Rain Rain Rain

Excited To Wear Their Uniforms To Church

Both kiddos had ball tourneys this week. Millie in Paoli and Reed in North Vernon. They were calling for lots of rain on Saturday. Rick took off with Millie at 5:30am on Saturday morning and since they started early, they got both of their games in before it totally soaked the fields but the girls were soaked. Millie's team shut both teams down 10-0 and 11-0.

I waited to leave as late as possible with Reed because I knew they had to cancel before too long. Well, they still hadn't canceled so we headed up with my mom. We drove all the way up in rain, the boys warmed up in the rain and they started the first inning in the rain. We were home team so we took the field first. When it was our turn to bat in the first inning, they canceled the games for the day. Super, pack up and go home. 3 hours on the road, 1/2 an inning played and we were all soaked and freezing.

Day 2, both kids in the uniforms for church because we needed to leave right after Sunday School. As we walk in church, Rick gets a text that Paoli is canceled because their fields were still too wet. Millie was very upset because she wanted to play, she was certain they would win that tourney. Well, now at least we could all go to North Vernon to watch Reed.

We get up there, it was a bit cold but at least it's dry and the sun is shining. Our boys started slow and we were tied 2-2 after the first inning but then the other team pulled ahead by about 4-5 runs. In the last inning we came back and tied them. Went into extra inning and we couldn't hold them, they ended up scoring 1 for the win. I was proud of our boys since it was the first game they had every played together. I was very proud of Reed, he was in outfield and did a good job of getting the ball in fast and he hit the ball and got on base every time he was up to bat. So nearly 6 hours on the road for Reed and he played 1 game. But it was his very first travel team game and he did great for a 6 year old playing with 7 and 8 year olds. He has a lot to learn but he has time, he's still just a little boy.

Art Show

Millie has a piece of art on display again this year at the public library. Even though it is up for a month, there is one night everyone is invited to view it and have a little reception. Well, we had games that night so we couldn't go then but we made it in a few days later. I treated them to some yummy Comfy Cow ice cream afterward.

Reed didn't have an individual piece this year but the project the whole school worked on was there as well and he was very proud of that.

Let's Go Nuts!

We always knew Reed was a nut but now it's official, that's his team name for REC ball. The Nuts. We are a few weeks into the season and we had 1 night, finally, that we weren't sitting in rain so I was able to get a few pictures.

Full Swing

We are in full swing with ball season. I can tell because I have a week's worth of mail on the table, the only laundry that gets done is ball uniforms (the rest has to wait) and my diet largely consists of cheese fries from the concession stand - so yummy...

Before Millie's First Game - Yes, She Could Fit In Her Bat Bag

At Millie's First Game

Our park did a big change this year and joined with another park in Georgetown. Now basically all baseball is run by the Georgetown (HYR) league and all softball is run by us (FKCC). Many folks weren't too happy about this because if they had a boy and girl, they are now playing at 2 different parks. The only thing that saved us was if you are a boy in 7-8 or t-ball, you can still play at FKCC, so we are safe for another year on that one. But my nephew now has to play at Georgetown and many other families are split between choosing to watch their son or daughter, it kind of stinks. The other factor that changed is that we are now officially Little League instead of Babe Ruth. Not a major deal for the girls but for the boys, it changed the age cut off from somewhere in the middle of the summer back to Jan 1. So although we had decided that we would move Reed up to 7-8 a year early this year even though he could have played t-ball another year, now we HAD to move him up. It made a lot of boys who needed another year of t-ball have to move up to the 7-8 league and a very talented group of boys who would have been stars in the 7-8 league had to move up to kid pitch a year earlier than planned. So I had figured Reed would move up early, probably play in the outfield somewhere and be at the end of the lineup praying not to strike out...he is now playing pitcher and is being depended on for a hit. Not where we had planned to be at all this year. It's basically half a team of boys who have no idea what is going on, a few that are getting it and 1 or 2 who can't believe they are stuck playing with babies. Here's the biggest thing that stinks about this merger though...no more draft. Usually the coaches have Draft Day and they pick each player 1 by 1 to build their team. Well, Georgetown doesn't do it that way so since baseball falls under Georgetown's rules, our team was assigned to us. The coaches had NO say in it at all. Let's just say, these teams are not even close to being even. It's very frustrating for everyone but it is what it is.

