Base Ball Season 2008

This Spring was pretty crazy once ball season hit!! All 4 boys played in different leagues this year. As you can see by the photos that Samuel didn't quite make it through the whole season because of a minor injury at school and a total loss of interest. (Mom was pretty OK with that since it helped make it so she didn't have to spread herself so thin.)

Eli's team took 3rd place in the city league and went on to play at state. They only took 4th at state, but had a blast!!

Luke played coach pitch this year and loved it!! After the 2nd game, Luke asked me why the coach hadn't let any of the players pitch the ball. I told him that the coach is supposed to pitch the ball. He said "Oh is that why they call it 'Coach Pitch'?" I just had to chuckle!

"Called To Serve" singing time idea

For a fun and easy idea to use with the song "Called To Serve" get 8 or more envelopes. On the front print the words "Called To Serve".
On 4 strips of paper put the following...
"Congratulations you have been called to serve a mission in...". I did this to two weeks in a row because the children in my ward loved it. The first week I just put random places (Colorado, Japan, Mexico, etc. The second week, I put the name of the places that people in our ward are serving and had the children guess who it was.
On the 4 other strips on paper, print the description of a calling someone holds in your ward and then have the children guess what the calling is and the name of the person in your ward that holds that calling, ie "You have been called to serve and love all of the children in the ward between the ages of 3-12. Who are you??" (answer: the Primary president and her name.) Or "You have been called to love and serve all of the ladies in the ward. You need to make sure that they are loved and that they are visited each month. Who are you??" (answer: the Relief Society president and her name.) I was surprised at how many children in the ward that didn't know who this was!
I put the envelopes on the board and drew names out of a stick jar to have them come up.
I also took a globe with me and had the children that got mission calls find that place on the globe.
Each time we choose an envelope, we would practice part of the song "Called To Serve".
Like I said, the children in my ward really liked doing this and it helped them to see that we can and will serve in the church before and after missions.
Also, if you want to also sing the song "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission" when the children choose the mission calls and "Called To Serve" when they choose the callings, it gives them a break from doing just the one song.