Game 5

Blazers vs. Rockets. Game 5. Win or go home.

We got to the Rose Garden with plenty of time before they opened the doors. Lacey got her face painted as Rian and I picked out a Roy jersey for him. Ethan stayed home with Grandma.

As soon as they opened the doors, we headed down to the floor and watched some of the players warm up. When I got down to the floor, I found myself standing about 15 feet from Yao Ming. I was stunned. It turns out that he's pretty big. 7' 6". Go figure.

We watched him shoot for a while and then headed over to watch the Blazers warm up. Lacey and I got Martell Webster's attention a few times and got him to return our waves. Aldrige gave me five, and Blake signed one of those little Blazers signs that they hand out as you enter the arena. Rian sort of enjoyed the pre-game, but was mostly freaked out by the self-proclaimed Blazers Rally Monkey (a dude with a gorilla mask) that we happened to be standing next to.

I didn't really take any pictures during the game. I was too busy screaming my head off. The middle-aged man in front of me, on the other hand, was busy updating his facebook status on his iPhone during the game.

Game 6 is on Thursday!

Wanna Be a Baller

I had a basketball game on Friday. As I was warming up, Rian joined me on the court, as he does before and after all of my games. Usually he just rebounds for me and the other guys on the team, but lately he has been shooting more and more. When he shoots at a full-sized hoop, as we were on Friday, he shoots granny-style, holding the ball underhanded below his waist and scooping it up to the hoop in one motion. He just isn't strong enough to shoot overhanded at a hoop that high. Even when shooting underhanded, strength is the biggest problem. It is usually cause for celebration if the ball gets high enough to touch the net. He has never so much as hit the rim, much less made a shot. But he tries. Over and over and over.

So there we were on Friday. The game wouldn't start for about 15 minutes, and the gym wasn't very full yet. I was working on my touch around the basket (after missing about 5 shots from point-blank range last week... sigh) and Rian was hoisting granny shots up toward the rim. I was in between shots and happened to catch Rian lob another ball up toward the basket. Right away I could tell the trajectory of this shot was different than all of his others. It was going higher, faster. I turned and watched as it rose higher and higher toward the rim. The ball reached its apex just as it got above the rim, landing on the front of the rim. Time seemed to stand still as everyone watched, wondering if it would curl over the rim and into the basket, or fall back toward the floor and the wide-eyed boy that had thrown it so high. The whole thing took less than a second, but felt like it lasted much longer. The ball hesitated for a moment on the rim, then rolled forward and into the hoop.

Rian had made his first basket!

I let out an exclamation that got the attention of everyone in the gym, and made sure that everyone around knew the significance of what had just happened. Not only was this Rian's first basket, it came on a full-sized (10') hoop and with a full-sized ball. He was beaming as he received high-fives from my teammates and me, unsuccessfully trying not to smile.

So that's how Rian made his first shot.

Leprechaun Dash

I love running. LOVE it. And I'm so proud of my little boy who also gets excited about running. We both ran in races last Saturday. Rian ran in the Leprechaun Dash which is a one-mile race that his school participates in and I ran in the 5k after that. 

The Leprechaun Dash was super crowded and a little crazy. I was planning on running with Rian but he got really independent while stretching and wanted to run all by himself. Never again!! Scared me half to death because we couldn't find him right away after he crossed the finish line. He was with his teacher but I panicked not knowing where he was. It was a terrifying few minutes. 

Rian fell during the race. Poor guy. His puffy lip had dry blood on it and he had scrapes on his nose. At first I felt so awful and guilty for not being there when he fell but later he was telling us that he just got right back up and kept running. I'm so proud of him!  He was also excited because he passed some big kid during the race. Way to go Rian!  

My race was right after and I made it back to the starting line just in time. I thought I was starting towards the front of the pack but started towards the back. Yes, it was that crowded. A friend and I were planning on running together but I lost her. She ended up finishing 9th out of the women! Out of 244 women I'd say that's pretty good. Maybe it was a good thing we didn't run together....I wasn't even close but I did finish under 30 min. Yah! I'm so ready to do it again. 

Eric was so awesome and not only watched a slightly grumpy Ethan and then cared for Rian after his race but took some great pictures. Thank you sweetie! 

Runners from Rian's school

War wounds

Eeeek! I'm so proud!

Shopping

I love my boys.

Ethan

Ethan's walking! Ok, so this isn't new news but we haven't posted it yet so it's sort of new. He's been walking regularly for a little over a month now. He just stood up and walked across the room, gave my mom a hug, turned around, and came back. He hasn't stopped since. 

Ethan is obsessed with the dishwasher. He's big on seeing how much noise he can make by tossing dishes out or how loud I'll screech when he's chewing on the utensils. Yummy.

The other day he was "helping" me unload the dishwasher and the second I was done he was climbing in. He used all his strength and chucked the bottom drawer across the kitchen. He was so happy with himself and pretty dang cute. 

          

First Steps

Ethan is well on his way to becoming the fourth bipedal member of our family. Recently he has begun standing on his own without holding onto anything. Then last week, a few days before his 11-month birthday, he began taking one little step, which was always followed by immediately collapsing to the floor.

In any case, he is very excited and proud of himself for his new skill. The first time he stood on his own, we all started clapping and congratulating him. Since then, about every time he does it -- even if we aren't paying him any attention -- he begins beaming with a huge smile and making little exclamatory noises.

He thinks that he is pretty hot stuff.

My BFF

Rian and I were sitting on the couch yesterday talking, when I said something that made us both smile. I don't remember what it was, but it wasn't anything terribly special. The funny thing was how he responded.

"Daddy, you're my BFF!"

And then, only a second later, "That means you're my friend!"

I was shocked to hear this acronym come out of my 5-year-old's mouth. It's one of those acronyms that I missed out on because most of those Internet words hadn't evolved yet when I was a 14-year-old girl. I was so surprised to hear him say those three letters, I responded with three letters of my own:

"WTF?!"

Okay, so I didn't really say that, but I might as well have because that's what I was thinking.

(If you're lost, here are some definitions: BFF, WTF.)