Time for some hoops

Jacob LOVES playing basketball. He is also getting better every week. He had to get a sweat band to be like the real basketball players. Jacob is the best hustler on the team and is always right there to get the rebound. Some of the kids struggle dribbling, but he can already run and dribble at the same time. He has yet to make a basket in a game, but he's been really close several times. I think learning to shoot when somebody has their arms up in front of you takes some getting used to. Travis is teaching him how to dribble backwards toward the hoop so that you can get closer to the basket before you shoot. I'm sure he'll get a basket before the season is over. He's only had two games so far.

Jacob is really good about not traveling. Most of the kids start traveling around the basket because they want to shoot and aren't close enough or don't have a clear shot. The team is working on passing more, but as you can imagine, everyone wants to make a basket.

No one is allowed to steal the ball from anyone, only when the ball is loose can you take it from the other team. Also, you are only supposed to have your arms up for defense. They are pretty cute trying to get as tall as they can with their arms. Jacob's speed is really his strength. Since no one is great at passing the ball, he's always the first one to the open ball. He loves being able to just run around at full speed all the time. I think the fast pace of the game is what really appeals to him. I'm just glad he's having such a good time!

Take me out to the ballgame

Batter up!

All the kids are supposed to shout "Orioles" when they reach home plate, but Bryson is the only one who you can really hear. It's pretty cute. He always makes sure to stomp on the base and shouts "Orioles" as loud as he can, which is pretty loud!
Here Bryson is waiting in ready position as the other team hits. Being in this position is supposed to help the kids remember to watch the ball and be ready to go and get it.
As you can see from this picture, "ready position" doesn't always last with Bryson. There are always pictures in the dirt or little mounds of dirt around where he and several other kids are standing. It's pretty funny. Travis is trying to get another kid on Bryson's team to pay attention in this picture, so it's not just Bryson who has the short attention span.
I don't get to go to Bryson's games on Sat., because I'm at Jacob's basketball games, but he and Travis told me how good he did last Sat. He's watching the ball more and actually fielded 3 ground balls and almost tagged a runner with one of them. Travis said that they were both running faster than he'd ever seen them run. He also got a really good hit that made it to the pitcher's mound before it hit the ground. I wondered how much improvement there would be since they are just playing 2 games a week and not having any practices on top of that, but I guess just playing and getting pointers throughout the game is doing the trick. I am not worried about the improvement anyway, I just want him to have fun. It's just exciting to hear about how much fun he is having and how proud of himself he is.

Travis' Birthday

Friday was Travis' birthday. We've been pretty busy and I haven't had a chance to post until now. Here is a picture of Ally "helping" daddy open her present to him.

One of the kids put a bow on Travis' head and thought it was pretty funny. Ally just kept trying to take it off.
Travis isn't a big cake kind of guy, so we had peach cobbler instead for his birthday. He was kind enough to let the kids help him blow out his candle. Everyone was supposed to look like they were blowing until I took the picture, and then blow it out. If you notice, Bryson is smiling, not blowing. That is because he immediately blew the candle out and thought it was great that he did it first.
Even though we didn't do anything too out of the ordinary for Travis' birthday, we wanted to let him know how much we love and appreciate him. He is such a wonderful husband and father! We are all so lucky to have him! Happy Birthday Travis!

Sports mania begins

We always knew that having 2 boys would eventually bring lots and lots of sporting events ... and so it begins.

Bryson just started T-ball and Jacob started basketball. Of course they both have games overlapping every Sat. morning except 1! Since Travis is the Asst. coach of Bryson's T-ball team, he has to be at T-ball, so I take Jacob to basketball. (That also means that Maddy "gets" to go to one or the other game every Sat. too.) Bryson also has games every Tues. night. The coach decided that 2 games a week was enough for such little kids, so fortunately they don't have practice on top of that. We had to have Jacob's team move their practice from Tues. night to Thurs. night so that I'd be able to see some of Bryson's games and be able to get to presidency meetings every other Tues. night. Bryson's season also ends a couple of weeks before Jacob's does, so Travis will be able to see 2 or 3 of Jacob's basketball games.

I guess that T-ball was pretty funny today. The very 1st play of the game ended with the runner and 1st baseman in tears after they collided. Travis said that 2 coaches just isn't enough for T-ball with such little kids. Maybe it will get better as the season goes on, but right now they could use a little extra help. Not only do the kids not know what to do or pay attention to what is going on (I guess a lot of pictures were being drawn in the dirt), but then the kids would need to go potty or complain that they were thirsty and couldn't wait for 2 mins. to finish the inning. I'll get to see for myself Tues. night how it goes. :-) I guess Bryson gets pretty distracted in the field and hasn't caught on to watching the ball and going after it rather than just waiting to see if it comes to him. He was disappointed that he didn't get to catch the ball today, but he did score a run and got to hit the ball twice. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good first game for 4-5 year olds.

Jacob's team was pretty good for 5-6 year olds playing basketball on 8 foot rims. They didn't strictly enforce the rules as even I could tell that there was A LOT of traveling and out of bounds balls where the ref looked the other way. All the kids just wanted to dribble and shoot, not pass. So when they got to the basket they'd just pick up the ball and run around until they had an open shot. It was pretty entertaining. Jacob was good about not traveling, but he missed all of his shots at the basket, but there were some close ones. Unlike Bryson, Jacob REALLY goes after the ball. So much so that he got hit in the nose with the ball once. :-( He was excellent at getting rebounds though and loved the game. I was surprised that he didn't pout at all about not making any baskets. He just really had a good time playing, and that is what it's all about.

Look Who's Walking!

Ally has been able to stand alone for a while now, but she was always too timid to take a step and would just sit down. Every once in a great while she'd take 1 or 2 steps, but that was it. Finally on Fri. she took several steps in a row and even walked across the room the short way. She is doing it more and more now. We clap for her every time, so now sometimes after she falls down she'll get super happy and start clapping for herself. Sometimes she starts getting giddy while she's walking and starts bouncing with excitement for her new feat - that of course causes her to loose her balance and she falls down. Then she just looks for the applause that she knows is coming. She's pretty proud of herself and we're proud of her too! The only down side is that now she looks even more grown up! I can't believe how fast they grow and change!!!

Woo-Hoo! Look at me! I'm just as big as my brothers and sister!