Carter Plays Royals Baseball

This summer every night Carter asked to go outside to play baseball. Every night. I must have pitched a thousand balls and Kevin must have played hours of catch.

Anna took these videos so we could capture Carter announcing himself as each Royals player when he bats. You can see me pitching in my work clothes and Baxter helping to fetch the balls (he is handy that way... except when Carter hits them past the invisible fence line).

He says he's going to be a baseball player when he grows up. If it comes true I'm sure this video will be played more later than it will now.

B2 Flyover - Royals Opening Day 2011

Their timing was off - came long after the anthem was over. We had decided they weren't going to have one since it was cloudy - but alas it arrived. A great benefit of being so close to Whiteman Airforce base that I cherish every year on opening day.

B2 bomber fly over on Royals openind day 2011 from Cara on Vimeo.

Royals Game - Another Rainout

On Saturday after the company picnic we came home and I napped for 30 minutes. When I woke up Anna was dressed like Cinderella and Tassie looked like Ariel:

Saturday afternoon we went to the Royals game. We got to tailgate but then it rained and we left.

Sunday we went to a Chiefs party at our BFF's house.

Needless to say I was exhausted. I even had three redbulls and I thought I could go to sleep.

For those of you who don't know we have a trip to Disney coming up. It's a surprise for our kids but Kevin pratically let the cat out of the bag at the Royals game. Anna was sitting in his lap and we were talking about leaving because of the rain. I was asking him when our next tickets are and he said "right before we go to Disney." Well Anna's head spun around "Did you say Disney? Does that mean Disney World!?"
Kevin backtracked and then made up some story about needing an invitation from Mickey to go to Disney. So now she is waiting for her invitation. So the plot has thickened.

My next "project" is really prepping for this trip. I was planning the airplane entertainment and discovered we have lost Anna's DS. It is infuriating to me. I have plans to do the semi-annual toy organization project in hopes of finding it.

Other Fall projects also on the list:
Put on final coat of paint on Carter's dark blue wall
Then frame and hang Royals pictures
Move all scrapbook supplies from dining room to upstairs guest room closet
Paint kids' bathroom
Frame fall family pics and holiday pics from last two years and hang around house
Decorate office at work
Organize master bedroom closet
I will also be running the KC Half Marathon in about a month

So we are mostly caught up - what have you been up to the last week?

Carter gets a foul ball at the Royals game

Mike Aviles hit a foul ball to the seats a few rows behind us. The nice fan gave the ball to Carter. He was so excited. They love going to the games (although we did get a few complaints today because of the heat).

Royals Game from Cara on Vimeo.

Carter gets a foul ball hit by Mike Aviles

Royals Opening Day Pictures

I had posted a video from opening day but am just getting around to posting the pictures...

A Week in the Life - Sunday

Sunday. Ahhh Sunday. My only day to sleep in all week. Oh how I love Sunday.

Sunday is also the day I do meal planning and go grocery shopping. Like clockwork I am usually at the grocery store just before lunch every Sunday.


Today we also happened to have tickets to the Royals game. We have a partial season ticket package of 20 games. It was a little cool today.

The kids entertained themselves by shelling and eating peanuts.



We left early to go to Alex's birthday party. He is turning three.



He had insisted on a blue cake with scooby doo and a spider.


My kids quickly found the noise makers.


Afterwards we came home and I put away some more laundry and gave the kids baths before dinner since we were full of cake.

Then I made tacos. Sunday is mexican night whether it be tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, etc. we always have mexican with my homemade guacamole. Carter threw a fit and spent about 20 minutes in timeout while I did the dishes.

I packed Anna's lunch for Monday and got the backpacks ready. Carter's with a sheet and blanket, Anna's with her signed agenda and emptied and signed folder. Her agenda said that her teacher is letting her borrow a chapter book at school.

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I forgot to write on Saturday when my parents met me at the mall to drop off the kids my dad said he had bought some flash cards with words for Anna that were labeled 5 and up. She got them all right the first time through. He decided he needed to buy some harder words, lol.

