Into the Archives (Part 2)

I know the calendar has turned over to a new year, but I thought I would continue our journey into the archives of 2008 for a bit longer. Let's move just into the summer and take a look at a few pictures from Soccer Camp. The boys attended the local soccer camp hosted by MLS Camps in conjuction with Greater Lewisville Area Soccer Assocation (GLASA). The camp was one week long for 3 hours each morning and was just what the doctor ordered to kick the summer off right (yes, I know that's a rotten pun, but is there ever a good pun?).

Grant playing goalie!

William tries to score on Grant.

The boys with Coach Johnny--not sure why they decided to imitate his hair style :)

And here is a video of one of their training drills. It's hard to watch because so many boys are involved, but if you're trying to pick out William and Grant look for white socks. William's shirt is untucked and Grant is tucked. There is a third boy wearing white socks, but ignore him :) A few more tips--Very early in the drill William is the first to reach the ball and gets to take the first shot. A short time later Grant gets the ball and proceeds to use his booty to shield perfectly and then turns quickly and gets off a pretty good shot. William also gets a nice shot in from about 6 yards out near the end of the video. Now that I've overexplained it, I'll just say that it's much better in person!

Into the Archives (Part 1)

Since it's the end of the year, I thought I would delve into the Bartley Family archives and dig up some memories from 2008 so grab a lantern and watch your step and please be careful if you're asthmatic. It's quite musty down here in the archives.

In late May William and Grant graduated from Kindergarten at Lewisville Christian School (LCS). Some of my family traveled from Virginia and North Carolina to see this truly momentous occassion. The graduating class at LCS was 11 strong and speaking of strong, Grant showed tremendous fortitude just to make it to the ceremony as the day before graduation he was at a friend's house jumping on a trampoline and took a suuport pole to the eye. His first quality shiner and it was a beaut. By the morning of graduation it had swelled shut and gained a wonderful color, but by evening it had reduced some as you can see in the pictures below. I told him that his sister already had "done the eye thing" and he needed to come up with something he could call his own.

The Biggest Mistake of the Year!

What's the hardest part of blogging? I say it's coming up with the over-dramatic Titles to my posts. I could never cut it as a new producer/editor having to continually create sensational headlines, but here it is, "The Biggest Mistake of the Year!" I know some of you may be thinking that it occurred during early voting when I accidentally checked Barack Obama (no that didn't really happen--are you insane?), but the biggest mistake is starting the project I committed to a year ago--Claire's hardwood floors. I truly believe I may have let down all husbands across America. I could have held out for at least another 2-3 years, but in a moment of weakness I actually started a home improvement project. The second biggest mistake of the year? Doing a pretty decent job at installing them. Now, Julie has started coming up with all sorts of new projects using the ego building line, "Well, you're doing such a great job with Claire's floors." I'm sorry men. I'm weak. Please forgive me.

Drumroll please....

The room is ready, but am I?

The first board is down.

The critical first 10 rows. As important as a firm foundation.

Over halfway finished!

A closeup of my fine work :)

Fall Baseball has begun

Grant is excited that baseball has finally begun. He had his first game last night at 7:30--yes that's the start time of a 7U baseball game on a school night, don't get me started. This year is a big step up with lots of rule changes and equipment changes from what he's played in the past. This year they moved to real baseballs instead of the reduced injury ball. The coach still pitches, but he has to stay on the rubber at 40 feet--no floating rubber like in the past. Also, strikes and outs count. Each batter gets 6 pitches or 3 strikes (swinging strikes only-no called strikes). It definitely felt more like baseball vs. the watered down, feel good, everybody's a winner version of baseball he played in the past. There's another equipment change that was interesting to explain to a 6 year old and that was the addition of some protective gear for his ummm... boy parts. He pretty much took it in stride, but did perform a "quality check" to make sure the protective equipment functioned as advertised :)

Grant is on the Cubs this year. Last night he went 2 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and 1 run scored. He made some great plays in the field especially the two innings he played at 1B, and on one of his hits he had to really turn on the speed to beat out the throw. He spends most evenings in the backyard practicing throwing and catching with his net and we look forward to a lot of fun games this fall.

Hope to get some pictures, but first I need to clear off all the pics I took of Claire this past weekend at her birthday party and post some of those here.

Is it a mean prank or my own paranoia?

I started my new job this past Monday. The first week has gone well so far. Originally, I was told that I had to wear ties, but I haven't figured out if that's a prank they play on all the newbies. Hopefully not, since I just went out and bought $100 worth of silk in the shape of neckties. Both of my interviews were on Fridays and I was told they could dress down to business casual on Fridays. Then I was told that they got a reprieve from wearing ties in August due to the heat wave. I showed up on Monday for the first day of work wearing a tie and promptly noticed I was the only one. They said that the August reprieve was extended through September 30. We'll see. All I know is that I'm not investing in any more ties until I see someone else wearing one :)

Fall Soccer is Here

William began his soccer season this past Saturday. Julie and Claire went to Oklahoma to celebrate Sandra's 30th birthday and it was for the best. William started the game, but 5 minutes in he had a huge collision. He was streaking down the field at full speed with the ball and the last defender came up and tripped him. He flew about 6 feet through the air and landed awkwardly on his arm. He jumped back up and continued playing until the next stoppage of play when he came running over in tears holding his arm. You have to understand that William doesn't leave the field for anything so I was pretty sure he was hurting a lot. We iced it down and he played the 3rd quarter, but was still holding it the whole time.

I was optimistic that it was just bruised and hopeful that it would feel better after a good night's sleep. Sunday morning he woke up and was still in a lot of pain so I took him for X-rays. Nothing broken thankfully.

So what was the real evidence that it was bothering him? This is his 5th season, and that's the second game he's played without scoring a goal. Ironically, it's the second game in a row because our final game of the Spring season we played the best team in the league and got killed :(

He really is a very talented soccer player. I know... I know... I'm the proud dad that can only say positive things about my kids, but he really is very talented so give me just a moment to brag on him a bit. We played in the toughest division last spring and there was probably only 1 or 2 other boys that could match his speed and skill level. He has a ton of fun and just turns into a different person when he gets on the field. He's such a class clown type personality when not on the field, but when he pulls on those cleats he gets so intense and focused and REALLY competitive (I don't know where he got that). Anyway, Julie and I continue to watch him develop and are very proud of his accomplishments.

What about Grant? Well, he decided to play baseball and that starts in 2 days if Ike stays away...

Yep, that means another long post of me doting on one of my children ;)

Pictures from 1st Day of School

Here are a few pictures of the first day of school. As always, you can click on each pic for a larger version. For those of you who aren't sure, William is on the left and Grant on the right in the first 3 pictures.

Grant, William and Mommy stop and pose in the atrium of the school. In the background you can see the equipment that will be used later during the boys' favorite "subject", RECESS!!!!!

William is quite finished with the picture taking at this point and begins to contemplate whether we will actually leave or not :)

Grant has already seen us linger in William's class and gives us his best "polite face" all the while wondering, "Are they going to act like this next year for second grade too?"