Baseball Tryouts

Tryouts began with warm ups. The players were paired off and they warmed up by throwing the ball back and forth to each other. They did real good with the throwing part but that catching part was a little more challenging. They chased more than they caught.

Tryouts were short and sweet. There were over thirty players so each player only had a few moments to show what they had. First up they were placed at shortstop. A coach hit two balls to them. They had to field the hit and throw it to first. Then, they were placed at first base and had to run to second base. At second, they could either stop or slide. My son chose to slide even though he has never, ever been taught how to slide into a base. That is not unlike my son. According to him there is nothing he doesn't know and nothing he can't do. After the running drill they got to bat. The balls were pitched from a machine. And, for first timers like us, that ball comes out of that machine like a bullet. We were told later they are pitched from that machine at forty three mph. Each player got four balls pitched to them. Most of the players that had played before, never even put a bat on the ball. But my boy, my boy, well... here I'll let you see what my boy did.

Out of four pitches, my boy who has never done this before, put a bat on two of them. One, was a foul ball, but the other one was in fair play. Now, many of you doubters and naysayers may call that luck. But, the coach in me, calls that POTENTIAL! Granted we need to work on his posture some. He was trying to hit the ball in his Kung Fu horse stance. I'm sure that will be remedied soon enough.

First practice is this Thursday. "Play ball!"

Icicles In Florida?

Wow! It got cold last night. At the bus stop this morning, Nathan had to get out and "play" with the icicles on the blueberry bushes. He had such a good time.
As we were riding to the bus stop, Nathan said, "Mom, you know what I want to do to those icicles on those bushes? I want to Kung Fu kick them." I told him he couldn't do that because it would damage the plants. He did pose and pretend to give them a good kick.

The sprinklers were still running and so was Nathan to dodge the water. He thought it was fun to get wet a little.

Todd's pride and joy, a guava bush he has raised from seeds, got the sprinkler treatment last night too. The weight of the ice made the limbs lean over. This bush normally stands over seven feet tall.

Icicles were hanging from the fence. The temperature reading in the van this morning was a cold twenty two degrees.


Our calves, Brownie and Cotton (at least that's their names this week), were laying down huddled together trying to keep warm. Of course they had to get up when I approached.

I don't like to be cold and I am very thankful that Florida doesn't offer too many real cold days.

Finally...Another "Mommy Moment."

I can't remember the last time I've had a mommy moment. After all, Nathan thinks that being sweet to his mom is so babyish. But, when I least expected it, he delivered.

Yesterday he re-discovered his ipod and asked his daddy to charge it for him. I say re-discovered because he's had it for several years but he hasn't really used it that much. Anyway, he listened to it while we rode to church and back last night. When we got home he went to his room and Todd and I were in the living room with the football game on. In a few minutes, Nathan came in and walked over to me and asked if he could sit on my lap that he wanted to snuggle with me. What??????? Was I hearing correctly? Sure enough. I put my laptop down and he put his pillow on my lap and plopped down. He weighs 84 pounds now and is almost as tall as I am. As Uncle Howie says, he is a hoss. After he got his nest fixed, he looked up at me and asked me if I wanted to listen to his music with him. Absolutely, I did. So, he gave me one of the ear buds and we listened/sang to some of the Polar Express soundtrack, some of one of his old Christmas program soundtracks, Rascal Flatts' Life Is A Highway, I'll Always Come Back, and the Siamese Cat song from Walt Disney's Lady and the Tramp. After the cat song he wanted to have movie night and watch Lady and the Tramp. And even though it was 11:42 PM we watched the movie. When the movie was over, I realized that my legs would never work properly again because I had 84lbs on them for about two hours. Such a small price to pay for a mommy moment.

Taken with Todd's camera phone thus the poor quality.

What Do I Know About Baseball?

Not much. But, I guess I better learn. As of Saturday, Nathan is signed up and tryouts begin next Friday and continue on Saturday. So, his Daddy bought him a glove and a baseball. We have been working with him on the rules of the game and I'm not convinced he is grasping them. He can throw the ball well (unless aiming counts) and he can hit most of the balls that are pitched to him but that catching thing....well, let's just say he needs a little bit more practice. Is catching really that important in baseball?

What We Did Over The Holidays!

Disclaimer: I know the spacing isn't uniform on this post but, I got tired of working with it.

