Would ya like to take a survey

And if you have never seen Animaniacs that little sentence will mean nothing to you...but whatever.

At this moment I am celebrating the fact that my two little ones plus the two little ones that I am watching are all taking a nap at the same time.

Ahhhhhh.

Blissful, blessed silence...other than the sound of the laundry rolling around in the washing machine, that is.

Can I get a Hallelujah?!

So I hopped on Blogger to share my little break with you.  Wasn't that sweet of me?

What can I say, I'm a giver.

A friend of mine posted this little survey that she created a while back and I thought I would take this sweet time to fill it out, if nothing else than for the simple fact that my children may look back at this "journal" someday and want to know a bit about their super cool mom.

Here goes!

Q1 - What's your favorite season?

Definitely Fall.  Love me some Fall.  Today is the first day of Fall! Yippee! 

2. Do you prefer to bake or cook? Neither?

I love to bake.  I don't hate to cook, but I really love baking...and I am pretty good at it.  Except Rice Krispy Treats.  How can something with only three ingredients be so hard to make?

Q3 - Who do you admire most?

Hmmm.  I have a lot of people whom I admire for different reasons.  I can't really choose one person over another, I guess it just depends on the day.

Q4 - Favorite genre of music?

I don't really have a favorite genre of music.  I like a lot of different types, except rap and seriously heavy metal.  I do love men's a capella, anything with a nice beat that makes me want to kick up my heals, songs from many musicals, and Christmas music.  I like some country songs, but nothing whiney or redundant. 

Q5 - Would you rather go on a picnic or to the movies?

I would rather go on a picnic, but only if the temperature is under 80 degrees and not humid, then I prefer a nice indoor movie.  Ooh...with Chad...and we can hold hands!  Movies are one of the only places we get to hold hands anymore, since he has to sit on the stand at Church and usually we don't take the kids with us to a movie theater.  

Q6 - Favorite type of shoes?

Depends on the season.  In the summer I like sandals and in the winter I like boots.  They have to be comfortable though, I will not punish my poor tootsies in uncomfortable shoes...at least not for very long.

Q7 - Have your traveled? 

I have been to Mexico and the Grand Caymen Islands, Hawaii, and a bunch of other states.   

Q7.1- If so, what's been your favorite destination?

Chad and I went to Oahu to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary.  I think that is my favorite so far, but I also love to visit historical places like Nauvoo.  It is my favorite temple to date.

Q7.2- If not, what's the top destination on your list?

I was looking through Chad's cousin's photos from a trip she recently took to Scotland and I made him promise me that he would take me there someday. 

Q8 - Do you prefer to use cash or plastic?

I use cash most of the time.  Every two weeks I pull out a certain amount to use for groceries and household stuff and it works pretty well to keep me on budget.  

Q9 - What's your favorite color?

I am a pretty indecisive person most of the time, so I don't necessarily have a favorite.  I tend to lean towards most of the blue family though.

Q10 - How'd you find my blog?

I found your blog because of a comment that you left on my blog!  Your insightful posts always make me smile.

Accident Prone

*Warning! If you are not a fan of another person's blood please do yourself a favor and stop reading here.  It's not too bad, but you can't say I didn't warn ya.*

When I got home from a Relief Society movie night a couple of weeks ago Chad told me that while Blake was at baseball practice he had been hit in the face with a ball.  His glasses took the majority of the impact, but it hurt and swelled up nicely.  We got him out of bed to give him some medicine and take pictures.  

I took him to the eye doctor the next day to make sure he didn't damage anything and get his glasses fixed and the doctor suggested that we should consider getting him contacts if he continues to play sports.

This afternoon I was at the zoo with my mom and sister and got a much dreaded phone call from the school nurse.  She told me that Blake was ok, but that he was playing football at recess and he and another kid collided.  The other kid's front teeth went into the top of Blake's head and while she was able to get it to stop bleeding, it looked like it needed some stitches. 

 Great.  

We hightailed it back to the car as fast as we could while pushing two umbrella strollers and a sit-n-stand (one handed, since I was on the phone with the doctor's office trying to get an appointment!) and headed back to the 'Boro to pick Blake up and get him to the doctor.

This is how it looked when I picked him up:

This is how it looks three staples, a hamburger and a pumpkin pie milkshake later:

I have been joking (or have I?) that he now understands the importance of wearing a helmet while playing football.  If he keeps it up I may just make him wear one all the time.  My sister said that we should probably go ahead and get the poor kid some contacts, but I don't know if they'll help his attention span any.  

The funny thing is that in the first accident he took his eye off the ball, but in the second accident he was watching the ball, thus the collision.  

Either way, I might just send him to school wrapped up in bubble wrap tomorrow.

The Greatest

Before I get into the nitty gritty of this post, take a moment to read the lyrics to this Kenny Rogers song:

Baseball Song
Little boy, in a baseball hat,
Stands in a field, with his ball and bat,
says "I am the greatest, player of them all"
puts his bat on his shoulder, and tosses up his ball.

And the ball goes up, and the ball comes down,
he swings his bat all the way around,
and the worlds so still you can hear the sound
as the baseball falls, to the ground.

Now the little boy, doesn't say a word,
picks up his ball, he is undeterred,
Says "I am the greatest, there has ever been,"
and he grits his teeth, and tries it again.

