Kid pitch

To finally wrap up the fall baseball season, Rhys played in his first kid pitch tournament.  Bill has a friend from work that has a son Rhys's age and has a select team.  They decided to combine some members from his select team with some kids we've been playing with for a while and enter the Project Grinch tournament.  Each kid brought a toy to be donated, and we had a special holiday name for our combined team: the Misfit Toyz.

Playing kid pitch is a big jump up from coach pitch. The most obvious difference would be having a kid pitching and trying to strike the batter out instead of a coach pitching to the batter.

Another big part of the learning curve is learning how to steal bases!  Rhys did really well at this.  I was overwhelmed watching, because it seems like so much to pay attention to!

The team didn't do very well in the tournament (they lost all three games they played), but it was still a good experience.  I think Rhys is looking forward to playing kid pitch in the future, but if he's like me, he's still glad to have one more season of coach pitch to look forward to first!

Texas game

 For Rhys's birthday, we gave him tickets to the Texas football game versus Florida Atlantic, which was set for November 20th.  August 22 to November 20 was a long time for an 8 year old to wait, but I'm pretty sure he'd say it was worth it!

 

He and Bill went together and ended up meeting with some family friends.  Rhys felt pretty lucky to watch the game with one of his best buddies (and fellow Texas football junkie)!

It was a great game for them to go to, because despite the Longhorns' rough season, Texas pulled out a big win.  The boys were ecstatic and celebrated every good play.

Remembering Nick

As if recovering from the loss of Boompah wasn't enough, we got news just days later that my sister's old boyfriend and close friend of the family passed away.  He was just 21 and a week from graduating from UT with plans to go on to medical school.  He was one of the sweetest and most loving people I've ever known, and he stood by my sister, unwaveringly, while she went through some tough times.  It's truly hard to grasp that such a young guy, so full of vigor, is gone.  We will truly miss him.

Nick's obituary can be found here.

Boompah

 

The weeks before Thanksgiving, my grandfather's chronic illnesses took a turn for the worse.  He was in and out of the hospital a couple of times before he decided he was finished with that and wanted to be home.  He knew his days were numbered, and he wanted to spend it as comfortably as possible with his family.  So we all gathered, spending as much time as possible with him, and my mom and aunts took turns staying with him around the clock.  It was a difficult time to see him in so much discomfort, but heartening to see the family he created surrounding him with love.  The Monday before Thanksgiving, he passed away at home, just as he wanted to, with his four daughters, wife, and grandson with him.

He was such a wonderful grandfather and leader of our family.  He was always present, always ready to offer advice, and would drop anything to rescue any one of us in need.  He had such an eccentric personality...there is nobody in the world like Boompah.  He left a huge gap in our family that nobody can fill, but his larger-than-life personality and our memories will live on forever.

His obituary can be found here.

Field trips and fun

As always, field trips are a big part of our homeschool.  We're so lucky to have such a fabulous community and seemingly endless possibilities for real-life learning.  So far this semester, Avery has gone to see the opera La Traviata, the older kids got to go canoeing, try their hands at archery, and play paintball (as a part of the best birthday party ever -- and on a school day too!), plus we've gone to see a semi-conductor, toured the Mother's Milk Bank, and today we explored and learned all about UT's power plant.

We are also still enjoying our co-ops.  Avery is still loving debate and is also having a great time with her writing class.  She is currently working with a friend on a story written in the form of texting for class.  Both Avery and Rhys are thrilled with their book groups.  All three kids have had fun trying their hand at Destination Imagination challenges with friends, and we're all still loving our history co-op.  This week the kids made colonial wigs, and Avery and Aubry put on a violin and piano concert for us afterward. 

And we still manage to have some fun at home too.  Griffin has been reading Beatrix Potter books, so we all had an English tea party one afternoon.  Rhys entertained us by reading aloud the funny parts of his Ramona books.

Fall Ball

Baseball season officially ended a few weeks ago (now we're into post-season tournament play), so it's about time that I share some pictures from the season! We played in Hutto for the first time and had a really good experience. Rhys was playing 8U coach pitch on a team that Bill and Rick coached called the Bombers. Griffin was on a 6U t-ball team called the Thunder.

