A Day in the Life of My T-Ball Player...

Baseball season is upon us and with that we have added a new player to the spring sport... My little Max.  And with Max playing T-ball, I am reminded of how wonderful it is to watch the little ones learn a new sport.  Oh, and yes, it's pretty entertaining to watch:)

So, here, in pictures, is a Day in Max's T-ball career for you to enjoy (with captions of course..lol)

Whoo Hoo... I'm playing T-ball, I'm playing t-ball:)

OK... I got the ball, now what??

Oh,yeah, throw to first and hope it makes it:)

I'm gonna run after every single ball and get it..every time!!

Yeah Baby.. I rock at this chasing the ball stuff..

See..I beat them all and got the ball.  I am king!!

But, I don't care that the inning isn't over.. I want a drink.  I'm done chasing the ball all over the field..those other kids can have it..

Oh yeah... a fence to climb.. this is a cool sport!!

Whew.. I made it to 2nd base and I am done.  What, you mean I have to keep running to home??

I'm playing 1st base...what does it look like I'm doing??

It came right to me..and I got it:)

This dirt is really cool... what should we build with it while you're on first and I'm supposed to be paying attention to the game??

Thumbs up Mommy.. I'm doing it, right??  right??

Hmph.. I knocked it off out of bounds:(

And then I hit it towards the big clump of kids on the other team so I ran really fast to get to 1st!!

This helmet is too big and it's itching my head...Get it OFF!!

Yeah Baby:)

I'm loving watching him 'play' this year.  I'm loving watching all the little ones play!!  They are still all so innocent and just want to play with no worries about winning and losing!!

Hope you're enjoying it as well:)  And if you don't have a little one playing, go a watch a game..it's FUN!!!

The 'Rules' of Driving you won't find in the Manual...

As a mom of 4 and lots of activities, I find myself on the road a lot these days..  Especially now that we have entered Little League Season.. You know, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to let 2 of them join in the spring time fun of baseball (which entails practices and 1-2 games per week per kid).. But, I digress.. let's talk about Driving:)

As I wonder around aimlessly in my car every day, I am noticing some things happening that I never learned while in Driver's Ed.  I'm thinking they changed the laws about driving without my knowledge...and perhaps without yours as well.  And so, I am here to tell you what we should be doing on the road instead of what they taught us:)

1. Whenever you are making a Left-hand turn, please make sure you are all the way on the right side of the lane.  This will not allow any drivers to continue on their route and will most likely piss some of them off.  Just wave a smile as they beep at you when you are finally able to turn.

2.  Also, when making a Left-hand turn, please go the speed limit, don't use your blinker and slam on your breaks when you notice you are about to miss your turn.  Oh, and then turn your blinker on while you are in the right side of the lane waiting to turn left.

3. Never ever look both directions even when you are making a Right-hand turn.  It doesn't matter that a HUGE semi pulling a wide load is actually on the wrong side of the road and heading straight for you.. just keep on going and try to dart out of their way.

4. When there is a merging of 2 lanes into 1.. speed up and try to cut off as many people as possible.  You will totally get to wherever you're going a lot (and I mean A LOT) faster by cutting off just one more person even if you have to drive on the side of the road, thus spitting up all the rocks at other cars.  Being polite and going every other person is no longer the 'in' thing to do.

5. Also, when merging from 2 lanes into 1.. if cutting everyone else off isn't an option, please tail the person in front of you so that no one else can potentially cut you off.

6. When following someone through a Village Speed Limit of 30 MPH, you can now speed up and pass them with reckless abandonment..  and yes, you Must do this when there is a double yellow line.  Those lines mean nothing these days so pass away whenever and wherever you are going!!

7. Should you enjoy sight seeing while driving on a high-way, you Must stay in the Left hand lane and go the same speed as the person to your right.  This will make sure no one should ever be able to pass you.

8. When you see someone waiting to turn, putting them in front of you on the road, you should speed up so they think they don't have enough time to pull out but then slow down so they can become annoyed that they really could have made it out before you got there. Give a huge smile and wave as you drive by them.

