A Day Packed Full of Baseball and Mad Scientists

WIERD SCIENCE!

I've been working for weeks on this Mad Scientist party for my 5 year old and today is the day! OK I've been working on it for days in spurts because I've been so busy but still, this has been a really fun party to plan. I hope that the mad science lab we have showing up is as awesome as it sounds and if so, I cannot wait to share this secret I have been in the dark about for years now! A mobile mad science lab that comes straight to you?!

So besides the mobile mad science lab (which is SO inexpensive I can't even believe it) I have "plasma samples" test tubes, beakers, dry ice, hazmat signs, a mad science hall of fame, and wait till you see what the goodie bags were made from! (And they were free!) However this is a theme that you can easily go crazy on and by the way, almost all of the people you invite will actually come because it's so cool, so just be forewarned whilst in the invitation stages.

It's also a big big day because it is also the last day of baseball. I haven't updated our progress in tiny sports throughout the season but I will do a full recap of both at some point but I will say actual playing appears to be on a "season on season off" basis and this season it was "season off" for baseball and tiny soccer.

I think we learned a few things along the way and by we I mean me too, but there was definitely very little playing and lots and lots and lots and lots of digging. The fields should be pristine and fully weeded by now. Along with the dugouts. Because they're not really dugouts in sandlot baseball which is what tiny baseball is called, they're benches with fences around it in some grass, but they probably are dugouts by now actually with the amount of grass pulling that went on in there this season. I'm just saying.We have bright futures in landscaping and lawn management here.

I mentioned that our coach is a former major league baseball pitcher, right? I found his baseball card on Ebay and (as team mom) I'm giving each of the kids one of his baseball cards. I think it'll be cute for 5&6 year olds to look back on in their teen years and lifetime knowing he was their coach wayyy at the beginning.

I can't have enough coffee today, honestly. My hair is still in disarray and my eyes are still half-closed and I have to be out the door in 45 minutes yikes!

I hope you are having a wonderful Easter weekend so far!

Oh before I go, the winner of the cool pair of Sigg Water bottles is: dana10879! You should have received my email, congratulations! You will now be hydratin in style!

Top 5 Ways Tiny Teeball Improves Over Time

I never understood the stages of tiny sports until we reached soccer and just tried to get through a game without "crying" let alone actual playing. Every year and each new sport offers up another bag of tiny goals that are usually completely unrelated to the skill of the actual sport, but mostly about the basics of how to get through an hour of involvement with the sport. Which is surprisingly difficult for boys ages 3 and 4.

So far, we're knocking out some of those pretty quickly, which means in the next year or so, we might actually even play a sport and be interested in playing it correctly! I'm excited. But for now I'm being patient with things like "no twirling in the outfield."

So I started thinking about the major differences I've seen over just the past few games of tiny teeball and here are the ones I've seen since the season started.

Top 5 Then and Nows of Tiny Teeball

1. Then: Twirling. Lots and lots of twirling.
Now: Minimal twirling. It used to be he'd twirl most of the game, play in the dirt and then twirl some more. Now we're just at minimal twirling and lots of playing in the dirt! Hooray! Our goal is no twirling, but there is one other kid who's 4 on the team and he twirls too. So based on that (very unscientific evidence) I think twirling is normal for "4." We're also targeting no digging, pulling out the grass or making mudpies. Sometime we think he has a bright future in landscaping he's so concerned about it but for now, we'll work on the twirling. One step at a time here!

2. Then: throwing the bat as hard as he can after hitting the ball.
Now: No more throwing of the bat across the field after hitting off the tee. He nearly took out one of the coaches in the first game, but now he carefully drops the bat and runs to first.


3. Then: zero acknowledgement of game aspect (i.e. terms like running, quick, fast, etc.)
Now: Runs to first! Runs out of the dugout! Hooray! Running in general! Now, mind you, some of the games are either at naptime (1pm) or at 6:30 (bedtime is at 7pm.) Until we got used to this, we petered out halfway through the game (read: more twirling) and when running to first would always peter out halfway there and walk as.slooooow.as.possible to first base while everyone on both sides screamed, "Run! Run!" We haven't done that in a while. This is good.



4. Then: INITIATE PILE UP!

Now: No more running and tackling other players who got the ball first. Always a bonus. Used to be he'd be on top of that pile. The pile is still pretty funny. I have lots of pile pictures.

5. Then: No understanding of baseball lingo.
Now: Basic understanding of baseball lingo. Sayings like, "Take a knee," "Hustle!" "Ball on tee!" "Ready position!" "Go home!" "Pitcher's mound" don't fly right over his head anymore. It used to be I'd have to take note of the things the coaches were saying and all the kids would stare back blankly about and remember to go over it at home. I still have to do that but it seems the basics are now understood. However, it's not entirely unusual to see this on the field.


And this is where we learned the saying, "Look alive!"

We haven't gotten to "choke up" yet. I'm still waiting for that one, and it scares me a little.

The Status of the B.O. And a Crockpot Recipe

I was in full problem solver mode this week.

First, we captured the B.O!

