Grayson

Grayson was so excited when he saw these overalls in the fall clothes pile he couldn't wait to wear them. I thought he was just so darn cute I snapped a few adorable pictures and thought I'd share. Click play on the video below then in the bottom right corner you can make the video full screen.

Back To School 2017-2018

School has begun again. We had a great summer with baseball and an awesome road trip. Now the boys have been in school almost a month already. First, Colin started high school. He is in ninth grade already. He was not totally thrilled that he had to start a day earlier than Tristan. Their school has a freshman only day on the first day. Which is very helpful for those students. They get a day to figure things out a bit before the school fills up with over 2,000 students.

He was a little nervous on the way there.

Tristan started the next day. He is a sophomore now! Holy smokes.

It is nice to have these two back together again. Obviously Colin was very happy to take another first day photo.

Two days later Liam, Declan and Grayson started school. Yes, all my boys are in school all day. It was fun to see all their excitement but also a little sad that they are all in school all day now. The great thing is they are all loving Crestridge and the dual language program. Grayson is so excited to finally be learning Spanish. 

Liam 5th grade, Declan 1st grade and Grayson kindergarten!!

One very excited little boy!

So happy to be starting first grade!

Liam trying to be sly and not smile since he's a big fifth grader now. 

Bye Mom😘

Picture Day! 

Liam taking safety patrol very serious. He is so proud to be on safety patrol this year!

Last but not least

I could not end all the baseball posts without honoring our biggest supporter, teacher and coach. Daddy.

Daddy who was not a huge baseball fan and never played has become an awesome coach to both his own boys as well as the boys on his teams over the years. This year marks his fourth year as coach. A position he never thought he would have yet one he does very well. He has spent endless hours driving to and helping out with practices, running his own practices, going to the park and batting cages with our boys all for the love of our boys and the love of the game. It does not seem to matter if we have just spent the entire day at the fields Daddy is still up for some extra practice or just having fun at the fields. He has become very dedicated to teaching skills to our boys and all the boys he coaches. Thanks to YouTube he has learned a lot!

"Behind every fearless player is a fearless coach who refused to let them be anything but the Best they can be"

"A Coach teaches us, motivates us, and inspires us to achieve the impossible"

When I saw these quote it reminded me of Daddy. He does such a great job as a coach pushing his players to be the best and giving them all a chance to play the game each little boy dreams of playing. He knows sometimes things will not go his teams way but it is about giving his players chances. He gives the boy and the end of the batting order a chance to be first for a game or the boy who is always in the outfield or sitting out to get a chance to pitch. That one time may just be the motivation that boy needed to push themselves just a little bit more next time. Who knows where they may go from just that one chance from that one fearless coach.

"Part time warm up partner, part time pitching machine, part time baseball critic, part time cheerleader, part time stats keeper. Full time DAD"

Our boys are so lucky and I am so grateful for Daddy's passion for his children. Sometimes he is not able to be at every game for every boy these days but he is always there wanting to know how the game went asking about their hits and plays. When he is at a game you will not find him sitting under the tree trying to stay cool, or in the car because it is too hot or too cold. Nope you will find him as close as he can get to his boys keep stats, encouraging them and their teammates and watching every play they make. We are one lucky family. 

  

552 hours sitting on a bucket

829 innings coached

225 gator aids purchased

3827 trips to the snack shack

6978 miles driven to games and practices

98 pregame pep talks given

Having a Dad that is your #1 fan!

We wouldn't have it any other way! 

The Baseball Fans

I know another baseball post 😏. However, with five boys and many hours and days spent at the fields I thought we should recognize our devoted fan club. We are lucky enough to have Gramma and Grandma Shockey  cheering at one of the boys' games every day it seems.
 I believe we had a "fan" at every game this year. We also had Aunt Lindsey, Lizzie, Lucy, Papa, Uncle Brendan, Aunt Laura and Riley cheering on throughout the season. I love that even though it may be hot, humid, freezing, windy, rainy they all came and showed support for our boys.

Believe me you may not think it's a big deal to you to go watch a game but it means the world to all five boys. They love when their family comes to watch them play. Thank you for cheering them on!

Of course, I cannot leave out each brother. It does not matter if they just played an intense game each one of our boys were there to support and cheer for their brother at his game when they could. It may not always look like it but, for some portion of each game they would watch and cheer on their brother. There was always games to play, dirt to dig, other siblings to play with, practice to do while they watched each other play. Oh yes, we cannot leave out the exciting trip to the snack shack as a special treat too.

All Star Post Season Liam and Colin

Colin and Liam both played in the post season tournaments this year. Colin played with the merged Pony team at the Carter Lake tournament (due to the tournament rules unfortunately, Tristan was eight days too old to play) and Liam played the minors Hillside tournament.

Colin's played awesome but his team was out after three games. He still played hard and it was yet another great set of games to watch.

Liam's team played really well and placed third in the tournament. He played like a champ and enjoyed every minute of it.