One 11 year old softball player had a dream come true this weekend. She met one of her heroes, and one of the greatest players to play fast pith softball: Cat Osterman. She is one happy little girl.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Go Bayshore Barracudas!
Kenzie's travel soccer team took second place in their first ever tournament, the SAC Columbus Day Tournament! And they did it by scoring only two goals in three games, with a record of 2 and 1 in bracket play to win their bracket. Kenzie had some spectacular saves in Goal, shutting out two of their opponents, to ensure the team's advancement to the final game against a very good WAGS team. TAnd, two of our newest players scored the winning goals in both games! The future of this team looks very bright. Congratulations, ladies!
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
School Starts
Ok, we've officially begun our school year. It feels early, but it is September and the weather has turned autumnal. The first two days of school went pretty well; just a little resistence yesterday, from Kenzie. Not my usual source of contention, but I guess she was due. Otherwise, I would rank this start among the top of my seven school year starts. In case you don't know, this year I have five students again. I added Bekah. She's four, and just started kindergarten. She's also in fourth grade with the twins, with smattering of sixth with Kenzie, and eighth with Connor. Not to mention the preK coloring and paper-cutting squad, with Keary.
I'm looking forward to Summer Vacation '10.
Alex started 11th grade today at SSPPHS. He was anxiously anticipating getting his parking permit. BMOC. I guess he got a private kick out of the fact that we made him shave off his peach fuzz for the first day. It wouldn't do, to get his first ever demerit for breaking the dress code (including no facial hair), on his first day as a Junior.
Connor is excited because he just got his first contact lenses. Now, he's riding his bike to the barber to get hair out of his eyes. I told him he looks like a girl, his hair's so long. He doesn't care what I think, but he longer has his glasses to keep the bangs out of his eyes. Ugh! It wasn't long ago when short hair was IN.
We actually started the week with insects. Bekah found a live cicada and decided it would be a good pet. She took it on a walk with us on Monday. I think it then got fed to the chickens. She apparently did not get too attached to it.
Then, on Tuesday, we discovered this nest of wasps under the deck. I count between 40 and 50 of the buggers there. Makes my skin crawl. Thank goodness for bug spray.
I'm looking forward to Summer Vacation '10.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Where Has Summer Gone?
I can't believe it has been four months since I last posted to this blog. I guess it's been a combination of being busy and being lazy. It has been summer, after all, and there's been no major events like softball world series, or new kids added to the family, or anything like that. Just a kind of normal, non-eventful, summer.
Some things have happened, though.
I did spend some time updating AndyandVickisPlace.com, adding a bunch of new pictures (after three years of neglect) to all the kids' photo albums. I also got a little hooked on Facebook, and their Fish Wrangler game. I'm not much into Facebook as a social network, though.
Alex got a job, and lost a job. He was working at Subway for a few months. They cut his hours near the end of the summer; they say because school was starting soon, but that doesn't make sense to me. They were cutting other employees too, I think because the economy in general just stinks everywhere. I also think it might be because we used his employee discount a good bit. I doubt this is why he lost the job, but a family of ten with an employee discount can break the bank of any fast food joint. He goes for an interview tomorrow at Quiznos. If he gets the job there, we won't be over-using the employee discount, just in case. He also got his license (and hasn't lost it, yet). I am happy with how well he has been driving. Surprised a bit, too, but something seemed to click some time in the spring, and he has shown enough maturity to earn the right to drive. Now he needs that job to help pay for insurance. Although public schools start tomorrow, Alex's school starts, gradually just before Labor Day. I won't start home school in full force until we reach an "R" month.
Connor hasn't done too much, either, He finished out baseball and travel soccer in the spring, and has been enhancing his soccer skills all summer. Practice has begun for fall travel soccer team, and also for his rec team. I normally don't like him playing on two teams, but I lost the battle of "one team per season" a long time ago. As long as we can dig up the money to pay for it. Connor also finished about a quarter of his Algebra 2 book over the summer. He starts eighth grade this year, and I want him to start Geometry (and maybe finish it( before high school next year. He wants to go to public school, for the sports and friends thing, and I can't think of any reason to deny him. He is so self-motivated that if the school doesn't challenge him, he will challenge himself. I made a deal with him: if he takes as many AP classes as the schedule allows, I'll agree to public school. He might actually do a little better at public school if he receives some academic competition, than he can do here, with just me challenging him.
