Our last T-ball game!

 

Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin had their last tball game last week! I’d say they all enjoyed their season but they were not too sad it was over. It will be interesting to see what their interests are in the coming years. Bret and I were fairly athletic growing up so we’re kinda *hoping* one will follow in our footsteps, but who knows! My little Pirates left to right: long legged Kylee, Korbin, Miss B & Brody!

 

The crew with Coach Z (and little Aaron photo bombing the shot!) at the Cicis Pizza celebration after their game was cut short due to rain…booo!

They were all pretty excited to receive their very first and very OWN trophy for having such a great season…

L-R Baxlyn, Korbin, Brody & Kylee (check out her left foot – looking SO good!)

 Congrats my little Pirates on your awesome T-ball season!

Happenings…

We’ve been busy, as always. Life just seems to get crazier as the kids get older! The quads are still enjoying pre-school. I feel like the school year JUST got started and here we are in the final couple of months. We had a nice break over spring break. Sometimes I worry them waking at 6:30am during the week will get them in a bad habit, I was presently  surprised when they slept in during spring break. Blade is a great sleeper-inner too but I have to wake him up to take the quads to school and wake him up again from his morning nap again to go get them. Lucky for me, the quads still nap faithfully every afternoon, something we’ll have to work on this summer, I suppose. Kindergarten will be a real wake up call, that’s for sure!

They’re still enjoying tee ball as well, I am SO happy we signed them up. Makes me so proud to watch them! Here’s a picture from their game this past weekend. Next to snack, of course, their favorite part of the game is getting in the huddle to yell “Go Pirates!” on the count of three.

Bret has been working for a couple of weeks on building our first garden. Although I’m not a huge veggie eater, I’m really excited to see how well we can do at this whole garden thing. After Saturday’s game, the quads helped us plant a variety of foods including strawberries, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lots of onions, cabbage…etc. Now it’s just keeping them OUT of it so they all have a chance to grow!

My three little men, getting down and dirty while helping Daddy get the garden framed…

Love love this one of Blade. He’s learned to smile on cue. You can hold up just about any object as if it’s a camera and he cheeses so big! He’s especially proud here because he’s posed by Brooke. It’s not too often he can catch up with her!

Busy bees… yes, still in their uniforms ;)

Love this shot of Kylee & Brooke, too. I walked out back to do a kid count and looked down to see these two spending some quality time together. Not sure how I was lucky enough to have time to run and get my phone!

I’m hoping our garden luck far exceeds our fish tank luck. We said good bye to our 4th fish this morning, I actually haven’t even broken the news to the quads yet. Baxlyn & Blade are the only two with their original fish they brought home on the quads’ birthday. I blogged about Brody’s fish passing. It wasn’t but maybe two weeks later that Kylee’s croaked nearly right in front of her eyes. We had company over and Kylee ran into the kitchen “I think my fish DIED!” Thinking she was mistaken, we all casually walked over to the tank… sure enough, her fish was laying there giving it’s last few wiggles. Luckily Kylee took it well. Uncle Chris (aka Uncle Rufus) led all the kiddos in a little good bye ceremony at the toilet before sending him off.

We’ve tested our water over the last few weeks and all seemed well. Last night I noticed little “Fishmo” was not looking so great, we tested and our nitrate was a bit high, we’re trying to figure it all out before we lose any more fish. I have to say we are doing something right when it comes to Baxlyn’s sucker fish as hers has nearly quadrupled in size since we got it – I assume that’s a good sign?! I tried to get a pic, but of course, he/she wouldn’t cooperate!

More to come!

**One a side note, please throw up a prayer for my dad. He is having some concerning health issues. Pray for peace and for guidance for our family and the doctors. Thanks!**

My Little Pirates – T-Ball!

