Wet Toothbrush

This has been a week of baseball if there ever was one.  Henry had a game the same night as Game 1 of the World Series.  Henry's game started at 6:00 p.m.  The World Series started at 7:07 p.m.  All the parents cheered Henry's team on until right around 7:07 at which time all their phones came out and they were streaming the World Series.  The umpires called Henry's game at 6:30 I think mostly because they wanted to go home and watch the Astros.  We could have easily fit in another inning and stayed under the two-hour game limit.  Sadly the Astros lost that night (as did Henry's team).

The next day was Game 2.  The only good thing about this game was that Uncle Taylor was in town and he came to watch it with us.  We tried to have a full Tex-Mex dinner of tacos, salsa, guacamole, and chips.  The kids made brownies with a big orange and blue star on it for the Astros.  Unfortunately, Taylor was the only one to go to bed happy that night.  Our Astros lost two games in a row.

The next day Henry had a baseball practice at the field in our neighborhood.  These are the best practices because we can walk to the field.  The only problem with the field is that it is first-come-first-serve.  So, when his practice was set to begin, there were already three teenage boys playing a game of their own.  Our boys warmed up in the outfield (hoping they'd take the hint that we wanted the field).  The teenagers kept playing.  After a while, our coach asked if we could join their game.  They graciously obliged and played with our guys.  Henry's team was so completely impressed with their skills.  They were hitting balls way in the outfield and making plays at first like it was nobody's business.  At one point, one of Henry's teammates asked one of the older boys if he could play on their team.  He said, "No.  I'm in 9th grade."  He tried.  These big kids were kind, very encouraging, and really cheered the younger boys on.  It was a really nice experience. 

By the end of the week, it had gotten cool and rainy.  We had Friday off from school and after the rain subsided, all three kids went to the backyard to play baseball.  Todd had bought weighted balls, so you could hit them and they wouldn't travel far.  They were outside for 2.5 hours straight.  The boys said they played a full 9 innings and Henry won 8-4.  They had created a full mini-field with bricks/stones/sticks and such as the bases.

This weekend was homecoming at Todd's university.  His co-workers had given him four tickets to the football game.  He took all three kids with him.  I WAS HOME ALONE!!!!   I cleaned bathrooms with my music turned up.  I went to go vote.  I ran errands without any helpers.  Never underestimate the power of a little alone time.  Awesomeness.
I guess they had a good time.  They were gone for 4.5 hours.  I hope it was amazing so it will be an annual thing.

Dawgs Up.

The night was made even better by the Astros tying up the World Series 2-2.

And a non-sport story:
One of our children has been having a hard time telling the truth as to whether or not they have brushed their teeth.  We've had several incidents of lying about having done said act.  They were not even wise enough to wet their toothbrush; it was bone dry when I checked.  I mistakenly brought that to their attention that they couldn't have brushed with such a dry toothbrush.  So today, we had this conversation:
Me - Did you brush your teeth?
Child - My toothbrush is wet.
Me - I didn't ask if your toothbrush was wet.  Did you brush your teeth?
Child - .....
(Child grumbles and walks upstairs to the bathroom.)

Also, we did get school done in between all the baseball.  Here's Josiah diagramming a sentence.  I find it so amazing that he does this with ease.  This was so, so difficult for me as a child.  He's got this English grammar thing.

At the Car Wash....Losing Car Parts

Our poor pumpkins did not last more than 48 hours in the Texas heat.  We put them on our front entrance area Sunday night (after dark).  By Tuesday, mid-day, Josiah's had completely collapsed and all three were filled with mold.  The white mold did make Henry's skull look a little cooler.  Josiah was incredibly mad about the whole thing and went off about the entire state of Texas, in particular its unforgiving climate.  We also learned why the previous owners left the pumpkin carving kit.  There's no point in carving them!  Some of our native Texan friends just laughed when we told them what happened.  Apparently, you only carve pumpkins the morning of the 31st around here.  We didn't clean them up until the end of the week by which time they were swarming with fruit flies.  The whole thing was a squishy, liquidy, buggy disaster.  The kids did enjoy hosing off our entryway.

