Life Snippets #24

Photo purge time.

I brought home some free burlap bags and whatever was in them must have been callin' this little guy's name.

We're still working on boundaries with this girl.

She has definitely learned the word, OUT, but that doesn't mean she isn't still going right back in.

The front yard is worse than the back - the perimeter is basically just tamped dirt at this point, from her running the fence line.

Naughty.

She's running right over my Rheum baby here.

This is her, I'm sorry, Mommy, face.

Now, let's talk baseball.

I've been blabbin' about it over on Facebook, but for those of you out of the loop.....

We weren't the parents who put our kids in sports right out of the gate.  Which may have been more difficult for the sport enthusiast dad, but I wanted them to decide for themselves what they like.

I figured we'd have enough years of going forty different directions, so we waited.

Well, the time is here.

The Kid asked to play baseball this year.

He's ten, and in the fourth grade.

So The Dad went down and got him signed up, grinning the entire way, I'm sure.

The Girl asked to play softball, but unfortunately, at the time, there wasn't a coach for her age group in our 'hood.

So she went to his first few practices and helped out a bit.

Then his team, because of high numbers, got split up and he went to a new coach.

The Girl asked if she could play, The Dad talked to the coach and the league president, and now we officially have two baseball players in the house.

The chips fell into place for the girl's softball team, so we offered her the option of moving, and she was adamant about staying with the boys.

So with the boys she shall be.

She's 8, and in the second grade.

They had three practices with the new coach before their first game.

They killed it, 20 - 4.

Two more practices, and they won their second game last night, 11-3.

Now, this is the first time either one of them has played any sort of organized sport, so I'm not tryin' to say they're professionals, but those two kids, with more practice, are gonna be unstoppable.

The Kid is a natural and The Girl is a friggin' beast.

Once she gets it all down, those boys had better look out.

She has been nailed with the ball so many times already, twice in the face, and it doesn't even phase her.

It's pretty much a running joke at this point, and we've started keeping track of her hit count.

Anywho, I'm SUPER proud of both of them and can't wait for them to get more time on the field under their belts.

They both have the ability to be so damn good.

So here's some pics I took before heading out to the Opening Ceremonies Saturday morning.

The brat photo bombing, as always.

The Girl.

At one of their first practices, the coach drilled her in the chest with the ball.

The second hit was from her brother at home.

They were playing catch in the backyard and the ball tipped off her mitt and slammed into her nose.

Lots of blood, but once we got her all cleaned up, she's was back out with her glove.

Opening Ceremonies, where they introduced the teams.

Ours is called District Five, which apparently is a Mighty Ducks reference.

Not all the kids could make it, but this is a good portion of them.

As you can see, she's as big as most of the other ten year old kids, including her brother.

The kid on the far right is 11 and a 6th grader, so he doesn't count.

The two coaches are brothers and I'm super impressed by them.

Great guys and they clearly know what they're doing.

Game time.

The Girl was first in the batting line up.

This was where she got another one of her hits.

The pitcher drilled her in the leg.

The Kid, my lefty hitter, just like his mama.

Hasn't been hit with the ball once.  ;o)

He's played third base both games, (getting a tag out and throwing the ball for an out at home in the second game), and The Girl was in left field for the first game and center field for the second.

Her most recent hit was in the second game.

Pop fly bounced out of her glove and drilled her in the forehead.

Coach pulled her out to check on her, but she was right back out there next inning, goose egg and all.

After the ceremonies, we had time before practice, so we zipped out to get their belts, and to hit up a, twice a year, giant kids' resale thing close to home, looking for some sport's gear.

We just happened to be there as Mr. Lizard was setting up, so we stayed for the show.

I had to do a lot of cropping to get other kids out of the photos, and I gave some of them O glasses.

Real fancy photoshop-style.

I hadn't heard of most of the critters, so excuse me for not remembering what they were called.

I know this was a frog.  ;)

The pictures don't show it very well, but he was a really pretty teal color.

A snake.

Some sort of lizard.

Something that bites.

Another weird lizard.

A gigantic frog.

I can't remember what this was called.

Proof that my children, and husband, are INSANE.

See that look on his face, that's what I was doing.

Totally disgusting.

A red-footed tortoise.

I only remember that because that's what we have.

I about choked when I saw him.

HUGE. 

And according to Mr. Lizard, his most destructive animal.

Let's just hope our Daisy stays petite.

Another snake.

This one had a really pretty head.

Another one I can't remember.

And last, the biggest critter of them all.

And that's it for this round of Life Snippets.

Yard pics are comin' next.