Take me out to the Ball game!

I set the alarm for 7 this morning. We had to be in town by 9:45. At 8 BR hit me and said "Its 8, why didnt you get up at 7 when I told you to?" and rolled over and went back to sleep.

I tried to move my leg, I had him at my back, Bow was glued to my front and something was holding down BOTH legs. I consedered closing my eyes and going back to sleep. Hoping the dead weight that had became my legs would go away once I got at least 6 hours of shut eye.
it was Rayley.
I didnt want to deal with any crankyness till I had to, so I tried to extract myself as ginergly as possible. I managed to do pretty good.

I came in and woke up the boys. Then I went and got me a Dr Pepper. I went back and woke up the boys. Then I went and tried to find me something to wear. I came out a few minutes later and Matt was dressing.

I went BACK in and woke up Brett. I told him we had to hurry. He didnt even move.
I went to get some water to throw on him. When I got back he was up and looking around like he had been kidnapped in the middle of the night and thrown into a room he had never seen.
I told him to hurry up and get dressed, but to go and eat first.

I tried again to go and get my clothes on. Once I was dressed I walked back out. Both boys were dressed and sitting on the couch. I told them to take off their jersey shirts then eat and brush their teeth. They looked at me like I was crazy.
I explained I didnt want them to get their shirts dirty.

THey complied. I went and woke up Rayley. I sent her out and told her to eat. She was crankey but went. I decided I could take the 5 minutes to flat iron my hair.
After that I came back out. Matt didnt have on his belt and was whispering to Brett. The conversation was about the lack of a belt. I knew where it was, but since I had told both boysat least 4 times a day for a week to hang their belts and hats on the cup hooks I put up in their room I was letting him sweat it out.

I told Matt to "be sure and get your belt off the hook where your hat was."
HE got the deer in the headlights look.
I went back to my bathroom with a smile on my face. It was 8:45 and we had 30 minutes. Bow was awake when I walked back through. I got him out of bed and changed his diaper and took him into the bathroom with me. He sat in his bouncy seat while I put on my make up. HE was happy and chatting and squeeling. BR woke up in the meantime ( I swear, I really didnt mean to wake him up..... ) He came in to take a shower.

Brett came in with a sharpie and said he was gona write his name on his belt. I asked why ( I always do this, I just wanted to hear his answer) "incase someone looses theirs they wont steal mine"
"who would loose theirs?"
"I dont know!, but anyone could"
"what if you loose yours and we can only find Matts?"
"If you dont write his name in it you will never know"

ahhhh the beginings of a male brain.

I gathered up Bow and came back out. it had been about 10 minutes. Matt was still belt free. I wasnt spilling the beans.

I told Rayley that I had her clothes in her pink chair and to go and get dressed.
"but I wana wear...."
"I am sorry baby, you cant wear a dress"
"WHY NOT????"
"Rayley, are you going to the ballpark?"
"yes ma'am"
"are you going to play in the dirt?"
"yes ma'am"
"then you need to wear your fat babies and wranglers"
"but...."
"okay we can leave you here,"
"does the shirt at least match the boots?"
"of course"
"okay"

That went MUCH easier than I thought!!

I turned around and Matt says "mom, guess what I found?"
"the beef?"
"huh?"
"never mind, what did you find gallalio?"
"my belt"
"was it missing?"
"ahhhhh... nope"
"okay, well put it on, and zip your pants."

I got Bow dressed, Rayley came out and was dressed and BR came in. Both boys were sitting on the couch and I did a quick count.
Shoes,
black leggins
grey pants
black belts
Jersey shirts
hats

WOW!! And they had done it all alone!

And on top of that Matts shoes were on the right feet!
"Matt, did you know you got your shoes on the right feet?"
"oh man, and I just got them tied!"
he started to take them off
"what are you doing?"
"putting them on the right feet"
"they ARE on the right feet! I was pointing out that you had done it this time!!"
"oh. wow. wonder how I did that?"
"I reckon it was luck"
"yep, like dad always says, 'even a blind hog finds an acorn everyonce in a while'"

I got everyone loaded, made sure we had a few snacks, drinks, my camera ( which I NEVER got to use), Bow, sunglasses,

We had to stop and get some ice and we were ready to go. When we left the store it was 9:43. We had to be there at 9:45. and BR was driving. There was no way we would make it. Not that I could have made it in 2 minutes. BUT I would have came closer.
We did get there at 9:59. I know, Brett was freaking out, checking the clock every 2 minutes. And on the way we started seeing the signs for a tool sale, they do these like twice a year, and they are always at the lions club. Where we were going its the lions club complex. and there is barely enough room for 1/2 the teams there. Plus there was a few high school games today. I could just see this being FUBAR'd.

when we drove up the road to the park we were telling Brett we would throw him out, at his field and then once we parked one of us would come back and see him. The other would go to Matts. As we drove in all the fields were empty.
Last night I was told that we would be doing seperate cerimonies. and that we would be on the kids own fields doing them, since the HS had games. I was told this by 3 differnt people. All in differnt leagues. They had heard it from the top of the chain of command.

