If my memory serves me, I think all of the kids started playing soccer at the age of three, which is just CUTE!  In the spring of Drew’s Kindergarten year he started playing up on a Fusion club team…look how little he was!

He continued to play academy soccer through 4th grade for the Fusion club.  An opportunity came up for Drew to switch teams and clubs and we are giving it a shot!  It’s a bit of a change for all of us!  So far, he’s having a lot of fun getting a new perspective on soccer and meeting new players.  And maybe he’s just loving getting a whole new batch of uniforms – he’s 10, I think that’s completely normal right!?  They played their first games together over the weekend competing in the Challenger Fall Classic and ended up in the championship game.  It was a tough fight against some older and very skilled players and came home with 2nd place medals.  Way to go boys! And wouldn’t you know it, he faced his old team in one of the games.  I would imagine it being awkward to be on the field against his friends but I guess athletes just shake it off!  Drew scored a goal and had a couple other opportunities, way to play Drew!  The soccer community here is large in numbers but it sometimes becomes small.  We run into friends all the time at various fields and it’s always good to catch up!

Drewy, we are so proud of you working hard and courageously following a new path.  You’re going to do great things, bud!  Love watching you play!

Drew-showing his spirit at the Mid America Nazarene soccer camp, July 2018

This is always one of my favorite things to document…the first days of school!  Maybe it’s because I’m a bit of a school nerd.  I think I will always be one of those oddballs that likes school and I’m hoping at least one of my kiddos might take after me in that department!

Sneak-a-peek night always occurs the night before the first half day of school for the elementary kids.  Every year it falls on a soccer practice night so my kids usually have on a uniform instead of a cute outfit.  This year it was pouring rain, so practices were getting canceled as we were meeting teachers and organizing supplies.

Drew has Mrs. Swearengin this year for 5th grade.  Morgan also had her and they had a wonderful year together and still to this day when I see her she always asks how Morgan is doing.  Drew, don’t screw this up buddy, just act like Morgan and it will be smooth sailing!  I’m sure she will love you too…who wouldn’t love that sweet face!?Her classroom is perfectly organized and ready to whip these 5th graders into shape to get them prepared for middle school.  That’s probably my biggest struggle this school year…Drew’s class just doesn’t strike me as the example-setting upperclassman of the school!  There’s probably a little bit of maturing that needs to happen 😉

Reece has Mrs. Woolery for 3rd grade and is a new teacher for our family but not to the school.  She seems fantastic and Reece has a lot of friends in her class.  Don’t worry, she’s a rule-follower, you won’t catch her getting into trouble unless she is telling a classmate to stay on task.  That’s just Reece!

Her classroom runs a bit differently that a typical classroom.  Since there are 24 of them in this room, she follows a “flexible seating” learning environment.  Students do not have their own desk.  Each day they learn in a different seat – it may be a couch, a fuzzy chair, an exercise ball, etc.  Here’s a video clip of them getting to know their classroom today…

And I finally got Jake off the golf course for about 10 minutes to take him to school to deliver supplies, try his locker, and walk a portion of his schedule.  Don’t kid yourself, within an hour of doing this, I was dropping him off at the golf course.  He’s an old pro at this now I guess and there’s no way he’s wasting his last hours of summer messing around with a locker!  He did get a kick out of my note I left him though…Each year I write my kids a note about the upcoming school year and get them a back to school gift.  Sometimes they all get the same thing and other years they don’t but I really just hope they keep the notes and read them from time to time.  That’s probably asking too much!  This year Morgan got two golf hats for the fall high school season, Jake got a new book by the only author he likes to read!  Drew got a new water jug because he is playing fall baseball this year, and Reece got squishies and flip-a-zoos which really has nothing to do with anything except she’s 8 years old and likes toys!

I usually have them open their gifts all together but Morgan and Jake decided to sleep in a bit on their last day of summer while the littles had to get up for a half day of school.  Aren’t they looking sharp!?

This morning is what I call the ‘real’ first day of school because it’s a full day of classes and it includes all grade levels.  We set up our neighborhood breakfast party in our driveway and started snapping pictures at 7am sharp!  These high schoolers drive themselves to school now and they need to get going!  We missed Brian this year for the first time because he had a work commitment but we did a good job of sending him pics!  My sweet Drew Boo was helping me get everything set up for the neighbors – laying out blankets and chairs without me even asking him.  Thank you Drew for being awesome!  You know this back to school routine!  Morgan did Reece’s hair for me because she’s a hair expert!  Sorry Reece, but you might be stuck with me doing it the rest of the school year!Here’s our Falcon Valley neighborhood crew….pretty good looking group!!

It’s tradition to get my kids pics with the Dearmore kids and can you believe how much they have grown and changed (check out the flashback photos!)

Here are just a few more of my faves for the morning!  Wishing all of these kiddos the best school year ever!!

I also don’t want to gloss over the tradition of the neighborhood bike ride to donuts.  This always happens on the morning before school starts.  However, this year it turned into a drive to donuts because of the threat of rain.  Morgan couldn’t join us because she had golf tryouts but she requested we bring her a donut.  She doesn’t like to miss out on traditions.  I’m certain one of these years Price Chopper is going to lock it’s doors when they see us coming…

Now excuse me while I go back to my normal routine of worrying about having a teenage daughter that drives to school now, a 7th grade boy who is way too cool for his own good, a 5th grade boy who may or may not get in trouble this year for talking in class, and a 3rd grade girl who is so busy perfecting everything that she may fall asleep on her desk or have a breakdown.  Kidding!  I’m actually full of hope for these amazing kids!  Wonderful memories are happening right now!

