The Last of the Baby Smiles are Gone

Casen has had a wiggly bottom tooth for awhile and apparently today was the day he decided to pull it out at school. He of course got to visit Nurse Bambi at school for a tooth chest. He was soooo excited and can't wait for the tooth fairy to visit tonight!

A Fun Full Weekend

Between Melissa's boys and mine, there were a lot of activities planned for this weekend. My mom and dad came so they could catch each of the boys doing what they love.

First up was Mason and Braden's high school soccer games on Friday night. We had a great time watching those boys do what they love.

Mason and Braden's fan club!

Saturday morning we woke up and headed out to the Superintendent Fun Run. Camden has been asking to run a 5K for months now, however with the boys sports schedule, we were unable to find one that he could run in. Luckily our schedules allowed us to participate in this race which helps support scholarships for students in the Cy-Fair school district. We had the option of running a mile or a 5K and of course Camden wanted to run the 5K. So, if Camden is going to do something, then of course Casen is too. So I signed up our whole family to run a 5K.

Shane nor I were evenly remotely prepared to run a 5K at the pace Camden was ready to run, so I had him run with my friends Pam and Shana who run daily. He ended up running between them since Shana wasn't running fast enough for him and Pam was running a hair too fast for him. :)

Camden loved running with Shana and Pam

Casen did an awesome job and ended up running the vast majority of the race. I was super proud of both my boys.

A happy surprise at the end was both boys receiving medals for placing in the top three of their age brackets. Casen ended up in second place running his 5K in 39:33.8. (He apparently was beat out by a one year old who was pushed in a stroller.) Camden finished third in his age bracket finishing his race in 29:01.0. (He was beat out by two 9 year olds - so he was definitely pleased with his finish.)

Dr. Henry (superintendent) as well
as two board members with Casen

Camden receiving his medal from
Dr. Henry and board members.

Proud of their medals.

Aunt Melissa was there to congratulate
them as well.

Later that afternoon Casen had a baseball game, which he played great and his team won.

And what a better way to end a busy day than eating out our favorite Mexican restaurant with the whole family. Since mom's birthday is next week, we had to celebrate Ranchitos style with the sombrero and whipped cream. Unfortunately for Casen, Shawn told a small fib to the waiters that it was Casen's birthday as well so that they would put whipped cream on him, which he is terrified of. Bless his heart, he just about melted sitting there as they were singing to him.

The face of sadness mixed with disgust. 

Yummy whipped cream. 

Camden got in on the whipped cream action too.

The whole family then returned to our house where we again celebrated mom's birthday with ice cream cake and presents.

Today the boys sang on stage during church for Palm Sunday, which was such a treat. The kids sounded precious singing 'Happy Day' and 'Lion and the Lamb'.

Finally, this afternoon we got to watch Camden doing what he loves - play soccer. It was a beautiful day and he had a great game.

Such a fun weekend with family. I treasure these times and always look forward to them.

Spring Break 2018

Honestly, it is hard for me to believe that Spring Break is already upon us. Now don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, it is just hard to believe that summer is right around the corner! I believe our whole family was ready for a week off to relax and enjoy some nice time outdoors.

Our spring break started out with dentist appointments for the boys and me. And of course, since they both had great reports, ice cream was in order. We did get some news about Casen and what his future has in store for him. He apparently will have to have a frenectomy when he is a bit older, after his adult front teeth come in and prior to him getting his braces. A frenectomy is where they go in and cut the frenulum little piece of muscle that connects your upper lip to the center of your gums between your two upper front teeth. It generally causes a large gap between your two front teeth. The braces will fix your gap, however if you do not remove the frenulum, the gap most likely will reoccur.

On Tuesday, we headed to Kerrville to spend some time with my parents. The first day there, the boys made some new green, four legged friends. I must say I was quite shocked when both of them were more than happy to hold the lizards - and for several hours. Camden has always liked lizards, however I have never known Casen to actually hold one until now. I guess it wasn't warm enough for the lizards yet because they were very content for the boys to hold them while they played their iPads. 

Grandpa was trying to get the lizard
to hold onto Casen's earlobe.

On Wednesday, my mom took the boys and myself to the Empty Cross. It really is a beautiful place and the statues there are amazing.  

The boys each wrote on a prayer rock and placed it in the rock garden. 

Casen's prayer read, "I love God."

Camden's prayer was, "Dear God, help me
live in your heart and live peacefully."

After we left the empty cross, we went and visited Grandma Key. She was thrilled to see us just as we were so happy to visit with her!

The rest of our time in Kerrville was spent shopping for Grandma some new clothes, playing outside a lot, fossil hunting and just relaxing. Grandpa even showed the boys how to play pickle ball. As always, we had a great time and look forward to our next visit!

I always make sure and get a selfie with Grandma.

Run Wild at the Creek 2018

Today the boys had Run Wild at the Creek, which is a fundraiser for their school. Of course since I have two boys who love to run and take it very seriously, they very much look forward to this day. I was not able to make it to their fun event, however Shane was able to sneak away from work during each of their specials time to watch and cheer them on from the sidelines.

My 2nd grader and one of Prince's Pandas 

Run Casen, run!

They both won medals for being the boy who
completed the most laps in their class.

Bye Bye Basketball

Today marked the last basketball game of the season. And while I am glad that we will now have at least one free night a week now with no basketball practice and will not have to be up and ready for 8:00 a.m. games, I am sad to see it go. It was fun watching Casen learn the game of basketball - he is an awesome defender and puts his all into it! We are still amazed at how far Camden has come since last year, not only in his skill, but in his confidence. He scored a lot of points and had some 'moves'. It was a fun season for the boys!

While some of the pictures are from today, I have included some of my favorites from through out the season. After scouring my pictures, I realized two things:
1.  I need a new camera lens before next basketball season because so many of my action shots are    blurry despite trying different things.
2.  I have more pictures of Casen than Camden - which holds true in soccer as well. Please know I am not playing favorites, it is just Camden's games are more exciting to watch and I find myself watching and yelling from the sidelines instead of taking pictures.

One of the things I love about Upward basketball
is the focus on Jesus. During practice as well as during
halftime of the game, they always focus on a virtue of the week.

Camden running out of the tunnel.

And he makes a basket!

Camden playing against his classmate, Elijah.

Camden and Elijah after the game.

Camden at the end of the season party.

Arm out protection the ball

Hard to shoot a basketball when
everyone is all around you. :)

Cheese!

Casen's classmate from pre-school, Chelsea.
Casen played against her brother. 

Love his serious face - when he is
defending he takes his job seriously.

I had to include the pic of
Casen 'dabbing' (sorry for the blurriness)

Casen helping Coach Michael hand out stars.

My two favorite basketball players.

Nana and Poppa Ron came and watched the boys basketball games as well as Casen's baseball games. We also were able to celebrate Nana's birthday this weekend with some delicious ice cream cake!

I loved watching Casen play catcher.