A Happy SAHD

Tyler's Blue Belt Promotion

2011-04-30T22:27:00.000-05:00

Tyler got promoted to Blue Belt today.

A Story by Bekah, My Kindergartener

2010-10-12T12:52:00.000-05:00

Translation:

"Once upon a time there was a little girl. The girl was named Emily. She was swinging on the swing and then the swing broke off. And then Emily's mom had to fix it and she did it."

Field Trip

2010-08-12T13:52:00.000-05:00

It gets hard to take field trips during the school year so this year I'm trying to squeeze some in during the summer. For a while now, I've been wanting to visit Horn Point Lab in Cambridge, MD. The best thing about this place is that it's free to visit and take a guided tour. Also, I worked there as a summer intern when I was in college. I wanted to show the kids where I worked and show them that science isn't all sitting in a lab. doing experiments at a bench. My two best science related jobs, ever, had me outside a good bit of the time, especially another internship I did at a University of MD research farm. I didn't even have to wear a shirt or shoes to work on most days!

Oceanography Lab

The first stop was the Oceanography Lab, where some scientists were getting ready to head to the Gulf of Mexico to measure the effect the giant oil spill has had on the Gulf. They've been there before, so they have a good baseline for conditions before the spill, and they can

One held vinegar, one water

compare results to see how much damage has been done the environment down there. Naturally, with any hands-on activity, Tyler is first in line to get his hands on. He and another little visitor were trying to figure out what those two buckets held, using their powers of observation and all their senses. I never thought Ty had much sense, but they figured it out.

Ty's just gotta touch that

My Happy Crew

They can equip these buoys with various sensors to measure conditions in Chesapeake Bay. Tyler wanted to climb on one. He had to be satisfied with a look from the ground. Next stop, the hatchery.

Even way back when I worked at Horn Point, oysters were a main focus because their population is so threatened in the Bay by so many factors. Sturgeon, which in the 1600's and 1700's were everywhere, are now critically endangered. HPL is trying to restore the oysters and keep the Sturgeon from disappearing altogether. Sturgeon can get up to 14 feet long but you never see one that big, if you ever get to see any at all, at least in the wild. Tyler wanted to pet one, but was asked not to by our tour guide. We were told they have a big one in another tank but we weren't allowed to see it.

Ty exploring the old shells

New real estate for baby oysters

The oyster haychery was much bigger. One large tank can hold around 700 million oyster spat. Not all of them will live, but that's a lot of oysters. Once they're large enough, the spat are transferred into tanks where they can settle and attach to old oyster shells. Those shells are then transported to the bay and dumped overboard. There's a lot more involved, but I just don't have time to get into it all. It was pretty cool visited the lab and seeing it again. Not much has changed except for the size of the operation. Tyler was fascinated by the fact that you didn't need to wear a lab coat and work inside sterile walls to be a scientist. Maybe he'll decide to change his career from Hobo to Biologist.

Being Sloths

We combined this field trip with a trip to Salisbury, to visit the small zoo they have there. Vicki and I spent a lot of time there since we went to college in Salisbury. It's not a big zoo, but it's also not in DC or Baltimore and that counts for a lot in my book. I hate traffic and crowds. Here's some pictures of our afternoon in Salisbury.

Do they ever look happy?

I have more but the baby is crying...

Beach Vacation

2010-08-11T22:24:00.000-05:00

You know summer's winding down when the county fair arrives. Alex took Connor and Kenzie down to Centreville to spend the day at the fair with friends. Tyler's in another karate camp, so I stayed home with the rest of the kids after I went food shopping. I used to like shopping for groceries but not any more. Eight gallons of milk. Ten loaves of bread. Every week. That, plus everything else needed to feed ten of us, gets expensive.

This is Ty getting his orange belt

Well, we survived the beach vacation. It wasn't as bad as I expected. Still too much sand at the beach for my taste, though. I wound up bringing Tyler home on Wednesday night of that week so he could go to karate class. That boy has really taken to karate. He earned his orange belt in about a month, and will probably advance to orange/strip in his second month. He's doing two karate camps this summer, and going to some extra classes, with the permission of his instructor, who seems to recognize Tyler's natural afinity for martial arts.

The family compound as seen from our house.

Capturing ghost crabs

Ok, back to the beach. The kids had a great time. They spent at least part of every day in the ocean or in the sand. And even a couple of evenings they got to explore the beach with flashlights. They were especially thrilled to discover the countless ghost crabs that came out at night. Every day we'd set up the tents. It looked kind of like a nomadic tent city sitting next to a huge oasis. All we needed was some camels.

Bekah in the waves.

Taylor running for his life

Almost looks easy once get past the breakers

When Ty and I returned to the beach after his karate class, we took the kayaks with us. I wanted to try them out in the ocean. It was pretty cool. Alex and I got to watch the sunrise from our boats. I'm really glad I don't have any pictures of my first two attempts at getting aboard the kayaks while the surf was knocking me over.

This is my ten minutes in the sand

Poppop

This family vacation was provided by Poppop. He actually found a house that was big enough to accomodate the whole extended family. He made some really great memories for his grandkids. They had a fantastic time.

Kenzie left her mark

Oh, and we also went parasailing

First Day at the Beach

2010-07-18T13:15:00.000-05:00

So, I'm holding Adam,trying to let him take a nap, while the rest of the crew is a block away, playing in the ocean.Doesn't sound fair, does it? Well, I had my ten minutes on the beach when I got here a couple hours ago, and I'm good for now. Anything bigger than a sandbox is too much beach for me. I can't take the ocean; I like playing in the waves. The only problem is that nasty, hot sand in between me and the water. So, I get to hold Adam while they all get sandy. I tried to lay him down, but after ten minutes he realized he was in a strange house and got upset. Try typing with a netbook on your knee and a baby on your belly. Thank goodness for the backspace button.

Poppop is snoring and Richard's dozing off. It's a good, sleepy Sunday afternoon. Hot as Hades outside...uhoh...I hear kids. They must be back from the beach. Going to wake up Adam, I'm sure. Hopefully it's just a bathroom break and they'll head back out.

Nope, here they come. I guess nap time over.

Being Little

2010-07-14T18:11:00.000-05:00

It's tough being little. The older kids are playing hide-and-seek on their bikes in the neighborhood. The younger ones can't keep up and aren't allowed to ride bikes alone (a requirement if you're trying to hide). It's killing Bekah. She was a little hysterical earlier, when her big sister left her behind. I'm going to go read some more Charlotte's Web to her.

Why We Don't Do Family Vacations

2010-07-08T08:53:00.000-05:00

We are scheduled to spend a week at the beach, this Summer, with Vicki's parents and her sister and family. One house; 16 people; for a week. Can you imagine that? Unfortunately, I can. Now, for any of you involved in this endeavor, who may be reading this, remember who you'll be spending the week with. You know me, and how I have a knack for getting on your nerves, even when I'm not trying to. Add to that eight kids (speaking only for my own; not the nephews) who can't talk below a shout, pick on each other all the time, and never intentionally ever pick up something on the floor (while dropping everything they touch)...and this in our seven bedroom house with just one family occupying it. Oh, and one third of the people in this beach house will be under the age of 6, and at least half (probably two-thirds) ACT under the age of six. If it rains that week, there will be no survivors.

I also have 26 chickens, three cats, a tank full of fish, a pond full of fish, a lizard, and a bin full of live crickets (for the lizard) that I have to figure out how to keep alive for a week with nobody home. A friend has offered to tend to the chickens once a day, but I feel bad about piling on the rest of the critters.

Then there are the other activities that will be missed. We have softball practice, with a national tournament coming up, karate which Ty just started, and dance which Tay just started. Oh, and did I mention all the kids staying in the same house for a week?

I miss the good old days (last year) when we split up for vacation. I went with my dad to Mt. Ranier. Vicki and half the kids went with her parents to Disney World. You know, at one point, through a haze of wishful thinking, I do believe I thought this was a good idea.

Hot

2010-07-07T13:02:00.000-05:00

This is the second or third day in a row of 100+ degrees. It is hot. Nothing much to do but sit around in the A/C, feeling guilty about not doing anything. All the computers and netbooks and laptops are being used at full capacity; the kids don't want to go outside either. Kenzie had softball practice yesterday-Alex took her-but I don't know how they could've done too much. Tonight, we have dance, for Taylor, and karate, for Tyler. Good, inside activities. I hope it cools off a little bit, soon.

We were looking at a car for Alex yesterday. A '94 Mustang GT. Stopped looking when we turned the engine on and it struggled to start. We'll keep looking, but I hope we can settle on something more practical (like a small truck) or economical on the gas. He has to remember his 40-minute drive to school is going to cost him some gas money.

Now, I hear the kids are heading for the pool. I hate the idea of having to sit out there and watch them, but I hate the idea of them swimming without me watching them, more.

July 4th Weekend

2010-07-05T11:42:00.000-05:00

I tried reading the Declaration of Independence to some of the kids yesterday. We didn't get very far before they began to wander off. It's no wonder our kids in government schools don't learn our American history when I can't even get my own kids to listen. I am going to make a greater effort this coming school to get some history to stick to my kids' brains. They really need to understand what's made this country great before they accept the direction our socialist/progressive leaders are currently taking it.

On a lighter note, we did get our 4th of July cookout in, yesterday. Did some fishing and kayaking, too. Some of the kids are still fishing and kayaking as I type this. I'll be joining them shortly. Taylor was getting a little upset yesterday because he was having trouble catching fish, especially when Bekah, the five year old, caught her first fish of the day when she accidentally dropped her line straight off the side of the boat. When we got home, Tay went down to our nearest creek and promptly caught a dozen fish, so he forgot about his bad luck earlier in the day.

Alex had to work so he missed the fun yesterday. He's out in the kayak right now, but will need to come in soon, for his 3 pm shift at Subway. I was going to take him car hunting today, but I guess we have all summer for that. It's hard to find a decent car in a 17 year old's price range, especially when he only works three or four days a week. There are a lot of good things about having a large family, but having money is not one of them.

