Feast after Famine

Here's even more pictures.

The first one is Jessie in daylight with her glasses. She got Transitions lenses, that react to the sunlight, so she's showing that off:


Here's Dee and Jessie at the bowling tournament in Austin:


Jessie and Brennan together, from January:

And Jessie manning the bakery at the Children's Museum.

More Pictures

OK, here's the main reason for this: Jessie's glasses arrived early, so here she is with her new look: And here's a few more pictures from the past month or two:

The latest news

We'll start off with the big news, and then move on to the baseball update.

Thursday Jessie had an appointment with the eye doctor. The results, rather expected, are that Jessie needs glasses. She found some frames she really liked at Wal-Mart, for only $10. Of course, the lenses are rather more than that... They should be ready by Friday. I believe Jessie is looking forward to seeing how different things look when they're not all blurry.

We had Stake Conference yesterday. Jessie and Brennan sang in the Primary choir. They both did very well, and we were very proud of how well they sat there on the stand for two hours.

As far as baseball goes, we had two games last week. The first one was on Tuesday, at the Webster fields. Brennan played first base the entire game. Overall he did well, but he's working hard on getting better. In the first inning, there was a throw he missed, but he ran and got the ball and made a perfect throw to second to get the runner out trying to advance on the error. He almost made that same play again, later. He also got a hit his first time up, stole second, stole third, and then scored. Later in the game he got another hit, and scored again. I think he might have had a third hit, as well. He also fielded a grounder and ran the ball to first, as well as some other plays. Still, in the end our hitting wasn't there, and the other team was hitting very well, and the Phillies lost.

Friday was another late game, against the White Sox. In most of their games recently they were bunting a lot, so we had decided to play Brennan at third again, as he was the most aggressive at charging the bunts. That plan almost changed when our other first base man came and said he couldn't play because he'd hurt his leg, but we decided to play our regular catcher at first instead. Brennan led off the game with a hit, and later scored. The White Sox completely failed to bunt, although they did have one hit that amounted to a bunt...

Anyway, the game was back-and-forth. Brennan's second time up, coach gave him the signal for a drag bunt (one where he squares around as late as possible). Brennan still squared a bit sooner than we wanted, and his bunt ended up going just in front of the plate (he told me later that it actually bounced up and hit him on the chest, so it probably should have been called foul, but the umpires didn't see that), and the catcher was able to throw him out. The Phillies had two innings in a row where they held the White Sox without scoring--but in the middle had one like that ourselves as well. Brennan made two key outs in this period--one a hard grounder from their best hitter that he fielded and made a great throw to first, and the other a high pop up in the infield that he caught. I think in the fourth inning, we had two one with two outs. Our batter hit a hard grounder to second. The White Sox second baseman dove and stopped the ball. Even so, several of our players (like Brennan) would have beat the throw, because it took awhile for the second base man to get up and make the throw, but it was our slowest runner.

It came down to the top of the sixth inning, the Phillies down 12 - 10. Our first two hitters hit it hard, but were thrown out. This brought Brennan up to bat. He hit a hard grounder past the second base man (a different player than in the other inning) and to the fence, and Brennan was able to make it into a triple. The next batter got a hit, and Brennan scored to make it 12 - 11. Two more hits followed, although we weren't able to get a run in, leaving the bases loaded, two outs, one run down. (and I think more went on in this inning before Brennan came up, because I think five runs would have made it 13 - 12, so that we would have needed to hold them on defense, but I forget now). And once again, our slowest runner at the plate. But he can hit it hard, so we had a lot of hope. Unfortunately, he hit a soft grounder that started out foul, but then went fair right to the first base man. So, once again, we lost.

Two more games this week. I want to mention that Jessie has done a great job cheering and supporting Brennan and all his teammates, and Dee has really gone the extra mile in trying to get things going as well, including making pennants for all of the siblings to use in cheering for Friday's game.

Make Up Pictures

OK, I think I can finally put in some pictures for the last several weeks.

Here's Jessie in Austin for the bowling tournament:

From 2010 Jan - April

And again:

From 2010 Jan - April

And here's Jessie and Brennan with some of the Austin clan:

From 2010 Jan - April

Brennan with his team at Opening Day:

From 2010 Jan - April

And by himself:

From 2010 Jan - April

Brennan's Birthday:

From 2010 Jan - April

Baptism:

From 2010 Jan - April

From 2010 Jan - April

A picture of Jessie from sometime, I don't remember exactly:

From 2010 Jan - April

Easter:

From 2010 Jan - April

From 2010 Jan - April

And a variety of baseball pictures:

From 2010 Jan - April

From 2010 Jan - April

From 2010 Jan - April

From 2010 Jan - April

From 2010 Jan - April

From 2010 Jan - April

Another week

Yes, I realize pictures are a lot more interesting than what I say. I hope to get some up at some point, but I don't have the pictures where I can upload them at the moment. At least this one will be shorter, because less has happened since it isn't so long since I last posted.

