Ball Season!

The Plechaty house has been a little crazy for last couple of weeks. We currently have all three of our kids playing ball. Every night of the week we have a kid at a ball field for either practice or a game. It's crazy but fun. I love watching them play and have fun. Its hard for us to figure out the coverage as to who will be going where with who but we are dealing with it one day at a time.

Kayley is the softball girl. She is playing on a new team this year and is having a blast. She has made a few new older friends this year and is fitting in very well. She is playing with a team that has a big variety in skill levels. Her coaches are great and make it fun for her to go to practice. We are going to work with her on her catching. She tends to shy away from hard thrown balls. Her fielding is excellent. This year her throwing has gotten stronger and she is running much faster and effectively to the bases. We have only had 2 games up to date and she has been very consistent in her hitting. I look forward to seeing her continue to improve. I hope she keeps on track with softball and that she sees it as a place for her to make her mark.

Kyle is playing his first year of kid pitch. The team he plays for is called the "Lookouts". It literally is a whole new type of game for him and his teammates. They have had to learn new rules and have had to get used to not getting as many hits off a pitcher as they had last year. The group of kids he is playing with have been together since tee ball. They haven't started off the season strong, but hopefully, they will start hitting better and get their pitching going for them. They have also had to deal with two strong players getting injured and sidelined. Ken assits with the coaching and has been there since the team started. I hope as the summer progresses the team will continue to improve and get some team confidence. Kyle has had some issues in the confidence and morale department. We have tried to install in him that this is a team sport and that its important to encourage his teammates to do their best. I hope he takes our words to heart and steps up to be a leader on the team as well as a good sport.

Kaden is in his first year. His team name is the "Thunder". Ken is head coaching this bunch. Its his rookie year for head coaching . He has been able to "teach " the team the basics and keep it fun. They are really cute to watch. Everything is so simple at this level. They literally are being taught how to play the game at its simplest form. Kaden has done well. He hits strong and consistently. He pays attention and is getting better at his fielding skills. He can throw the ball well. He still needs to work on catching the ball with his mitt but that will come with time. The best thing is watching him hit the ball and come running down the first base line with the biggest smile on his face!! I am so glad he is having fun and that he finally gets a chance to shine at a sport!

I look forward to this summer. I love watching the kids and I am their biggest cheerleader. At times it gets hectic but if we didn't do this we would be quite bored. I like getting out on the ball field and talking with the parents. We have watched the older kids" grow up" on the field. I look forward to watching the younger ones grow too!!

There have been times so far that I have had to miss part of a game for someone and I don't like when that happens. However...I think they understand that mommy can't be at everything they do. We have made sure to have at least one parent or grandparent there at a each game so that the kids have a cheering section representing them!! The house is a mess and I am behind in tons of things but I wouldn't have it any other way. I can catch up later....the good thing about work is that its always there. The kids don't care about that. I hope they remember that mom and dad did their best to be there for them.

Kaden and his many faces

I was taking pictures the other day of Kaden. He is so full of personality and life! I have to admit that with him around there is never a dull moment. He has a face for everything and for any emotion he is feeling at the time. He did ham it up for me in front of the camera. I think I was able to get his personality captured in these few frames. He always manages to make me smile, even on the days he is particularly trying. I love my baby boy and I am so thankful for him as part of our family. Keep smiling baby and never give up your ability to put a smile on other people's faces as well. You bring light into a person's life when you get them to smile! It's refreshing and a strong characteristic trait!

The Dandelion War!

AHHH..I love the site of a great green lawn. However, at my house, this is NOT what I will find. We have a large lawn which is FULL of the dreaded Dandelions! Now, they irritate the heck out of me. My husband however, finds it easier to just mow them and pretend that they will just go away. He doesn't see the point in trying to kill or prevent them, so every spring our yard only looks good on the days that we actually mow. The rest of the time we have the ugly dandelions until they are done blooming. It's funny, our kids will actually go outside and "do battle" with the grotesque weeds. The boys go out armed with toy golf clubs and take swipes at the dandelionheads! Along with just stomping on the nasty yellow flowers! I think it makes them feel they are helping the cause to" kill the dandelions!" I have to chuckle at their attempts to keep the weeds at bay. I guess, one less weed is better than looking at it! One day, I will get the better of these nasty, frustrating and never ending nuisances!!! At least on the last shot I can witness more green than yellow! How pleasing to the eye to see that!

