It's So Hard to Say Goodbye...

Last week was an especially difficult week for me. We had to say goodbye to Tristan's K3 class and teacher and to t-ball...all within two days! It was just too much for me. I never like goodbyes and struggle with change, so I spent much of last weekend in tears.

Last Thursday, Channing, Asher, and I attended Tristan's K3 graduation ceremony. It was the sweetest thing ever! The kids marched into the sanctuary with their animal masks, and then went onto the stage and sang several CUTE songs they learned this year. My absolute favorite was...
Squirrel, squirrel...shake your bushy tail! (or as Tristan says, "Skuwurel, skuwurel, shake your mushy tail!" LOVE IT!!!). This song was SO cute because, at one point, all the kiddos turned around backwards and shook their "bushy tails".

Here is Tristan with some of his little friends from class:
And watching himself on the big monitor:And here is his last picture with his teacher, Mrs. Karen. Mrs. Karen, thank you for a GREAT year! Tristan looked forward to going to school every day, and I thank you for your part in that.The very next day, we had to say goodbye to t-ball. TOO much for me! Here are some pictures from Tristan's very last four year old t-ball game. This was the first game where the t-ball teams actually kept score and outs, and let me tell you...when that happens, the dynamic definitely changes. There was LOTS more yelling, lots more tension, and more pressure to perform...for the parents anyway. ;) The kids could care less. They were out there to play.

Now I, being the competetive person that I am (I'm not proud of it), I immediately noticed that the Marlins (the team we were playing) were out doing some serious practice before the game. Here they were:And here we were:Let me point out, in case you missed it, the fact that the only people on their team's side of the field were the kids and the two coaches. Now look back at our team's picture. Do you see the difference. Yep, we had almost every parent from our team out there. Notice anything else? Our kids weren't practicing. Nope. They were picking noses, tackling each other, and throwing their gloves, all the while their parents were catching up with everyone else's parents. HILARIOUS!

Here's another one. Notice one of their coaches came over to meet with the ump to discuss the rules. Again, all of our parents are talking to each other and hanging out.
Check out the other team:
Yep, they were practicing! Ha! Again, I'm pretty competetive and had to go tell the coach's wife (who also happens to be really competetive) and my hubby that maybe someone should be out there warming the boys up while the coaches met with the ump. We both tried, but it never happened. Oh well!The thing is, our boys played AWESOME!!! They did SO well!!! They didn't win; however, it can mainly be attributed to a couple of things...
#1. We had some "parenting" coaching that went bad. Twice in one inning (actually, back to back plays), a parent sent a kid to the next base when they should have stayed where they were. Both times, the kids were literally held for a good 30 seconds, and then as soon as the other team had the ball and was almost at the next base, our parent would send them on. Not only that, but they sent two of our kids that take a little more time rounding the bases. Not the best idea (notice my competetiveness. Again, I'm not proud of it. ). And as I'm sure you've already guessed, the kids were tagged out.
#2. Before the game began, the coaches decided on a limit of four innings or 1 hour and 15 minutes of gametime, whichever came first. At the end of the third, we had some SUPER tired kids, and we were up 17-15. The coaches on the other team (one of whom was extremely competetive and totally inappropriate to be coaching four year olds (you should have heard some of the things he yelled at one of the parents who was on second base helping...) really wanted to play a fourth inning (of course they did, they were losing). There were LITERALLY three minutes left before the time limit...THREE MINUTES. Because we have such AWESOME coaches, they agreed to play another inning. Well, the last inning didn't go so well, and our sweet Cardinals lost the game. Of course, they didn't care. It was just sad for us parents.

It's never fun to lose, but I think it hurt me so much because it meant that t-ball was over. SO SAD! I LOVED t-ball. I loved watching my sweet little man get "baseball ready". I loved watching him strut to the plate to bat (he's a great batter!). I loved watching him dig in the dirt (as I yelled, "Tristan, watch the ball!"). I loved watching the other boys. I LOVED every minute.

Speaking of great batter, here is my great batter. Hitting one out to the field for his team. Tristan, I'm so proud of you!
The end of the game. Here they are going to shake hands with the other team (or slap their hands really hard; depends how you look at it).And running back for the last time together as a team. Next year, they'll be split up. :(Getting hugs from Coach David. Thanks, Coach David, for all you did. You are AWESOME, and we are so proud to have such a great leader and role model for our boys!!!
So yes, t-ball is over, and yes, I bawled all weekend. I loved it, what can I say. I will definitely miss our weekly practices and games. I'll miss our sweet boys. I'll miss hanging out with the new friends we made. This truly was a special team. We had an amazing group of boys and such awesome parents. We had parents who truly cared about all the boys and parents who weren't obnoxious and embarrassing at the games (unless you count me. ;) Kidding! I really wasn't that bad. I don't think...).

What a great season! Next year, word has it the boys have to try out. Have you ever heard of such? Trying out for a five year old t-ball team??? Well, as much as Tristan (and I) loved it, we'll be there!