Caroline went back to the doctor this week to have her arm checked out.  We were concerned that she still cannot straighten it out and it is painful (perhaps tight) to do so.  The doctor said her arm was looking good and that she had enough range of motion to play professional football.  He also said that she should have full extension by the end of the year.  She has about 20° still to go with her extension.  However, he did release her to participate in anything and everything which thrilled her.  Later that day she did her first post-op cartwheel.  That should help get the extension going.  While we were at the doctor's office, the doctor noticed that Josiah's wrist was wrapped up in an Ace bandage.  He asked about it and Josiah told him he injured it roller skating.  He then asked Josiah to unwrap it and he checked it out.  Fortunately it was the side of the wrist that was hurting, so it's probably just bruised.  The tendons all checked out.  We were very fortunate to have an orthopedist check on him (for free!).

Henry had two baseball games this week.  Our neighbors came to the first one, which made him happy, although I don't think his friends watched a single minute of the game.  They lost that game, but won the next one.  We've seen definite improvements in the players.  Pitchers are getting better, the kids are actually hitting some of the balls.  At the same time, there are still tons of dropped balls.  If the ball does get hit, there is all this anticipation from the parents, then an Awwwww when the ball is dropped, followed by smiles that they're just kids.  During Henry's second game this week there was a legitimate double play.  The parents were so excited to see some action!  Henry still really likes it.  He's been able to play 3rd base as well as center and right field.

Todd was off work on Friday.  It's always fun for him to watch the school day and the sheer amount of mental stamina required to make it through all the subjects.  It'll give me a few sympathy/empathy points for a while.  All three kids are talkers, so by the time Todd gets home from work, I'm usually in the mood for some silence.  Now he understands why.  Win-win.

The kids had a very fun Saturday.  Caroline went to a birthday party for a friend from CC.  Then as soon as she got home, we did a quick turn around and shuttled all three kids to another friend's house.  This friend and her husband have opened their house 1-2 times a month to watch our kids from 5-9 pm for free.  She says that she wants all the parents to go out on a date and work on their marriages.  She plans activities and makes it such a fun evening.  I think our kids would gladly go live with her if we let them.  Todd and I went out to eat and did a little grocery shopping sans kids.

After church today we fulfilled a promise to Caroline and went to a car wash.  It was at the Buc-ee's in Katy which has the longest car wash in the state.  The kids had a great time going through it.  The soap was coming out in different colors so they were excited about that.  As soon as we hit the driers at the end, a piece of our car flew off.  This particular piece had been barely hanging on for a few years now, but it still hung on.  Until today.  Then when we got home, Todd noticed that something broke off at the bottom of the antenna making it unstable.  But our car is shiny.
Car Wash: $16
Smiles on the kids' faces: priceless
Auto repairs following said car wash: $$$
We won't make it a habit of going back.


The Astros made it to the World Series again, so we'll be watching that this coming week.  Hopefully it won't be edge-of-your-seat stressful like two years ago.  We'll be happy to take a clean sweep and go buy the t-shirts.     

Carving Time

We had gotten behind on our science experiments.  Each unit we read has an experiment to go along with it.  They're usually fairly simple, so the falling behind was more a result of my exhaustion than anything else.  We took this week to do experiments and we mostly met our goal of two a day.  The very first one was about the impact of meteors.  The kids got to create a cityscape in flour.  Then we all dropped salt (meteor dust) on it and didn't see any significant impact.  Josiah dropped a marble to see how a larger meteor would impact the land.  Finally, Henry got to drop the big meteor - the golf ball.  When I asked if it made an impact, Caroline said, 'No.'  Well, what if you were the size of the Lego people? (See? Simple experiment, but it did involve flour, which is messy, and then the kids wanted to play with the scene.  I closed the garage door and let them have half an hour.  When finished, they were literally covered head to toe in flour.  So then they had to take showers, and now the "experiment" has taken two hours.  Sigh.)

Dropping salt on the city gave Caroline the impetus for this thought:  "Mommy, I love you smaller than a grain of salt, because God's the best."  Theologically sound.  She knows who's #1.  (definitely not me...)

Playing 3rd Base.

Josiah and Caroline have complained a bit lately that Henry gets everything with all his new baseball gear and all the games/practices we attend.  They've been a bit woe-is-me, but then after CC this week, the two of them got to stay after with a friend.  They went to the park and then got to go back to their house to play.  Anytime they get to play at someone else's house, it's like winning $500 to them.  Everyone's house is "funner" than ours.

