Baseball 2010

Can you smell it!? The smell of freshly cut grass, chalk lines in the dirt, and sweaty gloves. If you're still under a pile of snow, then you have no idea what I'm talking about. But trust me. My allergies will tell you that spring is here! And that means BASEBALL! Lea played t-ball a couple years ago and well, she was less than interested in playing. Mind you she was only 4, but this year I asked if she'd like to play and she excitedly said YES! Too bad on the way to the first practice, she was whining about not wanting to play......too late girl. So off we go to the baseball fields every Saturday - it's been a lot of fun and Lea has really improved since she started. She's playing coach pitch and is getting a hit every time at bat. The first game, she had to hit off the tee every time, now she gets a hit on the first or second pitch - couldn't be more proud!

Lea, Morghan Farris and Emily Hale

 (these girls are at the top of the age range and Lea is one of the youngest - she really admires these two girls as do I. They are great athletes and all around great girls!)

New uniforms, 1st game! Go Cardinals!

So close! Coach Steve Farris coming to help out. 

He's been an excellent coach - working with Lea during the game to practice her fielding and throwing.

Playing 1st base

 

My attempt to not have to pay for pictures. :)

My 3 little sweets and future athletes

What do you see?

A quote from some Disney channel show when a mom was asked why (by her teenage daughter) she had another baby: 

"Well, because 3 was too easy. 3 is for quitters." As she stands there with baby food and puke all over her clothes......   :)

HE is due Aug 18th and delivered on Wed, Aug 11, 2010 as a scheduled c-section.

A road to nowhere but crazy

So every year we go through this: LOTS of rain, someone somewhere decides to let water flow to the usually dry Salt River and we get to make an extended drive around the only street to exit Laveen. Some day there is supposed to be a bridge built - I've actually seen a flyer in the mail announcing it. However, this is how the City works: dry road, river flooded, fix said dry road because of water damage, tear up said dry and newly repaired road to build a bridge......does anyone else think that is completely dumb?!

Anywho, since Beckers are big into throwing rocks, they decided to go to the river and throw rocks there instead of their neighbors pool over a brick wall. We gladly agreed to join them and burn some energy.

Rule #1 and the only rule (before getting out of the car): DO NOT GET IN THE WATER! Daddy does not want to go swimming. 

It sort of smelled like the Columbia River - dirty water and dead fish. If you've ever smelled the Columbia, you know what I mean, but it wasn't as nice and I definitely wouldn't ski in the Salt River - it's more of a LARGE water hazard.

RULE #2: this was quickly added as the rock throwing began

2A: DO NOT THROW ROCKS AT PEOPLE

2B: WATCH OUT!

 "Hey Jeff, I bet I can make it half way." 

"No you can't." 

"Well I give you 10 bucks if you can beat me...."

Or something smart like that was being discussed by the Jeff/Geoff party.

Rock throwing for distance: who do you think won?!

Stole this from Erin's blog - yes her picture is way better than mine.

Reason for rule #2B. Lucas stood up right as Abbey was throwing that rather large rock in her hand. She has quite an arm for such a little girl.

The GOAT

My little GOAT: 

My little goat eats everything around.

Mud and rocks, 

paper and socks,

Yes even sand at the playground.

Licking the sidewalk and rubberized asphalt..

This can't be my fault!?

I feed her I swear, but what can I do?
She loves it so much - back for round two.......

I always tell her no and it just makes her crabby. 

But oh how I love, my dear little Abbey!

Be prepared

Between the earthquake in Haiti and the earthquake in Chile (the effects of which were seen all the way up the Western coast of the United States), Jeff was motivated to get working on our preparation, because what if that earthquake had hit California...... We have 7, 55 gallon barrels in our garage for water storage.

Are they full? Nope. 

Are they in my way....yes! 

How long have we had them....you don't want to know.

So off we go to Home Depot to get to work on platforms for the barrels to be stored in our side yard. We figure out how to make them, get the supplies. And we immediately run in to problems. Both batteries to the cordless drill are dead. Great, run to Palfreemans and borrow a corded drill. Get a few more screws in, ugh!? I go to take pictures of the progress Jeff is making and he's just standing there. Staring at the boards. Apparently 8 ft boards can also be sold as 7 ft 8 inches and still be an "8 ft" board. 4 of the 6 boards we needed were too short. End of day one on the project. 

Back to Home Depot the next day. Return the boards, get new ones, Thompsons water seal and back to do more work. This time I got to work prepping the boards. Moved them to the back yard and waterproofed them. Jeff made another run to Home Depot the following Saturday: came back with a circular saw, corded drill and 2 rain catchers the kids had made at the FREE workshop they happened to be there at the same time for. He got started and was quickly done with one and onto the next. Although another trip to Home Depot was needed - one of the boards was not going to work - AGAIN and the drill was not working either. I think there were at least 6 trips to Home Depot in a couple weeks.

This last week of spring break, Jeff had taken Thursday off and was able to finish the project. I actually helped with the drill too. I was kind enough to break a drill bit - thankfully it was Jeff's and not Scott's and put in a few screws. I had to get practice for my project.

We used 3, 8 ft boards, screwed them to the end shorter piece and then covered the top and bottom with 8ft plywood panels.

Still not full of water yet, but don't they look great! Baby steps here - we are so much closer than before.

The Prophet said to plant a garden.....

Lea was singing this song the other day and it's been on my mind for a few months now. The idea of a garden, not the song. And since I was blessed with anything but a green thumbs - I can kill off a cactus and rose bush. Supposedly two of the hardest and almost impossible plants to get rid of...........oops. :)

In our first trip to Home Depot for the water barrel platforms, we purchased 4, 3ft boards from the clearance bin (51 cents).....note to self, don't buy the cheap stuff. Much easier to work with boards that are straight and fit together. And have a work space big enough to hold the project.....lesson learned. This past Saturday it was my turn for power tools, trips to Home Depot and staring at boards hoping they'll just put themselves together. We built a lopsided, parallelogram, Square foot garden box. You'll just have to look at the pictures to see what I'm talking about.

See what I mean.....not an exact square, but it works for the purpose. My plants aren't going to care. :)

Lay down a ground cover (we used two garbage bags), put the box down, filler up!

Home Depot sells these bags of soil especially made for the square foot garden and there was a display in the garden section - go check it out!

 One of my cute helpers - she tried to eat the dirt, spread it out and then dig up what I had planted, but she was soooooo helpful.............

Add the grid with string attached to nails - gotta have the squares - one crop for each square

Wah-lah! We have a garden.....cross your fingers we can make it grow!!

Corn, corn, peppers

watermelon, watermelon, cucumbers

strawberries, strawberries, flowers the kids were given at the Home Depot workshop last week with Jeff