Rangers Baseball

Ammon decided to give baseball another shot this year after taking last season off. He really enjoyed it. The season started at City Park, but with all the rain we've been having the river was rising fast and the park got closed, which canceled the rest of the season. We were so bummed when the season got canceled. It was just like 5 years ago when Simeon played here. Just a week later we got word that the softball park (where Corrine played) was going to let us use some of their fields so the boys could play again. Our schedule got changed to only playing on Monday's and Friday's, but we got to play!! Because this was also where Corrine's teamed played, we spent 4 nights a week at the softball park for ball games.

Ammon started off the season not being able to hit off the pitching machine, then got on fire hitting awesome hits and scoring every game. Then for some reason he started standing too folded over in the batters box and striking out every time. Once we got him to stand differently he was on fire again hitting awesome big hits and scoring multiple times a game. At 1st the kids in the outfield were kinda of a free for all, but then they got a rotation going that picked up from where you left off after the last game and things went a lot smoother. Ammon knew where he was playing, so he was always one of the 1st out of the dugout and into position. He liked to be the last one back into the dugout so he could slid into it. He also liked to be the 1st one in line to give the other team high fives.

Ammon seemed to play catcher a lot. He had his normal rotation into the position, but he was also the one who would volunteer to play it when someone else didn't want to. He looked so cute back there all geared up. When we were still at City Park he got hit hard in the shoulder with the ball. He got 1st base and scored a run, but was so sore.

Ammon really like playing 1st base. He made some great catches to get kids out. He had an awesome throw from right field to the 3rd base. He was also so funny to watch some times. He liked to be where the action was. One game we had to laugh when he was playing in right field and ended the play backing up the 3rd basemen! To end a play an infielder needed to hold the ball up. Since he would sometimes go to the action he would be playing outfield, but end up holding the ball up somewhere on the infield and getting the play ended. He also had his moments of playing in the dirt. One game he was working on making himself a box to stand in, and his coach needed to tell him a few times "don't worry about the box, watch the batter." 

At the end of the season they had a tournament. We were there for the 2 Saturday games. The 1st game the team did awesome, and had fun but still lost by 1 run. Ammon got a few really good hits and scored a few runs. The 2nd game didn't sound so good. I was at the playground with some friends that were just in town to see us for a little bit, so I missed most of the game. They ended up losing again and it didn't seem like it was a lot of fun. On Sunday they had 2 more games that we didn't play in and we thought we were done for the season. We got a call telling us that they won the 2nd Sunday game and we were playing in the championship game on Wednesday night.

Our team played their hearts out. Ammon got a few more hits and a run, but got stranded on base a lot. In the end we came in 2nd place in the Silver bracket. The boys had so much fun playing.

The coach had balls for all the boys to sign for each other and they got a medal from the league. Ammon was so excited about his ball and metal that he came right home and put them up and took pictures of them.

This was a really fun baseball season. We had good coaches that were positive and helped encourage the boys and keep them focused on the game. Ammon is even more excited to play again next year.

Corrine's Foot

A few weeks back Corrine came home from school saying her right foot was hurting her. She wasn't limping so we had her rest it for a few days. It got better so we figured it must have been a  sprain.

Fast forward a few weeks.

After a softball game she started complaining that her foot was hurting her. We decided it needed to  get it looked at. We took her to Dr. Boyson who thought she must have a stress fracture because of the length of time it had been hurting. He sent us to Mercy hospital to get x-rays done. 

That night he called me with results from both Corrine's x-rays and Simeon's MRI. They didn't see any stress fractures, but they did see what appeared to be an infection in her big toe bone on top of her foot. 

The next step was an MRI to get a better look at "the spot" as it's being called.

She got an appointment within days for the MRI. When we got there they took us into a different room then they had with Simeon. I had no idea why we were there. As we walked in the door they told us we were there because Corrine needed to have an iv placed. She turned into a brick wall and started crying. I asked for numbing cream and then was able to get her to go sit on the bed. The nurses were awesome! They brought an iv for her to see how it worked and then feel. They let her arm get numb and got the iv in with one try. They needed the iv for contrast during the MRI.

