Take Me out to the Ballpark

Today was Madison's first official baseball practice.

The weather was beautiful. Sunny and warm.

There were 4 other kids from last year and ANOTHER GIRL from two years ago...YEAH!!! She won't be the only girl on the team.

She told the coach she was interested in playing second again and maybe taking a shot at pitching, which was a surprise to me, but I think she'll do well at it.

The boys start practice next week. Charlie is going to coach their T-ball team. Baby gets to play even though he's still too young. The commissioner of the league asked if he wanted to at sign ups and said he'd let it slide. That is great, cuz he's getting tired of just watching the older too play.

We're excited for the new season, though. It's always fun.

Wou Wascly Wabbit

Tonight I think I turned Madison into a Vegan or a Hunter.

We went down to Applecreek, OH to visit Charlie's brother, Rick, and wife, Leah who were in from Washington, D.C. They offered us rabbit disguised as BBQ chicken, but we could tell by their faces something was seriously wrong with the picture. Finally they admitted it was RABBIT.

So, as Mother of the Year, it became my mission to trick Madison into trying it. She was leary because everyone else was so concerned and involved in her trying this chicken. So I pull out what looks like a wing cuz she likes Papaw Dave's wings. She tries to bite into it but it's pretty tough. I'm still wondering why a rabbit has what looks like a wing. As Baby would say, "WEIRD."

So, I then give her the breast and take some off the bone. She eats it looking to see what she has just done. I ask if she likes, she nods kind of. I ask if she wants me to tell her what it really is or not. She says no. So I oblige. She looks worried so I say, "Would you feel better if I try some?" She shakes yes without hesitation. Misery loves Company.

I taste it. It tastes like chicken. However, I couldn't stop thinking that "THIS IS NOT CHICKEN YOU IDIOT EVEN IF IT TASTES LIKE IT THIS IS THUMPER."

I ask her again if she wants to know. She does. I tell her. And she looks at me like I was some kind of a damn fool.

In the end, I think she liked that she tried something different.

We all did tonight. Not only did I try Wabbit, but I also tried the hottest horseradish ever on a chunk of swiss cheese. Talk about clearing the sinuses. It's weird cuz my eyes watered and my throat closed like I was gonna cough to death, but instead it almost immediately simmered down to a hmmmm...that's weird-taste.

Baby also tried and loved clam dip. We told him it was ranch. What can I say??? We are a bunch of liars and he is rivaling his aunt Shannon for the Condiment King position in the Fam. He's like Mikey, he'll try anything with a little dip.

Dog Tired

Wow, You're a Border Collie!


Border Collie
The Achiever

You've heard about this "second-place ribbon" thing, but really don’t ever plan on getting one. Not a chance. Highly competitive, you keep one eye on the Best in Show prize and one on the rest of the pack, making sure you're always at least one paw ahead. You love your family and enjoy the company you keep, but you'd trade all of them in a heartbeat for a corner office and some meaty stock options. When you're not licking your professional coat, naked skydiving and triathlons keep you entertained. You idolize the top dog and will do so until you sniff out a way to take over the company and do a little "restructuring." Learn more »

FAMOUS BORDER COLLIES: Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters

LIKELY PROFESSIONS: CEO, Banker, Manager, Astronaut

Bowling for Columbine, I mean, Weaver

Charlie's been bowling for a while now on his league. He sucks. No, it's not mean to say that. He really does.

When he goes the kids talk about wanting to go to. So we've taken them twice now. Once was to a local alley with warped boards and balls with big chunks out of them. It reeked of smoke even though smoking in public has been out for over a year. But, it was a buck a game so we bowled. We had to keep manually resetting after each bowl and manually typing in the score.

The next time we decided to splurge and go to Stonehedge. It ended up being cheaper because Charlie's in the league and the guy didn't make us rent shoes. AND, the lanes kept score and reset all on their own. It was wonderful.

The kids loved it at both places.

Jackson does pretty good. We used the bumpers but he always scored best out of the kids and even came close to beating me.

Madison is hilarious because we all know she is very competitive and likes to do the best at EVERYTHING. We kept joking with her that we finally found what WASN'T her sport. She still did well, but couldn't beat little brother.

Baby has no idea if he wins or not. He runs up, drops the ball, and takes off for the cup of pop so no one else can get a sip. He never waits or asks what he got.

This is Getting Wii-diculous

Soooo. We got the Wii for the kids for Christmas with a bunch of games. They love it. Baby is Wii-dicted.

The first thing he says in the morning, "Mommy, can I be first on the wii?"

The first thing he says before school, "Mommy, but is there time for me to play the wii before we leave?"

The first thing before getting out of the car for school, "Mommy, when I come home can I be the first to play the wii?"

When I pick him up on our car ride home, "Mommy, tell Jack you said I could play the wii first! No, Jaaaaaaack! Mommy said I could."

The first thing after dinner, "Can I play the wii? Why not? I haven't played all day. Everyone else got to plaaaaaaay!"

He has a one tract mind. It is literally all he thinks about. In February, he even missed a couple days of school before I caught on. He kept saying his tummy hurt right before school, so I didn't want to send him and have him not feel well. The day I caught on and made him go, he through a fit. We were 10 minutes late to school because he refused to get out of the car. He just kept crying, "But I wanna pway da wiiiiiii." I took him in and told his teacher why he was crying and that he missed school to play the video games. I was expecting her to say how important school was, instead wii got, "I wish I could stay home to play the wii too. Do you have that bowling game, Charlie?" Thanks for the help, Teach.

I got to Josiah-sit, nah nah nah na boo-boo

Jessica let me babysit Josiah the other night for four hours while she went to Bingo with mom.

The little booger is adorable. He is so good natured and chill. He just ate and stared. Ate and stared. Oh and pooped up a storm.

He loves the ceiling fan, and we love him loving the ceiling fan. He just stares and stares at it. We laid a blankie on the floor with him on it and he was talking to us. Baby said, "Did he just say what I think he said." I said, "What?" Baby said, "Goo-Goo." (Baby in this excerpt refers to Lil Charlie, of course.)

We had a wonderful time and can't wait to do it again.

Party Like a Rockstar!

Charlie threw me a "Surprise" 30th Birthday party at the Pavillion on the River in Cuyahoga Falls on March 7th. The theme was classic rock, so everyone came as their favorite classic rockers. I was Janis Joplin. Charlie was Hawaii Elvis. We had George Michael, Ike and Tina, a bunch of groupies, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Pat Benetar, Elton John, one of the Dire Straights members, Paul Anka (please excuse the spelling of some of these names). We danced to rock music. Ate Dave's delicious wings and my meatballs that mom made. And desserted with chocolate ganoche cake with beautiful mini dafodils. We had a wonderful time until midnight, and like rockstars, threw an afterparty at the Windsor, our favorite little hole in the wall.