Gonna cut this short so i can head down to the creek and check on the crew. Belated happy Independence Day!

Quick Update

2010-06-27T17:36:00.001-05:00

I see I haven't posted here since the beginning of the school year that has recently ended. wow. Many things have obviously happened.

The twins wound up going to public school for fourth grade. I thought I needed a break, and I probably did, but they are coming back home for fifth grade. They did very well in school. And they seemed to like it. They made a couple new friends. But, I don't see what they actually learned. At the end of the year, they were still using methods that I taught them in third grade math; their Grammar and sentence structure seemed to have stagnated, or regressed; Taylor is still shy; Tyler is still 'energetic'. Overall, they had an easy and very unchallenging year. Fifth grade will be different, but I won't be a stressed that I am not doing a good enough job. If I do half what I usually teach, it will be more than they got this past year.

Alex had a mediocre year, grade-wise. I think (and hope) that it was part of being a seventeen year old. When I was that age it bothered me when my grades; not him. He's too laid back and doesn't get upset when his grades are average. He has been recognized often, throughout the past three years at SSPP, for his leadership qualities and spiritual life, so that's something to be proud of. It is the only reason we keep shelling out the tuition for a Catholic high school. Alex has been working at Subway for about a year now, and I am very proud of him for that. Between school and work, he is kept very busy. Right now he is in West Virginia with his Mission Team. Vicki went as a chaperon. They'll be there for a week, working hard and getting very little sleep. I'm thinking they'll be loving every minute.

Connor finished up eighth grade. He'll be joining his brother as a ninth grader at SSPP. He took a placement test last December that indicated he was at the equivalent of the end of ninth grade. He's a wiz at math, just finishing Algebra 2 at home. He'll be taking it again in ninth grade because I didn't use an 'accredited' program blah blah blah or something. I decided not to argue; let him have an easy first year of high school. He hasn't been in 'school' since first grade and since he'll be playing soccer in the fall, an easy academic schedule will help keep the stress down. Still playing piano and playing travel soccer. His team took first place this spring.

Kenzie is still doing all things that Kenzie does. Just finished sixth grade; going to hopefully finish Algebra 1 over the summer. I will use an 'accredited' homeschool course for Alg 2 so she'll be able to skip it in high school. Maybe Geometry, too, if we can get that far in the next two years. She's also still playing piano. Periodically, I post some of her and Connor's stuff on youtube and/or facebook. She's also gotten back into travel softball, after taking last year off. For most of this spring she was on three teams: a rec team, and two travel teams. It's a long story, but she ended up dropping off the one travel team because they weren't travelling enough (and when they started, there were too many conflicts with the team she began travelling with earlier). She rejoined Bayside Breeze, from a few years ago. They wound up being shorthanded due to injuries, so it worked out for the best. They only had 9 girls last weekend, and are playing in a State tournament this weekend with only 10 girls (even though the one girl may still not be at 100%). Anyway, things are very busy in Kenzie's world.

Two days later:
Still trying to write this update post.

Let's see, who needs to be updated.... Bekah, Kearsyn, Adam. Well, Bekah started a little homeschooling this year. She's reading and doing math somewhere around a first grade level (and she's just now old enough for Kindergarten). She usually bugs me to "do school" with her enough for me to give her new concepts once in a while; the rest she does on her own, by reading whatever she can find. She can't wait until we start up for real, in a couple months.

Keary's still our peanut. She is so petite! Right now, she weighs less than Adam. He's 20 months, she's three and a half. She's got quite the personality, talks constantly, and is everybody's best friend.

Adam is our fire plug. About as round as he is high. Linebacker, all the way. We'll never be accused of starving him, that's for sure. He makes a lot of noise, but doesn't say too much yet.

As for Vicki and me, not much has changed. She's still grumbling about work, I'm still grumbling about much she works. I'm looking forward to the next couple months of summer, although we'll be starting our summer school schedule tomorrow (just a little math each day or so). Right now, as I may have said above, Vicki is on the Mission trip with Alex. They've been gone since Friday and are already missed. I'm trying to figure out how I'll get Kenzie to practice this week, and Tyler to altar server training, but it'll work out somehow.

We may have some big news in the near future, but we're not talking yet, so stay tuned.

Kenzie and Cat

2009-11-22T23:19:00.000-05:00

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.

Go Bayshore Barracudas!

2009-10-12T05:46:00.003-05:00

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!

School Starts

2009-09-02T14:00:00.007-05:00

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.

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.

Where Has Summer Gone?

2009-08-23T10:01:00.003-05:00

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?

More Piano Peforming

2009-04-26T10:41:00.004-05:00

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:

What an Awesome Day

2009-04-25T21:03:00.003-05:00

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.

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.

Homeschool Field Trip

2009-04-08T08:48:00.025-05:00

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.

The Duet

2009-03-30T08:59:00.002-05:00

Ok, here they are:

Thud!

2009-03-28T07:34:00.003-05:00

The sound of Connor's hopes being dashed. But I guess I should say 'Splash'. Connor had his first opportunity, as a certified soccer referee, to ref a Capital Area Soccer tournament. He was going to make $144 for six hours' work. Not bad for a twelve-year-old. I heard him come downstairs this morning, about 7, all dressed in his referee uniform, only for me to tell him the tournament was cancelled due to the rain we had overnight (I had gotten up earlier to check, but fell back to sleep before O told him). DARN! Back upstairs to change out of his ref uniform.

At least now we know he'll get to his piano recital on time this afternoon. He and Kenzie are playing a duet for the first time in public. After all the battles between those two, while trying to learn their ensemble piece, I'm very proud of them for hammering through their "creative differences" and putting together this song. If I can get a good video of it, I'll post it here.

Alex's day is still on schedule. His high school baseball team has a game in Frederick, about 2+ hours from his school. I guess they got less rain than we, since they haven't cancelled the game, and the radar show all the rain has passed. He just got picked up by some friends to go meet the bus, which will be passing by our house on the way to the game in about an hour. Seems kind of pointless, but that's what you get when you go to a school thirty miles away, in the wrong direction.

I still don't know if all the other local games/practices are still on, or not. Tay has baseball at noon. Ty has soccer at 3. Kenzie also has softball at 3, but I don't know when she'll be getting home from piano. It really doesn't matter if she misses some of this softball. It's a rec team. Most of the girls could never play at a level any higher, which is fine, that's why we have rec sports. Kenzie will have fun because she loves the game, at any level. I'll have fun, because all the stresses of travel are not there; and because I, as an assistant coach, can be involved with teaching the kids what little I know about the game. Anyway, I'm thinking the fields, especially infields, will be too soggy for play.

I almost forgot to mention we had an attack this morning. We lost two hens to a fox. We actually saw him, this morning, munching on one of them for breakfast (only got a measly head because I scared it off). Too bad my .357 is too loud to be fired in a neighborhood; I really hate that fox right now. Kenzie and I, out in the mud this morning, tried to fix the holes it dug under the fence, but now that it knows food is so easily available, it won't go away, I'm sure. Kenzie's going to have to be a very diligent shep-, I mean chicken-herd, for a while, making sure her hens are secure inside the coop every night.

Tomorrow, we have another long distance game; this time in Hagerstown. It's a soccer game for Kenzie. She wants to ride with some friends, not her dad, so if I want to go I need to bum a ride with someone else, too. I'm not driving, alone, for a four hour round trip no matter how much I enjoy watching her play. On the other hand, some of my other kids will want to go, so I won't be alone after all.

Rotten Eggs

2009-03-26T07:45:00.003-05:00

So much for raising chicks. It didn't work. Next time, I guess we'll use an incubator. The kids did discover that lovely rotten eggs odor when Tyler squeezed one the unhatched eggs. Yuck! At least now, with the days getting longer, we're getting plenty of eggs again.

New Babies Due Soon!

2009-03-18T09:06:00.004-05:00

And here's the proud mama, in full brood mode. She's sitting on twelve eggs that, by my calculations, are due to hatch tomorrow. Once we noticed that she was getting very "broody" last month, we decided to try and let her hatch some baby chicks. So far, we've hatched chicks in an incubator, and bought some day-old chicks from a hatchery; but we've never let nature take its course in the hen house, so what the heck. I just hope we don't get too many roosters. I did not enjoy culling the roosters from the flock the last time.

This has gotten Kenzie interested in her chickens again. She was getting a little lax in her attendance to their feeding, watering, etc., but now she's getting things ready for the new additions. Once the chicks hatch, we'll move them to an area of the coop that mama can keep protected from her coop-mates and Nugget (the rooster). She's already gotten very bossy; even Nugget seems afraid of her. I think she'll be a good mother hen.

Big Snow

2009-03-04T11:41:00.006-05:00

I can't believe it's March already. I missed a whole month of blogging and didn't even realize it. Too busy; and it's only going to get worse, with Spring activities heading our way. We were forced to slow down a bit over this past weekend, though, with our first snowstorm in six years. We've have tiny snowfalls almost every year, but usually nothing over a few inches at any one time. This one dumped about 8 or 10 inches on us, which was pretty good considering that two days before the storm hit, they were calling for zero accumulation and temperatures around or above freezing. We haven't gotten above freezing for the past four days. This was one of those coastal storms that hits us on the Eastern Shore harder than those on the other side of the Bay. Usually, we don't get this much snow. Schools were all closed on Monday and Tuesday, and opened late today. I let the kids have off 'til today, even though I hate taking snow days when our classroom is just a few steps away. Here's what it looked like this weekend.

Here's what it looked like the last time, in 2003, when had about 18 inches.

Connor Futsal Highlights

2009-02-01T11:37:00.008-05:00

He had a ton of highlights from today's game. He kept goal the whole first half; only allowed one goal; went into halftime with his team up by a score of 3-1. They wound up winning 7-6 against a very good, and very tall, SP team. One of the kids had a beard, NO LIE! I shoulda took his picture to prove it. Connor's team is playing in a 13/14 division ( Connor's team is mostly 12 year-olds ), but I didn't expect to see facial hair on any of the players. Anyway, here's a few of Connor's highlights.

