Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to our favorite Daddy! Our present to him this year: these videos and chips and guacamole (which will make sense once you watch all the videos). Oh, and a weed-eater (we truly are old now!):

Theo's self portrait

When I picked Theo up at church the other week I was greeted by one of the workers saying ‘I have to show you what Theo did today’ – immediate parent panic starts. The volunteer then pulled this picture out:

She was a mix between embarrassed and entertained. I asked Theo about the drawing and he said ‘well they told me to draw myself and I thought I am a boy, I should draw a penis’. I guess he got sidetracked before adding the trousers!  All in all, I thought it was a fairly good self-portrait.  :)

Theo's First Coach Pitch Game

So I am mentioned in an earlier post, Theo is playing t-ball for the first time this year. It has been a lot of fun. In an effort to move the boys towards more advanced baseball, they have just introduced 'outs' where a kid can really be tagged out if the ball is thrown there or they are tagged. They also introduced the coach pitching the ball rather than just hitting off a tee. The way it works is that the coach throws five pitches and if the player hasn't made contact, then the tee is brought out and the kids hits off it. I really like this new set up, but not nearly as much as Theo did.

The whole way to the game Theo told me that he just couldn't wait to get someone out. He was just so excited about the prospect. It is probably worth mentioning that on one fluke incident earlier in the season, before these new rules were introduced, that Theo successfully tagged a guy out at third base. Theo promptly told the guy that he was out and then looked decently upset that the guy wasn't being removed from third and told to go back to the dugout (they just let all the kids stay on before the introduction of this rule).

Despite this new rule, they still have the rule that the last batter hits a grand slam (in that all the kids on the base run all the around and the hitter gets to score too). Well the last kid on the opposing team hit the ball out to left field (which of course means it just rolled out there and no one stopped it!). Theo ran all the way from center field to left field got the ball and then proceeded to run as fast as he could all the way to home plate holding the ball (he knew this was safer than trying to throw it!). He beat the runner and then just stood there waiting for him so that he could tag him out. The runner ran in and Theo tagged him. It was hilarious and as Theo would want you to know 'the coach did the out sign and called the runner out'. That, friends, is successful tee ball! :)

End of Year...Awards

At the end of last year, Jack and Theo got their presidential fitness awards given to them. I love the fact that they did this, largely because I remember doing it as a kid. Sweet memories. The boys were kind of impressed with the fact that Barack Obama's 'signature' was on it. 

There was one funny moment where a girl was supposed to be whispering, but instead it came out in a 'kid whisper' for us all to hear: 'I don't know if my dad will like this award because he doesn't much like the president!' 

Here are some pictures for the memory book: 

Theo and T-Ball

Theo started t-ball this spring and has really enjoyed it. The league that he and Jack play on assigns each  player in each age division to a major league team. Theo has played for the NY Yankees this year and Jack has played (for the second year) for the Philadelphia Phillies. When Theo found out that he has been assigned to the Phillies, he immediately told Jack that meant he got to be better than Jack! 

We have quickly realized that having an older brother is quite an advantage. Theo is one of the few players on his team who understands baseball (having watched Jack's games) and so he takes it upon himself to run all around the field getting the ball. It is not unusual that he might run from left field to right field if necessary. It is quite amusing - we never knew bunch ball existed in t-ball. We are working on playing your position, but for the most part, this year is mainly just about fun. And Theo is having a lot of that!

Some pictures are included below.

Theo is in the right back row. He is in the back row because he was deemed one of the 'taller' kids. I think  this is true, but it probably didn't hurt that he also had found a huge dirt pile and had run around in it in the first five minutes before practice. And if that wasn't enough, he had also 'practiced' a few slides so already had grass stain on his baseball pants. And if both of those hadn't done it, he 'accidentally' had brought Jack's old faded hat from last year. Oh, the joys of being the younger brother extend both ways!!!!

Having his close friend Andrew on his team has made this year lots of fun:

A rare moment of concentration as he waits for the pop fly.....