Knocking the Dirt Off

"When you're up to bat, the first thing you need to do is make sure you have good footing so you have to knock the dirt of your cleats even if there is no dirt on the field or your feet never actually touch the ground! It's an important part of the game. All baseball players know that."
- Noah and Granddad 

Miracle League Fall 2012

Tonight was the first game of the Fall Miracle League Season for 2012.

I had to take my standard in front of the wall photo of Noah. 

Then I shot a short video of Noah and my Dad batting. 

Noah was SO excited! 

Crazy Clemson Socks

On a recent shopping trip, my Mom and I found Noah some crazzzzyy Clemson socks! We knew they'd perfect for Noah to wear underneath his braces. He wore them for the first time today and looked adorable in them! (But come on, when does he NOT look adorable!)

Linked to Special Exposure Wednesday at  5 Minutes for Special Needs

 and

 Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Moms

Football Team Pride Wreath

Are you ready for some football? 

J and Noah are! And my front door is! 

I guess I am. I wrote last year about how I've come to enjoy football as an adult but mainly because of the social activities that football season brings. Well, let's add crafting to another reason of why I like football, hehe.

So, what better way to show guests exactly which team you root for than to greet them with a team pride wreath as they enter the front door?

It's easy peasy. Let's get started!

You will need:

wreath form
purple and orange yarn (or in your team colors)
wooden letters
football embellishment
glue (I used E-6000 but hot glue would work too.)
straight pins

1. Begin by pinning one color of your yarn in a starting point on your wreath form and then wrap. I wrapped mine around 25 times then I cut the yarn, pinned it and switched colors, wrapped that 25 times and kept going that way until my wreath was completely wrapped.

2. Lay out your letters and figure out exactly where you want them to go and then glue them down.

3. Add your football embellishment with glue. Originally, I had planned to use one of the wooden footballs from Michael's but after two trips where they were out of them both times, I brainstormed for an alternative. I thought of just using a clip art football that I printed out but I wasn't sure how to make it weather proof until I stumbled upon this post at The Crafty Scientist where Mel used some Modge Podge Dimensional Magic on a printed image to help it withstand weather so that's what I did.

4. Cut some additional yarn to hang your wreath with. I just did about three loops of each color of yarn and then I double pinned them in the back to insure it holds up.

5. Hang on your front door and cheer your team on! 

(Linking to the parties listed in my sidebar)

My Special Olympian

Last week Noah participated in the local Special Olympics. He competed in two wheelchair races. This year, he had moved up an age group and was racing with older kids. He was the slowest one in both of his heats - but he didn't care. I don't think he even noticed! He really is an example to us all - he was just happy and determined. Happy to just be there and determined to just finish! He makes us so proud! 

And now what you probably really want to see - pictures!
Warning: I got picture happy so there are a lot of pictures in this post! 

Is he not adorable in that hat?

I forgot and left it on his wheelchair that morning when he left for school and I guess his teachers thought I sent it for him to wear outside so they put it on him and he kept it on the entire time!

At the starting line

Do you spot Noah? He's the third one. 

And they're off!

Slowly but surely he's making his way towards the finish line. 

Those little hands are working hard. 

So determined!

Look at that smile! He is just happy to be there. 

He just spotted Granddaddy at the finish line!

Almost there buddy!

Getting his ribbon

Linked to Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs

Play Ball!

The Spring Season of Miracle League has started! 

I think my favorite picture from the collage is probably the one of my Dad and Noah with their hats backwards. Too cute!

Linked to Special Exposure Wednesdays at  5 Minutes for Special Needs

Loyal Fan

Noah asked for a Clemson jersey and hat for Christmas and as you can see Santa obliged. He was all decked out for the Orange Bowl and although they lost, Noah doesn't care. He's a loyal fan whether they win or not. 

Linked to 5 Minutes for Special Needs

 and

5 Minutes for Moms

Noah and the Hat

Noah has never been the type of child who would wear hats.  Usually, when a hat was placed upon his head, he'd snatch it off and throw it on the ground. As he got older, I was able to get him to keep them on at least for me to take a picture but as soon as that picture was snapped, off the hat went.

When they started Miracle League here four years all the kids got a hat. Of course, Noah wouldn't wear his during the games and after the first game I didn't even bother trying. Noah wasn't alone; plenty of other kids didn't wear their hats either so the next year when we got order forms for the uniforms the hats were optional. Needless to say, I didn't order one for Noah.

Until this season....

Over the summer, Noah enjoyed watching major league baseball games on TV. He saw the "real" baseball players wearing hats and would sign hat and talked about hats a lot. He said he wanted a hat. I just said "OK" thinking "yeah, it will end up on the ground!" in my head.

Time for fall baseball sign ups rolled around and Noah was still talking about hats so I went ahead and ordered one all the while thinking it would be like all the other hats over the years and end up on the ground.