I also forgot to write on Thursday that when Carter was throwing a fit while the air conditioning repair man was at our house he was fighting with me about going potty. He said he needed to go but wouldn't pull down his pants and was just standing in front of the toilet in the upstairs bathroom. So I pulled his pants down and he peed all over me. Not sure how I forgot to write about that. He got his bare bottom spanked and I left him upstairs. He got new underwear and pants and seemed over it after that. I think that's when I did a load of laundry and took a nap.

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All in all I think I successfully documented my week. It seemed a little NOT like my usual week in that I didn't work in the evening at all (something I have been trying to be better at lately - leave work at work). So in past weeks I spent most of my time on the couch watching tv and working from 8-10 at night, but not last week. I realized it allowed me to keep up better with dishes and laundry.

It also seemed NOT like a regular week in that I didn't go to the Starbucks drive through at all. But I did go to a local coffee shop drive through twice so I think it's evident I'm addicted to good mochas.

I did not really take any videos like I had planned, but I have taken a lot of others lately so I'm okay with that.

I'm not sure when I'll get to putting this into a scrapbook, but hopefully in the next few weeks! I have a few other items to put onto the blog from before A Week in the Life including Anna's birthday. Hopefully I will get to those tomorrow.

Royals Opening Day 2010

My favorite part is the classic "Carter Cold Shoulder" move.

Kansas City Royals Opening Day 2010 from Cara on Vimeo.

Opening day at Kauffman Stadium for the Royals 2010 Season.

Best Royals Game of the Season

I'm so glad we did the Royals tickets again this year. Not only is the stadium much more fun and beautiful. And so far the Royals don't suck. The Zack Grienke games rock and this week we went on Tuesday and saw the best game this season.

Kevin wanted to leave before the ninth but the game had gone pretty fast and I had a good feeling, even though we were down by three. With one out Jacobs came to bat and fouled off a ton of pitches before hitting a home run. Now we're down by 2. Teahan comes up and hits a homerun on the first pitch. Now we're down by 1. Olivo walks. DeJesus hit a triple to tie the game! And by now the crowd is just crazy! A sacrifice fly wins the game. I did take just a few pictures before all the craziness.

Royals Opening Weekend

Friday afternoon was Royals opening day. We took the kids. Our seats were down on the lower section right field side.





Saturday we had our new "regular" season ticket seats. We are in the 5th row now! It's so close. We took the time to walk around all of the new attractions in the outfield before the game. Including the merry go round. You can also walk right up to the fountains now, and circle the entire stadium in a 360.

We also found out we have our own concessions and bathroom area just for lower section of seats. It is nice not to have to wait in line. Especially when you're potty training a 2 year old and spend a lot of time in the big family bathroom. The kids did great both games. We left a little early Saturday to go home and color eggs for the EB.

To Boston and Back

This week I flew to Boston and back for a work meeting. My original flight from Chicago to KC got cancelled because the plane was damaged. Luckily there was another plane we were able to get on.

My dad lost his job today.

Tomorrow is Royals opening day and I'm off. 3pm Friday game against the Yankees with the stadium remodeled. We have tickets Saturday too. And our seats are better this year.

I've been working 40 hours a week.

Anna picked the same cake for her birthday this year that she picked two years ago. Barbie fairies.

I've run something like 12 out of the last 14 days. 2 miles a day. I had only lost 2 pounds until I barely ate in Boston because we were so busy. Then I lost 3 more. Finally some progress. I even ran in Boston at the hotel. Turns out my coffee and salads diet really works.

I read my first book in 5 years during all my time at the airport. "The Strong-Willed Child". I think Carter isn't so bad. And I learned it's ok to spank to make them stay in time-out. Hey, I did something right. However, I don't believe in his theory that MTV is the cause of most adolescents problems. And it had a little too much about God in it for me.

The PCD were better than Britney, I hate to admit. She's back with K-Fed, wha?

Lewis is the new kid in Anna's class who I have decided got kicked out of Creative World for his bad behavior. He put a pillow over Anna's face and jumped on her. Or so she said. I called the teacher today.

