We made it

After a LONG 12 hour drive, a million waffle house sightings, too many movies, potty breaks, "are we there yets", and lots of travel toots. We have arrived in Myrtle Beach. We are looking forward to lots of wins on the field, way too much Nascar paraphanelia, and maybe a little time at the beach. I will be sure to post all of our exciting adventures when we return. In the meantime, please enjoy the video from my last post. I can't wait to experience our upcoming games, pin-trading, and other adventures that await. Go Flames!!

Scouting Report

For those of you who have been left unsatisfied with the lack of actual "scouting reports" on this blog.  Here you go.  Travis found this gem on YouTube about the Georgia Gators/Yarddogs who we are going to be facing at our 8U World Series next week in Myrtle Beach.  They are currently the #1 8U team in the nation according the USSSA rankings.  But you knew that already, didn't you.  Enjoy.  

I especially liked the coach's description of his "9-year olders" and the close ups of the blue Nike cleats.  I have a feeling Coach Crawford and I are going to be fast friends.  Fershizzle.

How do you measure up?

I am a sucker for these things.  They always make me chuckle because of the complete absurdity of the common line of thinking not all that long ago.  Women definitely have come a long way.  Although I have found myself pondering the meaning of life and what my purpose is lately.  Some days I feel like I could be a future museum exhibit with the caption going a little like this:  "Here we have the vintage stay at home mom.  She spent her days moving piles of things from one place to another.  Obviously her brain was quite small."  Seriously, I think 95% of my time is spent moving toys, dirty clothes, books, and all sorts of clutter from place to place.  I really can't seem to come up with a solution to this problem other than getting rid of all of our stuff.  My kids are messy.  But school starts in about 4 weeks.  Woo Hoo!  And I have big plans for some generous donations to Goodwill. 

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I would be considered a failure according to this chart.  But at least I don't wear red nail polish.  That would be scandalous.

Man Crush

Don't kid yourself.  When you pick out names for your offspring, it is a big deal.  Especially in regards to sports.  I have overheard many a man trying out potential sons' names aloud so they know for sure that they will sound powerful and strong when coming out of a loudspeaker in their future athletic pursuits.  You gotta put some thought behind the process because names and their potential nicknames can be a good or very bad thing.  We have a wonderful kid on our baseball team named Daunte........he comes from a great family with strong Italian/Spanish roots.  They have five children.  Five beautiful children. 

Here are two of the (well-named) future heartbreakers, Sergio and Diego, with Eli.

 But I am getting off subject here.  Back to the name thing.  Daunte is a great name for sports, and his last name also starts with a D so that sounds cool too.  The thing I can't figure out is why his teammates all seem to be in such awe of him.  Is it his cool catchers' gear?  The beautiful olive skin tone?  His amazing athletic ability?    I can't be sure, it is probably all of them but I really think it has a little to do with the cool name.  What I am getting at here is that I think my son, Jordan, has developed a serious "man crush" on Daunte.  (I thought of saying "boy crush" but that sounds a little too creepy and I know that Jordan does like girls in that way.)  He just thinks Daunte is so darn cool.  Lately it seems like all of our baseball conversations have gone a little like this:

Me:  "What should we do after the game today?  Do you want to go for a swim?"

Jordan:  "Can we please go to Daunte's pool?  It is sooo warm, and it is 8 1/2 feet deep!"

Me:  "How did your new sunglasses work for you during the game?"

Jordan:  "They were alright but I really like Daunte's sunglasses."

Me:  "What is different about them?"

Jordan:  "His are in a better shape and they are colored and he has like two cases for them.  A soft one to protect them from getting scratched, AND a hard case to protect them in his bag."

Me:  "How do you like wearing your chest protector?"

Jordan:  "It's okay but I really want one like Daunte's.  It has padding all around it and it is much softer.  Balls just bounce off of it and don't even hurt him."

Jordan:  "Mom, I really need new shorts.  Mine are way too short and they don't look good.  Daunte has really cool shorts.  They are really long and baggy and almost hang down to his ankles."

Me:  "Wow.  Are they like gangster shorts or something?"

Jordan:  (in a very serious voice)  "No, I think they are just ghetto."   -what my 8 year old child knows about the ghetto is a mystery to me-

Me:  "Hey, get your stuff together, Dad wants to take you over to the field to practice fielding when he gets home from work."

Jordan:  "I really don't want to go to the field.  Dad is really hard on me and throws as hard as he can and uses the whole bucket of balls every time."

Me:  "He does that so when the ball gets hit hard to you during your games, you will be ready for it."

Jordan: (ponders this for a moment.....)  "Gosh, I wonder how hard Daunte's dad is on him."

Me:  "He must be even tougher on him than your Dad is with you."

Jordan: "Yeah, probably a lot tougher."

