Teeball

Cousin Jenny called.

She needed Chris to be a stand-in "Dad" for her son, J, at his teeball game. 

(The real dad was out of town for business.)

How could anyone say no to this face?

We surely couldn't!

So a couple of weeks ago, 

Mr. Connell found himself on the teeball field...

Main assignment - stop small boys from throwing dirt on each other and direct them to go after the ball as such:

J.'s pretty much the best player they have.

Especially if you ask any of his cheerleaders...

Beautiful little sister,

Addalee...

...who is about to be a big sister to baby girl Cole once she decides to grace us with her presence.

 J, Addalee, and Cole's mother - my cousin Jenny and our seating arrangement:

You didn't see two seats?

Oh, right!  Queen, errr, Cousin Jenny wanted to sit in the shade where there was only one chair.

So this is where Addalee and I sat:

Good thing we moved quickly to get this seat!  :)

I'd take that little person in my lap any day though.  Addalee just melts right in...

You can't sit too long as the family photographer!  J. was up to bat.

Some of the best photos of children come when you get down on their level.  You see the world just a little differently and it makes a big difference.

Do you see that little face looking right at me?!  He's become aware of the camera, so he almost forgot everything he was doing to look at me and smile.

Which is exactly why those are my only two "batting" shots.

The last one is blurry because I saw that face in my viewfinder and was already lowering my camera.

Some good advice is to not to have a child look at a camera and smile every time you have one out.  It will cause situations like the above and/or you'll get the fake smile.  {I will be taking my own advice obviously!}

Running for third and getting a high five after.

There should be dancing on every base.

After the game was over, we took a few pictures on the sideline.

It's amazing how he's changed since I took photos of his teeball game last year.

We love you, J. man!

Side note:  Please say a prayer for a safe delivery, a healthy momma, and a healthy baby girl!

Another side note:  Here's a good tutorial on making animation photos.