Yes, more Blastball pics!

Between Stuart and me, we have a squillion pictures from Blastball. I'm sort of glad that the season is over because it has been hard finding the time to sort through all of these pictures! Some of these are from different games but I thought they were all so cute. If you can make it through all of them (and there are a lot!), at the end you'll see some pictures from their award ceremony.



Getting some pointers from Coach Mike...



When the team is in the outfield, they are supposed to stand on little carpet squares that are evenly spaced across the outfield. They all know they are supposed to stand on these squares but they don't always like where the squares are placed. So to fix that problem, they often just move the squares to where ever they want to until someone tells them to move them back. Nicholas and Emma Rae seem to always have their squares right next to each other! It's just easier to hold hands that way :)



Running for the ball...



Nicholas got the ball and shouts "BLAST!"



Here's the famous football tackle scene. They just aren't happy that a team mate caught the ball. No, they each want to be the one to get the ball so they tackle each other and form these little piles of Blastball players. But amazingly, they are all really good sports about it when they don't get it.



Huddling for the Gator Cheer at the end of a game...



BLAST! Nicholas caught the ball!



Wow! This is the way the team is supposed to be lined up when in the outfield. This picture must have been taken at the very beginning of a game, before the children decided to rearrange their squares :)



Jumping for Joy!



Running to base! Landing on base in Blastball is especially fun because the base "HONKS!"



Ready for the ball!



What a sharp looking team. All clean at the beginning of a game!







Nicholas brought me a bouquet of flowers. Awww!



Every team out there has a parent or two that takes some pictures. However, our team seems to have an inordinate number of parents are really "into" photography with nice equipment to show for it. We joked that we needed our own media box for the games.



Lining up to give "high fives" at the end of the game...





We had a nice pizza party at the neighboring park before the awards ceremony.



Some hot and tired Blastball players...



Nicholas got called up to receive his first trophy ever. He is so very proud of it. He brought it home and showed it to all of his stuffed animals!







When Nicholas was getting dressed on the morning of his last Blastball game, I mentioned to him that this was the last day he would need to wear his uniform. He got sad and said, "I want to play Blastball forever!" I'm so glad that he has enjoyed his first team sport. He has learned a lot of basic skills for baseball but also learned about working as a team and good sportsmanship.

Chef Nicholas

This morning, Nicholas helped me make breakfast. He always insists on wearing this old apron of mine, even though it doesn't fit him well at all. Someday I'll get him one of those cute personalized child-sized aprons from Williams Sonoma - hopefully before he is no longer "child-sized"!



We didn't make anything fancy. Simple refrigerated biscuits from a can, scrambled eggs, and bacon. Nicholas loved taking the biscuit dough out and arranging them on the baking sheet. Of course, one biscuit had to be sacrificed for the sake of learning so I let Nicholas play with it and mold it into various things before we actually baked them.

No, it wasn't anything fancy but Stuart was so happy when he came downstairs and found us working together in the kitchen - or was he was really just happy that we were making such a yummy breakfast?!

Flowers and Frontier Days

Nicholas and I met some friends at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. What fun! It's a great excuse to get outdoors and it's a fun way to learn about nature and the environment. We love it!

We met everyone at the entrance to the Texas Native Forest Boardwalk. The kids love playing in this pretend giant log (and the moms love the photo opportunity!).





The boardwalk is full of neat interactive stations where the children can learn about birds, plants, and bugs.







Next, we sat among some flowers and a little pond to have our snack. You really can't look anywhere here and not find a pretty patch of flowers or a beautifully designed piece of landscape.







Nicholas enjoyed hunting for bugs along our walk through the gardens. What boy doesn't?!



Of course, as always, there had to be a little bit of running along our adventure. And, as always, Nicholas is leading the pack!



Nicholas is fascinated with fish tanks so we had to spend some time looking at these fish that were located outside the Conservatory.



All children love to touch things so it's nice to have outdoor art work that is rugged and indestructible. The kids loved banging on this outdoor sculpture. It is made of hollow metal and they enjoyed the ringing sound it made.



Next, we headed up the street to the stockyards. They were having a special event called Frontier Days and there was even more activity and people dressed in old western wear than usual.

Nicholas kept talking about wanting to go to the pretend jail that he likes so much and he was so disappointed to see that it was really locked up and he couldn't go in it.

We first stopped at Riscky's BBQ for lunch. The children were more interested in riding the little horse rides than eating!



Next we went around and talked with some of the people in the Frontier Days exhibits. We learned about teepees and old forts. We talked to a wonderful lady who told us about how people used to wash their clothes by hand and women often traveled with the military and made money by washing clothes for the servicemen. We got to look at some antique irons that held hot coals for heat, and we even got to watch a real blacksmith at work. Then we stopped and listened to some western music.













Every now and then there was a cannon that would get fired. We never quite figured out the time interval but if we learned that if we saw the man at the cannon raise his arm in the air then we had better cover our ears. It was neat to watch but boy was it loud!





