 2012 when they won the Calder Cup, so we have a lot of players we love on the Lightning and the Ducks!  We're hoping they both make it the Stanley Cup Finals!
The end of a LONG Saturday!
When this guys passes out at 5PM, you know he's exhausted.  He is go-go-go all day long!
Reese had two really great hits, and then she got the game ball!  I still just can't believe that she is going to move up to softball in the fall!
We had to pick Wyatt up from school, and I jokingly asked her who was on the Principal's Proud Board from her class.  And the answer was her!  She had no idea, and it was her second (she says she thinks it the third) time up there this year.
Hudson made some sweet plays while he was pitching, and he got the game ball - it was a big month for game balls here!
This is Finley's second "woof woof."   Seriously, she tells people that she has two dogs.  Because obviously, Bullseye belongs to her and not Target.
Like she doesn't get enough love and snuggles from her real pup!



Sunday, May 17, 2015

Meeting Jack Hanna

It's no secret that Wyatt is an animal lover.  His obsession began with Noelle, and then the Kratt Brothers hooked him in with Zaboomafoo at one!  From hanging out with a lemur at two, to countless birthday parties at the zoo, and earning his Wilderness Explorer Badge at Animal Kingdom, the obsession with animals is real. 

So when we went to Busch Gardens over Spring Break and saw that Jack Hanna was coming for a breakfast with the animals?  Done.  Sign us up! 


It was a quick trip, so it made sense to only take Wyatt.  He was kind of excited about having Mommy and Daddy to himself.  The breakfast started before the park opened for the day, so we were able to get a "behind the scenes" tour of the park.

Jack Hanna signed autographs before he brought the animals out, and Wyatt LOVED it.  He started talking about how he loves to watch his shows on TV.

And then he showed him his shirt with a lion and a cheetah on it."Dude, you're a cheetah.   Quit lion."  Jack said he needed one in his size.
He also complimented Wyatt's safari jacket, said his company needed to start making them, and signed it without Wyatt asking!  Totally reminded me of when Woody signed his cowboy hat at Magic Kingdom!


We were able to have a great breakfast, see some new animals, and listen to Jack talk about his worldwide adventures - basically we were in Wyatt's dream world!  He rode the Loch Ness Monster once, and then we had to rush home for baseball!

Friday, May 15, 2015

Mother's Day Weekend

Our Mother's Day weekend looked a lot like MOST of our weekends lately.

These girls spent lots of time together - Finley wants to be with Reese as soon as she gets home from school.  She's a great big sister!


And we spent Friday night at the ball field.  This guy hasn't been able to catch all season, so he was excited to spend some time behind the plate.  He looks so grown up in this picture!  I wish I'd gotten it with my Cannon and not my iPhone!


Saturday was a typical wild sports day - Wyatt had his first pitching camp at 8:30, Hudson had soccer at 9, Wyatt had soccer at 10:15, I somehow managed to lose my phone at the soccer fields (and found it in the van) while Brian's car battery died at his parents' house before t-ball at 12:30, my mom stopped for a super quick visit with Camden at the baseball field after t-ball, we brought Wyatt's best friend home with us, and we were BACK at the fields for baseball at 4:30.  I'm not sure who fell asleep earliest that night, but I'm pretty sure we were all out before 9:30!

On Mother's Day I "slept in" until 7:30, and we were at the ball field by 12:00 for Wyatt's game. Because we were down to one car, I dropped Brian and Wyatt off for warm ups, came home so Finley could have a quick nap, and then loaded everyone in the car to head back out to his game for it's 1:30 start time.  We were able to enjoy about 30 minutes of baseball before the sky opened up and it rained on us!

I love watching him at bat!






The boys had all worked on a special gift to give their moms, so we all went to the locker room to grab that, and then I quickly took Brian and Wyatt to grab lunch before he had to be back for his second game.  Hudson stayed with them, so the girls and I came home to meet Triple A to have Brian's battery replaced.  Our second car battery purchase in a month. Woo hoo!  Happy Mother's Day to me!

Hudson was living large at the fields, helping prep the fields between games.  The boy also ran an entire lap around the track during the game.  He has tons of energy, and genuinely wants to be helpful.

I made it back to the fields for the end of the second game, and insisted that I get one picture of me with all four of the kids before Mother's Day was over!