Catching My Breath

Let's see. Looking at the calendar, I think I have might have two weeks, maybe three, if I'm lucky, to slow down and breathe a little before things pick back up again.

Baseball season is finally over. Jared finished his coach pitch team the second week of July. I forgot to sign him up for soccer this year, but he says he's okay with it. Adam's team did well in their baseball tournament. They took 3rd place out of 16 teams. Adam had fun and ended the season with with a single and an inning of playing 2nd base, after spending most of the season in the outfield. After winning the consolation game to take 3rd place, I heard him saying, "Best season ever!" It was good to see him enjoying it. This next week he will finish up swim team. He best times in the regular meets have qualified him to swim in the Silver meet at County. He is also talking about taking lifesaving and water safety instructor courses in the future, so he can prepare to teach swim lessons and life guard at the pool when he is old enough to get a job. It's nice to have our community pool is so close to our home. We get a family pass every summer and take as much advantage of it as we can. Adam and Ryan are both old enough to swim without an adult, so they head over there quite often to swim with friends too.

Ryan just started practices for his competition soccer team. I sat and watched them for awhile the other night, because the coach had asked parents to be there for a meeting. I was really impressed with him--his coaching skills, his knowledge of the game, and especially the way he interacted with the players. He's expecting a lot of them, but he communicates it in a very positive way. I think it will be a great experience for Ryan to play for him. Ryan is excited to start 5th grade in a few weeks. We got an email from his teacher, asking him to practice typing, cursive, and times tables each week until school starts. It's hard to think about school in the middle of the summer, but he doesn't seem to mind.

All the boys finished the summer reading program at the library. They've been reading 15-20 minutes a day, five days a week, since the first week of June. They'll keep doing that even though the program is over, but I'll switch to encouragement mode, rather than "you have to get all your chores and reading and piano practicing done before you can have screen time" mode. Now they just have to do chores and Adam has to practice piano.

There are lots of changes going on around here, some of which are nicely facilitating my "breathing time." I decided to step down from the Library Board in June, after 3+ years of service. It was a great experience and helped me get to know our community after we moved here. I enjoyed it, but felt like I needed to put more volunteer hours in at my kids' schools. With all four of them at different schools next year, I'm sure I'll be busy enough.

Then, last Sunday our stake presidency canceled regular church meetings and held a special stake meeting--to reorganize ward boundaries. Every single ward in our stake was shaken up, most pretty drastically. We were moved from our ward of four years to a new ward made up of parts of four old wards. Everyone who was moved to a new ward was automatically released from their callings, so I am no longer the Primary president. I will miss the kids and especially the wonderful ladies I served with in the presidency. We attended our new ward for the first time today--sacrament meeting only. Our new bishop and his wife gave great talks. They introduced themselves and we learned that they met in a "military ward" in Virginia shortly after he returned from the Viet Nam War. (Sound familiar Mom?) He is from Hawaii, originally. By way of introduction, his counselor told us that he likes to give hugs, and he loves luaus. Our first ward activity will be a luau in mid-August. This change is going to take some adjusting for all of us--particularly Adam, who was attached to his deacon friends and Young Men leaders--but it will be an adventure and an opportunity to grow. Jared was happy to learn that several boys he knew from school are in our new ward, and it looks like there are some Ryan's and Dallin's ages too. Hopefully Adam will find some as well. We are sad to leave the friends we made in our old ward, but at least this time we don't have to pack any boxes to do it, and we don't really have to say good-bye either.

I've decided my motto is, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other gold." We've made so many wonderful friends in all the places we've lived. We love keeping in touch with them. (And living in Utah, we get to see many of them when they pass through. We visited with one family we knew in Texas last week, and we're having dinner with with four different families this week--two we knew in Cincinnati, and two we knew in Texas.) For Family Home Evening last Monday, Jeff took us all to Provo for a little "family history tour." We ate dinner at the Malt Shoppe on University Avenue, then drove around and showed the kids all the apartments we lived while we were dating and first married. Then he talked to the boys about all the places we've moved to, the good friends we've made, the wonderful experiences we've had, and the memories we've made. Then we talked about the changes in our ward and how we have the opportunity to grow and make new friends, just like our family has done many times through the years. It was a fun trip down memory lane, and hopefully an effective lesson. At least it kept the kids attention and they weren't wrestling on the couch, like normal. :-)

I feel like I'm rambling, but I'll finish up with this. We have a 16-year-old German girl coming in a few weeks to live with us and go to our local high school for the coming school year. She is the youngest daughter of a family Jeff first met as a missionary in East Germany. I'm not completely sure I'm prepared to deal with a teenager, or a girl, but we are excited that she got all the red tape worked out so she can come. It will be another adventure for us. Mostly I worry that she will get homesick, but I guess we'll cross that bridge if we get to it. In preparation for her arrival, we have to clean out all the stuff we've been storing in the guest room. So for the moment, I'm spending my breathing time deep cleaning my house, room by room, making space elsewhere to put that stuff. It feels good to dejunk a bit, and my house certainly needs the cleaning.

