The Boys First Cardinals Game

When I got married I could never imagined how much St. Louis Cardinals baseball would play into my future life. The Cardinals won the World Series the first year we were married, which made the argument for how fun it is to watch baseball EVERY night much easier for Zach. This baseball life style took a little getting use to, but as the years went by watching the Cardinals every day from April hopefully well into October became a normal, wonderful routine. When you live in St. Louis the Cardinals are one of the main things that unites everyone in the city. No matter who you talk to, on any given day, anywhere in the city, chances are they saw last night's game and would have an opinion about it. Instant conversation, instant feeling of community in a huge city. I grew to love this about St. Louis and I truly grew to love the Cardinals.

When we found out we were pregnant with Zane we announced it to Zach's parent's by sending them a tiny Albert Pujols tshirt, number five representing their fifth grandchild soon to be born. And when I was in labor with Zane we were watching the Cardinals play right up until it was time to actually push, then Zach reluctantly turned it off. The Cardinals won that night, a great start to our little Cardinals life. The Cardinals won yet another World Series in 2011 when Zane was just one year old, he watched all the games of course, here he is celebrating the first Cardinals World Series victory of his young life. I regret never going to the World Series parades downtown, but when you live there the hassle of getting downtown, finding a place to park, then getting back home is really too big of a hassle so you miss once in a lifetime events because you're too lazy to wait in the in Metrolink lines. I regret it, we definitely should have gone.

Zach and I went to at least a game or two each season, even a few in the super fun Fabick box with free food and drinks. As soon as Zane could talk he started asking when he could go see the real Cardinals play, the ones he watched everyday. Our standard answer was "when you're seven." At the time we had a tradition of taking our nephews to Cardinals games when they were seven. I think we took at least Clay to his first game and we took Blaine when he was seven too, but he might have already been once by then. It was a huge investment, but we didn't have any kids so it was lots of fun.

 If we want to be really correct this was Zane's actual first Cardinals baseball game, May of 2010, just a month away from coming into the world. It was blazing hot and I almost died, but Clay had a blast.

Years past, we moved to Oklahoma, and we couldn't watch the Cardinals as much. I missed the constant back ground noise of a Cardinals game in the spring and summer. I started to not know how they were doing or who played for them, but we all still were huge fans, had our Cardinals apparel, and caught a few games on TV when we could. Zane still asked when we were taking him to a Cardinals game, we still said when he was seven.

This year we added the Fox Sports Midwest package to our cable. For an extra eight dollars a month we could see all the Cardinals games complete with St. Louis commercials and announcers. Right around this time was when Zane started to really like playing t-ball. He wanted to watch the games because he knew what was going on. He knew where the plays were and wanted to watch the batters technique. He wanted to know the pitch count and could understand who was winning. He was also turning seven in June and definitely remembered our promise of taking him to a game when he turned seven. How could we back out on that promise now??

So after much planning and debating whether or not we could truly afford it, we decided we had to do it. We weren't going to be able to go anywhere else this summer or really do anything else fun and he was turning seven so we made it happen. We drove up to St. Louis from Zach's parent's house on a Friday afternoon. We met up with my friend Michelle at her house where he Mother and Father in law were going to watch baby Thatcher and Michelle's son. God bless them for taking care of our babies so we could have a fun night at the ballpark. We immediately piled into Michelle's car and headed downtown. Yes we all went in one car so we only had to pay parking on one car.

There is nothing quite like downtown STL on a game night. The streets of full of red, the air is full of excitement, it's so fun and I was thrilled to finally be sharing it with my boys. Here are the kids, not excited about pregame picture, they really wanted to get inside the stadium and get their bobble head (of someone I don't know).

 We had perfect seats, in the bleachers, above the visitors dugout, but most importantly in the shade so it wasn't blazing hot! We were two rows up from the bullpen so we had a great view and the boys were in awe of it all. Look at little Rowan's face, he literally could hardly contain his excitement.

Family shot before the game started.

 I was pretty concerned that once the game started the boys would realize that live baseball isn't that exciting and get bored with it quickly. So in an attempt to save their attention span we went for a walk around the stadium prior to the game actually started. They got to see the sights and sounds of the ball field. You know the beer men, the hot dog stand, the ballpark bathrooms, all the highlights.

