Brantley is #1

Of course, we all knew that, but the baseball league made it official. Brantley's spring jersey number is #1. Go Mariners! Tomorrow is supposed to be their first game, but I would not be surprised if it is cancelled due to the rain.....to be continued.

Mornings with Moms

Has it really been month since I have blogged? I meant to post this a couple weeks ago. Actually, I guess it was just a week and a half ago. The school had mornings with moms on Thursday and Friday. I was supposed to go on Thursday but it was a bad morning at the Freeman house, so I forgot. Friday morning I told Brantley I would go and he didn't want to go with me. I said he was going. He said they are just having dooghnuts. I said we were going anyway. He said who wants doughnuts for breakfast anyway. And then the kicker, "Aren't you on a diet?"

I almost forgot!!

I forgot that a couple practices ago I met Renee. Turns out her older brother is on Brantley's basketball team. She's a very cute little girl. Anyway, we were sitting up at the top of the bleachers tonight when they came in. They sat down lower because it was a little crowded. I looked down and saw her looking up waiting for Brantley to look at her. He finally looked and she did the cute little wave that girls do when you are trying to get attention but also trying to play shy. It was so cute. Brantley just looked away really quick. He is too funny! The other day he told me that someone at school says he's a math genius. When I asked who, he whispered in my ear - Anna. Isn't that sweet?

Basketball Concludes (thank goodness!)

Tonight was the first round of the county tournament. The team got there early to watch the first game. The first two teams didn't seem to be any better than any of the Oak View teams and I really thought the boys had a chance. Unfortunately, the team they had to play was totally stacked. I heard from a friend that most of the boys on that team have played together since they were 3. It wasn't that there defense or foot work was any better than our boys. It was the fact that EVERY shot they put up went in the basket. It was unbelievable. I am not exaggerating when I say I think they only missed 2 shots the whole game. The Huskers had it within 4 points with about 3 minutes left and one of their guys scored a three, nothing but net. They played a hard game, but lost 34 to 26. A very respectable score considering the competition. We just had way too many missed shots. I'm actually relieved it's over. I don't think I could take any more of this. Now, it's time for baseball!!

Introducing the Oak View 2/3 Basketball Champs!

Tennessee Falls!

It will be Nebraska vs. Florida in the championship game Saturday. I took Brantley to watch the game tonight. Zack scored 8 points in the first period for Tennessee. He sat out the second period and Florida was ahead at the half. Then, Zack came back in for the third period and Florida took him out. I say that because he hurt his knee and sat on the bench with an ice pack the remainder of the game. I learned afterwards, though, that he hurt himself fouling the player he was guarding and fouled out of the game. I had seen him earlier in the game showing some attitude to the ref. He even spiked the ball right in front of the ref. I guess he learned it from the coach because the coach was yelling and arguing with the ref in the fourth period. Florida won 26 to 14. I hate that Tennessee's perfect season had to end like that, but I hope the coach learned that he has to coach a team, not the star player. We could have had that exact situation on Brantley's team with Jeremiah, but our coach made a point of making Jeremiah pass the ball and play as a team. He has built a great team. Everyone has contributed to their winning season. Saturday should be a great game!

HUSKERS WIN!

After an INTENSE game versus the #3 seed North Carolina, the Huskers pulled out a win. Brantley scored a free throw to tie the game at 13 with a minute left in the game. Then, Jeremiah passed the ball to 'Big Country' for an easy 2 points. Jeremiah then scored a free throw to seal the game at 16 to 13. The crowd (and I do mean crowd - the bleachers were packed!) was loud and the game exciting! Now, on to the Championship versus Tennessee/Florida (TBD tomorrow). I was taking video clips the first part of the game but then gave up. I was afraid I would end up throwing my camera!

Basketball Tournament Introductions

They messed up with Brantley's number, but this is so cute.

Basketball Update

Today was the first round of the playoff. Brantley's team is the #2 seed. They played the win-less UCLA team today, and barely squeaked out a win. They all seemed tired or something. It just was not the team we have become accustomed to seeing; and the UCLA team looked like they had been practicing a lot. They are going to have a tough time against North Carolina tomorrow if they don't play better than they did today. I have left my camera at home the whole season until today. I took a few pics and video clips but didn't get anything real exciting.

Basketball Update

Brantley normally makes this shot, but he wasn't playing his best today. I just found out that he's friends with the boy who was guarding him. Maybe that was the problem?

Huskers WIN!

It was an exciting basketball game today! Brantley practiced at home this morning and was excited and ready for the game. But, as soon as we got to the gym his nerves kicked in. I was worried he wasn't going to have a good game, especially after the biggest kid on the other team stole the ball from him and knocked him down. They actually did call the foul on the kid since he wasn't even guarding Brantley. Brantley sat out for a little while but came back in for the fourth period on fire. He must have been mad or something because he stole the ball twice, once taking it all the way back down the court for the score. They won 21 to 11 so they will still be in second place.

Valentines Day

Brantley wanted to get his valentine cards ready today so we sat down today to do them. He was going through the class list and putting names on the cards and I taped a cherry lifesaver in each one. Then, he gets to one of the girls names and say 'Renee'. Now, since I can type this with the enunciation, picture the copy machine guy from SNL saying, 'Renee'. That's how he said it. So, I started teasing him and asked him if 'Renee' (saying it like he did) was new. She is new and I think Brantley might have a little crush. Isn't that cute!

