4 Year Blog Anniversary

Wow! I was just looking back and in just a couple weeks, I will have had this blog for 4 years. I can't believe I have kept up with it that long. I still wish I had started this when Brantley was a baby. I might have to get out his baby book and do some memory posts.

I've had this same layout for the entire time, I believe. I think it's time for a change. The pictures at the header are when Brantley was much younger. I know I need to upgrade my blog to take advantage of some of the newer features, but I'm afraid to click that upgrade button. I don't want to lose any of it.

Well, I will get brave in the next couple weeks. My goal is to have a new look before my 4 year anniversary!!

Grand Slam Birthday Bash

This year we had Brantley's party at the Sounds game. It turned out to be the best birthday party we've had. Brantley had a great time. We had 12 crazy boys hanging out at the game together. They got to eat hot dogs and birthday cake before the game. Brantley (and 5 other birthday people) got to throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the game. He also got to stand on the dugout during the third inning and the whole crowd sang happy birthday. Since it was a Friday night game, there were fireworks after the game and then all the kids got to run the bases.
And, I even arranged for something special for the dads. (Just kidding!) While we were all sitting there watching the game, a bunch of girls showed up to sit in the row in front of us. I say it was something special for the dads because these girls were good looking and dressed up! They were all wearing very high heels and dresses or skirts. The funniest thing was one of them was actually painting her nails during the game!! Not sure what their deal was, but they definitely looked out of place.

Here are a few pictures of the crazy boys! Posts with videos below.

Brant looked a little annoyed at Ozzie...

Most of the present opening was just that, present opening. Paper flying everywhere, toys all over the place. But, this one was cracking me up. (It was midnight so we were all tired!)

Funny present opening, part 2

Happy Birthday Brantley!

We decided to go ahead and let Brantley open his birthday present this evening. Even though we've had about 4 slip ups, he was still oblivious and had no clue what he was getting. Either that, or he's a pretty good actor.

Happy Fourth of July!

We decided to spend the Fourth in Chicago this year. We had a great weekend, and great weather. We came home and we had had an inch and a half of rain here!

Friday, we took the train to downtown so we could experience the Taste of Chicago. I had spinach stuffed pizza, grilled corn on the cob, and Italian Ice. I also had a small bite of a meatball, a couple bites of Lawson's Italian Sausage, a couple bites of a hamburger, and some of Brantley's ice cream. You would think we would all have a stomach ache after all that! It was all yummy!

Friday night we went to see the Schaumburg Flyers play the Kansas City T-Bones. The T-Bones won. They had a guy that hit 3 out of the park home runs. It was a fun game to watch, even if it's not even considered minor league. They also had a nice fireworks display after the game.

Matt and Rosemarie took Brantley to see the parade on Saturday morning. It was a bit drizzly, but not enough to dampen the parade. We also went to see the fireworks display that night. We were so close to the fireworks and they were so loud. They were being shot practically right overhead and we had to look almost straight up to see them.

I didn't take very many pictures, but here's what I took. Enjoy!

Birthday Time!

It's birthday time. This will probably be the last year we do a big party for Brantley. (I think I probably said that last year!) I've finished sending out all the invitations and now it's time for the waiting. Brantley will ask me no less than 10 times tonight, "Have you heard from anyone else?" I gave him several choices for the party and he decided on a Sounds game. I also let him put together his guest list, so he's all about keeping track of who is coming. I never know what to expect since his birthday is around a holiday and a lot of people are travelling. It should be a great time so make sure you get back to me if you haven't already!

Hygiene

What is it with boys and hygiene? Is it a boy thing, or just a kid thing in general. I have a hard time thinking that there are little girls like this out there, but maybe there are. Brantley doesn't care if he's dirty. His fingernails can be absolutely nasty and it doesn't bother him. What should I expect from a boy who used to eat the mulch on the preschool playground? It's not really hard to get him in the shower, but getting him to actually clean himself is a chore. "Oh, you mean you wanted me to wash my hair?" Brushing teeth is absolutely the worst part of Brantley's day. Why does he hate it so much? For a long time he gagged really easily and would gag every time he brushed his teeth. That doesn't seem to happen as easily now, but he still hates brushing his teeth. I keep telling him he has to take care of his permanent teeth because those are the only one's he's going to get. Do you think it helps? NO! I used to brush his teeth for him every morning but that was torture for both of us. Now, I feel like I have to at least one a week or so or his teeth are going to rot out. I have a feeling this doesn't get better.

