Team Mom...Again

So, since I have nothing else to do (um...kidding) - I've taken on the job of Team Mom again for Brady's little league team. 


Ugh. 


Worst.Job.Ever.


I had full intention of NOT being team mom again. I did it last year and I thought I had put in my time for at least the next...well, really forever. But, then Brady's coach sent email after email about how he needed a  team mom. I tried and tried to ignore them. And, finally - when I felt like he was basically yelling straight at me that I needed to volunteer (which he SOOO was not, it's just me taking general emails as if they are written straight to me vs. to the whole group) I stepped up and said I'd do it.


Ugh.


Oh well, the tough part is almost over. I've gone to the league meeting (3 hours seriously), sent out the loads of emails (ugh - it's like a parent sales job), recruited parents to volunteer for opening day festivities, printed and copied the Hit-A-Thon fundraiser sheets, collected money for the silent auction and embroidered hats, dropped off and picked up the hats, picked up and passed out uniforms, sent reminders about the President's award essay, put together a snack schedule, field prep schedule, and scorekeeping schedule, sent reminders about Dbacks night, provided Dick's coupons to the team for equipment....and, missed out picture day entirely. To be fair it's not totally my fault. I received an email about the picture day just one day before - but, unfortunately didn't even see the email until after our scheduled time. I mean who sends an email to tell a team of their scheduled time for pictures just one day before with the expectation that they could 1) actually open the email ahead of time and 2) coordinate 12 boys and their families for a 3:30pm, Saturday picture day!!?? Ugh!! 


So - I guess as team mom...I fail. 


WWTM! Yes, add World's Worst Team Mom to the list of WW things I am :)


But, here's our silent auction basket. And, by golly - I think it looks awesome! At least I excel at putting together baskets. 

Brady's First Baseball Essay

Brady's little league team gives away awards to kids in each division for writing a 100 word essay about what they want to get out of little league. They can win bats and jerseys and even their registration fee. This is what Brady wrote. It had to be handwritten. Yes - we helped him with spelling here and there...but, this is what he wrote. How cute is he!!

Matsui Thinks Brady Has a Natural Swing

This was a big...and I mean BIG weekend for Brady. He filmed a commercial. Yes...our 7 year old will be in a commercial. It might only be shown in Japan...but heck, he's in it.


A few weeks ago, my cousin George sent me an email about an open audition for 7-10 year olds that have played little league baseball. George does some acting and happened to see the open audition notice and thought of Brady. So...we signed him up for an audition.


A few days later, we dressed Brady in his Cubs baseball shirt, pants, cup, cleats, and hat, grabbed his glove and bat, and headed to downtown Phoenix for his audition. At the audition, they had him stand on a circle in front of a green screen, swing the bat, pose as a baseball player for pictures, and answer some questions. They gave him a piece of candy...and we were done. The next week we were contacted - he was selected for the commercial.


No, he's not the star. He's an extra. I have no idea how many total kids auditioned, but they needed 40. For all we know, there were only 40 that auditioned :)


The email that we received instructed us to come in this past Thursday for a wardrobe fitting. At the fitting, they fit him for a uniform, snapped some pictures, and gave us the shooting schedule/location. We were told via email that 10 of the kids would be selected for some still shots.


The filming of the commercial was today at Papago Baseball Facility...the Oakland A's spring training practice fields. The hottie took him because I was taking the girls to Rylee's 6th birthday party. We debated back and forth who would take him. Although I'm sad I missed it...I am SO very glad that the hottie was able to take him. It was way more than we expected.


We did NOT know this ahead of time, but the commercial involved Hideki Matsui. We thought the commercial was for Komatsu. My Googling discovered that Komatsu is a huge international construction-type company. We were imagining Field of Dreams in a commercial. Well...I'm pretty sure we were wrong. Matsui's dad worked for a Japanese company called Komatsu for over 20 years and he endorses this company. The commercial seemed to be about some type of hitting and swinging instruction led by Matsui. The kids were swinging and hitting and Matsui walked around, swung the bat, and watched the kids while providing feedback to them on their swing.


Um...I don't think this could have been more perfect. Yesterday we found out that Brady's new little league team is the A's and now he gets to "play" ball with a real-life A player. The hottie was in HEAVEN. I'm pretty sure he loved this even more than Brady.


They arrived to the shoot at 9:30am. The hottie was told that Brady had been selected as one of the 10 for the still shots. So, Brady and 9 others went to a separate area where they got to take still shots with Matsui. Yep...again...HEAVEN.