Busiest. Summer. Ever.

It won't be easy to condense our June activities into one blog post. This will probably have to be Part 1.

My general rule is that the kids can each only participate in one sport and one music at a time. Yes, this is a sanity preserving tactic. No, it isn't working very well at the moment. Adam's baseball season was due to end the first week of June. Mother nature poured rain on us in May though, postponing four games later into June. Then, when the regular season was finally all over, we learned that his team did well enough (5th place in their league) to advance to the state tournament--starting the 12th of July. Thank goodness his coach gave the team two weeks off before they start practicing again next week for the tournament. I love baseball and I enjoy watching Adam play baseball. I never thought I would say I've had enough of baseball. But I have, at least for this year.
That is because swim team started the first week of June. Adam went to his first scout camp that week, skipping baseball and swim team for a few days. I have no pictures of scout camp, but from all reports he had a great time, behaved himself, worked hard, and earned at least four merit badges, including leatherworking, Indian lore, woodcarving, and geocaching. There may have been a fifth as well, but I can't remember it right now.

As much as I love baseball, I'm really hoping to encourage Adam more in swimming. I think he's really got some potential in the pool. In his first meet last Saturday he swam the 50 yd. freestyle, 50 yd. backstroke, 50 yd. breaststroke, 11-12 boys medley relay, and 11-12 boys freestyle relay. He's still getting back in shape, but did pretty well.

I think this would be an awesome photo if it weren't for the yellow line running through the middle of it. It must have been a rope across the pool.

"Swimmers, take your marks."

"Go!"
Jeff was supposed to be a stroke judge, but ended up being the starter for the day. He enjoyed it, but wished he'd brought ear plugs to protect his ears from the whistle and the air horn. (It's interesting the things you can see in a photo that you didn't notice when you were taking it. For instance, the lady to the right of Jeff is my friend, Jenny, and her baby girl. And the boy to the left of Jeff has "Eat my bubbles!" written on his back in marker.)
Adam got a fever and a headache for a couple days after he came home from scout camp. It went away, then came back again three days later. Just when I was ready to take him to the doctor, it went away again. But he's been extra tired--taking naps, cranky, not wanting to even play, let alone do chores. Not completely his normal self. Jeff thought he was just dehydrated. I thought he was just not getting enough sleep. He had commitments though, so I kept sending him to baseball and swim team practice, except when he had a fever. But then this last weekend when he started complaining about a sore throat, I decided to take him in to the doctor after all, even though he didn't have a fever this time. I was imagining all kinds of things that could be wrong with him. His cousin came home from scout camp with swine flu last year. And his other cousin has mono this summer. After comparing scout camp notes, and even showing us his own woodworking merit badge video on his iPhone, Dr./Scoutmaster Liddle diagnosed your basic, garden variety strep throat. Amazing how fast a little amoxicillin can turn things around! I am grateful for nice doctors and antibiotics.

April

Somewhere I fell off the blogging wagon. I don't know why. But I'm trying to climb back on again. I have some extra motivation, which should help. Jeff's parents left two weeks ago to begin their 18-month-long LDS mission to Tennessee. (Hi Mom and Dad! We're praying for you!) You can thank them if you are glad that I am trying to blog again. You can also blame them if this blog becomes somewhat grandparent-focused. Feel free to skim or skip altogether.

Back in February, Ryan took the test to qualify for placement in our school district's gifted education program. He hasn't been very excited about the idea because it's a magnet school arrangement and he would have to leave his current school to participate. I've had a few reservations as well, but I felt like he needed to take the test and keep all the options open. He's had a good experience at our neighborhood school, but he just learns things so quickly and easily that I have felt like he is not being challenged, that his potential is being limited, and that he has even been bored in school. He gets his work done and then reads--so much that he probably has double the "reading points" of any other kid in the 4th grade. So anyway, after a little confusion about the scores on his test, Ryan was offered placement in a gifted class for next year. We attended an orientation meeting last week to meet the teacher and learn more about the program. Ryan still isn't thrilled, but he liked the teacher and said he is willing to give it a try. One idea that the teacher presented at the meeting made a lot of sense to me. She introduced Bloom's Taxonomy of thinking in which there are six levels of thought processes arranged from lower order processes to higher order processes: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. I can't explain this as well as she did, but basically, in a regular classroom most of the available time is spent helping students with the lower order processes--remembering and understanding, sometimes applying. There is little time left for analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Gifted students need less time to remember and understand, so putting them in the accelerated environment of a gifted classroom allows them time to move quickly through the lower levels so they can have time for the challenge of the higher level processes. I doubt Ryan is the smartest kid in the school district, but he is bright, and I am excited for him to have this opportunity. I hope it will be a good experience for him.

