Mother's Day at the Jackaroo House

I had a wonderful mother's day. The day started out with Jim making breakfast for all of us yesterday morning. We decided to play hookey with church because Jack was having a tee-ball tournament this weekend. The tournament started on Friday night and his team won. It was back to the ball fields at 9:00 on Saturday for another day of tee-ball playing. His team played two games and won both games.

On Saturday night, we took advantage of our built-in babysitter, Brandi, and Jim and I went to see Star Trek movie. It was a really good movie and even better getting away from the kids and having some time alone with Jim.

On Sunday, we were back to the ball fields. Jack's team won their first game, which meant they had to play again against the best team in the league and well we got slaughtered in that game. But truthfully, I was very happy not winning and having to stay for the championship game. It was 93 degrees with 90% humidity out there. The boys were exhausted and the parents were hot and sunburnt. I was very happy to lose.

Jack has actually improved alot in the tee-ball playing. He actually hit a few doubles and is starting to pay attention when on the field. His favorite position is catcher and takes his catcher duties very seriously by making sure the ball is placed on the tee just right everytime. He still has alot to learn and lots of practice, but he seems to enjoy playing. The season ends on the 29th and we will probably end up putting him in Fall Ball to get some more practice. I would say that this has been a positive experience for the boy despite the uncertain start.

Tee Ball ... The Ultimate Frustration

Jack had his third game of tee ball last night and I just have to say that it is sooooo frustrating for Jim and I to sit there and NOT yell at the boy. He is on the 5/6 year old team and since he just turned five, he is one of the youngest on the team. Some of the boys are almost 7. So there is a wide variety of abilities.

But that is not what is so frustrating for us. It is the total and utter lack of concentration on Jack's part. When he is on the field, while all the other boys are paying attention and fielding the ball, Jack is in the outfield turning around in circles, shuffling the dirt with his feet, playing with his hat, throwing his glove in the air, pretty much everything BUT paying attention to the game. In fact, the coaches had to go out and tell him to go into the dugout at the end of the inning, when every other player was already in the dugout, except Jack who was turning in circles.

And this is not a laid-back tee ball league, no they keep score, count strikes, have an umpire, the whole shebang. It is the real deal. And for Jack to be in LaLa land is quite frustrating and quite frankly embarrassing. He doesn't seem to care. Even after we had a talk before last night's game when I told him that if he didn't pay attention, he would lose his PS2 game for a week. Well he has lost the game and I just don't know if that is enough to make him care about the tee-ball.

Sigh. Maybe he will get into Taekwondo this summer. So far we are 0-2 with soccer and teeball.

Priceless

Cost of new bat ... $25
Cost of new batters helmet ... $12
Cost of new baseball shoes ... $25
Cost of new baseball glove ... $19
Cost of new bag to hold above items ... $20

To watch the excitement of a five year old boy who knows he is going to be playing baseball

PRICELESS

Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

So we started T-Ball tonight. It has been a nightmare to get to this point. I swear we are jinxed when it comes to team sports for Jack.

We signed Jack up for the t-ball in February, paid our fee and was told they would get in touch with us when practices started. Well time went by and we soon found out that our friends son was on his team with scheduled practices. I have spent two weeks trying to get in contact with somebody, which was very hard because their website had absolutely no way to get in touch with them. Finally I got the phone number of the league commissioner and gave him an earful about not being told that the season started. Well, of course because it is us, they lost our paperwork and had no record at all of us signing up, despite the fact that they cashed our check. Thank goodness I had kept our copy and proved that we did indeed sign up. At this point, the teams had been together and practicing for almost 3 weeks. So finally today I got a phone call from the coach telling me that they had a practice tonight, nothing like short-noticed.

So we showed up at the baseball fields with about a gazillion other teams there (baseball is huge around here by the way) and me trying to find our team not knowing what our team name is or the color or what the coach looks like. I walked all over there asking if they knew where coach Billy was and I got completely vacant stares. I finally found the coach and the right team. I then look around and feel like I am out of my league. It turns out that this is the big league T-Ball for the 5 and 6 year olds. The other kids have the special sports bags all lined up there with their names on them. They each have their own bat, helmet, mitt and full (just like the pros) uniforms. Me? I brought my five-year-old. That is it.

So it looks like I need to go out and buy a gazillion dollars worth of equipment. Jack's first game is on Friday night and he will probably not have his pro uniform by then. But at least Jack seemed to have a good time out there in a borrowed helmet and bat tonight. The coach said that he is not behind and should do fine on the team. People it is T-BALL, not the big-leagues!

So yes we are onto another sport. I just hope that I end this season with a better feeling than I did the soccer season. I sure am not starting it on a good note!

Five Minutes of T-Ball

Jack playing T-ball. It is controlled chaos, but fun to watch. Actually, I am quite shocked at how well they have progressed in the 5 weeks since they started playing. Not nearly as much chaos as those first few practices. If you make it to the end, it is quite cute with the big handshake between the two teams. Very cute.

The Week In Pictures

This week has been a pretty busy week with Grammy and Papa visiting from Michigan. So here is the week in review in pictures.


On Monday, Jack had his first t-ball game. Here is the future major league player.

I think one word can describe these games - Chaos.

