End of the Season

So the end of the spring baseball season has come and gone. Hayden and the Dodgers did a great job. They lost a lot of games, but they won some too. I was so proud of Hayden, when we started the season I was a little (aka a lot) concerned about his baseball abilities and his attention span. There would be times I would look into the field and he would be sitting in the dirt as the other team was getting ready to bat. And in the beginning watching him run to base was painful, it was as if he had all the time in the world to get to the base. By the end of the season, he was actually paying attention to where the ball was when he was on the field (okay he didn't always go and get it when he should, but you could see him tracking it with his eyes, and he was standing up) and he was actually running to the base like something was chasing him. It was incredible to see his growth on the field.

The Dodgers even went out with a huge bang by winning their last game by a land slide.



Today they had the closing ceremonies for the league. I figured we would go get Hayden's trophy and then leave. Boy was I wrong. The league had a whole little carnival going on with face painters, balloon artists and jumping inflatables. They even had hot dogs, chips, drinks and snow cones. Some much for dinner.

Hayden was very proud of his trophy.

Turner even got in on the action.

Okay so now I get to rant. This was our first taste of organized sports and I must say the coach was great and Hayden really did enjoy himself, but . . .I was so disappointed in the other parents. Sometimes I just had to shake my head when the other teams would get so upset about some of the littlest things. I mean really these are five years old for heaven sakes, isn't the point that they be having fun and learning about team work. The league made me mad because there were no set guidelines and every team we played had a different set of rules on when you could run, how many base you could run, when you could tag a player out and on and on and on. Our boys would get so confused and then not know what to do when they finally did get the ball or had to run. And lastly I was so deeply disappointed in the parents from our own team. Going into this I knew we would have to make sacrifices to make sure Hayden was not only at the games, but at the practices also. And like I said I thought Coach Mike did an awesome job and I must give him kudos for continuing on with little to no support. Especially because he didn't have kid on the team, it was his little brother. He would hold practices and only three or four kids (including his brother) would show up. We had concession stand duty twice which is supposed to be covered by the parents. Coach Mike worked the concession stand both times because none of the other parents would volunteer. We ended up working the concession stand on Dave's birthday because no one else would. Then Coach Mike would send out text messages about practice or games and ask people to respond if they weren't going to be there, and people would not respond and not show up. And then these same parents would complain when we lost, because the boys didn't know how to play together, and their son(s) were usually the worst players. I was just so discussed with the whole thing. I know we will continue to participate as long as the boys want to, but I was really discussded with these parents.

Okay rant over.

Home Depot Kid Workshop!

Home Depot has a kid's workshop on the first Saturday of every month. We don't always get a chance to take the boys, but we did make it today.

It is really kind of fun to go and help the kids build a little something. Plus they get the really cute Home Depot aprons with their names on them. And best of all it is free.

Yah, I'm all for free.

Today we made little valets. Not sure what they boys will do with them, but Dave and I will probably get a lot of use out of them for our keys and loose things on the counter top.

I just love this little boy. He can't hit a nail on the head to save his life, and my fingers are a little sore from being in the way, but he sure does have a determination about him.

Hayden did a great job with very little help. It is fun to see his progress since we started doing these workshops how much better he is at doing the steps on his own.

It was just a fun Saturday morning with the family.

We have a graduate in the house!!!

Today was Hayden's graduation from Pre Kindergarten. Now as a person with what I deem some common sense I have to ask, "Really, graduation from Pre K? What have they really accomplished? And what are we going to celebrate next with a graduation ceremony, being potty trained? Really?" But as a mom, I was so proud of Hayden and he looked so cute up there in his little cap and gown. Hayden even got to lead the pledge of allegiance and he didn't miss a single word.
Each child was given a graduation certificate with a little present and then they were asked what they wanted to be when they grow up. Hayden stated he wanted to be a Firefighter. I was so proud.

This is a picture of Hayden in his morning teach Ms. Jennifer.

And his afternoon teacher Ms. Linda.

Both teachers have been incredible and Hayden has really learned so much from both of them. I have heard more than once from his little mouth, "Ms. Linda said . . ." or "Ms. Jennifer said . . ." and if they say it, Hayden thinks it's gospel.

So again, Pre K graduation, REALLY, but I did cry and I was so very proud.

Before and After

This is the boys hair before we got their hair cut Friday evening.

BEFORE:

We had gone kind of rogue and let the boys hair grow out, just a little longer than normal.

Then we got them their summer hair cut, cause it's getting hot, and I wanted to have their Easter picture taken.

I was so pleased with their pictures I had to post them all. Well not all of them, but the best ones.

AFTER:

Hayden on the treadmill!

Hayden likes to sleep in bed at night with Dave and I. This is a practice that Dave and I don't particularly enjoy ourselves. Number one we spent a lot of money to buy Hayden a really nice mattress for his bed, and number two he is a very pushy little boy who likes to snuggle and neither Dave or I are snugglers (I know TMI).

Anyway Hayden usually likes to sneak into our bed at nights. Occasionally he will make it all the way under the covers, as he has become very stealth in this particular area, or it could be Dave and I are so tired from our crazy lives we don't notice. I digress, Hayden is usually really good about going back to his own room if he wakes us up while trying to slithers in or when he finally does wake us up from the snuggling we will just carry him back to his own bed.

