Fun June

 June is quickly wrapping up and I can say that it's been one for the books. We have been on 3 different trips to 2 different states and have squeezed in two weeks of various church camps. That's all in between music lessons, baseball games and everyday life. 

P started the month by going to church camp...without us. He said he didn't want me to chaperone this year so I reluctantly (HA!) dropped him off at the church and said goodbye for 5 days. Needless to say, he had a blast and made a lot of fun memories during the week.

At the end of the week we picked him up and hightailed it to Forth Worth, where we enjoyed the Bass Master Classic. Although I am not the biggest fan of fishing, I do love the 2 times we have gone to the Classic. I love all the free stuff, meeting famous anglers and the overall fun of the event. The highlight of the trip for Rob was meeting Bill Dance and talking to him at length. For me, the highlight was the longhorn stampede down the middle of the Stockyards, the rodeo we went to (where P saw this future wife...bahaha!!) and getting front row seats to the Bass Master Championship. The boys loved it all but I think they enjoyed winning baits, fishing the catfish pool and going to the rodeo the best.

We got home from the Classic and I fast and furiously did laundry and cleaned the house before heading out of town again. This time we went to Alabama to visit some good friends live. The boys had fun fishing on the lake where our friends. We all enjoyed taking the pontoon boat out and E even made a new friend that he had a lot of fun playing with.

This past week we were at church, having fun at day camps. I volunteered for the Rec camp that E participated in. He got to play silly games and the sun even came out for him to enjoy Water Day. P graciously volunteered to help with the Music/Drama/Art camp because they didn't have enough volunteers. He had a group of 14 kids, who loved having him as their leader. All in all, it was a fun week!

This weekend we spent time at the beachfront family condo with Rob's family. The boys had so much fun playing in the water- body surfing and wave jumping with one of their uncles and Rob, floating down the lazy river and going down the waterslide. We also enjoyed good food, long naps and beach volleyball. The boys and I liked looking for shells, crab hunting and working out at the condo gym. Rob and I got to sneak away for a long walk on the beach, a date night and some much needed "us" time. 

Rob and I make mistakes in the parenting dept and are far from perfect. But one thing I feel we excel in is making the boys' childhoods fun. We go on trips, find fun things to do as a family and create endless memories for the boys to look back on with fondness. It's not often that they can honestly say they are bored and for that I am thankful. I am thankful that we have been blessed with the means to provide them with a fun childhood. I do not take one minute of it for granted!

Lessons From a Baseball Field

 It’s amazing how much a child can teach an adult. This year we signed both boys up for baseball, requesting certain coaches. For reasons unknown, E did not get drafted by the coach he’s played for since starting t-ball. He’s on a completely new team. He didn’t know the coach or any of the kids on the team when he walked onto the baseball field in April. The first practice it became obvious really fast that he was way more advanced than his teammates. Now, if you know me, you know that I’m not the kind of parent who overhypes my kids. But I call a spade a spade. It was also obvious that this new coach was nothing like his beloved coach that he had played for during previous seasons. 

However, from Day 1, E has been very optimistic. He encourages his teammates and when his team loses (which is pretty much every game), he always finds the good in the game. He told us last night that he tells players on the opposing team what a great job they’re doing if they’re on the base he plays. I’m sure it’s frustrating to lose every game but he doesn’t let it get him down, nor does he speak of quitting (which is what I would want to do if I was in his shoes). He starts every game with a smile and ends every game the same way.

A few nights ago a game was going on on a field next to where we were playing. There was a lot of commotion happening. Since our game was painful to watch, I turned my attention to the game next to ours. It didn’t take long to see that the commotion didn’t come from the kids, but from the adults. A coach was jumping up and down, in the ump’s face, hollering about calls. It was downright embarrassing to watch this grown man act like that. I thought, “What kind of lessons is he teaching the kids?” What a lack of sportsmanship he was displaying!

Here our kid is losing game after game, despite putting forth his best effort, and he’s doing it with grace. This grown man is being unsportsmanlike in a CHILD’S baseball game. My child is showing more class than some of the adults on the baseball field!

Has it been a frustrating season? Yes! Are Rob and I ready for it to be over? Kind of. We love watching him play, but it’s been challenging for us to watch the games. But can we learn from E? Most definitely. I am proud of him. Not because of his stellar baseball skills, but because of how he conducts himself. It’s like we’ve told his big brother multiple times, “Your character is defined more by how you lose the game than how you win it.” I think sometimes people can learn more from kids and less from the obnoxious coaches (and parents). It’s not who wins or loses, but how you play the game that matters. 

