Random Pics to Wrap Up The Year

I have fallen behind, once again...so in an effort to catch up to the end of 2019, here is a quick recap of a couple of things that have happened in the last couple of months.....

My parents are the cutest...that's all:)

Sunday night dinner shananigans...favorite day of the week! It is not beyond me how lucky I am that we get to have these family dinners. It is not the extravagant spread that my dad makes every Sunday, although that is a bonus, but to get to see my family every week and have dinner is such a blessing.

Loves helmets...gloves....balls.....all things sports

This is what I do every year....I get family pictures set up, we take them, I come home and by the time we are home I have completely convinced myself that we did not get a single good one, so I make the boys sit and let me take a few pics "just in case." 

Eli is going to middle school next year! WHAT??????? We had an evening at the middle school where we were able to hear about all the different programs, see some performances and walk around the school. They all thought the lockers were so cool.

Track and Field at Kiker, always a fun day. The weather was cold and drizzly and Eli and Cash had NO interest int he fact that I was there, so I stayed long enough to say hi, snap a few pics and thats it!

Sweet Aunt Skinny took all her grandsons, plus my boys to Urban Air for a fun afternoon. She makes such an effort to get the boys together!

BFF's hanging out celebrating Judson turning 4!

Mom's day out! A few weeks after school started we had a girls day out on the lake to celebrate being kid free (mostly) and also Marisa's birthday! 

At Kiker, when you are in 5th grade you get to go on the coveted trip to Camp Allen!!!! Eli was pretty stocked about this and I was so excited for him! I couldn't help myself and had to snap a few pics walking into school with his bag and a couple of him and his buddies getting onto the bus to leave for the night. He had a great time! Of course I did not get many details from him, but it was a wonderful experience for him!

One very important change in my life this year was that I started "going back to work." For years, I have been wanting to work at the store. For so many years, it felt like it would never happen because it felt like the boys were going to be little forever. Of course we know that is not true! And of course they grew up....and then we had another one! Again, it felt like it would be years before I could go to work. But we found a way to make it work and Tripp got a spot at SHPC. 

I am still finding my way around and figuring out my place there, and I am not there nearly as much as I would like to be but it is amazing. I absolutely love being there. I love being with my Dad those days, it is such a special place and being able to be there and be a part of it has been really amazing for me. I am so lucky that I get this view of my Dad and have this extra time with him!

Family Photos 2019

BOO!

As the boys are getting older, it is getting harder and harder for them to come up with Halloween costumes. I'm not sure if this year was a win or not....but we had the cutest little cowboy sheriff, a pimped out cow, Altuve (wearing a grill??? Don't ask!), and Post Malone.

But in all honestly, Owen and I had a blast putting his costume together and I could not look at him without cracking up!

 After getting dressed, we headed to our friends house, The Masts for dinner and Trick or Treating. It was the first year I can remember since having kids that we did not host a party. I just didn't have it in me this year. So we ate and headed out--it was crazy town! But the boys had a blast. Eli, however was a little under the weather, freezing and exhausted, so it just was not his year but he hung in there and did a little trick or treating.

 This guy, cuddled up in the stroller and was a champ while we walked around.

 And no Halloween is complete without dumping out your bags and doing a little candy trading!

It was a good Halloween... it came and went and frankly, I was so glad it was over!

Tier 1

I really can not put into words how proud I am of Owen. He started playing baseball last fall, one year ago. He and Cash started doing some private lessons at Tier 1 last spring. We got word that Tier 1 was holding tryouts for a new 9U team but then they told us they would not have enough kids try out to put together a team. Owen wanted to go through the try-out anyway just for the experience.

Fast forward, and it turns out another coach from Oak Hill was putting together a team. It was made up of kids who all played together in All-Stars on the green team and they were looking for two more kids to complete their team. Somehow Owen ended up on this team. This may not sound like a big deal, but it kinda is:) All of these kids had been playing baseball for at least 3 years and Owen had just finished his first year. The fact that they though enough of him and our family, because who are we kidding....baseball is a family sport at this age, was such a compliment to him. It helped that he was already friends with a handful of kids on the team.
We really went back and forth if it was a good idea to join this team. Would he just be a bench warmer? Would his confidence be totally knocked down--going from his All-Star team where he was one of the best, to a team where that would not be the case. Is joining a select team this early going to casue him to burn out, its a HUGE commitment, can we handle it? So many things to take into consideration. We ultimately decided to say no to the team....but somehow got talked back into trying for the fall.

Fast forward to the beginning of the season...Owen hurt his knee the Friday before the first tournament and had to sit out all day Saturday--confidence hit. Sunday rolls around and he is up for playing and is sat out for most of the game--confidence hit.

Fast forward a few more weeks and Owen has really blossomed into a great little player, Sure, he still has a lot to learn and is not the best on his team but he tries really hard and give it his all at every practice. We just ended the Fall season. There were some up an some downs. He found his place at 3rd base. He gave his hand a pitching a couple of times and he really enjoyed it, but still has some learning to do there. The boys on his team are top notch! Such a sweet group of boys!
They won some--two championship rings to be exact! and they lost some. Every weekend consisted of two pool play games on Saturday and Sunday would depend on how they did Saturday and was a single elimination tournament. So the weekends were looooong and Blaine and I did a pretty decent job of switching off traveling to the games.

Here are some highlight pictures from the season....