the start of mason's birthday celebrations

February 28 we celebrated our new 7 year old. 

Before the weekend, we got to celebrate at school.  

To see him get called to the front and listen as his teacher prays over him is something that will forever be etched in my heart. It wasn't new to me.  The same thing was done with Taylor.  But it doesn't keep my eyes from tearing up each time as if it was the first. 

He loves that sweet teacher of his.  And we do too.  So glad we won't be done with her YET.

 

 And then Saturday was his actual birthday, and the first indoor soccer game of the season.

Soccer games, a friend party and cupcakes all in one day...the best.

So the only thing that wasn't the best about this day was that I threw up the entire night before.  It started in the Walmart parking lot the night before (sorry to the person who pulled into that parking spot after us) and continued into the wee morning hours.

Yeah, not good.  An excited boy, cupcakes to still be made, a party to still be decorated for.  

I begged him to let us call the bowling alley and maybe we could throw something together there and Dad could supervise.  I begged him to move it to the next day and we'd just do our friend and family party back to back.  But the sadness on his face was too much to handle. 

7 year olds are SO not okay with a cancelled birthday party.  And I don't blame him.

Dave kept telling him he could handle it all.  And I know he could.  But like my normal self, I had left a lot to be finished up at the last minute.  And how awful to be stuck in a bedroom while his friend party continued without me.  I prayed hard.

Every hour that passed I felt better and better.  And with a few extra hands to help, we pulled it off.

Tie Dye Party up next!!

fall favorites

I'm not really sure where fall went.  But at least we got to enjoy a few days of it before winter hit. 

I'm not complaining though.  Fall and winter are both my favorite!

Here's a little look back at a few of our favorite fall things...

The pumpkin patch...

K-State Football...

 He was in such distress because he couldn't see Willy the Wildcat.  He didn't understand why he wouldn't just come to where he wanted him.

Soccer...

This is Dave's 3rd or 4th time coaching Mason's soccer team, between indoor and outdoor.  It is SO much fun watching this kid play! It's crazy how far they come after just a few seasons of playing. 

Oh and we had a birthday!

And now there's snow on the ground, the fireplace is going nearly everyday the last week and Christmas music is playing already.

 I think Christmas decorations may be going up soon too!

a big month of soccer

 We have had a blast watching Mason play soccer for the past 6 weeks.

 Dave is coaching again which makes it even more fun.  His patience with those 5 year olds is pretty outstanding.  At any given practice you could probably see over half the team doing something completely different than what they were supposed to be doing. It was quite comical at times.

 We went an entire indoor soccer season scoring zero goals this spring.  But we have made quite the turn around in outdoor.  Although they don't really keep score and announce a winner, I'm pretty sure they won all but one game.  And they scored lots of goals! It was especially fun to see a handful of different kids score...it was pure joy watching their reactions!

I'd say that many times games are one based on the goalie. And this particular game, it wasn't too hard to score on this goalie who got distracted and left the goalie box.  His foot even got stuck in the net and he couldn't get it out when he saw the other team coming to score.  It was a little sad and a lot hilarious.

 And while we're on the topic of soccer, we also made quite the trip to Indianapolis to watch our nephew play in a soccer tournament.  With a sister fighting cancer, his world has kind of been turned upside down.  He and Dave have a special bond and Dave really wanted to support him at this tournament, since it was only 11 hours away...as opposed to 16 to their home in Michigan.

The trip was originally just going to be Dave and I.  We didn't think it sounded one bit fun to have kids ride for 11 hours just for a day and a half of soccer.  But plans fell through and after our plans changed 15 thousand times in the few days before, we finally decided to just pack them all up and take them along.  To be honest, it wasn't one bit fun.  Until we were out of the car.  We used to travel so well, even with a 3 and 4 year old on an 18 hour trip to Florida.  But this baby of ours does NOT like to travel.  So he has decided to make us all know about it.

  But as awful as the car ride was, it was worth it to see this guy play soccer and hang out with him and his mom for a while.  Unfortunately, the weather caused the tournament to be cancelled on Sunday, so we only saw his 2 games on Saturday.  Such a bummer too, because being the #1 team out of Michigan in that age range, I'm pretty sure they could have won the whole thing!

 

 Mason has loved playing soccer just like Jeremy.  When he scores goals, the first person he wants to call is Jeremy or Uncle Jason.  And this past game, with his 3 goals, Jeremy taught him that he had a "hat trick".  Mason thinks "hat tricks" are pretty cool now.