So, the other night we were playing kickball in the yard.  (As a sidenote - from basically May-October you will find us outside playing either baseball, kickball, Frisbee, bocce ball, basketball or riding bikes pretty much every night! - and we love every minute of it.)  So, I kicked the ball and it went way over on the other side of the driveway.  Cora, who was playing outfield, ran hard after the ball and tripped and fell on the stones in the driveway.  She fell hard and was bleeding a little bit on her hand and her knee.  We got her up and brushed her off and despite her tears, talked her into going back out and finishing up the game.  She then took over her Dad's pitching position and her brother was up.  Now, anyone that knows Blake, knows of his ultra competitive nature.  Well, we witnessed a miracle that night.  On Blake's at-bat, he struck out. On his next at-bat, he gently kicked the ball right to Cora, ran to first base, Cora threw the ball at him, missed, but Blake called himself out, saying that the ball just barely touched his shirt.  It was at that point that I realized what he was doing (Tom tells me I'm a little slow because it was really obvious).  He was making the sacrifice in order to help his sister.  He wanted to see her get the satisfaction of getting him out, and to encourage her to keep on playing even though she was hurt.  Again, this might not sound like much, but for Blake, it's huge.  I have to fess up that I myself am also very competitive, as I told Tom, it just comes naturally!  So, to see him do this, taught me a valuable lesson, too.  When I tucked him in that night, he told me about the incident, "Mom, I don't know what happened, it's like I didn't even think about what I was doing, it just happened."  WOW.  As I told Tom, maybe as parents we are doing something right?!  I could not be prouder of both of our kiddos! 


Baseball and softball seasons have started.  We've had a week of practices so far (we are coaching both the kids' teams this year) and are looking forward to a fun season.  We both have a good group of kids to work with and the season will be over before we know it.


Happy Spring!