What I learned being a sports mom for 18 months straight

 It all started like a normal spring. But what started as a normal quickly grew into a whirlwind of sports craziness.

In March of 2015, all three boys played baseball. Timothy played tee ball and the big boys played kid pitch. Curtis was the assistant coach for both teams. Overall, it was a great season! But with three players on two different teams, it was for sure crazy!

During baseball season, in mid April, all four kids started summer league swimming. We were blessed in that there was a homeschool practice, allowing us to have less conflicts with our busy baseball schedule.

In June, during the height of busyness with swimming, Elizabeth started playing volleyball for a homeschool team.

The three big kids had an amazing swim season and went on to swim in the State Games of Texas, which was held in early August.

By the time swim season wrapped up, volleyball season was full steam ahead. Through the organization that did volleyball, we found out about basketball. Micah and Benjamin started going to skills clinics, decided to join the team, and began twice a week practices in October.

In September, Timothy began playing flag football.

Volleyball season came to an end and Elizabeth decided to also play basketball. Two weeks after her last volleyball game, she played in her first basketball game.

Never before had we played a winter sport like basketball. But we were loving the organization, the teams, the families and the coaches. The homeschool state tournament was at the end of February, and baseball started again the next week.

Then, we basically had a repeat, where swimming started during baseball season, and swimming went so well that we swim even after the regular season.

By July I was in full on meltdown mode. While the three big kids were at camp, I cancelled a trip to see my family in Oklahoma and took a much needed mental break.

Since mid July, we haven't done any sports, aside from the occasional basketball skills clinic. As I'm gearing up for Micah and Benjamin starting basketball and Elizabeth joining a club swim team, here's what I've learned.

• Just because there are 24 hours in a day doesn't mean I need to fill every waking hour.
• Saying no to something good is hard.
• Sometimes when you say no to a good thing it opens up the opportunity for a GREAT thing.
• Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD.
• It's okay if Timothy doesn't play a sport this fall. He's okay with it, why am I struggling?!
• When you are doing sports non stop, something else in life suffers. It might be homeschooling. It might be the house. It might be your marriage. All the above were effected by the amount of sports we participated in.
• I need to take time for me. Time to exercise, to eat well, to rest. 
• It's easy to gain weight when your main focus is getting the kids from one event to another, homeschooling and church.
• Kids will watch and see where your priorities are. Make sure your priorities are the good things.
• I do my best when I'm busy. But I also need an occasional recharge. 
• Homeschooling CAN be done in the car! But it does take a lot of planning.
• Audibles, through Amazon, is a life saver, as are books on CD from the library.

I'm very, very thankful for the opportunities that my kids have had over the past 18 months. They have learned more than just sports. I am thankful for the coaches that poured into their lives, motivating and encouraging them. I truly believe my kids have stronger character because of sports. Our family will continue to participate in various sporting activities. I'm very excited to see them continue to grow as athletes and individuals. And I'm hopeful that I can take the lessons the I've learned and become an better sports mom.

A new year

 At the beginning of each school year, I chose a verse to encourage us as we prepare for a new year.

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

for gaining wisdom and instruction;

for understanding words of insight;

for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,

doing what is right and just and fair;

for giving prudence to those who are simple,

knowledge and discretion to the young—

let the wise listen and add to their learning,

and let the discerning get guidance—

for understanding proverbs and parables,

the sayings and riddles of the wise.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, 

but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Prov. 1:1-7

May the Lord bless our efforts as we seek understanding, insight and knowledge. For we know that the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord, and only a fool despises instruction and wisdom.

A new year

 At the beginning of each school year, I chose a verse to encourage us as we prepare for a new year.

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

for gaining wisdom and instruction;

for understanding words of insight;

for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,

doing what is right and just and fair;

for giving prudence to those who are simple,

knowledge and discretion to the young—

let the wise listen and add to their learning,

and let the discerning get guidance—

for understanding proverbs and parables,

the sayings and riddles of the wise.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, 

but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Prov. 1:1-7

May the Lord bless our efforts as we seek understanding, insight and knowledge. For we know that the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord, and only a fool despises instruction and wisdom.

Month of LOVE Day 14

 I love making a big deal out of little, ordinary days. I love how my kids expect it, but also really enjoy it and are thankful for these over the top celebrations.

Before I left for GA, the boys told me that they were going to miss celebrating Valentine's Day together as a family. After our plane landed in Houston, we headed to dinner with our friend Morgan. On our way home, we stopped at Wal Mart so that I could stock up on a few supplies.

