Back to School

 August 7, these four kiddos started back to school.  Braden is a junior this year.

 

Cade is a freshman.

 I am beyond excited that Cade can ride to school with Braden this year!  Definitely makes my life easier!  These two are just about the exact same size.  They are both measuring 6'1"!

 

The girls' story is a little more confusing.  These two started 2nd grade at the elementary school all my kiddos have gone to.  We love our school and have become a fixture there.  Bryce started there 14 years ago!! 

 

 

However, things have changed at our house in 14 years!  Our schedule around here is crazy and fitting everything in was very trying last year.  In fact, the girls did not take dance last year because I just couldn't fit it all in.  Add on top of that my Gracie, who takes a little more time to learn.  We had someone tutor her after school last year, which helped incredibly, but added to the crazy.  I say all that to say this...we changed our plan. 

 

Come to find out, one of my favorite teachers retired last year.  She decided she would like to homeschool a couple of cute girls in the mornings!  I couldn't pass up the opportunity.  This is a game changer for us!  Not only will Gracie be getting the one on one that she needs, and Wesleigh will be challenged and stretched, but our schedule opens up incredibly!  They will school until noon and then we can do our violin, dance and boys' baseball in the afternoon.  I have stressed over the decision, but I am thrilled.  Today was their first day and I cannot wait to go pick them up and hear all about it! 

 

No more uniforms!  (and we can wear our hair down because they won't get lice! lol...)

These three are going to have a great year!  Lauren was Cade's teacher in 2nd and 3rd grade!!



 

Here's to a great school year for all the kiddos!!

Happy Birthday Bryce

I'm only about 10 days late posting this for Bryce's birthday, but seeing as I'm not sure I even posted anything for it last year...I think I'm doing pretty good! 

Bryce turned 19 on the 7th.  He is about to start his sophomore year of college.  I'm not going to lie...his freshman year was not great.  He got lazy in his spring semester and he is going to have to work extra hard to get back on track.  That's ok.  I know he has it in him and I think he's ready for a great fall.  Tigerband camp starts tomorrow and he is super excited about that.  I am too!  Saturday, we will be able to get our first peek of this year's band coming down the hill for the first time.  Last year, this event might have been my favorite of the entire year.  I can't wait!

I know God has mighty plans for him!  I can't wait to see what they are!!

Big Girls!

Honestly, it's been a while since I've brought the girls out to take any pics at all.  For whatever reason, there hasn't been much motivation or creativity flowing.  I did, finally, take them outside the other day and came up with these.  They are getting so big!

I Miss My Blog

I miss my blog.  I miss the "good ole days" when I documented all the day to day events that went on here...the big and the small.  I know that, one day, I will be so disappointed that I didn't keep it up.  I am going to try, once again, to pick it up again.  I can't stress myself out about doing what I've already missed, but I am going to try to put a priority on documenting our lives.  If I don't, I won't remember anything from these years!

I guess I will start with the summer.  This was definitely a summer of baseball for us.  Braden and Cade are not on the same team, but they did travel to the same cities most weekends.  This was a nice change for us because we normally have to divide and conquer.  We had lots of fun, but it sure doesn't feel like we had a summer!  We got back from our last trip to Atlanta in time to buy school shoes and get on the bus.

As I am going through pics to post, I realize I never posted anything about Braden's school season!  I will have to go back and hit that next.  These pics are confusing because both Braden and Cade played for a Marucci team, and they had the same uniforms.  Cade also played for 2 other teams throughout the season when he could :) These two are also looking very much alike these days so I am going to label them all...mainly so I will know who is who in a few years :) 

Cade with Chaos

 

Braden

 

 

 Braden

 

Braden actually played with 2 Marucci teams at times.  This team won second place in a huge tournament in Atlanta.  We almost won it, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

 



 Cade with Prodigy.  He literally jumped straight over this catcher with the ball and was safe at home!

 

Cade

 

Cade

 

 Braden ended up pitching quite a bit this summer.  He has never been considered a pitcher but he pitched a perfect game this summer!

 

I'm not even going to lie...it was HOT!  The girls were such troopers and, most of the time, were happy to do their thing.

 

Cade

 

I can't believe the summer is already over.  Cade is not playing football this year, so it is going to be a quieter fall.  Bryce starts tigerband camp Tuesday, however, so we will be enjoying watching him and the LSU tigers!

My Prince Did Come...and His Name is Daddy

All together, Richard and I attended 8 baseball games this weekend.  This was fun, but the highlight of the weekend had to be Sunday night when Richard took the girls to their first dance.  For the past couple of years, I have watched my facebook page light up with adorable pics of daddys and their daughters going to this dance.  This year, I was on top of it and got the girls tickets for Valentine's Day.  They have talked about little else since then!  Part of the experience was that my mom and I took them shopping to pick out their dresses.  You might find this hard to believe...or child abuse....but my girls have NEVER been shopping!  I mean, they have walked in the mall before...a couple of times...but to be honest, I didn't feel rushed to let them know that they might have a say in what clothes hang in the closet :)  I have been just fine without their little opinions, and they have never know the difference. 

This made for the funniest shopping trip I have ever been on!  They didn't even know there were fitting rooms!  lol...  They were literally looking around in awe of all the beautiful clothes.  They must have tried on about 10 dresses each and came to their decision.  The whole thing took maybe 30 minutes :)  I loved seeing what they chose.

We then rode the carousel, ate lunch and headed home :)

This is what I've heard this entire week, "I can't believe daddy asked us on a date!"  "I can't wait to dance with daddy!", etc, etc...

 

We headed over to our friend Sara's house to get ready together.  There were curling irons, makeup, lipgloss and lots of sassy! 

 

The corsages were a big hit!  I had the same woman who makes our big girl corsages make them and she did not disappoint!!  

 

Three precious treasures...with their daddies who certainly treasure them!