First Ball Game of 2008

We had a nervous nelly on our hands before the games -- new team, new pants, new cleats. All of this led up to a little boy who just didn't want to go play baseball today. It didn't help that at his last practice, he just drew the short straw and was the last batter of the night and had a hard time hitting. On the way home, he told me, "Mommy, it's hard to concentrate when you are the last kid, and everyone else is playing around, and you can smell McDonald's." These are both valid points, and since our permanent practice spot seems to be at the Lion's Club just behind Mickey D's, hopefully, he'll get to be one of the first ones to hit next week.

A little pre-game talk with Daddy...

He got to be the "Pitcher's Helper" for the first inning, and to say the least, he was ready. At this point, there wasn't even a batter!

He fielded this one perfectly!!

The throw was dead on, but the first baseman didn't quite catch the ball.

He wound up hitting the ball just fine -- the first one was a great hit without using the tee. The second inning, he fouled off most of the pitches and used the tee before hitting it squarely, and the third inning, another solid hit.

We think we may have found the problem with his hitting. We've been watching his feet, the way he holds the bat, the level of his swing, but haven't been watching his eyes! I mentioned it to him when I uploaded these pictures that maybe opening his eyes would be beneficial, and he just looked at me like I was crazy. I guess that's one of those little details we didn't cover until today!

****Oh, and according to the parade in our driveway yesterday...happy birthday, Indiana.****

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I don't know what goes through their heads!

Spring Has Sprung

We absolutely loved the weather this weekend!! Everyone was chomping at the bit to go outside, and once the fog burned off Saturday morning, we headed out -- only to come in to get ready for a birthday party in the evening.

My gardeners started the morning by pulling weeds that have started to sprout in the mulch. They really did a good job. As they were dragging things out, I figured it would take about five seconds for that to become boring, and Jeff and I would have to drag everything back in. I should have known that Cooper would keep the troops hopping.

Maddie spent a lot of her time outside in her swing. That girl just loves to swing -- much more so than the boys ever did. It's convenient, because later when we were playing baseball, we didn't have to worry about her wandering into the path of the bat. Hopefully, this love of swinging will last all summer, but somehow I doubt it.

Needless to say, we had a pretty quiet Saturday night. Nick came home from the birthday party, and was so out of it, I just took off his jacket and shoes and put him in bed fully dressed. Imagine his surprise when he got up on Sunday! After church, we went back out, and carried over the beautiful weather activities into Monday. The kids and I went downtown and walked on the canal. We're all looking a little sunkissed, but will head out again today before the rain starts again tonight.

Easter Delayed

Sadly, so far, the best picture of our kids with their Easter outfits includes our favorite nephew, Brayden. Not that having Brayden in the picture is a bad thing, but looking back at the time we wasted before and after church trying to get a good picture of the three Engle kids, it seem kind of silly that by adding one more kid, they would just sit still and on the first try, give us great results. Good grief.

Anyway, we're going to try dressing them up again for another go-round. We just have to pick our moment.

Oh, and don't worry -- Cooper didn't wear jeans to church on Easter. But we let him change the minute he got home. Small compromises are important!