We love our Cubs!

The Cubs had a heckuva season this spring.  They were undefeated in the regular season and were so much fun to cheer for during all 15 games.  Even the last two, when the temps were above 100 degrees!



Right after they won game number 14, they were so happy.  "We're going to the championship!"



Ryder's mom took some awesome action shots of J during the semi-final game.  He's got his game face on for sure!

He had two strikes on him, but he hung in there and drilled this one down the third base line for a double.  Think we were hollering?!

The boys started out strong in the championship game.  Blaise was our lead-off hitter and got a hit right away.  Coach Larry sent him to second...

but the Rangers fielded it well and he had to turn back!  Thank goodness he made it back to first base safely.

Matthew batted third and got a good hit.  He rounded first and made it to second before they got the ball back into the pitcher.

Jackson was up 5th and got a hit, too.

It was close, but he beat the throw to first.  That's one long last step!

Safe!

He played some mean defense at first base...

and caught everything that was thrown his way...even when he had to reach pretty high!

Yeah #32!!

The Cubs struggled most of the game, though, and just didn't have their best night.  J grounded out to the pitcher his second time at bat.  The Rangers just had a better game and won 10 - 7.  Boo!

At least the trophies were the same size, though!  Jackson liked his, for sure.

We are so proud of these boys and coaches.  They gave it their all for the past 3 months.

Jackson had so many fans there, even a few from Abilene!  Cason, Chase and their mom, Amanda, got in town just in time to make it to his game.  Very cool.

Also there to cheer him on were Gigi, Boom, Memaw, Poppi, Uncle Andrew, Maddie, and of course us three.

"Good job, brudder.  I'm so proud of you!"

The coaches told the boys how proud they were of them for having such a great season and then brought them in for one last huddle.  Goooooo Cubs!



I love this!



Cubs 2013--y'all rocked it!



Cubs Swim Party

The Cubs had their annual swim party this past weekend.  This time we did it at Gigi and Boom's house and everyone had a great afternoon, just like last year.

I ordered baseball cupcakes, but the guy who took my order thought I wanted a cupcake cake, so this is what we got!  It all worked out just fine--kids love cupcakes in any form!

The pool was put to very good use by the 12 boys and all of their siblings.  I think there were about 20 kids total and they were going bananas.  So much fun.

At one point I looked over and saw my youngest going down the slide on her tummy!  Oh my!  Thank goodness her daddy was right there to catch her.  She really did think that with her whole 8 days of swim class she was ready to jump in with the big kids.

I was much more at ease, however, when she was just hanging out with Maisie on the steps.

After an hour or so of hardcore water play, these kids were ready for some grub.  They put down plenty of hot dogs and chips...

and then got ready to inhale this scrumptious cookie cake.  Thanks, Juliana! There was not one tiny piece left at the end of the party.

After dessert, they were back in the pool in full force.  This time, Boom got in with Lila and she must have jumped to him 22 times. She kept saying, "Just one more time!"...



then she'd take a flying leap towards him.



"Giddy up, Boom!"

Towards the end of the party, Coach Brian rounded up all the boys for the awards ceremony.  We are still waiting on their trophies since the tournament isn't over yet.  We want the big ones, too!

Jackson got an award for being a dedicated player and working hard all season. 

We have been so fortunate to have such an amazing group of kids and coaches.  They all get along really well and just know how to get the job done and have fun.  We will be rooting for them when they play for the championship this Thursday!  I can't wait.  LET'S GO CUBS!!

Last Day of Kindergarten

Somehow, someway, Jackson just finished AN ENTIRE YEAR OF KINDERGARTEN!  How is that even possible?!  It seriously just flew by.  Well, maybe with the exception of the last week since it was jam-packed with all kinds of activities and things to remember to send to school.  Let's see, there was "Bring your favorite board game" day, as well as "Favorite Book Day," "Favorite Puzzle Day" and Yearbook signing day, too!  All of that, on top of completing the end of year gift for Mr. Gomez and making two race cars for the class almost did me in.  It was very close, but I made it!

I surprised J with these cool new tennis shoes on his last morning of school.  He's been asking for tennis shoes that tie for a while now, and I thought they would make the perfect gift for him doing so well in school.  He got a smiley face for good behavior every single day he was at school this year.  No notes home or sad faces.  I thought that deserved a reward!

He was so happy the whole time he ate his pillsbury cinnamon rolls and thought about how cool his new shoes were going to look on his feet:)

Not to mention the good hops he had with them!

Wow!  Such a big kid, now.

He and Lucy soaked up every last minute together.  They are so cute with each other!

