The One Where I Brag on Norah's Batting

Norah's admitted favorite part of playing t-ball has been batting.  She is currently 6 for 7 at hitting coach's pitches in games.  (With just one game left to go) Here are 2 of her successful at-bats (courtesy of Mom R, videographer and Eli-watching= multi-tasking extraordinaire).  Note: The giggle at the end of the first clip is Jason (he was realizing that N was 5 for 5 after that hit and pretty proud of his little girl)

The second clip is Norah's best hit of the season, thus-far.  Sadly, she ended her perfect hitting streak (ie--had to hit off the tee) after this one...but on the bright side, she was able to walk away from the game more proud of the hit than she was disappointed of the miss.  We'll see if she can get back into the groove for her last game of the season tonight!

From the Mouthes of Babes: Circus Edition

Ringling Brothers came to Reed Arena this weekend, so we thought it was high time that Eli experience his first circus.  We bought tickets with some of our friends, and had a great time.  The circus was, as always, exciting (and at times so stressful--I thought I was going to have a heart attack FOR the guy on the high wire), but my favorite part was definitely watching and listening to the kids' take on things.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the night:

En route to the show J and I overheard this exchange in the back of the car:

E: Can you ride on a baby tiger?

N: No, you can't ride on a baby tiger, unless it's at least 30 years old.

Norah: (at first the sight of the tightrope walkers): Mommy, why are those boys wearing sparkles?


Eli: (upon seeing the oriental knive diver produce a black, blindfold/face-sock from at his waistband and hold it up for the crowd to see) "Momma!? Is that his underwear!?" (This, of course was exclaimed at a volume level of about 110)

At the close of the show, the ringmaster put a beautiful blonde woman into a cage, then covered it with a sheet.  After briefly pausing to achieve optimum dramatic effect, he pulled the sheet away to reveal a massive Great Dane.  Eli was utterly astonished, and shouted in accusatory disbelief, "He turned her into a DOG!?!" (as if to say, "Did anyone else just see that!?  Are they just going to let him get away with it!?")

And finally, after the confetti popping, show-stopper of-a-finale, when the performers took their last bow, Eli shouted at the top of his lungs with total sincerity (and no prompting), "THANK YOU!!!"  Funny, sweet, little boy.

This was definitely my favorite trip to the circus thus-far.  Both kids are at an age where they were old enough to sit (relatively) still and watch the show.  (We bought 2 rows of 6 seats, so the adults sat in the back row, and the kids all sat in front of us below, which was super fun to watch.  Of course, they also spent a lot of time in and out of our laps, but it was nice to sprawl out--I would definitely buy tickets that way again)

N absolutely loved watching all of the animals perform-- the puppies and kitty cats, and the quick-change artist, in particular.  Eli's favorite, of course was the motorcycle cage.  He sat perfectly still for that part, and watched in awe, just saying "How do they do that?" over and over again.  Good times!

Spring Training

Spring has sprung in Robinson County, which means that we have been doing a little bit of this...

And a little bit of this...

And a WHOLE,

Lot

Of this!

I never realized how much patience my parents must have expended in teaching me to ride a bike with no training wheels (and I hope the same holds true for our kids some day when they look back on this time of learning)...but I have grown to appreciate it now, as an adult!  (Someone, please tell me teaching her to drive a car will be easier)

But in the end, seeing that smile

And hearing her proudly proclaim, "I can ride a bike with TWO wheels!"to nearly everyone we meet (whether we know them or not) makes it worth every second.

 

Although, I will also admit, finally seeing her riding away, so innocent, independent and care-free, was amazingly bittersweet.

(Cue the internal Abba soundtrack...and the waterworks--at least for me.)

"I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness and then I have to sit down for a while.
The feeling that I'm losing her forever--
and without really entering her world.
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter--that funny little girl!


Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute--the feeling in it--slipping through my fingers all the time.  Do I really see what's in her mind each time I think I'm close to knowing? She keeps on growing, slipping through my fingers all the time..."

R.I.P. Mango

As I've mentioned before, the sole pet the past 3 years in Robinson County has been Norah's beloved fish friend, Mango.