Kenz At Futsal

2009-01-31T18:14:00.005-05:00

She only gave up two goals in 48 minutes, which is awesome for futsal. Unfortunately, her team only scored one.

BBSL All Star

2009-01-31T13:10:00.002-05:00

Kenzie played in her BBSL All Star game this morning, at First Mariner arena (where the Baltimore Blast plays). The All Stars from her team were teamed up with All Stars from the Baltimore Storm. I don't know who they played against, but Kenzie's team lost by one point (not one goal, because the rules allowed for a three-point goal from a certain distance). Kenz said she played defense the first half, and Goalie the second half. She seemed to have fun. At least she was smiling when she got home. Now we have to turn around and go to her futsal game. I'll get to watch this one.

Snow Day 2

2009-01-28T11:50:00.003-05:00

The ice closed schools again today. Not ours, but the non-home versions. The ice was actually better than the snow, for sledding. We didn't need to go the hill; the front yard worked just fine.

Sledding?

2009-01-27T19:31:00.008-05:00

More like mudding. There wasn't much white stuff on our only hill on the entire island, but that didn't stop these guys. We have been so starved for snow the past couple of years, this white-ish area (use your imagination if you have to) worked just fine to satisfy the sledding bug. The freezing rain forecast for tonight should eliminate anything that looks like snow before morning.

First Snow

2009-01-27T13:25:00.004-05:00

It ain't much, but it's the first snow of '09. Somebody was happy about it.

One Busy Saturday

2009-01-26T09:07:00.006-05:00

Alex turned sixteen on Saturday. That should have been a big enough event to fill the whole day; but not in this family...

Because of a busy morning, Alex spent the night at Mommom's house so she could take him to his school first thing, for a Flea Market sponsored by his Mission Club. They are raising money for their trip to a Native American reservation where they will do mission stuff (I don't know the details yet). He raised the most money of anyone in his club, just selling old books and videos for dirt cheap. He sold a ton of stuff, which really helped clear out some space around here. I guess he got home around 1 o'clock.

I spent the morning shopping for food for the afternoon party for Alex. We weren't supposed to need food because we planned the family gathering right between lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, the 11 o'clock recital (see below) got pushed to 1 o'clock, pushing the the party to later in the afternoon. Vicki spent the morning 'motivating' the kids to clean up the house. She 'motivates' by turning very red, and shaking the walls with her vocal chords (if you get my meaning). I like to 'motivate' with a big stick. Her method leaves fewer marks.

I then took Connor and Kenzie to their Chamber Music Festival. We were told it was being held at the same place as always, over in College Park. We got there, and it wasn't. We had to backtrack to a new location, arrived a bit late, but still got play. I was not happy, but it all worked out, as things usually do. Below are Kenz and Connor's pieces. Although this is Connor's third time doing this, it was Kenzie's very first time playing with an accompanying orchestra. I am so proud of her. I wish I could upload HD videos because my new camera has me spoiled for quality, but those files are just too huge. So, here's the fuzzy versions:

On the way home from that, I dropped Kenzie off with her soccer coach so she could go play futsal, and headed home. I think Alex had a good birthday. The whole family, grandparents, in-laws, and us pulled together and bought him his own laptop. We had to do something special for his sixteenth, and it wasn't going to be a car.

We wound up around an hours-long game of Risk, which Connor had bought for three dollars on Friday, at the first half of the Mission Club flea market.

Sunday started the same way, with a 9 am futsal game for Connor, home to church, and afternoon of Risk (where I had my way with global domination). I don't think anyone missed football this weekend.

This Speaks For Itself

2009-01-21T08:34:00.001-05:00

Sports Update

2009-01-20T19:18:00.004-05:00

Ok. The only sports-free time of year for us (usually from Christmas through mid-January) is coming to a close. We have five athletes in this house, all of whom keep us hopping with all the games they play. Let's start, youngest to oldest.

Tyler got rostered by a select soccer team with our local travel league. He'll be playing on a new, U9 team for the Spring soccer season, in the BBSL. I offered him the chance to also play baseball because he is good at it, but he declined. He'll also keep singing with the church youth choir, so his plate full anyway.

Taylor is signed up for baseball. He'll be moving to the Minors this year. Our league has also discontinued their affiliation with Little League of America, and has switched to Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken. There will be quite a few changes from what we're used to, including Winter workouts (which is fantastic!) starting in two weeks. Tay also keeps youth choir. He also had the option to play on the travel soccer team with his brother, but he opted out. The twins have really made an effort the last few years to avoid each other in sports. I think this is a good thing.

Kenzie will still be the busiest homeschooler of the family. She was chosen, by her soccer coach, to join two teammates in representing their U12 team in the BBSL All Star games in Baltimore in two weeks. She starts Futsol (U12) this coming weekend, and will play on the U12 travel team again, when outdoor soccer resumes. I also convinced her to sign up to play softball with our local league. She will be playing with the 12U team, and I told the current coach I'd help. that helped Kenzie decide to go along. She wanted me to coach, for some reason, don't ask me why. It won't be the same as LSL or RB travel ball, but it will keep Kenzie in the game, and she will be playing up at the level she belongs. We will do some limited travelling, and may even play against Lake Shore, Bayside, or other teams in the area. Again, she also has choir, and is looking to take guitar lessons from a friend of ours. She'll fill in her free time with piano lessons and recital (of which we have one this Saturday). Oh, and now she's looking in the Yellow Pages for vets, animal clinics, and humane societies, because she wants to get a job (or volunteer to help) at a place that give her experience that will help in her future veterinary career. What's next?

Connor is Mr. Steady and Reliable where Kenzie is the picture of Volatility. Connor continues his stellar piano work, select soccer, and baseball. He will also be playing Futsol, starting this weekend, with teammates from his outdoor team. Then, the outdoor team will gear up for the Spring season. He will also play Babe Ruth baseball at the 13 year-old level. He wants me to coach his team, too, but they usually turn coaches away at this level because it's baseball, and all the dads want to coach baseball. I told him I'd help wherever I could, but the coaches they have will be better than I.

Alex, thankfully, took a season off from soccer last Fall at his school. He will not take off from baseball, however. He loves baseball. SO, add baseball to his Mission Club and ACE club memberships, and he'll be staying after school just about every day of the week when baseball season starts. Yippee: that means I get to drive to Easton every day because there's only one public bus home from school, and that leaves at 3:00. At least next year, I hope he'll be able to drive himself at least a little.

Come Fall, we'll be adding athlete #6 when Bekah starts soccer. We might look into dance class for her, too. She loves to dance, and has the energy that only four year-olds seem to possess.

And that's a glimpse of my coming sports season.

Kenzie Turns Eleven

2009-01-19T08:48:00.003-05:00

With everything going on around here, I forgot to wish Kenzie a Happy Birthday on this blog. I can't believe she's done all the things she's done in just eleven years. Now, she just walked into he classroom, grumbling. She's mad at me because it's MLK Jr. day, and we are doing school, even though government schools are off. Oh well, I want to be finished up in May (and so do they) so we can't afford to take too many days off now.

Back to the birthday. Kenzie got her guitar, which she has been really wanting. She has talked a lady at church (Eileen), who Kenzie (and Connor) sings with on Sunday mornings, to teach her to play the guitar. God Provides. We can't afford both piano and guitar lessons, so what does He do? Sends us yet another un-asked-for blessing. I'm really glad Kenzie has focused her energies on music again. It is much less expensive (and local) than all that travel softball stuff (I did enjoy it, but I don't really miss it).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KENZ

A New Church

2009-01-18T22:26:00.018-05:00

Our new church was dedicated today by our new Bishop. The Dedication Mass was conducted by Bishop Malooly, who recently replaced Bishop Saltarelli, who was instrumental in getting this building project started. This whole thing started about ten years ago and, after a year of holding Mass in our old church hall, we're finally in this very beautiful house of God. It is going to be SO nice to have pews again, and kneelers, and a real Confessional, not to mention all the other trappings of a Catholic church, like stained glass windows, the crucifix, candles, and incense.

One of the coolest things about this new building is that the old church is till part of the new one, as a small chapel that will be used for daily Masses. I wish I had pictures of everything that was done, but I don't. You'll just have to believe me when I say the place is just spectacular.

Four of my kids got to help in some way during the dedication. Kenzie, Taylor, and Tyler sang in the choir. Connor played the new organ during Communion. Needless to say, I probably should go to Confession to rid myself of the sin of Pride that I've been feeling for days, now. But, I don't think God will mind too much if I take some pleasure in the gifted children He has given us.

Here's a view from my seat as we arrived in our new church. Then, Bishop Malooly sprinkled the congregation with Holy Water.

The Bishop then anointed the altar, and Father Jennings anointed the walls.

The Bishop incensed the altar. Deacon Robinson incensed the church and congregation.

The altar was set and prepared for the first Liturgy of the Eucharist.

During Communion, Connor played this organ while the joint youth/adult choir (and the rest of us) sang. For some members of this family, it was the third Mass of the weekend, but nobody complained.

A New Direction

2009-01-15T08:52:00.005-05:00

Okay, I know I was looking northward a few weeks ago in an effort to improve our lot in life. Upon checking the recent weather forecasts, I think I'll be looking southward in the future. Here's what we'd be facing up north:

Which makes it look downright balmy around here:

And doesn't compare at all to what's happening down south:

Please Pardon Our Dust

2009-01-08T15:10:00.002-05:00

The twins' room has been undergoing a transformation today. There are currently at least four amusement park projects underway. Tyler can't seem to be able to get enough of his K'Nex sets. With me, it was Erector Sets, in the early seventies. At least, instead of watching TV, he's spending these cold winter days doing something 'constructive'.