Once Todd got home we started in preparing for the holidays. First up, was starting on the beef jerky Todd always makes for our family members. Only problem was that when he got ready to put the meat on the dehydrator, which had been in storage, it didn't work. So, the meat went in the refrigerator and Todd went shopping. Thank goodness he found one at...at...at...oh I just can't say it, that store like Wal-mart that I refuse to shop at that starts with a "T".

Todd cutting up the london broils for beef jerky.

Next up was our annual Christmas party at Jeff and Tonya Mayo's. They are always gracious enough to host about twenty of us close friends. Unfortunately, this year some weren't able to make it so there were only about ten or twelve of us. We had a great time watching old choir videos that my brother Howard brought over. He is forever the archivist of all videos and pictures, and often reminds us that he could blackmail any of us. April, however, is quick to remind him that I have the video of him singing at my wedding that would blackmail him right back.

Me, April, Tonya, and Lisa. (Girls, it was the lesser of the 2 evils I had.)

Everyone gathering around the appetizers.

Then on Christmas Eve we started with my family at my cousin Holli's house. The main menu was steak, (everyone brought their own) and then of course we had baked potatoes and all the fixin's, sides and dessert. Everyone also brought an appetizer. So, there was no shortage of food.

Appetizers.

Marvin, Uncle Olan (who finally got his hat to blink) and Todd cooking.

Everyones steak on the grill.

Living room group shot.

Marvin, Holli's husband, is a carver. He can carve anything out of wood with his pocket knife. He carved all of these ornaments on this Christmas tree.

And, he carved all of these little snowmen, that represent his wife and children. He has carved ornaments for most of our family members. He carved one for mine and Todd's first Christmas and one for Nathan when he was born and the one that means the most to me is the one he carved for Angel Ruth. April announced that he had never carved her any. My guess is that the Cruz-man will get one for Christmas next year.

After steak at Holli's, we went over to Grammy and Pappy's. Todd enjoyed Pappy's fried pork and I enjoyed Lisa's stuffed mushrooms and Grammy's peanut butter balls. Then the kids opened their traditional one present. Nathan has finally figured out that they always get matching pajamas. He got a lesson in family traditions.

Heather, Jacob and Nathan.

Nathan and Jacob taking a break from arguing.

Christmas morning started very early at our house.

I don't have any pictures of Christmas morning at our house because Todd always sets the video camera on the bar and lets it record. I got up very early and made Paula Deen's gorilla bread. Oh my was it ever more delicious. We had to wake Nathan up because we had to open our presents, then go to DeeDee and Grandaddy's and then back to Grammy and Pappy's. At our house Nathan's big gift was a new mountain bike. Todd and I exchanged practical gifts. He got me a car phone charger and a shower head and I got him tennis shoes. Our main gift to each other was a TV for the living room. After 10 years with a console TV and an antenna we turned manually, we are loving our new flat screen Samsung. Then we were off to DeeDee and Grandaddy's.

Grandaddy, Nathan and DeeDee.

Counting the chapters in The Tale of Despereaux.

Uncle Howie got Nathan a first edition book of The Tale of Despereaux. It was very important for Nathan to know how many chapters the book has. He also got a bunch of Mystery Tree house books.

The only DS game he got this year.

I made a breakfast casserole and we opened presents while it cooked. It was really good. Mama, Daddy and Howie went over to Aunt Mary and Uncle Eugene's for lunch and we went to Grammy and Pappy's for lunch and more presents.

Nathan and Jacob.

Pappy and his girl, Heather.

Uncle Tripp got Grammy and Pappy new watches.

Grammy was appreciative for her new watch but Pappy didn't think he needed one. Just because he has to change the time with needle nose pliers because the winding stem is broken off means nothing. Plus it wasn't an indiglo Timex. Oh, his son, (my husband) is so much like him.

Finally, the one and ONLY thing he really wanted.

We finished the year off with a cook out at our place. Todd and Pappy cooked boston butts on the grill and everybody brought a dish to share. The highlight of the day was the softball game. We had a blast. We all laughed at each other and us old folks realized that our bodies won't do what our minds think they can.

At the last minute, I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures and quickly ran inside and grabbed the camera. I was too busy eating and recovering from the softball game.

We are so grateful to all of our family and friends for a wonderful holiday season. We had so much fun and,...we kept Christ in Christmas.