So after a few weeks in, Millie's team has played every team once and lost 1 game. Reed's team has not played everyone yet but I think they have won 2 and lost 2 or 3. Our boys aren't the worst ones out there and we'll be happy with that I guess.

Springtime

For most folks spring means flowers and Easter bunnies but for us it means ball season. We kicked it off this weekend with Millie's first Fusion tournament in Columbus, IN. The girls were looking good with their new bat bags and helmets.

For the first tourney of the season, we couldn't have asked for better weather (maybe a few degrees warmer) or a better outcome. They went undefeated in pool play and in the bracket. We outscored our opponents 64-16 for the whole tourney which is even more awesome considering we didn't have our starting pitcher or our second basemen and we pitched 6 different pitchers letting the girls try it out since we were up by so much. All the girls we pitched threw strikes which is pretty darn good. Millie pitched to 3 batters and struck 2 of them out.

Since it was spring break and we didn't plan a trip, we usually don't due to ball season, we stayed over night in a hotel. Most of the whole team stayed and the girls and siblings had fun enjoying pizza and swimming in the pool. The hot tub was also enjoyed by many after play 3 games on Saturday.

This weekend we have a tourney as well but it's a bit closer to home. The temps will be quite a bit colder so hopefully being on another winning streak will keep them warmed up. I, however, will be freezing to death with my coveralls and many blankets trying to keep warm while watching. Maybe something will come up and I'll have to miss this one...

Basketball, Snow, Basketball, Snow

That's about all I have to report since the start of the new year. Basketball, snow, repeat. 

Millie and Reed both did great in the St. Mary's Rec season of basketball. They both had coach Brian and Rick as coaches. Reed did much better than in the FC league and stayed in the game rebounding, defense and scoring a few times. They had a great regular season with a number 1 seed but after earning a bye in the first round of championship play, they lost the second round game. 

Millie's team did great and I'd say Millie averaged about 15 points a game with about 10-15 steals. We pretty much shut out every team we played. They easily won the championship which was exciting because this was Millie's last year she could play in this league. 

Reed has been asked to play on a developmental travel baseball team so they have been doing a few indoor batting practices. 

Millie's travel softball team doesn't stop in the winter, they have batting at UofL weekly and a few indoor practices at a new facility in New Albany. 

Millie's travel basketball team that was new this season has their final tourney this weekend and that will wrap up. With all the snow they haven't practiced as much as hoped so we will see how this weekend turns out. 

With spring around the corner means baseball and softball will be in full force. Rec teams have been drafted and as soon as the fields are ready, they will begin outdoor practices. Rick and his boss Travis are coaching both Millie and Reed's teams together so we start indoor batting tonight with those 2 teams. Millie is on the Reds again and Reed is a Modesto Nut. No joke. 

Both kids are doing great in school. With middle school just a few months away for Millie, we will soon have some decisions to make as far as classes go. 

Almost Made it

There were so many options for titles of the post...

"Living With A Meunier"
"Rick Got Beat Up By A Nine Year Old Girl"
"Softball 1 - Rick 0"
"Like Father Like Son"
"Rick's An Idiot"...oh wait, maybe not that one.

I went with "Almost Made It" because we almost made it all year without Rick going to the ER. But we didn't. We spent last night in not 1 but 2 ER's.

Millie and Rick were out in the batting cage. Rick was pitching a few balls to Millie to bat after she worked on her pitching. Now, we have a screen that you are supposed to pitch from behind so that the pitcher doesn't get hit by the ball. Rick apparently thought he didn't need to use this. Millie hit a hard fast one right at him and he didn't react fast enough and took it right in the face. Of course, I didn't know any of this was happening so all I heard was Rick coming in the house saying "let's go" and Millie was crying. He said "We need to go to the hospital!" I was actually relieved that Millie was ok but quickly realized we still needed to move quick. The kids quickly got in the car, I grabbed a roll of paper towels for Rick and called my mom to tell her to meet me at the end of her road because I was pitching the kids out the door for her.

We went to the hospital in New Albany. The waiting room was packed and looked like a homeless shelter. They said it would be at least 2 hours before anyone looked at him or even checked him in. I called my personal on call nurse, Cammie, and asked if we should stay at Floyd or go to Louisville. I knew she would say go to Louisville but I wasn't sure which one. Since she is Rick's boss's wife they have the same insurance as Rick so I was hoping that it would be in network, I guess we will find out. She gave me directions and we bailed on the homeless shelter/ER and headed across the river. Of course there was a wreck on 64 and we sat but fortunately it was only for about 15 minutes or so. When we got to Jewish East, they told us it would be a few minutes and they would check him in. After about 15 minutes they called him back, did triage and sent him to a room. Good call Cammie!

