Freshman Powderpuff Game

Well...it's May. May brings the end of the school year and all the many activities associated with that. Like everyone else, I've been running back and forth from one to another, trying to be at everything for every kiddo. Last week, I had two big events at the same exact time. Braden's powderpuff game and Bryce's last high school band concert.

Of course, the band concert totally trumped the game...until Braden made homecoming court and this mama had to walk him onto the field! Luckily, both events were at the school, one in the gym and one on the football field. I literally ran back and forth and was able to see most of the band concert and also walk Braden onto the field.

 Two fun events...just wished they were on different nights :(

 So, here are some pics of Braden's game. He was chosen as a coach of one of the teams which they named "Doughty Dogs" lol... Especially funny since Braden doesn't even play football anymore! Their team didn't win, but they sure looked cute!





I'm so proud of my handsome boy. Not really for this so much...just in general :) lol...




Braden's good friend, Dawson (in the pink) won prince :)


I'm just going to say...some of these girls were out for blood! I would not have wanted to be out there!!

Youth Legislature

I was able to attend Youth Legislature with Braden this year. I remember participating in this program when I was in school. It was fun to see him do it. For months, they've been preparing by writing bills and studying about the process. Braden wrote a bill that said if you want a divorce but have children under the age of 5, you have to attend counseling first. The thought behind it was that even if the counseling did not save the marriage, it would help the children in the transition. His bill was one of the bills chosen in committee to be presented. It did not pass, but I was so proud of him for getting up there and presenting it. He did a great job.

I loved spending some time with his friends. I had a load of boys in my car both days. They are hysterical...always!

My Babies are Growing Up!

It's becoming real...my baby boys are not babies anymore :(

 I am so torn around here feeling happy that the girls are getting older and moving farther from the "baby" stage, but being sad that my boys are also growing up and soon will be leaving the nest. One thing I can say, for sure, I love my boys. I have had so much fun being their mom!

Tomorrow is Bryce's senior pep rally and his last football game. Saturday is his last marching competition... The last time we will see him march with his high school band. I'm not a big cryer, but I'm feeling it tonight.  Braden and I were texting, and he made the comment that I will be down 2 kids before I know it. It just slapped me in the face. I don't want to be down two kids!! I don't want to be down 1 kid! :(

 Obviously, I know this is something that is going to happen, whether I'm ready or not. That's what we want as moms, right? We want our children to be able to leave the nest as confident, capable, productive humans!

It's going to be a long year!! (at least I hope it is!!!)

I want to share this picture of Braden and his girlfriend. He looks so grown up and handsome here! (and batgirl is adorable too!)  SO cute!!

 

Braden's Award...SO proud ;)

I'm going to warn you before you read this post.  I am sarcastic, and my boys know it :)

Braden and Cade have attended the same Jr. High this year.  Braden is in 8th and Cade in 6th.  My boys are talented, sweet, wonderful boys however, academics isn't really their "thing".  They don't make bad grades, but neither of them made it on the honor roll this year.  Does this upset me?  Not really.  Do I wish they would work harder to make better grades?  Yes, but it has to come from them.  I don't have the brainpower or time to keep up with all 5 schedules and school work.  I was not a straight A student.  I did what I needed to do to make the grades I needed, and I think I turned out alright :)

I say all this to say that when I received a note from school saying Braden would be receiving an award, I was excited.  We knew it wasn't the honor roll or perfect attendance, so it must be one of the special teacher awards...right?  The girls had to miss school so I could attend because of the timing.  I sat through the ceremony, clapping for each student's accomplishment.

Each teacher got up and presented their special award for their sections. Braden's award had to be one of these, it was all that was left. Finally, his name was called: "Student of the Year"....in PE!!!!
All I could do is laugh. All he could do was grin. After the ceremony, he came up to me and we just laughed. I told him I was the proudest mom in the room...and he agreed that I should be :) lol...

I know you are all jealous...I'm sorry...not everyone can have such an outstanding child ;)  And...yes...you are correct...he IS my favorite!

Braden and Cade Homecoming 2012

Braden and Cade go to the same Jr. High this year.  Their homecoming dance was Friday and made for a busy day.

As you will see, there is a huge range in how dressy they got :)

Braden's date came by for a little while to snap a few pics before the dance.

They look adorable.




 His first loves :)
 

I'm happy to have a few good pics of Braden dressed up :)







 Cade's group of friends came over before the dance too. They went to the dance together, and from what Cade said, they had a great time.  Thankfully, for the boys' sake, the 6th grade has a separate dance than the 7th and 8th.  I don't think my two would have enjoyed being together.  Cade is way to nuts and Braden is way too reserved :)




My favorite:



They're a bunch of goofballs!

