Stepping Up and Growing Up

Over the Summer, P and I were talking and he told me that this was going to be his best school year yet. We are over halfway done with it and he has definitely maintained that goal! His go-to sport since he was in middle school has been XC. Although he doesn't love running, he loves XC. When his coach left the school unexpectedly last year he wasn't sure he was going to go out for the team again this year. But a friend of his talked him into it and he was so glad he did! He's bonded with his new coach and even dated a girl on the team for a hot minute. His other go-to sport is bass fishing. He and his fishing partner have stuck together this season and fished two of their tournaments in the Fall. (The other two are coming up soon!)

But, what I am most impressed with is the fact that he's tried new things. He played on the golf team for the first time and has decided that that is his favorite sport. He goes out in the yard when he has free time and practices anything from teeing off to chipping to putting. He and Rob also golf on the weekends when time permits. I am excited to see where he goes with golf! Another new sport for him this year is tennis. He says it is confusing and is not sure that he loves it, but he is definitely learning and improving with each match. Time will tell if he sticks with tennis again next year.

On top of his sports, he has maintained good grades. His hang up in his GPA is the usual....Math. But, he is maturing and putting more effort into studying this year (at least for most of his classes). His attendance is what has impressed me the most this year. In years past, he has missed more school than he should for various reasons. This year he only has 2 absences. One was from last week when he was sick. He got a 24 hour bug on Thursday and wasn't feeling 100% Friday, but went to school regardless. I love that his work ethic is greatly improving with his maturity!

To top it all off, our boy is a working boy. He got a part time job, working for a local taxidermist. As of now, his main job consists of pressure washing skulls that will be mounted. Between tennis and church, he is limited to 2-3 days a week after school. But, he works when he can and is saving up for a truck. His boss is quick to tell us that P is a hard worker and does anything that is asked of him, making us so proud. 

We are so proud of him in every way! He is transforming from a boy to a young man and is stepping up in more ways than one. I love having a front row seat to it all and watching our sweet boy grow up!

Baseball Blues

 I'm not one of those people who doesn't like change. I actually cherish it and can thrive on it. But this is one of those rare times I struggle with it....in the world of baseball. 

If you know us, you know that baseball is a huge part of E's life. He started rec ball when he was 4 and hasn't stopped. He switched to travel ball when he was 8 at the recommendation of an acquaintance who had watched him play. But ever since he's started travel ball, there's been bumps along the way.

His first team was awesome in the fact that it was more like a family than a team. We sat there, tournament after tournament, cheering on the underdogs, praying that this would be the game they won. Their coach was young and had no bond with the boys whatsoever. It wasn't until another coach stepped in that they actually won their last game of the season. But we left that team because we moved out of state.

He tried out for a few teams in MS and all of the coaches offered him a spot. We prayed about it, discussed it and thought we had made the best decision....until the first tournament. The coach ended up being a jerk and called in guest players, while benching E. In return, E injured his arm, trying to prove to the coach that he could play. It was a disaster and it broke my mama heart. I hated going to tournaments just to watch E sit on the bench. To say I was relieved when that season was over is an understatement.

In 2023, E tried out for a new team in the area. It's been a good match for him and he gets all the playing time he wants. The first Fall the team was together they were unstoppable. We did a lot of team bonding and the boys became friends as well as teammates. Then Spring ball came around and the boys were bumped up to the next bracket. They lost more games than they won and their confidence tanked. Then one boy left. Then another left after the Spring season to go play on another team. Unfortunately, some more of his teammates have started leaving for various reasons. I feel like we'll be starting this season with a new team because we'll have so many new players. I know I'll miss the way the team was its first season together.

In this case, I'm not a fan of change. I wish the team could stay together. There was so much potential in the original team. But, as one of the coaches reminded me, there's so much potential in this new group as well. All I can say is that I hope E makes the jr high school team so there's not as much change come next Fall. Until then, I'll cheer him on loudly and pray that he continues to shine his light off and on the field.

I'm BAAACCCKKKKK!!

Surprise! You probably thought you'd never see another blog from me and I wasn't 100% you would either. But, alas, here I am. New year, new me, blah, blah, blah. Let's see if I can catch you up on the past 6 months of our lives before the sun makes its appearance. (insomnia yet again....)

So, I left y'all back in June and there's been so much since then. I've probably forgotten a lot of it, but I'll hit the highlights of each person.

Rob- He has taken up golf again. So, when he's not in pain or traveling for work (and sometimes when he is traveling for work), he tees up. He says he's not good, but he's lying. We went to a golf community for our annual get away in November and I got to golf with him on a couple of really nice courses. It was a lot of fun! 

He has traveled more than normal this Fall. He has had some big responsibilities with the company this year, which has taken him to some "new" places. He got to go to Washington, D.C. for a week and see some really cool things, which I was jealous of, of course! He is still around to do his 500 "Dad duties", but work has been more demanding than in the past couple years. Thankfully the boys are pretty self sufficient so it's not like it used to be when he was gone for work. The only struggle is the "Mom Taxi", trying to get both boys to different parts of town....on the same day...around the same time. I really need to get better about asking for help and I'm trying....