I could go on and on.  Also, most of the 99 phone calls Travis gets every day from team parents usually end up involving Daunte in some way.  We just can't seem to figure out if it is a jealousy thing or what.  Truth be told, he is a great athlete, he can play several positions very well, and we think he is a super kid just like the rest of them.  But the fact is, these boys are 8 and 9 years old and to be comparing themselves to each other just seems a little silly.  

Its gotta be the name.

You're It!

Thanks for the tag, Eva!

I have to admit, it was hard to come up with one word answers....I was tempted to break the rules but for the sake of my kitchen floor, here goes the quick version.

The Rules: Answer the questions using only one word. Then tag four others.

1. Where is your cell phone? car
2. Your significant other? baseball
3. Your hair? ponytail
4. Your mother? unselfish
5. Your father? generous
6. Your favorite thing? chocolate
7. Your dream last night? none
8 Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? happiness
10. The room you’re in? office
11. Your hobby? creating
12. Your fear? spiders
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? content 
14. What you’re not? loud
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? camera
17. Where you grew up? Idaho
18. The last thing you did? vacuumed
19. What are you wearing? elastic
20. Favorite gadget? iPod
21. Your pets? Arrrgh!
22. Your computer? Mac
23. Your mood? mellow
24. Missing someone? always
25. Your car? scratched
26. Something you’re not wearing? earrings
27. Favorite store? too many
28. Like someone? yes
29. Your favorite color? brown
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? Sunday

I tag Lydia(because I know she will do it), Tricia(because she needs to get her blog started), Kayla, and Julie (because they are married to my brothers)  

Dual Citizenship

For the past few years, our household has claimed both the PC and the Mac as places we wanted to be a part of. We have had our Mac for about 2 years now and we love it dearly for all the cool features, most of which we have absolutely no clue about. We just couldn't bear to part with our PC for the sheer comfort of Windows, Outlook, and well.......just the familiarity of what we grew up with. So, for the last few years, we have been living in two worlds with our videos and pictures in one and our files and emails in the other. We aren't the brightest when it comes to electronics around here so we probably missed all the warning signs of the imminent crash that was looming over our PC. This morning, as Travis was checking emails or going over baseball stats, the screen went blank. Then it said: SYSTEM CRASH?FILE DUMP START. Or something like that. He immediately turned off the power and called tech support, i.e. our brother-in-law, Michael. Poor guy. There are major pitfalls in being part of a large technologically unsavvy family and having serious computer programming skills. I am surprised that he answers the phone when we call. His only words of comfort were, "That's not good", in a british accent of course.

So, our dilemma was this: do we buy another PC and continue to try to co-habitate? Or do we just suck it up and finally learn how to exist solely in the Mac world? Lucky for us, we have yet another brother-in-law, Ryan, who unwisely answered our call for advice and well, HELP. He let us in on the secret of this parallels software that allows us to have our Mac and still run our Windows programs so that our immigration process will be a little less painful. Thanks to the both of you guys! After a day of mourning all that we lost, I am happy to say that most things are up and running again and I am trying not to even think about all the dumb reasons I haven't backed up our files in a long time. So all you friends of ours, let this be a lesson to you. Go out and buy an external hard drive or whatever it takes so that this doesn't happen to you next.

I worry sometimes that we have no skills of value to share with our siblings and their families. At some point they are either going to drop off all their kids for a month of baseball camp at our house or just change all their numbers so we can't bother them anymore. Or send us a gargantuan bill for all the services they have rendered in this area for the past 10+ years. But that's what families are for, right?

BTW, I did lose all of my contact info for everyone so if you don't mind sending me a quick email so at least I have that, it would be a big help. You can reach me at either sharesebeck@fuse.net or sharesebeck@gmail.com

Eli

I know that my posts have been a bit picture heavy lately. I just haven't had ANY time to put any of my highly intelligent thoughts down in print. Sorry. My time will come........right now I am trying to survive my life with some form of sanity intact. Unfortunately that doesn't include much blogging. Anyway, I haven't posted much about Eli for a while so here are a few recent photos of the little guy. He is now a little over three months and at our last DR visit, he was in the 75th% for weight and the 25% for height....sounds about right, darn it. Apparently I need to be feeding my boys some more red meat, or maybe I need to check out the black market for a little hGh to help us out. It's a shame really, with all the athletic abilities our children have inherited from the two of us that they weren't blessed with more size to handle it all.
Only kidding.
Eli has been a great baby so far and is sleeping through the night. Eight hours! ( I am knocking on wood as I type this) None of my previous children has slept through the night until like their 3rd birthday. He is pretty content and takes a lot of abuse from his older siblings, mostly Halle, of course.......in the form of launching his swing into orbit for a little joyride. We aren't sure who he looks like yet, its hard to tell with all that dark hair. We have been trying to coax out the elusive first giggle but so far, he doesn't seem to think we are all that funny. Must have gotten my dry sense of humor.

