Our Week - The One with Quarantine, Week 59 (Volunteering and Spring Event)

May-cember is officially here, y’all, and we are FEELING it!  Here’s the recap from yet another busy week! 

Monday, April 26 (Day 409 of Quarantine)

Monday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then headed back home for a run.  The weather was gorgeous and cool, and I got in 2.5 miles before heading to my office to work for the rest of the day. 

The whole day was work – laundry – work – laundry – and then I grabbed the kids from school.  Jacob’s baseball practice ended up being canceled, so we had an unexpected night at home.  I cooked dinner, we ate on the back porch, and then played in the yard for the rest of the evening.  I just love a good unexpected evening at home in the midst of a busy week. 

Tuesday, April 27 (Day 410 of Quarantine)

Tuesday was crazy busy because I had loads of errands to run – gas, UPS Store, Target, Dollar Tree, and Fresh Market – and then I headed back home to work for the rest of the day.  I documented this entire day in my Instagram Stories, and I saved it in a highlight if you want to check it out!  It’s the one with the rainbow icon titled “Day in Life.”  My Instagramming kept me insanely busy all day, and I probably wasted a couple of hours, cumulatively, just recording and formatting posts!  Ha!

Tuesday evening, Jacob had a baseball game and my cousin, Shelby, came to watch with us.  We haven’t gotten to spend too much time together because of the pandemic, obviously, so it was nice catching up with her. 

Jacob’s team lost in another close game, 8-6, and unfortunately, there were two really bad calls at home plate in the other team’s favor AGAIN.  Naturally, we ended up losing by those two runs.  Sigh.  One of our players was called out at the plate when he was very obviously safe, and one of the players for the other team was called safe at the plate when he was very obviously out.  At this age, most of the time, the coaches just let that kind of stuff go, but it was so bad that our coach said something to the ump. 

Jacob played at third base again, and he struggled to make a couple of plays.  He also got hit in the ankle by the ball during one play, but he rallied after being a little shaken up.  He was walked for his first at-bat and scored a run, and then he struck out at his second at-bat. 

After the game, Jacob made the comment about how there have been so many bad calls this season and that they always end up being bad for our team.  If he’s noticing how bad it is, then you know it must be really bad. 

Wednesday, April 28 (Day 411 of Quarantine)

Wednesday was a day of yoga, work, and catch-up.  After being on Instagram stories nonstop on Tuesday, I had neglected a lot of little things, so I had lots to do. 

I met with my therapist via Zoom at 12:15 and then got right back to work afterward.  Olivia had dance after school, so I spent the whole hour cleaning out my two email inboxes and finishing Emily Ley’s newest book, Growing Boldly.  I loved it and I think it’s her best book yet.

Jacob’s baseball practice was canceled unexpectedly again, so we had another evening at home, which was nice since the previous night had been such a late one. 

Thursday, April 29 (Day 412 of Quarantine)

Thursday morning, I dropped the kids at school, swung by Starbucks for coffee, and then I headed back to the school for a teacher appreciation week meeting.  The school recently started allowing parents back into the school office (only the school office), so this was the first time in over a year I was able to do some volunteer work inside the school building.

Teacher Appreciation is this week, so we spent the entire morning stuffing gift bags, cutting tags and ribbon, and wrapping the gift bags.  I got to spend some time with four ladies who volunteer a lot with me (one of whom is one of my best friends from high school) and it was SO WONDERFUL to catch up with them. 

While I was there, my old co-worker/friend contacted me to give me some very sad news… one of my old coworkers who I worked closely with for 13 years had passed away from Covid.  He had been in the hospital for nearly a month, and I knew he was fighting, but I had just assumed he’d pull through and be okay.  He was my mom’s age, healthy, and larger than life, and it was just a shock to hear that he had passed.  I’m still in disbelief that he’s gone.  He makes the fourth person who we know personally who has passed from Covid.  It’s just devastating.

The ladies and I finished all of our tasks just before 11, and I headed straight home to work for the rest of the day, although, it was hard to concentrate after hearing the news about my coworker.  I ended up speaking with nearly all of my old coworkers throughout the day Thursday, and although it was nice catching up with them, I hated it was under those circumstances. 