Everyone was walking around lost. The 10 or so people I talked to had been told the same as me.

Come to find out, it was on the HS field. SO I told the boys to jump out and RUN to the field and find their teams.
They disapeared. BR and I unloaded the other two. Then we headed off. we only missed a few of the teams being announced. It was just a parade of kids, teams and sponsers being called out, and then some patting them selves on the back by the board.

Once we were done Brett had pictures, I had forgotten his order form, but had the blank check. She told me to just go over to her tent later in the day and fill out a form. NO problem!! :)

Brett decided to go back to his feild with his team, but was hungry, so I told him I would bring back his bat bag with a breakfast bar and a juice. And off we went to gather up batbags and such. All the way ACROSS the park. but over by Bretts field, so we wernt moving the truck. Plus it was conviently parked right beside the tool sale.

Matt was already with his team. They had about 45 minutes before their game started so I fiqured they would be taking fielding or batting or something. Instead they were all playing grab ass and running in the woods. trying to see who could go to the ER first.
This was explained to me as "they will get all that nervous energy out and be settled once the game starts"

Uhhhhh NO.
They did each hit 5 balls. or the 6 kids I watched all were afforded the oppertunity to hit 5 and managed to miss them. Matt did hit the 3rd one. it was not looking good, but so far he is batting .500 so I aint gona gripe.

I went and got my score book, exchanged names and sat down to await the game. BR was trying to keep Bow happy. He wanted to nap. BR finally gave him to me. I was keeping score. I laid him across my knees and laid my pad on his back. a little bouncing and he was semi happy. Finally one of the other moms took him. She loves to hold him. ANd she had him to sleep in less than 3 minutes.

And I was right, Matt's game schedule has changed. I dont have it yet. But its differnt.

His game finally started and the other team batted first. Not bad. but not great. a few hits, but our fielding was a little bad. But they managed to eventually strike out 3. (remember this is pitching machine, you get 5 balls, thats it, so you hit or strike out)
We were up! we had 3 up and 3 down.
they came up again. some decent hits, nothing great. but we pretty much decided it was funner to chase the ball than to catch it. FInally they got out of the inning by striking out 3 more.
Okay. numbers 4 5 and 6. solid hitters. Matt is 5th in the line up. 3 Up and 3 DOWN.
Their kids got some pretty good hits this time. nothing spectacular. But when you are playing against kids that react once the ball stops moving its not hard to round the bases. they never even got three outs. after you get like 5 runs in one inning its a mercy rule and you have to let the other team come up to bat.

There was actually not enough room in the score book to write what happened to allow the runs. you have only so much space and its impossible to write FC 4-3-1-5-1-2 ER
which is Feilders Choice 2nd base, thrown to first, missed, thrown to pitcher, missed, thrown to 3rd, missed, thrown to pitcher, missed, thrown to catcher, missed. and I am not allowed to write FUBAR in there.
I asked.

so its 7 8 and 9. Nope, Nope and Nope.

I was keeping score. I knew this game was over. 10 run rule. but we had 2 more kids that hadnt batted. they had went through their line up twice and started over again.
I went and told the coach about this and he asked the other team if we could let them bat. Just so they could get to.
They said yes.
first one up, first one down.
Then comes the smallest kid on our team. he hasnt hit the ball yet. he was a late sign up. he is NOT likeing the pitching machine at ALL. he got a hit! and ON BASE!
Talk about HAPPY! whew!
the next batter got us out. but still, we did get ONE hit. 11 kids up and 10 kids down. one hit.

We gathered up Matt, found Rayley and I told BR I needed to go and pay for the pics. It was on the way to Brett feild. He said there was a long line. we would do it after Bretts game.
Okay, no problem.