Last Saturday was the opening day ceremonies for Adam's baseball league. Special guest of honor was Dale Murphy, retired Atlanta Braves star and my hero when I was a Little Leaguer myself. I was looking forward to seeing him and hearing him speak to the kids. He gave them all high fives as they filed onto the field, then after some encouraging words to the kids and the parents, he and and the mayor and the Salt Lake Bees mascot threw out the first pitch(es). Afterwards, Adam and I stood in line to talk to him and get him to sign a couple of my old baseball cards. I tend to get flustered and not know quite what to say to "celebrities." (I wonder if they get tired of that--fans stumbling over their words when they try to talk to them.) I did ask him if he was still in touch with Ray Knight, another former baseball player who actually had some of the missionary discussions in our home when I was a kid and my dad was the ward mission leader. I think he said he wasn't, but like I said, I get flustered, so it wasn't much of a conversation. There were people in line behind us, so I snapped a photo of him and Adam and we thanked him for coming. On the way to the ball field, Jeff had been telling me how he didn't really like Murphy and the Braves when he was a kid, because he was a Dodgers fan. It took him quite awhile to figure out why the Braves were the only team ever on TV. (Thanks to Ted Turner and WTBS, the Braves were broadcast nation-wide and became known as "America's Team." I didn't really know this as a kid. We didn't have a TV, but we lived in Georgia and attended a couple of "Mormon Night at the Braves" games, so I've always felt like I came by my Braves fanhood naturally.) As Adam and I were standing in line to get Dale's autograph, one of the coaches said to all the kids standing there, "You guys don't know how good this guy was. He was my hero when I was your age. I used to come home every day after school and turn on the TV to watch Braves games on TBS and see this guy do his magic." As we were walking off the field, another coach or parent saw my baseball cards and asked if we'd had him sign them. When I said yes, he said, "I hated him when I was a kid. I was a Dodgers fan." I said, "And the only team you could see on TV was the Braves, right?" He said, "Yes, exactly!" It was funny. Seems all the 40-somethings at the ball field that day were either Dale Murphy groupies who could hardly contain their excitement, or they hated him--not much in between. And the kids hardly knew who he was.


We had a nice but quiet Easter at home this year. It was a little chilly, so the Easter bunny hid the plastic eggs in the house. The Easter bunny needs to remember, however, not to hide one in the oven, then turn it on to preheat for Easter dinner baking. Oops. The melted egg had to be scraped off the bottom of the oven. The Tootsie Roll inside of it was still intact on the oven rack, which I thought was interesting in a 350 degree oven. Reminds me of my kids new favorite--roasting Starbursts over the campfire. I didn't quite dare eat the Tootsie Roll though, as I think it was contaminated with the melted plastic. I might have to try roasting some at our next campfire though. Jeff cooked an un-traditional but very delicious Easter dinner of German food for us--rouladen, red cabbage, spaetzle, and klöse. We finished off the day by watching the new "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" movie which the Easter bunny had brought along with too much candy.




My favorite part of Easter though, was a wonderful sacrament meeting program at church. The speakers gave great talks about our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the love He gives to each of us personally, individually. And I was able to sing "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," and my new favorite Easter hymn, "The Resurrection and the Life," by Sally DeFord, with our ward choir. (I haven't yet sung a song by her that I didn't really like.) It was an uplifting worship service for me. I've been reflecting on my testimony of Jesus Christ lately. I remember as a teen and young adult wanting to have a strong testimony, but just not feeling it like I thought I was supposed to. I imagine there are people for whom a testimony comes as a gift in a sudden way. But I think maybe the Lord knew that I would appreciate my testimony more if it came to me gradually, line upon line, here a little and there a little (2 Nephi 28:30), through people and experiences and scriptures that have also become dear to me. I still struggle to express my faith in words, but I feel it, and I am so grateful for it.

Hectic

I don't even know where to start catching up, so I guess I'll just jump in. I learned a couple things from our busy, busy June. First, don't sign the kids up for the 9:30 a.m. class of the first session of swimming lessons. It was just too chilly. Most days after lessons I had to send someone into the boys' locker room to get Adam and Ryan out of the warm showers. And we made hot cocoa several times to warm us up when we got home--in June! The second session went a little better--summer finally showed up for real, and I changed their lessons to the 11:50 a.m. class. Second, don't sign up for swimming lessons before baseball is over. We did swimming lessons every morning and baseball almost every night and tried to squeeze the rest of life in between. Swimming lessons ended two weeks ago, and baseball finally ended last Wednesday. Phew.

