Go Iron Pigs!

Norah surprised us when she informed us this spring that she'd like to put gymnastics on hold (we currently have a "1-extra curricular activity per kid" rule in our house) and try her hand at softball. Knowing that our life-long good friend (and father of one of Norah's buddies, Kambrie), Brent was coaching, we decided to go all-in and get the full "t-ball family" experience. 

It took some major convincing to get Norah to like her team name (Seriously, who thought it would be a good idea to dub them the Iron Pigs?  I don't care if it IS a legit minor league team...why would anyone want to be referred to as a pig?!) Thankfully, by the time the uniforms came in, she was the second most enthusiastic Iron Pig I've ever met.  (Eli takes first prize, as he started practicing his "Go Iron Pigs!" chant almost immediately after he learned it was N's team name.  He proudly wears his hat almost everyday, regardless of whether or not it's a game day)

He has be the most supportive little brother a sister could ask for.  He loves to help me line up the helmets in dugout, readying them for the players coming in from the field.  And he loves to pick up any wayward bats, placing them neatly on the rack.  He knows the names of most of N's teammates, and routinely will cheer for them when he deems it necessary.  I think his favorite player, besides his sister, of course, is a little boy named "Diego".  (I think he gets a kick out of shouting, "Go! Diego, Go!")

Brent quickly recruited Jason to assist in coaching.  (Maybe I'm partial, but I think he is an awfully handsome coach!) Now that it is toward the end of the season, he is responsible for pitching to the kids  (I had no clue they got to hit without the tee!) and most of them are doing really well with the transition to hitting pitched balls (our daughter, included, who is currently 2 for 2--guess those whiffle ball drills on the camping trip really did pay off!)

Brent's wife, Jamie, and I are also sharing the team mom duties.  That basically means we're the dugout maids.  We keep the kids in batting order, make sure they have on the appropriate headgear (hats for fielding, helmets when batting) and keep up with the gloves and bats.  It sounds pretty mundane, but it's a lot more stressful than I would have guessed it would be.  (Still, it is fun being close to the team and getting to know all of the players.)

I present to you, the 2011 Iron Pigs.  (And one, wayward Mudcat) Aren't they a good looking bunch?  One of the other moms made each player a bucket with his/her name on it.  Before each game, we attach the buckets in their batting order (which changes weekly), so the players know where to sit, and have a place to put their discarded hats and gloves when they are batting.  It has been a HUGE help!  (Our dugout runs like a well-oiled machine!)

Norah's first trip to the plate, pictured left. Yeah, she shanked it...the bat, I mean.  On her very first swing.  Thankfully, no one was standing behind her!  And she didn't give any repeat performances...I think it was just first-time jitters.

First time fielding.  The coaches
 told her to play third base.  (She took them very literally.)

Patient Eli's inaugural post-game snow cone of the season.  He pretty much loved it.

Norah with her prized snow cone.  We are

 starting to wonder if the tee ball board members are financial geniuses.  I think about 75% of our team (our daughter included) signed up to play based on the promise of free snow cones after each game.

Spring Camping Trip 2011

Over and over, throughout the course of our marriage, Jason and I have heard it stated (from various sources) that "One of the best things you can do to promote closeness within a family is to go camping together".  

We took the kids on their first camping trip about a year and a half ago, in a tent borrowed from friends.  The kids were still a little small to get the full effect of the trip, but we still had a great time.  This time around, we decided we were ready to make the investment in a tent of our own, so we are now the proud owners of an 8-sleeper, cabin-style tent.  Sure, it's twice as big as we need, but if we're going to survive in the great outdoors for 2 or more nights, it's nice to be able to have a little room to spread out.  My other favorite purchase for this trip was a $3 door mat, which we kept outside the main entrance of our tent, to wipe our feet and leave our shoes on.  Made a world of difference in keeping the inside of the tent clean(er).

