Welcome & Welcome Back!

I started this blog in 2006.  At that time it had little to do with baseball, and a lot to do with personal things and my own attempt to become a real life "blogger."  If was my first real attempt at writing about something other than my daughter Jenelle.  It was fun, therapeutic, and sometimes this blog was very popular.  I met many new friends, some I still keep in touch with today and still have never met in person.  Then, in November 2008, I got cancer.  And during my fight to survive, this blog became inactive.

Well, that ends today.

I spent some time this weekend re-vamping the template, changing photos, links and colors.  Archiving all the personal fluff posts, venting posts, game playing posts and meme posts.  Mostly preparing this blog for a return to the Internets, and perhaps to a new audience.  I have resigned myself to start writing again about stuff that really matters in life; about baseball. 

Never met me?  Well, let me introduce myself!  My name is Kelly.  I'm married with two kids; a boy age 11 named Jack, and a girl age 9 named Jenelle.  Jenelle has special needs, and you can read all about her at her blog; Jenelle's Journey.  My husband Brett is a financial planner and a Little League Baseball Coach.  I am Team Mom for a Challenger League in our hometown, and an Assistant District Administrator for the Challenger Division of our Little League District.  My day job is working as a litigation paralegal, and my life long dream is to be a writer.

In addition to writing, my hobbies include baseball (Angels Baseball, Little League Baseball, Travel Team Baseball, Challenger Baseball), knitting, score keeping, and spending time with friends and family.  I hope you enjoy my writing.

A New Record!

Congratulations to the Angels Francisco Rodriguez for breaking the all time MLB Save Record previously held by Bobby Thigpen with his 58th Save on Saturday night. For those of you not into baseball, a "save" occurs when the team wins by 3 or less, or the closing pitcher pitches 3 or more innings to win the game.

We took the kids to the game on Friday night and Jack was disappointed he didn't break the record that night. On Saturday, we sat as a family (with our Rally Monkeys) in front of the TV and cheered on K-Rod!

Congratulations K-Rod!

Jack's 15 seconds of fame!

Yes Laura, you saw Jack on the "Jumbo-Tron" at Friday's Home Opener! Jack was sitting behind home plate with Grandma and Grandpa and they gave me a heads up to get my camera ready! I snapped a great photo from our seats in Terrace Level!

We went to Friday's game, and the game today... so far we haven't seen a win yet, but there's always the next one!

Opening Day for Little League!

Yesterday was awesome... and emotional! Opening Ceremonies started with all the other division Angels Team on a knee making a tunnel for the Challenger Team. Tears were flowing as we entered the stadium! After the key note speaker Rex Hudler inspired us all, the first Challenger Game began! This smile says it all...

Here is Jenelle and her buddy taking the ball to 1st base!
After the game was over, Rex Hudler (the red haired guy on one knee) interviewed some of the Challenger Players. Rex's 13 year old daughter sang the national anthem, then his 10 year old son (a Challenger team player) decided to sign like his sister!
Then each kid wanted their opportunity to use the microphone!
After Jenelle's game, we went to Jack's first game where he played catcher. He did well until he took one on the toe -ouch!
And here is Jack in full swing. He thinks his swing looks like Vlad Guerrero.
DH and Jack, who was not very smiley at the time.

My Kids are ready for Little League!




And maybe this time next year, Jenelle will run to 1st base! Finally, this is all I could catch on video of Jenelle taking steps. She was hanging a bit onto the couch. I caught this right before bedtime, so I guess she was a little tired. She's so shy, and yet, such a ham!

Freedom Fest Parade & Celebration

We celebrated the 4th of July early this year on Saturday. DH's Aunt lives in this quaint little community where kids ride their bikes everywhere without a care and neighbors enjoy each other and a good margarita! The event started with a "parade" including Fire Trucks, Motorcycle Cops and Horseback Cops and ended with live music and BBQ! It was a blast!

Here are some photos.

Old time Fire Truck to lead off the parade.

Mounted Police Officers waiting for the parade to start.

The parade from our view.

Miss Jenelle and her decked out patriotic wheelchair.

Our group - me, Jenelle, Jack and my nephew Trevor aka Mr. Harley Davidson!

Baseball Crazy Jack!

Poor DH was puking at home - he got a bug and has been sick since Friday Night! Hoping I don't get it as well!

Weekend in Lake Arrowhead

We made a last minute trip to the family cabin in Lake Arrowhead and had a fantastic time. We took the kids to a private beach, and Jack loved the water. I took Jenelle to get her feet wet and she really wanted to get in too - the water was a little cold for me!

Here are some photos to share.

Looking out on the lake!

A busy baseball weekend!

We had another busy weekend, but our last for a while with Little League. Saturday was Jack's last game, and they did just beautifully. So many of the players have improved, it was wonderful to watch them progress this season. Here is the team with DH in the middle, as he was the coach.

After the game, we had a wonderful team party where the parents went through four gallons of margaritas! WOW! The family that hosted the party had a beautiful home in the hills. They obviously do well financially, as the margaritas were made with Patron! The Dad said he made them that way so as to help our hangovers the next day! (Thankfully!)

On Sunday, our Angels hosted "Little League Day" and all the Leagues in our District got to parade on the field before the game! I honestly don't think these kids know how lucky they are! Here is DH and his assistant coach with the teammates that made the game (Jack being a ham of course!)