I thought maybe we could stop running, but it hasn't happened. We spent four days in Cedar and Glendale, visiting with my family and catching "Two Gentlemen of Verona" at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. The kids loved playing with their cousins and Jeff and I enjoyed a little down time. We caught the new Indiana Jones movie one night after the kids were in bed. It was fun and we were glad we saw it on the big screen. Jeff was a good sport to watch nine kids by himself one day while my sister and sister-in-law and I took a break to do lunch and a little shopping. The Slip-n-Slide helped! My mom provided the Shakespeare tickets. She wanted Adam and Ryan to see their first play, so we opted for a comedy. It was a little slow and not as impressive as some other Shakespeare productions I've seen, but the comic fool (Brian Vaughn) and his dog made them laugh, so they weren't too bored. I think they'll be willing to go again in the future, but we'll try to find a more exciting play to keep their interest. Of course the highlight of their weekend was the marshmallow gun fight--thanks Uncle Enoch! (I'll post photos when I get my camera software re-installed.)

I got unpacked and got the laundry done just in time to turn around and go to Jeff's parents for the 4th of July weekend. We had a great barbecue and fireworks with extended family. It's really been a blessing to be close enough to spend time with grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins again. While there though, we learned that Jeff's Grandpa Jo had slipped into a coma in Idaho. He passed away yesterday morning. We will miss him, but congestive heart failure had made his quality of life so poor for so long that his passing was a blessing. Again, I'm glad we are close enough that traveling to his funeral this weekend won't be difficult, but we're off and running--again. I have this faint hope that my life will slow down when the kids go back to school in August. Whatever happened to slow, relaxing "summertime and the living is easy"?!

Are you ready to ramble?!

Have you ever sat down to blog and found yourself reading everyone else's blogs and never getting around to posting your own? Happens to me on almost a daily basis.

When we moved here, I consciously gave myself six months to get settled, get involved, start making friends, etc. Well, my six months were up in February, and I was still feeling lonely and isolated. I figured that had to be at least partially my fault, so I started taking some extra steps--inviting people over for dinner, applying for the public library board, organizing a playgroup, etc. And now all of a sudden it seems like life is busy again. (Not that I was ever bored--there are always chores to do.) The playgroup is happening one morning a week (although the weather hasn't been cooperative so we haven't had great participation). I was selected to be on the library board and attended my first board meeting this month. I was released as a Primary teacher and called as the Primary secretary and as a Cub Scout Wolf Den Leader with Jeff. Adam's baseball season started--two practices or games each week. (Ahh, you probably didn't even realize you were missing out on baseball posts, did you? :-) Being busy and involved is good for me. I'm getting to know people and I don't have much time to mope around (or to blog). But I have to admit, there have been moments lately when I've missed those empty days on the calendar.

Mother's Day came and went. I had a good one. Jeff and the boys gave me a bicycle trailer and five bars of German chocolate. Adam and Ryan also gave me the requisite homemade gifts they made at school--poems, cards, coupon books--good stuff. Jeff made a yummy dinner and Adam and Ryan helped him clean up. I played games with the kids and did some thinking about how grateful I am to be a mom and how grateful I am for the moms in my life--my mother and my mother-in-law in particular. Motherhood has been on my mind lately anyway. The other day it occurred to me that I do so much for my kids that no else would ever do. And it's not so important what those things are as it is that they have someone who loves them that much. I am not a perfect mother, but I do love my boys and I consider it a privilege to be able to use my time and energy to take care of them. I pray every day for help to be a better mother and to raise them well.

When I thought of how much I do for my kids, that led to new thoughts and realizations about how much my mother has done for me. Having kids has helped me better understand the love and sacrifice she gave me and my brothers and sisters. Adam is in his first baseball league where the kids pitch to each other. He hasn't pitched in a game yet, but I don't know how I'll handle it if he does. It is painful to watch the pitchers try their hardest just to get the ball across the plate. Sometimes they succeed, but most of the time they don't. My emotions fluctuate with every pitch, good and bad. And they aren't even my kid! My mom was the pitcher's mom for two of the seasons I played Little League. In some ways I'm sorry I put her through that. I don't know how she did it.