Well, Noah proved me wrong! I'll have you know, Noah has worn that hat EVERY. SINGLE. GAME!

Wearing a hat in a wheelchair with a head rest, really isn't the easy thing in the world. The head rest knocks the hat into odd positions or over his eyes at times and it tilts when he strikes the angel choir boy pose and it's even flown off a time or two when he and Granddad are running the bases super duper fast.

But all the while, that hat has remained on his cute little head "like the big baseball players on TV."

Um, think I can get those baseball players on TV to eat some green beans or something and have Noah watch?? (wink, wink)

Matching Jerseys

On Saturdays (during football season) you can always find my guys in their matching Clemson jerseys. 

So cute!

Linked to 5 Minutes for Special Needs

and 5 Minutes for Moms

Miracle League Fall Season

Tonight was the first game of the Miracle League Fall 2011 Season! Noah was SO excited. He usually takes a nap on game days but he was too excited to take one today.

Over the summer, when Noah was watching major league baseball games on TV he became fascinated with their hats and would sign hat. The first season or two, Noah played Miracle League he had a hat but he would never wear it so I stopped ordering it but this year I decided to order it thinking he might wear it since he had seen the baseball players on TV wearing hats and I'm pleased to say that he kept his hat on (almost) the entire game! 

He and Granddad had a great time as always! I always feel so torn over whether or not to shoot still photos or video. I have one camera that does decent videos and another camera I shoot still shots with so I always bring both. And this time I tried shooting with both at the same time and as suspected the result wasn't the greatest, but it was very interesting to give it a try. 

I do have a couple of pics to share with you and a short video of both times Noah and Granddad batted!

Before the first game of every season, I take Noah's picture in front of this wall at Miracle Park. 

Same shot but with angel choir boy pose. 

First time batting during the game

On deck

Batting the second time during the game - first time

ever without a tee! 

Crossing over home plate

And the video - I apologize in advance for the more than usual shakiness. Remember a camera in each hand does not make for a steady video! 

Clemson Friday Conversation

Every Friday during football season, we have what we fondly refer to as "Clemson Fridays" and I make sure that Noah wears a Clemson shirt, his Clemson socks, and sometimes even his orange shoes! Last week, we started Clemson Fridays for the first time this school year and Noah and I had the following cute conversation.

Setting: I'm getting Noah dressed for school and he has just noticed that I have a Clemson shirt in my hands.
(Some of this was said with Noah sign but I'm just gonna tell you what he meant."

Me: It's Clemson Friday! You wanna wear Clemson shirts on Fridays again??
Noah: Yes (while bouncing; bouncing = excitement and happiness). Daddy likes Clemson.
Me: That's right, Daddy likes Clemson. And you, you like Clemson, don't you?
Noah: No. I love Clemson.
Me: Ohhhh, you love Clemson.
Noah: Daddy loves Clemson.
Me: Yep, Daddy loves Clemson too. What else does Daddy love?
Noah: Momma and Noah
Me: Yep, Daddy loves you and me bunches.

I love my morning conversations with my boy. And here he is on the first Clemson Friday of the year!

Linked to Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs

Are you Ready for Some Football?

College football season is upon us! The first game of the season for “my” team (it’s the team of my hubby and son so I assume it’s mine too by default) is Saturday. I have a love/hate relationship with football……

Actually, hate is too strong of a word; I should use dislike. Ok, so I dislike football because from now until the season is over our Saturdays are ruled by the football schedule, more importantly the Clemson football schedule.  If you were to call me and say, “Hey, Coley, do you want to inert-chosen-activity-here on Saturday?” I’d respond with, “Hang on and let me go look at the football schedule.” Seriously, I do and would!

Secondly, if our team should lose (eek, the four letter L word!) J turns into Mr. Grumpy Pants. And while I will always love Mr. Grumpy Pants, I don’t like him. (In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that I did know that J was a Clemson football fanatic before we even went on our first date so I wasn't blind sided by this later on in the relationship.) Lastly, I don’t know much about the actual game of football and I don’t really understand it. My brother is appalled by this because we pretty much grew up AT football games and he doesn’t understand how I can’t know much about the game. But I’ll get to why in a second.

I love football season/games for the social aspect of it. My parents are die hard Mississippi State University Fans and we went to games pretty much ALL the time as children growing up in Mississippi. Some of my fondest childhood memories are on that campus with my parents, brother, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. As a young (I’m talking 2-3 years old) the fun part of football games was going up and down all the steps to the bathroom! (I don't know why I found this fun, but my Mom tells me this was all I wanted to do at that age at football games.) Then as I got a bit older, the fun part of games became “cheering” complete in my MSU cheerleading outfit. (See embarrassing picture for proof!) In high school, the fun part of football games was just being there with all my friends and walking the track scoping out the boys. Now, the fun part of football games is either the tailgating , having friends over,  going places to watch the game, and making fun/cute food to enjoy during the game. So now, can’t you see that I was always way too busy doing other things during football games to actually pay attention and learn the basics of football!?!

