Baseball tourney in Baltimore for Jimmy

                                            Jacob came with us...we went to DC the first day

 

 

 

 

Jack's baseball team...Minor League Mets

                                          Many more pictures to come from this game...Just throwing some pictures in and hoping to catch up

Father's Day 2013...guess where we went today

I just love Jack's fashion sense...you know, he could be a trendsetter.  I had to work very late Saturday night and any hope of getting to the beach for Fathers Day diminished a bit when the clouds just wouldnt go away  But, we still got to make the trip to see Black Gordon, play a bit of wall ball, go to the donut shop and just walk around.  I enjoyed that alot, especially to hang with the little monsters.
We all got to ride the trolley and went into a mill building.  The biggest kid is the biggest fan of the trains....though they seemed to have fun too

Jimmy baseball championship team....They wont it all

Another tooth missing...Catherine

  Catherine couldnt wait to tell me about the tooth she finally lost.  She was so excited and cant wait for the lovely fairy to arrive...so darn cute.  Not much in life makes your heart flutter more than listening to your eight year old excitedly explain about her lost tooth and the anticipated arrival of that fairy.
     As it turns out, the tooth fairy ended up giving her over $12 in bills and change.  Thats what happens when the little ole fairy rushes and just piles up.....thats okay, she's so damn cute the tooth fairy probably couldnt help itself.

Catherine pitching

      My little angel did a great job pitching tonight.  She practices all the time and really showed zero signs of nerves, which is surprising for her.  She was very confident.  At the plate she had four hits.

   Four fields over, Jimmy was playing his first playoff game.  I put my bike in the car and rode back and forth throughout the games.  Jimmy pitched four no-hit innings and left with a 4-0 lead, but the coach took him out in the fifth inning so he could save him for the thursday game.  Well, the other team scored five runs in the fifth inning and jim's team lost by one run.  Oh well, theres always thursday night to come back.

Laura end of year 4th grade concert

     Laura had her end of the year concert and got to show off how well she can play the violin now.  She did a really good job along with her fellow hippie Eva. 

     Over the last five years i've spent alot of time with Laura's classes as a volunteer.  Its so interesting to see them grow up right in front of our eyes.  They are good kids. 

    These two goofballs wanted to show us how they were going to busker and make some money.  of course Daddy was the only one giving up any money.

     Before the concert it was portfolio night which means we go into her classroom and look at how far she's come with her writing.  She is very smart and really enjoys school.  Part of the fourth grade tradition is that the kids make a mask.  I dont know what the hell this thing is but its made by Laura so there has to be some hippie value to it.  She's so fun, especaally with her fellow hippie Eva.

The ball it soars, the crowd it roars........

     Really, what is there in life during these days besides baseball, softball and soon, more swimming.  James has held off hitting his first home run until all of us just clawed our hair out watching him bounce it off the wall time and time again.  Well, Friday night in the bottom of the third inning, with the place mobbed with people, not a parking spot to be had, number 57 stood at the plate and blasted one out.  Not a shot for the faint of heart, this one is still seeking a landing stripe.  He so cooly ran around the bases with the crowd going wild.  He has slowly started to admit how cool it is to hit a home run.  The next game one of the coaches gave me a case for him to put the ball in.  Unfortunately, i didnt think they found the ball so I had to go get another ball and put it in the case.  Swift thinking because when i brought it to him he told me that they had found the ball in a water puddle beyond the center field fence and given it to him.....errr, I figured something out and now we have the ball in a case.  Seriously though, he really could care less......some day when he's old and gray.......like someone I know, he'll appreciate it.

"How much are the home-run pills?"

If you just turned your radio on, he's done it again

words I remember from the baseball album to the 1967 Boston Red Sox team.  Well, instead of Carl Yastremski, its my little buggah Jackie Lay.  For the fourth time in six games, he's hit me with a ball that I pitched to him.  Yes, I did prepare.  I had the glove ready and I swore that this time if he's hitting it back at me, I'll catch it or deflect it.  This time the pitch came in and it was my shin that took the hit.  I didnt hit the deck this time but just the same..he was thrilled.  I cannot believe he has another year of coach pitch.  He's gonna hurt someone........other than me.

