I have a "Seven Year Old Update" in the works for Seth and Sam, but in the mean time, I wanted to post their baseball pictures before we get too far removed from the season.
This year the boys were able to play "pitching machine" baseball, which is a step between minor leagues and t-ball. It was wonderful. They had a group of really great dads coaching them and the entire team really improved throughout the year. There was also an awesome group of kids that the boys really enjoyed being around. It's so comforting to see our "homeschooled" kids fitting in with the team, having fun, and making friends.
Sam and Seth were some of the youngest on the team, so they really had a lot to learn throughout the season. One of the things we were most proud of them was that one of the coaches told Ben that the boys were "very coach-able...and smart! They catch on to things really quickly because they listen." What a great thing to hear as a parent!
By the end of the year both boys were consistently hitting the ball off of a pretty quick pitching machine. Sam got a couple ground balls and threw them to first to get an out. And Seth's got a great arm on him!
One of my greatest memories of the season came while Ben practicing with the boys' batting at home one evening. Seth was really struggling to hit the ball (he really tends to be "on" or "completely off"). Now the policy for pitching machine is that the kids get about 5-8 pitches off the machine, and then if they don't hit those, the coach tosses a few short underhand pitches to them. If they can't hit the underhand pitches, then the coach says, "He's running no matter what!" throws a pitch, and if the kid misses, the coach throws the ball out to the field and the player runs to first. So, on that particular evening, Seth had missed about 15 pitches in a row from Ben. Finally, Seth cheerfully called out, "On this one: I'm running no matter what!" And sure enough, he missed, but ran around the bases anyways. It was so funny and so indicative of Seth's attitude the whole season: he really wasn't competitive minded and never seemed to get flustered if he couldn't hit the ball.
Another funny memory I have of the season is that each time it was cold or rainy on a game night, Sam would ask me if I had gotten them their baseball pants yet. Each time, I would gently remind him that I had no intentions of buying him baseball pants. But then a cold day would roll around and Sam would pester, "Mom, it's cold! And you haven't gotten us our baseball pants yet!" By the end of the season my reply was no longer gentle; it was more like, "Sam, you have no pants because I am not going to buy you baseball pants. It is not because I haven't had time, or haven't gone to the right store, it is because I'm not going to!" (Lucky for him--and me--we happened to go to a store closing sale today and they had baseball pants for $7 each, so I couldn't resist a good deal!)
We also have great memories of people coming to watch the boys like Chris and Jackie, Tani and Glenn, and Grandpa Deedo and Grandma Di Di.
Here's a few pictures of Seth batting. He's got a great swing:
And Sammy:
The was one of the outs Sam got during a game:
(Somehow I got way more pictures of Sam than Seth...my bad!)
And here are super fans Daddy and Josh:
This was Josh's best smile for me
Here's Sam with one of their buddies Will Kessi. Will's dad, Pat was the main coach and was so amazing!
And here's the team! I may or may not have bribed everyone with cupcakes to get this picture taken. I also may or may not have needed to get this picture because I just plain forgot about picture day. In my defense it was at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. Still, my bad!
Here's our substitute individual pictures. Not bad. Maybe it's a good thing I saved the 30 bucks.
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