SO Proud

For years Braden has attended school with a sweet girl named Megan who has Down Syndrome. In elementary school, a few of the girls adopted Megan, in a way. They included her in their group for school activities. I remember one day, in particular, when it was "twins day". They made sure Megan had clothes to match them that day. So sweet! Well, now this group of kids is in the 8th grade! Last night was the homecoming game. Not only did the eight grade class vote Megan onto the homecoming court, but they crowned her as queen!

 

The smile on this precious child's face is priceless! I asked Braden if he voted for her and he said he had. Word has it that she won by a landslide. I am just so proud of this class. Even Cade (6th grade) asked if I had seen Megan win. He said he wished he was in 8th grade so he could vote for her :) You just have to love that!!

The dance is Friday!!!  Braden has a date and Cade has a group of silly boys coming over to take pics.  I'm thinking I'm going to have some fun pics to share!!

My Boy

Oh, how I love this boy! You don't see him much around here because he does NOT enjoy having his picture taken. I can force him into it every once in a while, but it's often met with many rolled eyes! The other day, however, I saw this pose on a friend's facebook page, and I knew I just had to copy it! Braden spends many afternoons in the backyard shooting targets with his bow. Yes...we live on a golf course. No...they probably don't know we do that...don't tell!!

 I can't say he was excited about taking the pics, but he was willing and he was pretty happy with the turnout. I am thrilled. These pics just capture my sweet boy perfectly.

 



 I just realized this morning on the way to school that Braden and Cade have a homecoming dance coming up! (I already have Bryce's on the calendar) Braden said he was going to ask a date, so I told him he needed to hurry up! I guess that means I'm going to have to get dress clothes for all of them! I'm so excited to see them all dressed up...not so excited to shop for the clothes with them though! :) It does mean that I should have lots of handsome pics coming soon :)

 BTW...the girls start dance again tonight!!! They are so excited (OK...I am too!!)

Braden

Braden is my child that always seems to escape the camera. There are a few reasons for this. First, he is always sweaty and dirty, playing in ditches or baseball in the backyard. Also, if he had it his way, he would never have to button anything. It would be sports shorts and t-shirts 24-7. Add to that the fact that he really doesn't like to have his picture taken and you have my least photographed child :) We met a lifelong friend of mine the other day at a great place to take some pics and I made sure they were all clean and presentable before we left. That doesn't mean they were that way when we were done...but there's only so much I can do! I even got Braden a haircut before we left...he was my goal.

 So.. Here are a few shots of my middle boy. He is 13 and is in the middle of a growth spurt. He comes up to me and measures nose to nose everyday. It could be any day now that his nose moves above mine (I still have him by about a 1/2 inch, if that :)  We also weigh the same.  (Proof that muscle weighs more than fat!!)  That puts him at about 5ft. 5 1/2 inches. His limbs, however, are the size of Richards. His arm from elbow to fingertip is actually a tiny bit longer than Richards. Knee to floor, Braden is about 1 inch shorter than his dad. That essentially makes him a 13 yr. old boy with the body of a 5'6 girl (minus the boobs)  and the limbs of a 6 ft. man :) Don't you dare tell him I said that!! lol...

 

Look at those long limbs!! :)












So that's my "B".  He finished school yesterday, and couldn't be happier about it!  We'll be baseball-ing it this weekend.  Maybe he'll hit one out of the park and I'll have something big to take pics of :)

The Three Goofballs

These three are inseparable.  They go to school together and also play ball together.  Braden and Cole (center) have been best buds for years now.  Jared came along last year when they started playing ball together.  I love these boys.  They are all girl-crazy and always have some sort of drama going on.  They harass each other constantly, but would fight for each other in a heartbeat.



My two extra boys spend about 3 afternoons here each week between school and ball practice.  I have started feeding them dinner when they get home from school because they are so hungry.  Boy can they eat!  Between these 3 and my other 2 boys, I am cooking a TON of food!  It's fun though, and I wouldn't change a thing.

Here's where they ended up during spring break :)  Our own little red-neck riviera!!

My Boy

Braden is probably the child you hear the least about.  He's a tough nut to crack.  He is extremely sweet, calm and quiet, but it has come to my attention, that he is quite the cut-up with his friends.  He is a texting machine.  I am not thrilled about that, but think it's so funny that he wants that constant communication.  The girls seem to love him (not surprised), and he loves them back :(  He is a country boy at heart, like his daddy, and wants to live in the middle of nowhere and drive a big bubba truck :)  (We'll see what all those girls think of that!! lol...)  He's 13, so he can be quite the pain in the behind, but I love him just the same and am so proud of him!



