I apologize ahead of time for the volume of photos…but this was his first real game so I wanted to show it all. I promise there won’t be nearly as many from upcoming games. 🙂
Practicing with daddy beforehand.
Typical Owen. He had grass-stained knees before the game even started!
Tongue out!
Not a kid from Owen’s team, but so cute I had to take a picture. 🙂
He had SO much fun and was SO excited about everything—it was awesome to see. And Tom had a great time, too, as he’s envisioned this for SO many years. 🙂
Tom helped Owen get dressed for the opening ceremonies! I’m not sure who was more excited.
Owen was hamming it up in the mirror. Please excuse the disaster of a room. (We’ve been getting the downstairs ready for a dinner party so lots of stuff is being dumped in our room!)
Doing a little fielding practice with his coach.
We have to bring a ball for Katie to play with—she loves to play catch and she’s actually pretty good!
Running the bases just for the fun of it.
He had his tongue out in lots of the pictures!
The T-ball teams were the last to walk in.
All the teams lined up (all teams from all age groups):
And then it was back home to clean for our dinner party…and to get ready to go back to the fields for Owen’s game at 1:30!
Katie: Mama, look at that pillow on the floor.
Me: ???
Another T-ball mom: The base.
Me: Ahhhhh.
Enjoying some cuddle time.
They learned the different positions, practiced some fielding, and each had a practice at-bat:
Tom was helping on the field and said it was like herding cats. Yep, that was exactly what I had been thinking. 🙂
They have had five scheduled practices. Owen missed one due to our vacation and two have been canceled due to weather…so he will be playing his first game only having had two practices. It’s going to be a HOT MESS. 🙂
He actually missed the first practice since we were on vacation, but this was HIS first practice. He was VERY excited.
Running the bases before practice!
The ages of the team are 5/6 but Owen is honestly a full foot taller than most of them! Most of the kids are about the size of Katie!! (I think there’s another age 5/6 team but it’s for kids that have previous experience.)
Katie was a great cheerleader! “Owen, good job practicing. Keep practicing with daddy! Good practicing!”
Throwing drill:
Katie does whatever her big brother does—she was throwing pine cones at the fence just like Owen was throwing balls at the fence!
Getting their team hats and shirts! They’re the Raptors!
The boys went on a surprise trip…to pick out a new t-ball glove for Owen (since his practices start this week—he’s missing the first one while we’re gone). He was excited! They also got two balls to practice throwing and catching…and some baseball pants!
Owen has been asking about playing baseball again and we told him we’d look into it…so I asked a few parents and got some basic info, but honestly didn’t DO anything. And then today, a flyer got sent home about T-ball/baseball starting up in the spring. Well there we go.
With his age bracket, it’s going to be pretty much like the last time he played (with the special needs group) in that everyone on the roster bats each inning, everyone is in the outfield, there are parents helping on both sides, and there are only three innings. The differences are they spend time learning the rules of the game, the names of the positions, the basic game plays (outs, runs, etc.), and how to catch and hit.
I know he won’t like the T-ball part of it because he can actually hit the ball, but the FAQ said that they will get pitches if the skill test determines he’s ready. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Tom is super excited for this—hoping to help out at games and maybe some practices. I’m somewhat looking forward to it because I know they’ll love it, but all I see right now is $$$ for stuff (registration, equipment, uniforms) and running him to and from practices. Thankfully, most of the practices will be about two miles from the house (and right across from the library, so maybe Katie and I can hang out there during some practices).
It doesn’t start until spring, though, so we all have time to prepare. 🙂
He was invited to a birthday party at a local martial arts place…and boy did he have fun. We would actually have been interested in sending him there, but it’s expensive (not to mention 4-5 days a week).
Here is a video compilation of some of the stuff he did.
But I had to put this video in all on its own—he was SO excited and SO proud of himself for breaking the board! GO OWEN!
We had been in the basement (I was keeping the kids busy while daddy painted upstairs) but we snuck up to get them changed before kickoff! (Of course, I hadn’t thought of it early enough to make sure I had Owen’s jersey. It has apparently disappeared and was nowhere to be found. I was then going to put him in Tom’s jersey but I couldn’t find that one, either! So the Rose Bowl tee had to suffice!)
