Baseball

We are sitting under a tent enjoying a Legion baseball game. We are under a tent for 2 reasons. 1. It is really hot out in the sun and 2.  Ben can see his iPad much better in the shade.  Ben has been sitting nicely on a bench, playing Minion Rush. Another mom sitting under the tent asked Ben, "what are you watching"?  Ben looked up at the game and then back at her and without batting an eye and said baseball.

The kid cracks me up!

It's Baseball Season!

Actually it started a couple of weeks ago for Noah as his team as already played 4 games.  They are currently 2 -2  so far.  Of those 4 games I only got to see one.  But luckily, I had my camera at that one game. 

 

Ben has  been working on his hitting too, but sometimes, he gets the equipment and rules a bit mixed up.   While I know that it is important to learn the rules to games, so that socially Ben gets along with his peers better, there are times when I wonder why we all don't try to hit a golf ball off a baseball tee.    It really is kind of fun.  You should try it some time.  It takes skill.

John is playing Legion ball this year and had his first game yesterday in Omaha.  His schedule is pretty aggressive, and will keep us on our toes getting 2 boys to two different cities that are an hour apart, in time to play 6 o'clock games.  Unfortunately on the days when all three have games, Ben might have to miss out.  Not sure how we can be 3 places at one time.  Maybe by game time I will be able to figure it out. 

It's Baseball Time

It is the month of June, which for our family means baseball.  We are lucky this year that a few of John and Noah's games have been on the same night in the same town, one playing just after the other.  However, we were unlucky this week, in that John and Noah both played in Syracuse and Ben had his first ever T-ball game in Elmwood (at the same time as Noah's game).   Randy took Ben and I took the big boys to their game.  It did give me a chance to get the first baseball photos of the year.  Randy and Ben showed up at the start of John's game, and Ben and I left about 9, since Ben was wearing a lot of field from his game and needed a bath.  That is why there are only a few photos of John and more of Noah. 

 John at bat. He has been hitting great this year (so long as I am not at the game). 

Ready on first to field the ball.

 Relief pitcher Noah.

 Trying out the new bat. It worked.

 Getting ready to steal 2nd

Sliding for no apparent reason.

Pictures and/or a video of Ben's game will be in the next post, so stay tuned.

One Down, Two More To Go

Congratulations to Noah, his team, and coaches for a great season and for coming in second in their league.  It was a hot weekend for baseball, but it sure was fun watching you guys win!  Way to go Knights!

It Happens

I have read about this sort of thing happening on other Mom's blogs.  I have laughed with them about it, but up until now I had not ever felt their pain.  Today all that changed.......   

Disclaimer:  The next few paragraphs of this post may be disturbing to some with a weak stomach.  Please continue at your own risk.

It was about time for Ben to wake up from his afternoon nap.  We needed to head into town to pick up Noah's from a friends house.  As I was heading down the hall toward his room.  The smell hit me like a wall.
OH NO! 
He had pooped.
I flipped on the light while trying to figure out why the smell was soooo bad.
Then I saw the little stinker.  Literally.
His diaper was off and he was happily throwing some poop up in the air.  It was caked up both arms and there was a smelly little blob of it in his hair. 
He went to suck his thumb and I was able to grab it right before he got it to his mouth.
We ran to the bathroom to wash his hands, but after 3 washes it would just not come off.  Time for a bath.  It took a good twenty minutes of soaking to get it all off. 
The little turd had thrown his own little turds all over the bedroom.  At least it had not been loose.  Then it would have been smeared over the whole bedroom.
As I was cleaning up it made me realize that I never should have put such a think pile carpet in that room.  If it ever has to be replaced we are so going to go with commercial carpet all the way.  It is so much easier to clean than shag!

OK.  Gross part over.  Ben is recovering OK from a respiratory infection that he came down with the week before he was supposed to get his tonsils, adenoids out and new tubes in.  We are desperately trying to keep him well.  I can not begin to imagine how many germs he exposed himself to today.  I really hope this does not set up back again.  New surgery date is set for June 14.

  Here are a few pictures from the last couple weeks.

John getting his All-Star's Certificate from Mrs. Kuhlman.

Ben messing around at the table.  