We have struggled with Braden and his grades this year.  He is a brainiac in math but he was really struggling the first half of the year.  He was slacking on assignments and making poor grades.  His phone was taken multiple times, brought me to tears and caused a meeting with the principal.  I am happy to report that he decided all on his own this past 9 weeks that he was going to get his work done...and he did!  He did not miss one assignment and this was all on his own.  I am so proud that he made a needed adjustment and took responsibility for his grades.

LOVE this boy, and I can't wait to see what God has planned for his life!!

This Is My Life...

Yep. From sparkly earrings to nasty mud. That seems to be the irony that is my life. I had these four extra boys at the house Sunday night, and Bryce had three boys over the following night. I love every one of them and enjoy having them at the house...but they're exhausting! I had 3 loads of NASTY clothes to wash after their fun here, and let's not even talk about the food situation. They had a blast, and I was happy to have them here.

This is Braden and Cole (my 4th boy).  These two are inseperable.



Cade and John Ashley.   They were so happy to be hanging out with the older boys :)  These two are best buds too, and so sweet!


The fun part of my life is that the pics of Gracie in the last post were taken at the same time. The girls love to be where the boys are, but not once did they even consider getting in that mud. Thank the LORD!!

Opposites?....Maybe not....

All three of my boys seem to have been born with their own look and personality. You know how in some families you can tell they're siblings right away? I don't think that is the case with my boys. I never knew you could have 3 that would be completely opposite of each other....but you can!

Although Braden and Cade both love and are talented at baseball...the similarities seem to stop there. They actually do play some of the same positions, but Braden is primarily a catcher and Cade's strongest position is pitcher. Cade is very outgoing and will stare you down to the death when he's pitching. Braden is cool and quiet. He does his job, but doesn't even let you know he has to think about it. Cade is rock solid and is now bigger than Braden. Braden is a scrawny as they come :) (I'm not writing anything they don't already know:) I have a sneaking suspision, though, that Braden is going to shoot past him one day soon. I love all my boys and embrace their differences...



Every once in a while, though...I get a glimpse of their similarities. When I uploaded this picture of Cade, I was so confused. I couldn't figure out how this picture of Braden got mixed in with Cade's! It took me a while to figure out that it was, in fact, Cade! He is actually spitting here :) I didn't intentionally take a pic of him spitting, but...welll...that's the way it goes. There's something about how his profile is shaped here that looks the spitting image of Braden...I love it!!


It seems, as the boys have gotten older, they have started to resemble each other more. I don't care either way. They're brothers...and as we all know, that has nothing to do with DNA or how much they look like the other!

Update...Braden

A good friend of mine mentioned the other day that she felt like she "knew" Braden the least of all my children. She wanted me to do a post about him. I started thinking about that and wondered why it would be that he wouldn't be showcased as much. It actually makes perfect sense. Braden is my quietest child. He does not jump in front of the camera like Cade or isn't having lots of new experiences like Bryce is lately. He is just the same Braden that he has always been...sweet, shy, quiet, wonderful Braden. He has struggled a little this school year. He changed schools and also started jr. high. The work load has been heavy and our house isn't really condusive to quiet study time :) He's hard to read alot of the time. We have to really pull information out of him, which drives me crazy!! I know he'll be fine, but sometimes, it's painful to watch!

As a mom of multiple children, there are different seasons I go through. At certain times, a different child seems to steal my heart and become my soul for a while. Right now...Braden is that child. Maybe it's God's way of letting us know, that child needs a little "extra" right now.

Braden is his dad made over. He looks like Richard did when he was young. He acts just like Richard and has the same interests and hobbies. He has such a heart for the Lord. He wants to grow up and manage land with his dad (this is not what Richard does right now...they have big plans!) I love it and would love nothing more. He's a good 'ole country boy.

Braden has been busy with school, friends, and baseball. He is on a very competitive baseball team, and he plays most weekends. We have not been traveling too much yet, but I'm afraid that is about to pick up! He is a very talented player, but Richard and I have been concerned that he has lost some of his intensity for the game. We are trying to make sure he doesn't feel pressured or unhappy. We have talked to him and he assures us that he doesn't know what we're talking about. Last weekend, we were happy to see the "old" Braden make an appearance. He had an amazing weekend. I am hoping he has turned the corner. School being out for the summer will be a big help.




He plays 2nd base and catcher.


I hate that his eyes are closed! The ball came right at me and I quickly turned the camera to catch this shot. He was sliding to the ball.




Braden is still as skinny as they come, and we give him a hard time about it. The way things go...he'll probably be the biggest of all!