And Monday morning, just a day late, we celebrated Valentine's Day together.

Christmas Cards Pictures

I love Christmas Card pictures.  I love planning what the kids will wear, picking a theme, having fun, sending them out.... I just love it.  I also love receiving Christmas Cards.  This year, however, I will not be sending out Christmas cards.  But when a moment of inspiration hit, I just had to take Christmas card pictures for the non existent cards I'm not sending out.

 

I can't even... how CUTE are these four?!

And then, I just had to take a walk down memory lane and remember some of the other adorable Christmas care pictures we've sent out since becoming a family of six.

 (2010, this picture was taken by a friend)

 (2010, I took this one)

 (2011, I took this one)

 (2012, I took this one and had editing help from a friend)

 (2013, this one was professionally taken)

I wonder how long it will take me to run out of ideas for these. :-) 

A very Aggie Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgivng we didn't go to Kansas.  We didn't go to Oklahoma City.  We didn't even go to Wichita Falls.  Since we'll be traveling a lot in December, we chose to stay home and celebrate a very Aggie Thanksgiving.

Our celebration started with a trip to Student Bonfire.  Since the the collapse of Bonfire in '99, any Bonfire has been sponsored by students, off campus.  Curtis was able to attend Bonfire while it was still on campus, but the kids and I had never whitnessed this Aggie tradition.  The day before Thanksgiving, we loaded up the van, joined by one of our favorite Aggies, Callie, and headed out to witness Bonfire.

 

  At 8pm, we were all ready!  Then, and announcer came on the loudspeaker and told us that they would be starting late, allowing time for people who'd been stuck in traffic.  At this point, the kids were SO ready to get this show on the road.  But, like the troopers they are, they hung in there till the speaker started at about 8:30.  We then all participated in a few Yells.  Then, at about 9pm, the red pots lit Bonfire.  It was incredible!  Well worth the wait.

 

 Though we anticipated getting stuck in traffic on our way home, we did NOT expect to be in stand still traffic for an hour and a half!  Turns out we were in the "Sit in your car and watch Bonfire line" not the "Head home with sleep kids" line.

 Early Thanksgiving morning, we headed out to volunteer at a local Turkey Trot.  We had a blast! With all the races Curtis and I have done, they've turned into little racing experts.

 After watching the parade and eating breakfast, we loaded up and headed to the destination of our Thanksgiving meal.

 Yes!  We went to Kyle Field and tailgated for Thanksgiving!  We join the RUF tailgate.  Our RUF minister and his family were there and we greatly enjoyed our time with them.

 Our Thanksgiving FEAST!!!  You name it, Ben grilled it to perfection.

Though we had a great time tailgating, it was rather eventful.  Timothy ate too much, then played football.  He got sick.  Benjamin joined some college students in a game of Ultimate.  He got a bloody nose.  Micah dropped a huge rock on his toe.  He'll be losing that toenail in the future.  And I got smacked in jaw by Timothy's head.  Curtis and Elizabeth made it through unscathed.

 Even though it wasn't a traditional Thanksgiving, I was reminded how much I truly do have to be thankful for.  I have an amazing husband, who lovingly goes along with all my crazy plans.  I have four healthy, beautiful children, who are growing in grace and are always up for an adventure.  I have an amazing church family with whom I can celebrate holidays and not feel lonely, missing my real family.  I have parents and sisters who love me, call me, and share in the fun I'm having, even if it is hundreds of miles away.  I'm a part of a great community.  But more than all that, I am loved with an everlasting, saving love.  

Summer Lovin' : Swim Team

This summer, the one thing that consumed more hours than anything else was swim team.  Elizabeth, Micah and Benjamin swam on the Bryan Barracuda swim team for the second summer.  We loved every minute of it!

Elizabeth aged up into the 9 and 10 division.  We knew this would be a big jump for her.  Last summer, she had been at the top of her division, bringing home ribbons and medals after every meet.  This year, though her times improved quite impressively from last year, she wasn't bringing home the ribbons and the medals.  She wasn't put on the "A" relay.  It was hard for her!  She is, by nature, very competitive.  This summer, she was able to learn the value of competing with herself and for the team, not necessarily for the awards.  We watcher her set her eyes on a goal and work her hind end off till she achieved her goal.  She also learned that she and Micah can push each other to be each others biggest competition.  But then they also have to be each others biggest supporters.  We were do proud of her when she qualified to swim at Invitationals, in every stroke.  She had to work hard to make it, but she did it!  She also learned how to swim the 100 IM, and swam it beautifully at Regionals.  

