Fort Building

The weather has been pretty mild and the boys have taken advantage of it by hanging outside and building forts. Annie has enjoyed all of the outside play time too! 

I was super impressed by their work! 

What's crazy is that a few days after they built all of these, a huge flooding rain came through. The forts were halfway under water and when the flood receded they were still standing! That's some serious fort work! 

Party with Elaina

Kindergarten Christmas (or should I say "winter") party with Elaina:)

Indoor Soccer

Cade finished his first season of indoor soccer with several of his buds. It was a lot of fun and little commitment. My kind of off season sport! Good times! 

Last Year of Thirties

Happy 39th birthday, Bobby! A little lunch at Acapulco and a family dinner at home:)

Chicago

Bobby and I had a great weekend getaway to Chicago. We usually go in the summer time but this year his work related trip was in December. It was quite cold but we had a fun time doing ice skating while we were there. Well, I had a fun time...Bobby was all Mr. Gumby Ankles and could hardly stand on his skates. Yay for ONE thing I'm better at than Bobby:)

The Park Where Dreams Are Made

I'm not talking about Disney World. I'm talking about Cooperstown, NY where baseball players' dreams come true! Cade had the opportunity to travel to the park for the annual 12 year old tournament that is hosted for teams from all over the nation throughout the summer. Only Bobby and Cade made the trip because the thought of riding in a car for 18 hours with the rest of everyone else made me feel nauseated. It was some good father/son bonding! 

The MAD Mayhem

One of the big things to do was to collect pins from all of the teams represented. This is Cade and his teammate Blake looking through their wares.

All of the boys and coaches stayed together in dorm style housing. I'm pretty positive that this thrilled Bobby to no end.:)

Cade put the perfect swing on a pitch and rounded the bases for a homer. It was surely one that he'll never forget! 

Grandma and Grandpa made the trip too and they were there to see every swing and pitch. Talk about dedication! 

How cute is this shirt my mom found? I know she sported it proudly! 

There was a little down time too and Cade and Bobby and some of his teammates went to the Baseball Hall of Fame. There was a ton of really cool stuff to look at. I think Bobby was way more into it than Cade since he's had more time to fall in love with baseball and it's greatest players.

Overall the team did really well finishing out 19th of 104 teams. I consider that pretty remarkable. Most of all there were memories made to last a lifetime! 

Thirteenth Year Partypalooza

Cade's annual Partypalooza got a little nutso this year when all day swimming became a washout when a swath of rain the size of Australia rolled in. It didn't stop the swimming totally. There was still wet fun to be had. 

 There's always a jumping picture. For years now. And it's usually the same crowd of boys...the regulars. This year a few more were added in along with the boys that have been friends for as long as my mind can remember. 

 Because Bobby and I are both obviously completely insane, we borrowed our friend Zach to help us transport all of these crazies to downtown Franklin where we went to see The Avengers in the quaint Franklin Theater. We didn't lose anyone so that was good. 

After that we stuffed their faces with pizza from Mellow Mushroom....

and topped it off with birthday Sweet CeCe's.

 Approximately $10,000 later it was time to load up and head back to the house where an intense game of Infection was brewing. (Basically hide and seek tag) 

We are officially into the teen years now and there's no going back. I hope it's not as rough as some folks have made it out to be. If I'm still living and functional I hope to be able to update this blog to let myself know that I am, in fact, living and functional after having a teenager. I do know a few things for sure: I'm super proud of Cade. I'm thankful God has given him 13 healthy, active years. I love these friends that he chooses to spend his time with. And, this thirteenth year has started off with a bang! Happy birthday, Cade!