October 8, 2015 by Stephanie

Post Season in Missouri

For the second year in a row, both Missouri teams are in the post season play.

Our family is divided. My in-laws root for the Cards, but in our house we obviously are rooting for the Royals. We have made that no secret.

I am excited to see my team make it again, and maybe we will see them take it all the way this time.

Maybe we will relive the 1985 series between the two Missouri teams.

It is hard to believe that this was just a year ago when we went to the post season for the first time in 29 years. We took advantage of those sleepless new baby nights to watch them play. It was a remarkable time in our lives.

Those baby wrinkles were magic.

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We are teaching him how to be an ump. He is 8 weeks old; he needs to start carrying his own weight. #georgegram #royalsbaseball

A post shared by Stephanie Glinn Whitener (@scglinn) on Oct 22, 2014 at 7:50pm PDT

And now my bouncing one year old will hopefully bring some more magic.

George has got this guys.

We are excited for October baseball. We haven’t had many of these to celebrate in our life time. So we eat it up when we can.

I am excited to see the heart.

I am excited to the stolen bases.

I am excited to see team spirit.

I am excited to see the city spirit. Seriously what major league team does pep rallies in the middle of a work day and turns their whole city blue? Kansas City that’s who.

I am excited for others to finally see what we in KC have always seen about the Royals.

Let’s play ball!

This video gives me goosebumps.

If you didn’t see this video, our team spirit spreads far and wide!

Take the Crown! We are forever Royal!

But first George takes his cousin…Royals all the way!

Who are you rooting for in the hunt for the World Series? Any other True Blues out there?

September 15, 2015 by Stephanie

Baseball Decor

I shared George’s party last week. We had a blast creating things for it, but I also like to make things multipurpose.

When George moves into a big boy bed, we are going to take that opportunity to update his entire room since we did not paint it when we moved in.

What better theme than baseball?

So we knew going into the party that we wanted to create things that we could take into his room later this year.

I almost want to change his room right now I love these two pieces so much.

The first is a chalkboard scoreboard.

Tom did most of this, and he did such a great job!

He started with a piece of plywood. He painted it with chalkboard paint.

Then it took us three days to finish the white painting.

Tom was very particular and wanted all the paint to dry before we moved to the next step.

We used two sets of stencils for the letters. Tom was much more precise than I would have been. He measured the exact same distance between each letter. I would have just eyeballed it…

The white is permanent, but George can write all he wants to on the chalkboard part.

The second is just a sign for my boy, and I love how it came out.

Tom took some 1 x 4s and nailed them together with some braces on the back. He did it kind of haphazardly because we didn’t want this to look too perfect. It is supposed to have a “rough” element to it. So the boards are not completely even.

Then he used some gray stain. Did you know they made gray stain? Well they do, and it makes an awesome effect!

Then I took some stencils to do the letters with sponge brushes.

We have a huge protractor that helped line out the ball, and I used a paint pen to make the stitches.

I really love how this turned out, and I know it is a piece we will love for years to come.

These projects where really fun to do as a couple! I am glad that I have a partner that is willing to entertain my ideas and help me create them.

May 25, 2015 by Stephanie

Going to Kansas City

This past Friday, I was able to go to a Royals game. Jump out of my seat excited!

If you have been here anytime at all, you know how I feel about my beloved hometown team.

I haven’t been to a game in exactly two years. It was the first time in all the years that I can remember that I missed a season and had to watch all from home. I just cannot even begin to describe how awesome it was to be back at Kauffman Stadium.

A place I have spent many summer afternoons and nights.

A place I have consumed hundreds of pretzels and cups of soda.

A place I have hung out with friends from every stage of my life.

A place I have watched the greats and lows of baseball.

A place that will always be home to me. (I did learn how to ride my bike in this parking lot.)

This weekend was the I-70 showdown. For those of you not from the great state of Missouri, this is the game series between the Royals and Cardinals. I now live right in the middle of St. Louis and Kansas City, so I am surrounded by many more Cardinals fans than I have ever been before (unfortunately).

