Easter: The Aftermath

What do you do when your kid throws his glove on top of the dugout?

You come back when no one's around to climb up and get it.

I probably broke up a drug deal in progress on accident, too. There was a car full of guys at the park when I pulled in. They looked at me strange and drove off the moment Shane and I got out. Coincidence?

Henry and Raheem were out when we finally arrived back home.

The plan was to meet up with Dylan and Eli, but why be anti-social? The boys played while I took care of all our animals, hit the bathroom, and unpacked. I had to throw our uniforms in the wash for tomorrow, as well.

We went to Dylan's after not too long. He was outside and waiting to meet us!

It was a high energy night. The boys played so well this time I was afraid to look. I didn't want to jinx it.

They ate food and then decided to play with the kiddie pool on the back porch. Eli was washing all of his animals until the big kids took over. The pool became some sort of animal fun park full of splashing rides. The kids got soaked.

My plan was to throw Shane in the shower, watch an episode, and then turn the light's out. Only Raheem was at our driveway and opened Shane's door for him when I parked.

I went ahead and let the kids play. I was exhausted, but I wanted my actions to communicate the right message: People are important. Jesus died for ALL.

It was shower and story time after that.

Shane was bummed that the Easter Bunny never came. I told him, "We were out of town! The Easter Bunny must have knew!" I almost told him he wasn't coming either when he started to whine (I have no tolerance for that).

We ended the night well enough, though. It'd been a full day. We put Mommy, Mira, and baby in our prayers. This will be an Easter I remember, at least.

Tee-Ball Game #1

Saturday was opening day. We showed up for team pictures at 9:30 AM.

Of course, the whole team wanted to play in the dirt pile. Half of them had on white pants, but Shane was in black (suckers!).

The kids had to wait, so they found ways to entertain themselves. Shane made a few chief discoveries.

I took these pics before the rest of the team swarmed. No one got stepped on.

It was a crowded and active opening day. There are six teams of about 12 kids each in our league. Not bad for a small town.

Here's my kid not lining up and wearing his hat over his face so he could bump into the lady trying to get things organized. He was jumping up on a coach in the picture above.

Shane spotted a baseball under the bridge while we waited for the team picture.

He wanted to walk over to the bigger bridge to look down, but I called him back for the picture (especially since a few other kids started to jog over to see what was up!).

I had to hop in, so I only got one snapshot of the blue horde.

Then it was time to warm-up.

Did you notice the D's on our hats? We're the Dick's Sporting Goods.

Our opponent? The Hickey's.

Giant Food's was up at bat on a different field!

This is not a complaint. It's great that local businesses are sponsoring teams, but those are some hilarious names. I had to resist making all sorts of puns and bad jokes!

I could read the schedule to see all of our opponent's names, but why spoil the surprise?

We took the field first. Shane was shortstop. The pitcher and first baseman saw 95% of the action. Standing around and waiting isn't Shane's specialty. He wanted to be closer to the ball (which is a much better reaction than "Let's go home!"). Grass was picked.

Batting and running was a big hit! (Not so much his actual hit - He clipped it and it barely got past the white line for a good hit!).

The game went much, much smoother than I expected. We even got two outs! Score was tracked by how many kids you ended with. We were 11 for 11. A win!

Shane started to burn out by the end.

He got excited when it was time to bat again. Jubilant, he threw his glove in the air........right on top of the dugout.

"Aannnd there it goes. Sorry, kid." I shrugged. Shane bawled. Blake, the only boy who is less focused than Shane, came over to comfort him, but Shane wanted nothing to do with anyone.

He got out of it in time to bat again. I told him that I'd come back later and climb up for it. I didn't want to do it in front of the kids (especially when the league lady didn't want kids climbing on trees! No non-baseball fun was allowed).

Obligatory snacks after the game always taste better than anything we have at home.

We sat with Iggy and Lucy to chow down.

Shane borrowed my phone for some photography fun.

We said our goodbyes after that. I was true to my word and took Shane to look at the "big bridge" before we moved on.

Carrie had asked me to pick something up for Sonya from Wegmans, so Shane and I stopped in for lunch before we started on our next big journey for the day: The drive to Charlotte County.

All-in-all, a great first game and game day....even with the flying glove! Shane's come a long way sportwise.

Activity Overlap

 Swim lesson Thursday! Shane's working on tying knots and his stroke.

He had a new teacher today. His old teacher was there, but there were so many kids she split the class.

Shane's looking good....

...until he aborts everything for a big breath.

He's getting there, but I'm going to have to schedule more lessons.

We took our time leaving and then had to eat on the car on our way across town. Tee-ball was next!

We met on the Monticello Little League field for the first time. All of our games will be held there.

It was a rougher practice for Shane, but I expected it after school, swimming, and the excitement of a new field.

We played a simulated game. It felt too early, but our first game is on Saturday. When else would we do it? It went better than I expected.

Raheem was out when we got home. He and Shane played some basketball (Mostly affably - Shane gets whiny if Raheem takes too many shots in a row).

Lots of sports. A lot more sports than I ever planned on trying to cram into a day when I look back on it. I just want to get Shane out of the house and give him opportunities to play with other kids and get some energy out.

Sign-Ups

Thursday night, I took Shane to sign up for tee-ball. He was adamantly opposed, but I think that's because he wanted Mommy to play Pokemon on her phone.

It was only $35! I'm debating whether or not it would be too much to sign him up for soccer, too. He's grown to like that one. TKD is ongoing, so tee-ball practice, soccer practice, TKD, and games would take up a lot of nights a week.

On the other hand, when wrestling ends I should be able to pick him up from school earlier. That would give him time to play outside. He's super social and events would keep us from watching Pokemon too much. Hmmm.....

And look! Cool mural.