Jonah's Baseball Cards

I finally sat down with Jonah and created his baseball card. He had very definite ideas about how he wanted it. I must say that I think it turned out better than it would have if I had done it by myself. The edge fade is actually part of the picture- I took the pictures through the chain link fence. I now need to get these uploaded and printed.

I watched a webinar on making globes and made this page for Jonah's Cub Scout album.

It's been a rainy week here and both Jonah and Tovah's games have been cancelled. We're hoping that it will stay dry today and they can play tonight or we'll be making up games into August.

Baseball Cards

Jonah and Tovah have asked me to make baseball cards of them. I did them for Tovah's soccer team this fall and they're really easy in StoryBook Creator so I figured it was no big deal. I wanted them to be a little more realistic so I asked Jonah to bring me his baseball card collection so I could see what a "real" card looked like. I was horrified! They used the most unflattering pictures of the players they could find. One poor pitcher was caught just before his arm came forward to release the ball- his face is screwed up, his eyes are bulgy and crossed, his tongues hanging out, he looks like he was just removed from a car with the Jaws of Life. I didn't know the human body could be twisted like that and still survive. His mother must be horrified. The other action shots are better- players jumping into the air to catch a ball or sliding into base, they probably have horrible looks on their faces too but the camera doesn't zoom in so closely as it does on the pitchers.

I guess what I learned is that the picture isn't as important as the card is. Having a card makes you "official" regardless of what it looks like. So I spent my time making word art for "Adna" and a pirate icon png file. I should go and download the pictures from Tovah's first game.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

We had our very first baseball tournament this weekend in Mossyrock, a benefit tournament for Remington Stanley, a local boy with Septic Hip who is undergoing treatment at Seattle Children's. Jonah had a great time, his team had 2 wins and 2 losses. Jonah doesn't hit a lot of balls and usually gets walked to First but once he's on base he steals like crazy. He got a couple runs for his team and twice he was stranded on Third when the inning was over after his team scored 5 runs. Tonight is their first regular game if the rain holds off (we've had monsoon-like rains the past 2 weeks)

In lieu of a hymn this week I looked for a link to Nat King Cole's The First Baseball Game. I couldn't find a copy of the song but I did find this poem.

My sermon today, said Reverend Jones,

is baseball and whence it came.
Now, if you take the Good Book and you take a good look,
you will find the first Baseball Game.
 
read the rest here

March Madness

And I don't mean basketball! We let 3 of the kids play baseball this year (or in moments of complete honesty I should say I encouraged the kids to play baseball this year). With Ryan home all week I didn't think it would be too onerous to try it out. Rush is playing for Adna High School, Jonah is playing minors, and Tovah is playing U-8 girls softball. We haven't played organized sports since the fall Arin & Rush were in U-8 soccer and Nathan played U-14. Nathan played 2 years of T-Ball and Coach Pitch.

Yesterday Tovah started her practices. Our week now looks like this:

Monday: Rush- afterschool until 5:30 @ HS, Tovah- 4:30-5:30 @ AES, Jonah- 5-7 @ HS
Tuesday: Rush, Jonah
Wednesday: Rush, Tovah, Jonah
Thursday: Rush, Jonah
Friday: Rush, Tovah

Plus Monday we're supposed to be at Cub Scouts 6-7 p.m. Wednesday we still have dinner and AllStars at church (for 6 more weeks). Thursday is Chess Club for Isaac right after school and Boy Scouts at 7. Friday Isaac & Arin have CAST from 3:30-5:30. This week Jonah is at the Batting Cages from 6-7 on Tuesday and Rush has games Wednesday and Friday. We don't know what Jonah & Tovah's game schedule will be.

And the gear we've had to buy- 2 batting helmets, 2 bats, a glove, 4 undershirts, a belt, a hat, a bag, and black & white socks. Luckily I've been stockpiling cleats and somewhere I acquired 5 pairs of baseball pants that fit Jonah & Tovah. I'm supposed to be looking for an "A" sticker for Jonah's helmet since he's the only one who doesn't have one but no one seems to know where you get them.

But the kids seem to be having fun and all that fresh air and running around is supposed to be good for me. Tonight I'm going to try and walk the track while Jonah is at the cages.