We spent Thanksgiving with Darrin's family in Kentucky. It rotates almost every year and this year it was at his aunt's house. We have hosted it twice, but our house is just too far to ask everyone to drive. We enjoyed visiting with family. Unfortunately, I did a terrible job taking pictures. I managed to take a few.
Before kids, I never understood why people let their kids play and not eat at family functions. Now, I get it. They are too excited and it's not a battle worth fighting. This was basically Carson's Thanksgiving dinner....a pie of cake. He was happy about it though! He washed it down with a brownie.
The food was delicious. After the meal, Pa, Miles, and Darrin were clearly in a food coma.
Carson spent his afternoon working on the back patio...most of the time by himself. His cousin, Emma, joined him for a little while.
He came in once b/c he was cold, but went back out as soon as I put on his coat.
I figured something out about my family recently. Miles and Darrin enjoy downtime.
They can spend hours laying around the house watching TV and playing video games. Carson and I cannot. He needs to an outlet for his energy. I'm going to try to be considerate of this going forward b/c I can totally relate.
I'm sad that I didn't get any pictures of the boys with Granny & Pa, but I did manage one with Aunt Crystal.
Miles and Carson are the only boys in the family, except one much older cousin, so he didn't have much to do all day. He was a trooper and mostly spent his day watching football. Granny brought a bunch of old pictures, so that was entertaining for everyone. It was a really good idea and there were lots of laughs. She let everyone take any of the pictures that they wanted, which was so nice.
As we were pulling out of the driveway to go home Carson said, "I so hungee (hungry)" so we stopped at McDonald's and both boys ate.
I ended my night with some Black Friday shopping with Crystal. This is our 4th year to go. We never have a big agenda, but it's fun to get out and join the crowds. We rolled back home at 2:30am and both of us were completely exhausted. Another Thanksgiving in the books!
I've accumulated quite a few random pictures that I haven't blogged about, so I thought I would share them in this quick post with a just a few words.
Darrin recently spoke at an FCA fundraiser event. Carson insisted on going up there with him, but he got shy quickly and asked to be put down.
Darrin and I started working out at 9 Round over the summer and we are loving it. Even though we don't usually work out at the same time, it's fun to compare our workouts.
Since it's only a 30 minute workout, the boys can come along sometimes when we don't have another option. They like to watch and imitate later.
I moved into a new office (same building) at work recently and it is great. It's very private and I can get tons of work done.
We bought Miles' teachers some t-shirts just as a happy and then wore them on the same day without planning it. So, they took a pic with Miles and sent it to me. He is having an excellent year with them.
Miles and I went to eat by ourselves a couple weeks ago. He choose Genghis Grill. He was really happy about all the shrimp he piled in his bowl.
The same night, Darrin went out with Carson. Carson chose Taco Bell. We didn't intentionally plan one on one time with them, b/c it was more of a schedule thing, but it was good for them nonetheless.
Two of Miles' baseball teammates also play football, so he went to watch their game. He loves football and really wants to play, but we make him pick one sport per season and so far he's stuck with baseball.
I started reading The Strong-Willed Child by James Dobson. I hope it helps me understand Carson's little personality. The book is very affirming b/c it talks about the difference in some kids from birth. It explains how more or harsher discipline is not what is needed. So far my biggest takeaway is that you can't pick every battle with a strong-willed child, but when you decide that one is worth the fight you have to stand firm and "win decisively". I think I had already figured that out, but it's good to hear that you can't pick every battle even though it's really tempting for the sake of discipline.
Miles is playing travel basketball this year. It's really just a basketball team that plays outside of our town, with no major travel and not an extensive schedule. It's several players from his baseball team and a couple other kids. He is very, very excited about it and confident with his skills, which is much different from baseball.
We are all excited to have Darrin at home at night now that volleyball season is over.
He's really cute when he sleeps :)
We've been busy wrapping up volleyball around here. Here's how the end of a great season went down. Last Thursday, Carson went to spend the weekend with Aunt Crystal, Uncle Steve, Olivia, and Ava, so Darrin, Miles, and I could road trip to the conference tournament in Pensacola, FL.
Darrin picked Miles up early from school on Thursday, so he could ride the bus with the team. He had to miss his first two basketball games, which he was very upset about, but we knew he would love the trip (and he did!). They spent Thursday night in the hotel, while I stayed at home another night and drove down separately. I had a work trip Monday through Wednesday, so I needed another day at home.