2009 Mariners Pics

I really didn't take any pictures this season, but the coach had an awesome camera that he brought a couple of times and had people take pictures. There were some really good shots. Here are the ones of Brantley.

Baseball Conclusion

Well, baseball is officially over for the summer. The Mariners just didn't have it in them to win the championship. Even though they put together another triple play, they lost the first game by 3 so they had to go to a second game which was ended early by the 10 run rule. The Cardinals were an excellent team. They hit well and they fielded well. They also had some kids that really knew where the play was. Brantley got hurt in the second game. He was running to second base and slid in only to be hit by the ball being thrown in. The ball hit him in the face. I don't think it was a direct hit. I think it deflected off of something, but it was a hard hit. We ran onto the field, along with all the coaches. His mouth was all bloody inside. We cleaned him up and had him rinse out his mouth. He seemed okay, and said he could stay out there. When he ran home, I had him put ice on his mouth while in the dug out and another mom had some Motrin that I gave him. We weren't sure if he could come out to finish the inning, but while we were sorting out the rules, he decided he could do it. He finished the game. I was really proud of him sticking with it. They were all so upset about the loss, but they handled it like good sportsmen should. And, it didn't hurt that they got to go to a pool party at the assistant coach's house and got 2 trophies. One trophy was for being the league season champs and the second was for being a finalist in the tournament. They are really cool trophies. You can kinda see the injury in this picture. It looks worse today(I took this picture yesterday), but he says it doesn't hurt. He just says it feels weird which is probably from the swelling. I'm still not sure if he chipped a tooth or not. If he did, it's not bad and not real noticeable.
I hope that Brantley will read these one day and have fond memories. These are the things that I will remember from this season:

All the boys loading up in the back of John's truck to ride together from the practice field to the game. They looked tough all showing up together and jumping out of the truck.

I will remember the looks on Troyce and Thomas' faces when they got their first hits.

I will remember the excitement of Adrian when he told the coach he really wanted to play catcher. And, I'll remember when that throw from third to first came out of nowhere.

I'll remember the bear hug that Jackson gave Brantley after his unassisted triple play and the whole team celebrating together.

I'll remember the look on Chapman's face when that pop fly was coming right to him, and the look on his face after he caught it.

I'll remember seeing all of Brantley's worried teammates on their knee at the dugout waiting to see if he was okay after being hit.

I'll remember those face first, arms out, chest slides from Eli. And, I'll remember Eli chasing down the runner for the out.

I'll remember how tiny little Jack would hit that ball so hard, and run so fast.

Thank you Mariners for a great season. Good luck to those moving up, and we'll see the rest next season!

Championship bound!

The Mariners logged another win tonight. They will be playing in the championship game on Saturday against one of the red teams (Cardinals or the Reds..they play tomorrow night). Since the Mariners have no losses in the tournament, they get 2 chances to win. If they lose, it will be a double header for the championship.

Tonight's game was against the Cardinals, and they barely pulled it out. They came out screaming in the first inning and scored 6 runs. The middle of the game got a little dicey with the Cardinals taking the lead by 2 after the 5th. The Mariners came out swinging in the sixth and scored 6 runs with no outs!! Brantley got that inning started by the way! Then, they held the other team to 2 runs to win the game. Brantley had 2 singles and he caught an awesome fly ball on the run. It was so cool!

On another note, our coach got ejected from the game. There were some horrible calls, that went mostly in favor of the other team. David tried to call them on it and got mad. Apparently, as he walked off the field he said that the officiating of the game was the worst he had seen. He walked off the field so he wouldn't say something stupid to the umps. Then, a dad from the other team who was backing up the catcher told the ump to eject him and the ump turned around and said hey coach, you're out. It really was some of the worst officiating I've seen. But, our coach could have handled it a bit better. He may not get to be there for the championship game because of the ejection. Brantley is pretty upset about that because it is the championship game, but I explained to him that part of the game is learning to be respectful. The umps will make bad calls and you can't do things like that. I told Brantley that if coach doesn't get to be there, they need to win it for him and show what good sportsmen they are!!


