Days with the Dorans

Joe had a lot of fun playing ball this year, but it was also very frustrating.  Last year, Joey got hit by a ball pretty hard (in the head) and that got into his head and caused him to be scared of the ball.  He flinched at every pitch and ducked often.  He did hit the ball but he also GOT HIT by the ball at least four times that we can remember THIS season!  We overheard the coach telling another coach how well Joe hit in practice.  The thing is, he doesn't trust kid pitchers (based on experience).  Because of this, he's decided to hang up his baseball cleats- and put back on his soccer cleats (he had a great soccer season the last time he played).  The thing is, it's hard to get that out of your head when you've been hit by a ball so we'll just enjoy having catches in the yard- and of course we'll be playing a mean game of wiffle ball (I don't think I've ever mentioned it- but Jeff's super serious about wiffle ball!!).  Game on! On a si...

Life is busy. Busier than I remember! Thankfully I have had (and will have) the help from parent friends this week as we try to get all the kids to different places.  I don't feel that our kids are in a lot of activities... it's just that we have a lot of kids! I think I first felt this last week when Jeff had conferences and I was solo (with a little help from my dad).  This is what my day looked like: Leave school immediately (a bit after 4). Drive home and throw Al's hair in a bun so my dad can take her to dance. Get boys in car and leave. Drop Joe off at Piano. Hit McDonald's Drive-thru for Littles. Back to Piano- give Littles food to eat in car. Joe gets in car. Drive to fields to drop Z off at game. Watch him run to dugout to be sure he makes it (my dad is en-route to see him). Leave to get Ali (complete other side of town... over half hour drive). Pick Ali up at dance. Hit Taco Bell Drive-thru for the Bigs (yes... 2 fast foo...

 This year Joe was in the "Minor League" in baseball.  He had "try-outs" and was drafted to a team.  This is so that the teams seem more balanced and overall they were.  There weren't any blowouts and Joe's team did really well.  Joe got placed with some great coaches and teammates and had a fun year.  I think he learned a lot and although he was the littlest guy out there, he did a good job!  In the field, Joe mostly played outfield.  He stopped what he needed to and made great throws!  I was really proud of him and think he's much more comfortable in the outfield.  His arm really grew this season and overall I feel like he learned a lot more about the game (especially with stealing and base running~ after making some mistakes).  I heard a great quote the other day.  "In order to bat .300 you must fail 7 times!"  Joe got walked a lot. He learned that if he was going to go down on strikes~ he better go down swin...

And then there was Joe... Joe went from being on a GREAT team last year to a... well... not so great team this year.  It was a bit painful to watch the games and while the coaches were really nice, they weren't too good at pitching which had Joe swinging (often) at junk. Boys can't get 'walked' in his league so the coaches come in to pitch if they get walked by a kid. We had one stand-out player and did manage to win 5 games!  Joe did improve his throwing and catching but it is just now (post-season) that he is getting serious... as in asking Jeff to have a catch and wanting to 'pitch' more balls to him. Joe had two doubles this year but he swung at a lot of junk.  We (Joe, Jeff and I) also looked at his swing (in the video I made) and noticed that he doesn't really have a follow-through so he wants to work on that too. Though it came a little too late (for this season), it is good to see Joe wanting to put some effort into ball practice.