Tag-Archive for » Little League «

Insanity

20
May 2010

I don’t remember who but someone said the definition of insanity is the doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

This is me every Little League season — it is an insane time. With four kids, we end up have something happening every single night of the week. And most nights? There are several things happening, and they are happening in more than one spot.

Take a look:

Monday: Maxine has a game in Grayling at 6 p.m., but Justin has practice in Houghton Lake at 6 p.m. except Justin didn’t really have practice because he has a game Tuesday but that’s OK because we had to pick up Amanda from her practice, so we really needed to be in Houghton Lake. Reminder: Linda needs to get a copy of Justin’s schedule.

Tuesday: Autumn and Amanda both have a double header in Houghton Lake, Justin has a game in Roscommon at 6 p.m. and Maxine has track practice until 5:30 in Houghton Lake except Justin’s game is canceled due to a 5,000 acre fire in Crawford County, which was about 6 miles from the Little League fields. Of course, it is canceled just minutes before we pull into the field’s parking lot.

Note: Justin’s coach said their first game was canceled due to rain and the second was canceled due to fire, and he expressed worry that the third game would be canceled due to wind or hail….

Wednesday: It is Autumn’s birthday (she’s 16!), plus Amanda has softball practice, Maxine has a track conference meet (Linda is supposed to help keep score) and Justin has a game at 6 p.m. in Houghton Lake. We finally all arrived home at 8 p.m. to eat dinner together and have cake and ice cream for Autumn’s birthday.

Today, it is more of the same. We have an away game for softball (Farwell?), and a band concert for three of the four children including two who are also supposed to be at the away game at the very same time the concert is going on.

We’re going to split the children in two. It’s the only thing we can do, right?

Welcome to Little League season in the Sherwood household: it is a scheduling nightmare at times, but I LOVE watching the kids play.

Category: Parenting  Tags: , , ,  Comments off

Play Ball!

23
Mar 2010

The snow is gone in Michigan (for the most part), and the two oldest girls have already started practicing for softball. Their first game is at the end of this month. This time last year, the first game was canceled due to snow.

Wednesday, I sign up the three youngest kids up for Little League. This will be the first year I will have a child too old for Little League. Sniff. Note: I originally wrote “three littlest,” but my kids aren’t so little anymore and technically, Amanda is taller than Autumn, so a revision was called for.

This means that in just a short time, my schedule will grow very crazy as I drive children in various directions to various games. One child (Amanda) will juggle both JV and Little League for a while. She will be on the same team as her younger sister (although she won’t like it), and she will also be on JV with her older sister. The poor girl has NEVER been on a team all by herself except for the All-Star team, and she probably doesn’t think that counts. And then there will be Justin’s games and practices.

So once again, we will have four kids on three teams, which we’ve learned is our limit.

I just hope the start of this season is a lot warmer than the start of last season. I remember snuggling in blankets during a lot of games last year!

Category: Parenting  Tags: , ,  Comments off

Thankful for Grandparents

04
Jun 2009

kidsandmomMore than once, my husband and I have thought about moving away from our rural Michigan community, but what has always stopped us was that if we moved we would also move away from our support system. Right now we live within two miles of Steve’s parents and about a half hour from my mom.

This comes in pretty handy this time of year when the Little League schedule gets a bit out of hand. For instance, this week we have had games in Houghton Lake, Gaylord, Grayling and St. Helen.

Just last night, there were games in both Gaylord and Grayling, and I wouldn’t have been able to get all the kids to their respective games if it wasn’t for grandparents.

My two oldest had a game in Gaylord starting at 6 p.m., and I dropped off my two youngest at my mom’s house as we passed through Grayling for my son’s 7 p.m. game in Grayling. I thought he was going to have to miss his game until my mom volunteered. Steve’s parents often fill in to take kids to games at Houghton Lake when I’m traveling to away games.

And in a couple of weeks, I will be going away for a teacher writing camp and Steve will be on call, which means my children will be abandoned by both their parents for the same week. My mom, however, has agreed to take in all four kids for that week, and it even works out because none of the games that week are in Houghton Lake. Even better, three games are in Grayling, which is where my mom lives. The other two are in Roscommon and St. Helen, which aren’t too far away from Grayling.

Steve’s parents often fill in when the kids call home from school because they are sick or need something. I think my mother-in-law has brought the kids home from school more often than I have because she is usually available more often than I am.

With four kids and a busy schedule, I don’t know how we could do it without the support of our extended family.

Category: Family, Life with Linda  Tags: ,  One Comment

Awesome Game of Softball!

21
May 2009

Amanda slides into home for the run.

Amanda slides into home for the run.

For the third night this week, I watched a Little League softball game. It was Amanda and Autumn’s first game, but Autumn couldn’t make it because she was playing for the junior varsity team at an away game.