 Last year wasn't Micah's year in the pool.  He brought home a handful of ribbons through the year, never won a medal, didn't qualify for Invitationals, and was never but on "A" relay.  He, like his sister, is by nature competitive, but we really didn't see his intense competitive nature till this spring in baseball.  Suddenly, something clicked for Micah and he turned into quite the swimmer!  We were all shocked when in the first meet of the season, he won 1st place in the breast stroke.  The little boy who rarely placed last year was placing in everything he swam!  It was exciting and encouraging, but also a challenging life lesson.  This summer, Micah learned how to be a gracious winner, how to encourage those who aren't as successful and how to not be an annoying competitor, but rather a motivating one.  At Invitationals, he DQed in his best race.  It was a huge disappointment, since he would have placed.  But again, he learned a valuable lesson, how to press on from that kind of discouraging swim, and not let it effect his attitude.  I'm pretty sure all these life lessons aren't fully in effect and we'll have to continue encouraging him.  But I look forward to seeing how he continues to mature as a young man.

 

Benjamin also aged up this year, swimming with 7 and 8 year olds.  He has a terrible swim birthday, and was the youngest 7/8 year old on the team.  Luckily for Benjamin, he has enough confidence to make up for his bad swim birthday.  He hit the pool this summer with determination and with a competitive drive.  We were pleasantly surprised when he qualified to swim every stroke at Invitationals.  Though he didn't always have a sweet, trainable attitude, he did exactly what his coaches asked of him.  And when he saw improvements in his time, he learned that pushing yourself hard is worth it.  At the end of the regular season, Benjamin was given the  Most Dedicated Barracuda award.  Benjamin finished the swim season knowing that not only is he a good swimmer, but that he can become and awesome swimmer when he listens to those around him.  By the end of the season, Benjamin, the youngest in his age division, was swimming on the "A" relay. 

After the regular season was over, we swam at Invitationals.  Each of the kids placed in at least one race (Benjamin placed in two of his races!).  With how well they were continuing to swim, we decided to not end our season, and started training for TAAF (TX Amateur Athletic Federation).  Because of their ages, and the large number of swimmers, they had to swim in a Regional Meet and the top three swimmers from each race would advance to state.  Micah and Benjamin each swam in three races and qualified for state in all three races!!  Elizabeth was amazing at Regionals.  I've never seen her swim so well!  Unfortunatly, though she swam to Personal Bests, she didn't place in the top three.  Despite that, we couldn't be more proud of any of our swimmers!!  They all worked very hard and had a great season!

Micah and Benjamin swam very well at state!  Neither of them placed, but both swam well and we were thrilled that they made it as far as they did.

I am definitely becoming a sports mom, who sees a high value and life lessons in having your children compete in sports.  I love that they win and can learn how to do that in a gracious way.  I love when they lose and learn how to move past that.  I love when the have good practices and see how strong God's made them.  I love when the have bad practices and need me to encourage them.  I love seeing their eyes light up when they achieve a personal goal.  I love when they still need me to hug them after a bad swim.  I genuinely look forward to seeing how God uses sports in my children's lives.  

We can't wait till next year when all four of the kiddos will be swimming for the Barracudas!

8 years

8 years ago, I started this blog.

My, how much has changed since then.

Our family looked something like this 8 years ago...

And now we look something like this...

While doing lawn work earlier this week, I caught myself think back to how different life looks these days.  I don't have a baby in the house.  I'm not tied to the house with nap schedules and nursing schedules.  I can say "get in the van!" and know that they all will and more than likely, they'll all have shoes on.  We don't have potty accidents.  I don't feel like I'm as anxious of a mommy as I used to be.  I get to have interesting and entertaining conversations with my children.

And while a lot of these changes are good, there are some that aren't necessarily bad, but are challenging in their own way.  My kids have opinions that they readily share with me.  I'm responsible for the three older children's education.  The hurts and sadness and fears that big kids face are real, not as imagined as the fears of my toddlers.

I'm so in love with this stage of motherhood!!  I love seeing the people God is growing my toddlers and babies up to be.  I love that even though they're becoming their own little people, they're still my kids.  They still need me, want me around, sign "I love you!" from the outfield, get a little teary when I won't be around.  I really do feel like I might be in one of the best stages of parenting.

And when the days are long because I don't have a napper and my kids don't go to bed till almost 9, I will remind myself of that.  Because I know it's only by God's grace that we've made it this far!

Bluebonnets through the years

 2005

 2006

2007 

2008 

2009

2010 

2011 

2012 

 2013

2014