Days with the Dorans

So far our Goose hasn't had the best year at the plate... Sure, he is always at the ready in the field and does OK in practices, but we certainly need to practice with him more at home (there goes that time thing again).  I think he'd rather kick around a soccer ball but he still loves playing baseball~ probably because his 'best buddy' (aka my dad) is such a fan. Jeff worked with Z on his hitting and we were crossing our fingers he'd have a good game.  He is still learning the game~ even getting upset with the umpire (not to the umpire but to us) when he was called out on strikes.  He thought he should have had an extra pitch because he had foul balls.  He didn't understand that fouls were strikes and the only time you get an extra ball is when that foul happens on the third pitch.  He was pretty upset. His foul mood didn't last long though... His next at bat he had a great hit down the third base line and ran like the wind!  You would have...

 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...

I am beginning to realize that Jeff and I weren't thinking when we had our kids outnumber us.  Our April Calendar is a mess and we literally have things going on Every. Single. Day.  Opening Day for baseball was a crazy one.  Ali started with pictures at 8:15 in the morning, a scrimmage at 10:30, opening day line-ups for the boys started at 11:30, Joey's game was at noon, Zach's game was at 2:30 and Ali Jane had a party to go to at 2:30.  To top everything else off, it was COLD.  When I looked at my car thermometer in the afternoon, it had REACHED 32 degrees!  Brrrrrr...  Despite the miserable weather, Al played pretty well.  She is the lead-off batter and she got walked every time a kid pitched to her.  Her last at-bat she had a nice hit (her coach pitched) and she got an RBI, the only problem is with temperatures that low, hitting a ball STINGS and she was in tears.  She also pitched and struck out her first batter (I probably ...

I had mentioned in my last post (that I wrote two minutes ago) that our life was B-U-S-Y!  Saturday was 'Opening Day' for the boys and so our day looked like this: Z game at 9:30, Ali scrimmage at 11, boys opening ceremonies at noon, Joe game at 2:30 and finally Z birthday party at 4:30. I have to admit that I was very excited to see Z play.  I believe I wrote before that when I am an old lady, I would like to wheel up my chair and sit and watch little kids play T-ball.  Everything about it makes me smile... the low intensity... the kids spinning around... picking dandelions... occasionally running the wrong way... all of it. Z did a great job (despite the cold) and listened to his coaches.  He got some pretty decent hits and was able to motor to first keeping that big huge helmet on his head.  We cheered loudly for him and the smile that crept on his face was priceless.  This meant the world to me to put a big smile on his face since he's alway...

Tonight wasn't Joe's first baseball game, it was his second. I spent all day praying for good weather since thunderstorms were predicted and I was thrilled to look out my classroom window and see sunny skies. What I didn't expect was a message from Ali's coach that her game had been cancelled because of Tornado warnings! The blue skies didn't stop the boys from playing though (and that tornado never hit)! We switched Joe to a new baseball league this year to make it easier on us (this league's fields are in walking distance to the girls' fields and so it would make it easier on days like today when they have games scheduled at the same time). I think that when we switched Joe though, he forgot much of what he learned from last year! This year Joe has kids and coaches pitching to him. His first game he only had kids pitching to him (kids aren't too accurate at pitching in first grade) and he swung at EVERYTHING! And as the game went on his swing g...