McKenzie played rec softball this spring. She played up, on a 12U team. She was the most skilled player on her team. She even pitched when necessary because we only had one other girl who was fairly consistent at pitching. I was, however, very disappointed in how the league was run, the small number of games we played, and the lack of tournament play. Her skills did not get challenged, but Kenzie had a lot of fun, playing with local girls, and making local friends. So, it was worth it. Now, we're trying to put together a local girls travel team. They won't compete at the level Kenzie has played in the past, but there's more to it than just winning every game. Kenzie tried to find work this summer, too, but was not very successful. She's eleven, and there's not many people hiring eleven years old. She did get a volunteer job, helping at Chesapeake Cats and Dogs. She wants to be a VET some day, so I think this is a good start. Kenzie will start sixth grade this year. She spent the summer trying to finish up her elementary math so she can start Algebra 1 soon. She's almost there.
After baseball ended, Taylor focused mainly on riding his bike this summer. We haven't done too much fishing, but what we have done, has been because of Taylor. He loves to fish. He just recently started soccer practice for his rec team. He looks fantastic this year. He's always liked playing soccer, but it's just been something to do in the fall and he has not really been that aggressive or excited about it. This year, he's a different kid. He's playing like he really wants to be there, and is showing skills he's not displayed in the past. He might be ready to try out for the travel team soon, at this rate (although this is not required as the cost is prohibitive). Tay will start fourth grade soon, and is the only kid of mine who actually says he WANTS to be home schooled (they don't get a choice until high school, and where they go is determined on an individual basis).
Tyler is a hoot. The other night, at Kenzie's soccer practice, Tyler discovered that he can climb foul poles in the baseball outfield. He looks like a monkey, using his feet to shimmy right to the top. I've got to find a use for all his odd abilities, like that one. He can also take things apart real well (can't get them back together, though). So let's see; what job requires climbing poles and disassembling stuff? And definitely, NO MATH. Ugh, that's his Kryptonite. He did really well at travel soccer last spring, but just isn't interested in it enough to keep paying for it. Right now, he's into flag football. I haven't seen him practice yet, and I'm going to miss today's practice too. Alex has been taking him to football since Sunday afternoons seem to fill up with so many other things. I do like having Alex as a driver, for things like this. I will see him play some games this year, even it means missing a occasional Ravens game.
Bekah is still a cutie, but now has competition from Keary, her little sister. Bekah is still doing her speech therapy to work out some kinks in some her sounds. I think she's doing much better in her talking, and hopefully one more year will be enough. Her summer therapist said Bekah mastered everything she was supposed to work on over the summer, and moved on to other skills. She has really taken to bike riding this summer; finally getting big and strong enough for longer bike rides. She's also turning into a fisherman with Taylor. One memorable moment from this summer was her busted chin. She woke up one morning, covered in blood, from a gash she had under her chin. It took four stitches, and will leave a nasty little scar. We still don't how she did it and she can't remember. And, there's no blood (or chunks of skin) anywhere to be found, except the blood in her bed and on her sheets. Very bizarre. Bekah is only four, but has picked up so much from being in our classroom, that I'm going to start her is a kindergarten program this year. I hope I have time, because the twins are still kind of high maintenance in school I'm hoping I can get them to be a little more independent.
Keary is still our peanut, in her red glasses. She's walking and talking better than any of our previous two year olds. Her summer consisted of babbling and coloring and cutting paper to make shapes and making messes of scraps all over the classroom floor. She's probably ready for a pre-K program, but I'm not. We'll just let her absorb stuff in school for another year before we think about formalizing anything.
Adam is finally crawling. I think he's a little behind everyone else. He's almost one year old, and doesn't seem inclined to walk any time soon. No biggie; once he starts walking, he'll be harder to keep track of. Keary's wondered off twice since she learned to walk, so I can wait for the time I'll have to keep track of two wondering toddlers.
Me, I've just been trying to keep my head above water. Still trying to keep the kids doing a little school each day. Bugging Alex to go look for work. Laundry never ends, especially when you new HE washer breaks after only a year. It took two weeks to get it fixed. What a pain. And right after the warranty expired. My dad convinced me to write a letter to Sears to c=ask for my repair costs back (the washer was 16 months old). I was shocked when they agreed to refund the money for repairs. Sometimes it pays to be the squeaky wheel.
I've been typing for about an hour and we have to go to the in-laws' soon for a birthday party, so I gotta wrap this up. Hopefully, I'll find time to start posting here properly. There's so much I missed putting here over the past few months. Didn't I start by saying this was an uneventful summer?
Some things have happened, though.
I did spend some time updating AndyandVickisPlace.com, adding a bunch of new pictures (after three years of neglect) to all the kids' photo albums. I also got a little hooked on Facebook, and their Fish Wrangler game. I'm not much into Facebook as a social network, though.