Happy football season, friends! May your team always win…. Just as long as they aren’t playing ours!

Watching Baseball on TV

Noah likes to play baseball and watch baseball practices and games at the nearby baseball field but now he also likes to watch baseball on TV. If I am flipping channels and he sees baseball he gets all excited. 

Linking to Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs and 

Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Moms

Wordless Wednesday: Last Miracle League Game of the Season

The spring season of Miracle League has come to end. Noah had a blast and is a little sad it is over. He sure does enjoy the games and having his Granddad be his buddy and we sure do enjoy watching them. 
These pictures are from the last game which was last week. 


Linking to Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs and Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Moms

Two Things to Share

I have been swamped lately with semi-last minute stuff for the upcoming BirthMom Buds retreat, dealing with Noah, and just life in general but I have two different things I want to share really quick. (If we are Facebook friends, you might want to just skip this post because you've already seen these things.) 


First up is a radio interview. On Monday, I spoke on an internet radio show called Adoption Journey to Motherhood about BirthMom Buds. If you care to listen to my interview, just head on over to this website. Look for the 4/18 show on the right. I am the second interview at about 30 minutes in. You can pull the slider to that mark if you don't want to listen to the first interview.


Second, is a video. I shot this video of Noah and my Dad at last night's Miracle League game. They LOVE to steal bases and last night they were the first batters so they were able to steal all the bases. Check out the video below.

Have a great Easter weekend!

2011 Special Olympics

Noah competed in the local Special Olympics today. He competes each Spring and it's become something that we all look forward to. Just like with Miracle League, everyone wins at these Special Olympics. It's more about the participation and completing the event than it is about how fast you go. 


Every year, Noah's school gets shirts for their participants so that they can easily keep up with them and spot them. Every year they are a different color. This year they were PINK. I've always joked about buying Noah a pink shirt but never have. This was the first time I have ever seen him wearing pink and it's NOT his color! 


Noah typically participates in the 25 m wheelchair races and a ball throw but this year, he didn't compete in the ball throw but a 30 m slalom instead. There were cones set up and he had to weave around them. While he had practiced at school, he didn't seem too sure of exactly what he was supposed to do so they let J walk a bit in front of him and Noah followed him around the cones. 


He received 1st and 3rd place ribbons and as always, had a blast and was very proud of himself.


On to the pictures.....

Lined up and ready to race

And he's off.....

Love the look of determination on his face in this one

Little hands hard at work 

Slow and steady wins the race 

A little one handed racing

Crossing the finish line

Clemson Spring Game

On Saturday, we decided to take Noah to the Clemson (a college that is about an hour away) Spring Football (scrimmage) game. We are always a little hesitant to do these type of things with Noah and don't do them frequently because he tends to get over stimulated and it just turns into a disaster where he is frustrated, upset, crying, yelling, and sometimes hitting. But we decided to give it a try. I'm happy to report that Noah did really, really, really well. J and I were both VERY impressed at how well he handled everything. 


They had a "Be a Tiger Field Day" for kids before the Spring game so we decided to get there while that was going on and see if Noah wanted to participate in any of it. They had different stations set up where the kids could do different activities (like a bean bag toss or drawing a picture to send to children in Japan). At each station, they got a tiger paw stamped on a little card and at the last station they turned in the card and received a t-shirt.


After Noah went to all the stations and got his t-shirt, we needed to find some lunch. We were (walking) and about to head in one direction when Noah heard a live band outside of a restaurant in the opposite direction playing a Beatles song. He asked to go there. We explained that they probably wouldn't be playing Beatles music the entire time and he might have to hear other songs he didn't like. (Noah is very sensitive music -  he loves some music but sometimes music - mainly slow songs - really upsets him even to the point of tears.) But he still wanted to go so we decided to give it a try and headed in that direction. We found a table outside and sat down and listened to the music. 


We ordered lunch and continued to listen to the music. I was shocked that Noah was tolerating it so well. They did play a slow song that he didn't like but we just reminded him that it would be over in a minute and he did OK with that. We just hung out there for over an hour until it was time to head to the stadium for the spring game. 


Noah did very well with the game too! He got so excited when the team ran down the hill, which was very near where we were sitting. He yelled and clapped at appropriate times. Towards the end, he did start to get a little antsy but never got out of control. 


It was a really good day and I'm really glad we decided to give it a try.


And now some pictures......

At one of the stations at the field day

Ready for the game to start

 Looking at the program book with Daddy

Posing by the rock that all the players touch for luck as they run down the hill to the field

He even sported his orange shoes and Clemson socks!

He now has a tiger tail. :)

Watching the game

Worn out

(on the ride home)