Soccer Wrap-Up

Another successful soccer season is in the books!  All three boys had a good season. This may have been Eli's last season for now--he wants to play flag football and focus on that in the fall. But we will see what happens. All three were on the same teams and same coach as last season.

I caught Cash saying "Im open! Im open!" as he does in every game when he is ready for the ball. He is a little champ on the field and really seems to love the game! He is a fast little bugger and not afraid to get in there and fight for the ball.

 Last Orange Shark huddle of the season!

 Eating his "last game donut"

 Team Orange Sharks!!!

We got to celebrate another great season with Cash's team and their families at Stubb's Graceland--it really is a wonderful group of people!

 Owen really excelled this year! He has an amazing coach that does the right amount of pushing and challenging which has made him into a great little player! He has got some great footwork.

O's and his buddy Ethan who is also in his class this year

O's and Coach Nic

 Eli got more aggressive this year and really put himself in the game. He had a good attitude "almost" the entire season, and scored himself his fair share of goals.

 Eli's team decided to enter into a tournament at the end of the season. It was our first tournament and I was unsure about what to expect and how to pack for the day. The fields were in Round Rock, 2 games a day, with the games being over 3 hour apart from each other! I took the boys myself because it was the week before Blaine's test at work and he couldn't afford to lose an entire weekend of studying. Of course I got lost on the way there, we were late, and hot, and frustrated and had to walk what felt like a mile to get to the field with 50 pounds of chairs, snacks, shoes, water.....yada, yada. We decided to stick around in between games and I had to get creative on how to pass the time. We played in the creek for a while and the boys tried to catch minnows with their empty snow cone cups. But when the heat became too much, we went back to the car and I was going to put on a movie. But the boys found other ways to entertain themselves and had a blast! They said playing in the car was the best part of the day.

On the second day of the tournament, Eli's team won the first game, which meant they won the championship! And that we didn't have to stick around for another game (hallelujah!). The boys all got their trophy's, and then we celebrated with snow cones (again) before heading home!'

Lemonade Play, Cascarones, and More!

I am so proud of Owen! He had one of only a few speaking parts in the Kindergarten Play this year! This has really been a great year for him and he continues to surprise me. Mrs. Nobbe tells me funny stories about him almost daily from school, and he is reading so well!  He enjoys learning and sitting down to do worksheets and activities on his own, very different from, ahem, his older brother. This last week at the book fair at school, he picked out three chapter books!

He was the best Little Boy Blue ever in The Lemonade Play. He was a little nervous about getting in front of a huge audience, but he did amazing!

Cash loved getting sit next to our neighbor, Sienna, during the play

I got to sneak away for a night with some girlfriends a few weeks back! We stayed at Brooke Ezell's mothers beautiful home on the lake, and visited a couple of wineries. We ate, we talked, we lounged, enjoyed the view and each other! It was the perfect night away!

Oh, and took some pictures in the bluebonnets! 

One random morning I was painting my toes, when all three boys wondered into the bathroom to find me. I don't think there has ever been a time when I was painting my toes that the boys didn't begged me to paint theirs as well. But this time they wanted to paint MY nails. So they each picked a different color pink and went to town. Boys.

We had our annual cascarones fight with the Ladd's. As usual, everyone had a great time and we were finding confetti for days!

It has been a good 13 years or so since I have run the Cap10K. The last time I ran it, Blaine and I had just started dating and we ran it together! But this year, Melanie and I decided to run it together! We have done a few races together, and it had been awhile. Cash came with me to pick up my packet and he got some good swag while we were there.

It was THE perfect morning for the race! I could not believe how big that race was and just how many people were there! We had a great time, and were able to catch up for a solid 6.2 miles without any interruption!

I just love this moment I snuck of Blaine measuring Cash. I had just walked upstairs to see it happening and wanted to make sure I remember this moment!

The Annual Kiker Dinner and Dance was a few weeks ago. It was another successful event raising money for our school, and a fun night out with friends.

I got to take care of this little lady while Lola was at school one day! Cash loved that he was the "big kid" and was so helpful and was great at watching out for Savannah!

Blaine went to SHPC for Donuts with Dad in Cash's class and he came back with this keeper!

And finally, the boys got a clean bill of health from the dentist once again. And Cash is finally comfortable sitting in the chair alone!

Kruger Cousins Galore!

Good Bye Carl

It is possible that Carl, our beloved Beta Fish was the most loved beta fish that there ever were. He lived right in the middle of our island--right in the middle of where all the action happens at our house.  The boys loved him! And we all loved watching him get excited when it was time to eat. There was always a fight of who was going to take him out of his tank when it was time for a cleaning.

We had Carl for an entire year! I'm patting myself on the back for that one! That's a long time for a fish...I think...right?

A couple of weeks ago, his behavior started to change drastically so I started to give the boys hints that I thought he would not be with us too much longer. Considering all the tears after our first fish, Jerry, died I wanted to give them a heads up!

Last Saturday when we came home from soccer, I noticed he had died. So I quietly nudged Blaine to show him and was going to wait until a good time to tell the boys. But then Cash came up behind me like a ninja and loudly proclaimed "Carl died!!!!" So there you have it.

There were a few tears shed, but mostly everyone was OK. We held a burial service in the backyard for him that evening. Everyone had a chance to say good bye and to thank him for being such a good fish.