Bretts game HAD to go better than Matts had.

and it did. Brett struck out both times. I dont know what is up with this kid. but he showed some promise on the field. I think we lost like 5-3

We gathered up the kids ( Rayley and Matt had been playing on the dirt pile again) took all their gear to the truck and locked it in, I told BR I was gona go and pay for Bretts pictures. He said we had plenty of time and he wanted me to see some things inside so we headed for the tool sale, ( you didnt think we would skip this did you?) They had alot of nuthin. I did pick up an electric engraver for like 6.00. And Brett talked his dad into some binoculars. For the 3 of them of course. And a set of snap ring pliers. 4 differnt angles for 9.99. Now if you have never had the need for snap ring pliers this might not seem like a big deal to you. But if you have ever needed snap ring pliers and couldnt find any, you are smiling and saying "GOOD FIND!"

Oh and a set of allan wrenches. because we have 7 sets, but are missing the two or three of them that we actually have a use for. Somehow this is my fault, although I have NEVER used the ones that fit our bows. I dont adjust my bow. it works. I pull it back and it shoots. I usually hit the target. Thats enough for me. I aint gona hunt with it anyway. I can not imagine how pissed I would be if I went out hunting with a bow that I was proficiant with at 40 yards and a 12 point buck walked out at 50. I would more than likely throw myself to the ground out of the stand due to sheer anger and disapointment. or at least throw the bow.

About 2 minutes after we walked in I asked Matt where his hat was. "uhhhhhh"
" GO FIND YOUR HAT NOW!" and off he went.
we looked all over the sale. Twice. We talked to 27 people that we know. We took a potty break, we never saw Matt again. So BR sent Brett to find him. He came back about 3 minutes later and Matt had his glove on it hand and was tossing a ball in it but no hat.
I asked him why he had his glove.
"I dont know"
"did you find your hat?"
"what hat?"
"the one I sent you to look for 30 minutes ago"
"oh, I looked in the truck"
"you mean you opened the door, forgot why you were there, saw your bat bag, had a light bulb go off, decided you were at the ballpark and got your glove cause you thought you could..... what? run around with it and your hat would magicaly appear in it?"
"uhhhhhhh"
"where the hell is your hat?"
"let me go look"
"did you lock the truck back?"
"yep"
Matt is the only one in the family that knows the combination to the truck other than me. He is the only one willing to learn it. He overheard me tell it to BR once and has never forgotten. The thing is, I keep a key in the ignition. and my truck in all its infinate wisdom, wont allow you to lock your keys in it. If you leave the keys in the ignition you cant hit the button and lock the door. when you close it the lock pops back open.
I spent 45 minutes one day locking and shutting the door only to have it pop back up. I couldnt fiqure out what I was doing wrong. I KNOW you can lock it with the key fob, but couldnt understand why it wouldnt work with just pushing the button. That is 45 minutes of my life I will never get back.

We were about 20 feet away from the truck so we started that way. The passenger door was wide open. I am guessing it had been that way for a good 30 minutes. Since we first sent Matt out to check the dirt pile for his hat. Luckily his hat was in the truck. It was in Rayleys seat. I dont know how it got there. but it was NOT cause Matt had meant to put it there.

We left and BR took me to eat. I deserved a fried cheesecake so we went to the mexican place. It was a very pleasent meal. We went over the errors the boys made, what they needed to work on. And everyone ate real well.

Once we got home I knew I needed to clean out the truck. It is a jumbled mess. I started to, then I found the order form for Bretts pictures. After that I just didnt have the energy. BR sat around for a little while and then went on to work. They boys played with Bow. Rayley had fallen asleep on the way home and never even woke up when I got her out, brought her inside and laid her on her bed.

I got Bow a plastic ball the other day that has another smaller jingle ball in it. its really just a larger version of a cat toy. He chased that thing all over the living room floor tonight. He wanted to be held, he wanted to sleep, but he also wanted to play. luckily the boys were willing to play with him.

About 7:30 Rayley woke up. She was hungry, she was thristy, she wanted to lay in my lap. THen she really woke up and started picking fights with the boys.

about 8 the boys asked if they could have those whoppers their grandma had bought them a week ago. I told them yes. I planned on them going to bed before the chocolate kicked in.
At 8:23 I told them to get changed into their sleep clothes and get ready for bed.
At 8:27 my sister in law called. Could she have the kids for the night?

I looked at the kids, the boys eating the last of their whoppers, Rayley trying to rope the play cow here in the living room and the clock which now read 8:28. I told her
"YEP"

10 minutes later she was here and their bag was packed.
As she was walking out the door I told her about the whoppers.
I might have forgotten to mention Rayleys evening nap.