Almost a Month??

Wow, I just realized it's been almost a month since I posted last!

Yea, a lot of stuff going on.

Softball, softball and more softball. My oldest did not make all-stars, but then again she didn't want to, so she didn't try as hard either.

I'm still involved in all-stars however though, as I am the uniform coordinator. I also decided to run for Secretary for the board next year (oh, but NO more uniforms, no way)

99% of the time I love bein on this softball board. The other 1% I fucking hate it. You get people who are on the board, but feel that they need to put their nose into everything by providing an opinion, yet do nothing to help the situation. That's the part I hate.

On a lighter note, I had my birthday about 2 weeks ago. It was nice, got to go out to dinner with some friends.

Now that my job on the softball board is almost over (until I take over as secretary in August), I can focus on repainting my living room and bonus room and redecorating some of the things in the living room as well.

Oh, and work on the changes I was talking about earlier.

............

This is my life this week.

The softball fields.

My house is a mess.

As much as I love helping out on the softball board, I'll be happy when this week is done.

So I can get back to my house and family.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I just realized that it's been forever since I posted on here!

I have been so incredibly busy these days!

We had a wonderful Christmas and it was the best seeing my sister again. Even though we only live about 2 1/2 hours away (on a good traffic day), because we both have busy lives (she's a 1st grade teacher), we can't always get together as often as we'd like.

When she asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I couldn't really think of anything at first. Then I told her jewelry and I told her I had wanted a necklace from my friend, Stacy. She designs her own necklaces and has a store: BellaWish. I was SO pleasantly surprised when I opened my present from her and found this beautiful necklace inside!

Her necklaces inspired me to start creating again and she urged me to open up an etsy store of my own. I am working on that right now and I will let you know when it's ready.

My oldest is playing soccer on the All-Star team and so we are busy with practices and tournaments for that. Here she is this past weekend during one of the games (She's the one in red):

So, along with that, softball is getting ready to start up again, and since I'm on the board, I'm busy right now with that too.

And you know, I think January should be declared "National Organization Month", because every magazine has articles on organization, all the stores are selling totes and everyone seems to be in that mode after the holidays.

I know I am. I have a list on my refrigerator of what I have to do around the house and in what order I'm getting it done to make it most effective. I'm over 1/2 way done with the list, thank goodness. I figure as long as I get it done by the end of thise month, I'm good. :)

I've also been looking at other blogs and my friend Michelle, posted about a giveaway she had found on her friend's site: The Secret is In The Sauce, who wanted to let people know about a giveaway. These camera straps are absolutely adorable!! If I don't win one, I'm for sure going to buy one, so I'll get one either way!!

*SHEY* {B} Camera Straps and Slip Covers

So that's about it so far.

My time is up for now, so I need to get moving on the next item on my list.....

Countdown to School

Enjoying her last days of summer vacation.

I am enjoying it as well.

As much as I can't wait for them to go back to school, I have enjoyed the laid back atmosphere that is about to end.

We don't sleep in every morning, as I do still have to work, but on the days I don't and we don't have to get up, boy is it nice to sleep in until 8:30 a.m. Yes, you read it right, that's about the longest I even like sleeping in. Because too much after that I feel like my day has already gone.

Next week will start the cycle of getting lunches ready, getting everyone in bed on time, getting to school on time, picking them up from school, helping out at school, etc.

The girls already started soccer practice so we're already doing that. Although next week the oldest will start softball practice as well. I'm going to work on going to the gym more while the oldest one is at practice too, at least the softball practice, because the gym is right around the corner.

But ahhh......I will enjoy this last week.

I Miss It

I totally miss All-Stars.

Is that weird or what??!!!

We had to commit to every single day (sans a few here and there) and every weekend for two months.

VERY hectic.

But I miss it.

I know..........

I'm weird.............

All Done...........For Now............

All-Stars is done.

I am a bit sad about that. I have truly enjoyed watching all the games and getting to know the parents. Even though it was such a huge committment, every single day (sans one or two here and there) I loved it. And the eldest, after complaining for the first couple of weeks, loved it just as much. It was so hard for her to sit out of playing the last two weeks.

Soccer is coming up next month, and then "Winterball" (softball in the fall), so she'll get to play both again and then we'll be back to a busy schedule again!

I just hope I get my house in order before then. :)

It's a Good Thing I Brought The Camera

It was a VERY hot weekend this weekend, but I did bring the camera so I could get shots of my oldest playing softball.





She had a pretty good day for the most part. She had some FABULOUS bunts (she is the queen of bunting after all), some great catches, but it was a LOOOOOONG day.