The game was one of the best I had been to in a while. The team just did an excellent job. They didn’t let anyone get by with anything, and they played smart.

The game also reinforced that I really like the coach for this team. He has coached Justin in the past, and his kids have been on my kids teams more than once, but the guy is just a great coach. He is always teaching lessons to the kids, and he always encourages the kids. He reinforces positive behavior and is just a great role model (as is his wife).

At one point, there was a controversial play. My daughter, Amanda, was up to bat. There is a rule in this league that if the catcher drops the ball after the third strike, the batter can run to first and continue. Amanda struck out; the catcher dropped the ball; and Amanda ran to first.

The other team fell apart and confusion reined. The bases were loaded and soon the three runners had stolen home and Amanda was on second base.

After a brief conference with the other team’s coach, the umpire declared the batter was out and the three runs don’t count and the runners need to come back to their bases. Apparently, the dropped-ball-after-three-strikes rule doesn’t apply when there is a runner on first base.

Our coach put up his hands up and said, “Wait a minute.” The umpire was clearly prepared for an argument, but our coach didn’t even give him one. With his hands up, he said (not screamed or yelled), “You are right. The batter is out, but it was a live ball and the runs should still count.” The umpire realized the coach was right, Amanda was out, and the runs all counted.

That moment — with the other team screaming and confusion reining — could have gone very differently with a different coach. I’ve witnessed other coaches losing their cool and being thrown from the game (yes, even at Little League level), but I am very proud to say this calm guy is my kids’ coach. He plays the kids fairly and calmly. He is always focused on teaching and sportsmanship. It just makes going to the games fun.

I should also mention that the other coach also reacted in a classy manner. She immediately accepted the runs and called out encouragement to her players stating the misplay was her fault not theirs and apologized.

Although I described in detail the time Amanda was up to bat and struck out, she also got a nice hit and several walks at her times up to bat. Plus she made some great plays at second base and shortstop.

Autumn also called me to let me know that she had hit the ball to the fence during her game although she was tagged out when she tried to make it to third. Autumn was very proud of her hit to the fence.

Justin had his first game last night too. I wasn’t able to attend, but he had fun despite his team’s loss.

It could not have been a fun game for the other team. The top of the first inning took over an hour, and our team racked up 16 runs before giving up the batter’s box to the other team, which answered with only one run. The final score, after two hours of play and only three innings, was 28 to 4 in our favor. It was clear that the girls on the team had learned a lot from the all-star tournament most of them had participated in last year (and been soundly stomped).

I should note that I am very happy with all of the coaches working with my kids this year. I am not one to complain if my kid doesn’t get to play. Most of the bad behavior by coaches has happened at games I’ve attended, but it seems to be mostly the other team’s coaches (like the time the umpire ejected a coach from the game).

Category: Bragging Mother, Life with Linda  Tags: ,  One Comment

Time for Dinner?

18
May 2009

amandacatcherTonight was the first Little League game of the season, and it proves to be the first of many nights that I will be spending at a ball field and trying to figure out how to feed my family sometime before 9 p.m.

Tonight, we ate at about 8:30 p.m. if you don’t count the sandwiches I made three of them eat before going to the field. The game lasted until after 7:30, and it was 8 p.m. before we even managed to get home. Of course, I had to immediately leave again to go pick up the oldest from her away game; there was a bit of a communication glitch there.

Tomorrow is the second game of the Little League season. It is an away game, and for the second year in a row, Autumn (my oldest) will spend her birthday at a sister’s softball game. I plan on taking sloppy joe stuff in a crock pot along with my plug-in converter that turns my car lighter plug-in into a regular outlet. That way we can eat dinner at a normal time just before the game starts. Cake and ice cream, however, will wait until this weekend.

I have entered all of the games into our family calendar for the next two months, and I would have to say that my evenings are booked for quite a while. At least one child has a game every single week night through June 22 and on some nights, like this Wednesday, there are two or (as in Wednesday’s case) three games all at once in three different cities.

On Wednesday, May 20, Autumn will be playing softball in Kalkaska, Amanda will be playing in Roscommon, and Justin will be playing in Houghton Lake. Luckily, Autumn’s game is a high school event, so she has transportation. I’ll have to tag a grandma to get Justin to his game, which leaves me taking Amanda to Roscommon.

Oh wait; it looks like I do have ONE week night free. It is Friday, June 5, which is Maxine’s birthday. She wants to have a party, so I guess that night isn’t really free either.

It wouldn’t be quite so bad if the temperature would warm up, but it is cold sitting outside in Northern Michigan right now. Last Wednesday, I sat through a scrimmage with the three girls; (two on one team and one on the other). There was a steady drizzle through most of it, and just when I thought it was getting better, it would get worse.

I like going to my kids’ games but looking at our schedule for the next couple of months is daunting.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Category: Mother of the Yeeeaar  Tags:  Comments off
« Previous Entries