We are the Champions! {Baseball Spring 2013}

Another season of baseball comes to a close ... what an exciting season it was. Our team ended the regular season play, going into the playoffs, in 2nd place. We came up against the 1st place team who was undefeated all season and pulled out a great win! Congratulations Rays!!

Devin pitched a great game ... giving up only 1 unearned run during his starting innings.

He also had some great hits and scored a few runs! And, though I did not catch any photographs - he caught two pop flys in the game, too.

Pictured below ... Devin with his head coach and trophy for 1st place.

Final score ... 10 to 6!

Devin was chosen by his team to play in the All-Star games ... two fun nights of baseball. Love this picture of all the All-Stars!

Fall Baseball {2012}

 

Another season of baseball comes to a close ... fall baseball always seems to be over before it starts. Devin had a great season with huge improvements in his pitching. He is looking forward to some downtime in the off season but, he will continue with his private pitching coach and work on improving his speed in running.

Devin celebrating his double.

Scoring!

Celebrating the win!

Happy 11th Birthday, Devin!

Devin had a wonderful 11th birthday celebration ... as luck would have it, the Braves were home on his birthday so we were able to get tickets for him and three friends to attend. I packed a light dinner for the boys to enjoy on our short ride - hot dogs, chips, and a coke.

My husband and I took the boys down to Turner Field early so that they could enjoy some of the fun activities they have for kids. They took turns in the batting cage and pitching cage. And, spent the rest of the time before the game in the Braves Museum.

Though the Braves continued on with their Monday curse, which has them losing almost every game they have played all season on Monday, we still had a great time. And, even with a short rain delay we were still home by 11pm. Just in time to open some gifts and enjoy mini-cupcakes from a cupcake bakery. {Thankfully, all of Devin's friends we took with us are homeschooled - as our schools in this area are already back is session.}

Two of the boys stayed over for the night and this morning I made one of Devin's favorites - cinnamon rolls.

Happy 11th birthday Devin! The time just continues to fly by, how is it that just yesterday it seems I was holding you in my arms for the first time. We are so thankful for the wonderful young man you are growing up to be!

Baseball : End of Season Party

Hard to believe in two weeks Devin has tryouts for fall baseball. It truly has become a year round sport for him. On Thursday night we wrapped up the summer all-star team season with a party. The boys had requested a home run derby - so we decided a cookout next to one of the smaller baseball fields in our park would be perfect {smaller field to up the chances of "home runs"}.

My husband did a good job with handing out trophies by talking about each boy and why they were selected to be on the team and about their season.

Devin moves up to the Bronco league this fall so we will leave some of these boys behind for at least a year but, others we will enjoy seeing on the fields again in just a few short weeks.

Wordless Wednesday : {Game Face}

The craziness of our summer has not allowed me much time to sit down and compose a blog post but, I wanted to share this photograph for Wordless Wednesday.

I am entitling it "Game Face" ... it was Devin pitching in our first game of All-Star Tournament Season, this past Saturday. Normally Devin is pretty relaxed and just has fun when pitching but, I think he was pretty stressed taking the mound for the first time outside of our park. Thanks to one of the other parents on our team who took my camera and captured this for me ... I was too nervous to watch and definitely would not have been able to hold the camera still enough to snap this.

Catching Up : {Ballet, Baseball, and more}

The last two weeks have been a blur ... dance recitals, baseball playoffs and All-Stars, the end of our school year and standardized testing. And, in the midst of all of that ... my computer caught a virus and completely crashed losing all of my files and pictures. {Thankfully, we were able to pay someone to recover and restore my main computer and I have an iPad and laptop which I was able to use. I now vow to actually begin using the backup drive my husband bought for my computer over a year ago.}

Lexi and Ava Mae's ballet recital was beautiful ... both girls did a great job! It was a long two days but, it is always so nice to see them dance on stage and to see the improvement they have made over the last year.

Devin's baseball team {that my husband coaches} finished their season in 3rd place after a week long double elimination tournament. In amazing end ... we actually entered the playoffs in 6th place. All the kids played their hearts out and we lost to the 2nd best team in the league by just one run.

Devin attended the league championship game where he was awarded a trophy for being named the best hitter in the league with a .787 batting average and an .800 on base percentage. {I am told these numbers are really good.} 

And, last but, definitely not the least ... we finished our school year and all of our standardized testing last week!! Devin and Lexi celebrated by going to Six Flags with my husband. A fun way to the end the school year.

So what lies ahead... lots of swimming, a month of ballet intensive for Lexi, a month of travel baseball for Devin, VBS at our church, a camp here at our home, ballet camp for Ava Mae, a trip to our friend's lakehouse, lots of playdates, and a week long trip to the beach when everyone else heads back to school in August. So thankful, summer is here!!!!

Another Fall Baseball Season Comes to a Close

Today was our last day of Fall ball for the season ... my husband and son both agree that it always ends too soon.

The players on the team decided it would be fun to end the game by dumping the cooler on the coaches ... though with temps in the 50's and a party at a restaurant right afterward we offered up another option ... silly string.

Our pizza party afterward was fun ... time for awards and to say goodbye until next season. This was another great team with super nice kids and parents. We hope to see them all back this Spring!

{And what would a baseball end of season party be without friends to be silly with}

Beautiful Fall Day at the Ballpark

I love fall baseball ... especially when the weather cools off and our views around the ballpark look like this on a cool crisp Saturday morning!

Congrats to the Tigers for a great win today and to Devin for pitching an awesome 2 innings!!

September Field Trip: Turner Field

Yesterday was our first field trip of the school year ... Turner Field's Weather Day followed by a Braves v. Marlins baseball game. We even got to walk the warning track prior to the start of the game and got up close with several of the Braves players as they warmed up.

I have to say this was probably Devin and my husband's favorite field trip. The girls and I were along for the ride. {Though I love watching baseball - I prefer it usually from a suite or at least the Casino Moon level where there is plenty of air conditioning directly behind you.} Our upper level seats yesterday were not that bad ... we ended up with a great view of the game and we were in the shade the whole time. The best part was that the field trip - including our seats for the game and lunch were only $8 a person. You can not beat that price!!

The weather classroom was hosted by a local television station and was quite informative. We even were able to see a weather balloon up close - something the kids and I recently talked about in Science.

The game had a slow start but, the Braves pulled it out for an exciting end. So glad Devin was able to see some of his favorite players down on the field when we walked the warning track. The players were super nice about waving and saying "hi" to the kids as they were down around the field.

Here are a few pictures of our day at the ball park.