Certified

2009-01-07T21:26:00.005-05:00

Connor and McKenzie took a soccer referee class this week. They want to be able to referee soccer games outside our local, recreational league. Tonight, they took their tests. They both passed, but Kenzie is too young to actually become a certified, travel soccer ref. Connor's old enough, though. Here's his new referee patch. And, since she passed the test, Kenzie will be able to referee in rec games, even though she's under the minimum age of 12.

Mystery Solved

2008-12-31T21:01:00.003-05:00

I swear I've always said that the washer eats socks just to be funny; to explain one of those Bermuda Triangle kind of things that happens all the time. I now have proof that my washer really does eat socks.

I've been getting an error message, on my fairly new high end washer, that said the drain wasn't working properly. It being New Year's Eve, and there being no shops open until next year, I got adventurous and began taking the thing apart. I discovered and internal filter on the drainage system. This is what it looked like. And yes, that is three socks, a dime, and some lint blocking up the works. Kearsyn thought it was funny. I have no idea how this stuff got in there, since the water has to leave the washer via the holes in the side of the stainless steel drum. I guess it just got hungry.

Now I have to go see if this fixed the problem and see if I can re-assemble my very expensive washer.

Happy New Year everybody.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T22:00:00.024-05:00

We spent Christmas Eve constructing and decorating our gingerbread house and people. I wish I could say we baked our own gingerbread but the best we could do was to assemble a pre-fab house. I am also ashamed to say that much of the result was consumed before I could get a picture of the finished product.

Kenzie also made her umpteenth batch of cookies, some of which survived beyond the normal cookie lifespan in this house full of sweet-teeth; perhaps because of an epidemic of gingerbread overdose.

Vicki took half the kids to 5 o'clock Mass; Tay, Ty, and Kenzie sang in the choir. This year was Vicki's turn for Midnight mass, but I got to go instead. This was Kenzie's first time as Altar Server for the Midnight Mass. She called the rectory weeks ago to make sure she and her brothers got this Mass. Alex has done it several years, and Connor as well. Last year would have been her first chance to serve this Mass, but someone else got scheduled instead. She was very excited, and a little sleepy.

Brr, again, addenedum

2008-12-22T06:40:00.003-05:00

I was going to let the kids have off school for the next two weeks, to follow along with the public school schedule. Now, it seems, the only room in the house with reliable heat (I just jinxed us, didn't I?) is the classroom. Who wants to bet the kids won't mind being a little chilly vs doing school?

Brr, again

2008-12-22T06:29:00.004-05:00

At least once a month our furnace breaks down. The technician that comes to fix it always says this'll be the last time he needs to come here for the season. I always tell him that I'll see him soon. I'm always right, at least until April, when I won't see him again until October/November.

This morning (5:00 am) I was dreaming a pleasant dream about moving back to the country where all you need to keep warm is pile of firewood, when Vicki woke me up and told me the furnace is not working, it's 60 degrees in the house, and it's 15 degrees outside. I guess the phone only connects to the furnace emergency repair operator when I am holding it (the phone, no the operator). So, I got up to make the call. To top things off, our backup LP gas stove (for heating, not cooking) is on the fritz, too. So now, all of our electric heaters are plugged in and sucking up the juice like electricity grows on trees, right next to the money.

I just checked on the kids. Now I know what human popsicles, wrapped in blankets, looks like. They're all still asleep, but not looking too happy. Wait 'til they wake up!

Another Zits Cartoon

2008-12-17T15:03:00.003-05:00

Alex doesn't bug us to let him drive quite this badly, but I expect it's only a matter of time.

Connor's Poster(s)

2008-12-14T09:11:00.004-05:00

Here's Connor's award-winning posters. This year's earned him second place and $25. Last year's earned him third place and $10.

2008 Poster:

2007 Poster:

Another Soccer Trophy

2008-12-13T20:02:00.003-05:00

Connor's team took second place in their U13 division of the BBSL. They got their trophies last night at the Baltimore Blast game. Here's Connor with his trophy. We also found out this morning that he took second place in the church "Keep Christ in Christmas" poster contest. If he'd spent more than a half hour on it, the night before it was due to be turned in, he might've gotten first. He got third last last year, so this is a step up. Next year is the last year he'll be young enough to enter, so he better aim for first. He'll get his cash reward tomorrow morning.

School Board Day

2008-12-11T08:02:00.005-05:00

Today's the day we get to go to our Winter meeting with the county school board. It's basically the only legal requirement we have, to be allowed to homeschool here. I still thinks it's too intrusive. I am of the belief that how I raise my kids is my business, not the government's, so I do my part to punish their intrusiveness by overwhelming their system during review time. Here's what the homeschool monitors will have to deal with today. It's what my kids kids have done so far this year:

Now, add to that pile of stuff to be looked through a three month old baby, a two year old toddler, and a four year old ball of energy, and imagine the chaos that will ensue in that meeting room. Oh, and it's pouring down rain today, so everybody, and everything will be soaking wet. When we're done, we'll go visit Poppop, who is the HR Director for the county school system. This usually is good for a bit of disruption in the HR department, but I think he secretly relishes these little visits at his office.

And the fringe benefit for the kids is, I let them sleep in and skip school today. This counts as one of those numerous "Professional Development Days" public schools stack their schedule with.

Christmas Village

2008-12-08T14:39:00.007-05:00

Here's this year's version of our village. It's getting too big for it's normal location under the piano.

And here's our new Advent candle holder. We used to have an Advent Wreath, but it was getting old.

Only a Kid

2008-12-08T14:35:00.001-05:00

could sleep this way. Wow.

Snowman: Updated

2008-12-08T14:05:00.004-05:00

I recently received an accessory for my snowman: another snowkid. My mother gave him to me when we only had five kids, and he only had five snowkids in his arms. I think it was supposed to be a visual aid of what five kids looked like, and that I had my hands full, and we didn't need any more kids. We've just added little snowkids as new ones arrived. Now up to eight, the snowdad's arms do look a little stretched, but he could probably squeeze some more in there; they're all pretty flexible.

The Kid Switch

2008-12-03T15:12:00.004-05:00

A ten year old girl has taught me that nothing is permanent. As soon as you think you know where you're going, expect to change direction. Five years ago, Kenzie was going to be a dancer/singer, with a little soccer playing thrown in on the side. Dance classes, a select children's choir, and piano lessons had her well on her way. Four years ago, she was going to be the world's greatest female soccer star. Select soccer and private lessons had her well on her way. Two years ago until two days ago, she was going to college on a softball scholarship (so the plans were). Club level softball on an elite softball team had her well on her way. Two days ago, she told me missed all the stuff she gave up in order to play top level softball. Softball is now in limbo. She's now back in the church choir (not the"select" choir she was previously in), focusing more on her piano (she wants to pass Connor, I think), and hoping to get back into baseball, with the boys, in the Spring, not to mention the travel soccer team she has never completely given up on. I don't know about the baseball, but I hope she doesn't give up on the softball; there are other, less demanding options than the travel ball she was playing.

Anyway, back to the current Life Change, that of leaving the RB Spirit 12U team. I think it's a bigger kicker for me than her. I absolutely love the sport, and the level of competition that these girl play at. I also have to accept the fact that the sport demands way more from us than a family of ten can afford to give: time, money, more time, more time, and more time. After reflecting upon the past two years (really only the past year, which was the most busy), I realized how little time I spent with anyone but Kenzie. I missed most of whatever it was that the other kids were doing: baseball, soccer, football, piano recitals, growing up. And, to be honest, some of the people I met I didn't like; some of them I came to like very much. But none of them were my family. Speaking of family, it occurs to me how little I saw of my own parents and sister over the past year, compared to previous years. Wow, we really did spend an inordinate amount of time at softball fields.

I guess it's nice to be able to use this time of year and make adjustments. Having kids, and their ability to switch directions almost instantaneously, definitely makes life an adventure.

Oh, and did I mention that now Kenzie wants to be a veterinarian? Yeah, she wants to go find some animal shelter or vet that will hire her so she can start getting experience working with animals. Ugh!

Decorating

2008-12-01T22:16:00.009-05:00

We finally started decorating for Christmas. We seem to be doing less decorating each year. As the house fills up with people, there's just less space for the decorations; and more hands playing with them once their out. I really am tempted to get one of those upside-down trees to hang from the ceiling. Maybe next year.

At least we got the tree up...

We also made room for this ceramic Nativity set that my grandmother handpainted 38 years ago. It has been packed away since she passed away fourteen year ago. My grandfather made the stalls and manger, and the whole thing had once set inside a homemade, lighted stable, about the size of the desk we are using now. I've had this for a few years, since no one else had any room to keep it, and have been meaning, for years, to get it set up again. It brings back lots of childhood memories.

Festival of Trees, '09

2008-11-29T21:39:00.000-05:00

For the fourth year in a row, kids of ours have played piano at Easton's Festival of Trees. Well, for Kenzie and Connor it's the fourth. This is Taylor's second year.

Here's our annual poinsetta tree picture.

And here's the music:

Every year they pick their favorite tree to pose in front of. Connor chose "It's a Wonderful Life". Taylor picked one with reindeer on it. Kenzie liked one with the Nativity theme.

This coming Saturday, they'll be playing at the Country Petaller, a local arts and crafts shop that's loaded with Christmas stuff this time of year. They usually get paid a couple bucks for entertaining the shoppers with their Christmas tunes.

2009 Calendar

2008-11-25T13:38:00.003-05:00

Our annual Christmas present to Vicki's and my parents and siblings, a calendar recounting the previous year's monthly milestones, is complete. I usually don't publish it, but this year I figured out an easy way to do it. So, here it is: http://andyandvickisplace.com/spiegelcalendar.html Or you can link to it from our web page at Andy and Vicki's Place.

Fall Recital

2008-11-09T12:57:00.004-05:00

Our three piano players performed at the Annapolis Mall yesterday. Please forgive the background noise; it was in a mall, and I was using inexperienced audio/video personnel (their mother). Here's how they did.