The MRI only took about 20 mins and she did awesome. The nurse took the iv out in the MRI room and when they came to me she was smiling. She got a cute green frog stuffed animal that got to go in the MRI machine with her.

 

Results from the MRI showed multiple stress fractures and areas of swelling and an infection on the growth plate of her big toe. So now we're off to see an orthopedic doctor to decide what to do about "the spot"

She was put in a walking boot to keep the pressure off her foot to help the fractures heel and so she couldn't hurt the top of her foot where "the spot" is. They aren't sure if "the spot" is causing some of the pain or if it was incidental and isn't a really problem. 

After seeing 2 orthopedic specialists they have decided to give the fractures time to heal, and to leave "the spot" alone for now. If she's still having pain in her foot at the end of July then they'll do surgery on the spot. They'll take a needle and drain the area and biopsy it. If it's an infection they'll go in and take the area out. There is a concern that it's so close to the growth plate that it could affect her growth, so the best thing is to watch it if it's not causing problems.

She's doing physical therapy to work on getting out of her boot so that she can go to horse camp the beginning of July without the boot on and no pain.

Sadly she's had to stop playing softball. She's been a good team mate cheering her team mates on from the dugout. She walks the bases after the game with her friends.

Part of healing her foot was getting some new tennis shoes. Of course she picked the brightest neon yellow ones she could find!

What a way to start the summer-a hot boot on her foot and not being able to run. She's good about it and we are having to ask her to take it easy quite often.

Library Playground Pictures

We headed downtown today for some library reading program rewards, lunch at Which Wich and playtime. Simeon's hip is really bothering him right now and he can't run around, so he asked if he could take some pictures. It was so hot out there that alot of the pictures are of the kids trying to hide under the playground to stay cooler. The kids had earned a free book today and they kept grabbing them to read under the play structure.

Saying I was impressed with the pictures he got today is an understatement!! I love giving the camera to the kids and having them take the pictures. Seeing like through their eyes is amazing.

Pictures by Ammon

Rebecca just learned today how to walk up the slides. She walked up the slide, and slid down it dozens of times. Ammon thought this little guy on the slide with Rebecca was adorable and took some pictures of him too!

Pictures by Corrine

We needed some pictures of Simeon, so he wasn't just stuck behind the lens all day. I can tell from these shots that he wasn't feeling very good. He was hot and hurting. Not a fun combination. Hopefully soon we can get his hip figured out.

Only Picture taken my mom

It's crazy how grown up this kiddo is becoming. He'll be in junior high in just a few weeks. Yikes when did he get old enough for that!!

Fishing @ Kent Park

We started the night with the youth from church fishing with a Park Ranger. Johann was the only one to catch anything. The kids didn't want to leave the pond and eat dinner they just wanted to fish. After eating dinner we headed down to the main lake where they'd recently built a new dock.

We were the only one's there so we had the area all to ourselves. The new dock was really nice. It got you out into the water away from the rocks. There was even a center area that you could fish in. We had much better luck at this lake.

It got late and dark, but the kids still didn't want to stop fishing and playing. Corrine caught a crayfish, Ammon caught a good sized large mouth bass, Simeon caught a little bluegill/sunfish and Johann also caught a small bluegill. Rebecca busied herself with throwing rocks into the lake.

This was our 2nd fishing trip of the summer and marked another thing off our summer bucket list.

Capturing Rebecca in a time bubble

Today I tried to capture our sweet 3 and a half year old with her bubbles, babies, absolutely adorable freckles on her checks and nose and her fancy high heels. She loves all these things especially when she's outside enjoying them. 

There's only a few more weeks while she's 3 and we'll be telling people our baby is 4 years old. Man time really does fly by when your having fun and when your busy.

This Cabbage Patch kid was mine when I was about Rebecca's age. I LOVED baby dolls just like she does, and Corrine did before her. When my mom gave me my Cabbage Patch kids, diaper bag and clothes I was so excited for our kids to play with them. They have stood up to so much love and clothing changes over the years! Rebecca was so sweet helping her doll roller skate today.