John at bat. 

Noah, my little tree hugger.

Ben playing with Noah's glasses...Right before he broke them.

It's Baseball and Surgery Time!

We have our first full week of baseball under our belt.  Since last Saturday we have been to 5 games.  So far there have not been any wins for our teams, but we have seen great improvement in the boys since last year. 

 Noah's game was first on Saturday, with a crisp temperature of 47degrees with a cold wind blowing out of the North.  Not the best start to the year.  Ben and I stayed in the van the whole game and watched Signing Time over and over again.  Note to self....put more videos in the van so we don't have to watch the same one multiple times.  It was hard keeping him occupied in the van for 2 1/2 hours, and he almost escaped a couple times, but some how we did it.  Noah did get to pitch a little and did a good job.  Not bad for his first time pitching ever.   

 Game two for Noah was a night game but it was cool and crisp that night too.  He got to try his hand at another one of his favorite positions, catcher.  His favorite positions are first, short, pitcher and catcher and he does a good job at all of them.

 Game 3 for Noah gave another opportunity for him to pitch.  He did awesome.  In the first three innings he only allowed 1 hit and struck out the rest of the batters.  Unfortunately in the 4th inning there were quite a few hits, and due to some fielding difficulties they gave up 4 runs.  Not bad for his first year in kid pitch baseball and his second time pitching ever.  Yeah Noah.

Randy work with him to get his motion down on Tuesday night and it really helped him get in the zone at Wednesdays game

 Batting was another story.  Noah is usually an aggressive batter, but this game he went down looking.   That is OK Noah, you will hit one next game.

 Ben was enjoying Joy's sunglasses, until he broke them.

 He also swiped Konrad's hat.  Swiper no swiping!

 Finally it was John's turn to play.  He got to start out pitching and did an awesome job too.  He had a couple walks, but not too many.  There were some big hits in the 3rd inning and Waverly jumped out to a comfortable lead.  But don't count these boys out yet.  The came back to tie the game and ended up losing by one extra innings. 

  John puffs out his cheeks before he throws.  It cracks me up.

John had some solid hits and is getting better each game. It is going to be a fun year!

Way to go John!  We are so proud of you!

We did not stay long for John's game last night as Ben had some sort of breathing attach in the middle of the night on Wednesday.  He woke up unable to take a deep breath and very scared.  We quickly did a breathing treatment, and turned on the hot water and stood in the steam for a while.  It took about and hour but he finally calmed down and fell asleep without struggling for breath.  We let him sleep with us that night and he continued to make gasping sounds off and on all night.  We are not sure if this is asthma or an allergy attach from being outside so much.  However, we finally got his tonsil, adenoid and 3rd set of ear tube surgery scheduled for next week, and I hope this does not affect that.  It took so long to get it scheduled. However, since the attack his nose has been runny and his chest rattles when he breathes.  This is normal for him, but not how we want him going into surgery.  His pre-op appointment is this morning, so we will have to see what they say. 
 
On a side note Ben's new favorite word is surprise.  He does not really hide well yet, but will just run up to you and yell surprise.  It is a hoot.

New Camera

                              Ben and his shadow.

Got a new (to me) camera this week.  A Cannon 20D.  I already had a Rebel XT with a 50mm and a 70-300mm lens that I traded off.  A guy at work was selling just the body, and I thought it might be nice to have a body for each of my lenses.  It has been fun getting to know the new camera.  Here a few pictures from baseball and a family wedding this weekend that I took with the new camera.

Blue drink, blue lips, blue teeth.

Daisy

Ben playing catch from his stroller.

John Pitching

Tyler dancing with his Mom.  (taken from the balcony, too far a way with too little flash, doctored up a bit)

My cousin Marcia's youngest son, Charlie.  Such a cutie with those blonde curls.

My boys.

Me dancing with a very tired boy to What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.  Soon after this picture, the battery ran out.  That what I get for giving the camera to the 11 year old. 

Summer is finally here.

Sorry for such a long delay since the last post.  We have been so busy with baseball and I was working on my 25th class reunion and the Elmwood High School Alumni Banquet.  The banquet and reunion were both held this past Saturday, so I spent much of yesterday just vegging and trying to recuperate.  It was a bit of a stressful weekend. 