Rhys really came into his own this season. He made numerous diving catches, double plays, and perfect throws while playing shortstop. He also learned how to switch-hit and now feels even more comfortable batting left handed than right!

Batting leftie.

Rhys getting "antlers" from JT after beating out the throw to 2nd base.

Rhys looks for the ball as he heads for home.

Rhys slides into home.

Rhys and JT connect for an out.

 

In the dugout.

Griffin also had a great season. He mostly played 3rd base and did a great job (except for one game when he had some trouble paying attention and spent a good portion of one inning doing somersaults by the base). He really seems to enjoy baseball and can't wait to play again in the spring!

Griffin gets ready to bat.

Hitting off the tee.

On base.

Playing 3rd base.

The boys' Christmas lists

Not to be outdone by their sister, the boys just shared their (also delusional) lists.

Rhys:
1. blue Ian Kinsler jersey
2. Playstation 3
3. 2011 NCAA football game for the PS3
4. Easton Rival baseball bat
5. tennis balls for playing wall ball
6. Golden Retriever puppy
7. Ramona and her Father book
8. Wii Backyard Football game
9. Rangers 2011 tickets
10. Colorado Rockies hat
11. Wii NCAA basketball game 2K10

Griffin:
1. Rocket launcher
2. 2K11 baseball game for the computer
3. gun that shoots 4 rockets
4. marshmallow shooter gun
5. marshmallow shooter crossbow
6. Legos
7. Wii Backyard Football game

So Avery's list clearly shows her love of music, Rhys's clearly shows his love of sports, and Griffin's list? Shows his love of weaponry.

Avery's Christmas list

Avery just brought me her Christmas list. She's quite the comedian.

1. cello
2. books
3. sheet music
4. an orange kitten named Crookshanks
5. money
6. clarinet
7. oboe
8. grand piano
9. my two front teeth
10. the piano tuned
11. a backup violin

Tournament champs!

This weekend, Rhys played with some other kids from Hutto in a tournament in south Austin. He played center field and made several great catches for outs. The kids played amazingly well, especially since it was a group that had never played together before! They managed to finish the tournament 6-0, and only gave up 7 total runs in all the games.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Party

Last Tuesday was the release date for the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. This has been a much anticipated date in our household for many months, so we were very excited to hear that Bookpeople would be holding a parking lot party and book signing!

There were several activities set up, including a giant version of The Cheese Touch game:



And (colored) mashed potato throwing:




The kids took advantage of any down time to get in a little book reading, and they both had it finished in record time.




Soon we noticed a crowd gathering around a news crew. We were very surprised to discover that the kids from the Wimpy Kids movie were there to be interviewed!



Later, we were able to get pictures taken with the stars, who were both very nice.




After taking a break from the festivities for a quick dinner, we returned to get in line to have Jeff Kinney sign the kids' books.

Renaissance Festival

The Pet Whisperer

Rhys is known in our family as the favorite of our pets. The animals just seem to gravitate towards him and never miss a chance to snuggle him.



Even when he's asleep.





I just can't figure out why the animals don't favor me....

Halloween weekend

Avery woke us up at about 5 this morning...sick. Rhys had been sick the day before, but he'd made a miraculous comeback and was ready to play in his tournament today. He had a great day today and went 6 for 6 with several triples, batting left-handed. Thankfully Avery was well on Saturday (while Rhys was sick), and she spent the day at her first debate tournament and had a great time. But today was a different story.

We were planning to host our annual Halloween party, but of course we had to cancel. We had a very quiet Halloween. Avery started feeling worse towards the end of the day, and barely had the will to get dressed in her costume. She was a trooper though and got all dressed up for pictures and even walked with her brothers to a few houses. It didn't take too long before she was worn out, so she and I headed back home to pass out candy while the guys went on.

Avery dressed as the Red Queen from Alice with in Wonderland, Rhys was Colt McCoy, and Griffin was a vampire. This won't go down in history as our favorite Halloween, but the kids looked great and are happy with their loot!