*Its 3:30 and I’m blogging from my phone, so excuse all the errors.*

Friendship

 Friendships are something I've always cherished. Growing up, I remember that we were surrounded by a lot of friends. Most of my friends were from church. As life progressed, friendships came and went. It wasn't until college that I began started making lifelong friends, with the exception of church friends.

It's not a secret that I don't love Louisiana. It's flat, humid and filled with more bugs than all the other states combined (I'm exaggerating but only a little). But one thing we've been blessed with is friendships. I met one of my closest LA friends within the first week we moved here. We met over snowballs and have maintained our friendship ever since then. When we left our former church, I worried about losing friendships because, at the time, my whole life was wrapped up in that church- where I taught, worshipped, E went to school, etc. 

But this weekend, as we were surrounded by friends Friday and Saturday evening, I realized that those concerns were invalid. Through work, school. baseball, and church we have made some great friends. Friday I took the boys and their friends to the trampoline park. Friday night, after P's baseball game got rained out, we enjoyed a team dinner at Cane's. I loved sitting there, watching P laughing with his teammates/friends. I've worried about him ever since Covid hit because he hasn't wanted to be as social. He has struggled with friends at school. So, Saturday, when his old guitar instructor (who also happens to be a mentor to him) called and asked him to go to a concert with him, I was happy that P was excited to go. While he enjoyed the concert, Rob, E and I enjoyed a seafood boil with a group of friends. We talked and reminisced about our girls' weekend to Nashville awhile back and how much fun we had. Yesterday, at church, we talked to various friends, checking in to see how life is going with each of them.

By the time I went to bed last night my heart was happy. Rob and I laid in bed, talking about how good life was, how we had been blessed with some great friends and a wonderful marriage. It's funny how friendships can come and go, but God always blesses us with great friends for every season in life.

Sleeping Beauty

 As I get older, the more important sleep becomes to me. I think I owe it all to E. I used to stay up late, get up early and plow through the day. But once he came along he woke me up several times a week for YEARS. In fact, it hasn't been until the last year or so that he's stopped waking me up all the time for one reason or another. During those years, I became continually tired and sleep became even more important to me. 

Now I get grumpy when I get woken up, whether it's the boys, severe weather, Rob, the dogs, or my alarm. I despise being woken up! It starts my whole day off wrong. On the rare occasion that he wakes me up, P likes to tease me about it the next morning. Usually I don't remember the conversation but he ALWAYS tells me I was grumpy. I hate being that way, but I hate being woken up even more. This Summer I have been woken up every night/morning, so even though I'm not waking up to an alarm I still don't feel rested. One of the perks of Summer is getting lots of sleep, right?? One of my friends used to tell me, "We can catch up on sleep when we're dead." I guess I'll hold on to that because I don't know the next time I'll wake up feeling rested. Oh, the good life......

Goodbye School Year, Hello Summer!

 I honestly cannot believe we've only been out of school for 1 1/2 weeks. We've already been on 2 weekend trips, played a few baseball games and went on a day trip to the beach. I have been excited about this Summer for awhile because we're making up for not being able to do anything last Summer (Thanks, Covid!) so I want to make it as fun as possible for the boys. 

While I was excited for Summer, in ways it was hard to end the school year. I would've thought that I would be doing the Happy Dance the last day because it was such a rough year, both as a parent and as a teacher. As a parent it was hard to watch our oldest stop enjoying school. Middle school wasn't all it had promised to be due to COVID. P had to do virtual learning for 2 weeks of the year thanks to Covid restrictions and getting the flu. He struggled with grades and often woke up grumpy, not wanting to go to school. It broke my heart to watch this because he's never been like this. So in that regard, I am glad school is over and he'll get a fresh start in August.

As a teacher it was difficult because I felt like, for the first half of the year, I was doing 2 jobs. I was teaching in class and then I was teaching online. I felt like a lot of things fell through the cracks and I wasn't the best teacher I could be. I felt that my students did not get the best education this year, which broke my heart. But, because of the Covid restrictions, I felt like my students became more like family than classmates. We were with each other for 7.5 hours a day and did not get to mingle with other students until a month before school was out. It made them a close knit group. It also made me bond with them more as well. For the first time in a long time, I cried at the end of the year award ceremony because I am going to miss this group. I realized that teaching 5th grade is hard because next year I won't get to see my students. I won't get to check in on them and see how things are going in their life. They will be on to middle school. For some, they need a teacher checking in with them, asking about their family life. School is their only safe place.

So, the end of the year was bittersweet. I am hoping we can cram as many memories as possible into this Summer and get back to a normal school year in August. We all deserve it!

Some pics from our Summer adventures so far....