Today was the day...

that Keira played her first t-ball softball game! It was great. She had a really fun time, especially when she found out she was playing against her cousin Carly. They did good though, only hugged before the game, waved at each other on the field once during the game and begged for a sleepover after the game.

Her team is the Pink Angels and surprisingly they are the only girls' team that wanted pink uniforms. If you ever want to come out for some good laughs let me know and I'll shoot you a copy of her schedule.

Oh and yes, Greg is quite thrilled that Keira chose softball over spring soccer.....and Keira is excited to have Asst. Coach Daddy!

Again?!?!

Could it really happen again? Could these boys get robbed by the umpires two days in a row? Oh yes it can and it did!!




The first game this a.m. we had the same umping crew as yesterday and the one umpire (who informed us that his name was 'Ashton' not 'that guy')made about 4 blantantly horrific calls against our boys. Now it's no biggie if the bad calls are going both ways - it stinks but at least it stinks fairly.

So then we go to the second game of the day and guess who's behind the plate? Ashton. Are you kidding me????!!!! Right from the get go his calls were obviously completely against our boys. By the second inning he made a call that made grandma would've known was wrong and our coach just lost it. We knew as soon as we saw his hat go on backwards and he ran out of the dugout. Of course our coach was ejected and the boys were dejected. They played hard but it didn't matter - Ashton had decided our boys were going to have to work twice as hard. Again, I think it's a travesty that they umpire was able to take the ball out of the boys' hands and influence the games as much as he did.

At the end of the game Coach sat down with the boys, apologized to them for getting ejected, explained how he wants to protect them and let them play ball. It was great.


And I totally did the 'mom thing'. I waited until after the game and went over and Ashton to speak with him. The conversation went like this -

Me: As the mom of a White Sox player I have to say that I am very saddened that you screwed these boys every opportunity you had. It was bad yesterday and worse today.

Ashton: I am fair and unbiased.

Me: Um, no you're not and I am sure that fans from either sides of the bleachers would agree with me. (btw I already knew this was true because parents and coaches from the other teams had already approached us and apologized for how awful it seemed)

Ashton: I'm fair and unbiased.

Me: Well, no you're not and as a mommy I am very disappointed in you.

And with that I turned around and walked away.


So the boys will live to play another day - although it will never again be at Santa Susanna Little League in Simi Valley!!

I thought I wasn't one of "those" moms....

but maybe I am....yep...I'm thinking I'm a "Little League" mom!



You see my Little Leaguer - he's 9. He loves baseball. He wants to play all the time. And today he and his 9 year old baseball team got robbed by hometown umps! So yes, I'm venting. I'm protective. I'm really irritated. I don't want to be "one of those moms", but when I see adults doing things to rob kids....I get pi$$ed!

So here's the story.........

We were warned by some other teams we know from all around not to play in this particular tournament because the umps always seem to go "hometown." You don't want to believe that though - for crying out loud these boys are 9 - why would an ump mess around with kids psyches like that.

Well, all of our friends can now say "I told you so!" Our boys played the hometown team today and had a rough start to the game. By the bottom of the 4th inning they were down by 9. But I gotta say these kids always save their best for the last innings so you never know what can happen. So sure enough during the last 2 innings they came back and ended up going ahead by 4 runs. Now all during the game the umps calls had been very questionable but the boys just played on

So we're in the bottom of the last inning. The other team has come back and are down by one. There are 2 outs. One more out and we win. Our pitcher pitches - the batter swings and misses - Game Over - We win!!!! Um, no.....the field umpire says "no the batter is not out. the pitcher balked" and he advances all the runners one base. Not good! First of all, I can't believe their calling balks on 9 year olds and second of all, if there is a balk you stop the play, throw your hands in the air and yell "balk!"....not let the kid pitch and then decide to do it. As you can imagine, our boys were confused - the coaches were irate and the fans in the stands, well, you can imagine.

So our boys pull it back together and know they just have to get one more out. The next batter hits it, my son gets it and throws a runner out...but in the meantime another runner scores. I couldn't tell if the run scored first or the out was made first - our boys must have thought it was the out because they came running off the field pumped up to go another inning. But of course the ump said the run scored first - game over - hometown team wins.

