Game 1

The Spring 2011 season of baseball has finally officially started.  On Thursday April 7th the Hammerheads had their first season game against the Dallas Thunder.  Game time was set for 6:15pm and thanks to our pre-season scores our team was honored by being placed as a division 1 team. 

With our kids finally fully uniformed and the game underway it was quickly apparent that this was going to be a tough game.  The umpires were making some pretty hard calls, kids were having to return to bases and to bat, and our score keepers were doing a lot of erasing a correcting on their sheets. 

Another first for our kids in this game was learning the powers of distraction.  The other team had a system where once their player was on base and one of our kids had the ball the runner would come off of their base and clap their hands taunting our players to throw the ball.  Sadly this distraction worked every time.  Our kids would throw the ball and right away their runners were off and running for the next base. It took our coaches quite some time to convince our players to hold on to the ball so that the umpires would call the time of the plays over.

All in all it was a pretty intense game.  Our kids played hard and learned some valuable lessons.  The final score of the night that was reported was Hammerheads 7 Dallas Thunder 18.  (I counted Hammerheads 10 Dallas Thunder 19 but we have to go with what the officials claim.)

Let me also apologize now for the lack and quality of the pictures and video from this game.  At this field it is hard to take good quality photos with standing right up against the fence and sticking the camera lens through.  Add that to having to keep a constant watchful eye upon Cayden because we are right next to the street here and the end results are the pictures below.  As for the video, well let's just say that the "camera man" had an off night too.

You may click on the following link to view the montage video of the game:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=213045995373982

Tea Time!

Yesterday Alyssa and I attended a tea party that was held in honor of the birthdays of two very sweet girls.  The invite that we'd received several weeks ago asked that the guests attending should wear their prettiest dresses, hats, gloves, jewelry etc and join the birthday girls and their friends for tea.  It was also requested that this party was for girls only and the hostess' did not want any boys in attendance. 

So with Alyssa dressed for the party (Mom doesn't even own a dress) and Cayden staying home with Dad, she and I were tea party bound.  Now I have to say that I am by far not a mother or woman that does anything particularly girly.  I like things comfortable, relaxed and laid back.  As for Alyssa, yeah she does ballet and likes princesses but that's usually as far as it will go. So I was a little worried that she would feel out of place.

Once we arrived of course Alyssa took no time in going off to play with her friends.  The hostess already had the tables set with place settings for all of the girls whom were to attend and the food spread was simple and looked great.  The cupcakes she'd made were just the cutest.

Once all of the guests had arrived the kids were asked to find their places at the tables so that we could begin serving them.  The girls were all just so cute sitting there with their pretty dresses on, napkins in their laps and sipping on their "tea" (it was actually pink lemonade).

After tea time was finished the girls were then asked into another room where they played a few games and were able to make their own headbands.  Unfortunately at this point I was preoccupied by being a social mom that I missed out on these activities and only got the after pictures of the headbands.

After the activities it was time for the birthday girls to open their presents. Now I must tell you here that these two girls are indeed sisters but for those of you wondering, no they are not twins.  They are actually just over a year apart in age and since their birthdays are within just a week or two of each other they celebrate them together.

(Some of the guests waiting to watch the gift opening)

(I love how they were all sitting alike)

(Birthday Girl Riley)

(Birthday Girl Aydia)

After the presents were all opened we sang happy birthday and each of the girls were given a strawberry cupcake. Again they were so cute I couldn't help but take another picture before the cupcake was destroyed.

At the end of the party the mom's took the opportunity to take some photos together and the hostess' surprised each of the guests by telling them that they could take home their tea cups and saucers from the party.

It really was a very cute and fun party.  Not stressful and even though they were all dolled up, very relaxing.  Alyssa even asked me to host a tea party for her one day since she enjoyed this one so much but I honestly have to say that I'll probably leave the tea parties for the other moms to do.

Western Day

Every year the schools here in Texas hold annual Western Day celebrations in order to teach our children to celebrate their Western culture.  Usually these days mark the beginning of the rodeo season.  On Friday April 1, 2011 Alyssa's school as well as the entire MISD held their annual Western Day celebrations.

(Alyssa's ready for Western Day)

Kindergarten - 3rd Grade were scheduled to preform in the gym beginning at 8:30am.  I have to say that while each grade level performed the same dances that they do each year there were a few surprises added in and it is always exciting to watch as your child performs their newly learned dances and reminices about the dances they've done in previous years.

(The class waiting for the program to begin)

One of our first surprises/ new additions to this year's performances was the school orchestra kicking off the celebration by performing their rendition of 'Cotton Eyed Joe' on their fiddles.  Following the orchestra's performance the kindergarteners did their Western Day skit where one of the teachers reads a story and the kids are divided up into groups which stand up and act out motions or sounds to specific words.  This is always so cute because they are divided up into groups such as horses, indians, cowboys, guns, bows and arrows, wagon train, etc. 

Following the Kindergarteners is the first dance for the first graders.  This is where Alyssa performed this year.  I'm really not sure what these dances are actually called but it's just so cute and the kids really look like they have fun doing it.

After first grade was finished it was time for the second graders to get up and perform their first number.  Being that Alyssa's class is made up of 8 first graders and 7 second graders I decided to snap some photos of her teacher and the second graders doing their line dance.

(Our Intern Teacher Mrs. Adams dancing with one of the 2nd graders)

(Omar and Madelyne turning each other)

(Caitlyn & another 2nd grader spinning)

(Miss Smith turning her 2nd grade partner about)

(Savannah and her teacher partner)

So I'm sure that by now you can figure out how the celebration was scheduled to happen.  Each grade taking turns in doing their dances until all of them had completed the two dances they'd prepared.  With 3rd grade finished with their first line dance it was time again for the first graders to get up and shake a leg again.  Although I'm not quite sure you'd call this shaking a leg, more like swing your partner, but again the kids were having so much fun.

Following the first graders, the second graders had their chance to perform their second dance which was a circle dance.  Here each group had two circles, and inner and an outer.  The inner circle would stand still while the outer circle would rotate around them, some to a stop, swing their partners, then begin rotating again. 

After second grade, the third graders performed their last dance and then we were surprised with another performance.  This time it was the fifth graders coming in to perform for us their sword dance.  While I do think that it was totally irrelevant to the whole Western Day theme it was still a pretty cool dance that captivated the attention of the younger children.  After the fifth grade performance the kindergarteners closed out the show with their version of the 'chicken dance'.  Here even the principal and assistant principal join in on the fun and at the end all of the kids fell onto the floor pretending to be exhausted.  It was so cute and of course there weren't very many people in the audience who could resist dancing along with them.

After the program was finished in the gym Cayden and I did accompany Alyssa's class back to their classroom to take a few photos of the kids together and ended up staying a while longer to help out with a few of their Western Day crafts before finally heading home.

(The entire class)

(The cutest cowboys and cowgirls)

(Miss Smith showing off her horse visor)

Kids are waiting to learn about their next project

(Alyssa's paying close attention)

(Tamyzha adorning her horse visor)

(Cayden got to make one too!)