 We of course had to get hot dogs before heading back to our seats for the game. We might have briefly lost Rowan, he didn't realize he was lost, but I thought he was with Zach and Zach thought he was with me, luckily he was following behind me pretty closely and I found him wandering my way when we stopped to sing the National Anthem. Oh my that could have been terrible, my heart stopped briefly, but no harm no foul.

 Hot dog pics with his BFF Jamie. Jamie and Zane are truly the same kid in two different cities. They are built the same way, they have the same personality, they have the same since of humor and they are about ten months apart in age. I wish they could spend more time together because they have a blast. They both recently started being obsessed with baseball and were both thoroughly into the game the whole time. They were watching to see how many outs, strikes, and balls each player had. They cheered everyone on, they knew the score, they were seriously watching a baseball game, more so than I usually am when I'm at the ballpark. I could not believe it.

In probably more shocking news Rowan was also thoroughly into the baseball game. When we ask him now, weeks later, what his favorite part was he says "when the guy broke his bat." I barely remembered that happened. The Cardinals were playing the Phillies that night so the Phillie phanatic (the mascot) was there and did all sorts of funny things with Fredbird the Redbird which helped keep the kids entertained as well.

 For the record we ate peanuts, popcorn, hot dogs, nachos, and drinks. All the things you need for a baseball game! And oh sooo expensive!

My two blonde headed, St. Louis born boys, back to their hometown to cheer on the Cards!

 There was one home run (see the smoke above the sign in the picture below) hit by a Cardinal, which meant they got to see the fireworks and cheer, and high five, and fully celebrate with the home team. No it wasn't hit into our section, but still loads of fun.

 As the game went on my fear that they wouldn't make it to the seventh inning stretch began to change to a fear that they wouldn't want to leave at the seventh inning stretch. The game hadn't started until seven fifteen and if you stay until the end it takes at least an hour to get out of the parking lot, so we really needed to leave somewhat early to beat traffic and get our kids in bed before midnight.

 We stayed through Take Me Out To The Ballgame, which the boys had been practicing in the car for days. We took lots of selfies in our Cardinals red. Zane said lots of adorable things like "I cannot believe we saw the really real Cardinals play!" "Do these people get paid anything to play baseball?" "When are we coming back to another game?" And I wished time could slow down.

 Here is Zane and Ruthie. Ruthie is three months younger than Rowan and probably four or five inches taller. She was less interested in the game and more interested in eating peanuts and trying to annoy the boys. Zane and Rowan were good sports and I think even Ruthie had a blast!

 One last shot of Busch Stadium.

I have such fond memories of this place. One of my favorite memories was taking my father to a Cardinals game in May 2008. He had watched the Cardinals growing up and was a huge fan. We sat in the bleachers and had a great day together. One of my favorite pictures of my dad and I is this one of us in front of The Arch. He so often looked sad in his eyes, or tired, in pictures, but not this day. This day was full of very happy Dad smiles that I treasure. I'm so happy that I now have memories here with my boys. I so hope we get to take them back. I hope they are forever Cardinal fans.

Baseball Party

This was the first year that Zane had a party with his friends, not just his family. I had thought he would want to try to invite his friends from kindergarten and was slightly concerned about having no way to contact them during the summer. So I was relived when he said he wanted to have his t-ball team over for a baseball party.

After a week of preparation and lots of trips to Target we were ready for the big day. Zane was beyond excited and waiting until two o'clock for the party to start was almost impossible. Of course we had decorated the house, which is part of the fun for Zane. We got out all Zane's baseball, bobble heads, trophies, and medals and put them on display. Lots of the decorations for this party came from Fourth of July decorations which was some what cheap and easy.

Baby Thatcher was all dressed up like a little baseball for the party.

 Rowan claims he wants a baseball party next year so I'm keeping everything in hopes of getting more for my money this year.

There were six boys who came (I think), one big sister, Rowan, and Zane. It was one hundred degrees outside with thirty mile an hour winds. Usually I hate the wind, but it was really the saving grace at the party. We had a sprinkler and a slip and slide set up, as well as about a thousand water balloons (not an exaggeration). The water balloons lasted about fifteen minutes, but the boys had a blast with them. They hit them with baseball bats, threw them at their dads/coaches, and at each other. I missed most of the water balloon fun going to get Thatcher from his nap. The boys briefly came inside for nachos and a little Sandlot before heading back outside for more fun and hot dogs.