9. Back on the Highway... when someone is coming up on your Left (shame on you for moving to the right hand lane) and they are about to pass you, make sure you speed up to match their speed thereby making them think they can't get past you so they pulled behind you..slow down again until they try to pass you again and repeat as often as possible.

10. And finally, when you are a mile away from a light and you see it turn to Yellow, you must always floor it so that you can breeze through the light just after it turns Red.  I mean, you are the one with somewhere to be that is way more important then anyone else so they should all just wait for you to make it through, right??

I hope you all find these new rules of the road helpful!!  Have a great day:)

PS- I feel I need to put this in here as a disclaimer so bear with me-  These rulues of the road are totally bogus.. do not follow them..

A Mom's Quest for Perfection...

Hold the presses everyone, I am actually sitting at the computer with nothing else to do tonight but write a blog... AND, it's way before midnight:)  Wow, are you impressed??  I gotta admit, I am pretty darn impressed with myself..LOL..

Life around here has been pretty hectic.. I don't know why.  Perhaps it's the four 2-legged animals running around here (you know, my children)??  Nah... Maybe it's all the activities said 2-legged animals have going on??  Nah... Or perhaps, it's all that paid and unpaid work I have going on??  Nope, couldn't be that.  I know, I know.. Nope, I don't know.. Well, anyway, I'm thinking of trying to get back into the swing of things here in the Blog World.  I hope I haven't lost you...and if  I have, I hope you'll join me again on my adventures through life:)

So, that brings me to my topic in question- A Mom's Quest for Perfection.  Hmmmmm... Crazy, right??  I have been a Mom for a little over 10 years and it's taken me this long to realize that I am totally not perfect.  Nobody is.  You can try, but you will probably die trying or be so miserable trying to please everyone that you'll start to break.  I broke... literally.  I am no hero...except of course when we don the capes and fly around the living room pretending to save the world.  I, as I'm sure you do too, try my hardest to be the BEST Mom that only I know how to be!!  We are all so different and we all have so many different talents and, um, also, those, um not so great talents, right???

Well, I just wanted to share with you all of my, um, not so great 'talents' with you just to make you all feel better about yourselves, ok??  So, here goes:

1. I am a terrible house keeper.  I really suck at cleaning and have always hated it.  And, so, I let it slide and slide until I can't stand it anymore and my head starts to spin around and smoke spews from my nostrils and ears and I just go on a humongous cleaning spree whilst yelling at whoever gets in my way to go pick up some crap before I throw it away and go vacuum your room, etc.  Just ask my hubby...he can attest to the smoke and head turning thing:)

2. I love to bake...  but... I have a really really hard time letting my kids 'help' me.  I am a perfectionist and want it all to be just perfect (do you sense a theme here..).  But, I've come to realize that whatever they make and however much mess they make (that I will be cleaning up all by myself) is totally perfect because they made it...and, we did it together.  This past Thanksgiving, I helped Kyra make an apple pie and she was so proud of it.  So, I've let go (sometimes) and let them join in..Look, there's proof..

3. I lose it.  Yup...pretty much every day.  Sometimes it's huge and other times it's lots of little blow-ups... but I lose it.  The 'every day' ones occur like clock-work as follows:
7:40am - DJ get your shoes on, get your jacket on, don't forget your lunch... WHAT DAY IS IT AT SCHOOL?????  do you need your clarinet??  Where are your library books??  Kyra- hurry up and get Franny's shoes and jacket on..  WE ARE GOING TO MISS THE BUS HURRY UP AND GET OUT TO THE CAR SO WE CAN MAKE IT I AM NOT DRIVING YOU TO SCHOOL!!!  DJ and MAX - go directly to the car..do not jump in puddles, do not trudge through the snow, do not walk through the wet grass!!  GET IN THE CAR NOW!!!!!

