In the Meantime

The title of this post suggests there has actually been a "meantime" in the past couple of weeks. Sometimes there is only time when you make the time. I wanted to create some of that time on Smunch's birthday to do something he really wanted to do. I picked him up directly from school that day, dropped Mam off with a friend and headed to a somewhat nearby city to...well...stand in line with a bunch of other orange-and-black-clad people. Why not, right? Apparently, that's how Smunch and I roll these days.

Of course, our initial spot in line was nowhere near where I took that picture. It was all the way down the street...and around the corner. After standing in line for five on ten minutes, Smunch said, "Maybe we should go." To which I said, "You wanted to come and I drove you all the way here, so we're going to stay here for half an hour and see how fast this line moves." It was roughly 3:30 in the afternoon...time for the line to start moving.

The line moved quite a bit and although I was sensitive to making my newly minted nine-year-old stand in line for his birthday, I knew this was something he really wanted to do...and O.K., I kinda wanted to do it with him. Oddly, I spotted the guy I sat next to at the World Series ahead of us in line. I wish I'd said 'hi', but it seemed weird. We stayed in line and took little trips up to the front to catch a glimpse of our ultimate goal.The line was going to close at 5:30 and it was starting to get late. It was right about 5:25 when we finally reached the front. Yay!In approximately 10 seconds, we were shuffled along, out of the line and headed home.

Was this worth it? You bet!

On the way home, we stopped off by Kara's Cupcakes and Smunch got to choose his festive dessert for the evening. Then we zipped over to his favorite restaurant, where we met Daddy and Mam for a birthday dinner...which was cut short by the ill-considered need to get to a Mavericks team meeting...which ran totally late.

We got home around 8:30 (half an hour past Smunch's bedtime). He'd been gone from the house since he left for school that morning. He scarfed a cupcake, brushed his teeth and went to bed.

I'm not sure that made for the most fabulous birthday ever. I'll have to see what he thinks when the photo of us with the World Series trophy arrives in the mail!

Season's End

Saturday could have been Smunch's last baseball game of the season. His tenure with the Giants was certainly over after yet another crushing loss. I give his coach a lot of credit for the fact that the boys never really knew they lost, even when the score was 20-5. They didn't notice and they didn't care enough to keep track of the score themselves. Despite their dismal performance, I honestly think almost all the boys had fun and came away feeling like they were pretty decent baseball players.Although it was clear from the moment he got up that morning that Smunch didn't have the focus to play baseball, we got him out the door. He got one last chance to pitch. He did a great job and it was a little bittersweet. No more opportunities to pitch this year.Bummer. He was really beginning to fancy himself a miniature Tim Lincecum!He's developed some crazy little hand signal/celebratory flourishes. We'd seen him emulate Brian Wilson an Pablo Sandoval. This one seemed a little more generic.The rest of his game was pretty unremarkable. Smunch was angry after striking out twice and angrier yet when he realized that he wouldn't get another opportunity to bat. I tried to remind him that he'd have other opportunities to bat. After all, the club team has a big tournament this coming weekend. He wasn't going for it. Nothing a little season-ending trophy couldn't cure though.I didn't even get to see that part because Mam and I had to jet off to her final softball game of the season. Mam's team was playing a team called the Blue Butterflies. If you remember, this was also the name of her soccer team. Might not have been a coincidence. The coach from her soccer team was coaching this butterfly team too. And she adores him. All of a sudden, she turned into a super softball player, making outs everywhere and even catching a fly ball that she turned into a double play when she ran back to third with it.As usual, there was no score and the girls who were out stayed on base. But it was a fitting end to a fun little season. Still, kinda glad we're done with Friday evening practices and splitting our time between two kids' games.But, wait! There's more! I already mentioned that Smunch has a baseball tournament coming up this weekend. Beyond that, we just got confirmation that he'll be playing on the league's All-Star traveling team. That means tournaments almost every weekend through Independence Day. It's a big honor. The kids on the traveling teams are nominated by the coaches of the opposing teams they've played. I'm super proud of him, but not because he's got any kind of incredible baseball prowess. I'm proud of him because he's figured out what it takes to be dedicated to something and it shows. He really wants to be good at baseball. He listens, he knows what to do. Gosh, he's a pain in the butt sometimes, but he's such a cool little kid when he's in the vicinity of a baseball diamond!

More Baseball...and Less

Later in the week, after Smunch had recovered from the excitement of watching the Giants win at AT&T park, the Cardinals played their last game of the season. As usual, Smunch took it very seriously. Also, as usual, I was so busy trying to keep order on the bench that I didn't see a whole lot of the game. (Apparently, I was also too busy to notice that my white balance was off and my pictures were coming out blue.)I don't think it was one of his best, but he had a good time and although they don't technically keep score, he apparently emerged a winner. Maybe he was cheering because he made it to first base...or maybe it was because it was his last at-bat and the next stop was the pizza parlor.And the pizza parlor gets him one step closer to what? His trophy, of course! This is actually the first season when I could tell how much he loved the game and that he wasn't just playing for the end-of-season trophy. That doesn't mean he didn't have it on his mind though. Apparently, it wasn't really on my mind. I don't even have a photo of this year's offering.

The boys posed for one final photo... and then the season was over.

Baseball season is so much fun...and so much work and takes so much time. As sorry as I am that it's over, I'm glad to have our regular schedule back, even if we're headed into a really busy summer. And now? Now there's no keeping order on the bench. They're just a rowdy bunch of little boys again.

Farewell to the Green Geckos

It seems like soccer season just started, but Saturday was Smunch's last game already. The team tied the Green Dragons 6-6...which is the best they'd done all season. They weren't the most talented team out there, but Smuch seemed to have a lot of fun...even when he was more interested in reporting the score to his teammates than he was in where the location of the ball. Of course, the highlight of the entire game was the trophy he got after the pizza party.

Unfortunately, the sky opened up and poured rain on us during the pizza portion of the afternoon. Still didn't spoil the trophy though. Any soccer season is a successful season if there was fun to be had and a trophy to show for it, rain or not. And, Mam? I think she probably considered it successful just because it rained!

A First Trophy

It's catch-up day again. See, I told you I couldn't keep up with this stuff, folks! In the last week or so, *so* many of the kids' activities have been wrapping up.

Perhaps Smunch's most prized new possession is the trophy he was given at the end of T-ball season. Now, T-ball is a completely non-competitive venture, but Smunch loved it...even on his off days. And he had some pretty impressive off days. But he still wants to go out in the backyard and hit the ball, so I guess alls well that ends well. He can't wait to haul out his bobble-headed trophy for every single person who steps in the house. We've been interviewing babysitters, so he had lots of opportunities to show it off. He even dragged his yet-to-be-washed Sidewinders shirt out of the laundry to show it to a babysitter yesterday. He's so proud of his team and his trophy.

Smunch really made some big strides since my last T-ball post on Opening Day. The whole team went from hitting off a tee to hitting coach-pitched balls. They figured out which direction to run and that they really wanted to catch the ball.

It was a fun season. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year...even though I'm really relieved that we don't have that commitment twice a week anymore!