Nicholas found some frontier toys for sale and he wanted to get this hand carved wooden sword and sheath. But I didn't want to have to worry about him swinging it around the whole time we were at the stockyards so we had to pass on it. He really seemed to like playing with it though.



We walked around some just looking at the unusual exhibits but Nicholas still got excited over those little horse rides!











At this point it was about 3:00 in the afternoon. All of our friends had decided to head home but we wanted to hang out until 4:00 so we could watch the cattle drive down Exchange Street. So we wandered and played some more until 4:00.











Not surprising but about 5 minutes after we were on the road heading home, Nicholas was fast asleep. It was a long day, having fun with friends, and enjoying the sunshine. We were both tired but happy.

Sometimes He Just Cracks Me Up!

After school today, Nicholas wanted to play Star Wars. He told me he was Luke Skywalker and I was Obi-Wan Kenobi. How did I get to be the old guy and not Princess Leia? So we ran around the living room fighting pretend bad guys with our light sabers. Then he said that we were the little Jawas so we squatted down like the little guys that they are and we walked around making silly noises. Then he said that we were special Jawas because we could transform into Sand People. So he told us to transform and now we were Sand People (bad guys) and we ran around fighting pretend good guys. Suddenly, he said, "Now we are normal people again because I have to go potty. Star Wars people don't go potty so now we have to be normal people until I finish on the potty then we can be Star Wars people again." He just cracks me up!

After our play time, it was snack time. Now, I know he is four years old but sometimes he still likes me to play with him to get him to eat his food. Yes, sometimes I overindulge him. He likes to eat broccoli but he loves it when I hold a piece of broccoli upright and pretend that it is a tree. Then the tree says, in a high-pitched voice like most trees would use, "Oh, I'm a lovely little tree just enjoying this beautiful day. I sure hope that a giant doesn't come along and eat me. La Ti Da Ti Da!" Then Nicolas, of course, pretends to be the giant and he eats the little tree up as the tree cries out, "Oh no! It's the giant. He's eating me. Please someone save me!" Gulp! Well today for our snack I gave him some thin slices of turkey that I had rolled up. He decided that he wanted me to hold up the piece of turkey and he would play the giant. Ok, now that was just too silly, even for me! Somehow broccoli trees are fine but turkey trees just don't do it for me!

A Night at the Symphony Orchestra

Tonight Nicholas and I went to our local Symphony Orchestra for their Interactive Children's concert. We went last year and Nicholas had so much fun. He danced in the aisles and the conductor looked on and smiled. The conductor is really great. He truly values education and he makes a great effort to talk to the children throughout the concert to make sure they learn about music while they are enjoying it. The children get to sit up front on pillows which Nicholas thinks is so cool!



Tonight the conductor reviewed some concepts that we learned last year such as forte (loud) and piano (soft). We also learned some new concepts like overture and medley. Nicholas' loved the performance of the Overture of the Magic Flute. He also enjoyed a piece they played from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean but that may be because one of the musicians put on a Disney hat with Mickey Mouse ears and pirate dreaklocks. They sure know how to make learning fun!



Nicholas decided that his favorite instrument was the tuba. He also enjoyed playing conductor and moving his arms to the music (and even when there is no music!).



After the concert was over, I took Nicholas up front to meet the conductor. He was very excited but got a little shy and wouldn't let me take his picture with the conductor. We had a great time and we're already planning to go back next year.

Blastball - Gators vs. Orioles

Nicholas just loves Blastball. He is still easily distracted when he is in the outfield but he is learning to keep his eye on the ball and also to be a good team player. Although he will still try to tackle someone for ball, he doesn't get as mad when he doesn't get it. Instead, he actuallys goes up to his team mate and tells them, "Good catch!" We're so proud of him!





Of course, if there is dirt then we MUST play in it!



After the game, each coach has their team line up and put their arms out like airplanes. Then each line walks past the other team and they essentially give each other a high five for playing a good game. At the beginning of the season we didn't do the airplane thing and it got a little out of hand with a bunch of little guys trying to hit each other's hands as hard as they could. This way works so well and it's so cute to watch!

Intelligender Test

This morning we played with a home test to determine the baby's gender. A friend of mine bought the test for me to try out. She said that she took it two different times when she was recently expecting and it was accurate. The test is by Intelligender and they claim about 82% accuracy rate. The test results appear dark green if it's a boy and orange if it's a girl. Now, again, there is only an 82% accuracy rate so we can't paint a room pink or blue just yet. However, the test shows that we are having a girl!



Nicholas seems excited. I'm excited at the thought of having a little girl but I think Stuart might be a little scared. He is such a great dad though. I know he'll be great, even if he's treading in uncharted waters. I bet it won't take long for a little girl to get him wrapped around her little finger! But I'm a little worried too because girls are more high maintenance than boys, in general.

Of course, I would be very excited to have another little boy and part of me is hoping the test is wrong and it's really a boy. Boys are just so much fun. They love to run and play and they don't mind playing in the mud!

Either boy or girl, we'll be blessed. We're just praying that it is healthy and happy.