After the stills, the 10 kids met up with the rest of the kids and went to the outfield and spread out so there was room to swing the bat. When the director yelled action, the kids were instructed to keep swinging the bat. Matsui walked around, gave instruction, demonstrated proper swings, and helped the kids with their swings. He stopped at Brady for awhile. And get this...he told Brady he has a natural swing.


During this entire part of the day the hottie was a good distance away - so he had no idea what was being said. But, you better believe he was excited tonight when Brady told us what Matsui said. Too funny.


The commercial wrapped early today due to weather...but, our little actor is heading back out tomorrow to finish up the shoot. He did get paid today...$50. He thinks he's rich. Too cute! I asked him if he wanted to do more commercials. He said..."um yeah - you get fifty dollars. awesome!"

Our Little Yankee

Here's Brady

Here's his batting stance

The Hottie says it's perfect

Here's his team

He's the little one in the front on the far right

The coach kind of drives me crazy.

He sends a gazillion emails.

Never gives us a chance to reply.

And then sends more.

The coach's son...is a typical coach's son.

He's 8.

He's pretty good.

Brady's the littlest on the team.

Brady's never been the shortest/littlest EVER!

There are 13 kids on the team.

There are 13 shirts, numbered 1-13.

The smallest is the 1...the largest is 13.

The kids were told to line up by height.

Brady got #1.

Funny.

The coach's son said he got to pick his out the night before.

He picked 13 for A-Rod.

And announced it at practice.

He's the tallest kid anyways...

So getting #13 was inevitable.

But seriously...

The first game was 2 hours.

It was ridiculous.

The mom in front of us

literally whipped out the league rule guide

to check the length of the games.

They're supposed to be an hour.

Not 2.

The kids loved it.

But, they are 6-8 for goodness sakes.

They don't even keep score.

2 hours is a bit much.

My mom says I should just get used to it.

p.s. Brady now loves the Yankees.

Loving the Irony

We signed Brady up for Little League. We're trying out a new league. We have put him in the Gilbert Little League division - SE Diamondbacks. In this league - the teams are assigned a name from the MLB....like the Diamondbacks, Angels, Indians, etc. This is different from the league he has played in for the last couple years. In the old league, the teams get to pick their names. But - now, the name is chosen for us. This shouldn't be a big deal, right?

Well, we've been waiting for a few weeks to find out what team Brady was placed on, who his coach is, and where/when his practices are located. Last night, we received the email....

Brady has been placed on the Yankees.

The Hottie just about died. Brady was almost in tears. I literally had to talk sense into both of them. You would have thought we were talking about the real Yankees. It was that bad.

I was holding back giggles and chuckles and tons of laughter. Yes, this was very ironic. The biggest, Fever Pitch-style Red Sox fans were now going to be cheering for a Yankee team.

No worries, I promised Brady that he could wear his Red Sox gear to practices and only had to don the Yankees jersey at the game. I also told him that Bryan would get a Yankees shirt to support the team....that didn't go over too well.

Isn't it funny how things work out?? HIL-AR-I-OUS!!!

She's Been Brainwashed

Dancin' Lilbugs

Saturday, Lily had a mini parent show at dance class. All of the parents and family members were invited into the class to check out what they have been learning. I really didn't know what they would show us because the girls are 2...what can they really memorize?

Well...it was SO cute!

One sad thing was the girls normally have a class of 6...but, only 2 showed. Oh well, it was still as cute as could be.

Putting on makeup...prepping for the princess role...

Zoning out Lil...the norm

Getting ready for the routine

I can't believe she actually pays attention!!

Ballerina walk

Can you tell she is pointing her toes???

Too cute!

Friends

The final pose...raising up like Ariel

Ahh.Ahh.Ahhhhh

Cardinals Tailgating

Today, I was formally introduced to Cardinals Tailgating. Not just any tailgating...but, tailgating on the GREAT LAWN. Wow....can you say A-MAZ-ING!

We met up with my cousin Jessica and her husband Jeff and several of their family members for the real tailgating experience. We met them in the middle of the GREAT LAWN. Definitely...it is GREAT! Hundreds of canopies...people with set-ups better than Zipps...and waaaaay better than my living room. Of course, the Hottie was in HEAVEN. You name it...it was there:

TVs

Satellite

Cornhole

Grills Galore

Free Stuff (and I love free stuff!)

BBQ food

Breakfast burritos (that's what we had....DELISH!)

