Baseball

Play Ball! aka "What I've been Doing instead of Updating my Blog" Josh is loving baseball! He's the kiddo on the top left corner. This is his team the Knights led by a great dad, DJ Harris. We are so lucky to have met the Harris family. They have two great kids, one in Josh's class and one in Ethan's class. And DJ is a fantastic coach. Since this is Josh's first time playing baseball, we weren't sure how this was going to turn out. But we've been pleasantly surprised. Josh is really starting to focus and understand the game. That doesn't mean that we don't have our moments, like when Josh was crying in the outfield last night when the other team started to rally. Or when Josh came over to the stands the other night to have me get him food from the concession stand during the game. Seriously, you're in the middle of a game, Josh!

All in all, we've had fun and I wanted to share a few shots from last night's game. I am still taking tons of pics with my camera, and really loving how comfortable I am with it and how little changes in my settings really impact the final image.

Such a great coach!

He's so serious about it. Love that he is really focusing on the game.

Base hit (ball is out of the frame)

Josh's friend Wyatt (and the coach's son) connecting w/the ball

Josh's friend Nicholas patiently waiting for them to gas up the pitching machine

And Nicholas keeping his eye on the ball before a GREAT hit!

It's hard to tell in this picture, but that's Josh fielding the ball as pitcher and then he threw it to first base and got the man out. Go Josh!

Grandma

My grandma has had various heart tests which all point to the same thing, that she needs a valve replacement. She visited the heart surgeon yesterday, and both the surgeon and my grandma agreed that she is not strong enough right now to handle the surgery. The surgeon suggested coming back in 6 weeks and my grandma thinks that she'll be feeling better by then and can have the sugery. I disagree with this, reluctantly, but I can't imagine how she is going to get stronger. I feel like I've been smacked in the face with this and yet I knew somewhere in my mind that this was going to happen. She said nothing tastes good to her, she's too nauseous to eat, she's having nosebleeds, her mouth is dry, etc. She thinks that this is due to the radiation, and maybe it is? but she's been feeling worse and worse each day, and it doesn't sound like the radiation is the culprit.

So, for now, we wait, pray, enjoy our time together, and make sure she's comfortable and has the support she needs. If you have any suggestions or thoughts for me they're appreciated. At least before I felt like we were working towards something, and the "work" gave me something to focus on. Now, when faced with the stark reality of things, I feel helpless and sad.

I know my blog title is "Things that make me smile" and this definitely isn't something that makes me smile, but I felt like this was the best place to share. I promise to get back to my regular posts, pictures, etc. soon!

Ethan 2/5/12

Ethan walked out into the garage (the doors have small windows on the top of them) and said "Holy Smokes! Jack Frost's been here!" and then in a quiet voice he said "He's magic."

MLK Day

How do you begin to explain this to kids? Of course, you can tell the basic story of who MLK is and the context behind it, but when they start asking questions about WHY people did that or didn't do that and WHY some people hate other people, it really trips me up. Sometimes I think the wonderful things about kids' minds is that they see things much more clearly than we do; they see the solution as simple. Unfortunately there's so much history and context that's hard to explain in terms that he understands. And I guess it's more of me wanting him to know the answer (excuse?) to WHY it went on so long and WHY it took 100 years after the Civil War for real change to happen. But I want him to know, even if it makes me uncomfortable and even when he gets that look on his face where he's disappointed in what has happened. Disappointed in Adults. Who let it happen. Sometimes being a mom is tough.