 Pirate ship fun, of course! One of our sails broke in the crazy wind.

 This is the teammate most like Zane, they are cut from the same cloth and both big hitters. Zane got lots of fun presents which was helpful to me since our birthday budget was pretty well blown after this party so not a lot to spend on presents this year. He got Legos, more water balloons, water gun, a basket ball, a football, a gift card, a dodge ball game, and a remote control car.

Cake time! I originally planned on a regular round cake frosted to look like a baseball. That wouldn't cut it for Zane, he had an idea of a cake that looked like the whole field with players. I don't think the finished product was exactly what he had envisioned, but it was the best I could do.

With this being our first friends party there was definitely a learning carve as far as how much food to make for all the kids and their parents who were also staying for the fun. I prepared enough food for seven Zane's, which meant two hot dogs per kid and at least one per adult. Turns out that most of the kids didn't eat ANYTHING which is mind boggling to me so we had lots of hot dogs/buns left over.

The party was over too soon for Zane, but everyone seemed to have good time and no one had a heat stroke, which was my biggest concern. It's safe to say our first friends party was a huge success!!! It's just been a few days and he already misses his teammates and is ready for practice to start back up.

Last night we had the family birthday party with more presents, more slipping and sliding, and lots more fun. I made my original cake plan, which I loved!!

Here he is, fully seven years old, looking so big and grown up now. Thanks to everyone for helping us celebrate our big guy!

Zane's 7th Birthday Week: Happy 7th Birthday Big Guy

Dear Zane,

Today you woke up and greeted me with a big hug and your snaggle toothed smile. You were super tan from our weekend at the lake. You're hair is a white as the day you were born and your eyes a bright crystal blue. You come up almost to my shoulders now at the young age of seven, but you still will sit on my lap to give me hugs and kisses. You were dying to open your presents this morning at 6:03 when you came into our room. This year Rowan told you what a few of your gifts were and you found one in my closet, and opened an amazon package that was for you, so there weren't a ton of surprises, but you enjoyed everything you received. This year's gifts included a Captain Underpants book, a fidget spinner (one for you and one for Ro), two decks of playing cards (better to play war with), the monopoly with sixteen different pieces, including all the gold pieces that were up for a vote earlier in the year (you were ecstatic to have the gold penguin piece), a 100 piece puzzle, baseball cards, and some new nerf bullets. Dad brought you home a back stop to practice coach pitch hitting with and you opened your coin jar (that counts your money for you) yesterday.

After presents we were off to the first swim lessons of the summer. You and Rowan did amazing at your lessons. I love that you are always the kid, in any situation, who talks to the teachers/grown ups, who finds the kid with no friends in the group and talks to them, who volunteers to go first, and tries his hardest at everything. You could probably have gone up a level in the swimming lessons, but I think you enjoyed being the best swimmer in the group. There was even a cannon ball portion of your lessons today, which was perfect and you did great at.

Here you are on your seventh birthday, I can't get over your crazy smile.

You and Rowan's matching shark swim trunks were definitely not planned.

 Here's your little mini me, this was what your face looked like as a baby.

 After swimming you got to pick out a toy at Target, you chose a Lego house that's I'm confident you won't do, but you love the idea of it so much you just can't resist. Then, after thirty minutes of walking around Academy Sports and Outdoors, you finally spent the gift car you got from your party. Tough decision had to be made but you went with another remote control car (that lights up and does flips), a baseball shirt, and water guns.

During nap time you and I talked, you watched a movie while I laid on the couch by you. You were tired, but pretended to be fully awake and definitely not in a need of nap at seven years old. After nap time your Godmother came to celebrate your day with you. She gave you an awesome snake book, which you loved, perfect for my little snake lover. You showed her all your new stuff, but couldn't sit still long enough to actually do any of it. So much to see, so much to do, so much excitement!

Midway through your visit with Aunt Anna Granmda Blakley showed up with more gifts. You and Rowan played with her, I think having a dance party in your room, and of course more studying up on snakes before we headed out for the movies. Every year on your birthday weekend the big summer blockbuster kid's movie comes out. This year, after much anticipation, Cars 3 was released. We have been waiting for months to see it and I'm so happy we got to go on your actual birthday. We all loved the movie and the snacks (of course).

 Your silly little brother had a blast as well.