Alex got a job, and lost a job. He was working at Subway for a few months. They cut his hours near the end of the summer; they say because school was starting soon, but that doesn't make sense to me. They were cutting other employees too, I think because the economy in general just stinks everywhere. I also think it might be because we used his employee discount a good bit. I doubt this is why he lost the job, but a family of ten with an employee discount can break the bank of any fast food joint. He goes for an interview tomorrow at Quiznos. If he gets the job there, we won't be over-using the employee discount, just in case. He also got his license (and hasn't lost it, yet). I am happy with how well he has been driving. Surprised a bit, too, but something seemed to click some time in the spring, and he has shown enough maturity to earn the right to drive. Now he needs that job to help pay for insurance. Although public schools start tomorrow, Alex's school starts, gradually just before Labor Day. I won't start home school in full force until we reach an "R" month.
Connor hasn't done too much, either, He finished out baseball and travel soccer in the spring, and has been enhancing his soccer skills all summer. Practice has begun for fall travel soccer team, and also for his rec team. I normally don't like him playing on two teams, but I lost the battle of "one team per season" a long time ago. As long as we can dig up the money to pay for it. Connor also finished about a quarter of his Algebra 2 book over the summer. He starts eighth grade this year, and I want him to start Geometry (and maybe finish it( before high school next year. He wants to go to public school, for the sports and friends thing, and I can't think of any reason to deny him. He is so self-motivated that if the school doesn't challenge him, he will challenge himself. I made a deal with him: if he takes as many AP classes as the schedule allows, I'll agree to public school. He might actually do a little better at public school if he receives some academic competition, than he can do here, with just me challenging him.
McKenzie played rec softball this spring. She played up, on a 12U team. She was the most skilled player on her team. She even pitched when necessary because we only had one other girl who was fairly consistent at pitching. I was, however, very disappointed in how the league was run, the small number of games we played, and the lack of tournament play. Her skills did not get challenged, but Kenzie had a lot of fun, playing with local girls, and making local friends. So, it was worth it. Now, we're trying to put together a local girls travel team. They won't compete at the level Kenzie has played in the past, but there's more to it than just winning every game. Kenzie tried to find work this summer, too, but was not very successful. She's eleven, and there's not many people hiring eleven years old. She did get a volunteer job, helping at Chesapeake Cats and Dogs. She wants to be a VET some day, so I think this is a good start. Kenzie will start sixth grade this year. She spent the summer trying to finish up her elementary math so she can start Algebra 1 soon. She's almost there.
After baseball ended, Taylor focused mainly on riding his bike this summer. We haven't done too much fishing, but what we have done, has been because of Taylor. He loves to fish. He just recently started soccer practice for his rec team. He looks fantastic this year. He's always liked playing soccer, but it's just been something to do in the fall and he has not really been that aggressive or excited about it. This year, he's a different kid. He's playing like he really wants to be there, and is showing skills he's not displayed in the past. He might be ready to try out for the travel team soon, at this rate (although this is not required as the cost is prohibitive). Tay will start fourth grade soon, and is the only kid of mine who actually says he WANTS to be home schooled (they don't get a choice until high school, and where they go is determined on an individual basis).
Tyler is a hoot. The other night, at Kenzie's soccer practice, Tyler discovered that he can climb foul poles in the baseball outfield. He looks like a monkey, using his feet to shimmy right to the top. I've got to find a use for all his odd abilities, like that one. He can also take things apart real well (can't get them back together, though). So let's see; what job requires climbing poles and disassembling stuff? And definitely, NO MATH. Ugh, that's his Kryptonite. He did really well at travel soccer last spring, but just isn't interested in it enough to keep paying for it. Right now, he's into flag football. I haven't seen him practice yet, and I'm going to miss today's practice too. Alex has been taking him to football since Sunday afternoons seem to fill up with so many other things. I do like having Alex as a driver, for things like this. I will see him play some games this year, even it means missing a occasional Ravens game.
Bekah is still a cutie, but now has competition from Keary, her little sister. Bekah is still doing her speech therapy to work out some kinks in some her sounds. I think she's doing much better in her talking, and hopefully one more year will be enough. Her summer therapist said Bekah mastered everything she was supposed to work on over the summer, and moved on to other skills. She has really taken to bike riding this summer; finally getting big and strong enough for longer bike rides. She's also turning into a fisherman with Taylor. One memorable moment from this summer was her busted chin. She woke up one morning, covered in blood, from a gash she had under her chin. It took four stitches, and will leave a nasty little scar. We still don't how she did it and she can't remember. And, there's no blood (or chunks of skin) anywhere to be found, except the blood in her bed and on her sheets. Very bizarre. Bekah is only four, but has picked up so much from being in our classroom, that I'm going to start her is a kindergarten program this year. I hope I have time, because the twins are still kind of high maintenance in school I'm hoping I can get them to be a little more independent.