Thanks to friends of our good friends the Hindmans (who, incidentally, are also named "Jason and Angela" and have a daughter and son the same ages as Norah and Eli), or more accurately Angela's dad, Dr. Case, we had an amazing camp site, right on the water at Inks Lake.  (The only down side to this was that Norah and Eli wanted to jump in the water the instant we arrived, and didn't stop asking all weekend long, even after we took a dip)

Another perk to camping with the Hindman/Case clan was the presence of the Case's 2, college-age kids, each of whom had brought along a few friends. (Translation: there was ALWAYS someone fun for the kids to play with, because everyone knows that pre-schoolers think college students are the coolest people on the planet!)  Norah loved her first-ever canoe trip with Helen's Uncle Steven.  (The Daddies also took out all of the kids for a longer row later in the weekend)

There was a group of ducks that hung out around our camp site all weekend long.  At one point, one of the College girls decided to try her hand at duck wrangling while we all looked on, in typical, camp-style entertainment. (That's how we roll)

After watching her several failed attempts, Jason rolled up his sleeves
and decided to show everyone how it was done.

Duck-0, Jason-1.  Total time elapsed, 8 seconds.  (Turns out, when fishing for ducks, a little bit of bread goes a long way :)
 

The kids (and college students) were all impressed with Daddy Doolittle's mad duck charming skills.

After a brief petting zoo photo op, Daffy was released back into the wild (No animals were harmed in the filming of this incident).

Much of the weekend was spent playing washers.
  Eli developed a mild obsession with one of the college girls (Hannah), and followed her around everywhere she went.  Thankfully, she was equally enthralled with him, admitting to us early Saturday morning that one of her goals for the day was to "Score a photo of herself and Eli for her Facebook profile"

We had two night's worth of beautiful, lakeside sunsets...wished I would have taken photos of both nights.  The first was vibrant pink--so different from the second.  It made me stop and think about what a creative God we have....painting a totally unique shade of sunset 365 days a year...and yet most days, they are only an afterthought for me, if I even take the time to notice.  Camping was a good way to remind myself to take time to notice the beauty of the world around me.

The second night, while the adults were cleaning up dinner, we noticed that Eli and Isaac had procured a football and were attempting to play a game of catch.  It was so cute (and funny) to watch them mimicking their Daddies' actions from earlier in the day.  (The Jasons had had a good, long game of toss the football prior to dinner)

Wind up, throw...and chase the ball...over, and over, and over.  It amazed me how they didn't seem to get frustrated that they never made a completion.  They were in their own little world, having a ball...literally.

We even got them to pose for a photo op, which no doubt will be worth a mint when they're both pro ballers in about 25 years.

After their game of catch, Eli was in bad need of some refreshment.  Which quickly lead to his discovery of the magic water jug.  Our little drink-aholic was in heaven, being able to refill his cup over, and over, and over...without asking permission or water intake monitoring.  

 The Jasons...pausing from a heated game of washers

Despite repeated heckling from the peanut gallery, my Jason developed some deadly, pinpoint accuracy with his "disc golf" approach to washer slinging.  (Translation: He smoked them all down)

Eli honed his "baby whispering " skills on Asher and Hope all weekend long.  (Did I mention the Hindmans brought their 7-month old twins?  Talk about some hard-core camping prowess!) Despite countless corrections, throughout the course of the weekend, Eli consistently incorrectly referred to Asher as "she" and Hope as "he", thankfully, the babies didn't really mind.

The kids also played a fair amount of whiffle ball.  The Jasons even taught Norah how to hit a ball on the fly (a skill that will no doubt come in handy when they start hitting without the tee in t-ball in a few weeks)

Just look at that intimidating stance!  Wouldn't you back up to the fences if you saw her coming to the plate?

Our last morning , we had a pancake breakfast, followed by a lakeside time of worship.  Steven Case started off a couple of songs, then said, "If anyone has a song they'd like to sing, just start it, and we'll all come in and sing along." No sooner had the words left his mouth, than a completely uninhibited  Eli burst into a lively rendition of, "I've Got Peace Like a River", and as promised, he was quickly joined by the rest of crowd. 

Another perk to our casual camp-style worship service, was that the kids all took part in our time of communion.  (Back home, in the church of Christ, it is traditional that only those who have been baptized partake in the Lord's Supper, so this was an extra-special treat for our kids) It was such a special time for our family.

After church, we broke camp and headed out, making one, final stop to sample the local fare at Storm's (a burger joint, similar to Texas Burger)

Eli has repeatedly asked if we can "eat at Storms" since we've been home, so we know he was a fan.  It was such a fun weekend, and we look forward to our next camping expedition!