Henry's baseball game this week was one for the books.  The game started off on a bad note, because we had the same bad umpire behind home plate that we had last Saturday.  He was just very inconsistent with his calls and seemed to have a chip on his shoulder when speaking to our coach.  Plus he didn't direct the kids in any sort of way.  Like if a kid got hit by a ball, he didn't tell them to take first, which at this age, they need that help.  He hasn't been our favorite.  The game began. 

Sliding into home.

Henry started off in center field, but was able to play third base for an inning as well.  He was happy to get some infield experience.  He also made a good slide while stealing bases and even scored a run.  So, they're in the bottom of the 3rd inning, our team has a few boys on bases.  One kid stole home and, according to Todd, he was safe by a mile.  The umpire called him OUT at which time our team's parents started yelling.  One particularly vocal grandfather on our side yelled at the umpire, "You're horrible!"  The umpire turned around and told the grandfather to leave.  The grandfather said he wasn't leaving, so the umpire called the game and walked off the field.  The grandfather said, "Fine.  I'll leave." so the kids could play, but the umpire kept walking and didn't come back.  So then the stands went in another uproar that he was walking off in the middle of an inning with kids on bases and everything.  Todd yelled, "Yeah, that's real mature.  Walk off."  Ideally we don't see this ump again.  We don't think this is a good career choice for him.

Friday we had magic.  The morning began at 80° but then a cold front blew in all day long.  By evening time it was an amazing 55°.  We had the windows open and the winds were blowing the cool air all through our house.  It felt so good to feel cool air.  While I was working on school with Josiah, the two littles just sat at the window enjoying the breeze.  We did go outside to enjoy it that afternoon.  By the evening time we were actually cold. After nearly five months of 90°+, this was glorious.

Saturday morning we headed to the playground to get in some more outdoor time with the coolness.  Henry finally got to try out his new basketball that he got at the end of the school year.  Caroline and Josiah played on the playground.  And, as they say here, that was our two days of autumn.  It already warmed back up today, although this coming week is supposed to stay under 90° which is the first week for that to happen since the spring.

Today, Josiah, Caroline, and I went to Aldi to take advantage of their $2.50 pumpkins.  When we bought this house, the previous owners left a pumpkin carving kit in the garage.  Josiah's been asking to use it for the past five years, so today was the day.  (And he says he never gets to do anything...)

Josiah carved a "classic" pumpkin face because he's into all things, "classic."  Henry's was a skull, and Caroline's was a ghost with the word, "Boo!" underneath.  They each carved the tops off their pumpkins.  Henry spooned his innards out, though the other two were squeamish.  They all got into the carving.  The knives from the kit were really easy to use, so they carved the pictures, they carved their initials in the back, they would have carved for another hour if we let them.  That pumpkin carving kit was the bomb with how easily everything worked.  Henry had some intense expressions during his carving time.  He was focused.

Baseball, Ballet, Baseball, Baseball

Well baseball was in full swing this week.  We finally got all parts of his uniform the afternoon of his first game.  He needed a red belt and red socks to go with the whole ensemble.  He was so excited to put his uniform on.  It was suggested, and encouraged, that each boy wear a cup to get used to having one since it's required the older they get in sports.  We actually had to have the conversation that it was NOT a cup to catch urine (as was originally believed).  Not a pee catcher, just a pee protector.

Henry played center field, and the first time he took the field, he was dancing around and kicking up his feet, he was so excited.  Then the game began and reality set in.  These kids are 8-12 years old.  For our team, this was their first time playing kid-pitch.  (Last year was machine-pitch.)  The pitching was a bit on the 'still learning' side.  The pitchers threw mostly balls, a few strikes (in a very generous strike zone), and in many cases they hit the batter.  They hit the batters because, for one, their aim was off, but two because these are kids are new to baseball and they didn't know how to get out of the way quickly enough.  Once a kid got on base, they were able to steal the remaining bases very easily.  Usually what happened was the catcher didn't catch the pitch, it went wild behind him, causing him to get up and find it, all the while the kids are stealing bases.  It just so happened that this first game they had a better pitcher to start their game allowing them to garner a big lead.  When they finally switched pitchers, we started to make some more runs until the game was called in the third inning.  We lost 15-3.  Henry did not walk off the field with the same enthusiasm with which he had walked on.  He was not happy to lose.  He was disappointed in his team's performance and the lack of plays that came his way.  He had one ball come his way the whole game.  I really felt sorry for the catchers because they had the hardest jobs.  Most runs were scored due to missed catches at home, so the catchers felt at fault and were clearly getting discouraged.  It was a tough start.