We got there at 6:30 a.m., and didn't leave until 7:30 p.m. If they had won both of their games at 10:00 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. they got to go home. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. They lost the 2 o'clock game, which meant we had to stay even longer to play a 6 o'clock game. Talk about a LONG day for the girls! They played 3 games already and then they had to play ANOTHER game.


By the time that last game came around the girls were just spent. You could tell. They just didn't have the energy like they did earlier.


Then mine came up to bat. She was watching the ball pretty well. She swung at one and got a strike. Then the next one she swung at and it fouled (at least that's the way it looked) and her 3rd strike she didn't even swing at. And I thought that was odd she didn't even swing.


So she comes back to the dugout and you could tell something was wrong.


Turns out that 2nd strike that we thought was fouled? It actually hit her hand. And in softball, if the ball hits your hand, it's considered part of the bat, so she thought she was going to be called out if she said something. And the reason she didn't swing at the 3rd strike was because her hand was hurting so bad she couldn't swing.

She was CRYING when she got back in the dugout. She looked at me and you could SEE the pain in her eyes that it hurt so bad. We iced it up. We had the coaches look at it. We all thought that her pinky was the problem.

After the game (and no, she didn't go back into the game), I decided that I wanted to take her to the emergency room, JUST to get it it checked out. Better to be safe than sorry.

So we headed on down there and got there around 8ish.

We didn't leave until 1 a.m.

If you bored and like to people watch, go down to the emergency room on a Saturday night.

Because you're going to find some interesting people down there, because we certainly did!

After we finally saw the doctor, they took x-rays. While we were waiting, my oldest and I got very giggly and silly because we were so exhausted from such a long day.

We both thought it was probably just a bad sprain or bruised or something like that.

The doctor came back in and said, "It's broken".

Both of us were in shock and dismay.

We didn't REALLY think it WAS broken.

And then they told us that she needed a cast.

She was DEVASTATED and started crying.

She LOVES softball and there is 2 weeks left in All-Stars.

But now she has to hang up her bat.

I knew something was wrong though. I could tell.

It's called Mother's Intuition. I keep telling everyone it's a powerful thing.

But she said she is still going to practice. She can run and she can catch the ball, she just can't throw it or bat. She will be in the dugout cheering her team on for these last 2 weekends, and watching with envy, wishing she could be out there.

Bur for now, until practice on Tuesday, she is on the couch and elevating her hand.

And this cast will be a part of her for about 3 weeks.

Softball, Softball, Softball

This is my life these days.

And has been for the past month.

And will be for another month.

But I actually don't mind.

I have very much enjoyed getting to know more parents on the teams.

And I enjoy watching the games.

I think I am very much going to miss it when we're done next month.

We'll go from softball every single day to nothing, in about 4 weeks.

Wow, what will we do with ourselves then?

And this next tournament this weekend I AM going to finally bring the camera.

Ways to Entertain

This is just one of the MANY ways my youngest entertained herself at my oldest's softball games this past weekend.

Other ways included riding her scooter, coloring, coloring with sidewalk chalk, running up and down the grassy hill, and cuddling with me. I'm just so glad that she is finding ways to have fun, having to be dragged around every weekend to softball games. I'm also glad that the fields that we have been going to have grassy areas, and sidewalks to color and ride on. That makes it easier and funner for her.

All-Stars

This is the face of my oldest who just found out that she made All-Stars for softball. :)

Game Done

My baby pitched in her very first game. :)

She was SOOOOOOOOOOO nervous that first inning. She got after me for coaching her, so I just kept my mouth shut for her. She did good for her first time. She pitched pretty slow though, I think she was just worried more about it going over the plate.

One of the coaches on the other team told her that she did good, that out of 25 batters, she only walked 7, which means the other 18 hit off her or struck out (she did get 2 strikeouts). And the coach that told her this was the other pitcher's dad. So that made her feel good too.

I was extremely proud of her for going out there and giving it her all. Not many girls out there will go and to that to help the team. She practiced every day for over two weeks straight to help out her team like that.

But she's certainly glad it's done! Haha!

Game On

Right now my oldest is out in the backyard practicing her pitching.

She's going to pitch tomorrow night for the first time.

She's been practicing every day for the past two weeks in preparation for this game.

The anticipation and excitement level is high here.

Wish her luck!

Sports...

We are knee deep in sports around this house these days.

The eldest just finished playing soccer a few weeks ago, and now she's juggling basketball and softball.

The youngest had her first t-ball practice too just the other day. She enjoyed it, but I think she has more fun just running.

And me? Well, I guess I needed to be involved too, so I'm on the softball board for the organization the girls are playing in.

I think we will be eating, drinking and sleeping softball for the next few months.

