Indoor Baseball

Right now the kids are in the other room screaming at each other. Its escalated to the point that I normally would intervene but I'll try an experiment and just let it work itself out. Oh, they just ran in here tattling on each other. Wait, now they're laughing and running back out...
Yesterday Archer received a plastic baseball and bat from Awana and the kids spent the rest of the evening playing indoor baseball.

Game: Batter sits on the floor with the bat, pitcher sits approximately five feet in front of batter and rolls the ball to the batter. Batter "swings" the bat (sweeps it across the carpet) and hits the ball. Pitcher crawls to retrieve the ball.

Potential Improvements: Batter actually tries to "run" the bases by crawling to predetermined landmarks in the room. (This is just my idea, they don't know enough about baseball and didn't have enough time for this to develop.)

Potential Evolution (when parents leave the room): Batter hits the ball more and more violently until the ball no longer stays on the floor but actually flies through the air. Pitcher no longer rolls the ball but starts throwing it. Crawling is too slow so all players stand up and run to chase the ball. No one sits on the floor anymore, the bat is being swung for real and the ball is being thrown randomly (because a 3 year old pitcher doesn't have good aim yet) at the batter. Someone gets hurt. Or more likely, something gets dented, knocked over, or broken.

I sometimes marvel at the amount of "what will happen next" thinking I've learned to do. "What will happen when..." And after six years of parenting its so automatic. What's more surprising is when I forget to think this way and then I'm shocked by what happens. And then I catch myself thinking, "Why didn't I see that coming?"

Tools & Trucks

Today we entered a new phase, the one where Archer doesn't need me as much as he used to. Ok, I guess that's EVERY day, and that's the point of kids growing up, right?

Archer made an announcement that his truck needed new batteries. I ignored this announcement because that means I don't have to listen to the dump truck noises all evening long. Archer found a screwdriver, removed the door to the battery compartment and replaced the batteries. All on his own (mostly). Now I get to listen to dump truck noises all evening long. Way to go Arch!

Miscellaneous Stuff

We've been having little adventures here and there, doing well at school and church and we've started setting up furniture and organizing clothes for our baby. Its a funny thing that happens when there's a baby on the way... At no other time in a woman's life is it ok for anyone to comment on the size of her tummy. Now its an almost daily occurrance. Family, friends, strangers... I myself comment to David because I just can't believe how big this boy feels. He feels so big. A couple of ladies today asked me when I'm due and were very surprised when I said we have a month to go. "Are you sure its only one?" Someone yesterday told me there's no way he's going to wait a whole month before arriving. Oh well, only God knows and we're waiting on Him to decide when the best time is!

Today Archer and Shelly had flu shots. This was one of the most traumatic days of their lives, I think. It was horrible. My normally friendly and obedient children were hiding behind me howling and bawling. Archer went first so when it was Shelly's turn I actually had to CHASE her down and CATCH her. (Have I mentioned how big my tummy is? This was not a good thing when chasing my three year old terrified little girl.) We all cried. This was followed by a visit to the fire department which I hope made up for the morning's trauma. Yaay! The kids had a great time climbing in and out of all the vehicles and spraying the fire hose.

To anyone who reads this, please do not mention the shots to the kids, we're moving on... And to Archer, someday when you look back and see that we don't have as many pictures of you its because you always ran away when we were taking pictures.

Too Tired

A few days ago Shelly and I were driving home and she was singing and in the middle of her song I heard a HUGE yawn. "Shelly, that was a big yawn, are you tired?" "Nope." No more than thirty seconds later she was asleep.

Today we were again driving but before we even got in the car I asked her if she would sleep and she said yes. Sure enough, she slept. What's amazing, though, is that when we got home and I woke her up to go inside she wandered in and then laid down on the floor in the hallway and fell right back to sleep. Usually she's ready to go after a nap in the car. Maybe she's going through a growth spurt? Archer's been sleeping a lot lately too, I've had trouble getting him up for school. Or maybe we're all coming down with colds. We've all been sniffling lots the last few days. Funny we should have colds in the middle of this late September heat wave!