Taking the field for the first time:

Meanwhile, Josiah and Caroline had a really great time with a new friend.  One of the players has a younger sister and the three of them play really well together.

Henry's second baseball game fell on an Awana night, so only Todd was able to witness Henry's first act of greatness.  As with the first game, there were many pitches that hit the batters.  That was how Henry got on base his first time at bat.  He was able to steal second, but never made it home before the inning was over.  His second time at bat, he had four balls and walked to first base.  This time he was able to make it all the way around the bases and scored his first run ever.  This game made it all the way to the 4th inning before the game was called.  The Angels had won 17-5.  He told Todd that when they lined up to do their "Good game, good game" bit, Henry made sure that he wasn't grinning so it wouldn't look like he was bragging that they won.  It was a very empathetic thing to do, however five minutes prior to lining up for the 'good game walk,' Henry had run in from the field ecstatic that they had won, whooping and dancing around.  We were very happy they got a win.  It was definitely a confidence booster for the boys.

The third game was a much better match-up.  We only lost this one 7-3. It was much of the same - the pitcher either threw a bunch of balls or he hit the batter.  Once you got on first, you could easily steal all the bases to get home.  One issue that kept occurring with our team, was that if there was a runner on third, and he took off to steal home, our next batter didn't get out of the box to give the runner room.  One runner slid between the legs of the batter.  Unfortunately, this happened to Henry.  He was on third, running to home, the batter stood firm in the box, Henry slowed a bit to avoid the batter, slid toward home base while simultaneously the catcher lunged on top of Henry to get him out.  The batter still stood in the midst of it all.  We could see that Henry was injured as soon as he stood up.  He was limping some, but his eyes were full of tears.  He said the catcher's gear hit his knee.  Later, at home, we saw that it was really his upper shin area, which was better than a knee.  Ice helped and he's fine now.  There is so much for the kids to learn!  We've been encouraging Henry to learn the game as much as possible during these games.  See where mistakes are made and how they could have gone better.  See where good plays are made and learn from that.  Apply it.  Don't get discouraged!

Mid-week we were able to drive into Houston to attend a ballet.  After parking on the seventh story of a parking garage, they were excited about the view from the top nearly as much as they were to attend the ballet.  This performance was put on by the Houston Ballet and they turned 50 this year, so it was called: 50 Years of Houston Ballet (clever title).  It was very neat, however, because they told the story of how Houston grew and current events throughout the years.  Then each decade or so, they danced a dance from a performance they had put on at that time.  So we saw dances from Swan Lake, the Nutcracker, Don Quixote, and many others.  They did a fantastic job and I was amazed at how young the dancers looked.  Then at the end, the host told us the dancers were 13-17 years old!  Knowing that, it was even more impressive.  The host was none other than Lauren Anderson who was the first African-American Principal Ballerina for the Houston Ballet back in 1990.  Josiah enjoyed it, Henry liked parts, and Caroline really liked it to begin with, but got antsy as the show went on.  At one point, she loudly whispered to me, "Fire. The silent E makes the I say its name." as there was a fire alarm above my head.  Yes.  Shhhh.  In the two blocks from the parking garage to the theater, there was a small park with a very cool bench that seemed perfect for a picture.  It was a very good experience.  We would definitely try to go again next year.

This weekend, Caroline had her First Grade Bible Presentation.  The church gave each first grader their own Bible.  At the end of the church service, they brought all the first graders in so we could see them and their smiling faces.  Caroline spotted us and gave me a wave.  She was smiling.  A friend was closer to the stage and snapped a picture of Caroline for me.

This week we only have one baseball game.  I am hoping for more practices so the boys can learn who to throw the ball to, when to run the bases, and how to get out of the batter's box so you don't get crushed.  So much to learn.  Henry still likes the game, though.  I think he'd rather move up to the infield so he can get more action.  Maybe as the season goes on, he can rotate in.

And, Grandma, this one's for you.  ;)