After the movie it was time to come home and go to bed, leaving me here to think about where the time has gone. You're another year older my son. You've learned and grown so much this year. There are times that it feels like I have a completely different kiddo. I can't remember the last huge fit you threw or the last meltdown you had. You're helpful and can actually do real chores around the house. You remain a light to all around you. You have a kind and loving spirit and care for everyone you meet. You've handled huge changes in your life this year with such grace. I cannot believe that it's been seven years since I first saw your sweet smiling face. I remember it so clearly and so often  now that I'm looking at that sweet face again with your baby brother. Time is flying by and I love watching you become such a wonderful young man. Happy birthday sweet boy!

Love

Mom

Zane's 7th Birthday Week: A Few of His Favorite Things

I feel like this year Zane's interests have changed quite a bit. I think this is thanks to his new found concentration which he gained from his time in kindergarten. So here's a few of Zane's favorite things at seven.

1. Baseball: This came out of left field (pun intended). As mentioned in the previous post about his tball career, Zane was a greatly improved tball player and now loves all things about the game. This obsession was made greater by attending his first major league game last week (the Cardinals of course) and by attending baseball game this week. Also his big cousin Clay gave him some super awesome baseball cards (Albert Pujols, Yadi, come of the Cardinal favs) and now he LOVES baseball cards. We have a binder with the plastic holders and everything.

2. Coloring/drawing: This one is frankly amazing to me. For years I have tried to get Zane to sit down and coloring in coloring books with me. He NEVER would do this. He would scribble for a few minutes then move onto something else. At the beginning of the school here he complained about people "judging" his coloring skills. Then somewhere towards the end of the year I got him a coloring book of animals at Sam Noble Museum and from then on he's loved it. He has a big set of colored pencils and just got a bunch of how to draw different things books for his bday so he's drawing and coloring everyday. I can't believe he has the concentration for it.

This is a picture of him writing letters to his Grandparents and Great parents. He loves writing stories and letters now too and often includes some of his coloring with them.

 3. Reading: This year he mastered reading and learned so much more about writing/spelling than I could have ever imagined for kindergarten. He can pretty much read any book now and is loving the library's summer reading program. I've personally enjoyed him being able to read signs and things when we are out on adventures. His current favorite books are the Captain Underpants books which are very entertaining for everyone.

4. Bike riding/wheelies/sweet jumps: Our new house is a few houses from a cul-de-sac. These means that it's much safer for the boys to ride their bikes on the street. This street also has higher curbs, better to do wheelies on, of course. Until the past couple days when the temps reached a hundred, the boys have been riding their bikes a couple times a day. Zane also LOVED taking a bike off the cider block ramp at Grandma's house a few weeks ago.

 5. Nature: This year Zane has gotten to go camping twice with the Cub Scouts which were definitely highlights of our year. As has been the case his whole life he still loves everything about nature. He loves to learn about different animals, catch them, examine them, and really any kind of adventure he can do outside, fishing, snake hunts, frog finds, you name it.

6. Watching things: Yes, we still have lots of arguments about how much time he can spend watching TV. With that being said this particular battle has gotten much better this year. There are very rarely any fits about not getting to watch something. It's still frequently a privilege that is lost when the boys stay up to late talking, but Zane doesn't seem to really mind so who knows how well that's working. This year his new favorite show is Teen Titans Go or Ben Ten on Cartoon Network. They are both really short cartoons that I don't find entertaining at all, but Zach finds them hysterical. I'm happy to report he hardly ever asks to play video games so that battle is pretty much over, for now.

7. His Brothers: Zane adores both of his little brothers. Rowan and Zane usually spend a lot of the day arguing, but they do love each other and they do have moments where they play quite well together. I've loved watching him with baby Thatcher, he's done so well with them, and they are positively adorable together.

 Those are really the highlights. He still doesn't play with toys, he loves to come up with elaborate imaginary scenarios for Rowan and him to play out. He loves to sing and dance with Maggie, they come up with amazing dance routines these days. He will occasionally do a Lego set, but still only really likes the ones that are buildings of some sort that open up so he can play with the people inside. This summer he's loving the lake, swimming, cannon balls, fishing, running through sprinklers, and of course lots of time playing on the pirate ship in the backyard. Zane is also taking 'learning time' very seriously so far this summer. He wants to make sure he remembers everything from school so he spends time writing, reading, and doing math each day. He's so grown up, I can hardly believe it.