I told them it was a surprise, so once downstairs, Katie went right up to Tom and said “Surprise daddy!” 🙂
We picked a local place we hadn’t been to yet. It’s a sports bar/restaurant and they had a paper football on the table, so we tried to teach Owen.
He doesn’t quite have the gist of flicking the football with just his finger, but every once in awhile he’d connect and he even landed one in my glass!
This isn’t the best video but it makes me laugh. Owen wanted to run again, but he had to “exercise” (stretch) first. He obviously got the idea from somewhere I have no idea about. 🙂
And his cheering section—she’d clap wildly while saying “Run Owen!”
David, Tom, Rob, and Papa went shooting today before Katie’s party. Tom wanted to test out his new gun, David is always game to go, Rob was eager to join, and my dad thought it sounded good, too! I wasn’t going so I made sure Tom took a few pictures! 🙂
We wanted to introduce Katie to the fish hatchery—and I wanted to see Owen enjoy it (since I didn’t go last year when Tom and Marsha took him)…so our big group came in and asked if we could all get in on the free family admission coupon my mom had…and the guy joked that we were a circus and I said YOU HAVE NO IDEA. 🙂 He let us all in for free, so we bought five bags of food and planned to take Owen fishing…
Katie was fascinated and REALLY wanted to go in the water—so someone had to keep a hand on her most of the time. Owen had fun, too, but couldn’t wait to go fishing!
Owen loved fishing—but who wouldn’t, when it only takes a matter of seconds to catch one! We let him catch five (you pay by the inch) and he had fun with each one!
Katie thought she wanted to see the fish…until she saw them and then that was it.
Owen thought he wanted to hold one…until Tom held one out. 🙂
On the way home from taking Owen to school Katie started saying she wanted to watch a movie (her newest favorite thing) so I brought up a walk to distract her. It only worked for a total of two minutes down the road (so four minutes total counting the return trip—or not even two driveways).
It rained last night so there were still a few puddles in our cul-de-sac. Of course, Katie is drawn to water (as most kids are) and she needed a bath anyway…
It starts off innocent enough…
Even though she says it’s yucky she doesn’t stop!
Taking a break.
So she was pretty wet by the time we were ready to go home…and of course she wanted me to carry her (in my white shirt).
Tom had today off so he took Owen to school…and then later we went on a walk! After she stepped in every small puddle, sat in the dirt and played with acorn tops (they fit perfectly on her fingers), handed said tops to daddy to take home, and watched the ducks…she got a shoulder ride to the top of the hill!
It was a gorgeous morning—about 70°, sunny, and breezy—so we went for our first long walk together! (Normally Katie and I just go up and down our street or to the golf course. I never get to walk with just Owen anymore.)
I tried to get a picture but Katie wasn’t cooperating.
Katie took a tumble while trying to run down the hill like big brother, but she was no worse for the wear. 🙂
At the top of the hill on the golf course (Owen used to play a lot here back in the day). He kept warning Katie not torun down the hill and to stay out of the golfers’ way. 🙂
Off we go!
Anyone want to go swimming in the community pool? I can’t imagine using the same water that’s been sitting in it since last summer and is now dark brown…? I know there are chemicals and stuff…but still. Barf.
Finally! Some wildlife! (Yes I know it’s not a duck but that’s what she calls it.)
Waving hello to the duck/goose. 🙂
She wanted to sit at the picnic table.
Owen collected sticks to make an art picture. 🙂
I saw this going on so I had to try and get a good sibling picture.
Ha.
At least I ended up with a decent one!
And then the ham:
And then someone was throwing sand and got warned so we had to go.
The people from Special Needs Baseball planned a bowling outing so Owen picked Tom to take him. I got this text from Tom:
Your son is a ham.
And then Tom posted on Facebook that Owen got a strike! Tom had taken a succession of pictures and while you can see the pins being knocked down, Owen’s stance NEVER changes. 🙂
Happy boys!
Owen’s bowling style:
And his final score! He did better than I ever did at that age!
Tom said Owen had a blast! I guess bowling may soon be a family event! 🙂
