Miles the Basketball Star.....

Miles is playing basketball!! He is SOOOOOOO excited!! He says it's his favorite and he has been wanting to play FOREVER!! So we got him signed up, and today we went to get his bball shoes! Velcro Old Navy shoes and church shoes weren't going to cut it. So I picked up all the kids from school, dropped them off at Thad's office (Are you kidding? I've sworn I will never take them all shopping together!!) and off to Academy we went! On the way Miles remembered some high tops he liked when we were school shopping so we made a stop of Shoe Carnival. We looked at a couple pairs of shoes and then "LLLLLLAAAAAAAA" the spotlight went on and the angels began to sing......Nike Airs were shining on the shelf!!!! He immediately ran to them saying they were PERFECT!!! Of course they were! They were twice as much as anything else. But they felt perfect, fit perfect, looked perfect, smelled perfect! And if Miles says anything that you wear is perfect, just be thankful he's going to wear it and don't even look at the price! I finally talked him into going to Academy just to look and make sure they really were the perfect shoes. So we left and told the worker we would "probably" be back.

Over to Academy we went, and after being there for 5 seconds he looks up at me and says "wow mom! Is this the NEW Academy?? It's wicked!!" I think I have an athlete in the family! We looked at shoes, and of couse nothing could beat the Nike Airs the angels were singing about! But he did find a "wicked cool" sweatsuit that is black and red and makes him look mighty studly!! We got it and some "high socks" to go with his high tops and marched back over to Shoe Carnival to make the big purchase!

I have to admit that he made a good choice. He looks like the coolest bball player around! Just needs the sweat band that we forgot to look for! :)

So he's all decked out and FINALLY it's time for practice to start...5:30 at Eisenhower! Thank you Eisenhower!!! We get over to the gym and they start warming up, dribbling the ball in place....is that dribbling, or is that bouncing?! I start talking with the other moms and get the low down on bball since we've never played before. Two games each Saturday with a half hour break between, $2 to watch, no food or drinks, 2 people have to run the clock and keep score every game....and I look over and see him sitting on the edge of some mats with a water bottle up to his cheek. He looks pretty sad and I wonder if he got in trouble. Not Miles at basketball! He's been waiting his whole life to play!! So I go over to see what's going on and he has tears in his eyes and his little chin is quivering! Poor baby!! I guess when I wasn't watching, he collided with Ryan running full speed with neither one of them seeing the other coming!! He has a nice red mark on his entire cheek and was in no way ready to go back in and play. Now come on!! We survived no major injuries in FOOTBALL and we play BASKETBALL for less than 10 minutes and he's already on the bench hurt???? And this kid is tough as nails! This is MILES BALKMAN we're talking about!! He can crash on his skateboard and bounce right back up! Get's stitches in his eyebrow without a single tear! If he's on the sideline crying, you know it's bad! So after talking to him and sitting with him for about 20 minutes we decide to just go home. Poor kid!! His first game is Saturday!! I asked the coach what we should work on at home before the game and he just said "dribble and shoot". So dribble and shoot it is....I hope he plays a little longer during the game! Wish him luck!! And keep your eyes on the kid in front of you!