Birthday Week

Our house has been on the market, so I haven't been doing much baking. Last week was Gregory's birthday, though, so I had to crank up the oven again. I made football sugar cookies for him to take to school, and a chocolate chip cookie cake for his Star Wars party. Last week also happened to be teacher appreciation week. I signed up to bring scones to the special teacher appreciation breakfast, AND Gregory came home and told me that he told his teacher he was going to make her fudge. I went from basically no baking for three weeks to three days of making sugar cookies, cookie cake, scones and fudge! Whew!

His baseball season also started last week. The first game was on his birthday (Thursday). His team lost 21-0. The league has a 7-run/inning rule, so the opposing team scored 7 runs in three different innings. Gregory's been doing some pitching (this is the first year of kid-pitch, rather than coach-pitch), and it's surprisingly stressful for me. It's really hard to watch him out on the mound, doing his very best, and struggling. After the first game, the boys were all disappointed and frustrated.

The second game came on Saturday (the morning of Gregory's afternoon birthday party). In this game, the teams were much more evenly matched. Gregory's team scored a couple of runs in the first inning, and I knew it was going to be a better game. Gregory pitched the third and sixth innings. His team went into the final (sixth) inning with a 6-5 lead. The inning started with an out, a walk, and a hit. Gregory then walked the next two batters to load the bases. I watched Gregory's posture fall after the second walk, but then he stood up straight, looked at Gary for encouragement, and proceeded to strike out the last two batters, and preserve the win! It was much-needed for this group of boys who had lost 21-0 just two days before! Gregory and his team were happy! I was happy too, but my nerves were shot! :)

Gregory had his birthday party Saturday afternoon. He invited six friends to a local park for a Star Wars party. He asked them all to bring light sabers, and most of the party was spent in an elaborate battle that Gregory planned and I didn't totally understand. We had chips and Caprisuns and the aforementioned cookie cake. It was cheap and easy, and I think everyone had a great time. I know that the morning's baseball win contributed to the festive mood of the whole day.

Birthday Week was, for me, a microcosm of the joys and challenges of being a parent! :)