And the ball goes up, and the ball comes down,
he swings his bat all the way around,
and the worlds so still you can hear the sound
as the baseball falls, to the ground.
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/kenny_rogers/

He makes no excuses, He shows no fear,
He just closes his eyes, and listens to the cheers.

Little boy, he adjusts his hat
picks up his ball, stares at his bat,
says "I am the greatest, the game is on the line,"
and he gives his all, one last time.

And the ball goes up, like the moon so bright,
Swings his bat, with all his might,
and the worlds as still, as still as can be,
and the baseball falls, and that's strike three.

Now its supper time, and his Mama calls,
little boy starts home, with his bat and ball,
says "I am the greatest, that is a fact,
but even I didn't know, I could pitch like that."

Says, "I am the greatest, that is understood,
but even I didn't know, I could pitch that good." 

Now let's have a little talk (er...I'll "talk"...you read) about my #1 son. 

 AKA Blake.

Yeah, that guy.

One thing about Blake is that he is not lacking in confidence.  He crawled at five months and walked at nine.  He gets straight A's without much effort and can read a 500 page book in three days.  If he sees a hurdle that he thinks he can conquer, he just does it. 

 Sometimes this confidence gets in his way.  

Sometimes Chad and I have to talk him down a bit, just to keep his feet on the ground. 

 We sure do love him though.

When he was three became obsessed with the movie, "The Sandlot".  He watched it over and over and could repeat many of the lines from it.  We got him a tee ball set and took him to the park to practice.  When it was his turn at bat he would get all serious and tell himself not to be a "goofus".  To this day I say "You're killin' me, Smalls!" on a daily basis.

Fall 2010 

Blake is now playing his sixth season of baseball.  It is his third playing kid pitch.  Last year during Fall Ball he was struggling so much we decided to get him batting lessons.  From August to February he practiced with the guys at Bases Loaded, learning technique and how to hit the ball.  He improved drastically. 

 In the Spring he played on the Reds, a team made up of a group of kids who had played together their whole lives.  There wasn't much room for a redheaded-freckle faced-glasses wearing kid with an ego the size of Texas.  We were told several times that the kids had to "earn" their positions.  This pretty much meant that any newcomers to the group had to earn their position in the outfield or on the bench.

Spring 2011

Little did they know, Blake likes being in the outfield.  So when they lost eleven games in a row, it didn't faze #1 too much.  He kept right on being the best out fielder he could be.  When he got up to bat, second to last (if they made it that far in the line up without striking out) he put his all into trying to hit the ball.  A few times he even succeeded.

Towards the end of the season they moved him up in the line up towards the beginning of the order. 

 They moved him back the last game because the coach's wife didn't like the fact that I didn't order a trophy.  None of this phazed Blake.  He was just happy to play. 

We swore that Spring was his last season playing, but two days before registration for Fall Ball ended Chad came to me and told me that he thought we should sign him up again. 

 I hesitated.  

Visions of sitting at the ball field for hours on end in the heat and humidity danced through my head.  The run-in I had with the previous coach's wife made me lose sleep for weeks.  I didn't want to go down that road again.  Ultimately I hit my knees and prayed for guidance.  I was prompted the very last day of registration to sign Blake up...but I did put in a request for any other coach than the one we had for Spring.

Fall Ball practice began.  I could tell right away that this would be a different team.  The coaches promote teamwork and treat the players and parents with respect.  Winning is great, but it isn't everything, and when they lose the coaches don't blame it on the kids who've never played for them before.  It has been refreshing, despite the heat and wrangling the rest of my kids when Chad can't be there to help.

But back to Blake.

He is batting first in the line-up this season.

He hit his first home run.

**Ok, so technically he hit a double, made it to 2nd and the out fielder threw the ball so far past the 2nd baseman that he made it to 3rd, then the 2nd baseman threw the ball and hit Blake in the hip as he was just about to make it to 3rd.  The ball bounced to the outfield, which gave Blake enough time to slide into home. 

 I couldn't be there that night, but I was told it was nothing short of a stylish miracle.

  These McGhies sure do have a flair for the dramatic!

He is still playing left field most of the time, but like I said, he tries to be the best left fielder that he can.  He doesn't complain or ask for a position with more clout.  Though if you ask him if he could play any other positions he wouldn't hesitate to name three or four 

that he would also be great at ;-)!

This brings me back to the original reason for this post.

At the beginning of the season the coach was trying all of the players at pitching to try to see where their skills lie.  Blake took his turn among the others and gave it his all.  Now, despite the fact that I am his mother I try to see where his strengths are and encourage him to work on them.  After that practice he was just so sure he would be pitching this season.  I had to talk him down a few times, reminding him that he is just getting the hang of throwing from the out field and not to get his hopes up too much.

A few days later the song that I posted came on in the car.  Chad downloaded it a few years ago because if anything describes our Blake, it is that song.  We have always teased Blake about how this is "his" song, so his ears perked up when it came on.  

He listened in silence and then when it was over I heard from the backseat, 

"Wow.  This really is my song!  I didn't have any idea what a good pitcher I am!"

And the irony of that statement just about made my day.   

I hope it made yours too!

Spring 2011