Thursday evening, Jacob had another late baseball game.  They ended up losing 12-11, and, yet again, we lost because of bad calls.  Yet again, we had the same two umps who have been making all of the bad calls against our team, and there were multiple blatant terrible calls against us / in the other team’s favor, two of which resulted in losses of runs for us. 

The worst call of all was the very last play of the game… our best hitter hit a homerun, slid into home plate, and the catcher from the other team tried to get him out, but didn’t actually tag him with his ball and glove... and it was very obvious that he wasn’t tagged.  The ump had raised his arm to make the “out” signal before the play ever even happened, so we could tell that he was assuming he was going to be out.  After the play was complete, the ump hesitated for a few seconds before finally following through with his signal and calling him out so he obviously either felt the need to call him out since his arm was already up to do that motion, or he had no clue what had actually happened, so he just called him out. 

That ended up being our third out which ended the game, so it was a really important play.  If the correct call had been made, that run would have tied the game and we were at the top of our lineup which meant we would have had a great chance at winning. 

We have an excellent team of coaches and parents, none of whom are ever obnoxious (thank goodness), but the play call was so awful that ALL of us parents, coaches, and even the kids were yelling at the ump (nothing terrible, of course… just a bunch of COME ON and HE WAS SAFE and stuff like that).  You know it’s bad when every single person on one of the sidelines is yelling at the ump, though… that doesn’t happen at our games. But after so many bad calls and so many lost games because of them, we’d all just had enough.  Of course, there was nothing that could be done since there’s no footage to see an instant replay, so the call stood, and it was just so sad for our boys… they were all so disappointed after playing their little hearts out and coming back from behind to almost win the game. 

On the way home, Jacob asked us so many questions about why the umps don’t like our team, and I just didn’t even know what to tell him because it truly seems like they do have something against us.  It has happened in every single game we’ve played for the last few games ever since these two particular umps have started doing our games… the really bad calls are always made in the other team’s favor, no matter which team we’re playing.  It makes me wonder if the umps have some sort of personal issue with one of our coaches or something.  I just don’t get it. 

I know in the scheme of things it’s just little league baseball, and it’s not that big of a deal in the long run, but it IS a big deal to our kids right now and it just sucks to see your child and all of his friends down and out because the umps can’t do their job.  This was the third game we’ve lost this season due to bad calls, and after Thursday’s game we could tell that it’s really starting to take its toll on the boys. 

And I know y’all probably think I’m crazy and that I’m being one of those little league parents who just can’t accept the fact that her kid’s team lost, but I promise I’m not.  We lost a ton on our own last season and we happily accepted it.  Haha.  We aren’t super serious baseball people like some people are… we just enjoy watching Jacob play and have fun, and it’s never been about winning and losing.  For us it’s always been about boosting confidence, learning to play as a team, and getting to experience that camaraderie that goes along with playing a multi-player sport.  But when the kids aren’t able to enjoy it because of the umpires, that’s a problem.

Our boys played a fantastic game, though, and Jacob played awesome as well.  He ended up with two singles, two runs, and only one strikeout.  I just hope he doesn’t let this umpire situation defeat him.  We’ve had several conversations about it since then and I’m hoping he’ll continue to do what he loves despite everything that’s happened.

And yes, I know a lot of you are probably bored just reading this detailed account of how things went down, but as always, I’m doing this for myself and our little fam since this blog serves as our online journal.  I promise it doesn’t hurt my feelings if you just skipped this part.  ;o)

Friday, April 30 (Day 413 of Quarantine)

Friday, I did lots of work on the blog, and I was all ready to spend the afternoon at the school setting up for the spring event on Saturday, but I got a text around lunchtime saying that the football players at the high school had already moved everything for us!  Woo hoo!  That meant I had a few unexpected free hours, so I did more blog work and then stopped by Kohl’s on the way to pick up the kids so I could do a little bit of Mother’s Day shopping.

When we got home from school, I read for a while on the back porch because, yet again, the weather was incredible.  Brian picked up Five Guys for dinner, and then we watched another kids’ movie on Netflix... I promptly fell asleep again.  Haha.

Saturday, May 1 (Day 414 of Quarantine)

Saturday morning, I made homemade waffles for breakfast, did a long cardio workout, did some laundry, and tidied the house, and then after lunch, I spent some time outside with the kids, laying in the sun and reading.  The weather was gorgeous yet again!