In other news, Dallin turned 18 months old this week. Sometimes I find myself wishing my life away. For the most part I think that is a bad habit and a foolish (albeit easy) thing to do. However, I think it is perfectly acceptable to count down and wish away the months and days until a toddler gets to go to nursery for two of the three hours of church every Sunday. Nursery makes moms and dads and toddlers so much happier on the Sabbath. Well, my toddlers at least. I know some have separation anxiety and don't do so well in nursery. I count it as a huge blessing that I am four for four on having my kids easily and happily go to nursery. Yay!

School is out in two weeks. That means I have two weeks to find a way to keep everyone from driving each other crazy all summer. I have these grand ideas of a Summer Plan, with a capital "P," that involves reading, practicing math and spelling, chores, setting and reaching goals, minimal TV, fun family activities, spending time together in the great outdoors, etc., etc. The motto of this wonderful plan will be: "Work hard, play hard." In that order. I am, however, trying to be realistic about my chances of getting anyone else to actually buy into my Summer Plan. I'm am fairly certain that I am going to have to settle for a summer plan, with a small "p." And I have two weeks to figure it out. Wish me luck. :-)

That's the Ball Season

Possibly you thought our baseball season would never end, but it has. Ryan had his last teeball game this past Monday evening. He had a good season and really enjoyed himself. His skills will need some work as he moves into coach pitch next year, but he's really picked up on the rules and how the game is played. I think he's actually learned more from watching Adam's games than he has from playing teeball. He basically taught himself to read the same way, by watching as Adam did his homework. He's a pretty sharp cookie.

Adam's team finished off their season tonight on a bit of a low note. They didn't look very sharp, maybe because it was 90 degrees plus outside today. Mercifully the scoreboard stopped working in the middle of the game, when the score was 10-5, so we really don't know how bad they lost. I think their final record of 9 wins and 6 losses doesn't really tell what a good year they had. All their players from last year really led the team, and the younger boys who joined the team this year made a lot of progress. Adam will miss getting to play with them next year. It was a good group of players, coaches, and parents. He was 1 for 2 with a single tonight, so his batting average for the season was .765 (26 for 34, 21 singles and 5 doubles). I am proud of him for doing so well and for being a good sport most of the time. I'm not one of those parents who think that sports are the be all and end all of their children's lives (and there are a few of those around here), but I do think it's a good for kids to participate in team sports and have those character building experiences of working and cooperating with others towards a common goal, and doing it with a good attitude.

There, now you've had your last baseball update...until next spring. :-)

Baseball, Sick Kids, Cousins, Kindergarten Graduation, & Friends

I haven't caught up on baseball for a couple weeks. We've had several more rainouts, but the weather finally cooperated this week so we could make up for some lost time. Ryan had games on Tuesday and Friday. He was running a high fever Tuesday, so I made him skip that game. In Friday's game he got to play pitcher, the busiest position in teeball. I missed the game to stay home with the other sick kids, but Jeff said he fielded everything hit to him and even got one batter out at first base. Ryan was most excited about sliding into home plate. As soon as he walked in the door he proudly showed me all the dust on his pants. Adam played Tuesday and Thursday, and had a double-header on Wednesday to make up some rainouts. They won two of those four games, but I've lost track of their overall record--something like 9 wins and 5 losses. Jeff has helped me keep up with his batting average though. At the moment, he is 25 for 32, for a .781 average (20 singles and 5 doubles).

As mentioned, we've been doing the sick kid thing this week. So far the symptoms are just fever and headaches. All four boys had fevers yesterday, so I kept them home from church today. I might have to take at least Dallin into the pediatrician tomorrow, but I'm guessing this is a virus that will go away on it's own. I tend to be pretty conservative about taking kids to the doctor, as I hate spending time and money to be told, "It's just a virus."

The most exciting part of our week though, was the visit of my brother, Enoch, and his family. They decided to do a Texas family vacation this summer, including two days and three nights at our house. It was fun to catch up with them and play with cousins. Will especially fit right in with our light-saber and superhero loving boys, and Adam and Ryan were a jealous of his Gameboy. We were a little hard-pressed to find things to do to entertain them, but they went with us to Adam's baseball game Tuesday night, then on Wednesday we took them downtown to Eggemeyer's General Store, to Kings Kingdom Park and the Concho River where we had a great time feeding the ducks and turtles. In the afternoon we went bowling and Will beat us all with a score of 114! Their time in San Angelo will probably be the most boring part of their vacation (compared to San Antonio and Dallas), but we're glad they came to see us. Thanks for fixing our gates too Enoch!















