Boys of Summer

Last weekend, Tyler had two soccer games and a baseball game 0 Phew! He did well, scoring a goal in one soccer game (see first photo) and getting a couple of hits in the baseball game.

Guess who was 'volunteered' to coach Ty's baseball team? Turns out the league had enough players, but no coach. So I volunteered. Of course I end up missing the first game and team pictures due to work. Fortunately for me, I have lots of help from all the other Dad's - everyone 'pitches' in.

Unfortunately for Melissa, she is stuck being the Team Mom, which means she handles all the emails, coordinating practices and did I mention all the emails? I think I got off easy.

For kindergarten and first grade, games are coach pitch, with each kid getting 5 pitches to swing at. Like every sport he has tried so far, Ty really likes it. He has a good arm, and is getting very good at hitting. More than once I have had to jump out of the way of a line drive or risk ending up on episode of America's funniest home videos.

Eliana's Dance Recital

Last weekend, Ellie had her dance recital. She was very excited and practiced for weeks. Her dance classes' outfits were adorable. There were about 8 girls from her class on stage - sang ingand dancing to 'Rock-a-bye Baby'. Each girl brought a doll to hold and sing the song with.

I finally got the video up (see below). It is only 15 seconds, but I had to chop it down with the original being over 140 MB. Ellie is very cute, but I am pretty sure most of you don't want to wait for that to download. For now, you will have to get by on a few more photos.

By the way, we got a new video camera. Our old one has been great for almost 7 years. However the motor that drives the tapes has started to go. Total repair cost was a little over $200, so we figured we would just invest in a new one. We went with hard disk model and are very pleased.

artwork and butterflies

Tyler's art teacher selected one of Tyler's paintings to be displayed in an annual exhibit at our school district's main Resource Center. Tyler's kindergarten class studied the work of Jasper Johns. The noticed he painted letters and number, usually with primary colors. Tyler chose two words he knew, and painted each letter, surrounded by a square, using a different primary color for each letter / square combination. Pretty cool, huh?

Later the same week, Ellie was playing outside when she spotted a butterfly in our neighbor's flower garden. Using her butterfly net, she caught the butterfly all by herself. With a little help from our neighbor - Mr. Kurt - we were able to transfer the butterfly to our bug cage. Ellie and Mr. Kurt made sure the butterfly had flowers to keep it company during its 'observation'.

It is the little things our kids do that makes us parents proud.