Annual Fun Run Update

Brantley did 16 laps in the fun run and raised $67 for his school. Thanks to all who donated!!

Funny Story

Have you ever gotten that email about things you learn as a parent, like how PB&J sandwiches don't really eject from a VCR like in the commercial. Well, we learned something today. We learned that Brantley's underwear can be flushed down the toilet and it doesn't clog. Yes folks, underwear can be flushed. I just wish it had at least been dirty underwear.

Teeth

Brantley is growing up so fast. He has his first loose tooth. I almost cried this morning. And, I talked to Ben's mom, and he has a loose tooth too. Brantley said that he hoped the Tooth Fairy brings him a dollar for his tooth. Ben, on the other hand, has higher aspirations. He thinks the Tooth Fairy is going to bring him one hundred dollars for his tooth. Well, the teeth have to come out first - wonder how long that will take?

Play Ball!

Baseball practice has started. I switched Brantley to a different coach for several reasons, but I didn't know the coach was new - and the team was new too. Apparently, last fall was the first time any of them played ball. This is Brantley's third season, so needless to say I was surprised to see them put him on the Tee. Of course they were surprised at how he hit that ball. He didn't miss a bit. Perfect swings. I guess I need to talk to the coach and be sure they are going to try pitching to him.

Pledges needed

Brantley is asking for pledges for the annual Fun Run at his school. This is a fundraiser for the school. You can pledge a specific amount or an amount per completed lap. Each lap is 1/10 of a mile and they have 30 minutes to complete as many as they can. Please let me know if you would like to make pledge. Brantley appreciates it!

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess

Tomorrow is Dr. Suess' birthday. All week the kids have been reading his books. Tomorrow they are supposed to dress like their favorite Dr. Suess character. I was able to borrow a hat from a friend at work, although I don't know if he will wear it or not. He's not much on participating in those types of things. He won't even wear his pajamas to school on pajama day.

Go Mariners!

It's baseball season my friends! Brantley is on the Mariners this year. He's been out practicing and according to Lawson, he's batting about 350. ;) In all seriousness though, he really is good. Lawson is amazed that he can hit an overhand pitch. (I think I said that right - apparently it's good for being so young.) He's throwing really well too. He says he's going to be a pitcher. I'm glad he enjoys it so much. It gets tougher this season. He has 2 practices per week until the season starts and then 2 games a week (possibly a practice in there each week too!).

Brantley Absent from School?

Today I got an automated phone call about 11:00 saying that my son was not in school and to be sure to send a note explaining his absence to school tomorrow. I was extremely upset by the call considering it was 11:00 and I put him on the bus at 7:40 this morning. I frantically called the school and it turns out there was a mix up because they had an early assembly for K-2 and Brantley's bus was late. First problem, even if his bus was late, shouldn't his teacher have corrected the attendance once she knew he was there? Second problem, the call did not happen until 11:00. If he truly were missing, a lot could happen in 2 1/2 hours. Errors like this should not happen. The principal said this morning was unusual and that the calls usually go out earlier. But, shouldn't someone verify the absences. There can't be that may kids absent each day they the list can't be verify so that parents like me are worried unnecessarily. She also said they just started using the system in January and that this was the first problem. All I have to say is it better not happen again.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I wasn't able to go to Brantley's party at school today. That's OK though because now when I do go to a party like that he just wants to leave and go home. Today's homework was to make a card and give it to someone you care about. Brantley decided to make a card for Carson. I told him I'd mail it tomorrow. He also made cards for me and daddy. He's doing really well with writing and spelling. Eventually, I will hook the scanner up so you can see some of his work. It's quite impressive.

Play Date

Brantley doesn't get to see his best friends from preschool very much so it's nice when they get to have a play date. By the way, that is the remnants of cheetos on their faces.

Breaking News!

Brantley finished the last 2 books in his stack so he gets to pick out a surprise. Congratulate him on a great job!

Reading Update

Brantley has read 21 books. He has 2 more to go before he is through the stack and gets a surprise. I'm pretty impressed with these books. Most of them are 12 pages long and have 1 or 2 lines of text on each page. He is having a hard time with words that don't sound out right, like what, this, that, with. I'm trying to tell him that letters such as TH and CK make a different sound than the individual letters together. You don't really think about how bad the English language is until you try to teach someone to read and have to teach all the exceptions to the rules.

SNOW!!!

Believe it or not, we actually had some snow!

Chuck E. Cheese

It took over 2 years of collecting tickets to get this!

Naked Brothers Band

Well, Brantley has been dying to watch the new Nick show - Naked Brothers Band. Last night was the premier and he was counting down. Well, the first 10 minutes we had already seen because all of it had been shown in the previews. Fifteen minutes into it, Brantley wanted to quit watching. So, I guess the show was a bust. We did end up sitting through most of it but we didn't watch then end. Oh well.

Da' Bears

Go Bears! It's been 20 years (21 to be exact) since the Bears have gone to the Superbowl. I actually watched that Superbowl because Jim McMahan was the quarterback. Brantley's bears hoodie is really small on him. We got it in October of 2005. I remember that because we got in while we were in Chicago. After we got it, we visited a pumpkin patch and Brantley ripped the sleeve. But, not to worry. A new sweatshirt in a bigger size is on it's way. Thanks Uncle Matt and Aunt Rosemarie!

Brantley Singing

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!!

Can you guess what that headline is for? I was going to have everyone guess, but I'm so excited I couldn't stand the suspense myself. Brantley is reading!!! I decided to get the leap pad and phonics out again tonight. Before, he's never really gotten into it and I never pushed him. So, tonight he got bored with the leap pad and we moved on to the phonics. Then, he was bored with practicing the letter sounds so I got out the stack of books, we put the tapes away and we started going through them together. The first book was a success and I got excited. The fact that I was excited got Brantley excited. He was so happy to have read it by himself. We ended up going through 6 books. There weren't very many words that I had to help with and he did a great job sounding them out. I'm so proud of him. I told him if we can get through the whole first stack, I will get him a surprise. Any suggestions?

Injury Alert

I'm not very happy with my new phone. When the battery is low, it warns you once and then it's dead. Friday afternoon, I realized my phone was dead. I was able to turn it on and find out I had a voice mail. It was from the school nurse. I can only hope that had it been an emergency they would have tried my work number when they didn't get me the first time. The message said the Brantley was fine. He had fallen on the playground and had a big scrape on his forehead, but he was a alert and had gone back to class. She just wanted to let me know what had happened. Lawson said he saw it right away when Brantley got home. Brantley said he fell on the basketball court. Here's what it looks like...

Leaps and Bounds

Christmas break is over and it's back to the grind. Brantley seems to have grown so much over the last couple weeks. He got to spend over a week with his cousins and he had such a good time. He must of grown a couple inches because we no longer need the booster seat at home. That's right, Brantley is sitting right up to the table without his booster seat. He got up all by himself this morning and we have 30 minutes extra time.

For those football fans out there, Brantley was waiting the game Saturday when Tony Romo fumbled the snap and lost the game. Lawson was giving Romo a hard time and making fun of him and Brantley told him to stop. He said, "How would you feel if you were Romo and you made a mistake and lost this game?" Wise beyond his years.