Baseball ~ Big and small

Okay, I'll be honest, I used to hate baseball. Watching it on TV was the worst. If I couldn't fall asleep and there was no golf on TV, baseball was a close second as a cure for insomnia.

Then we moved to Pennsylvania to a town just outside of Pittsburgh. Now football is still my number one favorite sport (that will be another blog post), but I can now watch the Pirates on TV and understand what is going on at any given glance of the screen. I know what "top of the seventh, two outs, with two on the corners, go ahead runner on third" means. I can even explain the jargon to my boys. I feel I have grown up a little bit with this knowledge.

Being able to watch the games on TV and watch the boys cheer their favorite players is entertainment in itself, but the best place to watch the games is at PNC Park. We went to a game today. Astros won, but my guys got to run the bases after the game. During the game, they cheered for their team and hoped for the win, but I think they spent most of the time people watching. At the park, not only are the players an attraction, but so is the Pirate Parrot, the Pirate himself, and everyone else who comes to cheer on the Bucs or the other team (which flabbergasted my oldest "Why would someone wear an Astros shirt, Mom?") You can only imagine the explaination of manners and lack there of that needed to take place.

At the end of the game, the boys waited patiently in line for 45 (!!!) minutes so they could run the bases. Mikey took off quickly once we reached homeplate. His goal was to pass the boy in front of him. Matt paced himself and made sure to hit every base. As he finished his lap (well behind his older brother) both arms flew up into the air. I could just hear his imagination going stong. He had just won the game with a walkoff homerun and his teammates were waiting to high five and bump chests. Two little thumbs came up after I asked him if running the bases was fun.

Yes, I like baseball now. If it weren't for my guys, I still would only tolerate it. I like being the mom of two boys.

The Only Girl in the House

My house is filled with matchbox cars, legos, and balls. Most of which if stepped on will leave nasty marks on the floor and horrible marks on the bottom of your foot. I have sound more missing lego pieces with my toes than my eyes. Man, they make some of those pieces tiny!!

I am the only girl in the house, but I have never been one of those "girl-ly girls" so at times I fit right in. Other times, I realize I need to teach my boys, girls (or should I say "Moms") can do a lot of things that guys can do.
Last month, my oldest asked if I was going to the park with the rest of the family to play ball. When I said I was, he seemed disappointed. Then he said, "Mom, why don't you just stay here and clean. The guys could just go and play."

Now I am not known for my housekeeping skills, but that day the kitchen and living room were actually pretty tidy. I looked at my husband (who was chuckling out of sight of my son) and he came to my defense (when he could speak without laughing).

We all had fun at the park. I even made an out in the ball game and the boys "let" me score a run.