Baseball Fever

This weekend I got my first taste of intense, crazy baseball parents and coaches. While I have to say the experience was far superior to the many wrestling meets we've been a part of, I was still a bit shocked after our first day of playing. Will is part of a local 9-year old baseball team in which he had to try out for to be a member. I knew it would be a competitive league, and I knew it would be a big commitment, but since he absolutely LOVES baseball, we went for it. Between Will and Charlie, the practices have pretty much taken over our lives and the supplies have put a dent in our checkbook - BUT they are having a blast and learning a lot - so all is good.

This weekend was Will's first game (which also happened to be an all weekend tournament). We started off Saturday morning by finding out one of our best pitchers broke his arm that morning while riding his bike. Not Good. (At this age, pitchers are hard to develop - so this was a major blow). Luckily, we had several others who had been practicing, so our coach still seemed optimistic.

The first game, the kids played great against an experienced team, and when the ref called the game, we had won 7-5. Our parents and kids were celebrating as the players lined up to shake hands when all of a sudden, a parent from the other team started shouting that we still had five minutes left to play. Huh? We started the game at 2:15pm, it was currently 3:50 pm, games are 1.5 hours long - so it was OVER. Over! Our ump, who was clueless, started to doubt himself on what time he started the game... was it 2:15pm or 2:25pm?? We had the time documented as 2:15pm, but the other coach's chest started to get all puffy, his face began to resemble the color of his shirt (bright orange), and he started in on the arguing. The ump bowed out to let the coaches figure it out - what?! As more orange shirts joined the fight, it was clear that the other team was *insane*, wasn't going to back down, and planned on bullying us until they got their way.

The next thing we knew, the game had started AGAIN, and we were playing another inning. The kids were confused, the other team was revved up and enraged, and in the end, they beat us by one. It was totally disgusting. By the time it was done, our kids had played for over two hours, they were tired and upset... and were late for their next game. You can imagine how that one went.

To make matters worse, the ump approached our coach afterwards to APOLOGIZE and admit that he was in the wrong... and that it never should have happened that way. OH GOLLY THANKS. Try explaining that one to your nine year old. "Yes honey, you did win, but then you didn't"...

With two losses from the first day, we were kicked into the 'Silver' bracket for the following day - but we were okay with that. The kids played their hearts out despite missing players (another pitcher got the stomach flu Sunday morning), and the day went much better. The kids played great, we had a lot of fun and guess what - WE WON first place! :-) Great job 9U Vikings!

Idon'tbelieveyou.

As most of you know, Will loves, loves, LOVES his dirt bike. He got his first shiny new dirt bike on his 7th birthday. I remember being a little nervous with the whole thing, especially when he hopped on it and literally took off 10 seconds after receiving it... but over time, as he gained more experience, I became more relaxed with the idea of him riding. He actually is a good, responsible little rider. or was. little that is.

First Day with the new dirt bike 2007

Since then, Will has continued to grow, while his dirt bike has not. Our first thought was to have Will start saving for a new one. He liked the idea, and began by putting all the money he had (which wasn't much) in a huge glass jar, and eagerly started jumping at the chance to do extra chores to make money. The money didn't pile up as quickly as Will had hoped, and as we got busier with school and sports, opportunities for money-making became less frequent. He got discouraged and started to think he was never going to earn enough for a bigger bike.

Will's been saving for almost a year now, and while he doesn't have near enough to pay for a bigger bike, we decided to 'help' him out with the rest after finding a nice used dirt bike for sale. I found the bike on-line, had my brother in WI pick it up, and my dad brought it back to his cabin about 2 hours from our house. What a great find! Since the kids didn't have school yesterday, we told them we were taking a last-minute trip to Grandma and Grandpa's, and oh-by-the-way we're stopping at Grandpa Larry's cabin too. Sounded good.

