Building a Softball Team

Have I mentioned that K plays softball?

Not just plays softball, but really loves softball?

She's played every spring since she was 5 and every fall for the past few years. Over all those seasons, we've learned a little about what it takes to make a successful team and a successful player at each of the age levels we've played so far.

When we started this season, we had a great coach and some great players that we've been with before, but the team just wasn't at the same high level of play that they should've been. Sure, we had some new girls and some weaker players, but we had a good core of good players. They just weren't living up to their potential.

We had girls that could pitch, but only one good, consistent pitcher.

We had girls that could hit, but no good, consistent hitters.

We had girls that could field, but the girls were getting bored and inattentive in the field.

I puzzled over the difference as we hit a slump and lost game after game. Why were a historically good coach and players having such a hard time this season? I finally decided it was that the team lacked an aggressive, superstar talent that could motivate the others. We have talent and we even have an aggressive personality or two, but not anyone that could lead. The girls were defeated and they were digging the pit even deeper.

But then

We tied a high-scoring game. And we won a game. And the coach created a new training program for the pitchers and they started pitching well. And he encouraged everyone to swing the bat. And we won another game. And all that defense practice started to be used in games. And we won another game.

Suddenly the pitching wasn't losing the game no matter what the rest of the team did. The girls gained confidence and started enjoying playing and became more aggressive at the plate, on the mound, and in the field. We don't need one aggressive, superstar talent to motivate the team. They can see the difference themselves in the way they're playing and they LOVE it. Yes, it's not all about winning, but it is more fun when you win.

For awhile there, Lazy K had come back. She was taking it easy and getting bored and didn't really care all that much. She was getting shuffled between the outfield and third and batting toward the bottom of the line-up, which she didn't like, but didn't care to make the effort to prove herself.

The past few games have seen a huge turnaround in her play. When she's in the field, she's on her toes, bouncing and ready for the ball. When it comes toward her at 3rd, she's charging and making smart decisions of what play she needs to make. Their season tournament has started and tonight K made 2 double-plays and you never see double-plays at this age level. She has earned her spot at 3rd and is responsible for a large percentage of the outs of the last few games. Even the opposing coaches have complimented her.

Our team still has the same players we had at the beginning of the season. They are no more talented than they were back then. They have worked hard this season, but probably no more than any other team. We just found our winning formula. Once the pitching fell into place, the games finally became interesting to the other players and they've proved they have the stuff to play well. These girls became aggressive, knowing they have a chance to win. Our team is now the total package - we can pitch, we can defend, and we can hit.

And they are a whole lotta fun to watch.

Sent from my iPad

Milestones

There are several major milestones in the life of a child and a parent.

- Learning to walk

- Being potty trained

- The first day of school

- Losing the first tooth

- Learning to ride a bike

Considering the long and difficult process that many of those were for my youngest, I should have known that the bike-riding thing would be tough.

L has one of those tiny bikes, made for toddlers who decide they are too cool for tricycles. She's not shown a whole lot of interest in it and she's still fairly small, so we never worried about buying her anything bigger. A couple months ago, we decided that it was time that she learn to ride a 2-wheeler. She is seven, after all, and she said she was ready. I took off her training wheels and we went to work. After 20 minutes of her screeching in my ear in dramatic terror, I gave up.

Obviously, we weren't ready.

I did refuse to put the training wheel back on, figuring that it would be an incentive to her to learn. K learned when she was 5, but she also had the motivation of a street full of kids who could all ride. She simply couldn't keep up with them using her training wheels, so she had to learn so she wouldn't keep getting left behind. She also didn't spend the whole practice session shrieking in my ear.

Recently, my parents got new cruiser bikes - very cool things that they're bringing with them on their trip to NC in a few weeks and if L wanted to ride with them, she knew she needed to learn 2-wheeling. She begged me to put her training wheel back on, but I had conveniently thrown them away and I told her she wouldn't be able to go fast enough anyway. She HAD to learn.

This morning, she routed me out of bed asking me to teach her to ride her bike. I sent K and L down to the little park up the street to get started while I got dressed. Then for the next 30 minutes, we went round and round the walkway with L going a few feet, then swerving into the grass. We were both frustrated, but at least she wasn't shrieking. After one particularly snarky, grumpy complaint from her, I left her sitting in the grass while she she cried in a temper and I walked back to the big swing and waited her out. Even while I sat and thought out elaborate punishments for her attitude, I had to admire her tenacity in trying to outsit me. She finally had to admit defeat and she picked herself and her bike up and started trying again.