We also gave Mr. Gomez the gift we'd been working on all week.  All 20 kids put their handprint on it and signed it, too.  At the top it said, "Hands down, Mr. Gomez, we think you're the best!"  He loved it and told me it's already hanging in this classroom.  It'll be fun to go look at in years to come.

After that, we got ready for the big race outside.

Jackson went second and ran that Batman car well.

It was such a long car, though, that it started buckling when he really got going!  Oops!

Rachel was up first for the girls and got them off to a great start.  I loved the girls' car.  It's supposed to look like Venelope's car from Wreck It Ralph.  Pretty sweet, if I do say so myself:)

They needed one extra boy, so Jackson got to run again.  By the end of the race, the car was in sad shape.  Both handles were broken and the sides were collapsing, too.  Thank goodness they were able to finish racing before it completely fell apart!

The girls rocked it and won their race.  Way to go, girlies!

I honestly don't know who won the boys' race.  Jackson says that his team did, but that might just be wishful thinking!  They did really good, though, and it was a fun way to end the year.  After the races were over, everyone went back to their classrooms, had a pizza party, did a craft and then said their goodbyes.  See ya in August, Hunt Elementary!

Swim Camp Success!

As if the end of school weren't busy enough, we also had swim camp for Lila.  She went for two weeks, four days each week.  By day #7, she was really starting to get the hang of it!

Without any hesitation, she would leap off the steps, moving her arms and kicking her little legs towards Coach Patty.

She had mastered floating on her back...

and finally found Rapunzel at the bottom of the pool!

Here's a little video I took of her that day.  It's amazing, because she's so much better even now and it's only been a few days!  She got lots of practice in Gigi and Boom's pool this weekend.  I guess she was right--she told me a few days ago that she's half fish and half mermaid.  Ha!  Well said, little girl. 

We are so proud of your fearlessness!

Kindergarten Program

Ahhh!  The end of school is so close!  Yesterday us five girls went to watch Jackson sing in his first Kindergarten performance.

It was touch-and-go with the youngest one since it was smack-dab in the middle of her nap time, but thankfully we made it through relatively unscathed.

One of my favorite parts was the slide show that was created by his teacher.  There were so many precious pictures all set to sweet music.  Might have brought a few tears to my eyes.



Then in came all five of the classes.  J's class was in red (well, the shirts were supposed to be red!).  As a room mom, I had the pleasure of tye-dyeing the shirts at home.  Say what?!  Yep, we got 20 white shirts for the kids and had to tye dye them all red.  Needless to say, we need a little more practice before tackling such a bold project.  How 'bout blue for us rookies?  If you mess it up, they come out light blue.  Or what about orange?  If those don't turn out great, they just end up light orange.  But RED!  If you don't have a clue about tye-dyeing anything, be careful.  They will probably turn out pink!  So yes, my child was on the top row of the pink group.



Maybe that's why he looked so unenthused for the entire program!  Needless to say, no one will ever find Jackson Hays in a Broadway production of any kind. 

He does have a really sweet heart, though, and I loved it when he gave me these flowers as a thank you for helping out at his school all year.

We ended the program with everyone, yes everyone, doing A Tutie Ta!  If you don't know what that is, my youngest will be happy to demo for you any time.  Maddie is the real pro, though, and made sure that Memaw and Gigi were both doing it right.  Wish I would have had that on video!

After the show was over, we went into the cafeteria for some cookies and refreshments.  Side note: notice the small hand in front of Lila's body?  Big shout out to Corbin, one of J's best buddies, for that.  And his mother was the one taking the picture, so I couldn't move him out of the way!  Anyhow, I still love the group picture of us.

 

Little did I know that right before the show began, Jackson lost his 7th tooth!  This child is changing by leaps and bounds.  He can read anything, is a little math wizard, has had perfect citizenship for the year, learned to ride a bike and has now lost 7 teeth.  So very grown up.  Too much, almost:)

Cheers to a fantastic first year of school, Jackson.  You rocked it!



Cousins!

Last Friday we got some unexpected visitors.  Our cousins came to town!

We met them over at Gigi and Boom's pool and all the kids were so excited to see each other.  It's been at least a year and a half since they've seen one another and they've all grown and changed so much.

Bella happily pushed Lila on the swing...

and Hannah was so sweet with her, too.  She is definitely the "little mama" of the trio.  We used to think that these two looked alike...

                       but I'm not so sure now.  They are both precious, but in their own way now.
 



Let's hope it's not another year and a half before they get to see each other again.



These kids had way too much fun to wait that long!