Football Fever

It is the fall semester, so we are ready for some football! The preparation actually started back in July with Chance teaching Cade how to draw football plays.



Then, the first week of August was football camp at College Station High School. Elementary students got to attend in the morning, and it was good, sweaty fun! Cade LOVED having Daddy as his coach at some of the stations!



On the last day of camp, Annie and I watched for awhile. We saw Cade's friend Caroline (another coach's kid), and she was happy to have another girl to play with!



Here is the best Daddy/Coach there is!



After the first week of two a days, the Cougars had an inner-squad scrimmage on a Saturday morning. We went to support the team, but it was insanely hot, so the kids spent most of the time in the weight room.



The following Friday was the first real scrimmage, and we actually made it into the stands that time. This was Annie's first game this season, and while she had fun, I think it will be very tough to keep her entertained in the stands! Since it was a scrimmage, she could run around wherever she wanted this week. Cade has gotten to know several of the Cougar football players, so he was pretty content to watch the game and find his favorite players on the field. Of course, his all time favorite person on the field is Daddy!



We get to go to our first real Cougar football game next week, and I "think" we are ready!

Summer Sickness

I don't usually post about not-so-great things that happen to our family, but the focus of this is mainly appreciation for the kids' wonderful grandparents who came to my rescue a few weeks ago.

Annie got sick during the night on a Sunday going into Monday. She has a bad habit of sticking her hands so far in her mouth that she gags herself, so one throw up didn't really faze us. But when it continued throughout the night, we knew we had one sick little girl. Poor thing just did not feel good at all, so I knew I would need to spend the whole day taking care of her. Nana and Papa came to the rescue and came to get Cade so he could still have a fun summer day. He played lots of sword fight on the Wii with Nana and they even took him to karate. Here is sweet Annie when she felt well enough to eat some applesauce later on Monday.



The next day was our outdoor water fun day. We had a great time (see post below), but Cade started complaining of a headache while he was jumping on the trampoline. I got worried that he hurt himself, so I made an appointment with the pediatrician. She assured us that he was fine, but suffering from a viral headache that was going around. She said that kids were crying and screaming from the pain and would even throw up because it hurt so bad. I was glad she said all of this, because it all ended up being true. Poor Cade was in so much pain and spent the entire rest of the day in bed. It was awful. I did take a picture of him, but it is too sad to put on here. The next morning, though, he was completely fine! We were so thankful! The kids and I went on a walk around the neighborhood and had a relaxing day at home.

Thursday was supposed to be packed with errands as we got ready for Mama to start going back to work the next week. Unfortunately, Round 3 of the summer sickness had other plans. By mid-morning, my head hurt so bad that I just could not take care of the kids. Nana came to the rescue again and picked them up. Both kids had a fun day with Nana and Papa, and we got this cute picture of Annie sitting on the box of worms that they are raising.



I would not wish this illness on anyone. I have honestly never been in that much pain or felt that terrible. Thursday night was my mom's turn to come to the rescue. I did not want them in the house on Friday because I did not want to infect anyone, so Annie had a fun splash day at school, and Cade went to Chuck E Cheese and Grand Station.



Thankfully, by late Friday afternoon I was able to get out of bed and eat a little something. I was really glad to play with the kids and my mom that night! It was actually good that Chance was working so much because he stayed away from all of the sickness. It is hard for me to ask for help, but I am so incredibly thankful for our wonderful parents and all of their help while we were sick. It truly takes a village to raise kids, and we are part of a great one.

Good thing we were all well, because our next event was the first Cougar football scrimmage!

One Last Water Day

Our summer bucket list included a water fight in the backyard, so the end of the summer was a perfect time to do it :) I, of course, added an outdoor craft to our plan, and Chance helped us get everything set up one Sunday night.

Getting the new water sprinkler set up was really fun for everyone!



We played outside longer than we expected, so somehow the kids ended up getting baths in storage containers on the back porch. Good thing we have a tall fence!



After a day off for round 1 of summer sickness (see another post), we were ready for our morning of fun!

First, the kids did a little painting. Some paint got on the canvas (old bed sheet), and a lot got on their bodies.



Then it was time for the water sprinkler! This little contraption was the best $8 we have ever spent.



Some bubbles, a little swinging, a little watermelon, and a little clean up, and it was time to head inside. I sure love these kids.

Day Trips with Great Friends

We are packing as much summer fun into these last few weeks as we can! Last week, we met Kelsey, Natalie, and Henry at the Houston Children's Museum for an afternoon of fun crowd fighting. Despite the craziness, it was wonderful to see our friends! Cade and Natalie have been friends since they were 6 weeks old, but they are getting to the age where they are less interested in playing with each other. Good thing each one has a sibling! Cade and Henry palled around, while Natalie and Annie spent a little time together. Kelsey and I just chased them all around. Henry just turned 4 years old, and it is such a blessing to watch those two kiddos grow up.



Later that week, my friends Lorinda and Dan were nice enough to take us out on their boat to Gibbons Creek Reservoir. I have never heard of this lake, and it is wonderful! Calm, close by, and a perfect spot for fishing and boating. If I remembered how to get there, I would have us go back!

I almost asked for us to go home when we pulled into the parking lot and saw this:



Lorinda assured me that they have never seen anything in the water but fish, so on we went! Beth and her boys went with us as well, and all 3 boys absolutely loved the whole experience! Each boy had a turn driving the boat, and we also took turns riding on the tube. Dan was a very nice driver and none of us ever fell off. It was a great afternoon with great friends.



The day ended with a bit of an adventure when the boat died. First, the men tried to fix it. After that didn't work, Dan pulled the boat behind him while swimming and Lorinda and I paddled. After what seemed like forever, we finally made it back to the pier!



Thank you so much, Lorinda and Dan, for sharing your boat and friendship with us! This smile was brought to you by Summer Hours

Enjoying our campus community

Although we never saw this as our life plan, Chance and I love living in our college town! I love the spirit of Aggieland enough for both of us, and we both love the size of College Station. We took the kids to campus and to Research Park last month.

We all love feeding the ducks at Research Park, and this was our first time to take Annie! We took Cade when he was about this age, and he sat very calmly on a rock and had a snack while Chance and I played with Holly and fed ducks. His sister had a very different approach! First of all, obviously strollers are meant for pushing, not riding.



It took us awhile to find some hungry ducks, but once we did, our bread was gone pretty quick! We also fed turtles, which I love to do.



Annie is big time into the "do it myself" phase, so she spent quite a bit of time trying to get bread out of the bag. And of course, she had a squeezie.



Our trip to campus was mainly to go to the Apple store to use a gift card. We learned that it is an Apple store that does not accept Apple gift cards. Really? Thankfully, I convinced the fam to just enjoy our time on campus and see the Kyle Field construction (freaking amazing) and the MSC.



While I have some doubts that Kyle Field will be ready in time for the first home game, I have faith in Aggie miracles, and can't wait to see campus without construction mess all around!