First, Taylor:

And Kenzie:

And Connor:

Recess

2008-11-08T21:19:00.002-05:00

Here's how we spent Friday, when we decided the weather was too nice for school...

Do They Have Travel Softball In Canada?

2008-11-07T15:32:00.000-05:00

According to Canadian Immigration, a minimum score of 67 is required on the Canadian immigration test to emigrate North. Vicki would score a 71, and that doesn't include having a job lined up, so if our friends in Canada could start the job search for Vicki, this would help.

Also, having that 100 acres lined up would be a big bonus for my peace of mind. I don't think we could drag Kenzie away from softball too easily, but I know, in the World Series last july, we played teams from Canada so that shouldn't be too big a problem.

Other than that, I'm ready to pack my bags. Oh, wait a minute. I need to check on Canada's Homeschooling laws, first. I wouldn't want to give that responsibilty to any government school, regardless of which government we're talking about.

Mental Health Day

2008-11-07T08:44:00.003-05:00

Today's Forecast:

FRIDAY: Partly cloudy, unseasonably mild...Highs 70-75...Winds: Northwest 5 mph.

If I can get the kids to stop arguing, we're taking today off school. A benefit of Homeschooling; nice day in November? Take advantage of it.

I love South Dakota, but right now, they have four feet of snow. I imagine Canada gets a lot of snow, too. Hmm, these things must be considered before heading North.

We're Saved!

2008-11-07T08:34:00.000-05:00

Yeah, right. Velda, let me know if you come across a nice 100+ acre spread, for sale, in Canada. I've been looking in this country, but yours is looking better all the time. I never thought Canada would look more Conservative than the U.S.A.

This Year's Look

2008-11-01T16:08:00.000-05:00

Alright, here's the whole crew ready for trick-or-treating. We have Keary, as a baby bat; Kenzie, as a slaughtered (and zombie-arisen) Tampa Bay Ray; Adam, as a baby cow; Taylor, a ninja; Bekah, a penguin, Alex, a hoodlum (not much of a stretch there); Connor, well some say he's a sun, maybe even an egg yolk, but I think he's a banana; Tyler, a zombie-football player. With our Halloween budget of $0, if they don't recycle old costumes, they have to come up their own. I can't wait to see what shows up next year.

BOO

2008-10-31T08:21:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween

An Amazing Game

2008-10-30T06:17:00.000-05:00

The temperature was 44 degrees at game time. The wind was blowing about 20 mph. It rained just before the game started, and just enough the make the field gooey. I was very happy not to be a coach of Connor's team last night. I could sit in the car until the last minute, then sit comfortably (well, more comfortable than the kids in their shorts, anyway) under my blanket, on the sideline.

Connor's team scored the first goal, early in the game. But, late in the game, with about five minutes left to play, they were down 4-2. I was thinking, dangit, they're going to lose their first game of the season, and it's the first one I got to see. Then they scored a goal (now, it's 4-3). Then they scored another to tie it up. Well, I think, at least it'll end in a tie. I was wrong. They proceeded to score three more goals in the last two minutes of the game. Final score, 7-4. That was an amazing finish. The other team only had the ball on our side of the field once or twice the entire second half. Their defence got so tired out, they couldn't hold'em off, and collapsed, in those last five minutes.

Now, because of this rain-extended season, we still have four more games to go, one of them another night game next week. I hope it warms up for that one, but then again, if the boys like the cold (as they seemed to last night), let it be cold.

Freeze Ball

2008-10-29T06:17:00.000-05:00

It was colder than I'd care to remember last night, when Taylor's soccer team played game 3 of their tournament. They lost game 1, so the next loss would eliminate them. This time of year, when the weather turns frigid, many parents begin thinking a second loss would not be so bad. At least then we could enjoy watching our kids play soccer on PS3 instead of frozen turf. Well, for good or ill, Taylor's team, which only won, I think, two games the whole regular season, decided to start winning in game 2 of the double elimination tournament. After last night's victory in game 3, we get to play at 8 am on Saturday. What are the odds of a balmy day dawning on Saturday, Nov. 1? Brr. Anyway, congrats to Tay and his team, and at this point, I hope they keep winning. I've already suffered two insufferably cold games. What's a couple more? Especially if you bring home a trophy.

Here's some pictures of Tay on another, slightly warmer, Saturday at 8 am. He's #5.

Head For The Hills

2008-10-25T13:41:00.000-05:00

AAAARRGGHHHH! Alex has his Learner's Permit.

More Adam Photos

2008-10-20T14:02:00.000-05:00

Here's some more Adam pictures...

Adam's Baptism

2008-10-19T17:14:00.000-05:00

Adam was Baptised today. This being number 8, we didn't have a big crowd come, just our immediate family. Here's the Godparents (Alex and Kenzie), laying hands on the White Garment, an outward sign of our Catholic Faith.

Here's us, with Adam, in front of the altar. We're building a new church so, unfortunatley, since December we've been celebrating Mass in our Hall. The new church should be finished in time for the next Baptism.

Now, here's our whole crew. They are ready to go home and eat.

Next, add in my side of the family, including my parents, sister, and her kids.

Same for Vicki's side.

Adam didn't seem too impressed.

The Family

2008-10-16T09:21:00.001-05:00

Finally, I got time to upload these latest family photos.

I'm going to have to take my shoes off soon, just to do a head count.

Please Remember...LIFE above all else

2008-10-14T07:59:00.000-05:00

Birthdays Galore!

2008-10-05T06:34:00.000-05:00

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Bekah. She turns four today (I think it's her day, maybe it's Kearsyn turning two? No, it's definitely Bekah, that's what's on the calendar).

October is a crazy birthday month around here. We have six. Our nephew, Josh, on 10/1. Bekah on 10/5. Our neice, Lauren, on 10/8. Kearsyn on 10/10. Vicki's sister on 10/20. Vicki on 10/30.

This morning, Connor commented that he just LOVES October. It's cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, and then Candy to top it all off at the end of the month. He didn't mention the dentist bills in November...

Missing Muppet...FOUND!

2008-10-03T09:24:00.003-05:00

Have you ever wondered what happened to your favorite Muppet since the Muppet Show went off the air? I still wonder what Beaker's up to these days. He's my favorite character.

Well, if your favorite character was Sam, the Bald Eagle, I think I found found his current-day incarnation. It's all in the eyes....

Update!! THIS JUST IN! New footage from the recent debate:

They Start Young

2008-09-25T07:17:00.001-05:00

About six days old and he's already sitting on the sideline of an older sibling's game. Here's Adam during tyler's football game a couple Sundays ago.

My Card Collection

2008-09-24T12:57:00.000-05:00

I never intended to ever collect cards of any kind. But now I have a card collection that rivals my kids' Pokemon collection.

Home Again

2008-09-17T11:33:00.000-05:00

Vicki and Adam came home again on Sunday morning, after a couple nights at the hospital. The jaundice is under control, but our new concern was his conehead. The doctor used the little vacuum thingy to help in the delivery, so his little head has a bump that seems to be growing. The pediatrician saw Adam today and said not to worry. The swelling is normal under the circumstances, and he should be fine. I remember Alex had a big conehead, too, and he turned out okay.

Our Busy Day

2008-09-13T19:36:00.000-05:00

Vicki and Adam stayed at the hospital all day, today, so Adam could soak up the rays of the Bili Light. His numbers look really good tonight, but they are keeping him one more night just to avoid any chance of having to go back later. His Billirubins, which was as high as 23 on Friday, was down to 14 tonight, the upper end of the acceptable range. Thanks for your prayers this week!

With Vicki relaxing in Pediatrics all day, I had to figure out how to get the athletes to their games. Kenzie and I had to leave early this morning to get to her softball scrimmage games. Alex watched everyone else until Mommom came over to watch the little girls and Tyler, who is off sports until Sunday afternoon, when he has two footbal games. A friend of mine picked up Taylor for his soccer game, and also took Alex and Connor to the same field because they were refs for they're little brother's game. Connor had to walk across the street, to the high school, after he finished reffing, to play his select soccer game. Alex had to take Taylor with him when he went to play his game at a different field. My friend then brought them all home and Mommom could go home. Meanwhile, I was driving Kenzie from softball to the soccer field so she could play her select soccer game. Kenzie and I did get a chace to spend fifteen minutes at the hospital as we passed by on our way from softball to soccer.

I have to hand it to Alex. He was great big brother/caregiver today. He babysat when he was home. He took care of Tay at the fields. He fed them all dinner. And even helped put Keary to bed. He must really want his license because he put in a lot time and earned a lot of points in my "prove-you're-mature-enough-to-drive" book.

To the events of the day. Taylor's soccer team won their game. I didn't get many details because Taylor doesn't talk much. He said he had fun, and that's what counts for rec soccer. I got more details from Alex and Connor about the reffing. Actually, it was Connor complaining about how Alex didn't make calls that Connor thought should be made. This was Connor's first game, ever, reffing, so naturally he knew what he was talking about. As center ref, Alex had the final say, and that's that. I've always heard positive feedback from caoches and parents about Alex's reffing, so I'm not going there.

Connor's select game went well. His team won, 6-2. Connor plays mostly defense because he is a very good fullback. He is also a very good striker, but his team has lots of those, and fewer fullbacks. He said he also played a bit at halfback, for about three minutes, he said. He said that was enough. He doesn't like to run too much; I can't blame him.

Alex's team lost, but at least Alex scored a goal (the only goal) for his team. He usually scores the "trash" goals, but he said this one was an honest to goodness clean shot off of a give-and-go from a teammate.

Kenzie had more of mixed bag today. Her softball team, having been formed only a few weeks ago, experienced a few jitters and nerves in their first game against a more experienced team today. They started off good, scored the first run of the game, but lost in the end. The second game was much better. They were losing by a couple runs for most of the game, but came back in the bottom of the last inning and won. The nice thing about this scrimmage was that we learned exactly what needs to be worked over the next few weeks and over the winter. Oh, and while Kenzie has yet to get her first hit as a 12U player, she consistently put the ball in play, and was indispensably involved in the winning of the second game.