Basically, people set-up their space better than a living room. It was amazing. I loved it!! Of course, we left feeling like we NEEDED to have season tickets and NEEDED a parking space that included the GREAT LAWN. But...considering we have neither, and those lawn seats are based on tenure...I'm thinking that possibility is WAY out of our means. Oh well...it was nice for the afternoon!

After living the dream for a bit...it was time to head over to my work tailgating event in the East lot. It was nice. It was fun...but, it was no GREAT LAWN. I am certainly very thankful for the tickets that my work provided, but...maybe it was the energy the GREAT LAWN provides - I'm not quite sure, but even the game wasn't as fun as the tailgating. As for our seats - everyone is right...there really isn't a bad seat. And, considering we were about as high as you can get in the very corner of the stadium - I would know. Thanks Prog for the tickets - you're the best! And...Jeff and Jess - thanks for much for the most delicious burritos EVER...if we ever have great lawn seats - YOU'RE TOTALLY INVITED!

D-Back Fun

Friday night was family fun night.



Luckily we were gifted 4 great 3rd base seats.
You know, the ones right in the way of any foul line drives.
No worries - we didn't catch anything - although the very first foul of the entire game was caught by a fan about 4 row in front of us.

The cuties were surprisingly good.


Of course, no game is complete without some diamondback dogs.
Chase field has a thing called the Value Menu.
Diamondback dogs - the size of normal store hot dogs - for $1.50.
Perfect.

Of course the Hottie needed more than just one.
Understandable...they are small.


Later we snacked on some kettle corn.

Yummmmmmy!

The cuties were really good.
Did I already say that?

I just can't get over it.
They were very well behaved.
Brady - we expect it - he loves baseball.
But, for Lil - this was her very first MLB game.
She loved it.



Not really the "watch baseball" part.
But, the whole experience - seats, game, food, people, fun.
As for Brady - he could live at a ballpark.
He loves baseball.

If you ask him - what do you want to be when you grow up?
Hands down answer - "a baseball player."

When you ask him - what position?
His reply - all of 'em.

I'll try to give other suggestions of careers...you know,
pro-sports is a tough, competitive field.
I'll say - how about a doctor, lawyer, teacher, astronaut, mailman, etc?
He always answers - no, I want to be a baseball player.

You can't say he isn't passionate.


The fact that he knows an MLB player...well, that only makes him want it more.
So - look out Red Sox...I see an aspiring player coming your way.

Golf Anyone?

The Hottie LOVES golf!! Remember on his 30th birthday when all of us surprised him with brand spankin'-new golf clubs?? Well...guess what Brady got for his 5th birthday??

New clubs!!

Well...they are NEW to him...but, not necessarily new. A few months ago - our neighborhood had a garage sale. Our neighbor was selling these perfectly almost new kids clubs. So cute...and best of all, SO cheap! They were way cuter than the sets in the store...and for the cost of a tank of gas (even less) we were the new, happy owners. Brady doesn't even need to know - does he?

He was super excited - but, I think Bryan was even more excited.

So...the boys have taken their first official golf outing - to the range. And, boy did they have a blast.

Big League Dreams

Have you ever been to a sporting event?

Any kind - pro, little league, college, whatever - just any sporting event? Well...you know that person that is LOUD, obnoxious, constantly cheering and never shuts up??

That person is me.

Sorry Boys - I cannot stop!!

The Next Ted Williams...

Anyone that knows me knows that I am surrounded by sports fanatics. Not that I don't like baseball, football, basketball, etc...but, unlike my hubby - it's not my life. (Don't tell him, but I do like his passion for the game.)

In our house the Red Sox are literally the ONLY team in baseball. Since utero - both my kids have been brainwashed into the Red Sox Nation. I always say that I'm a Red Sox fan by marriage. When we see a Yankees fan out and about, I literally hold my breath and pray that Brady does not scream out "Yankees Suck." Just so ya'll know - I DID NOT TEACH HIM THAT!! But, I'm sure you can guess who did.

Brady just started his first t-ball season. In the past, he has played soccer. Bryan has been working with him forever on hitting and throwing. I already hear Bryan saying things like...Dawn, you should see him - he is so good. I just keep telling Bryan - he's 4, let him have fun. But...I will say it does look like he's got some mighty fine athleticism in him - he's pretty coordinated and just about the fastest 4 year-old I've ever seen. He can already beat Bryan in a race - but, that doesn't take too much (just kidding, babe...sort of). He's just about as fast as his Uncle Billy.

So...here's to his first of most likely many seasons of the game...