They daycare is closed on Good Friday. My CEO and I pondered why it is called Good Friay when it wasn't good at all.

Kevin was great holding down the fort while I was gone. He said the kids didn't cry once.

When I woke Carter up this morning the first words out of his mouth
"Mommy go meeting?"
- Yes mommy went to a meeting
"Mommy go on airplane?"
- Yes mommy went on an airplane

He remembered. It was so cute. Anna drew me a picture of how much she loves me. Also very cute. It's good to be loved when you come home.

Shop It Up

It is tax-free shopping on school-related items (clothes, school supplies, computers, etc.) this weekend in Missouri. Plus I had a 25% friends and family / Give and Get coupon to the Gap stores (BR, Gap, Old Navy). So Anna and I made a quick trip to Old Navy yesterday to get the kids jeans for this fall. We also scored some deals on tank tops for Anna for next summer ($2.50) and shorts for Carter for next summer ($6), plus some tank tops for me for now ($8).

If you don't have the friends and family discount of 25% you can use your Stuff and Save bag to save 20%. Stuff and Save is good throughout August. Don't have a stuff and save bag? Just ask them, they were handing them out in the store yesterday. If you have a Gap or BR or Old Navy card then you got one in the mail.

I also got a pair of shorts. Now, this is a milestone because I haven't worn shorts in years. But yesterday the heat index was over 110 and we were headed to the Royals game.

We lasted about an hour before we decided it would be better to watch the game in air conditioning. Plus we have tickets to two more games this week so it's not like we won't be there again soon.

Baseball PM

We went to the Royals game on Saturday night. I'm not sure exactly what inning it was when it started raining. Then it poured. By the time we got to the car we were completely drenched.

After we got into the car (we had parked at the very back so it was a long walk and almost started hailing)...

Carter: Wet

Anna: I'm soaked!

It was like we had taken our clothes out of the washing machine and put them on.

Anna: My pigtails are like Wendy from Peter Pan (as she is turning her head from side to side).

So we headed to our house and played Settlers and Spades. Somehow Candi and I were up in Spades 300 to 10 and managed to lose something like 500 to -300. It went downhill fast.

Then we got up the next morning and went out to breakfast for Sausage Biscuits and Gravy at a local cafe. Yum.

Go Royals

Tent, tarp, port-a-potty, coolers, chairs, chips, dip, hamburgers, hot dogs, bailyes, coffee, smirnoff, beer, coat, scarf, mittens and more. The home opener was great except for the weather. We bundled up under blankets and enjoyed kicking the yankees' asses! And tonight we shut them out.

Go Royals - we're 6 and 2 and I have to relish every moment that we're above .500

It was Anna's first home opener game and a tradition I hope to start for her that will last a long time. We had no eating rules. This meant she had half a bag of cheetos followed by chips and french onion dip, capri sun and then one bite of hamburger. Then cotton candy in the first inning. She promptly took a 30 minute nap in my lap.

The pics are on Candi's camera - coming soon.

Kids are Freaking Resilient

So after Anna threw up all over her bed twice on Monday night she slept all night and was fine the next day. I was thankful except I was working from home and she wanted me to play with her. I parked her in front of the TV and finally let her outside to burn off some steam.

She jumped on the trampoline, did sidewalk chalk, ate a hotdog and yogurt and more. You never would have known she was sick.

She was 5th in her room at daycare to get it. Spring cannot come soon enough. I think we need to detox the house, ha.

Tomorrow is my day off and I'm having some dental work done. Bleh. BUT - I have a $50 DSW gift card burning a hole in my pocket so I might have to make a trip to the shoe store.

Some brightly colored fun shoes might be calling my name. Even though I can't wear them right now. This weather will end eventually right? right? Today is the coldest day so far and according to the news we've had snow every 3.4 days since Thanksgiving but where we live have only had a total of 6 inches so it's prety much the crappy snow where the grass still shows and you can't go sledding but the roads get slick. Boooo.

Spring Training in Arizona is sounding pretty good right about now. Why did we decide not to go this year?

I think 48 days till Opening Day - Go Royals!