A Little Catching Up: Tee Ball

As promised, here are some photos from Caleb's latest tee ball game. When Caleb was playing second base, he made the first out of the season! In tee ball, you don't keep track of outs or runs. Every player gets to bat each inning, too. But if a base runner is thrown out, they have to return to the dugout. We're so proud of him!

Caleb continues to bat well. He strikes the ball cleanly and with confidence. Here he is taking a hard swing and making a great hit.

The other unique situation with tee ball is that, when the final batter hits the ball, all the base runners will clear the bases and run home. Last year, Caleb was the second to last batter and thoroughly enjoyed running full speed from first all the way home. Now that he bats first, he has to stop at every base. Here he is after having to stop at third.

Coaching third base this past game was none other than Coach Randy's oldest son, Trey. He was on Caleb's tee ball team last year, but this year, he is playing coach pitch. He still loves to help his dad out, as evidenced by his enthusiam at third base.

On another note, I thought I would share a few more photos from Madeline's birthday. This was the present that Auntie Deb, Uncle Andy, and Leah gave Madeline. My sister, Deb, stamped the wrapping paper and made the gift tag, too. Isn't she talented? So cute.

And since my dear bloggy friend, Cheri, who is "somewhere in Viriginia" instead of "somewhere in Florida", I had to find somebody else to make Madeline's cake.

I do promise to catch up on some homeschooling stuff. I took a precious video of Caleb and Madeline watching the space shuttle, Discovery, return to earth. So I have lots to talk about regarding science. But I'm also so excited about what's going on in all our other subjects, especially math and writing. Stay tuned.

Sunday Snapshot: Happy 3rd Birthday, precious girl!

Yesterday was a very special day. Waaaay back in October 2009, when we accepted Madeline's referral, we knew there is very little chance of celebrating her 2nd birthday with her here at home. We knew we'd be sending her a cake and some gifts in the hopes that she would know she was loved by her forever family. We knew her 3rd birthday would be the first birthday we would get to celebrate together. That day arrived yesterday.

It started off as most of our Saturdays do of late....heading down to the baseball field to watch Caleb play some tee ball. Deb, Andy, and Leah were able to make the trip to watch Caleb play. It was fun to have everyone there to rally around the Phillies. (Those photos will come later.)

After the game, we went back home for some yummy lunch and chill time. It was great to watch all the kidlets playing together and having fun. Patrick grilled out some delicious steaks and veggies for dinner.

The birthday festivities wouldn't have been complete without a delicous birthday cake. Madeline kept practicing her "blowing out the candles prematurely" thing. But if you can believe it, when it actually came time to do so, she waited until we all finished singing! We were stunned, that little stinker.

After cake, Madeline opened up some presents: a sweet Easter book and Kai Lan Leapster game from Auntie Michele, Uncle John and Lydia, a beginner sewing kit from Auntie Deb, Uncle Andy, and Leah, and a pretend cleaning kit from mommy and daddy.

We love you like crazycakes, precious girl! Happy 3rd Birthday!!!


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I Heart Faces: People's Choice

I thought I would enter this photo I took of Madeline in the I Heart Faces weekly photo contest. Fresh up from her nap, bed head in all it's glory. Love this girl!

Play Ball!

Saturday was Caleb's first tee ball game of the season, and boy was it exciting for all of us. Patrick has volunteered to help coach this season. Although he enjoys it a lot, it's been a huge time commitment. So this will likely be his only season coaching.

Team pictures were this week. So I had the chance to grab a quick photo of everyone.

Caleb is the lead off batter and showed why. He had three great hits to shallow right field. But more important than that is the confidence with which he played!

Look at that form and that precious face!

Giving Daddy a "high five"
On the field, the players switched up their positions each inning. He had the chance to play first base for the first time and played well. His accuracy in throwing has improved dramatically, which is quite remarkable because he throws with his affected arm. We are so proud of just how far he's come in such a short while. And he looked simply handsome in his Spring ball uniform.