 Sadly, as of April 4th, Mango is  no longer with us in body, but I'm confident his memory will be well preserved for many years to come in the mind of the family members here who loved him.

I worried that Norah would have a hard time coping with the loss of her first pet.  (Yes, as melodramatic as that may sound, to be nervous at the seemingly insignificant loss of a $5 beta fish, he had resided here for 3/5 of Norah's life, and she was very attached) So, I suggested that she memorialize him in art. (You can tell she was still broken up, emotionally at the time of this photo)

As usual, I was taken aback by her attention to detail.  She got the shape of his bowl down perfectly, he was a peach fish, and had turquoise and pink glass rocks in the bottom of his bowl. The bright colored patchwork in the upper right corner is a nearly perfect depiction of her curtains. The "rainbow" that he is sitting over is her bookcase, where he lived (her books are still arranged in color order).  Note the alarm clock to the left of the bowl.  It reads "5:00"...Norah explained to me this is because that's her favorite time of day because, "that's when Daddy comes home from work!"

This is still one of my favorite photos of N with Mango.  I can't count how many times I would find her in her room, gazing into his bowl.  She loved to watch him swim. Sometimes she told him about her day.  And best of all, she loved feeding him before she went to bed at night.

All loyalties aside though, she almost immediately began asking if she could get another pet fish...and (being the suckers  caring parents that we are) we quickly consented.  Enter "Figgy".  Norah chose him for his flashy purple color, and decided that she should keep with the exotic fruit category for his name.  (It took us a while to find a suitable purple fruit which met her approval).  Sadly, Figgy didn't fare as well as our old friend, Mango.  He only lasted about a month.  Which brings us back to square one...petless in Robinson County.  And (at least for now), we think we'll keep it that way for a little while.  

The Pied Piper of Robinson County

Norah has begun a weekly ritual of visiting hospice/nursing home patients with my mother, allowing a couple of hours for E and I to spend alone together.  (I like to think of it as slowly conditioning ourselves for her absence when she leaves us for kindergarten in the fall...and that is all I will say on that subject, as I don't want to be reduced to a puddle of tears at this precise moment)

On this particular day, Eli and I had plans to wash the car together.  However, when, while gathering our car washing gear we were met with the unmistakable sound of a bagpipe, like a feather in the wind (which, if you know me well is SO not my usual temperment), I decided it was a good day for a field trip.

"Momma!?  What's that sound?" Eli asked in excited curiosity.  "Why don't we go and find out?" I replied, as I took his hand and led him down our street to the source of the serenade.  (Jason and I had met our bag piping neighbor a while back, and have enjoyed his intermittent, spontaneous lawn concerts for a few years now.  Seriously...he's really good.  Sure, you may think it sounds a little weird, but you know deep down you're a little bit jealous of our interesting, cultured neighborhood)

The look on E's face when the piper came into view was priceless.  It was a mixture of awe, joy, and cautious curiosity.  (And the piper, himself was absolutely loving the audience of his one-man toddler fan-club). 

Eli slowly shuffled closer and closer, while the piper played the Scottish National Anthem.  When he finished, the piper asked if Eli would like to hear another song, to which he replied with an enthusiastic "Yes!" Mr. Leslie dazzled him with "the Happy Birthday song". while Eli sang along with a massive grin on his face.

By the time that song ended, Eli was practically in his pocket he had gotten so close.  "Can I try?" he asked, hopefully.  Mr. Leslie let him press the air out of the bag, and touch the holes on each of the pipes.  (with his fingers, not his mouth, of course)

 Mr. Leslie explained that bagpipes were traditionally used to ward off evil spirits in Scotland, but they also are fabled to have a  magnetism drawing in small children and animals (perhaps this is the origin of the creepy fairy tale, "The Pied Piper of Hamlin"?)

Then, to cap off our visit, he told Eli that he had a small set of "boy sized" bag pipes that he could love to let him play sometime if we would come back to visit on another day.  Eli was  absolutely floored.  (He has since asked on multiple occasions if we could get him some bag pipes for Christmas.)

Jason has always told me that he wants bagpipes played at his funeral, so I guess E came by his love for them honestly.  Who knows, maybe he'll start a trend. Move over drum set, make way for the new, hipster instrument of choice!

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!