About a week or so ago Hayden asked if he could come and sleep with us and I told him he could bring a pillow and a blanket and sleep on the floor. The next morning this is what I found:

The silly boy would rather sleep on the treadmill then on the floor. This has been his favorite spot (unless grandma and grandpa are here and he can get in with them) for about a week. I would think the floor would be more comfortable, especially since his head is at the downward end of the treadmill, but who am I too say. Hayden seems happy and he's not all over me at night so I'm happy. A win for everyone!

Hayden funnies!

Hayden is constantly amazing me and coming up with funny things. One of my favorites lately is he loves to say the word hallelujah and sing the hallelujah chorus. Except he doesn't say "hallelujah" he says, "Halle U ya"

Hayden is also my Amazing Race and Survivor watching buddy. We are big fans and our favorite team on the Amazing Race right now are Jet and Cord. We really want them to win and spend a fair amount of time cheering them on.

Because of our affection for Jet and Cord, Hayden has grown very fond of cowboys and assumes anyone wearing a cowboy hate is a cowboy. Today while driving in the car Hayden saw a billboard with a cowboy on it and immediately shouted out, "Hey mom, there's Jet." He really loves the Amazing Race.

We went out to eat the other day and Hayden decided he wanted Macaroni and Cheese. They brought his meal and it was spiral pasta with a cheese sauce. Hayden loudly proclaims, "This isn't Macaroni and Cheese, this is pasta."

Brownsville in April

We had hoped to go down to Brownsville last weekend, but with the start of baseball we decided to postpone our trip. We did make it down and had a great time. The boys and I drove down on Friday morning, Turner wasn't thrilled with the ride, but he was so excited when we drove up to the house and he saw grandma sitting on the stairs. He was yelling and waving his arms to get out of his car seat. He really has taken to his grandma.

That afternoon along with grandma and grandpa we hit the beach out on South Padre Island. The weather was perfect, though a little windy. The boys had a great time. We haven't been to the beach to go swimming in ages.

Hayden has a fascination with seashells right now so he and grandma looked around for some. The pickings were kind of slim on the beach we were at. This is just me relaxing the surf watching my boys having the time of their life. It was such a great day and other than my sunburn life was great.

Hayden even let us burie him in the sand. He is playing dead in the picture below.

We found this huge hole someone else had dug and the boys thought it was great fun to get in and almost disappear.

It was an exhausting day. We ended up eating at Antonio's (uhm, my favorite) and fell into bed exhausted. All but Turner who was overly tired and couldn't get to sleep in a strange place no matter how much I walked him around.

On Saturday we head off the the flea market for some browsing. We bought a watermelon, a pineapple, some limes and a box of mangos to take back to San Antonio.

In the afternoon we picked up Ronaldo and headed over to the Glady's Porter Zoo. It is a pretty nice zoo and I have fond memories of going there as a kid myself. I was really impressed with their gorilla population, the chimpanzee population and the kangaroo population. They were all quite a bit bigger than I've seen at larger zoo's. The boys had a great time. Ronalo kept asking to see the horses and I had to explain they didn't have horses at the zoo. But I was wrong this zoo had a wild burro. We were saved. He really liked the zebra's also. The other thing he kept asking to see were the elephants and in this case he was out of luck there were no elephants. All three boys bot to feed the giraffe's. It was interesting to see the giraffe bend it's head to get the branches we had bought to feed them. And their purple tounge was really cool. But let me tell you they did not like being petted on ther heads at all. I wasn't thinking and left my camera in the car so we only got a couple of shots of the boys.

This is Ronaldo and Hayden.

Sunday morning before heading back to San Antonio we went out to Boca Chica beach and drove down to were the Rio Grande River empties into the Gulf of Mexico. This was kind of a fun experience because I had never been there before. It was interesting to think this little body of water was really all that was seperating Mexico from the United States and in all reality it was so shallow you could walk across. There were Mexican's across the river out fishing and enjoying the beautiful day just like the American's were doing maybe 100 yards away.

On Boca Chica we also found some really nice shells for Hayden to collect. They had some huge ones about the size of my hand. We stopped and got a small bag full and Hayden was thrilled.

Dodgers Baseball

We signed Hayden up to play t-ball baseball this year and he got assigned to the Dodgers team. We started out with a couple of practices and things seem to be going okay, well at least I am enjoying watching them. Even if Hayden doesn't like it in the long run the entertainment value for me of watching five year olds try to play baseball has been well worth the investment.

On March 26th we had a parade to kick off the opening of the season. Hayden got his uniform and he looked so cute.Coach Mike had the boys (and one girl) ride in the back of his truck and throw candy. I must say the whole parade thing was much more organized than I anticipated and I was pleasently surprised. I made the Dodger signs that went on the side of Coach Mike's truck. I was quite pleased with myself.

The parade ended at Kirby park and they had the opening ceremonies, which lasted way longer than they should have, but the kids all did really well.

We got to go home and get some rest and then it was back to the park for our first game. Hayden got to hit several times . . .

And he made it to first base. . . Then second . . .

And even made it into home plate. . .

Where he got a high five from Coach Mike.

And at the end of the game the obligatory "good game" hand slap.

Hayden has decided he likes baseball. He really likes hitting the ball. Now all we have to do is work on his throwing (cause he throws like a girl) and his attention span while in the outfield (he tends to wander both physically and mentally).

So here to the start of a great season.

GO DODGERS!!!!