04/30/05-05/01/05

On Friday night after work, I thought that I would try and work with Matthew on his hitting since he had such a mental block at the plate in his last three games, totally afraid to hit the ball. So, we walked over to the school field and I pitched to him a few dozen balls, did some fielding and got him to practice some pitching.

Matthew had a morning game today (10:00) and we showed up ready to play. That extra practice really must have helped him because he had great game! I was a little nervous at his first at bat, but he got a hit on his first at-bat and finished the day 2 for 3! And he also pitched one inning and had three strikeouts (giving up a walk, a hit and one runner got on by error), so he had a very good day!

We ran errands and did some chores around the house the rest of the afternoon, and then it was time for the baseball league spaghetti dinner fundraiser.

While the spaghetti dinner was the draw, the main events were the prize raffles and the auctions. Here are some of the raffle prize baskets that were made by the teams. The bigger ones were put up for auction, including the one I made. I was disappointed that ours only went for $220, but I think because it was very early, the people hadn't warmed up yet, because some of the later baskets went for $300 - $500!! The biggest bid went for $640 for a basket which had everything under the sun, including a ride on the Goodyear blimp! Unfortunately we didn't win anything from the raffle.

There was a big crowd tonight

Lots of hungry people waiting for their spaghetti

Matthew enjoyed it

The auction was pretty exciting

After lunch on Sunday it was time for Matthew's basketball team practice and the boys seemed to have a pretty good workout today. I even got in on a game of "Knockout" with the kids and coaches, and had my chance to win, but missed an easy free throw and came in second to coach Nino!

Right after practice Matthew changed clothes and it was time for his first piano recital/concert. He's been taking lessons for about 2 months and it was time for him to show his stuff. The whole school came out to perform for family and friends at a local music hall. My parents came out to see him, but we were all surprised that his classes part lasted all of under 5 minutes. The entire program lasted about 90 minutes but was still pretty entertaining to watch all of the different levels of players. There was this one 4th grade girl that was awesome!

Part one was singing a song

Does Matthew look excited?

What a little gentleman!

The piano players on stage

Here's Matthew playing

"Tumbling Pandas"

Happy to receive his medal for doing a good job

Here are the teachers performing

...and receiving flowers

On Sunday night we still had time to do a few things at home and Matthew wanted to make the "Thunder Cake" that he got a recipe from school. It's a fun way to learn how to read instructions, learn math and fractions, and is a great family bonding exercise. We had a few problems putting it together, but overall it came out pretty good.

Carefully measuring the sugar

Mix-a, Mix-a, Mix-a

Putting on the frosting

My first cake!