Saturday Jessie and Brennan had the practice for the Children's Choir for Stake Conference. Because that practice was at the same time as Jessie usually bowls, Dee arranged for her team to meet with her on Thursday after school to do their bowling for the week.

Dee and I spent a lot of the week, when not otherwise busy, preparing talks for Sunday. Aside from us, the program was provided by the San Jacinto College Chamber Choir. The director is a member of our ward, and he arranged for them to come and sing several songs for us. They were very good. I feel both talks went well, and we both received several very nice comments afterward.

As far as baseball goes, when I last wrote we were preparing for another game. This one was at the Webster field, which is very different. Our usual field is small, with 12' fences, and just a short distance between the plate and the back stop. This means it's hard to get more than a single, because even the youngest kids can usually quickly get to a ball hit to the fence and throw it in, and it makes it hard to score on balls the catcher doesn't get, because the ball will usually stay close to the plate unless it rolls down the baselines. But at Webster they use the same field for the machine pitch and the kid pitch games, so it has a much bigger area behind the plate, and the outfield fences, although only four feet high or so, are 250 feet away. This creates a huge outfield, so balls hit out there can make a huge difference. The team we were playing is the one we lost to the Monday before, when we played probably our worst game.

Tuesday's game was similar. Brennan led off with a grounder between short and second for a triple. The second batter did about the same, and Brennan scored. We ended up with three runs that inning. The game went back and forth a bit. Brennan had several chances to make plays, but mostly on bunts and short grounders, and he was struggling to pick up the ball cleanly. His second at-bat he popped up to the pitcher, and his third at bat was his first strike out. Like I said, I don't remember all the details, but I believe we were down a run or so in the top of the last inning. With one out, we got a solid line drive down the third baseline and into the outfield for another triple (it might have been a home run, but it was one of our slower runners), and at that point we were leading by a run. The next batter popped up foul, and the catcher (who was on our team last year) made a diving catch. We tried to send the runner from third, but he was called out at home on a close play. In the bottom of the inning, the other team ended up winning on another close play at the plate, but this time the runner was called safe, and we lost again, 8 - 7.

Friday was another game. We started out with some good defense, and held the Red Sox to 1 run in the first. Brennan hit a hard grounder to third, but sadly their third base man was very good, and he was able to just throw out Brennan. From there things went downhill, and going into the bottom of the fourth it was I think 12 - 0. Brennan's second at bat he again hit it hard, but the pitcher was able to get it and again throw him out. Anyway, our team finally started getting some hits in the fourth and I think we scored four runs. Again, I'm not sure of the exact scores at most points, but we avoided losing on the 10 - run rule (if a team is winning by 10 or more after four innings, the game is over. After the fifth inning, if a team is winning by six or more it is over, because the other team can't catch up (since you can score a maximum of five runs in an inning). But we couldn't afford to give up many more runs. We had only nine players that day, so everyone had pretty much been playing the same positions. So I was a little surprised when the coach asked me if I thought we should change things a little. But, I said sure. So the coach moved his son from shortstop to first (he played first on All-Stars last year), the first baseman to third, and Brennan to shortstop. The first couple of batters hit it into the outfield, and so it was runners at second and third, with no one out, and if the runner scored the game was over. Coach called time out, and brought the infield in tight with instructions to throw home no matter what to try to get the runner. The next batter hit a pop fly into center, however. Our center fielder made the catch. Both runners had left when the ball was hit, and Brennan very alertly ran to second and started calling for the ball. The center fielder heard him and made the throw to Brennan to complete the double play, and Brennan then moved to make sure the runner on third didn't try to tag and score. The next batter hit a grounder to third, and the third base man made the throw for the third out.

Now it was up to the offense. We scored five. Brennan had another hard hit, but this time it was a line drive to the first baseman. Once again we ended up with a runner on third, and if he scored the game was over. This time, though, the batter grounded to the pitcher, and the catcher wasn't able to quite make the tag to prevent the run. So we're still left looking for our first win.

We're now considering if we want to adjust our infield at all. In our last practice, the regular first base man was late (along with several other players). I was heading over to play first for some infield drills, but apparently meanwhile Brennan was volunteering to play first. Coach asked me and I said to let him try. He ended up playing a lot of practice there, and was doing pretty good, although I'll have to try to go over some details with him, as he has never played first before. But it might happen in a game.

We have two games this week, tomorrow and Friday.

That's it for now.

More Bowling and Baseball

This sums up most of our activities.

I don't believe I ever mentioned that back before Christmas Dee and I had started getting some Harry Potter Legos, as part of presents for Jessie and Brennan, in part by our frequent procedure of finding larger lots, keeping the parts we most want, and then trying to resell the rest to make back the money. This led to our discovery of a site called Bricklink, that is a Lego selling/buying site. Anyway, we ended up buying about 60 pounds worth of Legos from one person. After a lot of time sorting out pieces--and along the way selling some we put together sooner--we had reached the point of having five sets more or less ready to sell, and are planning to just sell the rest as a large lot. Meanwhile, just after Christmas Dee found a person who was selling several Harry Potter sets, and she came up with the idea of a new variation on the Christmas Village. So we bought those sets as the foundation of our Harry Potter Christmas Village...