We have a lull for most of the day with the exception of Max and Franny pulling every single book off the book shelf as quietly as possible while Mommy is doing the dishes.. Or drawing on each others faces with marker because they wanted to be Ninja Warriors while Mommy is desperately trying to go through pictures on the computer.  Or, stuffing toilet paper in the toilet and/or getting water all over the bathroom and shoving training toilet seats over the other ones head that will eventually have to be cut off b/c it won't go back off while Mommy is bringing the laundry into the doldrums of the basement..  you get the point here, right??

3:30pm - Maximo, get your clothes back on...we have to get to the bus.. where are your socks??  What did you do with your socks??  Get your shoes on..  come on Max, please get your clothes back on...

4:15pm - DJ, please sit down and do you homework.. Maximo, stay out of the dining room while DJ is doing homework.. Franny - get back in the playroom until homework is over..  Usually, I am trying to get dinner ready, help with homework, keep Max/Franny away from DJ/Kyra, change a poopy diaper, etc during this time

OK, those are the major 'lose it' moments.  There are totally more... but, this could get ugly and I could go on and on and you could totally lose interest or maybe have me arrested or something??  Hey, there's an idea... will they feed me and is it quiet there???  Just kidding:)

4. I am selfish...sometimes.  I tend to hoard certain candies and hide them and not share them..  I do the same thing with my drinks.  All of my drinks.. from cans of soda, bottles of iced tea and my wine.  I don't like to share these things...

5. I have a tendency to wear the same clothes for multiple days.. sue me.. I'm not going anywhere and it saves on laundry, ok??  And it's not like I actually get to shower every day or anything.. I'm lucky I get my once a week overhaul..

6. When my children cry out in the middle of the night, I make hubby go get them.  I pretend to be asleep and gently kick him awake so he hears them, thereby forcing him out of bed to see what's the matter.  It's nice and cozy warm under those blankets and I figure I've been awake with them more hours then him due to lots and lots of nursing in the wee hours of the night... It's only fair, right??

7. I am a smoker.  Yup, that's right.  I smoke cigarettes.  Stop judging me b/c I'm addicted to nicotine.  I don't smoke in my house or in my car or at the school (well, except when it's night time and I've got a smoking buddy in the parking lot and I feel giddy b/c I'm doing something I shouldn't be doing on school grounds b/c I never ever did anything wrong in high school so I'm making up for it, ok)  We all know it's bad for you...I don't need lectures.. I'm sure everyone's got a dirty little habit .. right??

8. I hate confrontation.  I am learning, though, that sometimes this has to be done.  Especially when it involves my children..  Other than that, though, I have a tendency to ignore the problem and hope it goes away..  I'm a wimp that way..

9. Crafts.. um, yeah, I dread them.  Especially the cleaning up part.  I know they love to do them, but that doesn't mean I have to love it too, right???  And let's not talk about anything to do with sewing.  My own kids have already started asking someone else to sew something back up for them b/c they know that this Mommy is helpless with a needle and thread.. though, maybe if I could actually get the thread through the eye of the needle I might just have something there??  Maybe??

10. I'm thinking... I like to have a nice rounded out list of 10 so I need to think of something else.. wait for it, wait for it... Um, nope can't think of anything else. Oh wait... I just remembered- I am late for everything.  It doesn't matter how much time I give myself to get us all out the door, we are ALWAYS late.  It doesn't even matter if it's just me leaving the house.  I am always late..  sorry... at least you all know now that I will be late!!

Look.. the bottom line is this - There is no such thing as a Perfect Mom.  Seriously.  If you think you're perfect, well, maybe you are.  But more then likely, you're just like me...  You're perfect in your own special way tailored made for your very own kids!!

Be crazy
Be spontaneous
Be YOU!!

Oh, and stop judging other moms b/c we all do what we can!!  Unless of course they are totally doing something so outrageously wrong and really need to be called out on it..  Just be gentle:)

Hope you are all having a fabulous evening!!  And I hope you enjoyed this post:)  And remember, Party On!!