Me- I'm still teaching 6th grade. Our youngest is in 6th grade this year so I was nervous about being his teacher. But, it has actually been a real blessing. We have drawn closer than ever and I love talking to him about his friends because I teach all of them.

I have been more social lately. For a few years I lacked that "friend" component in life. Not that I didn't have any friends, but I didn't intentionally do things with them. I have 2 close friends that I get together with fairly regularly. It' nice to be something other than being a wife, a mom and a teacher.

P- Over the Summer, he got his driver's permit. I'm not going to say it's been easy being a backseat driver and I thank God regularly that I am not a driving instructor. But, he has gotten a lot better behind the wheel. I have come to enjoy his chauffeuring me around and will miss it come this Summer when he can drive solo.

Before the school year started, he told me that this was going to be his best year yet and he has proven that to be true. This is the first year, since 6th grade, that he has really thrived. He is on new sports teams (golf and tennis to go along with XC and Bass Fishing). He's earning good grades and he got himself his first real job. He works for a local taxidermist. The work is not glamorous, but he gets paid well and the husband/wife duo that runs the business seem to really like him.

He is involved in our youth group and has a good core group of friends. Some of those friends created a fantasy football league and P is currently battling for the championship. He has grown in so many ways this year (physically he's shot up to almost 6'0 and he's put on over 20lbs in the past few months!). We are so proud of the young man that he's becoming!

E- Fall has been busy for him. He started his last year of elementary school. With that came some new freedom and responsibility. He was inducted into the school's Beta Club and was elected by his peers as the Beta Club President. It has been a growing experience for the both of us (I am the Beta sponsor and work closely with our Beta "board") and it has not always been sunshine and rainbows. But, E is pretty easygoing and lets things go after we've discussed them.

He is still active in baseball. His team played a few Fall tournaments and then they took a much needed break. He starts back up again next weekend with practices. This Spring will be busy because he's got baseball and will also be trying out for Jr High school teams.

The biggest highlight of E's year is that he decided to make a public profession on faith and got baptized last month. This was so important to him (and us). I'm thankful that he takes his walk with God seriously and enjoys witnessing to others. He's got a big friend group and they text each other scripture and encouraging messages on a daily basis, which is fun to watch as a parent and as their teacher.

He celebrated a birthday earlier this week. He's to the age where he doesn't necessarily want to have a huge party. So he had 4 good friends come over for the night and then we went to a local "party" place the next day before finishing the celebration with steaks on the grill. He loved every sleep deprived, tween moment of it!

He also has his first "girlfriend". I don't know if I'm supposed to publicly announce that, but I want to look back on this blog and remember this time when he's married WAY IN the FUTURE. She is a sweet girl in my class. She is spunky, kindhearted and has a beautiful singing voice. Both boys have been blessed with such sweet first "girlfriends"!

The Whole Fam- We've had yet another busy Summer/Fall. My brother and his family came to visit us this past Summer for the first time since we moved away from the West Coast. It was fun to show them our world and we created a lot of fun memories. Then we went to Panama City for the World Series. Although it had a few fun moments, that will definitely be a "One and Done" experience for us. The highlight was running into some old friends from LA that we got to reconnect with. I also enjoyed our family time. The rest of the week was miserable to say the least. But, we survived it and came home to E's best friend being in town with his dad. His dad helped Rob lay the foundation for our new shop so the boys thoroughly enjoyed playing baseball and having a sleepover. 

The boys and I also went to Cali to visit my family in July. It wasn't as long of a trip as it usually is, but it was fun to go to a Padres game (E's favorite MLB team) and take the boys back to their hometown to show them where they were born and reminisce. 

In October my parents came to visit us. I never take their visits for granted and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. We went to a HUGE annual flea market and we got to celebrate my birthday together for the first time in over a decade. It made my heart happy to spend the week with them! 

In November we became official members of our church. I will not speak for anyone else in our family, but I will say that I have struggled with fitting into a church family for several years. When P wanted to go to the youth group at our church, it was too far for me to drop him off, go back home and then pick him up after the youth group. So, I started attending the Wednesday night Bible Study. That led to Rob and E coming to the Sunday morning service and enjoying it. From there, I joined the choir. And, as they say, that's all she wrote. It became our church family pretty quick and feels like home every time I walk through the doors. We adore the pastor and P has bonded with the youth pastor. We are so blessed to have found our church by way of invitation from a good friend. 

In between our parent duties, Rob and I have found time to do things with friends on a more regular basis. I really enjoy getting together with other couples and we have a lot of fun with a few people from the church/school that we do things with.

Like I said, I have no doubt that I am leaving some important events/things out. But, I am going to try to get a little shut eye before the day begins. It's our last couple days of Christmas break so I want to take advantage of sleeping in. We didn't do anything over the break, but it was relaxing and sometimes that's the best thing. I really enjoy our busy lifestyle, but it also makes me appreciate the slower months where we can just relax and enjoy family time. Until next time....