Ready ... Set ... BASEBALL!

I have had many titles in my life but I think I have officially earned a new one ... PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL MOM! It's unbelievable how much of my life revolves around baseball these days. And, luckily, only two of the boys are playing. Nick's season officially started last night and Austin's starts tomorrow night. But we've been practicing for weeks already. And it seems that Marty is always out of town or at a meeting or something and I get baseball duty. And the funny thing is that I'm actually enjoying it! (Shhh ... don't tell Marty because then I can't complain about it anymore. LOL!) Because of Marty's weird schedule, he hasn't even met Austin's new coach yet. (This is not to say that Marty doesn't go to the games or practices ... it's just coincidental that his work schedule so far this season has made him miss quite a bit. He's a great baseball dad!!)

Here are a couple of baseball layouts I have made. Looks like I need to make one for Nick. He has played more seasons than anyone and I don't have one for him. Also, just a note that it was a very interesting season when Austin, Lauren and Mackenzie were all on the same team. LOL! Lauren playing baseball ... you had to see it to believe it. The pink shoes were too much.

Oh I just HAD to show you some pictures of Lauren since I made that comment. Here we have Marty helping Lauren get ready to swing, Lauren swinging, then the end result. This was 2 years ago. Now you see why she gave it up!

Here's how this week looks ...

• Sunday: Nick had a scrimmage from 1-3. But about half way in, it started pouring. So we went home and Austin's practice from 3-5 was rained out.
• Monday: Labor Day so no school for kids, no work for me or Marty - a day of baseball-free fun for everyone!
• Tuesday: Nick's first game 6:00-7:45pm (yes - he moved up a level and they are an hour and 45 minutes now). We were all going to go to the game but Lauren decided she was sick and it felt like "a dinosaur had stepped on her head." (How does she come up with this stuff?) So Marty had work to do anyway and he stayed at home with Lauren and I took all of the boys to the game with me. We watched all 2 hours in the drizzle and were pretty wet when we got home.
• Wednesday (today): Austin had practice way across town from 5:30 until 7:00. I thought it would be rained out because our regular field was closed but not so! They have a friend close to the other field so we went and played at his house for a while (his parents are friends of mine). Then we dumped Austin at practice and I took the other three to get pizza. Don't worry ... we saved some pizza for poor Austin. And again, Marty was working late. I called him on my way home and he said he was having "a few beers" - that's just wrong!!! I remember when I used to be able to meet him out at work functions...
• Thursday: Austin's game at 7:45. Nick's game at 8:00. It's gonna be a late night but I think Marty may be on baseball duty because Lauren and Mackenzie have to get to bed before 10:00. Luckily the field is only 5 minutes from our house. I wonder if that had anything to do with why we bought where we did... The answer is YES!
• Friday: Parents' Survival Night at the gym! The kids get to play and Marty and I get to go out. No baseball!
• Saturday: Normally Austin will have a game but for some reason there isn't one this weekend. But I have to work on Saturdays anyway so I will miss Saturday morning games.
• Next Sunday: Nick and Austin are both skipping practice because we're all going to the Texas Ranger's baseball game! LOL!

Ok, sorry about all of the details. You get the idea. Baseball is my life! For the first few seasons, I wasn't really into it. I thought it was something Marty would do with the boys. But as the years have gone on, I have evolved (that's a common Pokémon term heard in this house). I'm that psycho baseball mom screaming "Get that elbow up!" ... "Watch the ball!" ... "Good cut!" ... "Get down!" Something has also happened to me in the stands. I have always been one to not talk to anyone. But recently, I can talk to a brick wall. If anyone is sitting by me, I am talking. It's really terrible. There's this one kind of obnoxious grandpa that I barely know and as he was leaving last night, I told him, "Glad you could come see me!" I don't even know why I said it. But he couldn't stop laughing so I guess it was appropriate. It was one of those Homer Simpson moments when you ask yourself, "Did I just say that out loud?"

I think I have rambled enough for tonight. I need to get these filthy kids in the bathtub. It's 8:30 and they stink and it's a schoolnight. Hopefully they don't have homework.

I'll leave you with some music. We have this song on CD and we put it on 'repeat' all the way home from practice. The kids love it and wanted me to turn it up LOUD! Nick was a little concerned. He is the careful one of the bunch and kept telling me that "Volume 49 is very loud, Mom!" Anyway, this is Nickelback: Too Bad