Almost forgot....Brantley actually slid into second base tonight. It was good thing because he probably would have gotten out if he hadn't slid. I believe that was his first time actually sliding.

Another correction...he got a double and 2 singles. The double was in the first inning.

Payback is a .....

Remember I told you that Brantley hit a pop fly that was caught for a triple play. Well, he didn't forget it. Today against the Astros (I guess it's not really payback since it's a different team), Brantley was playing short stop. He made a diving catch and ran to tag second and tagged the runner from first for the triple play. It was awesome. We all went crazy. Jackson gave Brantley a big bear hug and lifted him off the ground. I was so excited for him, especially since he had struck out on his first at bat. I was afraid he had lost his mojo. But, that play got him back in the game and he came back and smacked the ball after that. The Mariners ended the game in the bottom of the fourth, 16 to 6. Now, they get to play the fourth ranked Reds on Monday night. Thank goodness it's not a 7:30 game because they play awful at those late games. If the Mariners win and the White Sox win, they will meet up Thursday night with the winner going on the play the winner of the loser bracket. I know it sounds bad calling it that, but that is what it is. It's double elimination and they have lost a game in that part of the bracket.

Mariners are still #1!

It was a disappointing loss Saturday against the Athletics. The game got off to a bad start. Bottom of the first, runners on first and second, Brantley hit a pop fly to center field. It was a great hit and the base coaches thought there was no way it would be caught and sent the runners. The Athletics caught it, our runners didn't know what to do and the the inning ended with a triple play. The Athletics really wanted the win. They caught pretty much everything that the Mariners sent to outfield. Not only that, they had a couple of double plays. The Mariners lost 5 to 12. They finished the season 12 and 2. We were afraid they would be tied with the White Sox, but the White Sox also lost on Saturday so the Mariners are #1. The White Sox still have one game to make up. If they win, there will be a 3-way tie for 2nd place, but the White Sox should be in 2nd place based on the tie breaker.

School's Out for Summer!

This past Thursday was the last day of school. It was a half day, so I took the day off and took Brantley and one of his friends to the zoo. They had a great time. We ended up spending 3 hours there and could have stayed longer. The highlight of the trip was the baby tiger exhibit. They were so cute and playful.

Baseball

It amazes me how some coaches just don't know how to be good sportsmen. The past 2 teams the Mariners have played have been this way. Tonight, the other coach actually tried to accuse Adrian of using a non-regulation bat. GIVE ME A BREAK! Our coach handled it well though. He took the bat over and told him to check it. We even heard that coach yelling at his team. One of the umps was saying that coach is like that every game. I know that our coach can get a bit overzealous sometimes, but all in all, he's a decent coach. The Mariners won 17 to 10 to end the game early. Brantley hit 5 singles tonight. He also got hit by the ball in the neck while playing pitcher. He got hit but still made the throw to first base although the kid was safe. He came out for a couple of minutes and there was no respect at all from the other team. He was a trooper, though, and went back out to the outfield that inning. Way to stay with it Brantley! He came out in the next inning at first base and did a great job.

Future First Baseman?

Brantley played first base during one inning tonight and he did an awesome job. Jackson fired the ball to him a couple of times and Brantley didn't miss a beat. They were all on target tonight, but I think Jackson and Brantley both had a break out game. The Mariners won 16 to 5. Brantley had 2 doubles, a triple and 6 RBIs. He is #1 with his batting average and #3 with his slugging percentage, but he has almost caught up to Jackson!

They can co-exist!

I think Pudge is finally getting used to the family addition.

Too close for comfort!

Tonight's game was intense. I think that is the best team the Mariners have played this season. They somehow pulled it out in the end, though, and won 15 to 13. I lost count of how many times they over-threw first base. I don't know what was going on with them. They needed a close one though. It gave them a reality check. It was an exciting game. Jackson did hit an in the park grand slam. Well, it really should have been a triple, but he came home on an error. Brantley didn't disappoint. He hit 2 singles and a double. Even though they kept over-throwing first base, there were some awesome catches in the field.

Last night's game was against the Angels. The Mariners won 14 to 2. Brantley hit 3 doubles and a single in that game. The batting and slugging averages of the team are ridiculous! (but I'm not complaining!)