Sports, Sports, Sports

 We spent our late summer on through to the fall watching Cai excel on the field, both for soccer and cross country. 

He had a new soccer coach this year which we sure didn't mind. Over 80 boys tried out so we were super excited that he made the JV team. He started most games and played in every game. He even scored 2 goals! We are so proud of his perseverance and hard work.

The cross country coach approached Cai and asked if he'd come run for their team as well. He had already cleared it with the soccer coach, and as long as it didn't interfere with the soccer season he was free to join practices and meets with he cross country team. He found a community he loved and another sport he is really good at! He began the season PRing nearly every early meet. By the end of the season his time made hime eligible for regionals and he came in second on his team! His PR for the 5K is 20.0006 min.

When Poppee came in a few weeks ago he started showing Cai some wrestling moves and is trying to talk him into trying out for that team...we shall see, ha!

August - Saying Goodbye To Summer

 

We celebrated Cai's 15th birthday. Birthday tradition gets them a breakfast with dad wherever they choose and often Krispy Kreme is the one.

This also meant Cai was able to get his permit. We now have our official 

4th teenage driver in the colony house.

Alethia is starting to get practice in pumping gas.

Our beloved Fluffy died in August. Our 9 year old chicken! We even saw the culprit! It was a hawk. He actually took out a couple of chickens before we were able to fully close in the ladies. But since we covered them up they have stayed safe and sound.

Rainy had a gig down in Myrtle Beach and took Zeke with her to grab some footage. 

I love that they love spending time together.

Jude, forever creating in the kitchen.

Zeke has really surprised us with his dedication to learning guitar. He now plays on the student worship team and practices for hours to perfect his parts. We love this creative outlet for him.

The kids finally started school the last week of August. 

Cai headed back to Rolesville High and took Alethia with him this year!

Jude is home in 7th and Zeke is home finishing up his senior year.

April

As we look back in the rearview mirror of april we see an end to Cai's track season, Jude's last soccer game, beautiful sunsets, and Rainy's Earth Day Festival gig, as we welcome lazy Sabbath days coming back into view!

 

March Recap

 March was probably the craziest month we've had in a WHILE! Josh and I played lots of music, we traveled out of the country, we celebrated our 22 year anniversary...all within one month! Not to mention all of the normal life things that occupy our time. We really try to make it a practice to live our lives with a lot of margin and white space, but sometimes things just happen to stack up and make for a super full month. So, although this is not a pace we want to try to figure out how to sustain, we certainly were filled up with the things the Lord allowed us to be a part of this month.

Here are a few pictures we want to remember this month before I go into all the details!

Easter with fam at Seven Marks Church was beautiful

We had a visit from Uncle Ray and he tagged along with us to soccer practices and a chapel service

Zeke has picked up guitar and been consistently practicing and asking for new things from Josh every day.

Cai made the track team at his school.

He runs the 1600 (1 mile) and has set a PR every track meet so far!

Jude decided to set up a lemonade stand at the park so he could make some money for some inline skates to play hockey. He may have gotten the Rolesville cops called on him (insert eye roll) and kicked out of the park, but not before a lady gave him her business card to an event she is part of at a local school. She told Jude they love kids and their ideas and would love for him to come set up a stand at the event!

I have been working on my garden area and Alethia had the best idea to set up some solar lights and I LOVE it! And guess what? I even have kale and romaine lettuce growing (from LAST YEAR!) that we made a salad with for dinner this week! There may be hope for the garden this year afterall

Our worship team wrote an original song for Easter this year.

You may remember me writing about the recording of it last month.

It released just in time for our church body to learn it so we could belt it out on Easter morning together. You can go stream it on all major music platforms by searching Seven Marks Worship.

February Milestones and Memories

 

Josh was supposed to run the Umstead Trail Marathon last year but had a knee injury and had to defer to this year. He said this was so much more difficult than the Richmond Marathon he did because of the trails. His goal was to make it in five hours. He crossed the finish line with 4 minutes to spare! I got to meet him at the finish line since it was local.

If you know Zeke at all you know that he always has to be working on some kind of project. His current project obsession is turning our basement into a workout room. He went to Home Depot and bought some supplies to finish walls and paint. He has spent hours down there cleaning it up and it really does look nice! Now, to save for some equipment!

The kids asked if they could invite some friends over for the Super Bowl. I absolutely LOVE when the house if full of teenagers and kids. And their friends have awesome moms who always come through with extra snacks and drinks to add to what we've got to feed the masses. I'm pretty sure Josh and I were the only ones that watched the first half, but by the half-time show came around the kids were into it. 

Cai got a haircut. Yup, you read that right. He hadn't had a haircut in probably seven (or more) years. I was shocked when he came and asked if he could cut it because it was starting to drive him crazy in his face, especially when he was playing sports. So I made an appointment (This one is kind of a big one. Mama ain't gonna be responsible for this cut!) and he went through with it. Smiles and all.

The final pictures were right after getting home after the haircut so the curls hadn't even taken form yet, but it is so curly and so cute! I love it. And he does too!

August

 The entire month of August was a complete blur. The transition of Cai back into the public school system was brutal. Not necessarily academically, but just the learning curve. Teachers, systems, technology, apps, communication, sports...everything. It took us a good couple of months to get to the point of feeling like the new normal wasn't going to kill us. Cai has done a phenomenal job through it all. He also turned 14, we can't forget the birthday!

While all the older kids were at camp we had a rare hang with the Mayhugh's. Life has pulled us in different circles where we rarely get to see each other so it was good to connect with them for an evening.

I also had a 24 hour getaway with a few close friends at the beach. Pam was house sitting and invited Martha, Magan and I to join for an evening. To just breathe and be. It was BEAUTIFUL!

A few months back Rainy came and asked if she and Harper could take a roadtrip up north. I mean, you only live once. And those girls are much braver than I ever was. Piper and I lived vicariously through their adventures as we followed them from state to state via Life 360. They budgeted, they planned, the camped in their car, they went to concerts, they traveled to 13 different states and came back exhausted, refreshed and full of stories.

And while Rainy was away we added a new family member who could FINALLY spend the night and hang with the boys since Rainy was out of the house, haha!