After visiting with my Dad for about a half hour, he asked the kids if they wanted to see his *new boat* in the shed. Of course they did! My Dad put on a good show talking about the features of his (NOT NEW) boat - and since Will was only half listening, he didn't catch on. He was too busy admiring the yellow dirtbike parked to the side of the NOT NEW boat. The conversation went something like this:

Will: "Wow, Grandpa Larry, you have a dirtbike? I didn't know you liked dirtbikes."
GL: "Oh sure, I ride it around here every once in a while - it's fun."
Will: " WOW. This bike is AWESOME. I wish I had one like this."
Ben: "Oh yeah? You like this one?"
Will: "Yes, this bike is so cool. I wish it was mine."
Ben: "Well guess what... That bike IS yours."
Will: *huge smile* "WHAT??? *serious face* Idon'tbelieveyou."
Ben: "Yup! Happy Birthday early. It's yours!"
Will: *huge smile* "WHOA. This bike is AWESOME!!! *serious face* Idon'tbelieveyou."
Ben: "For real! It really is!"
Will: *huge smile* "Cool. *unsure smile* Idon'tbelieveyou."

It went on like this for a bit. Elation, a big smile and then reality check where he can't believe it's really true. It was SO CUTE.

HAPPY EARLY 10TH BIRTHDAY WILL!

Nothing but Net! (well...actually rim, but who's counting!)

Yesterday marked the close of Will's basketball season. As you know, I've been doing my fair share of complaining about running kids here and there for practices, so I can't say I was too devastated to wave my final goodbyes to the YMCA gym. (Hasta la vista, baby!)

However, as I sit here and review the past few months in my head, I can't help but be pretty proud of Will and his team. They went from a group of mostly unsure kids to a team of passers, dribblers, shooters, screeners and hustlers! Woot! Even Will got the ball a few times yesterday, and he actually took a shot! (he almost made it too!) And while we still have a lot to learn, hats off to the BIG improvements our team made!

Brotherly Love

The other night, Charlie got sick (all over himself and the bed) in the middle of the night.  The next morning, he awoke to find this note taped to his night stand...

How darn cute is that.

Good Shopping Gone Bad

I think it's official that I'm now a true "Iowegian".  Before I moved here, I often heard stories from my friend about her cousin (who lived in Iowa) and young children who stayed up all hours of the night - no bedtime.  As I got to know several other people after moving, it seemed that was a common theme.  Children in Iowa never go to bed!  Or at least, they don't go to bed at a decent time. Unlike our kids, many of their friends stay up well into the night watching TV, playing video games or whatever they want.  Not at our house!  

We went school shopping last night after dinner.  It all started out grand, but turned ugly pretty quick - picking out something as simple as a FOLDER became a critical decision worth agonizing over.   It was the shopping trip that wouldn't end!  And as I left WAL-MART at 10:25 pm last night toting both older kids, I shook my head sadly to myself... what have I become?! 

If nothing else, I've learned to never take the kids with me to buy anything but the supplies. No shoes.  No clothes.  OMG.  Buying a simple pair of shoes for school was impossible.  Charlie will wear whatever I come home with, but WILL has his own 'style' which includes a lot of black and a lot of skulls.  YUCK.  I usually try to buy cute stuff that may have a little skull snuck on, but with him in tow - he wanted skulls full force.

I can't even believe some of the crap I came home with.  I think I was just so tired of shopping that I started viewing the most hideous stuff in the store as 'not THAT bad'.  I had every intention of stopping by Old Navy for some T's after the shoe shopping, but the shoe shopping took so dang long there wasn't time.  They didn't have the size of Converse Will wanted, so after all the effort, we left the shoe store empty handed.  We then went to Target, again intending to grab some T's after the supplies.  Target was out of erasers, folders and something else - and didn't have any acceptable shoes either, so we headed to the dreaded Wal-Mart.  By this point I gave up on the shoes and T's and planned on just grabbing erasers and the other odds and ends. However, on the trek across the store between folders and Kleenex, we passed the boys clothing section. Will spied a 'cool' shirt (which was a black shirt with multicolored skulls, headphones and electric guitars) right away, and both boys immediately buried themselves in that section.  At first I was firm.  I told them the shirts were ugly - even repulsive, but they didn't care.  They claimed 'girls' didn't know what was cool.  

When I got home and displayed our purchases for Ben, I had to laugh at myself.  I am still in awe that I came out of the store with this gem:

As if this shirt didn't have enough going on with cards, skulls, flames, a car brand (Chevrolet? The only Chevy we have around here is Ben's commuter Geo), but if you look very close at the bottom of the shirt.... it even says 'NASCAR'.  Now that's a perfect shirt!

Good Lord.

What a weekend.