Anyway, as we were finishing up that first lot, she found another person selling a lot of Legos. And by a lot, I mean a 50-gallon trash can full of Legos, plus three large tupperwares, plus a few smaller boxes and tupperwares. So now there's a lot of sorting out again. But we do think in the end we will make back our money, and even come out a bit ahead. And we now have a store on the aforementioned Bricklink site.

This Sunday I was released as a Ward Missionary. I am still Cubmaster, though the next pack meeting is at the same time as a baseball game, so Brennan and I will miss that one. One of Brennan's den leaders just had her tonsils removed, so Dee was asked to fill in for a couple of weeks. Otherwise, she is still enjoying doing Achievement Days with Jessie.

I also think that I failed to mention that Dee ended up as chairman of the nominating committee for the PTA board for next year. Dee spent a fair amount of time fulfilling those responsibilities. She also ended up accepting the nomination as 2nd VP for next year, and so that will keep her busier next year.

Jessie is still doing well with her bowling. She is now consistently getting over 100 in her games. And although her team are all fairly new and in their first season at this level, the last we checked I believe they are in 2nd place overall.

Jessie and Brennan both volunteered to be in a children's choir for our Stake Conference in two weeks. Sunday they had a practice for that, and there will be another one on Saturday morning.

Oh, and they both got all As for their third term. So we're proud of them for their hard work.

Baseball has been going well for Brennan personally, though the team has struggled. Last Monday they had a very off game. Their fielding was not as good as it should have been, and at the beginning of the game they were really struggling with their hitting. Through most of the first three games, aside from Brennan (who is our leadoff hitter) and the second hitter, no one had hit as well as hoped for. Towards the end of Monday that started to change, highlighted by a two-run homer by our number four hitter that left a large dent in his bat (and made it unusable). But it was too little, too late, and the Phillies lost, 10 - 8. That night and the next there was a lot of discussion among the coaches (and between Dee and myself) about things to do to help them improve. One result of that was Brennan being more fully established as the main third baseman. Since that game, he has only played third, although there is still one inning each game where he sits out and someone else plays third.

Tuesday was another game. This time I was umpiring the game before, and since our team was responsible for running the concession stand at the same time, Dee wanted to make sure that the people supposed to be doing that were there, so we all headed down early. The umpiring was fairly uneventful, although I kept getting hit by foul balls that would hit the fence behind me and ricochet back at me--once in the back, and once on my hand. When it was time for Brennan's game, they played much, much better. Brennan made a couple of good plays at third, and he continued to hit well. The improvement from the end of the Monday game continued in the hitting, including a second home run from the same player (Damien). Unfortunately, the team we were playing (who haven't lost yet) were all hitting the ball hard, and usually away from our fielders. So in the end we lost again, 15 - 10. But it was encouraging that we played a lot better.

Last night was our next game, against the Tigers. Brennan was really excited for this game, because of being on the Tigers the past two years, and the coach of the Tigers was the assistant coach the two springs and Brennan's coach in the fall. Plus the head-to-head matchup, as the coache's son, Cade, plays third base for the Tigers this season. Brennan started off the game with a hit, stole second (he was at first called out, but we all knew he was safe, and the field umpire asked the homeplate umpire, who agreed that he was safe), and then came around to score. In the bottom of the first, the first batter hit a hard grounder that Brennan just missed. The second batter hit a grounder in between third and short that Brennan just couldn't get to (and neither could the shortstop). The third batter hit a grounder to short. The throw came to Brennan, but over his head. He got the ball quickly and touched the bag for a close play for the out. The next batter (who is their hardest hitter) hit a grounder to Brennan. He played it well, and went to the bag for the second out (and was ready to throw to second for the double play, but there was no one there to cover (and I don't know if he would have had time, anyway)). The next batter or two got hits, but then Brennan caught a shallow fly ball to his left for the third out. He was thrilled to have made all three outs.

Through the rest of the game, the Tigers hit a lot of balls to third. Brennan continued to play well, although I think all the others were "almost" plays, where either the coaches moved him a little, only for the ball to go where he had been, or soft grounders that by the time he could get them the runner was already almost at first, etc. His second at-bat he was out on a grounder to the pitcher, who made a good play to get him. His last at bat he hit a very hard grounder right down the first base line which deflected off the first baseman's glove and into the outfield. Again, he came around to score. Damien just missed this third home run (it went slightly foul). Just like the last game, the Tigers were all hitting the ball, and so going into the bottom of the fifth it was 13 - 10 Tigers. In our league, if you have a six run lead after five, the game is over, because there's a rule that you can only score five runs in one inning. So the Phillies needed to hold the Tigers to have a chance to come back in the sixth. They had some good plays, but gave up two runs, and then with two one the Tiger's big hitter came up and hit a home run to end the game, 18 - 10.

Tonight we play again, still hoping for our first win.