Opening Day

With Zach on the DL for a few days (mild fever), Ben took his place in the stands at the Phillies home opener today.

It was a pretty lousy day for a game. It was cold, and while it was never really in danger of being delayed by rain, the game was played in a constant drizzle.

Nevertheless, all of the excitement involved in eating hot dogs and soft pretzels, getting a Phanatic coloring book, seeing home runs hit by Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins, and ultimately seeing the Phillies lose to the Washington Nationals by a score of 11-6 was too much for Ben, who fell asleep within five minutes of getting in the car to go home.

Outward Bound

As part of our ongoing effort to get the kids to play outdoors more, I put up a basketball hoop over the weekend. (I suppose that our attempts at getting the kids involved in various athletic endeavors are becoming a recurring theme on the Houserspawn(tm) blog -- I probably need to come up with a new label for this.)

Unfortunately, the construction of the hoop had no immediate effect on Zach or Phoebe. Zach came down with a fever, and spent most of yesterday afternoon sleeping. And Phoebe promptly claimed the oversized cardboard box that the hoop came in, dragged it into the house, and used scissors and crayons to make it into a makeshift "pet shop" for some of her figurines.

Ben came up big, though, and shot some hoops with me. And once Ben was done, the 8-year-old neighbor from across the street came over and challenged me to a game of one-on-one. (I crushed him).

Conclusion: Despite our best efforts, we may not be raising the most athletically inclined kids ever.

The Spirit of the Knight and Power Ranger

Last night, Linda was working with Ben on his letters using the computer keyboard, and Ben decided he wanted to write a story. He dictated the following to Linda:

The Spirit of the Knight and Power Ranger
by Ben

Once upon a time, there was a knight. There was a witch too. The witch had a pet spider. There was a Power Ranger, the knight’s helper. The Power Ranger didn’t resist anything. The Power Ranger had a ship, and the witch could shoot cannon balls out of her fingers. The knight had a pet dog. The dog’s name was RoofClown. The knight wrote a note to the Power Ranger. The note said,

Dear Power Ranger,

I can’t come and see you again. I need to come out for a short time. It’s a lucky day for you because you get to be alone.

The dog hated baths; he also hated playing games. The knight battled the witch. He beat her.

The End