I'm actually relieved Memorial Day weekend is coming to a close today.  Can I just say this... WHEW!  As I sit here with a freshly poured glass of chardonnay and reflect over the past week, I have to giggle.  *sidenote* I wrote most of this last night - so I am most certainly NOT having a glass of wine at 9:30 am!!!! :-)

Okay, where to start.  As you may recall, we had a big party for our son's 9th birthday on Saturday (which was SUPPOSED to be a housewarming party at the new house... but nevermind that) -anyway, we invited a lot of people, which of course meant lots of preparation. All was going well until Ben somehow got his weekends mixed up and booked himself on a business trip from Tuesday until Friday (remember - party on Saturday).  YUP.    I will say he felt really bad about it, but that just didn't make it any better.  I spent most of the week fretting and freaking about how I was going to get all the shopping, cleaning, cooking and prepping done by myself while taking care of three kids at the same time.  With a lot of insanely organized lists and a little help from a babysitter, I somehow did it!  Yay!  And aside from the hour of rain we had during the middle of the party, everything somehow went great.  However, even with all the carefully prepared food, cakes and festive atmosphere, the biggest hit of this party was.... drumroll........ *loud cymbal crashing*  THE CAPRICE.    What is the "Caprice" you might ask?

Here's your first glance:

The 'Caprice' happens to be an old bomb of a car that Ben bought from a coworker several years ago for a hundred bucks.  This guy was driving this beast of a vehicle 50 miles each way to commute to work.  One day he woke up and realized this was an inefficient commuter (actually I think his wife did) and decided he needed to unload it.  Really?  Considering it came with a full tank of gas, at that price Ben just couldn't pass it up.  Now I know what you're thinking - why would Ben want or need this car?  And this is when I'd remind you of how we have a lot of 'stuff' that I just can't explain.... this is one of those things. 

One of my first memories of riding in the Caprice is when we all loaded up (including Ben's parents) for a simple drive down the road.  We happened to mention to Ben's mother that the owner of a very large phone book company had a 'castle-like' house with a moat (yes a moat) just down the way about a mile from our house.  Ben's mom (who is in real estate) was dying of curiosity, and against my LOUD objections... we drove over to check it out.  Needless to say, that was also the last time I rode in the Caprice on a public road - since it DIED in the mansion's driveway!!!!  

After it was decided the Caprice was not fit for reliable transportation, the only logical progression was to turn it into an amusement machine.  Ben and his buddies on several occasions have had a lot of laughs and fun driving this thing Dukes of Hazard style all over our property.  Even I have to admit that whipping donuts and beating this car is pretty damn hilarious (and fun!) LOL.  

Two years ago at Charlie's 5th birthday party, someone had the bright idea to break out the Caprice.  Yes, mid-day at a family afternoon gathering.  I wasn't so sure.  I must note, Ben has a huge family with a lot of super fun people (and no, they're not taxidermists, junk-yard dealers or monster truck drivers) who are game for anything  - so of course they all thought it was a great idea.  After the first ride.... A LEGEND WAS BORN.   Ben found some old ridiculous ski goggles which quickly became the required driving attire, and everyone took their turn at being Bo Duke for a few minutes.   (note the goggles)

This year, all everyone could talk about while gearing up for our party was the 'Caprice'.  Those who couldn't make it, sent notes of regret about missing Will's birthday.... AND THE CAPRICE. People even voiced concerns about having proper riding terrain when we move to our new place!  (Don't worry folks, we've got plenty of room.)  Once again, the Caprice didn't disappoint. Big belly laughs from along the fence-line and terrified yet exhilarated screams from inside the car were heard for a good hour.  One of the many memorable moments was when Ben's (physical therapist) cousin worked his way from cautious circle-driver to experienced donut-making machine while his (pediatric nurse practitioner) wife stood cheering on the sidelines, highly impressed with his duke-like maneuvering abilities.  Did he get airborn?  Oh wait, I think that was Chris...

Here's a pic of me exiting the passenger side of the vehicle.  While it is very Hazard county-esque, I'm mostly doing it because the door is stuck shut.

This morning after bringing Jacob down to our room at 6am, trying to get him to go back to sleep with us (right), Ben was trying to decifer another string of his babbling.  He got all the words figured out except for one.  Jacob kept saying 'Peace'  while Ben guessed, 'please' 'police' 'piece'... duh, wasn't it obvious Dad???  'CAPRICE'!!!  Ben asked Jacob, "Caprice"?  Jacob's answer 'UH HUH' with a big nod.  Oh boy!