Keary is still our peanut, in her red glasses. She's walking and talking better than any of our previous two year olds. Her summer consisted of babbling and coloring and cutting paper to make shapes and making messes of scraps all over the classroom floor. She's probably ready for a pre-K program, but I'm not. We'll just let her absorb stuff in school for another year before we think about formalizing anything.
Adam is finally crawling. I think he's a little behind everyone else. He's almost one year old, and doesn't seem inclined to walk any time soon. No biggie; once he starts walking, he'll be harder to keep track of. Keary's wondered off twice since she learned to walk, so I can wait for the time I'll have to keep track of two wondering toddlers.
Me, I've just been trying to keep my head above water. Still trying to keep the kids doing a little school each day. Bugging Alex to go look for work. Laundry never ends, especially when you new HE washer breaks after only a year. It took two weeks to get it fixed. What a pain. And right after the warranty expired. My dad convinced me to write a letter to Sears to c=ask for my repair costs back (the washer was 16 months old). I was shocked when they agreed to refund the money for repairs. Sometimes it pays to be the squeaky wheel.
I've been typing for about an hour and we have to go to the in-laws' soon for a birthday party, so I gotta wrap this up. Hopefully, I'll find time to start posting here properly. There's so much I missed putting here over the past few months. Didn't I start by saying this was an uneventful summer?
Sunday, April 26, 2009
More Piano Peforming
Kenzie and Connor are playing at church, on the organ during Mass, this afternoon. They got to practice a little bit on Friday. Here's how they sounded:
Saturday, April 25, 2009
What an Awesome Day
This was just a great day to be the dad of my kids.
It was a day full of sports on an absolutely beautiful day. Let's start with the Alex. He started his first real paycheck job today, at Subway. He was supposed to go in at 9:00 AM for training. They must have liked him because they kept him there until 8:00 PM. A few of us stopped in for some subs at the end of the day, and Alex was still smiling, so I guess he likes his job. I can tell you, I like him having a job. He'll need to help with his car insurance real soon.
Connor had baseball at 9:00 AM. He pitched the first few innings, and did great. His team lost, but at least they were ahead when the coach changed pitchers. Then, it was off to referee some soccer games. He had three to do, and I watched most of them. Kenzie's team played in the first game; Tyler's team played in the second game; and I was just watching Connor ref in the third game. By the end the third game, Connor was exhausted and sunburnt, but he had to run to another field and, with no time to spare, jump into his own game where he played Goalie for 70 for the whole game. I was pleased because Connor has not been given the opportunity to show what he's capable of on this team, playing only about ten minutes per game for the past two seasons. Given all he'd done already, I was not expecting peak performance from him. His team won (their first win of the season) by 2-0, Connor having allowed no goals. How awesome is that!? Plus, he made over $100 referee-ing. He deserved his sub from Subway and should sleep very well tonight
Kenzie had a 11:00 AM softball game, but she went to the park with me when I took Connor to his game. Her softball team won their game. Kenzie was Catcher, which she absolutely love to be. Her thumb was bruised from soccer last week, so she couldn't swing the bat. But, she managed to get on base every at-bat by bunting for a base hit or walking. Only once did she not score a run (she got stranded on third) and stole more bases than I can remember. She had to leave softball a little early so I could get her to her soccer game, where she play Goalie. Her team played the number one team in their division and beat them, 3-1. Kenzie only let one goal in. In six games or so, I don't think she's had more than 6 or 7 goals scored against her.
The twins had a lighter schedule. Tay had a 9:00 AM baseball game. His morning started off pretty rough. He lost his baseball hate, and losing par of you uniform is a pet peave of mine, really gets under my skin. SO, Tay got yelled at, and left at home to look for it, while I took Connor and Kenzie to the field so Connor could warm up. I went back and got Tay, but neither one of us had a happy start this morning. Things eventually calmed down; he borrowed an extra hat from his coach; then got a hit near the end of his game.
Tyler, who had no game until the afternoon, hung around with us at the baseball fields, waiting for his turn to play. In his soccer game (with Connor as ref), Ty played Goalie (see the family trend here?). He's very inexperienced at travel soccer, but has been attending goalie training sessions to improve in that position. It just so happened that today his team played one of the best U9 teams around, and they got beat up pretty bad. Tyler has come a very long way in his sportmanship. He did not let anything bother him, where in the past, he would have had a tantrum over losing, let alone at being the Goalie in such a lopsided game. I'm very proud of him.