We never did find a "body" but I did take it into the mechanic for a good look-see and spend $45 on his coming up with nothing. (Hooray!) However, he did put in a new air filter. And for the record the filter itself cost just $14 and I'm sure it wasn't $26 worth of labor putting it in because it took longer for the guy to print out my invoice than it did for him to change the filter, but that's neither here nor there.

I guess I should just be thankful that it doesn't appear that I need to hang my head out the window to breathe anymore.

So ok, it was $45 well spent. Fine. He replaced the filter and blew out the leaves.

By the way, apparently dead mushy leaves can have the same stench as a dead animal. Who knew? I sprinkled some Downy sheets around the car and now it smells like Downy freshness. Thanks to @LissaJoy for that idea.

Problem #2: We got our Girl Scout cookies. I tried to ignore the note but she showed up at my door and the kids blew my cover.

Solution: I allow myself 2 cookies a day (one thin mint, one samoa) a day and the two other boxes are going to my parents house where I am sure they will take very good care of them. My 3 year old is always begging me for the "cold cookies," which are the Thin Mints in the freezer.

In other non-problemy news, have I mentioned that our teeball coach is a former MLB pitcher? That's a nice little nugget of information and a pretty good score for our first year ever of tee-ball.

Today is our official "opening day" even though we have had two games already. But I am in my element for sure. Now I know why God gave me boys. Now, if he'll just run to first base instead of petering out halfway there and collapsing onto the ground. I guess that's ok for now. As my dad said, "He's just 4. Now if he were 14, I'd be worried." I would be too.

He looks so stinkin cute I can hardly stand it. Ready position!

Here's a recipe I made up long ago when I first got my crockpot and didn't know what to do with it. I threw a bunch of stuff in a pot and it turned out pretty good. Last night my husband said, "I forgot how much I missed this!" a couple of times, so I guess he really likes it!

And excuse the terrible picture, I have no idea how to make food look yummy in a picture. My brother-in-law once commented on my picture of Penne ala Vodka (calling it Penne ala Vomit). He was right. But it didn't taste that way! And the spanish chicken really is yummy! (Boy I am really selling this recipe here, aren't I? Maybe I should leave the picture off in the future.)

Crock Pot Spanish Chicken

Ingredients:



6 (or more) Skinless chicken thighs (I sometimes do boneless too)

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup red wine (any)

Garlic? YES. I put in several tablespoons of it, I'm a garlic-a-holic

1 onion, sliced

Spanish seasoning, I use Chili-Lime Cholula seasoning. I used to use the Cholula Roasted Garlic which was amazing! But they don't make it anymore I think. I'm so sad.



Directions:

Put sliced onion on bottom of crockpot. Cover both sides of chicken with spanish seasoning. Put the chicken on top of the onions. Sprinkle the garlic everywhere. Pour in the broth and the red wine. DONE.

Put on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4!

Serve on top of yellow or brown rice. This makes a great sauce so make sure you pour the sauce over the rice too! The kids even love it, hooray!



Enjoy!!

Happy Housekeeping

Over the next few weeks, I'll be adding some new installations around here. On Sundays, I'll be talking about my foray into couponing in the "Receipt Report." On Saturdays I'll be posting recipes with the occasional review and giveaway of my favorite things because I love giving away my favorite things.

I've also added another little area for me to talk about stuff (because I just can't shut my trap) and there's not much going on there yet but there will be and you can see it up top, it's called "Christie's Place" and it'll be "where the cape comes off." Topics? Anything goes. I am working on a post about seeing the new Bieber movie. It's also sort of an experimentation with Wordpress. Hmmmm.

I don't know if you know this but I recently took a new post as secretary of my tri group, the Palm Harbor Tri Warriors, which is also a non-profit group and with that, I started a newsletter!!

It's called "The Finish Line," (because "Getting to the starting line is the hardest part.") Now, even if you aren't into triathlon but you're interested in anything fitness-related whatsoever, we talk about nutrition tips, fitness tips, recipes, etc in it so I'm going to publish it here too for your reading pleasure! This is February's newsletter here and you can see what we're up to. This month we focused on post-workout nutrition. March is "Nutrition Month" so we'll be focusing on "Race Day" nutrition.

Finally, February is wrapping  up so it's almost time to name March's "Super MOM of the Month!"  Do you know a Super MOM?? Of course you do!! She could be a blogger, a non-blogger, just someone who overall kicks ass and should be recognized for it. Here are the nomination details here!

Have I mentioned that I made heart-shaped turkey meatballs and whole-wheat spaghetti for our Valentine's Day dinner? (Do I get extra points for spending 45 minutes shaping the turkey meat into heart-shapes?)

Oh, we don't get points? Oh well.

Tomorrow is our first tee-ball game in history! Hooray! (One guess who is the team mom.)

There's my tiny guy in his gargantuan helmet (it's like Sputnik)

I'll be spending the weekend trying NOT to eat everything in sight (anyone have an electric shock collar I can borrow?) and staying focused and above all, enjoying BASEBALL! Even though it's the Yankees.

Running with Sputnik head

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!! (Come back tomorrow for a great post-workout recipe!)