Spring Baseball

Wyatt is loving baseball...as always!  He is on a rec team this spring with a lot of his friends (kids he knows from playing with them forever, kids from his fall team, and even a few friends from school), and that always makes it more fun. 

Now that he's in Kid Pitch, there is so much going on!  He has to hit well off the kids who are pitching for the first time, be prepared if they're not throwing well (i.e. the ball is coming at his head!), focus on pitching, focus on throwing strikes, worry about runners, worry about the catcher not catching the ball, worry about BEING the catcher and letting the ball pass, and then worry about throwing out the runner.  It's SO much for the kids all at once.

Wyatt started Pitching Lessons last summer, when his old travel team was getting ready for their new season. He was going about once a week. They did a great job teaching him the basics, and he does a pretty good job practicing his form.  When he throws hard and focuses, man alive is he good at throwing strikes.  But if he's even just a little unfocused, well, those bases sure can get loaded awfully fast!  Ha!

I will say that he has a great coach (haha!), and his arm work is carefully monitored.  How often he pitches, how often he throws, where he plays....it's all checked closely by Daddy!  We never want his pitch count to be too high.  Wyatt has friends his age whose arms have already given them problems! That is absolute INSANITY to me!

And speaking of travel teams, this kid joined a new one.

More about that soon!

Spring Softball

I guess I didn't blog much at all about our fall sports, so I figured the best place to start with spring sports is softball!  Reese finished up her final t-ball season last spring, and was 100% convinced that softball was the best choice for her.  We waited a bit to see if she would change her mind (Brian could coach her baseball team, he would stay with kids he's coached for a few years, and we think she could show those boys a thing or two on the field), but she wanted to play with "just girls."

Well, it took no time for us to see that she was totally right in her decision to play softball.  She LOVES it.

She ended up on a team with the best coaches, the best girls, and she learns a LOT.  Everything on this team "clicks" and you can see it on how the girls play, how they interact, and by the numbers in their win/loss columns!

Reesie knows what's going on when she's on the field, and she is focused.  She puts in her time in the outfield, but she also loves playing pitcher, shortstop, and third base.

I think one of the things that she loves about softball is that her team wears shorts. Ha!  No, but really, she was never a fan of baseball pants and belts, so I think the right clothes make softball even better!

 She is starting to hot her stride at the plate.  She and Brian have been working on her swing to find something that makes her comfortable!

Last week she hit her first "home run" at practice.  This is one of the best things about her team.  They get so excited for each other when they make big plays or hit well!

She also REALLY loves to catch.  It's probably her favorite position to play.

I think she likes being involved in every play!

And she can gun it back to the pitcher.

Spring Break: Zoo Day

We had pretty great weather right at the beginning of Spring Break, but the forecast didn't look great near the end.  So we set off for the zoo while the weather was still great!

It was PACKED on our visit, but we don't do a lot of dilly dallying.  We stop, look at the animals, and walk quickly.  Because obviously, someone is always trying to run ahead! Ha!

Most of the animals were pretty low key on our visit, but the male lion was out of control.  He was roaring like I've never seen before.  It was pretty entertaining!

March Little Things

I'm woefully behind in keeping up with this stuff, but life gets so busy!  I'm not entirely sure why I still try...except that I love looking back over past posts and hate to think that Finley and Hudson wouldn't have anything to look back on!

Reesie had a busy first week of March!  I think it was reading week?  Or spirit week?  Or... something?  There was definitely a wacky day!

And dress like a teacher day!  The jean jacket, pencil over the ear, the clipboard, and the coffee cup were 100% her idea.  

The beginning of March was cold and rainy, so her softball team started the season with practice at the batting cages!

There was also some catching in the house thanks to Wyatt...and Brian!

Hudson LOVES baseball.  He goes outside and practices when he's home alone.  He goes outside to practice when everyone is home.  He is almost completely responsible for every ball that gets hit over our fence.  Ha!

Me and a few crazy children!  I had to run Team Parent meetings for the league and Brian also had practice.  They were troopers tagging along with us to the complex every night.  Because it was all TOO MUCH for me!  I was exhausted by Friday. Ha!

Yes, we are basically at the baseball fields all of the time.

The league hosted a baseball clinic and a softball clinic with teams from two local high schools.  Hudson had a blast down at the tee ball fields with the "big kids,"

One of Brian's friends has a son on the high school baseball team, and he and Wyatt got to play catch at the clinic.  It was a pretty neat moment for Brian to see these two kids play together since their dads have worked together for almost 20 years!