At the hospital

They did 3 X-rays and we discovered it was not broken, we were both shocked. We made it home around 11:30. Mom and dad had brought the kids over to take care of the animals and thankfully, Dad thought to fire up the stove. They took them back to their house to spend the night. Rick didn't sleep well but all in all, it's not too bad today. He's joking around and it took some convincing but Millie now understands it was not her fault. Mom said Millie was very upset all night and kept saying she didn't understand how it wasn't her fault. But she's ok now. Rick told her that she obviously is not hitting hard enough if she didn't even brake his nose.

Next Day

The shop is a bit of a mess and looks like someone was murdered. Hopefully it doesn't stain too bad.

Sitting in the hospital thinking of the date...December 30th. Dang Rick, you haven't even been to the doctor this year and you pick one of the last days of the year to run up a big bill, couldn't wait until after the first so it went on next year's deductible. So since he has a $6000 deductible, I guess we will be paying this whole bill. Ouch.

Oh My Dad

So when I was doing my Christmas post, I noticed blogger doing this automatically with some photos from my phone. It was way too funny to not put on here. I must figure out why it did this!

Quiet Christmas

Well after gifts had been opened, lunch prepared, eaten and cleaned up, I was laying on the couch reading. The kids had just come inside from trying out their roller blades (it was actually warmish enough for this) and Reed was playing with a game called Suspend. I noticed how quiet it was. There were no beeps or buzzes. No one was fighting. Christmas music was quietly playing in the background. The kids were enjoying their gifts. Gifts that included no batteries, plugs or chargers. What a nice experience. My kiddos made paper dragons and jets all morning from some books they got. Reed built a few Lego sets. Millie and I played a card game Millie got called Zeus on the Loose. The kids and I worked on a puzzle with my mom for a bit after lunch. The Game of Life still needs to be opened but I am sure that will happen shortly. A dragon battle happened for a while with the dragons Millie and Reed got. They LOVE dragons right now and are very much into the Greek and Roman Gods. Mostly Millie is but Reed loves what she loves so they both get excited about mythical creatures, dragons and Poseidon.

On Christmas Eve we enjoyed visiting Rick's Grandma and Grandpa Meunier. We couldn't stay long because Rick had to read at our 10pm Christmas service back home. I did get some nice snuggle time with little Evie, she is just so darn cute. Can't wait to see her again soon I hope.

We enjoy staying home on Christmas morning and this year we had yummy snowman creations for breakfast.

Of course opening gifts happened after the kitchen was cleaned up and I had lunch cooking. The kids were very patient. I remember my mom making us wait when we were little until the dishes were all done. It always drove me nuts but I can totally understand why she did it now that I am older.

Roller Blades, her old ones were WAY too small

My mom and dad usually stop by for a bit after church and have lunch with us. We baked a birthday cake for Jesus which was a yummy treat. Dad asked what was for desert and we said birthday cake. He says "Who's birthday?" Goodness dad...

Mom helped the kids and I work on a puzzle. The kids left to play and mom and I finished it. Dad napped in the chair.

Millie played some beautiful Christmas music for us on the piano and some not so Christmas music but it was nice as well.

I am sure before the day is finished they will find their way to the batting cage and do some batting and pitching. My plan is to do some closet cleaning out later but that may just wait until tomorrow.

Christmas Classic Champions

Millie's Highlander travel basketball team had their first games this weekend. They are a 4th grade team that was just created a few weeks ago. The idea of this team is that it will filter into middle school next year (Millie will be in middle school next year, yikes!). So these girls are all in 4th grade and go to 3 different elementary schools but will all go to Highland Hills next year.

They played 5 games over the weekend at Highland Hills against teams from Paoli, Pekin and Anderson. They won every game and Millie did great. In 1 game alone she had over 15 steals, we stopped counting. She scored around 10-15 points most games. Her whole team did well though. Every girl was scoring and they have a very strong defensive team. That was a good thing this weekend because the last game looked more like football than basketball, it was crazy!

This weekend was just an exhibition of sorts so there weren't winners or a trophy but these girls would have had it in the bag if there would have been, they did great. They have a lot to work on but they looked really good for their first time playing together.