At her select soccer game, Kenzie was astonishing. Her coach has been in the process of training a few girls to be Goalie. Kenzie has not had much practice time as Goalie, but has some experience and skill in that position. Kenzie played Goal the whole game and we all lost count of the number of spectacular saves she made. She only gave up two goals in a game that saw dozens of shots on goal. She even earned a special mention in the coach's post game email, where coach said, "Last but certainly not least McKenzie played an awesome job at goal "The buck (ball) stops here" with McKenzie. We have a couple other girls that we are training for goal and we told them all to take notes!" They really do miss Kenzie when she can't make it to soccer because of softball.

Purple Pumpkin

2008-09-12T16:25:00.001-05:00

Adam, like many of his older siblings has elevated billirubin which has given him the lovely coloring of a summer squash. Actually, he has passed through the squash color and progressed to early pumpkin orange-yellow. He will be spending the night at NICU, under some bili lights. The twins spent some time under those lights at this age, and they just loved it. They slept the whole time, really enjoying that sunbathing-like experience. Adam hates it. The nurses said they've never seen a baby hate it so much. When he finally stops screaming, he's knocked his sunglasses off his eyes and wakes up (and starts screaming again) when they are replaced. Well anyway, our little orange/yellow/purple pumpkin is an interesting color now....

Adam Daniel

2008-09-10T14:53:00.000-05:00

Kenzie's Welcome

2008-09-10T13:11:00.001-05:00

Here's Kenzie's welcome home sign.

More Adam Pics

2008-09-09T10:55:00.001-05:00

We had a minor scare last night. Adam was taken for some chest xrays because his lips would turn blue on occasion and he was sleeping too much. His xrays turned out okay, and today he is just perfect, no blue, just pink. And he's more active. Vicki had gotten a good dose of epidural drugs that may have affected Adam for a while.

This morning, I took the kids for a visit, except Alex, who went to school. I made sure Alex got to see his brother last night, but Connor didn't get home 'til 10:30. So, here's Connor and Keary with Adam.

Adam Pictures

2008-09-08T20:23:00.006-05:00

Here he is, folks. Born today 2:09 pm; 9 lbs., 6 oz; 20 inches; and purple.

Adam Something?

2008-09-07T11:35:00.000-05:00

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Another birthday for me to try to rememeber. While Connor and Alex are in Delaware, assisting at the Bishop's Instalation ceremonies, Mommom will watch the rest of the crew while Vicki and I head over the bridge for baby delivering. We stil don't have a definite name picked out, but it looks like the first name will be Adam. I know, it doesn't make sense to have the First Man's name be our eighth kid's name, but I think we've all agreed on the first name. The next decision is the middle name. Paul, Daniel, or Joseph are the top choices right now. I know, some weirdos like me automatically think "twelve" as in Adam Twelve, the old TV show, but now I'm showing my age. It won't be Adam Twelve (or even Adam Eight), I can guarantee that. Now, if he was the twelfth kid, I wouldn't be able resist.

So, pray for us tomorrow. Let's hope it all goes as well as it has the last six times we visited the maternity ward. Send us you mental choices: Adam Paul, Adam Daniel, or Adam Joseph. I'll let you know which one wins when the Birth Certificate is complete.

Nelly

2008-09-05T11:37:00.000-05:00

I am not a big fan of Rap, Hip-hop, or whatever they call that stuff that's labelled 'music' nowadays, but I have been sold on one particular song that, at first listen, I didn't like. I lean toward Christian and Country so I rarely have occassion to hear a singer called Nelly.

I was looking for a good, heart-pumping, song to play on our new softball website; something that also included a message relevant to playing club-level softball. I was at a loss because my music is just not geared toward your average 10-12 year old softball player. Kenzie came to the rescue. She made me listen to one of her favorite songs; one that was part of a compilation that she received from a team we played (Oaklawn Ice) at the NSA World Series. As I said, at first I cringed, but I managed to sit through the entire four and a half minutes. What caught my ear was the chorus. It described McKenzie, and all her teammates, and almost every girl I've met in travel softball. the rest of the song isn't bad, either; it even mentions the Baltimore Ravens and Ray Lewis.

Here's the chorus from "Heart of a Champion", by Nelly:

Ain't no way they can stop me now Nelly
Cause I'm on my way, I can feel my ring coming
It's the blood of a champion, pumping
Deep inside my veins, too much pride to be running
I'ma get what I can and more, even if
My blood, my sweat, and my tears don't mean nothing
It's the heart of a champion (it's the heart of me)
(It's the heart of a..) in me

This really describes McKenzie's approach to her sport. It's why I'm so proud of her.

New Due Date

2008-09-03T14:33:00.000-05:00

Due to our busy schedule of softball (several days a week), soccer (four kids playing, including two travel teams), football, piano, etc, we decided that the best day to have a baby would be a Monday. The only thing affected would be piano, and I'm hoping I'll be able to get Kenzie to softball practice on Tuesday. The hospital is kinda in the neighborhood; at least it's in the same county as the field. So, with the doctor's blessing, we chose this coming Monday to induce baby's arrival. New due Date: 9/8/08. With the delivery date looming, we are now feeling a bit of name desparation. There has been no obvious choice for this boy. It was easier to choose with the older kids; there were more names to pick from, and fewer people around to include in the decision. Trying to get nine of us to agree on anything is harder than getting Barak to pick Hilary as Veep. If anyone out there has any suggestions, let me know, maybe you'll come up with something we can all agree on.

Chicken Girl is Back

2008-09-02T14:05:00.002-05:00

We thought it was time to increase the flock. A friend of ours just started their backyard chicken farm by buying a couple dozen chickens from a hatchery. The minimum order was too many chickens for them, so they asked if we wanted any. We bought five, 6-week old hens from them. I would have taken more, but there were other friends of ours who were also interested in increasing their flock. They should start laying by the end of November and, since this is they're first year, they should lay right through the winter. This is good, since winter tends to be a slow time for egg production.

Kenzie hasn't left the coop or the run since we got our new additions. She's worried that the older hens are picking on the new ones too much. They just need to learn their place in the packing order (and grow a little bit more); then all will be well in chicken land. Here's some shots of our newest additions.

This Breaks My Heart

2008-08-27T12:11:00.002-05:00

I found the following mp3 file on OneNewsNow.com, a Christian news sevice. I am just flabergasted and heartsick about how any Christian, especially a member of the 2000+ year old Catholic Church, could possibly feel that abortion has anything to do with anything else but murder of an innocent life. And then, as you'll hear, to try to convince anyone that the Church does not have a definite stand on the the issue... Ugh.

Please click here listen to our Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. I'm ashamed to say she is native of my own state of Maryland.

Laughter IS the Best Medicine

2008-08-26T23:05:00.003-05:00

Most, or many, of you probably don't know too many of the details of what's been happening behind the scenes with this blog. Some of the posts may seem a bit cryptic, oozing an 'inside joke' feel about them. I am sorry that the whole story is just too complicated to explain in detail on this blog, although through other methods of correspondence, the story has been told to its fullest extent. The main point of this exercise, we believe, has been for the comedic value. In Vicki's most vulnerable and uncomfortable, and least humor-filled, period of her pregnancy, she has never laughed so much or so heartily. And how she also loves a good puzzle to solve! This one has been most entertaining. And once it was solved, it even came with its own answer key, to verify that the solution was indeed correct. Again, I am sorry for what may seem to be yet another cryptic post, but rest assured, we firmly believe that the last couple weeks have been a gift from Heaven to help pass the last few days of what would otherwise have the most difficult weeks of a summer pregnancy.

Chemistry

2008-08-26T08:15:00.002-05:00

Alex was searching, frantically, this morning for his Chemistry text book. He starts school tomorrow at SSPP and is trying to get all his ducks in a row before the last minute. Imagine that! Anyway, the reason he could not find his Chemistry book is because he does not have a Chemistry book. His teacher, bless him, is trying to save us money, I guess, and for that, he has already become one of my favorite teachers of Alex.

I suggested to Alex that he borrow one of my old Chemistry books, the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, a 2600+ page tome that lists every know chemical and physical property of elements, solutions, organic and inorganic compounds, and you-name-it. How impressed would his class be if he whipped that thing out of his backpack on the first day of school!? He laughed, but the book weighs about ten pounds and he doesn't need the extra weight in his pack. And, truth be told, the book is not really a textbook. I bought it as a graduating Biologist and Chemist (with a dash of Physics) from SSU for future reference. I have actually used it a few times, but not since my conversion to country bumpkin.

A New Bishop

2008-08-26T07:44:00.004-05:00

Our Diocese is getting a new Bishop. Bishop Michael Saltarelli has retired. My kids were sad to hear this. They'll miss him, especially Mckenzie. Whenever he visited our parish, he always remembered Kenzie and made her feel special. I think everyone felt this way, but McKenzie took a special liking to the man. When Alex was confirmed last year, Connor and Kenzie assisted the Bishop in the ceremony. Connor's job was to hold the Bishop's staff (it's probably got a special name but I can't think of it off hand) when the Bishop needed his hands to be free, and Kenzie held his big, red hat (again, there's a name, but...). I think he got a kick out of her spunkiness. You all know she isn't shy, and that was true even around the Most Reverend Michael A. Saltarelli. He meets so many folks all the time it's hard to say if he really remembers every person, but the important thing is, even though we didn't see him very often in person, he had a big impact on this family.

Our new Bishop, the Most Reverend W. Francis Malooly, will be installed on Sept. 8. He was appointed to the job, by Pope Benedict XVI, back in June, as our interim Bishop. Connor and Alex are both going to his installation as student volunteers. They will be ushers, go-fers, servers, etc. Alex, with some fellow classmates, will be representing his high school, and Connor will be representing his home school. What a fantastic opportunity to be part of such a momentous event in our Catholic experience!

