Baseball.

Malcolm is playing his first year of Minors this year. He's having some difficulty adjusting, fingers crossed things will improve. It comes down to his fear of getting hit by the ball when playing catch. I've been trying to help him, but he's very unmotivated and extremely stubborn. Roger would like him to continue to play little league, at least until he's 12, but we'll have to see if he continues to have fun. Here are a few shots from his first game. He went 0/2, but hopefully things will improve as the season goes on.





On Thursday we had some bad news on Thursday afternoon. A visit to the vet was due after Roger found some growths in my mouth. They were removed on Friday and biopsy results should come in on Monday. If the tumors are malignant, then we'll have to decide whether or not to start treatment. Good news is that there's a very effective vaccine on the market that has been working well.

Catching up.

Sports Day was a big success. Last year Malcolm missed Sports Day because of the Teacher's Strike. This year's theme was minute to win it, with various events focussing on small, but difficult tasks. I believe Red Team won this year. As you can see from the pictures Malcolm was Team Green and Melody was Team Yellow. Fun was had by all. The end of the baseball season was a good one for Malcolm. The decision to let him play another year of Rookies was a good one. He's improved his attitude, throwing and catching. Next year will be interesting to see if he can keep up to the other kids. I suspect he'll be fine, especially with some additional reinforcement over the summer, fall, and winter.

Easter and stuff...

No one said that parenting was easy and for what ever reason it's been extra tough on Tracey and Roger these days. Forget those wistful thoughts of the kids getting easier as they get older. The fighting, complaining and whining can be so exhausting! The silver lining in all this came last week when the kid's report cards came home. Honestly, they couldn't have been better. There were so many kind words, words that would make anyone proud. There were things written by their teachers that literally brought tears to Tracey's eyes. The good and bad of it all is that they know the kids can be extra great and for what ever reason at home it's a different story. We're all keeping our fingers and paws crossed that things will get better soon. For the most part it's a maturity issue coupled with some typical sibling rivalry.

Last Friday, we had some friends over for brunch and a little Easter Egg hunt for the kids. Fun was had by all. It was nice seeing everyone. In our midst, some of the friends are going through a lot. Roger and Tracey find themselves in a situation where many of their friend's parents are getting older and even some dealing with some pretty serious illnesses across the board. I guess as we go on there will be more of this happening.

Last week Malcolm was experiencing some serious leg pain, just above his knee. He actually stayed home for a day. He couldn't walk, he couldn't even move. Roger went so far as to get him a pair of crutches. The ultrasound and x-rays came back this week and the doctor said that he has some calcium deposits near his knee. From the sound of things, it's quite typical and no cause for concern. It's lucky cause baseball season is just starting. Roger decided to keep him back a year and play Rookies again this year. He figured that he wasn't quite ready for Minors yet. This year's rule change with Little League actually cheated him out of a year.

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks, including ones from Sierra's 4th birthday.