This evening when we got home and after the eldest and I watched our General Hospital (yes, we watch it and we love it!) I was flipping through the channels and came across a hockey game. The Los Angeles Kings v. New York Rangers. Oh, how I used to LOVE to watch hockey. There was at time where I watched almost every game of a Los Angeles Kings season. I even went to a few hockey games too. Weird, huh, to think of me as a hockey fan. And it's a hard sport to watch too. That hockey puck whizzes by so fast it's hard to keep up at times. I was such a hockey fan that I even collected hockey sports trading cards at one time. And I still have them in storage. Luc Robitaille was by far, my most favorite player. And one of the cutest as well.

Hubby loves to watch football and baseball games too. I enjoy watching football as well. In high school when everyone went to the football games to socialize, I would enjoy watching the game itself as well.

Hubby and I used to watch baseball games together and I would come up with nicknames for the guys on the field. Hubby still watches baseball games though. Every once in a great while I'll sit down for a spell and watch it with him.

Now we just watch our children play sports. I know hubby is so upset that he isn't going to be able to watch the girls play softball. That's one of his favorite sports to watch too. So I'm going to have to tape a couple of their games and send the tapes to him.

Ahhh....I'm tired. Tomorrow is Wednesday and thank goodness we don't have any sports practices to go to. It will be nice to be at home all evening.

A Juggling Act

I've got so many things going on right now.

It's good and it's bad.

It's good because it keeps me busy so I don't think too much about hubby going out to sea again.

It's bad because I don't want to overwhelm myself.

It's good because I'm working on myself and making sure that even with all I've got going on, I'm remembering to remember myself.

It's also bad because I do worry about myself.

It's good because just about everything I do have got going on, is something I am passionate about.

It's bad because sometimes I don't feel I have enough hours in the day.

It's good because I'm helping to celebrate one of my oldest and dearest friends bring a new life into the world. One she has been wanting for a long time, and has taken such a long journey to get to.

It's also good because I'm helping to make a softball season a good one for my girls and the rest of the girls.

It's good because I'm also creating a book of memories for a school.

It's bad though because not that many parents seem willing to want to participate in it, thus having me make a decision that this will be my last year doing it.

Now that is also a good thing because it will free up my time to spend more with my girls, sharing gardening with them, and sewing and crocheting.

And I just have to remember.

To take it one day at a time.

To write down my lists so I don't get that overwhelmed feeling.

To remember to check in with myself.

And when the juggling act is all over with, hubby will be home.

And that is DEFINITELY a good thing.

All-Star

My eldest made the All-Star team for her soccer division.

Yea Baby!!!

This is the first time she has ever made All-Stars. She has wanted to be on an All-Star team for so long!

She plays soccer and softball. She is much better at soccer than softball. But then again, she has been playing soccer for 7 years now, and softball for 3.

She is not the natural athelete though.

She has to work at the sport and after time, she becomes good at it. This year she played indoor soccer on soccer's "off season", which greatly increased her skill level. She definitely has the ability to play on a club team, however she doesn't like practices and it's not something she breathes, night and day. She enjoys softball too and wants to be able to do that as well.

I am so incredibly proud of her!!!!!!!!!! She worked hard to be on this team and she definitely deserves it.

Under The Lights

Tonight my youngest got to play soccer at night, "under the lights", as they called it.

Because of carnivals that are going on at the elementary schools, they had this division make up their game by playing at night. Because the fields are so small for this division, they had six games going on at one time, making it possible to play at this particular field that had lights. It was a neat thing tonight.

My youngest gets out there and she loves to run with the "bumblebee pack". That's pretty much what the girls do at this age, there are no set positions and they all cluster around the ball together. You can always count on her to have a great big smile on her face as she's running down the field with the rest of the girls. She could care less if she had the ball or not.

And her coach is SOOOOOOOOO great! She has each girl take a turn kicking the ball when it's their turn for the kick off. So they all get a chance to do it.

Well, tonight, my youngest had the ball and she got it down the field and into the goal (they don't keep score at this age and they don't have goalies).

Something clicked tonight. I don't know if it was because they were playing "under the lights" or what, but somehow my youngest figured it out to get the ball and dribble it down the field and into the net.

The first time she did it she had this huge smile on her face and her coach hugged her too!

Then, BAM!! She was on fire.

Then came goal #2.

Then goal #3.

Then goal #4.

After she made goal #5, she looked at me and put up five fingers. I was laughing so hard at her out of joy, seeing how happy she was out there and how much fun she was having.

I thought she was going to be a total ball hog out there, but I did see her kick it back to one of her teammates who had been kicking it before. I thought that was VERY good of her to kick it back to her so she could have a chance.

And last but not least, she scored goal #6.

What a night.

I'm so glad she had fun, I know I sure did, watching HER have fun and be nice out there at the same time.