If you can believe it, Jenelle has never actually owned her own "Angels" outfit in red. Of course, as a baby we had a lot of red for her to wear, but never anything official with an Angels logo. And now, pretty much everything she owns is pink or purple, so Friday evening I purchased this adorable cheerleader outfit and she seemed pretty smitten with herself! Jenelle and I snuck into Diamond Club (VIP Season Ticket area) with Grandma to snap photos of the parade before the game. When Jenelle was dressed and ready to go, Jack saw her and said, "Mommy, Jenelle is very cute today!"

After the pre-game parade, we moved down to our seats near the foul pole which were fortunately in the front row of the Terrace Level (in the shade!) It was perfect, and the ushers were very helpful with Jenelle's wheelchair and such. Unfortunately I had to hold Jenelle on my lap like this the entire game! As you know, she is quite giggly wiggly, so my arms felt like they were going to fall off last night! Here we are in our seats with me trying to hold her still for a photo.

A little later in the game when she calmed down, I was able to sit Jenelle in the seat where she held herself up for a good 10 minutes (and gave me a great break for my sore arms!) She is really looking like such a big girl too! A cute little 2 year old sitting behind Jenelle kept grabbing her curl and pulling it down to make it bounce up! It didn't bother her a bit!

Jack and Daddy enjoyed the game, especially Vladimir's walk off home run to win the game! Jack actually got cold in our seats in the shade, so he and DH went down to sit in the sun to warm up. After the game, we went to Grandma's to swim and I got to nap in the sun!

So now our Little League season is over. Jack has a new trophy for his room and we can all rest a bit more until next season! Good news is that it looks like Challenger League is going to happen next year, and I spoke to Rex Hudler (former Angels player, now TV announcer) on Saturday and he was very positive and excited about the new division. I'm sure next season will be here before we know it!

Take me out to the Ballgame!

Today is opening day for our Los Angeles Anaheim Angels! I am wearing red, and am toting my Angels purse! It feels a little bit more like Spring now that baseball is back! And in celebration of opening day, I share with you some photos of past opening days at the Angels game.

Jack's 1st Angels game - Opening Day 2001! The Angels announcer Rex Hudler had a collapsed with a brain aneurysm the ptrbioud week, so we wished him well on our sign.

He wasn't too happy about the location of his seats in the VIP Diamond Club behind home plate (hard to please I tell ya!)

Here he is a little bit older at the World Series.

And Jenelle's 1st game all decked out in red, celebrating our World Series win the year before!The sign read "Born 3 weeks early just to see the Angels win the World Series!"

Jenelle all decked out in Angels Red!

Jack and his Angels Tattoo!

Beautiful Jenelle.

The family enjoying seats behind home plate!

Mommy & Jack enjoying "roll up hat" give away day!

The World Series - where we hope to be in October!

GO ANGELS!

Play Ball!

So, Saturday was opening day for Little League. This year DH is coaching the Cardinals - apparently we couldn't have the same team (Angels) two years in a row! We had to get up at 6:00 a.m. to get the family ready and walk to the Little League field (parking is a hassle on opening day and we're approximately 4 or 5 blocks away.) For once, our weather cooperated and it was actually a pleasant 78 degrees with a little wind on Saturday.

Here is Jack and Grandpa. Notice Jack has a face tatoo? Grandpa brought it to him from the 60th Little League World Series in Williamsport last year. In all honestly, I put it on Jack's face in case there was a newspaper photographer there... I thought it might increase his chances of getting in the paper! (Bad Mommy!) The logo is the same as Grandpa's hat... which is why they are pointing to each other.




Here are the PW Major Cardinals running out of the gate! This year Jack is in "coach pitch" which brought about an interesting conversation with my Father in Law. "So, how is Jack adjusting to the cup?" ... "What cup?" I asked. "The athletic supporter? All Little Leaguers must wear them now!" he said. "Huh? Um, that's DH's department!"

My Father in Law is the District Administrator. Our League has a rule where they don't need them until age 7. He said it changed and they have to wear a cup from t-ball up. Once again... DH's territory!



Here is the team - Jack is the third boy in red from the left. DH is wearing the red jacket and blue shorts!



Because DH is the coach, he put our son at the most coveted position during the first inning of their first game... first base (J.T. Snow's former position!) Don't you think all Jack needs to make this photo authentic is a big ole chew in his cheek?

And here is Jack doing an excellent bug squashing! He got a hit at every at bat!

And last but not least I give you Princess Boo with Grandma! Yes, it was warm enough for her to go barefoot! Actually, Jenelle did not like the wind and cried for most of the game. No fun!



And that is all! If they had kept score, our team would have beaten the pants off the other team!

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Apparently this weekend was the 50th Anniversary of the book "Cat in the Hat", so to celebrate I read it to Jack at bedtime on Sunday. I explained that the "Cat in the Hat" was 50 years old! Jack said, "50 years old - he's almost dead!" Yeah, kids are real fun arent't they!

A sign that your 6 year old has seen the movie "Fever Pitch" one too many times...

A snippet of DH's conversation with Jack yesterday afternoon on the ride home from baseball practice:

Jack: "Daddy, who are we playing Saturday for opening day?"

DH: "We're playing the Red Sox! (We are the Cardinals this year, and Jack is fully aware that the Cardinals are the current World Series Champions!)"

Jack: "OH, they won the World Series a couple years ago!"

DH: "Yes Jack, that's right! How did you know that?"

Jack: "Because Ben and Lindsay went to the game in St. Louis Silly!"

Ben (Jimmy Fallon) and Lindsay (Drew Barrymore) are the main characters in the movie "Fever Pitch" which is all about being a Red Sox Fan in love! Our Little League Opening Day is tomorrow - we have to be at the field at 7:15 a.m.- oh Lord!