We signed Colton up for basketball this year and his team-the Sharks- had their first game on Saturday. Colton did really good, especially being that he has never played basketball other than on our driveway and on the playground. He was ALL defense and I do mean all. =) Bless his heart, he was guarding his guy even when he should have been trying to get open so he could get the ball. We told him before the game that the most important things were to do your best and have fun, nothing else mattered. He did exactly that. My boy hustled and says he had a great time. We were very proud of him!! By the end of the game, the whole team was really getting the hang of it. They did great! I have to tell you that I love this league-Upward. It is a christian based organization. Everyone plays, the teams are balanced and each kid gets equal playing time. Each week the kids are given a bible verse to memorize and if they do it they get a green star for their jersey. Also, at the end of each game, the coaches give out a star for several different award categories...effort, defense, sportsmanship, offense and Christlikeness. Colton received a white star for Christlikeness. Right away he told me, "I got the best award." (It is certainly the one that is most important in life.) They prayed as a team before we left the gym. I love to see that...a group of 7 and 8 year old boys with their head bowed in prayer. Oh and at halftime, a woman shared a short and relevant story from the bible. Just Awesome!!
Praying...love it!!
Colton is so lucky that his grandparents want to cheer him on in everything he does.
Omi (Opi had to miss this one), Papa & Mammy
Colton and his two biggest fans!!
So proud of our bball player!
When we found out the team name was Sharks, Cooper got our swimming mask and said he would have to wear it to the games. This boy...Precious!!!
Our family sponsors a child through Compassion International. I love this organization! Their motto is "Releasing children from poverty through Jesus' Name." That is pretty awesome! The child we sponsor is 9 and his name is Juan Carlos. We always get excited when we get a letter from him. Recently we received two letters in one day. The first one was from Juan. The second was from his mom. It touched me so deeply to hear from her. She thanked us in her letter saying that the family Christmas gift we sent had come at just the right time since her husband had lost his job. I can only imagine what her struggles are.... How it must feel as a mom to need this help to provide the basic necessities for her children(they have 4, we only sponsor one). I can imagine the relief she must feel to know she will be getting that help each month. Compassion also sent a recent picture of her and Juan. I love the lesson we are teaching our boys with this wonderful organization. We usually have Colton read the letters to us(which have been translated for us)and we are a captive audience. It always leads us to great conversations about how fortunate we are and how good it feels to be helping Juan Carlos and his family. Juan always writes about his pets, his siblings and how he loves to play soccer. He also draws and colors cute pictures that come with his letters. These things makes him so relatable to my boys. My hope is that this small thing we do as a family will help teach my children to be compassionate in their lives. I am so glad there are organizations like Compassion out there!
Since I love the idea-I decided to link up with Jaime again for What I am loving Wednesday. Here goes:
This song "That's Important to Me" is my new favorite. I love the lyrics and the fact that the artists are a couple in real life. The line I am loving the most says this... "Havin' somebody to share my life, lovin' my husband and being a wife and the very best mother I can be...that's important to me." If you have a few minutes watch the video, it is very sweet. (I am not loving the overalls though. Yikes!)
I am also loving these slippers.Who doesn't love a little bling to go with their comfy pajama pants? They are by Yellow Box...my favorite brand of fun and blingy flip flops.
I have been wearing mine a lot lately so I chose not to take a picture of my not so fresh looking pair.
The thing I am loving the most is my baby's hair. It is strawberry blond(more red here lately), curly, crazy and perfect! It is the kind of hair you just have to run your fingers through...I LOVE IT! A friend of mine referred to it as "McDreamy" hair. If you are a Grey's Anatomy fan, you know that is a good thing. =) I kid you not when I tell you that no matter where we go, at least one random stranger will comment on his hair.
There was no school today...YAY!! I love being able to sleep in and take our time getting moving, especially on a Monday. Once we got going, we used the day off to try out a new place in town, The Jumpy Place. It was so much fun and it was a great set up for all ages. There were big bouncy houses and slides around the walls, cute playhouses and toddler toys in the middle, snacks and comfy couches. (Not that I can sit down when I am chasing an 18 month old) One of the best parts was that we could order pizza and have it delivered or you can even bring your own food in. We were able to take a break and eat some pizza and they were energized to go again. Carter was running everywhere. When he would get to the big kid stuff, Colton would help him out. He would help him get in and out of the slides and go down with him.Such a great big brother. Cooper would join in and play with them too. All three of my boys loved every minute and wore themselves out. We will definitely be going back soon!
Cooper being silly on his way down the slide
Their cousin/one of their favorite people Graham was there to play with them
Colton kept gettimg up on the top of stuff.
One last picture before we left. Carter was ready to go.
Colton's birthday started with a candle in his chocolate chip pancakes and being sang to at breakfast. He opened a few small gifts from us and we headed to his party.
He wanted to have his party at Laser Legend. This place is the perfect spot for an 8 year old to celebrate! The kids started off with video games, then played a game of laser tag, ate pizza, then played another game of Laser tag, ate birthday cake and then played more games. It was a huge success and so much fun !
Our family of five
The kids fixing to get their gear on and play laser tag!
Carter was so funny. He loved pretending to drive.
Colton had a great turnout! His amazing GRANDparents...
his 2 brothers,
5 cousins, (only Luke isn't pictured. Sorry Lukey)
and 6 good friends made it to the party.
Not to mention his great grandmother, aunts and uncles. ( Sorry, no pictures of them either.) He was on cloud nine! (Oh my gosh, next year he will be nine- that sounds really old! Oh wait-- I have a year to dwell on that.) We left the party and headed home to open presents. He got some great stuff and he loved it all!
That evening we took him to see Gulliver's Travels and just spent time together! We had such a great full day celebrating our birthday boy!
I have been married to my childhood sweetheart, who happens to be an amazing man, for 18 wonderful years. I am lucky enough to be able to stay at home and take care of (or chase) our 3 precious boys. This blog will be a place for me to keep you up to date on just how busy, crazy and full of fun my life can be. I wouldn't trade it for anything!!!
