T-Ball!

I love T-Ball.  Before I was even a mom, I dreamed of having kids in T-Ball.  The day has arrived!  The boys have hit the ball off a tee in the backyard and they thought it was fun.  Then I had Soren run some bases and he didn't seem to like it as much.  I guess he just likes hitting.  We got mitts for the boys, and all of a sudden they were excited again.  They wanted to show everyone their mitts.  They even showed the lady spraying Mom's grass and Soren yelled out to her, "Hey!  I play T-Ball!"  Gabe didn't want to be left out, so he yelled out, "I play T-Ball, too!"

Last Tuesday, we went to a "Meet the Team" event and found out we were on a team of five kids.  Wow, five?  Whatever.  At least they won't have to wait too long until it's their turn to hit!  Our team is the Marlins, even though their shirts say Bees (it's the Bees league).  The boys got their t-shirts and hats, and met a kid named PJ and had fun running around the gym with him.  PJ's parents are the coaches.  Soren thought PJ was a girl, though, because he had kind of long hair.  Oh well, we got that straightened out.  The boys seemed excited for their first game.

Game day arrived and Soren was playing around in his snow boots.  I told him to be sure to put on shoes before the game.  Well, that didn't happen.  The boys were in the van and ready to go before I was, so all I did was check to see if they had their hats, shirts, and gloves, which they did. When we got to the field, we got out of the van and the boys started running.  I heard, "CLOMP, CLOMP, CLOMP" and quickly realized Soren was still wearing his boots.  Lovely.  I asked him about it and he said he forgot to change.  Well, Napoleon Dynamite, have a fun game in your boots!  I had them stop so I could take a picture, only to discover my camera battery was dead.  Good one, Em.  I was so excited to document the first T-Ball game, especially because Sean was working and would miss it, and Mom decided to watch the girls at home instead of us chasing Brooke around the park.  That was a good move, by the way.  Thanks, Mom!  So I was bummed not to have the camera, but hooray for phone cameras.  The photos aren't great, but it's documented. 

Oops!  Gabe missed on the first swing, but got it good on the second try!

Soren made it to third base... in his boots!

Gabe scoring a run

Soren getting a hit

The boys are not too great at throwing and catching, but they were good at the pre-game stretch!  When they were fielding, Soren sat down near second base for a few minutes and picked some grass, then a little later he was clear out in right field!  Such a funny kid.  They both hit the ball well, and ran the bases fine, but before they hit in the third inning, they told their coach they didn't want to hit again.  I said, "What?"  She didn't want to force them, so I went to talk to them.  They said they wanted to go play on the playground instead.  Oh brother!  So I told them they needed to hit one more time each and when the game was over we could play.  They had been playing in the backyard all day on our new playground that Sean and I had just set up, but all they wanted was to still be on a playground.  Come on, boys!  I've been waiting for T-Ball players forever!  How can they not love it like I do?  Oh well, I'll survive.  I hope.

 There are seven more games.  We'll stick it out, especially because my two boys are a third of the team!  We did get one more player just before the game, fortunately, so now we're up to six players.  The funny thing is that he's the son of my friend, Emily Olson (not sure of her married name).  So it was fun to see her and her family there at the game.  The other team had kids who were hitting pitches instead of off the tee.  We have the super beginner team and they had all the talent.  Really?  Do you really need to stack teams in little league?  Lame.  Oh well, that's the way it goes, and since my kids have no clue about winning or losing or how the game really works, it's not a big deal right now.  I just hope they start to enjoy it at least a little bit.  The game ended and they were so happy to sit and enjoy some watermelon.  Then they went and slid down the dirt path on a hill by the field, and then they played on the playground.  Funny they were tired during the game, but when it was over, the energy was restored!  I asked them if they liked it and Gabe didn't say much, but Soren said no.  I asked him why and he said it was because there was too much running.  Ha!  Good thing we didn't sign them up for soccer!  We aren't soccer fans anyway, so that will probably never happen.  I'm thinking they're more into the individual sports like swimming, wrestling, or gymnastics.  But we'll see.  Like I said, seven more games.  We can do it!