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Getting batting pointers from Coach Heidi.

During a rare good day on Thursday, we went to the beach with Grammy and Papa while Daddy was sleeping at home from working all night.

Sissy and Jack getting buckets of water. I think they were trying to empty the ocean.

Grammy and Papa - Beach Bums.

Laura looking prettier and prettier every single day.

Papa and Jack playing ball. About 38 years ago, there was a picture taken of me and Papa doing the exact same thing. I need to find that and post the two pictures together.

Grammy and Jack had to get in on the ball playing also.

T-Ball and Preschool ... These Are The Days Of Jack's Life

Well T-Ball practice started last night. I wish I could say that it went well, but I can't. It didn't start out very well when I got there and realized that I goofed and never bought Jack a baseball mitt and he was the only one without a glove. So, in Jack's true spirit, he just took over another little boy's named Brady. As you can imagine, this did not go over well with Brady and subsquently Jack when we made Jack give the glove back to Brady. Much crying and tears.

And then came the actual practice and I can tell right now that Jack is going to want to field more than bat because he loves to go running for the ball yelling "I got it I got it". But there is another little boy named Harper, who also has a love for fielding and is much more shall we say "aggressive" than Jack, which after about fourth ball Jack lost to Harper led to many crying and tears from Jack.

Hopefully Thursday's practice will be a bit better because we went straight to Academy Sports and bought a nice baseball mitt and baseball pants (so cute). His team color is royal blue. Their first game is April 9th and they play team #4.

Coach Heidi teaching Jack how to swing the bat.

Today was Jack's Easter party at school. They are out of school next week for spring break (waaaaaahhhh). I stayed in the classroom for the entire 3 hours to help out and I just have one thing to say - Ms. Kelsey is a goddess! Whatever she gets paid, which is probably next to nothing, it is NOT enough. Oh My GAH! And she handles the entire three hours of chaos with such grace and patience. I do not think that more than five minutes went by between each "crisis". And these kids are fast! I mean before you could blink, there was a fight over the trains and Kyle was smashing Jacob's head causing Jacob to scream. Then you turn around and see Seth climbing on the bookshelf trying to get to his easter basket full of candy. And you turn around again and you see Justin falling and cutting his knee up really badly requiring neosporin and a bandaid.

Seriously people, I came home NEEDING a nap after my three hour stint as preschool class mom. Yowza.

But all in all, it was a fun Easter day for the kids. They started out by having an egg hunt whereby Jack became superhuman egg-picker-upper. I swear he got a good 40% of the eggs crammed into his basket before anybody else. We had to do a bit of making things even later. There were 84 eggs and they were all picked up in a matter of 2 minutes.

Then after playing for a few minutes, the kids went inside and had their bunny rabbit cupcakes (thanks to over achiever super mom Katie) and juice. So cute they were sitting at the table waiting for their cupcakes singing their "bless this food" song. My heart swelled with pride when I saw my precious angelic son (yes I know I was calling him a devil child only days ago) saying his prayers. So So So cute.

I have to give kudos to the teachers and director at Jack's school. The school is awesome and I feel Jack has benefited so much by being there this year. They had music class with Miss Barbara today and it was adorable as they sang Old MacDonald and marched around with eggs filled with stuff shaking them. So So So Cute. Love it.

Ms. Kelsey leading the grace song before the cupcakes came out. Notice my angelic, redeemed-from-his-demon-status son holding his hands together to pray.

SEVEN Days!

Have ya'll seen the ticker above? The one counting down to Jack's third birthday? The one that says it is SEVEN days away? Oh my gosh! How did it come up so fast? We do have plans this weekend for his big birthday party at the indoor playland. We invited the entire family (clan) and all of his class and a neighbor. If everybody shows up, I am thinking we will have over 30 big and small people. We are going with the Tonka truck theme. So I ordered this birthday cake. I also bought the yellow hard hats for all the kids and party favors for the goody bags. We still have a ton of candy left over from halloween, so I will dipping into that to help fill the goody bags. It should be fun and most of it is done, except for filling the goody bags and picking up the cake and pizza the day of the party.

Jack is sooooo excited about the party. It is fun to see him really understand the whole concept of a birthday this year. He even told somebody the other day that he was "almost three" when asked how old he was. He really does understand the year older thing.

I also signed him up for T-Ball starting in April. He is going to be on the same team as his friend Seth from his class. We went to the YMCA today after school to get all signed up and boy was he all jazzed about "playing baseball". I really can not wait to sit there watching him swing the bat and run around the bases. The first game is April 9th, so expect lots of T-Ball action pictures forthcoming.

I have to admit that I am thoroughly enjoying this age. While I do miss the baby stage a little, I am having so much fun looking at everything through his eyes and experiencing things for the first time all over again. Although, I just wish he would sleep a little more. The kid is wearing me out. Again, it was 10:30 last night before he went to sleep. I have given up trying to put him down at 8 because that is a joke. He is wide awake at that time. Now it is closer to 9 and still it doesn't happen. He ends up playing in his room. But the thing is, the kid is up at 6 am like clockwork! Oy! I think he is going to be one of those people who does not need a whole lot of sleep to function. Yay. Lucky me.