Jack got his very first inside-the-park HR this weekend!

It's been a LOONG time since I've posted anything on there, but I just sent this email to Grammie and my brothers and wanted to save it here too:

It's been a while and I know you all have been wondering how Jack's been doing with baseball, so I wanted to send a quick update.

He's had plenty of over-the-fence homers but has never gotten an inside-the-park homer, until this weekend.  That boy is SO FAST!  There were 2 runners on base and he hit a line drive down the 3rd base line that got past the left fielder and rolled to the back left corner of the fence.  He flew around the bases and as he was approaching 3rd, he glanced at the left fielder and his 3rd base coach.  The coach kind'of shrugged his shoulders (meaning: "if you think you can make it, go for it") and the left fielder was just getting ready to throw the ball, so he went for it.  The throw was on target, but he slide on the back side of the base and caught it with his hand as the catcher tried to lay down the tag and was SAFE!  It was very exciting and the whole team ran out to congratulate him (just like a regular over-the-fence homer).

I know inside-the-park homers are no big deal when you're younger and happen all the time b/c the kids can't catch, throw, make errors, etc. but at this age, these kids are GOOD.  He's playing for the Castle Cub team which basically means the team consists of the best 8th graders in Warrick Country.  He's known these boys most of his life, but they all went to about 5 different travel teams for the past 4-5 years.  Now they're all back on the same team and it is so fun to watch them play together.  Several of the kids on Jack's travel team made the Cub team, but honestly, only Jack and 2 other kids are starters.  The other starters are from different travel teams.  So far, they are 6-0 and I think they have a chance to go undefeated.  There is so much talent on that team.  I know I'm VERY biased but everyone keeps telling us how good Jack looks out there, and I never thought this would be true, but I really think he's the best kid on the freekin team!  His bat has been red hot.  He's playing great on 1st base and SS.  He's leading the team in stolen bases.  His pitching is damn near perfect so far.  I just can't believe how good he's doing.

I know I've just jinxed him by sending this email, but Mom and Greg, if you get a chance to come watch, I think you'll really enjoy it.

Love you all!!!
Jeff

I got this great email from Missy today

I got this great email from Missy today:

Subject: Your Dad

Would've been 73 today. I think of him often and wish he was still here to get to see our kids grow up.  I think he and Jack would be so close.

I love you honey!


It touched me a great deal and I wrote the following response:

Wow, thanks honey! I'm so glad you still think of him. I definitely do too. I think Jack has a lot of my Dad's qualities. Very confident, loves the outdoors, very athletic, and "moves well". I used to love watching my Dad do things. He just "moved" so well. It used to crack me up! I see the same things in Jack. Everything he does, looks perfect!

Sunday, June 29

Jeff and Jack have been dirt biking more regularly since he quit baseball and the girls and Jack B. were wanting to go.  While I went to Dylen's All Star Champ game in Newburgh, Jeff took them to Greg and Billie's.  After the game, I went out there.  As I drove up, there was Abby on Jack's dirt bike and Ally on a small 4-wheeler.  Both had on helmets but I was a nervous wreck.  I drove up and parked and was talking to Greg and Jeff about Dyl's game.  I was there maybe 5 minutes when Ally stopped and said "Watch this" and started off on the 4-wheeler standing.  As she rounded the front of their yard a good 200 feet from us, I saw her flip.  I told Jeff and about that time Jack came running from that direction yelling she broke her arm.  Jeff took off running and I kicked off my flip flops and took off too.  I decided to turn around and get my car as Greg was taking off on Jeff's dirt bike.  I jumped in my car and backed up as fast as I could while Jeff was running towards me with Ally...still with her helmet on.  I expected to see her arm really broke but couldn't see much.  We took her helmet off and buckled her in and I took off.  Her left wrist was swollen but no obvious signs of a break.  She cried the whole way to the ER.  We arrived at Deaconess Gateway ER and they got her right in and put ice on her arm.  Jeff and Abby showed up not too long after we got there.  Abby was very sweet and worried about Ally.  She said she wished it would've been her.  After a small wait, they did an x-ray and said it was a Buckle Fracture and would need a cast.  Soon, a Orthopedic Tech came and put a temporary cast on.  The Tech was great!  Ally enjoyed being the center of attention and was a trooper.  Monday morning, we called and made an appointment with Ortho and Assoc. for Thursday.  The doctor said she needed to be in a cast for 4 weeks and would then move to a removable splint for some rehab.  Of course, she chose HOT PINK and luckily they had waterproof!  She's done very well...loves being noticed...hasn't slowed down!  She is set to get the cast off on July 29!