Darrin's parents and I left early Friday morning to get there by the 4pm game.
Their shirts say "Coach's Mom" and "Coach's Dad". I think they were a little excited too.
After being ranked preseason 10th, they finished regular season 4th, with a conference record of 12-4. Four of the girls received conference honors (more than any other team), one received Libero of the Year, and Darrin received Coach of the Year! At the start of the game, one of his players also received the Champion Scholar award which goes to the one player that had the highest GPA of all volleyball players in the conference. She's amazing on and off the court.
It's been an amazing year, definitely one we'll never forgot. I've never experienced a team where each player knew their role and did it with pride, whether that meant a lot of playing time or a little. They support each other like no other.
It was a stressful game, but in the end we won 15-12 in the 5th. This team is the first to represent Union at the Gulf South Conference tournament since going division II. They were a history making team.
I am so glad that we were able to be there for this win.
These three seniors have endured hard seasons to get to this one and they have left a legacy. They worked so hard as players and leaders to accomplish what they have. They have a special place in our hearts.
Happy girls celebrating a win.
Winning meant we would have to face the undefeated 1 seed. Also the home team and reigning champs.
Carson lived his best life at Aunt Crystal's house. He was so happy to go and she said he was great all weekend.
We've had some trouble with him and babysitters over the last couple months b/c he has gotten so upset when we left, but he's more than happy to stay with family :)
Unfortunately, our season ended yesterday. We battled hard in the first set, but came up short and then lost the next two. The ref missed a huge call in the first set that would have won it for us. Darrin is never one to blame the refs, but I think he will always wonder what could have been. The first thing he said to me after the game was, "Aren't you glad I didn't tackle that ref?"
Darrin took the girls to a nice restaurant to celebrate an awesome season. We've never been so sad for a season to end. There were tears and lots of choking them back. When you see what's possible, it's hard to let it go.
Darrin is on his way to get Carson now. I am more than ready to see him.
It will take some time for both of us to get over this season, but we are looking forward to some much needed family time.
Since I haven't been able to blog lately (busy keeping my head above water around here) I thought I would share 5 things that have been going on around here in the last week.
1) So this happened. Darrin's team clinched a spot in the conference tournament for the first time ever since going Division II. They are having a great season and we can't wait to see how it ends. In actuality, he probably doesn't want it to end, but I'm getting to that place. The boys miss him and it's starting to show. We are all tired, but we are still excited to see what they can accomplish!
2) The boys got hair cuts. Not quite as noteworthy, but they were sooooo needed. Miles is really starting to look grown up.
Carson was so happy during the hair cut. I don't know what got into him, but I wish I had the secret. He was chatting and smiling the whole time.
3) Miles had a Veteran's Day program at school. Every fourth grade teacher picked two students to recite a poem as a group. He was picked from his class. He was so nervous, but he memorized the rather lengthy poem on the first day and has been saying it around the house for weeks. He nailed it! He's in the blue & white shirt in the middle of the picture.
Two of his baseball teammates were also chosen from their classes.
4) Darrin's team had their last two home games this past week, so they celebrated senior night. He has three very special seniors. We will miss them and their families.
Abbie...
Audrey...
Kristen...
We had probably the best crowd on Friday night that we've had since we've been at Union. When Darrin first took the job, the games were completely dead. Even the parents rarely came to the games. There was no music, no concessions, and nobody cared. It was so neat to see such an electric crowd last weekend. Such a change! We were ranked third and the team we played was ranked second. They had beaten us earlier in the year, but we won this time! It was such a fun win.
Carson loved seeing Buster the Bulldog at the game on Saturday.
On Saturday, we had a big party at our house for the seniors. The parents rented a tent, so we could have it at our house. With a roster of 21 girls, I knew our house was not big enough. It was a really chilly night, but the tent actually made it bearable.
Our garage got a major cleaning too. We set up the gifts, video, pics, and served the food in there. We also had a patio heater in the garage and it made it nice and toasty in there.
Two of their former coaches came back to see them too. It was a fun night...and then I was exhausted for the rest of the weekend, including my holiday on Monday.
5) I love fall at our house. Even though the high today was in the twenties, it's still fall and the leaves are beautiful.
