Baseball Season is Over

A year in the making, Sam and the South Atlanta Tigers season is now over.  We had a lot of fun and Sam really loved playing all season long.  Every day during the week Sam would ask to practice outside so he could get better for the game on Saturday (we moved practice inside the past few weeks due to it being crazy hot outside:

(and yes, that is Maya playing catcher!  She loved her role!)

He did get better all season long and so did the other players.  We definitely think we found something that Sam really enjoys and is good at.

Sam was convinced that he was going to hit a home run during his last game.  He was so convinced that he struck out in his first at bat because he was swinging for the fences.  So after I talked him down in his second at bat and encouraged him to just hit the ball, this is what happened:



The last week of the season, we went to a Braves game with the entire team.  After the game, Sam proclaimed that he was a Braves fan (doh!) but don't worry, he still loves the Phillies and asked to watch baseball with me most nights.  Here is a pic with Sam's best friend John at the game together:

All in all it was a fun season.  Sam is already looking forward to playing soccer in the fall!  Let's hope it is just as good!

A Wonderful Father's Day

What a wonderful father's it was this past weekend.  The kids and Katie made me feel really special.  I loved spending time with Sam and Maya and on Father's day as we got to play some of my favorite indoor activities.  Here are Sam and Maya lined up to play baseball.  And yes, that is Maya down in a catcher's stance:

Here are Sam and I playing air hockey on a little something I picked up from the Marketplace, one of the perks of my job!

Colorado Vacation

Here is a sampling of our vacation to Colorado last week. It was a wonderful time together as a family and relaxing. We were so happy to see Shawn, Shelva, Symeon, and Marin, as well as get some time with our Atlanta friends in a different setting.

We'll post some more details of the trip later, including horse riding, but have fun looking at the pics.

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Acting Crazy

It is safe to say that Maya and Sam enjoyed their time in Colorado! One thing they enjoyed was the "stage" that they made in our cabin. Katie and I were treated to nightly displays of entertainment from Sam and Maya. It is nice to know that Sam and Maya can entertain themselves (and us) without TV and the like. Here is a sampling of their "finest" work:

Maya Reading

Not to be out done by Sam, Maya is convinced that she is reading also.  It only takes her about 2-3 times before she has a book memorized and can then "read" the book back to us.  Her favorite books that she has memorized are Go Dog Go and Are You My Mother?

Here she is reading Go Dog Go back to us while in the mountains:

Sam Reading

I just posted on all of the amazing things that Sam and Maya have done over the past few weeks.  However, this one deserves a post all by itself!

Sam has read his first book!  Mommy and Sam sat down together and sounded out the words in the book and Sam made it all of the way through!  It has long been a tradition of the Delp children to memorize books (as you will see later with Maya) but this was a legitimate sounding out of words and reading!

It is so amazing to watch as Sam and Maya both continue to learn and grow and get into new things.  Reading opens up Sam's world to so much and I cannot wait to explore that world with him.

Here is Sam showing off his reading to Mandy:

New Heights

Over the past few weeks, it seems like Sam and Maya have both grown up a ton.  It is amazing how at certain times you just notice that things click on inside a child's head and they just get stuff.  It has been so amazing to watch both Sam and Maya learn and grow is so many ways over the past few weeks.

What Sam is doing now:

Hitting home runs - literally.  Playing baseball in back yard has been a fun past time for Sam and I over the past year.  However, that may be coming to an end, at least for hitting.  Ever since Sam hit the baseball over Symeon's house in Denver, he has been a hitting machine (well, that may be an exageration, but he has improved).  Sam wants to practice hitting so much and he has been getting better and better.   I promised him if he hit the ball over the fence in our backyard, I'd get him an ice cream cone.  Yesterday, he hit the ball over the fence not once, but 6 times.  I guess it is time to start throwing over hand or move locations!

Swimming - Sam has always had a love for water and was never scared of it which we appreciated a lot.  Now that the summer heat is upon us, we have been going to the pool again.  Yesterday Sam completely surprised Katie and I by actually swimming for a little bit.  Legitimately swimming!  Now, it will be a long time before Sam starts swimming laps at the YMCA, but still the fact that everything just clicked in his body and he was able to figure it out was so awesome to watch.

Adding - Sam is super excited to be in the oldest class at pre-school this summer and next year.  He is taking it serious and he knows / expects to be able to read at the end of this year.  However, one thing that we stumbled upon in the last few days was Sam adding.  Being a lover of math myself, I can't believe that I didn't start this sooner, but Sam has really taken to want to learn and adding has been his thing of late.

Maya has also developed and picked things up a ton lately.

First off, her ridiculous potty training.  Katie and I knew she was getting close to potty training and had discussed training Maya during the two week break between school and when their summer camp started at the end of May.  However, when we were in PA visiting my family, Maya began to show signs that she was uber close to getting it.  I made a trip to Wal-Mart (yes, Jeff went to Wal-Mart) and picked up some pull-ups.  That next morning, we put her in pull ups to make it easier for her to go.  She went potty first thing in the morning and literrally has not looked back since.  Sure she has had her share of accidents.  But since that first potty run on that Monday morning at Mom-Mom's house, she has essentially been potty trained.

Maya has been a little reluctant in the water lately for reasons we cannot figure out.  The other day when we were going to the pool, she literally cried the entire 45 minutes from when I mentioned it until we got into the pool.  However, after she got over herself and decided to like the water, she really pushed herself.  We have always pushed Sam and Maya both to put their faces in the water to get used to it.  We figured it they were comfortable enough to put their faces in the water, that would help them learn how to swim when the time came.  Well, on this morning Maya decided that she could put her face in water.  Ever since the first time she did it, she has not looked back (seeing a theme in Maya's development here?) She was so excited and proud of herself when she did it.  It was amazing to watch!