Put a bullseye around my head

I am definitely a target there at the pitching mound.  After the first time I was hit by a come-backer by Jack..as spoken of here in a former blog
http://my-children.blogspot.com/2013/05/random-musngs-and-trip-to-shrine.html
Jack has struck again.....and yet again.  After the first time he hit me he kept talking and talking about it so that finally I just told him that I thought it was great he hit the ball so hard so I just told him to keep hitting Daddy with the ball...wellllll...two games later he did just that.  He hit a shot, now I mean a shot right back at me and off of my right leg, not me right on my ass..of course there was a laugh had by all...Because i'm coach pitching I cant catch the ball and i certainly cant get out of the way.  So we went through a whole other five or so days of him telling everyone about how he's done that to me twice now.  Well that wasnt quite enough though.  With Aunt Jo, Nana and Doe sitting on the sidelines watching the little buggah went head hunting once again.  The last one was on Saturday and to his defense, I do encourage him to try and hit me with the ball.  That motivates him to hit it hard.  Well, one split second after pitching i was on the ground after just barely gettting away from one right back at my head.  The next time up, he hit it way over my head...so much so that it flew all the way into the outfield in the air..twas a shot...a home runner as he would call it.......

Painted Butt

We painted the living room on Monday during the day and just couldnt find the cover to the second gallong of ceiling paint.  The legs were tired after painting the gallon and a half it took.  At one point I did find where I had put the cover...

Laura playing softball

      Laura has this violent softball swing...incredible actually if i may say so myself....doing great behind the plate too.

     Laura has been all out for her softball team  She has been doing real well and today was actually the first time that she made an out when she was thrown out on a ground ball to second.  She catches alot and is very good at not letting the ball get by her.  She's very competitive when the ball goes to the backstop the runner on third can try to score and Laura isnt gentle when she tags the runner out.

                                             Getting down to grab one out of the dirt

MS walkathon...our 15th year

 

 

     and for the fifteenth year in a row umple eddie has shown up a with a doctors note.  Here he demonstrates for the kids how he pulled his hamstring.  They werent buying it....

 

 

The Shrine and a cookie crunching hit from Jackie

Everyone once in a while on Fridays, I head out to the old Shrine church, a place mom used to go to quite frequently. When she moved to the old folks home she would walk to this church every day, rain or shine. We would warn her against it but off she would go. she would always sit in the same pew, first row after the aisle of the second section. I go and light candles at St. Jude, St. Lucy and Mother Mary. Then I go and sit in her same pew and just relax there for a bit. I really dont know what my beliefs are, but i know what hers were. I do it for her and the hope that maybe she was right all along.
Today, I got dropped off there and found my way in. There were actually quite a few people there saying the rosary but there were plenty of seats available. Only some lady was sitting in mums seat. I went and lit the candles and didnt know what to do after lighting Mother Mary. Sooo, I went the long way into the pew and went all the way close to the aisle where this lady was sitting. So she wouldnt think I was weird for sitting next to her when there was ample seating, I whispered to her that this was where my mother sat all the time and I was just going to sit there for a minute. She started by asking me my name and we continued in about a fifteen minute conversation in the middle of a quiet prayer filled venue. She told me she saw me come in and I seemed to know exactly where I was going. We ended up knowing a quite a few people in common and she told me funny stories of her life growing up in catholic schools. I never did get to pray any....not that I would pray that much anyway. And my version of the Rosary is not the same as the others....but it was still pretty neat to talk to her. She just had to know she was sitting in the holy seat though....
Tonight, there was a baseball game of coach pitch baseball. Yes, I'm the coach and yes, i'm pitching. Jack batted sixth and was, as usual, very amped up about the matchups. We had our usual pre-game pep talk followed by the usual silliness of six and seven year old boys. I started by losing my old, old glove and found out that the other team had mistakenly taken it over to their side of the field. Now, my glove is as old as Lincoln so I dont know how anyone mistook it for theirs but there was happiness and relief that it was found. I've had it for a while.
Anyway, the cast of characters came and went until my little Jackie strode up to the plate. With his serious face he got ready to hit a home-runner, as he calls it. I have to say, he's hitting the hell out of the ball and is really impressive. Well, here we go with a heater down the middle of the plated. KABOOM, the little stinker slammed it right back up the middle in a line drip that struck dear old Pops in the midsection. Plenty of laughs all around, from both sides as dad got dropped to the ground with the solid contact. He apologized to me later because he thought I was mad. I saw him chuckling with his fellow humorists on the sidelines...the little buggah. Good thing the factory is closed because he isnt getting any more brothers or sisters after that episode.
The other kids came and watched the game, thankfully they missed the Charlie Brown moment. Its a fun team and the kids cant help but have fun.
Tomorrow, all four have games throughout the day and it proves to be a very interesting and busy day.