And finally, Thursday was the last day of school and Ryan's kindergarten graduation. I'm proud of Ryan--he had a great year and learned a lot--but I think kindergarten graduations are kind of silly. It was a nice, short program, however, in the hot, crowded elementary school gym. The 102 kindergarteners looked great all dressed in little red caps and gowns. They sang four songs, including a very cute one called "Move Me Up to the First Grade," sung to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." I got tears in my eyes when they played the Edward Elgar graduation march song, but then I almost always do. I think I associate it with change (something I've always struggled with) and with leaving a chapter of life behind that can never be returned to. Anyway, I wasn't emotional about kindergarten graduation, but that song got to me anyway. Ryan was emotional for an entirely different reason. He didn't even want to go because he said he was afraid of getting up in front of so many people. I tried to reassure him and calm him down, but he was still visibly upset. I wasn't sure where that came from until I talked to his teacher afterward and realized she was afraid of getting up in front of so many people too. It's amazing how impressionable our little ones are. Ryan was fine afterwards though, so hopefully he realized it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

Speaking of changes, we are really going to miss our good friends, the Townsends, who moved to Wisconsin this week. One of the benefits of moving around every few years has been all the wonderful, wonderful friends we've made. The hymn, "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good," has been playing in my brain this week.

Each life that touches ours for good
Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord.
Thou sendest blessings from above
Thru words and deeds of those who love.

What greater gift dost thou bestow,
What greater goodness can we know
Than Christ-like friends whose gentle ways
Strengthen our faith, enrich our days.

When such a friend from us departs,
We hold forever in our hearts
A sweet and hallowed memory,
Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee.

For worthy friends whose lives proclaim
Devotion to the Savior's name,
Who bless our days with peace and love,
We praise they goodness, Lord above.

Thank you friends, for truly being blessings in my life!

Grandparents, Mothers' Day, Baseball, and Fathers and Sons

Jeff's parents just finished a 12-day visit with us this week. They needed a grandkid fix and had some Delta Skymiles to use. It's always fun to have family visit, and we enjoyed having them. The day they left, Ryan was moaning and groaning, wondering what in the world we were going to do for fun after they were gone. The kids love playing games and reading stories with them, and generally just having the extra attention. They helped me out too, washing dishes and tending kids and helping me with some projects. I felt a little guilty working them so hard. We tried to make it up to them on Saturday with a little trip to Fredericksburg to see Texas wildflowers and eat German food. Although I was disappointed that we didn't see more bluebonnets--missed their peak by week or two--we've had a wet spring so the wildflowers were everywhere and really beautiful. (I also got two or three new counties on this trip. :-)

I had a very nice Mother's Day, and it was extra fun to celebrate it with Grandma too. Jeff and his dad cooked yummy Japanese/Chinese food for us--almond chicken, sweet and sour pork, and gingered green bean salad, with pecan pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert. I love having a husband who enjoys cooking!

Jeff and the boys really outdid themselves with the gifts this year--I usually don't get or want near this much for Mother's Day. They surprised me with a beautiful new oak chest of drawers to replace the hand-me-down we've been using for 14+ years now. It's unfinished--raw wood--but Jeff is also looking forward to finishing it, which is good since all I need right now is another project. We're thinking we'll stain it medium brown to try to match our headboard and then seal it with tung oil. That's what's been recommended to us anyway, although my friend sealed hers with polyurethane and it looks great. I also got a couple Ritter Sport candy bars--real German chocolate (available at Target, FYI). I needed shirts and I got a couple of those too--a pale green button-up and a "Lady Longhorns" t-shirt. I guess I couldn't really leave Texas without some burnt orange in my wardrobe. It is "my color" after all, even if I bleed BYU blue. The most fun present of all though, was a pink cowboy hat. I don't really do pink...or cowboy...but now I have a souvenir that says "Texas" all over it. The funny thing is, whenever Jared finds it he brings it to me and says, "Put the pink cowboy hat on your head Mommy." I've worn it quite a bit this last week. :-)

I'll bet you thought I'd forgotten about baseball. I'll bet you missed my play-by-play posts too, didn't you? Well, I didn't forget, but there hasn't been much to post about. We've had several games cancelled by bad weather--lots of thunderstorms and rain lately. When it finally cleared up last week, Ryan and Adam both had games on Friday. Ryan's game was typical teeball-- everybody hits, everybody scores--except that this time Grandma and Grandpa got to see him play, which was a treat. I think Adam was a little nervous to have the extra audience--he wanted to do so well while they were there to cheer for him and got upset when he struck out a couple of times. I think he did get at least one hit, but I didn't keep track very well since the other team forfeited due to a shortage of players. We lent them some of our players and just played a practice game. They "won" thanks to our players who hit well, so technically we "beat ourselves." Adam and Ryan both played again last night. Ryan's game was cut short due to rain, but he still got two good hits. Adam batted 2-for-4 with two singles and an RBI (15-for-19, .789, 12 singles, 3 doubles on the year). His team won 10 to 7 for a 7-2 record so far.

