Bad Dog?

Or bad kid?

Sonder is NEVER allowed on our furniture and beds. Every once in a while, I might sit on a chair with him on my lap to cuddle but that is as close as he gets. Except for last night. 

To keep Sonder out of the way while our guests were here, I put him in Christopher's room for the evening. After everyone left, Christopher went up to finish his homework. When I peeked in the room on my way to bed, I saw this sight...

He knew he was in big trouble and gave me the most "aren't I pathetic" look before slinking off of the bed and out of the room. It is a good thing he is so cute and that I love him so much.

When I first offered to host the players for dinner, my plan was to take them to a restaurant near Nichada. However, the more I thought about it (and knowing how Kevin appreciates a home-cooked meal when he is traveling), I decided to cook for them. Our dinner last night...

Fresh fruit (dragon-fruit, mango, watermelon and bananas). They just loved the fruit and ate the entire plate.

 Salad.

 Garlic bread. 

For the Baked Ziti, I used "Pioneer Woman's" recipe (click here for the recipe). As always, it turned out perfectly but I will say it is definitely not a low calorie dish and the recipe made a lot of baked ziti. Five hungry men managed to eat just about half of this pan - and I think all of them had seconds. 

I turned on the Christmas Tree lights and the house looked very festive. 

So, some information about our guests...As I mentioned yesterday, BBSA arranged for these former and current pro players to run baseball clinics and provide training sessions for the kids registered in BBSA. The players are part of an organization called Unlimited Potential, Inc. This is a Christian ministry group with the purpose "to share the greatest news every told through the greatest game ever played. One of the major emphasis of the ministry has been evangelistic baseball clinics both in USA cities and cities throughout the world." The website is http://upi.org/ if you would like to read more about the organization. 

Two of the men were former professional players - both were with a variety of teams in the major and minor leagues. Another one of the men (Zac Wilkerson) is currently a pitcher at Michigan State University and he looks like he has a lot of potential. However, the player of most interest to Christopher and I was drafted in 2007 (right out of high school) in the 3rd round by the Washington Nationals. His name is Steven Souza and he is currently with the Washington Nationals' farm teams. For the 2012 season, he split his time between the Potomac Nationals (Class A Advanced) and the Harrisburg Senators (Double A). I think this is one player that we will keep an eye on. His stats for 2012 were quite impressive - .319 AVG, 6 home runs, 13 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. He could very well be the next Bryce Harper (and we can say we knew him when). One of the men also brought his 17 year old son along who plays baseball in high school. It was a fun evening and they were a super nice bunch of guys. 

Both of the kids have baseball/softball games tonight and tomorrow afternoon so I am getting ready to settle in for many hours on the bleachers and in the dug out. Good times. 

Have a great Friday!