Just A Country Bumpkin

2008-08-25T15:05:00.006-05:00

No offense to you hard-working bumpkins out there, but I'm looking forward to a nice quiet evening out here on the rustic ole Eastern Shore. No softball. No soccer. No football. No homework. No weedin' er tillin' tuh doo. Just the chikins a-waddlin' and the rooster a'crowin'. Ah think weel jes' set aroun' an' wartch muh wife's belly bulge. Ole junior shore is'n active'un, jes' pokin' an' a-proddin', jes' itchin' tuh see the worl'. Ah gess weel jes keep'em poppin' out cuz we ain't got nufin' better tuh doo oat on duh ole Eastern Shore.

Remember Where You Are

2008-08-24T06:41:00.005-05:00

This web log is, and always has been, a place where our family and friends can catch up on the goings on of our family. I know it's public, and anyone can see it, and I don't mind that. I try never to post anything that is untrue so I don't worry about what anyone really thinks about what I say. Truth is truth, and that's that.

Recently, however, I have been contacted by two individuals regarding the content of this blog. One person did it right. One did not.

Let's start with the right way. Somehow, members of the KY Diamond Cats came across my NSA world series entry. They were offended by some things I said. They sent me a non-anonymous email explaining in no uncertain terms what they thought of my comments. They were very obviously upset. I re-read my post, and I have to say they had justification. After being educated a little about the KY program, I became a bit offended with my own comments. I have huge respect for the sport of girls softball; I know how hard we work to perfect the skills of our girls. The Kentucky girls are no different and deserve the same respect we give our own kids when it comes to their ability to play the game. Anyway, after seeing the error of my ways, it was easy to modify my blog entry to remove the hurtful and untrue things that I posted. I emailed back to the KY coach to apologize, and thanked him for getting me straight. I have to remember where I am, too. This site is about me and my family, not anyone else, and I don't need to be commenting on things based on conjecture and gossip.

The wrong way. Most of you probably don't know that this site has been attacked and harassed by an anonymous coward ever since we decided to move on from LSL. Fortunately, no one has seen this flamer's comments since I delete them as soon they are posted. If anyone has a legitimate cause for being upset at me, I will listen with an open mind, as long as that person has the courage to identify himself, as did the Kentucky coach. This anonymous poster, however doesn't deserve a response. His comments are vile, hurtful, and self-serving. His only purpose is to tear down someone for his own spiteful reasons. Anonymous is not even associated with the 10U team that we just left! Despite having some internet experience, he apparently does not realize that IP addresses can be traced. I would like to keep my head above the gutter that anonymous dwells in by informing him that I know his ISP is Comcast.net and his IP address is 69.143.66.152. His host name is c-69-143-66-152.hsd1.md.comcast.net. His connecting city is Essex. I really would like to keep names out of this, but if this site is hit again by this particular anonymous, I will start posting names, Mike.

Again, if you are willing to identify yourself, with constructive criticism, I will listen and be educated. I can accept being wrong when presented with a reasonable argument.

I know who visits my site; please remember where you are and I will try to do the same.

The New Team

2008-08-23T21:27:00.004-05:00

Our new RB Spirit team officially began its new, 2008-09 season, with a pool party at Coach Charlie's house. Here's Charlie, sporting this year's latest fashion of RB red, RB white, and RB blue softball visor. It will be met with trepidation by many an opponent when seen in the opposing dugout this coming softball season.

While many teams are spending this weekend holding more tryouts to fill in one or two last roster spots, our girls spent a quality afternoon bonding and getting to know each other. Charlie's goal is to have the girls establish a rapport that carries beyond the softball diamond. The adults also had the chance to meet each other and partake of some fine smoked ribs and gobs of other food while hopefully establishing friendships that will carry this team through the next twelve months. By providing the opportunity for this newly established team to come together like this at least monthly, it is Charlie's intention to avoid conflicts between kids and parents that arise from self-centered tunnel vision that can happen when people forget that the team comes before the individual. Our successes will be team successes; our failures will be team failures. I'm banking on more of the former and few of the latter.

The girls graciously allowed their new coach the chance to remove his wallet from his pocket before they tossed him into the pool.

Here are some friendships forming.

Where's Kenzie?

2008-08-22T07:59:00.005-05:00

Kenzie, and a few of other former Lake Shore players, mysteriously disappeared from the Lake Shore 10U web site. Not only did they disappear from the 2008 roster, they (not including Kenzie since she was only there one year) vanished from the team's history as if they had never played softball before. In fact, so many girls disappeared that the 2007 team only had six players on it. Many other girls, coincidentally those who remain in the Lake Shore association, remain on all rosters for all the years they played on the 10U team. It seems to be a very selective series of disappearances, but that's just my opinion.

For the record, here is the bio for Kenzie's entry. I'm posting it here just to make sure I have a record of it.

Years playing select ball: 2

2007 Season: Bayside Breeze

2008 Season: Lake Shore Lightning 10U
1st Place: ASA Halloween Classic
2nd Place: USSSA Kickoff Klassic
2nd Place: PONY Mystics Spring Season Open
1st Place: USSSA Early Bird Qualifier (plus, she received the team MVP trophy)
1st Place: PONY Cherry Blossom
1st Pace: 10th Annual Heartbreakers Classic
1st Place: NSA Atlantic Coast Challenge
1st Place: USSSA Heat at the Beach
1st Place: USSSA Memorial Day Madness
1st Place: ASA 2008 Maryland State Championship
1st Place: USSSA Blast at the Beach
1st Place: USSSA Maryland State Championship
1st Place: USSSA Blue Gray Summer Shootout
2nd Place: NSA World Series

I'm sure glad all those trophies didn't disappear from our classroom wall.

The Roads Are Safe Again - For Now

2008-08-19T20:18:00.005-05:00

Alex walked in a little while ago from his first on-road experience. He was all smiles. We may have created a monster. His proudest moment came when he ran over a snake, or a frog. His instructor couldn't tell exactly what is was from the what was stuck to the tire. At least the insurance adjuster won't be calling just yet.

Your Final FINAL Warning

2008-08-19T12:23:00.003-05:00

Local roads will be experiencing potential backups this afternoon as Alex gets behind the wheel for the very first time in his fifteen and a half years. He doesn't even have a Learner's Permit yet (not old enough 'til Oct 24), but I've been informed by his driving instructor that that is not required as long as he is driving under the instructor's supervision as part of Alex's driver education. Good luck to all you brave souls on the road near KIHS at around 6 pm this evening!

A Note Of Sadness

2008-08-17T18:11:00.006-05:00

The hardest thing I've done in recent memory was telling Coach Terry that Kenzie was moving from his 10u softball team to Charlie's 12u team, the Riviera Beach Spirit. Terry is an awesome coach who did awesome things with an awesome bunch of girls last season. From the Bayside Breeze, two years ago, Kenzie went from a 10u team that introduced her to the world of softball, to the Lake Shore Lightning that introduced her to winning in the world of softball. Kenzie's first two years of fastpitch softball could have been written in Hollywood, except in the movies there are usually more sad parts than the one at the very end.

Kenzie had every intention of spending another year at 10u with Lake Shore. That is, until the first weekend of tryouts when only two quality, older girls showed up, and one veteran player decided to go up to LSL 12u. This left Kenzie and a couple other girls as the core team with which Terry had to develop next year's team. Everyone was discouraged. When word got out about the apparent collapse of the 10u team, other coaches began contacting us about Kenzie playing somewhere else. No one seemed to be trying to steal her away from a happy situation; but they did want her to look their way if she decided to leave Lake Shore. One of those coaches was Charlie, with whom I'd developed a rapport over this past season. Charlie was one of the original coaches for LSL when Kenzie originally tried out last year. She liked him from the start, as she liked all the coaches, but Charlie stood out to her as a coach who aggressively sought the best performance that each girl had to give. For one reason or another, Charlie wound up not being an LSL coach; just a gung-ho sideline father like myself.

My original plan, before tryouts, was to have Kenzie try out for Charlie's team next year. Kenzie would have a chance to develop and mature as a team leader at the 10u level, something she has never had the chance to do since she's always "played up" in all her select and club level sports. We never considered RB's 12u team until several things came together, the first being the low turnout at the first LSL tryouts. That, and the fact that Kenzie, herself, does not want to be, to put it in her words, "the top player on the team". I don't know if she'd be the top player on Terry's team, but she would be among the top players. She functions best, and improves the most, when she is challenged; when her position is threatened; when she has to continuously earn her keep. I'm not sure she would be in that position, based on the girls we saw on that Saturday. Keep in mind, Kenzie's birthday is 16 days after the age cut off for 10u. If not for those 16 days, she would be forced to go up to 12u, regardless of her talents and experience. Also, if she moves up now, when her skills are fairly equivalent to the other girls on RB's team, she maintains the option of staying down for a third year at an older level. I really like having that option. Say her second year at 12u (or 14u or whatever-u) is a frustrating year, for whatever reason--she would have the option of taking an additional year at that level if she needed to work on certain skills that may be lacking. Right now, her skills aren't lacking enough to merit taking that extra year at 10u.

Well, in the end, we decided to check out Charlie's team this weekend. If nothing else, it would give Kenzie another chance to see Caroline. What I saw was a good group of girls with a lot of softball ability. Then I saw Kenzie fit right in. I saw her extend herself beyond what I thought she was capable of, beyond what she doing even at the World Series. Over the last few days, playing Devil's advocate, I told her she may not, for Charlie, play in a position she wanted, but rather in the outfield, where she spent most of last season. She was not happy about this. So, what did she do? She wowed the coaches with her play at third base. She also wowed the coaches with play in the outfield. She also wowed the coaches with her bat. She shifted into that higher gear that is inspired by the challenge placed before her. After today, she just felt plain good about her performance. Her last words before we headed over to talk to Terry were that she felt good about our decision to go with Charlie. I offered her $100 to talk to Terry for me because I am a coward, I felt like throwing up, and I was on the verge of hyperventilating, but she declined. She is only ten, after all. I hate hurting people, and I know I hurt Terry today, but Kenzie has to come first; and she, Vicki, and I (and Charlie and his assistant Bob and almost everyone I've talked to) believe she's ready for this move.