I've had occasion recently to think about how many Little League games and Cub Scout pack meetings we're going to end up going to over the next several years with our four boys. Tonight I've discovered another benefit of having all boys--Fathers and Sons outings! Dallin is still a little young to go camping without Mommy right now, so he and I are having a nice evening here at home. I really, really love my boys, but ah, the peace and quiet!

Not enough hours in the day

I've decided recently--not for the first time--that there just aren't enough hours in my day. I need three more hours to sleep and three more hours to get things done--things I really need to do and things I feel like I should do and things I just want to do. I suppose there's a chance I wouldn't be satisfied even with six more hours, but it sure wouldn't hurt. Dallin and I fell asleep on the couch for about a half an hour today, but my nice little nap was negated somewhat by the dreams I was having about what I should've been doing instead of sleeping. :-(

Just for the record, Adam's team lost again tonight, 11-4. So their record is now 5-2. Adam hit two singles, so he's 13 for 15 (.867 batting average, 10 singles and 3 doubles).

Blown Out

Adam's team played the Padres tonight and suffered their first loss of the season, so they are now 5-1. It was ugly. The score was 15-1. The other team hit really well and played well in the field, while Adam's team struggled at bat and had lots of fielding errors tonight. On the upside, Adam hit a nice leadoff double to start the game, and had a single as well. So he is now 11 for 13 (8 singles and 3 doubles) for a .846 batting average. It's nice though, that he cares more about his team losing than about how well he is doing individually.

Obligatory Baseball Post

Only two baseball games to report on this week--aren't you lucky?! Ryan and Adam both played last night. Ryan's game was rather unremarkable. He got to play shortstop and left field and got no action at either position. But he was more disappointed--as most tee-ballers are--that somebody's parents forgot the after-game snack again. So I let him get Ring Pops for himself and his brother's at the concession stand. They are slowly learning they are much more likely to get a treat if they don't ask, i.e., beg.

Adam's team won another squeaker, 2-1. It turned out to be a pitcher's duel, if you can call it that in a pitching machine league. :-) Hopefully both team's coaches learned that putting their weaker hitters all together in the lineup instead of mixing them in with the stronger hitters isn't very effective if you want to score runs. (Actually, I think Adam's coach is usually careful about that, but he wasn't there and the assistant coach in charge of the lineup appeared to be less experienced with that kind of thing.) Anyway, Adam hit a single past the shortstop into the outfield and also got on base with a fielder's choice. I've loved baseball since I was a little kid and think I know quite a bit about the game, but I didn't know until last night that a fielder's choice counts as an out when calculating batting average. So Adam is now 9 for 11 (.818 batting average). His team is 5-0 for the season. The league doesn't actually keep track of standings because they consider it a "learning league," but you just ask the 1st and 2nd grade Little Leaguers at Adam's elementary school and they will tell you that the Tigers and the Padres are undefeated, so if the Tigers (Adam's team) beats the Padres next week, they will be in first place.

Four more games

I think--I hope--this is the last week we have baseball games on four out of the seven days. Adam played Tuesday and Friday. Last night he struck out once and hit a single in a 7-6 win (4-0 record for the season). He's up to six singles, two doubles, and a strikeout for an .889 batting average. He also stopped four balls at third base. On one of them he got the force at third and threw the ball to home, nearly turning the double play. It would have been awesome if he'd gotten it, but I'm just proud that he's picked up enough of the game to know to try for it.

Ryan played Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday afternoon. He was happy to get to play catcher for an inning today. It's a little harder to keep stats for him, however. In this league, every teeball player bats every inning and everyone scores unless they get thrown out at first, which happens only occasionally. He's having fun though, and has improved a lot since last season. By the way, have you ever noticed how little kids look so cute in uniforms?

A Squeaker

Adam's game last night was a close one, but they pulled it out, 9-8. He got one double and two singles and scored twice. He also got to play catcher for two innings, which he was excited about--I'm not sure why. But he did a good job of it. Here are a couple pictures.

Dallin also enjoyed the baseball game. Well, he fell asleep in his carseat, which I assume means he was enjoying himself. Before he fell asleep we got this picture. By the time Jared and Dallin are old enough to play baseball themselves, they are either going to be really good, or really sick of it. If you're reading this blog, you might be sick of it too. Please forgive the game-by-game description and just be grateful it's not play-by-play. :-)

Cold Texas Easter

We had a cold front blow into Texas yesterday. At Ryan's teeball game last night it was about 50 degrees, but the wind made it feel much colder (although not quite cold enough to send the players to the coach's motor home between at-bats). They actually called the game after two innings and let us all go home to get warm. On the way to the car 3-year-old Jared said, "Mommy, I'm frozen." Anyway, Ryan got to play in the pitcher's position the first inning and was so excited when he threw two runners out at first. Wish I could have caught the grin on his face and shared it with you.

