First Home Run!

Wowsers, what a weekend! Chooch's team played in a local baseball tournament, so we had 2 games on Saturday and played the seeded games on Sunday. Happily, we kept winning on Sunday, so we ended up playing 3 games, and the last one was for the championship. We went up against the other local team that we have played before and it was a great game. Both teams played VERY well and there were a ton of great plays throughout.

The BIG news for our family, though, was that Chooch hit his first ever, coach-pitch, over the fence, home run!! WOW! Some of the boys on his team had hit homeruns before and a few also hit some in this game, but I didn't seriously think that Chooch was ready to smack the ball that hard. But, he has been working very hard at batting lately, with lots of batting practice in the cages with his team and swinging at the Hit Away in our backyard, so I guess all that hard work paid off!

It was an awesome moment to see the ball go over the fence and to watch Chooch run the bases with a big old grin on his face. I was too busy clapping and cheering to catch any pics of him during his homerun trot, but I did complete this digital layout that will go in Chooch's scrapbook.



Unfortunately, Chooch's team didn't end up winning the championship game, but they certainly kept the game close for most of the innings and all of the boys were excited about the amazing amount of homeruns that were hit. Chooch loves baseball and this game was certainly one that he will remember for years to come!

The Itching and the Sneezing...

Life in East Texas is great for the most part, except for this time of year. This evil yellow stuff appears and soon after the itching and the sneezy commences...

no matter what allegy medicine you take...

no matter how dutiful you are about taking your medicine correctly...

no matter that you try to stay inside and away from the evil yellow stuff...

all is for naught as the evil yellow stuff starts to fall.

It's Springtime in the PineyWoods and like a blanket of new fallen snow, the East Texas area is covered with a layer of the evil yellow stuff, also known as pollen.

I suppose it's the over abundance of pine trees that we have in this area, but my goodness, I can't even imagine how so much pollen exists. It covers everything...and I mean e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. When I get up to take the kids to school, I have to turn on my windshield wipers just to be able to see out the window to drive. All of the cars in town have a yellowish hue driving around...it would actually be pretty amusing, except for the itching and the sneezing that results.

So, I had been itching and sneezing for a couple of weeks and finally got myself to my doctor to renew my allergy prescriptions. It didn't surprise me in the least when he told me that this county that I live in ranks number 2 in the nation right now for allergens. NUMBER TWO in the nation for allergens. That's something to be proud of, right?

I think it's starting to get better because we finally had some good hard rain last week to wash a lot of it away and I figure that the trees have to eventually run out of pollen. At least I hope so! Here's a shot of the end of my driveway during the rain last week...yes, all of the evil yellow stuff floating on top of the water is POLLEN!!!

City League, 2nd Place

Well, the Lufkin Rockets ended up 2nd in City League play after a grueling day of basketball. You can read all about it here on the team website. It was a long day, playing 3 games, but the boys did really well and never gave up. If only we hadn't lost that coin flip!!

The next week, we attended the Basketball Banquet/Awards Ceremony. It is quite the community affair and it's held in the Civic Center. We ate hamburgers and chips and had cake for dessert while watching all of the teams receive their awards. On the way out, Chooch said, "I can't wait to put my new trophy with all of my other trophies. 2nd place is the best!"

Daddy (ever the competitor) replied, "Well, 1st place is the best, but 2nd place is pretty darn good."

To which Chooch matter-of-factly said, "No, 2nd place is the best. I was in 1st place last year with The Unit team, so I already have one of those trophies. And now I have a 2nd place one to go with it!"

Perfect. I love how kids look at the games. It really doesn't matter who wins or loses at this age. As long as they are having fun and learning the game.

Remind me to come back and revisit this wisdom when baseball season goes into full swing.