We decided that her bike was a little too addicted to the grass (and she needed to have enough room to learn to ride before having to worry so much about steering), so we went back closer to home where the nice wide street slopes gently down to the cul-de-sac. And what do you know, that kid CAN ride her bike! She proudly rode it up and down the street, learning quickly to get it started and stopped and to steer it around the manhole covers.

She still needs a little work steering it around curves, but she and her sister have been riding their bikes all day, so it won't be much longer. I guess she's proven that she can do it and I need to invest in a bigger bike and helmet for her.

If you'd like to check it out, I made a video of her riding just a few minutes after she figured out that she could do it. It's at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGRUBFwEO_Q.

Easter dress up

Easter means many things in our family. First, foremost, most importantly, it is a celebration of the resurrection of Christ. But there are other little traditions that make Easter fun. One tradition we share with most other families I know is that Easter means new dresses and white sandals. If you're really feeling fancy, you might also get a new hat or gloves to go with your new dress.

This year, L was extremely easy. She pulled a beautiful, long, fluffy, pink and white concoction out of the hand-me-down bins (from when K could actually be convinced to wear a beautiful, long, fluffy, pink and white concoction) and she declared that she had found her Easter dress. Truth to be told, she really just wanted to wear the same dress she wore last year - it's pink, sparkly, and twirls (a perfect dress trifecta) - but I convinced her that she should wear the one that was "new" to her.

K, on the other hand, has moved to the juniors department and so we spent an evening at a local department store where she found racks of dresses she liked, but we had a heck of a time finding one with an appropriate neckline. I threatened to shorten the straps on almost every one she tried on. Thankfully, the one she liked best was extremely modest, especially after the addition of knee-length capris.

It turned out that finding a dress was the easiest part. K's dress is gray pin-striped and I knew it needed a splash of bold color, so I wanted to get a large flower for her hair. We had a...difference of opinion regarding the perfect kind of flower (not too floppy) and the perfect color (bright). We finally compromised on an orange rose and I heaved a sigh of relief that the worst was over.

Until this morning.

We had to get up and dressed incredibly early and the girls were grumpy. I fixed L's hair with a side ponytail and a large pink rose she had picked out.

Then I moved to K's hair. K has lovely hair - incredibly thick, loose curls, a golden brown that burns a fiery copper in the sunlight. It's the kind of hair most women would kill for, but it simply frustrates K to death. I pulled it into a loose side ponytail and she argued about the curly bangs. She's been growing them out for awhile, but they still curl mercilessly. She wanted them pulled straight and pinned down, but I figure she's got to learn to embrace the curl sometime. So again, we compromised and I pulled the bangs over to one side and carefully arranged the curls. She was still grumpy about it, but she got a ton of compliments. Honestly, it's the absolute perfect look for her hair. Then she left it the way I fixed it even when she changed and we went to some friends' house for a cook out.

It's nice to know that she did decide that I was right.

Getting up in the morning

It's 7:45am. I'm sitting up in bed and checking my email on my cool new iPad when I hear a knock at my bedroom door and a dark head peeked around the corner.

"Isn't it time to go?"

I assured her that we didn't have to leave until 8:45. The head disappeared and I went back to my browsing.

The clock turned to 8 and the head popped back in. "It's 8! Is it time to go?!"

I explained that 8 is a long way from 8:45 and she disappeared. A few minutes later she comes back with pop-tarts and iced tea, an incentive for me to get out of bed and get moving. So I do. All the while, she's hovering just outside my door until I finally shoo her back upstairs.

So what had L so keyed up? It was the last day of Bible Study.

Every Thursday during the school year, we go to Community Bible Study (CBS). Every week we read passages and answer difficult questions and we discuss sometimes difficult topics (Amnon, Absalom, and Tamar, anyone?). We dive deeply into Bible truths that many people will never even read, much less try to understand. It's a lot of work, especially at the tender age of 7. We've been going for 4 years and it's still my girls' favorite weekly activity.

