Winding down

Aaah, baseball season draws to a close. Riley's team did very well. He learned a lot and met some new friends. One of the families hosted everyone at the local pizza place/arcade. The kids all had fun playing the games and we parents finally learned each other's names after sitting together all season and rooting on each other's children whom we each knew on a first name basis! It was fun to discover some similarities (a fellow nurse, someone who was a neighbor of our dear friend Carole from Agape and other things), and discuss the plans for spring ball. This was Riley's first season playing in the majors division. He wasn't sure he was ready for that fast pitching, but did well in spite of his insecurities. We discovered he was the youngest on the team. Everyone seemed surprised to discover his age. He fit right in size wise. I am hoping he will want to do some work on hitting in the off season to build his confidence more. It is hard to know how much to push these things at 10 years old! He would really rather be reading than about anything else at this point...which I am certainly not discouraging!

Holden has one more soccer game next weekend (tomorrow's game has been cancelled due to a very rainy day today and more expected tomorrow). He was so excited that he finally got a turn playing goalie at the last game. He played at that position the entire first half and the other team did not score a single goal! Then, he also scored a goal near the end of the game...which we all missed because we were chatting. We clapped when the goal was scored, but had no idea until after the game that Holden had scored it and have no idea how it came about. So sad. Parent demerits were issued and much deserved! He is definitely in love with this sport. I am not sure I am going to be able to convince him to play baseball in the spring so that we are not going in so many directions when those seasons start back up!

And, because one sport is just not enough for Gabriel, he also started playing with the school's flag football team. Cross country is not over and he has to split time between the two practices on occasion when they are scheduled on the same night, and also spends multiple nights at practice after school. We are so blessed to only live 5-7 minutes from school! They are currently 1-2. which is better than last year's winless season! He had a game in Sarasota that I was miraculously able to attend, probably the only one all season because the games are so early in the day, well before I am off work. They lost that one, but it was still fun to watch! Gabe is learning lots about running routes and seems to be playing a receiver position. I say seems because the ball never seems to be thrown his way! Oh well! He thinks its fun anyway, who am I to disagree???

Things are slowing down a bit here, I am so glad. The kids manage to do their homework and make great grades and keep their room (somewhat) picked up, so we are calling it a good so far!