Catch up Tuesday....

Today is April 14, 2009 and I am going to try to play catch up. A lot has happened since I last posted anything. I will try to give a quick rundown to keep everything up to date so to speak.



We have had Sammy, our newest member, for about 3 1/2 weeks now. She has adjusted to the new house, kids and the routines we keep. For some reason she has adopted me as her special person. She is very attached to me and ALWAYS is with in eyesight of me. I can't leave a room without her following or tracking me down. She gets along well with the kids. They do a good job keeping her exercised and love to play with her. I think in time she will watch over the kids in a very loving way and be protective of them and our family.

We started the kids baseball & softball practices. Ken has his own pee wee team this year and also assistant coaches for our oldest son's team. He has his hands full and is liking it! He has a way with the kids and its great to see him in action! Kayley has had one practice up to this date and she did very well. I decided to switch her to a different coach. She seems happier with the girls on this team and I am glad I did it. To see the smile on her face when she was on the field with her friends was priceless. I believe she will benefit more from this team and her coach is very enthusiastic. He makes it fun and that is what she likes!!

The kids were off the week of April 6th - April 13th for their spring break. Of course, in true Northeast Ohio style, the weather just plan old sucked! It was chilly and it even snowed. Needless to say....we were pretty bored and were climbing the walls. I had hoped that we would have nice weather so we could do somethings outside but that didn't happen. Maybe next year we will actually get away for a vacation. (That would be the year that it would be sunny all week and in the seventies!!) Kaden, Kayley and me did decorate one tree outside for Easter. We hung colored eggs from the branches and put up some Easter rabbits. It looked cute!


I took the kids to my parent's house for Good Friday. Traditionally, we color Easter eggs on that day. This was the first year that I really did not have to help the kids. They handled it all on their own for the most part. Sign of the times that they are getting older I guess. I just let them go and they did a nice job with the eggs.











This brings me up to Easter Sunday. Ken and I agreed that getting the dog was part of the kids Easter so we intentionally did not go over board with the Easter goodies. In the past, we have and this year it was not as big. I think the kids were happy with their baskets and were still excited to see what the Easter Bunny had left for them! Since the weather was not crappy outside, we did do a little egg hunt at our house. In the past we have taken the kids to the park for the community egg hunts. Due to Kayley having gymnastics we weren't able to make it. Anyways....the kids had fun and it worked out pretty good. I had fun hiding the eggs and taking pictures of the kids as they hunted for their eggs. I would imagine, in a few years, this will be a memory and the kids will be too big to partake in such activities. So, I enjoyed the moment and was glad I took the time to make up the eggs and hide them.

Kaden's birthday fell on Easter this year. He turned five. I was a little worried how to handle a holiday and birthday on the same day. We told him that he would have a party following the holiday weekend. He was OK with that. I still felt that he needed to be recognized on his birthday. The family had scheduled a large family dinner at a restaurant and I didn't want him to be forgotten. I decided to bake him a small cake and take it to the restaurant so we could at least sing him "Happy Birthday". He seemed to like the singing and blowing out the candles. Personally, I think the cake was the best part of the dinner. The restaurant served a special Easter buffet. I was disappointed in the food. It wasn't as good as I had hoped. I didn't even go back for seconds because I truly was not thrilled with food. That was kind of a bummer. We don't eat out like we used to, so I was looking forward to a good meal.