Basketball Update

I'm ready for baseball. Basketball just has too much action for me. Brantley's team is in second place and they played the first place, undefeated team on Saturday. It was an exciting game with Brantley scoring the first basket of of the game. The Huskers stayed ahead for most of the game, but the Vols came back to tie it at the end of the fourth period to take it to OT. The Huskers couldn't hold on and lost 21 to 17. They were at a disadvantage though. They were short one player, so all of our guys had to play the entire game without a rest. They do switch Conner in for defense for 2 periods so one player gets to rest a little while we are on defense. (In case I didn't mention it, Conner has cerebral palsy.) But, it was a tough game and Brantley even collided with another player and hurt his knee. He went back in though and finished the game. It was disappointing, but as coach told them, he was not disappointed in their performance because they played hard and played as a team. One player for the other team scored 16 of their points. Everyone contributed on the Husker team and the coach was very happy with them. And, if they win the next 2 games, this may well have been a preview of the championship game. They had the game won up until the very end. Would being able to rest a period have made a difference? Maybe.

Coach talked to Brantley after the game and told him how he did a great job. He also told him that he didn't want any more of Brantley telling him he won't play point guard. He said from now on, he's just going to tell Brantley to play point guard. I think the loss was good for him. It took off some of the pressure. He was in very good spirits after the game so we will see how practice goes this week.

Quotable Quotes

I guess I haven't been paying enough attention lately because I haven't thought of anything to post lately. I guess it's part of the Winter blahs. At any rate, I do have a couple of quotes from the day.

On the way home from school, Brantley says to me, "Mom, you know what I found out today. Icing makes me sick." He told me that he ate a cookie that had icing on it and it made his tummy hurt. I said that it was just as well, because icing isn't good for you anyway.

Brantley crawled into bed before I finished my workout on the treadmill, so I went in his room to say good night and he said, "Are you all sweaty? 'Cause if you are, don't come hug me." Well, I love you too.

Happy hump day!

The History Channel

My child watches the history channel. There, I said it. I think it's great. History was never one of my interests or strong points. This morning he started watching the history channel and it was the "Heartland Explosion" episode about a high decibel boom rocked houses in Kokomo Indiana. I started watching and heard someone say April 16, 2008. Hmmm.....wasn't that when the earthquake was? Since I wrote a blog entry about it, it was easy to look up. The earthquake was April 18th. Coincidence? I think not.

Basketball Update

Getting up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday is not my idea of fun. Brantley had the 8:00 game this morning, and since they haven't had practice or a game in 3 weeks, coach wanted them there at 7:15 to warm up. It was a good idea because it didn't look like any of them had picked up a basketball since the last game, but it was tough getting out of bed this morning. They started out the game on fire and I thought it was going to be a blow out, but the other team came back and tied it up after our best player hit his scoring limit. They are limited to 16 points and then can't shoot any more. I'm not sure the other players knew that he couldn't shoot because they kept passing it to him. I was really hoping we wouldn't have to go to overtime. The team pulled it out with a 28-24 win. Brantley did score a basket in the first period and got to play point guard a couple times in the fourth quarter. I think he's the only other player that has gotten to play point guard besides the coach's son. Go Huskers!

On another sports note, I believe that Uncle Matt is running in the S"No"W Fun run right now. Wish him luck! If if hadn't been for Brantley's game, Lawson would probably be there with you. Maybe we should re-think this whole basketball thing.

Hermie

Well, it happened today. Brantley went into the living room and started looking in Hermie's aquarium and asked, 'Where's Hermie?" So I went over and asked him how long it had been since he looked at Hermie. He couldn't remember. So, I opened up the aquarium and showed Brantley that Hermie had died. I don't think at first he was really all that upset, but after he thought about it, he was. He didn't cry or anything, but he held Hermie's empty shell for a while. Maybe next time we go to Alabama, we'll go back to Calypso's and get Hermie II.

Early Christmas

When family lives spread out, you have to compromise on when you celebrate Christmas. Since Uncle Matt and Aunt Rosemarie are here this weekend, we celebrated tonight and opened gifts. I think everyone was happy with the presents, but the pass out award tonight goes to Grandma and Pop. Just look at that face....
Thank you Grandma and Pop and Matt and Rosemarie for the wonderful gifts. Merry Christmas!

New Favorite Restaurant (Pics)

Blogger seems to be letting me post pictures tonight, so here are a few of our dinner at Valentinos.

Cheekwood

Today, Lawson and Matt went off to enjoy the Titan/Pittsburgh game. While they were at the game, we decided to go to Cheekwood. Brantley decided he didn't want to go. He wanted to stay and watch the game with Pop. When we got back, we found out that Lawson and Matt had told him if he went with the girls to 'Chick'wood, that he would be a sissy. I think he really did want to watch the game though, and he probably enjoyed it more than he would have Cheekwood. I do think he would have liked the trees, but I'm guessing he would have been clamoring to go home the whole time. I had never been to Cheekwood and can't wait to go back when the gardens are in bloom. I bet it's gorgeous. The main house was so pretty and each room had a Christmas tree decorated with a different theme.
The Night Before Christmas

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Polar Express

The Nutcracker

Why all Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect
The Toy Story
A Christmas Carol