My sister-in-law happens to be one of those fans.

Now since I live here, we are going to try to go to one game in each city as a sister date. And of course we are going to have matching outfits.

This year the Kansas City game also happened to have an alumni event from our Alma Mater. So we were able to support the Mules and our favorite baseball team.

Friday’s game was so much fun to watch. To see the magic of this team in person is just so wonderful.

We both got to enjoy some KC food magic in the form of popcorn. This cheese popcorn is the bomb!

And of course it was much sweeter that we (my Royals) won, and also won the series.

They have done some great things to make the park even more beautiful. I am so happy to be back so I can make it to more games. You really should check out a game here if you ever come to KC.

I can’t wait to take George later this summer!

As Tom stated this weekend, “My family is so into the Royals that all of our eyes are blue.” (True statement.)

Did you watch some baseball this weekend? Have you ever had cheesy popcorn?

April 6, 2015 by Stephanie

Forever Royal

Today is the opening day for the Royals.

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Who is excited?

ME!

I think all of Kansas City has been counting down to this day since Game 7 ended in October.

Last season was such a whirlwind season for us Royals fans. I wrote about it here, here, here, and here. Obviously I love my Royals and my hometown. (I may have teared up a bit rereading those posts.)

Last year was the first year I have not been to a game at Kauffman, so I am excited that we are now only a quick 2 hours away. I already have several trips planned to see my boys in blue! I CANNOT wait for the game at the K!

So here is to another fun filled season with America’s team!

I also am looking forward to taking our good luck charm to his first game. I am still convinced that this little slugger’s birth was what pushed us into the World Series…jk (only kind of). We have lots of baseball goodness planned for George in the upcoming months!

All is right now that baseball is back!

Let’s Go Royals!

Are you as happy as I am to have baseball back? Does your team play today? Are you Forever Royal? (If not, you should be!)

October 16, 2014 by Stephanie

Royal Blue Fever

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We are in the World Series.

THE FREAKING WORLD SERIES.

I have been waiting my whole life to be able to say that. (Considering I wasn’t talking the last time we went, really my whole life to say those words)

I have spent so many nights and afternoons at this park. I have walked the bases and seen the renovations of the stadium. In the off days, my brother and I even learned how to ride our bikes in the parking lot.You could say I grew up in the shadow of this stadium.

When people talked trash or looked down at my team, I still wore my blue proudly. I still believed. Every spring, I had hope that “this” year would be our year.

And last night, my predictions finally rang true.

Right here in the park that I love.

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The games over the last two weeks have been INSANE!

It is a good thing my blood pressure is finally under control, because I could have had some serious issues watching these games. We held our breath each night as we stared down midnight almost every game.

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The defensive plays we witnessed were just ridiculous. They ran into walls, flew over the stands, and slid all over that field to make the play. As many of them would say, they did what they had to to take home the win.

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It has been such a blast watching plays like these. They have made the game electric.

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The spirit and heart that this team has is unparallelled. They have such great chemistry as a team, and you see it through every play.

Look at this joy!

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So we went from being a joke and not having a chance at the wild card game, to making a post season record with the most consecutive wins in the post season.

8-0.

Not many people can say that they haven’t lost a post-season game since 1985. Wait, I no one can but my Royals.

My team always, now America’s team.

And if you weren’t aware Paul Rudd’s Team and Eric Stonestreet’s Team.

I bawled when Moose sailed that ball over to Hosmer for the last out that sealed the deal. Then I cried again when they gave out the American League Championship trophy and Ned showed some real emotion.

I also think it is pretty cool that the team goes to our downtown Power and Light district after these games to celebrate with the fans. You don’t see that very often from these big leaguers. What can I say, Kansas City is one of a kind. True spirit.

I cannot wait to watch them take on the World Series and what good baseball we can see.

If you want to see a recap of our post-season, this is the best video I have seen.

AHHHH WORLD SERIES!!!

And again just saying. You’re welcome Kansas City for procreating the magic baby.