You should have seen the faces of our boys when the coaches had to tell them, "sorry guys, you lost." They just stared at the coaches in disbelief...first the bogus balk call and now another bad call in the boys' opinion. The boys will bounce back - of course they are very disappointed in the way it all went down - and I am too. I went to find the tournament director to ask her to have the umpires come over and explain to the boys why the made the last two calls the way they did. But of course that didn't happen.

I felt so bad for the kids! But Kade is out in the batting cage now, getting ready for tomorrow. I love how he can leave it on the field....wish I could be more like him! They have a double header tomorrow.....so say a little prayer of protection for the boys....and maybe for the umps....and definitely for the fans to remember we're there for the boys!

How am I?

So I've been trying to keep on the blog a bit better - and I got a comment from my dear friend Amanda that said, "but how are you?"

Isn't that a great question! Often times people will just say "fine thanks" and move on....I think we're too afraid to unload our "junk" onto others. But I think it's healthy to unload....at the appropriate times to the appropriate person. We've been talking about that in my women's group. We're reading a book called Truefaced and it's awesome! All about removing the masks we wear.

Okay - but that's still not about me althought it does tell you about my women's group.

I'm doing good actually. I started going to an accupuncturist about 3 months ago and it's been awesome. I'm actually bummed on the weeks I don't go.

Work is crazed and I have accepted it always will be. I work with many people who find their bliss in complaining about the way things are....instead of using that energy to teach the kids and try to change the way things are in a positive manner.

Church is amazing. We're part of The Living Room, which started as a Bible study in a living room, hence the name. But there's also a much deeper aspect to the name too. We're really living in community. In the last week there was some dissension and such amongst our eklesia (look it up) and instead of it becoming back biting or speculation or relationship damaging everyone came together in a garage and laid it all out...honestly....and it got heated....but when that happened Dara just yelled "stop! we're praying right now" and that's what happened. We were there for hours...but there was still paths to travel down in the discussion so it happened the next day. And everyone is still together....is everything perfect - maybe not? But will it get there - probably not? But what is perfect other than Christ? So I am blessed to be a part of this group and I am being filled.

I can see that I will start spending a lot of time in the car again - Little League and Travel Ball have picked up for Kade and Keira is playing T-ball Softball!! I just want to make sure we can still carve out that family time at the dinner table at least a few times a week.

Greg is an incredible husband. I just can't say enough about who he is and what he does for us.

I'm not getting to scrapbook as much as I want. I've put on some extra weight that I really want off but can't seem to find the motivation to do anything about it right now. We've been interviewing contractors for a kitchen remodel. My big goal right now is home organization (it only took 2 days to clean off my desk - egads!)

So there's a quick nutshell. I know I'm leaving something out. But I'll try to remember to share about me too. Now all of you go and do the same so I know how you are!

Oh the 80's

Can I just say I love my friends!? Even when they think the ecological footprint test is 'eco-nazi'? heehee! Seriously, I think we are truly blessed when we have friends that don't always agree with us....friends that occassionaly agree with us....friends that challenge us....friends that trust us.....friends that accept us....friends that are willing to tell us when they think we are wrong....friends that are there to help wipe away the tears....friends that are there to celebrate the moments.....friends that don't always have to say 'I told you so' (but you know they did!).....friends that you can be with and don't even have to talk....friends that you can call or that can call you at 11:30pm on a worknight and say "I need to talk".....

I have friends that fit all these categories and I can't imagine life without them. How sad and lonely it would be!! So let's start the weekend off by being thankful for our friends. Let a friend know how much you care!

My friend Glenn sent me this - brought quite a giggle - guess this was before Seinfeld since Jason has hair!

Enjoy!

The McDLT

Our Ecological Footprint

I took this little quiz today to see how my living impacts the planet. I was pretty surprised. My results said that if everyone lived the way I did we would need 3.7 planets. EEK! So they have a little checklist on things you can adjust to make your eco footprint a bit smaller. Try the quiz. Hope you need less planets than I did!

Your Ecological Footprint Quiz