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....

Wrapping Up Fall Sports

Boy am I glad that the fall is over! In all honestly, we were way overbooked.  Really, just having 4 kids has put me over the edge this year. On top of that, Owen played Select baseball and flag football, Eli played soccer, and Cash played Jr. Academy soccer, baseball and flag football. What. Were. We. Thinking???? Never again.

But with that being said, all of the boys were on great teams for all their sports, and we had supportive friends offering to help get our boys to and from practices and games when we needed the help.

Cash's baseball team, The Mauraders had a rocky start, but so did all of the fall teams, and they ended up on top in the Championship game.

Owen's flag football team, was mostly made up of kids who were also on his baseball team! They had a great season. Owen played quaterback the entire season, which, if you asked him, he would tell you that he hated playing the same position in every game. They were undefeated...until the championship game, where they just came up a little short.

Cash had a great little football team full of great kids and families! They also were undefeated and came out on top!

Eli was on a new soccer team this year, and it was his best yet! His coach was really amazing and invested in all the kids. He was the perfect combination of stern and supportive. The majority of the kids went to Kiker, so it was great that Eli knew most of them. This team has been together for a few seasons, so we were the new kids on the team! They had a great season, with only two loses!

And because that was not enough to make us going absolutely crazy, Cash was asked to be on a "winter team," The Jags and play in a couple of tournaments. So as soon as the Fall season was over, The Jags started practicing. They only played in two tournaments. The team struggled to come together and lost more games than they won, but it was fun little run! 

 This is how we all felt when we were finally done for the season! And also the first time I think all FOUR boys were asleep in the car at the same time!