I had to be at the kids’ school at 4 to set up for the spring event, so B took Jacob and Olivia to baseball practice while I was gone.  Spring event setup was a whirlwind, and before I knew it, it was nearly 6:30 and Brian and the kids were pulling up to get the party started. 

Our spring event is typically an adults-only, indoor Casino Night or Derby Night, but due to Covid this year, it had to be completely revamped for safety reasons.  We decided to do an outdoor family event complete with bouncy houses and slides for the kids, a balloon maker, food trucks, some organized games like flag football and a four square tournament, and, of course, the auction.  Our class basket ended up going for $550 so I was super excited about that!

We spread everything out among the football field, the practice field, and one of the parking lots so there was ample room for everyone to spread out… we didn’t want everyone trying to cram into one little area, obviously, for safety reasons.  Although, pretty much all of the parents and teachers are vaccinated anyway, at this point… every single person I talked to Saturday is already vaccinated!!!!  THREE CHEERS FOR THAT!

Everyone set up blankets and chairs on the football field, and the kids took off, meeting up with their friends and running around while the adults hung out and caught up.  We hadn’t seen some of them in over a year, which is still just crazy to me!  It ended up being the most fun night, and the kids didn’t want it to end… I don’t think any of the adults did either!  This was the first time we didn’t feel like we had to stay with the kids every second at an outdoor school event and it was so nice… and they enjoyed the extra freedom!!  Even though it’s tough to see my babies growing up so quickly, there are benefits to having an almost-ten-year-old!

The event ended at 8:30, but everyone hung around a little later than that, and then B took the kids home while I hung around to help clean up.  On the way home, they stopped and grabbed some DQ Blizzards, so I had one waiting on me when I got home.  ;o)

And I hardly took any pictures, so there's not much to show... the sign of a great night!

Sunday, May 2 (Day 415 of Quarantine)

Sunday morning was cinnamon rolls and virtual church, and then I spent the rest of the morning trying to organize my life for the next three weeks because it’s going to be CRAZY – teacher appreciation week at the school, baseball end-of-the-year activities, Olivia’s dance recital, end-of-the-school-year activities, and all of the million little things I need to get done at home before the kids are out for summer.  My list is verrrry long and verrrry overwhelming, but I’m trying to keep everything in perspective and be grateful for the busyness… because this SURE BEATS what we were doing this time last year.  Y’all know what I’m saying?!

Sunday afternoon, we headed to my MIL and step-FIL’s for lunch, and we had lunch on the back deck.  Sunday was the first day we’ve had all season where it felt too hot to be out in the sun, so my SIL and BIL brought their two baseball tents to set up over the deck so we could eat in the shade. 

It was a nice, long, lazy afternoon with all of them outside, and the kids played forever while the adults chatted.  Jacob also got in some pitching practice with Poppie and his two baseball-playing older cousins because… there’s a possibility he may start pitching for his team.  <Insert me cringing over here>.  Haha. 

At the beginning of the season, the coaches asked all the kids who was interested in pitching, and they’ve let most of them pitch during the games all season long.  Jacob wasn’t interested in pitching at the beginning of the season, and therefore, didn’t raise his hand, so he hasn’t done any, which was a relief to me… I get nervous enough watching the other kids, I can’t imagine how nervous I’ll be watching my own child!!!! 

Saturday at practice, Jacob’s coach asked all the kids who don’t pitch to throw ten pitches just so he could see if there were any good pitchers they were missing out on, and apparently the coach now has his eye on Jacob. 

Coach approached Brian after practice and told him that out of ten pitches, Jacob threw seven strikes, and he told B that they may want him to pitch some if Jacob is interested.  Jacob was super excited about it, and has decided he does want to pitch, so now we’re just waiting to see what happens.  The thought of him pitching makes me a nervous wreck, so this ought to be very interesting.  Haha.  We are so proud of him, though!

Sunday evening, my Momma, Daddy, and Mama Cass all came over for Sunday dinner on the back porch again, so we got to spend time with them, too!  The weather had cooled off a bit by then, and it was a beautiful evening. 

It was just the best weekend, and we are feeling fine on this Tuesday! 

See y’all back here tomorrow!