John has had a few baseball games so far this year.  His team moved up from the Wee Wee league to the  Pee Wee league.  (it had to be a man that thought up those names)  They are learning, but it might be a few more games before they get the hang of all the new rules.   So far this year he has pitched, played first base, and center field.  Here are some pictures.

Noah is in Squirts baseball (coach pitched) this year. It  is their second year in this league and are doing pretty good.  They rotate positions so Noah has gotten to play many different spots.  I think his favorite is pitcher.  He has been practicing in hopes that he will be able to pitch next year when they move up to the next league.  Here are some pictures of Noah playing.

Ben has been enjoying his brothers games to a point.  Sooner or later he gets bored and wants to run out in the street.  The boy is fearless, and he has an odd fascination with license plates.  He is always wanting to go up to cars and touch the numbers and letters.  He also likes to play in the sand.  Unfortunately not all ball fields have a play area close to the field so I can watch Ben and the game at the same time. 

Ben has also gotten worse about climbing up on the sofa and wanting to stand and walk instead of sitting.  This morning he went over the edge of the sofa, just as I was grabbing for him,  and landed on his head.  Luckily he was just scared and not hurt.  It must not have made that much of an impression, thought, since he was back at it again in a matter of minutes.  I tried putting him in time out when he would do it, but that did not seem to help either.  Hopefully this is just a phase that he will pass through quickly. 

Friday was the last day of school for the big boys.  Randy has taken the boys golfing twice this weekend.  I am really enjoying that membership I got for them for Christmas to the local golf course.  It is a great way to get some time to myself. 

Here is a picture from my class reunion.  Thanks to everyone who took the time to get together and spend some time with old friends. 

Branson Vacation

We decided to go on one last quick vacation because we had some time share points to use up. School starts late for us, due to the construction, so it was the perfect time to go. We went down to Branson on Wednesday and came back on Sunday. We are really not into the shows down there, but go to get away, shop and so the boys can swim.

One place we enjoyed was Silver Dollar City. It was their last summer ride day, and most of the old-time craft booths were closed, but all the rides were open. The boys were fine with that, since they really only wanted to ride the rides anyway. There were basically no lines, and the boys got to ride multiple times if they wanted. One of their favorites was the giant barn swing. Here is a picture of the boys and Randy on it.


Usually Randy and the boys would go on the ride first, while I stayed with Ben. Then the boys and I would go on it. I chose not to go on this one. This was the only time Randy went on it. They did get me on a couple of roller coasters. I learned that I do not like the kind of roller coaster that just has a bar that goes across your lap. It totally feels like you are going to fall out. Give me the good old fashion shoulder bars any day. At least that gives you something to hold on to.

At the end of the day we went on the water rides. True to the warning signs we did get very wet. Why is it that the person who wants to get wet the least always manages to get wet the most? Here are some more pictures from Silver Dollar City.


The boys at the entrance.


Randy, John and Noah on a water ride.


How the boys felt every time I said, "Let's stop at this craft mall".


The giant chair.

The condo where we stay also has a decent indoor pool. The boys had fun swimming and playing with some of the other guests. However, we did learn a few very important lessons.
1. Babies who like beans, love bean burritos from Taco Bell.
2. Sometimes waiting a 1/2 hour before swimming is not long enough.
3. Don't let a baby swallow too much pool water.
4. Re fried beans will float in a pool.

That being said, Ben loves to swim. He kicked and squealed and splashed and wanted back in after we got out.

Another highlight of the trip was the Osceola Cheese Factory. We stopped on the way down and the way back to sample and purchase cheese. There were many different kinds of cheese and it was fun trying them to find our favorites.

On the way back through Kansas City we got to see the Royals and Twins baseball game. It was the first visit to a major league baseball stadium for the boys. They thought it was pretty neat. Fortunately our seats were in the shade, which was great for Ben, but bad for boys hoping to catch foul balls. We were cheering for the Twins who ended up winning easily, and had 2 home runs in the same inning. It was pretty cool.

We are home this week getting ready to move, and preparing for school to start. Less than a week left and it is back to the old routine. I am looking forward to it.