Hudson is basically one of the coolest kids I know.  He has no fear about hanging out with these guys!

Reese went to the softball clinic, and she had the best time!  We really tried to convince her to play baseball because we think she would rock at it, but she is having so much fun playing softball with the girls!

Hudson rocked his 3rd reader and got his 4th.  I can't believe that he is almost done with the year in Pre-K, OR that he will be in Kindergarten next year!  This school year is flying by!

This is what my backyard looks like...almost every day.  Someone is always playing a sport.  And Finley caught that softball that Reese threw to her!

These two! Going to school every day was a big adjustment for Finley (and me!) in March!  She loves her teachers, so she never resists school, but going from 2 days a week to 5 was a little exhausting!  She is such a good sport though, and she goes with the flow so well!

Brian and I went to TopGolf for a friend's surprise birthday party.  I have never golfed before in my life, but it was SO fun!  We had the best time.  

Wyatt's baseball team had a bracket challenge fundraiser.  Guess who spent a lot of March obsessively checking his bracket?

When he wasn't working on his science habitat project.  At science night his teacher said that Wyatt could talk for DAYS about animals.  That is something that we have no doubt about.  At all.

Another day, another trip to Target.  Just kidding.  Working every day cut those Target trips down a lot!  I've definitely been better with my list making!

And Hudson got some pitching practice in!  As usual, he takes his starts very seriously!  Ha!

Spring Break: Busch Gardens

We lost our minds again this year and took the kids to Busch Gardens over Spring Break with our friends.  They have a lot of fun, but it gets crazy there over Spring Break. Fortunately they like their friends enough that they don't mind standing in line, ha!  

I let Wyatt choose which day he wanted to go  - he could go on Tuesday or on his birthday on Wednesday.  He chose his birthday so that he could hang out with Jack, and we made a plan to get to the park before it opened. That gave us a little bit of time before it got too crowded!  

Unfortunately, we ended up in two "shifts" for the Loch Ness Monster. Wyatt and Jack, and then everyone else.  The boys got on the coaster first, and then the other six loaded up.  Then something went wrong and we couldn't go.  We had to unload and get back in line, and that's when we realized that the boys were stuck somewhere on the roller coaster by themselves.  AGAIN.  It happened to them last year when they road it for the first time!  I'm just thankful that they didn't end up in the dark or upside down!

The "big kid group" left with Brian to go ride Apollo's Chariot (I can't believe they're in this stage now!), and we went off to Sesame Place.  She road The Barstormer on our Disney Trip in November, but this was her first time riding the roller coaster at Busch Gardens.

While the big kids waiting in ridiculously long lines, these two cruised right on their rides. 

I don't know what makes the kids want to ride this ride.  Just watching them ride it makes me feel queasy!

We spent the rest of our day at the park riding rides and eating lunch.  Later in the afternoon (after we waited almost an HOUR for the log flume!), we started to head out.  I was following our friends and the girls were with me.  After I walked for a bit, I just had a feeling that I needed to stop and wait for the boys.  Everyone went ahead, and the girls and I stopped for a minute or two to wait for the boys.  And then Brian rounded the corner with Wyatt.  And no Hudson.  He thought I had him, I thought he had him.  Fortunately we hadn't gotten too far away, so Brian and Reese sprinted back and found him right where we "left" him...playing with the mining contraption that we had just left.  And he had no idea that he was "lost" or "left."  He thought we'd just gone in the store!  I was in panic mode, but then just showered him with hugs and compliments for staying where he'd seen us last (even though he had no idea we were gone and he was just playing)!  

After all of that excitement, we left the park and came home.  It was Wyatt's birthday after all, and he wanted to open his presents!  And have cake!

Easter 2016

Well, look at me being all prompt!  We had a fun, very low key Easter weekend.  I started the last day of school before Spring Break with a day off.  Finley was on her third day of a high fever, so we both stayed home from school.  We stayed home and did chores while Huddoo went to school. Brian and I both still had volunteer time at Wyatt and Reese's schools, so I took the Smalls to Brian's parents house for bit after I picked Hudson up. Brian was Watch Dog all day at Wyatt's school (which means he also handled the birthday cupcake situation for Wyatt's class), and I was at school for Reese's Easter Egg Hunt. Once the school day ended, we were ready for Break!

Saturday was filled with birthday parties for the two oldest, Easter shopping for Brian, and egg dying late in the afternoon!

Easter Sunday was rainy and cold, so we spent most of the day in jammies.

When you spend most of your time at 6 different practices a week, a weekend at home is wonderful. We were able to spend a lot of time together without worrying about where we needed to be next!