Whew, What a Weekend!

As the mother of 4 small children, I knew this was coming: weekends so full of activities that you are always on the go. So long to the quiet, relaxing weekend. And with only 2 of my kids involved in something, it is going to get twice as busy in the future.

My oldest, Logan, plays in a machine pitch baseball league where my husband, Scott, is the assistant coach. My second, Carter, is playing his first year if t-ball. Scott is the head coach of this team. Both teams are named the Thunderstix.

Friday evening Logan had his first game of the season. He has had two practice games, and their team has won both games. To me, Logan seems like an average to above average player for this league. Sometimes he is awesome at bat, sometimes he never gets a hit. In the field, he understands his position and plays well. He just needs more strength in his arm to throw the ball farther. His coaches have been putting him in the pitcher position because he fields well and he is accurate at throwing to first base.

This first game was against the Northland Heat. Our team scored 2 runs in the first inning! Logan's first at bat was a strike out, as was his second and final at bat. Bummer! He got to play pitcher for 3 innings, sit the bench, then pitcher for the last inning. It was a nail biter in the end with us winning 9-8!

Meanwhile, I had my other 3 children in the stands trying to watch the game and share in Logan's memories. As many of you may know, 3 small children don't pay attention to what we adults may find important.

Carter didn't want to watch and kept asking for drinks of water. I didn't want to give this to him since I know it would go straight to his bladder. He is my not so obedient one and will argue and complain until he either gets his way (hardly ever) or gets into trouble. The water became a battle that ended in a tie.

Child number 3 is my daughter Malea. She befriended an older girl who is a sister of one of Logan's teammates. This girl was so sweet. She had a tote bag full of stuff my kids enjoyed playing with. She was happy to share and pulled out balloons, glo sticks, crayons and paper, dry erase markers and board. You might ask, why doesn't a mother of 4 have activities for her kids to do at events like this? Scott and I have a goal that our children will watch their siblings participate in activities. They are allowed to play during practices, but we want them to pay attention and acknowledge the other's accomplishments.

Finally, our youngest, Grace, kept herself busy finding chewed gum, potato chips on the ground, and letting go of her balloon, so I could keep getting it for her. Don't we all love those toddlers!

In the end, I missed the final plays of the game because I was taking Carter to the port-o-potty. Gotta love those germ-infested places!

Saturday started with a bang-Malea peed out her diaper because she had been given a juice box from the team the night before. It was late in the evening, right before bed.

We all got ready for Logan's next game against the Dodgers-the self-proclaimed best team in the league. We took Logan to the batting cages to get some practice hitting in before the game. The slowest cage pitched faster than the one at the game, and he was able to hit quite a few balls off of it! This should make the balls at the game seem slow and easy to hit. It worked! He hit both times he was up at bat.

After his first hit, he made it to first base. Then, the next batter hit a pop fly to 3rd base that was caught. Logan, after hearing the smack of the bat, took off for 2nd not realizing he needed to tag first base first. Poor Logan was caught in a fury of confusion. Scott was the 3rd base coach. He was trying to tell him to go back to first. The whole Thuinderstix bleacher section was yelling at him to go back. Logan finally realized where he should go, but the other team beat him there with the ball. He was out and the inning was over. Scott talked to him to reassure him, but I don't think he understood the concept of tagging after a caught out. I talked it over that evening and am sure he gets it now.

Logan's second at bat was more productive. He hit and made it to 1st. Then, he made it to 2nd, 3rd, then home and scored the 3rd run of a 6 run inning. This league has 6 run limit per inning.

He got to play at the pitcher position for 3 innings, sit the the bench, then right field for an inning. He's a great fielder, always has his glove ready and in the ready position. He also did a great job of backing up the first baseman.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers were good and had two innings where they scored 6 runs. The final score was 8-18. Dodgers won the game.

Malea had a great time again with her friend and the tote bag of goodies. She did get marker all over her pretty dress though. But the little girl had Polly Pocket dolls and clothes and other things to do. Grace busied herself with more gum, peanut shells, sunflower seeds and bugs. She's learned to say bug and is fascinated with them. Today was black ants. One of the players' mom also played tickle games with her. Carter was allowed to play at the field park since it was close enough to see and a friend went with him.

We came home, ate a quick lunch, and put the girls and Carter to bed. Carter didn't want to sleep but did take a quick nap on the way to his first t-ball game. How exciting it was to see him get to play! He was the first hitter in the line-up and he hit it great! He made his way around the bases and scored a run! T-ball has a 5 run limit. Carter's team batted 3 innings in the time allowed and scored 5 runs each time!

Carter played 2nd base for 2 innings. He got the 3rd out of the 1st inning by a forced out at 2nd. The 3rd inning he played 1st base. There's a lot of action there and I'm not sure he's ready for it. He liked kicking at the dirt instead. The 4th inning he played left field.

My girls befriended another older sister of another t-ball player. She didn't have a bag of goodies, but she had a sparkly Hannah Montana hat and liked to play pat-a-cake. Some of Logan's baseball friends were there, so he played at the park with them after he watched Carter hit and then make the out at 2nd.

We beat that team 15-9!

We raced to the van for our final leg of this crazy day-MLB game! Royals vs. Tigers at the new Kaufman Stadium. The Royals are celebrating 40 years of baseball this year. Tonight they are giving away jerseys to the first 20,000 fans. Unfortunately for us, they opened the gates when Carter's t-ball game started, 3 hours before the game was to start. We arrived about an hour and a half after the gates opened and all the jerseys were gone. We still tried though. We raced to the stadium, bypassing places to stop and eat, and dropped off Scott and the boys so they could race to the gates. I parked and met them outside the gate because all the jerseys were gone. We were disappointed to find out many had bought two tickets: one to get in for the jersey, the other to sit and watch the game. After they had their prize, they would leave to tailgate the hours between opening and the start of the game. The jerseys were gone withing 40 minutes of the gates opening!

It was still an exciting time. There was plenty of things to walk around and see. Although many of the kids' activities cost money, there was a free jungle gym to play on. Carter and Malea didn't mind battling the large crowds of kids. As long as they're together, they can do anything!

We decided to go find our seats and watch the players warm-up. That was more fun than I expected. Logan is really starting to understand the game and Carter is beginning to. They learned about MPH, tagging up on an out and keeping your eye on the ball.

All but Grace have learned the Star Spangled Banner, and Carter really belted it out at the beginning of the game. Other spectators turned and commented to Scott about it! We all enjoyed the fireworks they let off at the beginning during the song and the announcing of the players.

But the day had been long and everyone was hungry-especially Grace. Scott and the boys got some food and all was good for a short time. The weather was bad with tornadoes only about 30 miles away. Thankfully, we only had some sprinkles. Grace was losing her battle with tiredness and was quite cranky. Scott and I took turns taking her out to walk around, but we finally gave up and left at the beginning of the 8th inning. the Royals were losing 1-8 at that time and we felt the possibility of a win was slim. We were right.

Logan was not thrilled we left early and was upset that we seemed to give up on them. He kept saying that they could come back and win. He is such an optimist! I hope he stays that way.

The following day I had to go to work and be gone from home 13 1/2 hours. Thankfully, the hospital is slow and I had a quiet day. I was not excited to come home to this messy house, though.

We are cleaning all day today and getting ready for Logan and friend he is bringing home after school. This is our first after school play-date at our house, so we'll see how it goes!