This is seriously his favorite spot, on his dad's shoulder. He is either fast asleep in minutes or checking out the world with one eye open.
This was taken after church on the day of his blessing.
Emma loves to hang with Eli
A little brotherly love
I love this kid!

Hi, My Name is Halle

This is my sweet little almost four-year old girl, Halle. She is a girly-girl who doesn't mind getting dirty or playing with bugs. She loves to sing, read stories, watch her favorite shows, swim in the pool, and play dress-up. She also has developed quite a little temper now that she isn't the baby anymore. She likes to tell me that I am the meanest ever and that I am not the boss of her. She leaves a trail in her wake the likes of which I have never seen before with overturned bins, dumped games, discarded clothing, and trails of broken crayons as far as the eye can see. I love this little girl. Really, I do. But, sheesh! She is testing my patience these days. This recent photo I am sharing is proof that when she says she needs to go potty......it means NOW. Not in a few minutes. Not after the baby has been fed. NOW. Since the game was only in inning three and I had nothing to change her into, I told her to go and roll around in the dirt. But instead, she ran straight for the bleachers and gave me the opportunity to convince all the parents that I should win mom of the year. Nobody laughed. Or offered to help. They were too focused on the game.

Beck fireworks spectacular

Break out the popcorn.....the Beck family is having their annual fireworks show. Be prepared for about 8 minutes of eye-popping sights and sounds, amazing pyrotechnic displays, and soaring heights you've never seen the likes of before. Or maybe not. How about a little redneck display of 25 bottle rockets going off from the highly technical end of an old plastic bat.......Yeah, we were pretty lame this year and kinda forgot about purchasing ANY fireworks ahead of time. Luckily it was raining pretty hard so we told the kids our "real" light display would have to wait for another day. Oh, and we scrounged up some old bottle rockets from the garage that seemed to do the trick. On the other hand, our neighbors apparently spent their last few paychecks on a trip across the state border for the good stuff.......that and a beer supply that lasted them until at least 2 am. So we ended up catching a great show from our deck out back and didn't even have to light any fires or clean up anything. Here are some photos for your enjoyment.......sorry you couldn't have been here to join in!

Day at the ballpark

Every year the Reds host a fun day at the ballpark for their most loyal fans. This took place last Saturday and after hearing about the face painting and free food, the girls wanted in too. Travis is never one to say no to taking the kids someplace fun so he piled them all in the car and headed downtown, leaving me to some messy closets and bathrooms to clean. They had a great time.....(and so did I!)

First on the agenda, some BP on the field for the boys.

A photo op in the actual dugout with the kids. Like, they are sitting on the ACTUAL bench that the players sit on during games. Just wanted to make sure you knew that.

Since when do baseball teams have cheerleaders?

......and the facepaint, can you pick out the middle child in this photo? hint.....she is the one who is apparently in need of some attention. Now that we have four kids, is there no middle child? Or do I have two middle children? Heaven help me.

Catching one at the wall (in the Hall of Fame Museum) Do you see the form on that kid?

Lunch in the sun, on the cement.....where's mom when you need her? I am guessing there were no tables available? And that rather than use the napkins in that neat pile next to Jordan, they most likely wiped their coney-covered little hands on the wall behind them. Just a guess.

Thanks for the fun day Dad!

....and then there were four

I have always wanted to have four kids. After growing up in a plus-size family, I thought that four would be a very manageable number to aim for. I like things to match which is great because I now have two boys to go along with my two girls. I like having a pair of planters on my front doorstep, a lamp on either side of my bed, and pretty much all my home decorating is done in twos as well. Don't I just sound organized and neat? I'm not. But, I do put a lot of thought and planning into the things that are important to me.....there just seems to be a bit of a disconnect when it comes to how they actually turn out versus what I had previously envisioned. This may not be totally apparent to those who have only seen the end product of my attempts in window treatment design, hair bows, dress-making, flower arranging, and of course blogging. Just know that behind each final successful venture, there have been many many messy failures leading up to it. I am really trying to remember this as I go about fulfilling my dream of being a mother of four. Things are going to be messy for a while. Very messy. And it is probably going to get worse before it gets better. I just hope that my end products will turn out well......even if they aren't what I have envisioned inside my head. My master plan didn't include 2 hour shopping trips to Costco, my kids taking a potty break in the bushes outside the Post Office (all public buildings need restrooms!), me nursing in the car while simultaneously watching my daughter pee her pants and my son play baseball, or me turning into the crazy cleaning lady who talks to herself while picking up discarded items throughout our house. Nope, not in the plan. But I also couldn't have possibly imagined how great it would feel to see my kids curled up with a good book, make a great play on the baseball/soccer field, give me the best hugs, giggle uncontrollably at each other, or say something extremely intelligent. I have to admit that life is pretty good......even when things go south, which they do quite often.......life is still pretty good.

Here are a few attempts at getting a good picture of the kids after our big family photo op.......