The Webmaster took these pictures of Ane at her last baseball clinic/session.

Each kid gets to take a turn hitting, then plays defense on the field.  They are really trying to get the kids to track and hit the ball, instead of just hitting it off the tee.

However, as the photographic evidence clearly proves, Ane needs to work on keeping her eye on the ball.

She needs a LOT of work.

The other thing she needs to work on is taking turns.  The kid would be happy to hit all day - but the Webmaster told her that half the game is defense, so she finally went to the field with her lavender mitt (a Christmas gift from Auntie) and played outfield, wearing her lavender Seattle Mariners hat.

Because you can still look like a girl and play baseball at the same time.

We got to do one of those grown-up things last night.

As a follow-up to the Webmaster’s birthday, Friend made dinner reservations for us at one of our favorite restaurants, the Purple Cafe, and arranged for baby-sitting so that the four of us could go out to dinner.  We’d been wanting Friend and Doc to go with us to dinner there ever since the Webmaster and I first discovered it a year and a half ago, and we finally had the time (and the gift cards) to go.

Friend’s niece Erin and her boyfriend Cody watched the four older kids at our house (Ane and Tad know who Erin is, thanks to the birthday parties of the Brain and Head), while Rupert, who is a very happy baby, came along for the ride.  He actually napped through dinner, which was nice for us all.

I recommended the chicken marsala to Friend, which was stellar as usual, while the Webmaster had sturgeon and Doc had a risotto (it had bacon in it, a big selling point for Doc).  The guys also had wine “flights” - basically, wine samplers - and we all got the dessert of the day: chocolate mousse cake with marshmallow sauce and strawberries.  The Webmaster got his dessert with a candle in it.

It was so strange to behave like adults again (aside from Rupert napping through dinner).  I’m sure we did talk about the kids, but it was nice to remember that once upon a time, it was just the four of us getting together for dinner and going out to do things before children arrived.  Friend and Doc have been married for ten years now (how all that time passed, I don’t really know) and our weekly get-togethers probably started right around that same time.  Back then, it was just watching The X-Files together on Sunday nights, and showing up at 8:55 pm was considered “right on time,” because the show started at 9 pm.

Nowadays, we look at our watches and yell, “8:30!?!?!  We’ve gotta get these kids to bed!!”

Still, we had a great time out and left the restaurant completely stuffed.  We arrived back at the Corner Haus to find that the kids had had a great time as well - Erin reported that the only kid to cry was Ane, and it was because she tripped and fell flat on her face outside.  No one else appears to have been involved, thankfully.  Everyone was well-behaved, ate their pizza dinner, scarfed down their ice-cream bars, and Erin and Cody seemed to have had a good time watching and playing with the kids.

It was a successful night out for all.

We’re slowly getting a schedule established for the summer.  Weekends are generally as they usually were - Saturdays are catch-all days for doing anything and everything, and Sundays remain normal with church and our usual dinners with Friend and Doc and the boys (barring vacations and the like).  But with our weekdays open - and the Webmaster at home - there is a lot of open time now when no one has anywhere to be.

So, here’s what I’ve come up with so far to keep the kids busy this summer.

Monday - Play date at the park day.  Thanks to the wonders of email, the parents from Ane’s preschool class from this last year have kept in touch and each Monday, anybody who wants to can show up at a designated park at a specific time.  It gives the kids a couple of hours to see their friends, run around and burn off a little energy, and have snacks/lunch together.  The last couple of weeks, I’ve been taking Ane by herself, but yesterday I took Tad along, too.  He did pretty well, and as all of the other parents had younger kids with them, too, and the park was plenty big and the day was sunny, there were no fights between siblings.  The advantage to having the play date earlier in the day?  Better naptimes.

Tuesday - We enrolled Ane in another session of preschool baseball clinic, so the Webmaster takes her to her lessons while I take Tad with me to Bible study at church.  This way, each of the kids gets some time apart and alone with a parent.  After Bible study, I always stop by the library, so Tad gets a chance to go (though I have to keep a tight leash on him and keep him quiet) and choose a new book or two.

Wednesday - If there is a good movie to see, I take the kids to Regal Cinemas Free Family Film Festival.  It gets us out of the house for a couple of hours, and did I mention that it is FREE?  Free is very good.

Thursday and Friday - Yes.  Well, we don’t have anything regularly scheduled for those days.  It would be nice if we did, but right now I’m just lathering the kids up with sunscreen and putting them outside for extended periods of time.  It’s going to get warmer as the week goes on, so I’m sure we’re going to be bringing out the sprinkler and possibly the wading pool very soon.

The other major thing keeping us busy this summer is Tad’s potty training.  We’re actually having some limited success with him at the moment, where if he has been dry for an extended period of time - say, after his nap - he is actually able to “go” when placed on the potty!  (Disclaimer - we have had some, um, “aiming” problems.  Girls are SO much easier on that front.)  Tad himself is starting to make the connection of using the potty - we’ve found him sitting on the toddler potty, sitting and playing with his Star Wars toys that he’s only allowed to play with in the bathroom, and though nothing has happened yet during an instance that he’s taken himself potty, I’m hopeful that it won’t be long before something does.

We’ve also hit upon a suitable bribe for him - fruit snacks.  He was never a big fan of them until recently - he’d play with them, stick them in his mouth, get them wet, then take them out and make a squishy mess.  However, his teacher at preschool told us that he loved them during snack time, so we started using them as treats here.  Tad wolfs them down eagerly now, and has begun to make the connection that IF he uses the potty, THEN he gets a treat.

What I wouldn’t give to be able to send him back to school in the fall mostly potty trained.  Wouldn’t that be quite the summer project for us to acheive with him?

… who looked like this.

He grew up, got a college degree, got married, and had kids.

Now he looks like this:

(I know I just posted this picture last week.  It was too good not to re-use again.)

Happy Birthday, Webmaster!