There are some other miscellaneous factors we considered as well. Some positive and some negative for RBS. Some positive and some negative for LSL. When everything balanced out, we did what we did with the best intentions for Kenzie in mind. But for having done it to Terry, the end of this two years is on a note of sadness.

This Will Be Your Final Warning

2008-08-11T21:14:00.004-05:00

Alex, my oldest offspring who just turned 15 and a half years old, has begun Driver's Ed. He will be making his first attempts to navigate a four-wheeled deadly weapon in this vicinity in the near future. Be afraid... be very, very afraid.

Big Bird

2008-08-08T10:18:00.003-05:00

Keary and I went on one of her insisted-upon walks this morning and were rewarded with a close encounter with this guy. He's gotten so used to people he doesn't scare very easily. This picture was taken without zooming in.

Boo

2008-08-05T09:21:00.003-05:00

Today, Kenzie dressed Bekah up as Boo, from Monster's, Inc. Her nickname has always been Bekahboo; now we know why.

Team Photo

2008-07-28T11:41:00.007-05:00

Coaches Brian, Art, and Tony; Scorekeeper Jackie, and Manager Terry

Caroline, Natalie, Ali, Bre, Amber, Toni

Sammi, Ashley, Hanna, Coral, Kenzie, Hunter

2008 NSA World Series

2008-07-27T12:08:00.004-05:00

There's so much to talk about I know I won't get to everything, so I'll just start babbling.

We left for Columbus, OH at 8:20 on the morning of the 19th and arrived right around 3 o'clock. I was amazed at how well the kids behaved during that 470 mile long trek westward. We stayed at Embassy Suites, which is designed so that all rooms face a large atrium. After stressing for weeks about the cost of this place, I'm glad we decided to stay there. The whole team stayed there, and the kids could have some freedom while the adults socialized in the atrium area. In other words, my twins couldn't escape my sight, at least when they changed locations. We all had some issues with some of the things hotel management did, or didn't do, but at least the physical space was ideal for us.

We didn't know what to expect from the teams we were to face this week. All of them had to qualify for this tournament by playing and, supposedly, doing well in local NSA tournaments. Apparently, some teams got there because all the other teams in their area already qualified (thus the berths move to the next teams down the line) because the first team we played were not that good, at least on Monday when we played. LSL won that first game 23-1.

The second game, on Tuesday morning, was against the Indiana Dreams, the Indiana state champs, I think. They were a tougher challenge, but we beat them by a score of 4-0. On Tuesday afternoon we played the QC Firebirds. These girls beat LSL and sent them home on Wednesday last year. We beat them 7-1. On Wednesday we played the Delaware Magic, who we've played several time in local tournaments. They tied us once, but usually have not been that hard to beat. This time we beat them 10-0 in four innings.

Thursday is when you start seeing the harder competition. The teams still in town have been winning their games. Our first game of Thursday was against the IN Diamond Chix. This was almost our worst game of the tournament. Most of the girls were playing very flat, not hitting the ball, and making errors. We wound up wining 2-1 but everyone was very worried that the girls were taking this tournament as seriously as they should.

Our worries were justified in the next game, Thursday afternoon, against our arch-rivals (and off-the-field-best-buddies) the Philadelphia Spirit, who also happened to be staying at our hotel. With a shared record of 3-3-1, the Spirit wanted to tip the scales in their favor more than our girls did, at least until the chips were down. In the first inning, compounded by a lack of offense and an abundance of defensive errors, Philly scored six runs. We were in a giant hole. Apparently that's where our girls wanted to start from because they came back with a big, five-run inning of their own and only lost by a score of 9-7. This was our first loss so got bumped into the Loser's bracket, meaning we have to win five straight games on Friday if we want first place. It also means that eventually, we'll probably have to play Philly again.

Friday morning, 9:45 am, starts a string of games that defied all expectations. We faced the Indy Dreams again and shut them out for a 10-0 win. Then the Ohio state champions, the Ohio Ice, were beaten by a score of 6-2. While we were playing the Ice, the Spirit were experiencing their first tournament loss to the KY Diamond Cats.

Our third game on Friday was for a shot at the championship game with the Diamond Cats. We had to even the score with the Spirit first. And we did. With a score of 7-4, we beat them and were guaranteed at least a second place finish. This was about when I got that priceless hug. As soon as the game ended, after the usual ecstatic cheering, both teams met on the pitcher's mound and danced and cheered together. I was dumbstruck (a very unusual occurrence) at how the girls instantly forgot they were softball rivals, trying to pulverize each other on the diamond, and became the friends that we've been watching play together all week at our hotel. They even stayed for the next game to cheer LSL on in the contest between us and KY.

Now, Ali Caulkins, our pitcher, is just someone who is so special I have to take some time out right here to gush over her. So far this week, she had pitched almost every pitch in the nine games we'd played. She had overcome probably a dozen errors in the previous three games in a row to get us to this next game. I don't think I'll ever meet another ten year old with so much heart and ability as this girl has. Now she has to face the KY Diamond Cats. On this Friday, KY had only played one game to our three and were well rested. Ali pitched a game that was 3-2 (KY) until the very last inning. A few fatigue-induced fielding errors led LSL to a loss to only the second team to beat them this year. They took second place in a national tournament, an accomplishment matched only once by the LSL 10U organization.

In the end, the Philadelphia Spirit players were with our players, in the dugout and celebrating on the field right along with their softball rivals and friends. They spent one last night at the hotel together, playing and enjoying themselves before they go back home to start a whole new season of girl's fast pitch softball.

The new season, by the way, starts with tryouts on Aug. 9. Have a good two weeks off, girls!

Priceless

2008-07-26T21:22:00.002-05:00

Gas to Ohio and Back: $200

Food for a week: $350

Hotel expenses: $1300

The hug I got from my little girl when her team took second place in the NSA Softball World Series in Columbus, Ohio: Absolutely, positvely, without-a-doubt... Priceless.

More to come as time allows.....

Packing Up

2008-07-18T11:20:00.006-05:00

We head out to Columbus, Ohio tomorrow for the NSA Eastern World Series. I'm not looking forward to the 8 hour drive. Six of us; Kenzie, Alex, Connor, Taylor, Tyler, and me; will be packed into the minivan when we leave early tomorrow morning. I don't know how many of us will walk out of the van in Ohio. The way the kids have been getting along this summer, I predict ugliness, tears, and maybe even some bloodshed by the time this trip is over.

At least I should be able to get some of it on film. Vicki's dad bought a nice HD camcorder and is letting us borrow it for the trip. I haven't used a video recorder since Alex was two years old, so I won't promise any Hollywood productions. I was playing with the camera at practice last night and discovered a really cool slow motion setting. I can't wait to use that feature to show the kids how they can improve their swings, kicks, etc. (in their sports, that is...they don't need any help in the sibling disputes). Here's a sample of what it can do. The quality has been reduced to make the files small enough to download before next year.

Snappy's Gettin' Big

2008-07-11T22:18:00.006-05:00

While draining and refilling the pond today, trying to clarify the water a bit, I found Snappy, our quasi-pet snapping turtle. Kenzie found him back in September '06 and introduced him to our pond. He seems to be quite happy, with plenty of stuff to eat (including the occasional goldfish) in our entropic pond over the the past two years. He has grown quite a bit, as you can see from these pictures. Notice how Kenzie and I both keep our thumbs away from Snappy's mouth. He may be small, but we don't trust him with our fingers too close to his beak. We had one of these guys, much bigger than Snappy, almost take off the nose of a curious puppy a few years ago.

Entropy

2008-07-10T21:30:00.018-05:00

The process of something progressing from a high state of organization to chaos has been demonstrated in my back yard. In 2002 I built a small goldfish pond in the back yard. It had two levels with a waterfall connecting the upper and lower ponds. It had goldfish and flowers. It had clear water and was pleasant to sit beside and listen to. Here's a picture of our infant pond.

The following year, I added a G scale train that travelled around the pond and over a bridge, across the pond. There were a few more plants, especially aquatic plants, and lots more rocks. The water was still clear, the waterfall did not leak, and now we could play with trains. We even had lighthouses representing two of my favorite Chesapeake Bay lighthouses. And we had frogs.

Over the next few years the waterfall sprung a leak; the top pond stagnated because water could not be circulated through it. The Lily pad did very well for itself, as did the rest of the aquatic plants. The Terran plants, especially the weeds, also enjoyed their time in our yard. We acquired a snapping turtle, and a lot more frogs. The trains stopped working and the track was taken up, although the bridge remained as a decoration. The little ecosystem became self-sufficient; I even stopped feeding the fish because they didn't more food than the little pond provided. The snapping turtle ate some fish, which spawned to replenish their numbers. The frogs had plenty of bugs that grew in the stagnant part of the pond. However, without any external input, Entropy ruled. I had lost my pond.

I couldn't take it any more. I spent the day up to my knees in pond scum. I pulled out all the plants, which were absolutely everywhere. I had to cut the Lily pad into pieces just to get it out of the water, it weighed so much. The kids and I picked up every rock, removed the upper pond, shoveled dirt to re-design the landscape, chopped, pulled, yanked, and broke our backs removing weeds. Then, we put it all back together, not quite as good as new, but a lot better than Entropy would have it. We got a new waterfall. We kept the bridge, the lighthouses, small parts of the old plants to start new ones, the fish, the frogs, and even the snapping turtle. The water is not clear yet, but at least the pump is working, so maybe the little particle filter will help clarify it. Some days, that shower feels really good.