Today was even colder. I'm not sure it got above freezing. We had freezing rain and then snow too, which actually accumulated maybe an inch on the ground. In this part of Texas that is fairly rare, especially in April. So far they haven't canceled church tomorrow, but if the roads are icy enough, they might. We did Easter baskets and an (indoor) Easter egg hunt today so we can hopefully focus on Christ and His resurrection tomorrow. That might be a bit trickier to do with the kids if there is no church. We'll see. It'll be a cold Texas Easter, but fortunately the weather is supposed to be back up in the 70's in time for the next round of ball games next week.

Still batting 1.000

Adam played his second game tonight. I took our camera this time, but still didn't get any pictures of him. My multi-tasking capabilities seem to decrease in direct proportion to how sleep-deprived I am. Anyway, Adam got a double and a single, respectively, in his two at-bats, and his team won 9-7. The only bad thing was the mosquitoes have started coming out. I really don't like mosquito repellant, but it's better than the alternative.

$143 sock and Ryan's first game

I think it's a good idea to try to learn at least one new thing every day. I just hate learning things the hard way. Last Wednesday our washing machine broke down with two loads to go. Jeff volunteered to look at it and try to fix it, but when it wasn't even obvious how to open it up we decided to call a repairman. Sears sent out a really nice guy who popped open the washer, pulled one of Dallin's little socks out of the pump, kindly advised me to wash little socks in a mesh bag so they can't escape the tub, and then charged me $143. What a pain. I even have one of those mesh bags, but hadn't thought to use it. Guess I will now. Live and learn.



As mentioned in yesterday's post, Ryan's first teeball game of the season was tonight. He's one of the older, bigger kids in teeball now too, which I think he's pretty happy about. Last year he wanted so bad to play in the infield. Tonight he played third base the whole game. Here he is in his Pirates uniform. (Maybe it's a genetic thing with third base. That was usually my position in Little League too, unless I was pitching.) He got three hits in each of the three innings. They don't keep score in teeball, so there was no winning team. Jeff and I have always thought they should declare the team who gets the most defensive outs as the winner, since getting a runner out is quite the accomplishment for those little kids who are just beginning to figure out how the game works. And believe me, although Ryan knows more than he does last year, this team has a lot of young kids and a LOT of room for improvement. If one of them weren't my kid, it would be painful to watch them.

The elation we felt when Jeff was offered a position at UVSC a few weeks ago is beginning to take a back seat to the stress that comes with the whole moving process. We are still happy about these changes, but not looking forward to the transition period. Ugh.

April Fool's and Batting 1.000

So for my first official entry in the blogosphere, let me tell you what Jeff did to celebrate April Fool's Day with the kids yesterday. They wanted aebleskivers for breakfast, better known as "footballs" at our house, since that's the shape they usually take when we cook them. Jeff was game to make them, as he usually is on weekends, but he decided to add a few surprises for the sake of the holiday. After a little thought he first tried marbles. Now, it didn't occur to me until afterward that this might pose a choking hazard, but luckily it had occured to Jeff, so he was very careful to not give a marble-filled aebleskiver to Jared, and to carefully watch Adam and Ryan as they bit into theirs. They thought it was a great April Fool's joke and also enjoyed the blue milk, and the aebleskivers filled with other assorted things found in our kitchen--breakfast cereal, peanuts, pretzels, toffee chips, and especially, Spiderman fruit snacks. Only problem was, Jeff made a double batch, which almost caused us to be late to the Sunday morning session of General Conference, which we usually go to the church to watch so the kids know it is still the Sabbath day.

Adam came up with something interesting yesterday that I had never thought of. Jared's name includes the first letters of the names of most of the rest of our family:

J--Jeff
A--Adam
R--Ryan
E--well, maybe the next kid, if there is one
D--Dallin

That leaves me out, but since I'm the odd one out anyway, and since I was impressed that Adam thought of this in the first place, I'm not in the least offended.

Adam played his first baseball game of the season tonight. (Ryan's first game is tomorrow night--stay tuned.) For the second year in a row, Adam is on the Tigers in the Peewee (machine-pitch) division of our local Little League. This year he is one of the older, and therefore, better players. He's even grown a few inches and looks like a big kid. He played third base for the whole game and got up to bat twice, getting singles both times. That means he's batting 1.000 for the year. Not bad at all. And his team, which struggled last year, was very excited to win their first game tonight by a score of 3-2.