A Beautiful Engagement

We had the honor of attending an engagement party in Dallas for Mason and Grace today. Earlier in the day, Mason proposed to Grace during their family Christmas photos. 

The engagement party was held at Eno's Pizza Tavern in the Bishop Arts District where family and friends gathered to celebrate the newly engaged couple.

Proud mom and aunt!

We are so excited for Grace to be joining the family and are looking forward to what their future holds.

Basketball - Here We Come

Casen's last football game was on October 29th and basketball tryouts started the next day and went through Friday, November 1st. There were about 60 kids who tried out for the team and they were only taking 19 total. At the end of tryouts on November 1st, each athlete received a letter informing them if they made the team or not. We were thrilled that Casen received a letter stating he made the team. 

Practice started on November 6th and we also had a parent meeting that day at which time we were informed that they had not yet determined who was going to be on 'A' or 'B' team, but that they would be watching the boys and determine the teams prior to their first game. Since Casen had only played two seasons of organized basketball, Shane was not convinced that he would make the A team and kept talking to him about the opportunity he had being part of the team and using this year to learn more about the sport. Needless to say, Shane and I were pleasantly surprised when we received the following text today:

We are looking forward to his first game on November 21st. 

Fall Athletic Banquet

Tonight was the Athletic Banquet for those students who participated in a fall sport (football, volleyball or cross country) at the junior high. Casen was not overly thrilled to go to the banquet and even made the comment that he was not sure why he was going because he would not be receiving an award.

They acknowledged the student's who achieved
academically. Casen had all A's the first 9 weeks.

These are the 7th grade A team football boys

The coach gave an award to one individual
 for each BECATS trait who he felt displayed that 
particular trait.

Casen received the BECATS  award for community for the 7th grade A team. When presenting the award, his coach said that Casen consistently tried to improve his game and any feedback given to him, he always took with a smile, never complained and did everything asked of him. 

Casen receiving his award

I love that Casen and two of his good
friends received the first three awards.

The group posing for a picture together

We are extremely proud of Casen and all he accomplished during his first season playing tackle football. 

Halloween 2024

Today was Halloween and while both boys went trick or treating, I was on the road headed to Frisco for a the Texas School Nurse Organization Conference. Thus, I was completely relying on others for pictures.

Casen and his friends all decided to wear super hero masks. Casen is the Spiderman on the left in the bright orange Under Armour shirt.

Camden asked to go hang out with Omar, Adityia, Sienna and her friends while they trick-or-treated. Since he was still on crutches, he knew actual trick-or-treating would not be an easy task.

Casen sent me a pic of his loot. He is always so thrilled with the full size bars!

Fall Dance and Football

Casen has had a busy month with football. He has been on the field the majority of each game since he is playing on both offense and defense. Despite his team not winning many games, he has really enjoyed learning more about the game and playing.

For the game against Bear Branch, he was one
of the team captains

Beautiful sunset over the football field

For the game against Magnolia JH, Nana and Poppa came to watch Casen play. Despite his team losing, Casen played well.

 

Casen went to his first Junior High dance. He looked very nice all dressed up! I drove him to his friend, Grayson's house where he went to the dance with his friends and then after the dance went back to his house to stay the night. While he didn't tell me too much about the dance, I have no doubt he danced and had a good time.

The boys are so crazy with their posing! Grayson's dad encouraged them to lay on the ground and pose. I hope those boys realize that the pic may show back up in a few years. LOL.

It is Bandtober and Melissa and Shawn have been busy with marching band. I was able to make it to one of the competitions and was able to hug Mason and Grace's neck. 

Casen's final football game of the season was against their big rival, Grand Lakes JH. He was looking forward to playing that game since he has several friends who play on that team.

I will always be his biggest fan!

I was able to snag a few pictures of Casen with teammates from his previous flag football team. If they all stick with it, these boys will end up playing on the same high school team.

Grayson, Casen and Cyrus

Cyrus, Jacob, Casen and Grayson

As we were walking out of the stadium for the last time this season, I couldn't help but be grateful that while he sustained MANY bruises, Casen did not receive any major injuries. Now, onto basketball.

Injury Follow-Up

I arrived back from Albuquerque on Monday in time to take Camden to the Woodlands for the MRI of his knee. Camden has definitely become more accustomed to maneuvering around on his crutches. I have been dropping him off at school each morning while Shane picks him up so he can avoid getting on and off the bus with crutches.

He had a follow appointment today with Dr. Brooks to discuss the results of his MRI and develop a plan to get him back on his leg and playing soccer. One of Camden's main concerns is high school soccer tryouts which are scheduled for the first week in December. 

Dr. Brooks reviewed the results of the MRI with us and showed us different pictures from the MRI which showed bone bruising as well as a small tear. 

The circled areas show the bruised bone

The results showed bone contusions from the patellar dislocation. It also showed a tear of the medial patellofemoral ligament.

Dr. Brooks felt the tear could heal on its own. He ordered physical therapy twice a week for the next six weeks in hopes that he will be healed and ready to go for soccer tryouts. He is to continue wearing his immobilizer and is to remain on crutches until the physical therapist feels he can go without them. He said he would then have him wear a different brace the remainder of the soccer season. We will be receiving a call in the next few days to set up the PT. Hopefully we will get started with therapy sooner more so than later.