The kids had some down time between team photos and their game. So they naturally played on the playground the entire time. Madeline enjoyed going down the slides and playing with Emily, making "cakes" and "salad" with all the mulch. Caleb, of course, played "tag" with all the boys and paused for just a second so I could snap his photo.

Madeline has been gearing up for her birthday this Saturday by "practicing" blowing out her candles. She really doesn't need any practice after blowing out her brother's, but you can't tell her that. Lol. It's hard to believe she'll be three years old. In the first photo we saw of her, she was only 19 months old. That seems so long ago. She's growing up so fast!

Sunday Snapshot: A few quickies

Just sharing a few quick photos I took of the dumplings this week. I made my first, feeble attempt at capturing some sunflare with Caleb. He was a good sport.

Of course, Madeline wasn't going to let me get away with just taking a few photos of Caleb. So I snapped a few of her, too. I love her precious smile, even when she's faking it. LOL.

I'm working on editing some of the photos from Caleb's first baseball game yesterday. So I'll get those up soon. I still plan to give an update on our homeschooling, in particular how our science lessons have been going, among other things.

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"Celebrity" Sightings

Yep, you read that right. This past week has been filled with a sprinkling of celebrity sightings in our tiny nook of the world. It has been a whirlwind. The craziness began last Thursday when my friend, Danna, and I attended the Vero Beach Prayer Breakast.

There were many wonderful folks on hand for this event, including John Bona, the founder of the breakfast, Dr. Marshall Foster, from the World History Institue, and Dan Williamson, Architect/Theologian. Also included were renowned Gospel Singer Wintley Phipps and Actor/Author Kirk Cameron. The first time I had heard Wintley Phipps sing was at the prayer breakfast two years ago and was delighted to be in his presence yet again. This man can sing! Check him out in the video below (taken with my iPhone), as he sings "God Bless America".



The keynote speaker was Kirk Cameron, well known for his roll at Mike Seaver on the hit show, Growing Pains. He now works with Ray Comfort and The Way of the Master ministries. He spoke of his upcoming documentary Monumental . I can't wait to see it. My friend, Danna, and I had the chance to meet up with him while he was signing books.

Unfortunately, when I handed my camera over for a photo op, the poor gal didn't focus the shot. So, here we are with Kirk Cameron....as out of focus as could be. *sigh*

We truly had a wonderful time. I'm so thankful to Patrick, who took the day off to watch the kiddos so I could get a way for a few hours for some worship and girl time.

Fast forward to Saturday, Spring baseball officially kicked off with a parade down our street (we live on the same street as the ball field.) All the teams marched in the parade, and the tee ball teams headed it up. Caleb's team, the Phillies, headed up the entire parade.

Coach Arms and Team Mom, Caroline, kept the crowd under control as they waited for the parade to begin.

How stinkin' cute are they marching down the street? Since Patrick is an assistant coach, he marched in the parade as well. Madeline enjoyed her little ride, too.

Once all the teams had gathered at the field, we all had the chance to listen to Doug Flutie give the kids a pep talk. Yep, Doug Flutie...made famous by his "Hail Mary" pass when he led Boston College to victory over the Miami Hurricanes in 1984.

The fields these kids play on (Flutie Athletic Complex) are named after Doug's family, as this is where they grew up and played ball, too. The rest of Opening Day festivities included several bounce houses, which you can imagine were quite a hit. My friend, Fliss, stopped by with her peanut of a daughter, Shauna. We had a great time eating hot dogs and chips and just relaxing. It was a lot of fun to actually be a part of this parade. We have lived here six years and have seen it pass our house most of those years. It was exciting to see Caleb be a part of such a fun event.

While the month of March may not involve any meet and greets with celebrities, we do plan on celebrating Madeline's 3rd birthday. We are keeping it low key. We'll squeeze in a trip to Dis*ney World at some point in the next month. But since baseball season has officially begun, we will be spending lots of our time just down the street. I do plan on giving a "teacher's lounge" update some time soon. Our year is winding down with "light school" fast approaching.