The family that ump's together....

It's another beautiful morning here on the Knolltop. I love summer time in the morning. The sunrises are so beautiful. I don't think there is any better time of the day than just before the sun comes up and the eastern horizon is orange and you know another day is dawning. There's just something really satisfying about a new day.

Yesterday while sitting poolside watching the boys swim I fielded a call from the local summer rec department leader. He was hunting for some umpires for the pony league game and remembered Bobby saying to him, "If you ever get in a tight spot and need an ump, let me know, I'll be glad to help you out."

Here's a picture of the hot-looking umpire getting ready to call balls and strikes!

Yep, you guessed it, we spent the evening at the baseball field watching the pony boys play, not because I had any kids in the game, but because my husband was behind the plate, JW and Luke each took a turn out in the field and Jake, dear Jake, dear-slip-in-anywhere-I-can-to-be-on-the-inside-of-what's-going-on-Jake ran the score board and assisted in sweeping off homeplate for his daddy. That was a sight in itself as Jake hauled out a kitchen broom to sweep off the plate because the unprepared ump didn't bring his own pocket-size homeplate sweeping broom.

Thank goodness there was only one close call for Luke. He was stressin' because he didn't want to make any mistakes on a close play and have all the parents yell. Big Daddy told him that if anyone wanted to yell at his kid, they were going to have to answer to him. Yes, this mama bear didn't have to worry, papa bear had it all handled.

Jake's birthday was a success. He said it was the best one yet, while he was discing his field with his new disc and cultipacker. Although the friend he had invited over got sick and couldn't come celebrate, we had a good time swimming and eating lots of cake and ice cream!

It's another work day, calves to walk, lawns to mow, columns to write and oh yes, we're out of clean socks so I guess laundry would be on that agenda too.