Tee Ball!

You have to know how excited we were to find out that Carter was old enough to start tee ball this year!  We've been waiting for this day probably ever since that ultrasound four years ago when we found out we were having a boy.  Okay, maybe not that long, but definitely an exciting time for this baseball-loving family.

Naturally, there's no better team to play on than...

your Texas Rangers!

His best bud, Nathan, is on the team too!

Of course, we had to embarrass Carter at the first game with an exuberant amount of pictures, but hey, how many times does a little boy have his first.baseball.game.ever.?

Being the baseball prodigy that he is, Carter decided to show off his mad skills of balancing a baseball bat on his shoulder during his pre-game warm-up.

I know. Future MLB player.

Or a clown, perhaps.  (front row, far left. The one hiding behind his cap.)

Even though the fielding skills were somewhat absent (and by absent, I mean, replaced by filling his glove with dirt during the first inning), his batting skills were... present.

All-in-all, it was as great of a first game as can be expected from a group of 3-4 year olds who don't quite grasp the full concept of baseball yet.  Which is great since they don't keep score and everyone wins!



P.S. Carter has had two more games since the first and has already improved.  I'm not sure how well Daddy is handling the news that Carter's best game yet was this past Friday night when we weren't there.

Let's Go Rangers, Let's Go!

A couple of Wednesdays ago (okay, okay, a month ago), I was coming home late from work and Nick called to let me know that one of our friends had offered up two [free] Rangers tickets to the game that night.  (By now, people know the Easons well enough to know that if there are tickets to a Rangers game to be had, we're not likely to pass them up.)  When Nick called me, it was already about 6:00, and the first pitch was set for 7:05.  At first I told him we better not go.  After all, it was a "school" night, so it probably wouldn't be a good idea to take the kids to the game, and we couldn't get anyone to watch them on such short notice.  Plus, we hadn't yet taken the kids to their first (real! MLB!) baseball game, and I guess I'd envisioned it as somewhat of a different experience than a Wednesday night spur-of-the-moment trip.

But... like any good parents would do, we decided to be spontaneous and throw caution to the wind and head on out to the Ballpark.  Part of our reasoning was that if they were tired or not so well behaved, then all that would be lost would be the trip out there and the parking fee.

The other part of our reasoning was that it just so happened to be Dollar Dog Night.

The kids were actually quite well-behaved and stayed busy with a steady stream of cotton candy...

tickets for the Ozarka Dot Race (go green!)...

and way too many snapshots taken with mom's camera.

Our seats were pretty good, though definitely not the best we've ever had.  But hello? Free.

By the ninth inning, every time we'd cheer, Carter would ask, "Is it over, mama?"  To which I'd reply, "Only two more outs" or "only one more strike."  And even though the concept of innings and outs and balls and strikes is lost on a three year old, when the Rangers finally won, they clapped and cheered just as loudly as the rest of us.

Our kids were definitely troopers and had a blast at their very first baseball game!