Well - the time has come for "the talk" with Jack.  We figured it was time since he hears and sees so much on TV and with his friends.  Also, with him going to Middle School, we are trying to prepare ourselves!  We told him to go upstairs and he looked terrified.  Jeff asked him if he knew what sex was and he said no.  After telling him it was (penis to vagina), he said that's what he heard.  Jeff started with the basics about how sex for procreation, we talked about how to treat girls and not hurt their feelings, how girls can get pregnant, how bodies are changing, etc.  He played with a rubber band and stared at the floor most of the time!  After all was said and done, Jeff asked if he had any questions and he said "when can we play golf"!!! 

Ally won the "Character Counts" award!

I have to brag on my precious Ally a bit here...

One of the neat things they do at Newburgh Elementary is pick one student each week that demonstrates a high level of character and highlight them in the "Character Counts" section.  This is a pretty big deal and the first time one of our kids has won this award.  You have to be nominated by a teacher and it can't be that student's teacher.  They only give it out to one student per week so with 36 weeks of school/year and 620 students in school, it's pretty rare.

It's also very exciting for the kids when they announce the winner every week.  The principal gets on the intercom and reads the story of what this person did to get nominated, which takes a couple of minutes, then he says...  "This week's winner is in 2nd grade....  In Mrs. William's class....  The winner this week is........   ALLY PATTERSON!!!!"  As soon as he announces the winner, the Vice Principal walks into that student's class and gives them a lapel pin, banner, and a gift cert. to a free meal at Olive Garden.  Missy was there and said it was very exciting to hear Ally's name and she was thrilled too.

I was so proud of her b/c I'm always stressing how important it is to help other people and that's exactly what she did!

Abby was the first one...

So I was laying with Abby tonight and we were talking about Suzie and how crazy and sweet she is and out of nowhere, Abby says, "So, did you get Suzie for me or did Santa???"  I was SHOCKED and had no idea what to say... So I said, "Why did you ask that?"  She said, "I just want to  know, now TELL ME!!!"  So I paused for a long, long time and finally said, "Well, I'm not going to lie to you.  Some kids believe in Santa and some don't and that's OK either way."  So she thinks about it for a long time and finally says, "OK then, I believe in him."

That girl is so stinking smart.

We had a crazy game this past weekend that I just have to capture here.  We played in the inaugural Mad Dog Bats wood bat tournament in Terre Haute, IN.  First time we've ever played in a wood bat tourney and it was awesome.  The boys did very well on Sat. and ended up 2nd seed in our division going into Sunday.  We won our first game easily then won our second game pretty easily too, so we made it to the championship game and were on a roll.  We were playing the Indy Hurricanes.  We had never played them before but they were a great team.  The first 6 innings were very exciting.  Lots of hits and good defense, but neither team scored so we went to overtime tied at 0-0.  We were visitors so we batted first.  We finally managed to score a run in the 7th so our boys were fired up.  But the Canes came back and got a run too and tied us 1-1 going into the 8th.  No one scored in the 8th so we went into the 9th inning still tied 1-1.  They had a strange rule where if you get to the 9th inning, you have to play "California rules" where they give you 1 out, but you get a runner on 2nd.  That really helped us and we got another run in the 9th to have a 2-1 lead.  Well, the Hurricanes fought hard and managed to get another run to tie us 2-2.  Then they got a few  more hits and ended up with bases loaded and 2 outs.  So they were the home team and if they scored another run, the game was over and we'd lose.  Cole Royster was pitching and he was visibly nervous when the next batter got up.  The first pitch was a ball.  The second pitch was a ball...  The THIRD pitch was a ball!!!  I've never been so nervous in all my life!!!  One more ball and the game is over - he'd walk that batter which would bring in the winning run.  Poor Cole looked like he was hyperventilating.  Then he finally pulls it together and throws a strike!  Then another strike!!!  So it's full count, 2 outs, bases loaded.  Suddenly the umpire yells "TIME OUT" then walks over to the field ump and they start talking.  Chad freaks out and yells, "ARE YOU SHITTING ME"????  We had no idea what the heck he was doing but we thought maybe he was trying to ice our pitcher.  The ump gives Chad a warning for cussing then walks over to the sidelines to talk to the tournament director.  Finally he tells us the batter is out because he started to bunt but then took a swing.  He couldn't remember if that was a rule or not so he had to double-check with the other guys.  So we MAGICALLY managed to get out of that inning and made it to the 10th inning tied 2-2.  Our boys were super fired up and rallied a bit and put up 3 more runs to have a 5-2 lead.  Then we held them in the bottom of the 10th and ended up winning the championship game 5-2 in 10 innings!  

I was so proud of those buys. They played 3 games that day and the last one was almost 3 hours long!  We were at the ball field for 10 hours that day.  Crazy.  But it was worth it to have a story like that to tell.