It was a day full of sports on an absolutely beautiful day. Let's start with the Alex. He started his first real paycheck job today, at Subway. He was supposed to go in at 9:00 AM for training. They must have liked him because they kept him there until 8:00 PM. A few of us stopped in for some subs at the end of the day, and Alex was still smiling, so I guess he likes his job. I can tell you, I like him having a job. He'll need to help with his car insurance real soon.
Connor had baseball at 9:00 AM. He pitched the first few innings, and did great. His team lost, but at least they were ahead when the coach changed pitchers. Then, it was off to referee some soccer games. He had three to do, and I watched most of them. Kenzie's team played in the first game; Tyler's team played in the second game; and I was just watching Connor ref in the third game. By the end the third game, Connor was exhausted and sunburnt, but he had to run to another field and, with no time to spare, jump into his own game where he played Goalie for 70 for the whole game. I was pleased because Connor has not been given the opportunity to show what he's capable of on this team, playing only about ten minutes per game for the past two seasons. Given all he'd done already, I was not expecting peak performance from him. His team won (their first win of the season) by 2-0, Connor having allowed no goals. How awesome is that!? Plus, he made over $100 referee-ing. He deserved his sub from Subway and should sleep very well tonight
Kenzie had a 11:00 AM softball game, but she went to the park with me when I took Connor to his game. Her softball team won their game. Kenzie was Catcher, which she absolutely love to be. Her thumb was bruised from soccer last week, so she couldn't swing the bat. But, she managed to get on base every at-bat by bunting for a base hit or walking. Only once did she not score a run (she got stranded on third) and stole more bases than I can remember. She had to leave softball a little early so I could get her to her soccer game, where she play Goalie. Her team played the number one team in their division and beat them, 3-1. Kenzie only let one goal in. In six games or so, I don't think she's had more than 6 or 7 goals scored against her.
The twins had a lighter schedule. Tay had a 9:00 AM baseball game. His morning started off pretty rough. He lost his baseball hate, and losing par of you uniform is a pet peave of mine, really gets under my skin. SO, Tay got yelled at, and left at home to look for it, while I took Connor and Kenzie to the field so Connor could warm up. I went back and got Tay, but neither one of us had a happy start this morning. Things eventually calmed down; he borrowed an extra hat from his coach; then got a hit near the end of his game.
Tyler, who had no game until the afternoon, hung around with us at the baseball fields, waiting for his turn to play. In his soccer game (with Connor as ref), Ty played Goalie (see the family trend here?). He's very inexperienced at travel soccer, but has been attending goalie training sessions to improve in that position. It just so happened that today his team played one of the best U9 teams around, and they got beat up pretty bad. Tyler has come a very long way in his sportmanship. He did not let anything bother him, where in the past, he would have had a tantrum over losing, let alone at being the Goalie in such a lopsided game. I'm very proud of him.
Tomorrow won't be quite as busy, but it will start early. CCD at 8. Alex goes to Mass at 9:00 because he has to work again in the afternoon, when we'll all be at Mass enjoying not only Mass, but Connor and Kenzie playing the church organ during the service, while Tay and Ty, as part of the youth choir, sing. Oh, and in the middle of the day, there's more soccer games for Tyler and Connor.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Homeschool Field Trip
We went on a field trip to Historic St. Mary's City yesterday. It was windy and cold, but it was a lot of fun. I was surprised at how much they had for people to do and see.We started in the Indian village, where we learned about how the Indians that met the Maryland colonists lived. Below are some of the kids using a rock to make tools from rocks and bones. Tyler was grossed out by the guy who was scraping meat off a deer hide to make clothing, but he gets grossed out by a lot of things.
We moved on to the Town Center, where we met colonists dyeing wool and operating their shops.
We learned how to use a seventeeth century printing press.
We also were drilled as Maryland's early militia, and got to see the firing of a musket. Everybody thought it was pretty loud. Connor could not believe that the colonists could perform the seventeen steps of loading and firing this gun, not once, but three times in one minute.
Then we moved on to the boat that brought them here, the Dove. Everyone loved this part. This was the only part of the day we were glad is was windy because you could really feel the boat rocking.
While Kenzie and Bekah fit in the bunks just fine, I can't imagine how grown men slept there, nevermind all the passengers, who had to sleep on floor of the hold.
Finally, it was off to the tobacco plantation where we ground up corn to make flour, made some corn bread, planted some beans, worked in the field, and fed the cows.
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