Why? They're in class with friends they've known for 4 years. They sing and they play games. Today they even had a little pizza party. But it's something more. Yesterday, I listened in the car, catching glimpses in the rearview mirror, as K patiently helped L to finish the 2 lessons they had to get done for this week. L hates to not get her work done each week and she was willing to forgo playing in order to get all the questions answered. L even announced that if our schedule was too busy next school year, she'd give up her much beloved dance so we could go to CBS.

Folks, that's devotion.

Why you need to learn how to sew

Some believe sewing to be a dying art. Ha! If you can sew, then you can get whatever you want even if you can't get what you want.

Did that make sense?

Tomorrow is Tenebrae service at our church. Tenebrae is a quiet, dark service observing the 7 final things Jesus said on the cross. I'm reading and singing and needed a dark top. I was checking while we walked through a couple of stores today and I found a really cute decorated t-shirt, but they didn't have it in the right size. Which made me grumpy. Until I looked a little more closely at at the top and made a bold decision. I went and found a plain black t-shirt and after dinner, I went to work.

I pulled bits of fabric from my stash and grabbed my machine and my sewing box.

I cut long strips of some synthetic fabrics - silky, gauzy - then melted all the edges with a candle lighter. I ran a gathering stitch down the center of each strip and gathered them, then I sewed them to the shirt in swirls. Voila! A really cool shirt, exactly like I wanted, even when I couldn't get what I wanted.

All it took was a little bit of know how with a sewing machine and the courage to try.

Painting Easter Eggs

I love my family and their creativity! We went to a family painting class today at my favorite Cajun Canvas where everyone was supposed to create little Easter eggs. Small canvases, a decorated egg sitting in the grass, your name written across each, so each person had their own little matching works of art to hang together.

Well....

As soon as I announced that I had signed us up for the class, the first question was "Do we have to paint it just like hers?" And then the ideas started flowing. It soon became apparent that the tiny 5x7 canvas wouldn't be enough, so when we arrived for class today, I got us switched to a larger 8x10 size.

But you see...the power was out at the studio, which was such a minor detail that we never considered NOT having class. We just moved everything closer to the front windows and opened the door and dove right into the project. While the rest of the class was dutifully painting traditional eggs on tiny canvases, we were drawing out our own fun ideas.

I LOVE how each canvas reflects each person's personality! K drew a cartoon and L asked for me to draw a basket for her eggs, then she painted it and I added the black outlines at the end. Mr. at Home came up with the idea for an egghead and he did an amazing job of painting. My painting ended up pretty traditional as I spent a lot of time helping the others with mixing paint and explaining how to get their ideas down on their canvas.

All in all, it was a fabulous fun time and I loved sharing something I really enjoy with the rest of my family. Seeing all the different canvases together makes me laugh at my crazy, crafty, talented, creative family!

Posting from my iPad

Did I mention I had ordered a new iPad? An iPad 2, in fact.

Mr. at Home, being the fabulous man he is, ordered us both iPads. Mine is white with an orange cover and his is black with a navy cover. And they are awe.some.

I do so love my iPad. We didn't get the original version as we never could justify the cost vs. usefulness. This time we just went for it and I'm so glad we did.

Reasons I love my iPad

1. Since I left my laptop in Texas, it's been so nice to not have to steal the kids' laptop.
2. It's so tiny, I can tuck it in my purse and carry it to the cupcake bakery and have something to do during dance afternoons.
3. Angry Birds is so much nicer on the bigger screen.
4. Typing on it is so much easier than I ever expected.
5. It's super cute.
6. It keeps my kids occupied while waiting. Glow Paint, anyone?
7. Love the cameras and video chatting. You need to get your own iPad 2 so we can call each other.
8. I can write Sunday School lessons at Panera without dragging in my laptop and bag.
9. Free Nook AND Kindle applications means more free books!
10. Bigger calendar screen than my iPhone so I can see more stuff.
11. Works anywhere there's wi-fi, which is almost everywhere.

I have had trouble figuring out how to post to Blogger from my iPad since it the text entry box didn't work, so this is a test of the HTML entry box and we'll see how it looks when it posts. Next I'll try the email posting functionality and see how that works for pictures.

So thank you, dear, for getting me a cool iPad!!