There's no crying in baseball.

Unless you get hit in the face.

You see, it all started when.... I got home from work yesterday and was informed we needed a few items at the store.

"Hey kids, you wanna go to the store?"

"We're going to Target?" Hunter asks? (She's so smart.) She knows that when I say 'store' I ALWAYS mean Target.  :)

Somehow we left there with, among the necessary items, a cute little kids movie called "Everyone's Hero." It's a little baseball flick..you know, Yankees, Babe Ruth, etc. (That's about all I know about baseball and truthfully I wasn't really paying full attention) But what I DID see WAS cute.

They, however, sat captivated for the full 87 minutes-not once moving off the couch. And almost as if I'd planned it, just like little boys and girls who, at some point in life, suddenly realize they have a dream of 'getting big and playing baseball' the moment it ended, the three of them, in cahoots, said, "Let's play baseball!"

And into the playroom they ran, and out of the playroom they came 30 seconds later with plastic baseballs.

They played and played (to Brian's initial terror) inside the house, balls a flying EVERYWHERE....at kids, at the walls, onto the counter, at the doors.

There was GREAT potential for brokenness of something....

But boy, did they have a good time. I eventually convinced them to trade 2 of the plastic balls for soft, plush soccer balls and I think that put Brian at ease a bit. And thankfully, to my surprise, no one ever thought to go out back and get the plastic baseball bats. They were content with balls alone.

Several other realizations were made on this occasion-
1. Hunter is a spastic, crazy girl who loves to have fun.
2. Colton is a softie. Cries at the drop of a hat. Or a hit in the face with a baseball.
3. Ethan is our athlete. Tough as nails and happy to be rough and tumble.
4. I am a horrible mother who laughs when her kids get pegged with balls. (Seriously. As I played back all the videos, I couldn't help but laugh at myself for laughing at them.) All bets for a mother's day present from them are off. And rightfully so, I suppose.)

Our only real injury came to this happy, go, lucky little boy below. (I say 'real' injury, because Colton was under the impression that he had suffered some pretty serious ones. He had not.) 

So I guess that makes me the team trainer then.

The fixer of the welts to the cheek from fast pitched flying plastic balls. 

He may be the baby of this group, but he is tough. 

Now, you MUST watch these video clips. (If you want to really experience the awful mom laughing, then scroll to the bottom and pause the music first). They're all very short clips but are SURE to put a smile on your face!

Now, that said, "Let's PLAY BALL!"

My favorite part of this clip comes at :27 seconds in..."Not in the fa-(WHACK!) 

At :18 seconds in, I get hit with a ball and :23, Colton takes a hit to the face. 

From :23 on, I laugh.  

Oh happy days...