Happy Birthday Jakob

Happy 13th Birthday Jakob!!! I still cannot believe I am old enough to have a teenager.

We had a great birthday party for him at Pizza Hut with Hayden and Nash and our families. Kelley and Kallahan were even able to make it to the party. After pizza we went to the movies and then slumber party. 

We love you Jakob and you are growing up way too quickly! 

Amarillo Fun Day!

We have our cousins from Dallas staying with us for a few days. We picked them up in Amarillo so our first stop was the discovery center. We met Chrisee and her kids there. The little kids had a blast but I think the bigger boys have outgrown the discovery center.

Construction site was the favorite. Next we headed outside to feed the ducks. 

Then we headed to eat lunch with Grandpa and Grandma. We then headed bowling.

Bowling is always fun but we have many competive kids in our family. 

Jacey was so excited when she bowled a strike!

Next up was piano for Jacey. We headed to get a sno-cone on the way home butwhile we were there Shelia called and she had seven extra tickets for wonderland. At first I said no but then I knew the kids would have a blast. So Wonderland here we come! 

Grandma even came with us.

I am so glad we went even though we had a very long day! Of course our last stop was ice cream!

School!

Summer is over which is hard to believe. The kids were not ready for school but here we are on the first day of 1st, 5th and 7th grade. Samuel is my only one who is excited about going back, at least he said he was. He doesn't look too excited in this photo though!

Samuel has Mrs. Junnell this year. She is a great teacher. Jakob also had her in first grade.

 Jacey never wants to go back to school and last night was really hard on her but she did great this morning. 

Can't believe this is her last year in elementary school. 

We decorated Jacey's locker on Thursday. She designed it this year all by herself.

Jakob doesn't want his picture taken and just accepts the fact that summer is over. He is looking forward to playing football though.

I am going to really miss spending everyday with these three! 

Love,

Circle Day!

The kids wanted to have a circle day...at first I couldn't imagine what circle day would mean. They told me we need all circle things to eat, circle crafts and play with balloons! So I thought sounds great to me. 

So we had a wonderful circle day today! We had biscuits, grapes and cherries for breakfast. 

Next we decorated a table cloth for the days festivities. First we drew circles on one end and then we dipped cups, glue sticks and paint brushes in paint to decorate the other end. The kids had a blast!

We had pizza, cheese balls, mini pepperonis and watermelon cut in circles for lunch. Jakob is actually excited about the day. He was at football camp this morning so had to miss the morning fun!

After lunch we realized it was a beautiful day so we enjoyed some time playing outside. Then we came in the make our special circle dessert-huge circle sugar cookies! 

The best part was decorating the cookies.

They turned out great...

For supper they wanted meatballs with spaghetti. We also made melon balls, fried squash and cucumbers. What a "well-rounded" supper!

The best way to end circle day is by eating our cookies and a game of don't drop the balloons! 

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!  What a busy, busy weekend. On top of all that busyness was a ton of fun. I hope you all had a wonderful & safe holiday weekend.

On Thursday morning my sister arrived at our house to start the festivities.  I brought back her little cowboys on Monday for the week and we had so much fun.

After lunch we ventured out to the pool to do a little 4th of July crafting. 

Give Kal a paintbrush and he is happy for hours!

Our little canvas' turned out adorable.  We ended up hanging them on the pool house for the upcoming party.  Thanks for the craft idea Andrea!

 After crafts we went inside for a festive mani/pani session.  Jacey loves her aunt Kelley!

Then we started working on some of our sweet treats for the 4th party.

On Friday, we threw a great party!  I love all the families being together. 

After swimming and a delicious dinner the kids started fireworks.  Between poppers and the big stuff we made sure we got some group pictures.  I just love our festive clan! 

The little cowboys

Cousins

Bryon and Brody

Now onto the firecrackers...

 

To say they enjoyed it would be an understatement.

On Saturday morning we all got up and headed to Jakob's all-star baseball tournament.  It was so much fun to watch him!   

The little kids were beat and it was hot so between games we snuck in a nice long nap and another swim.

Jakob's last game didn't start until after 9pm.  It was nice and cool after a hot day.  The little kids ran and played and I had a blast watching Jakob pitch two innings.  It was so exhilarating to watch him.  He is a great athlete and I couldn't be more proud.

I hope your July fourth holiday was memorable as well.

Happy Birthday America!

All-Stars Baseball

About 3 weeks ago the big decision in our family was should or should we not let Jakob try out for All Stars. He tried out two years ago and unfortunately did not make the team. So we found out this year they would be picking kids for the team just based on their game statistics instead of a short tryout session. So after hours of discussion we decided why not? If he didn't get picked it wasn't meant to be. 

Well we got the call and he made the team. Now we had to worry about: will the coaches let him play or will he just be in the outfield or on the bench? The practices went great for Jakob. In the first practice he hit a home-run. He was hitting every practice and pitching well. We knew after the first practice we had made the right decision because he loved the coach, was learning a lot and loved the boys on his team. 

Our first tournament was in Plainview.

Our first team to play was Plainview-12. Jakob was the second pitcher of the game. We couldn't believe they chose him out of seven pitchers.

He didn't do as well as normal but after the game he said he was so nervous. I can only imagine. We ended up losing the game but it was still fun. Our next game was against Pampa and boys were down 12-3 and we thought it was over. But they made a huge come back and the final score was 14-16. We really did just run out if innings. Think the boys could have won for sure. After the game we were told they could advance to the state tournament July 5 in Pampa. So I just thought baseball was done for the summer. 

We all stayed at a hotel after the game and the team had a blast swimming together. It is amazing how well the boys knew each other after only being around each other for two weeks. Wish adults were like kids! 

I am super proud and always knew my kids are All Stars!