We excused ourselves early from the restaurant to head to my parents house. My parents are always so excited to have the kids come over and see their baskets! They also do an egg hunt at their house as well. All the kids had fun looking for their eggs that dad hid outside. I am so glad he put so much effort in to having the kids have fun. It turned out to be such a beautiful spring day to have the egg hunts outside. In the past, we have had to settle with indoor egg hunts due to inclimate weather. I personally was happy to get there so I could eat a ham sandwich and potato salad. After the let down dinner, I was a little hungry so it tasted great!! All and all it turned out to be a great holiday. At times it was a little stressful and I had issues with having to travel so much in one day. I would prefer to stay home on a holiday if given a choice. Sometimes I feel we spend way too much time in our vehicle on the road during holidays. Ken always makes the effort to be with his family so I have to respect that value he continues to install in our kids. Family is important to him and he does his best to insure that the kids see family during holidays.

To get a dog or not??

Well...our family has been contemplating the addition of a pet. We have discussed getting a puppy off and on now for a few months. I think having a pet would be a great experience for the kids. I personally, had pets growing up and it encouraged me to be responsible and to appreciate animals for their beauty and unconditional love that they give. My husband on the other hand is not against having a pet but is leery on the demands it will make on the family. He is not what I would call a big animal person. He grew up in a city suburb and not in a rural area as I did. So the animal thing was not a big part of his family life. He agreed to give it a shot. I think mainly because my daughter in particular has been asking for a puppy. The boys are on the fence. They seem OK with the idea but aren't jumping out of their shoes.

This past weekend ( March 21, 2009), my daughter and I we went up to our local animal shelter to have a gander at what was there. I told her we would just stop in and take a quick look. Once we were back at the cages we met up with a beautiful German Shepherd named Sammy. She was quick to catch my eye as Shepherds were my dog of choice. The downfall was that I was looking for a puppy and she was pretty much out of the puppy stage. The handler told us she was 11 mos old. Almost a year!! I still kept going back to her and we took her out to view her. I had to keep in mind that I needed a dog that was VERY good with kids. I wanted to see how she interacted with Kayley. Once we had her in the play room, we were able to get some background info on her. To my relief, she was brought up around children and had been with the previous owners since she was 7 weeks old. The report indicated that the family was forced to move and had to give her up. It also said she had been in the house and that she had already been house broken as well as she did do the basic commands of sit and lay down. The previous owner also stated that her father was 100% German Shepherd and that her mom was 3/4 Shepherd as well. To look at her its very difficult to tell that she has anything else in her but shepherd. So she really portrays the German Shepherd qualities. It was looking better and better. She settled down quickly and was very quiet once she was out of the kennel. I truly was surprised at how well mannered she was!! We ended up leaving and going home to get the husband. The other two boys were at people's houses so they weren't around. Then we went back up again for him to see her. He was a little surprised at her size (60 + lbs.) but liked how she seemed to settle in with people quickly. Of course, we couldn't make a decision at that time. I still wanted my youngest to meet her. The next day the shelter was closed so we couldn't see her. On March 23 rd (Monday) I ran the youngest up to see how the two would react and get along. He had never been near a large dog so initially he was a little shy. She went right up to Kaden and gave him a big kiss and nudged his hand for a pet! She was trying her best to get him to pet her!! We spent some more time in the show area to get him used to her. At the end, he was petting her and rubbing her tummy!! That was the deal breaker. I said that we would take her!

The shelter had her set up to be neutered on March 26th. So I said we would just have that taken care of and that we would get her on March 27th. Now we are just anxiously passing time til we actually bring her home. HMMMM...I hope this will be a good decision. I guess updates will be posted once she makes her presence at the house! The picture posted is our Sammy!

Ready for Spring!

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of spring here in Ohio. We have had a long, cold & snowy winter. Yesterday was a great day. We were able to get outside and get some much needed exercise and fresh air. The family hiked out to the back of our property and checked out our woods and the creek. The kids enjoyed going on a little hike and had fun exploring the woods. I like to take them out on outings like this. I try to point out things to them such as animal tracks and various bird calls to have them learn and recognize. We managed to get some yard & gardening work done. I noticed that most of my perennials are popping their heads up from the ground. That is promising. Though ....the calendar says spring arrives on March 20th , I know all too well that we will still have a decent chance to still get some snow!