Bret and I signed Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin up for t-ball! Based on their personalities and interests so far, I don’t think they’re all made out to be long term athletes. That being said, I really wanted them to experience being on a team and playing a sport, just one time. Although their team is coed, Kylee & Baxlyn are the only girls among 8 little 4 and 5 year old boys! In fact of the hundreds of kids we saw this weekend, I only saw a total of 4 little girls! We had their first practice last week and their first official game on “Opening Day” this past Saturday. Let me start by saying if you haven’t ever been to a t-ball game – GO! It’s some GOOD entertainment, that’s for sure!

Our Little Pirates L-R Brody, Kylee, Korbin & Baxlyn

I am SO happy with the league and team they were placed with. I had this silly fear that we would be placed on a team with kids who knew what they were doing, whose parents wanted to “win” and were there to succeed and compete. I was happy to learn that their team doesn’t keep score, everybody gets equal chances and not one kid knew what they were doing – whew! They are numbers 2,3,5&6 – ironically #4 was given to another kiddo!

 

We were there bright and early so the quads could join in a little parade with all of the other teams. After the opening ceremony which included the national anthem, prayer & first pitch, they noticed the Mckinney Rough Riders mascot from afar and HAD to go see the “harry orange guy”. Although Kylee agreed to high five the big orange guy, she couldn’t quite get herself to turn her back on him for a picture…

 That afternoon they played their first game. Like I mentioned before they had had just one practice the week before which didn’t include the actual field with bases. Their whole little team was CLUELESS which made it that much more fun to watch. Coach Z would take a minute to tell each one what to do after hitting the ball, of course, none remembered and usually stood there with a big smile after their big hit!

Each kid gets to swing as many times as needed until they hit the ball and they always get on base no matter what! 5 kids bat and then they run them all in and switch to the out field. Below is Kylee up to bat. With prompting, she did good at using her left hand to help swing and had a good hit!

 After standing for a few seconds, she took off towards 1st base! Run, Kylee, ruuunnnn!

Wearing her glove on her left hand is pretty difficult for her so she just held on to it while out in the “out field”. Here she is (3rd from the right) proudly showing one of her team mates how she can balance it on her head while the other team bats!

 ….and here she is with another little boy playing in the sand! Not a care in the world :)

 Baxlyn was the one I thought may be the least excited about playing. She wasn’t too excited when I told them they were going to play on a team. I’m pretty sure that ultimately she was in it for the juice boxes I told her would be there after each game. She would MUCH rather be organizing things or coloring a picture than getting dirty. Not to mention she’s only a fan of the outdoors when it’s a perfect 72 degrees out. Saturday morning was a bit chilly so she thought she was going to freeze to death and then by afternoon we hit nearly 80 degrees in which she thought she was gonna melt. Once the game got started I was happy to see she really enjoyed playing! She was ready to leave about half way through the game but held out until the end! Here she is taking a swing at the ball…

She was a little bummed she didn’t hit it over the fence like she had been hoping she would for a few weeks. We assured her if she keeps practicing as she grows up, she can do it one day ;)

Miss B looking ready while covering first!

  Sweet Blade enjoyed watching his brothers and sisters play while he proudly yelled “Daa! Daa!” The boys really enjoyed playing too! Brody was great at hitting the ball! Once hitting, like the other kids, he wasn’t too sure what to do next. You could almost see his little mind racing as he heard half the parents saying “RUN RUN!” while the parents of the other team yelled “GET THE BALL! GET THE BALL!”. He would stop, run towards the ball, then run towards third base only to be redirected back over to first! He’s a little sluggish getting from base to base, usually stopping to take a breather about half way and continuing to walk to the next base. I’m pretty sure he was lapped by several players throughout the game but that’s ok :)

 Korbin did great and is probably the one most likely to go on to play sports. He enjoys playing and has always had quite an arm when it comes to throwing. Here he is ready to take a big swing…

 Love this shot of both teams as they go slap hands at the end of the game!

 

 Although they’re having a great time, I think I’m enjoying them playing even more ;) I love watching them thrive and enjoy things in life with no worries and I look forward to the rest of the season! GO PIRATES!