For me, on the other hand, today is probably not the day that I’m going to get everything accomplished that I put on the back burner for my typical summer hiatus.  I planned to get to the gym at 8:30 and ended up talking with my neighborhood dads in the driveway and then ran into my moms at the gym and proceeded to talk for another hour and returned home at noon having worked out for only 45 minutes of that.  I will only have this blog post to show for myself.  Tomorrow’s a new day.  I hope my awesome neighbor did better than me – she was going to go down in her basement and watch netflix all day and eat twizzlers.  You go girl!

Cheers to the 2018-2019 school year!

 

I have a pit in my stomach that I’ve determined will never go away as long as I live.  Today I picked up Morgan’s parking pass so she can drive herself to school and park in the high school lot.  Did you know she got a car for her 15th birthday!?  What!?Her new license plate is attached and restricted driver’s license is on it’s way to our mailbox.  Can I go back to the days of picking out a cute pencil pouch for the upcoming school year instead, PLEASE!!

To further irritate the pit in my stomach, I can’t tear Jake away from the golf course long enough to go to school to pick up his schedule and get his locker….so I went by myself!!  How sad is that!?  Families are there together walking their schedule routes and girls are decorating their lockers.  Nope – not us, I was channeling my inner 7th grader and trying to find my locker and master the combination solo.  I got it on my first try!  Yay for me!  I couldn’t help myself to leave a note.  His locker just seemed so lonely and boring!

Soon these hallways will be full of obnoxious middle schoolers!  I’m hoping Jakers will avoid the obnoxious-ness and just be his cute little self.  That could be asking for a lot these days…he is going to be 13 soon.  Oh no – the teenage years!  Yikes!Jake got on the team he was hoping for “team Tundra” and a top locker so he’s already starting out on the right foot.Wishing you the best school year ever!

P.S. Please don’t ever make me do that by myself again!

XOXO, Mom

I can’t resist this post!  Reece has been participating in a girls golf camp at Lake Quivira Golf Club.  It’s only one night a week and they focus on the basic fundamentals of golf in a fun manner.  First of all, it’s just adorable to see these little girls toting their golf clubs and dressed in their golf attire!The next best part is watching them completely get derailed from the camp trying to help these little birdies who’s nest fell out of the nearby tree…We literally had 2 golf pros trying to save the nest and get it back safely in the tree!  I cannot make this stuff up.  This actually happened – so basically that’s one golf lesson that went down the tubes!  After little birdies are spotted in distress, there is no way to get these budding golfers back on track!

Flashing back again to the May/June time frame.  You know that super busy time that becomes a blur!  If it wasn’t for my little notepad by my computer right now I might have forgotten to mention the tail end of Jake’s soccer season.  Sorry bud, I really couldn’t forget spending my Mother’s Day at your soccer tournament!  I arrived just after the start and missed the roses being handed out to the moms – yikes – that’s a mom fail for sure!  It was a hard fought battle which ended in a 2nd place finish.About 3 weeks later they competed in the U13 Kansas State Cup – the pinnacle of the season for the top teams in each age group.  The boys fought hard and had some success, making it to the semi-finals.  In the end, they were defeated by Sporting BV, Soccer Nation advanced to regionals in Indiana and the top 96 teams in the nation will compete in TX next week.Don’t worry Jake, your State Cup championship is coming, I know it!

This is definitely a delayed post but I don’t want to forget about it!  Drew’s U10 Fusion Academy team was the division winner in the Heartland league.  The most exciting part is they got to accept their award at the Sporting KC game and walk across the field.  If you’re a soccer player, this is a pretty fun deal!

This event is particularly bittersweet as this is a fantastic group of boys and Coach Mo has great relationship with Drew.  Drew has decided to try a new premier soccer club this upcoming soccer season so lots of changes are in store!

 

 

 

 

 

After three seasons with the Strike Zone Bulldogs, Drew has decided to move on.  It’s been a great run, but it’s time for a change.  We have had an absolute blast watching Drew play baseball and we hope to continue to do so in the future.  Stay tuned on that!  For now, I want to share some memories of the last few games.  We love you #20!

The last game of the season, the boys got to coach and play positions they wouldn’t normally play – just for fun!  For the record though, Drew’s favorite positions are pitcher and 2nd base.  Drew, you are a GREAT pitcher and second baseman!I couldn’t be more proud of my little ball player.  Hoping there’s more to come in the future, but if not, it’s been a fun ride!

 

 

What a fun way to end the season!  The KC Bulldogs won the league playoff championship!There were several great games in this series and we had a blast watching them.  The conditions were so hot and we still had a big fan club!Jake pitched every pitch in the last game which I wasn’t so sure about especially since he had already spent several hours on the golf course earlier in the day.Congratulations KC Bulldogs!  You deserve this win so much!Overall, we have played a lot of baseball this season, and been quite successful.  This was a rebuilding year for us with a handful of new players and it really came together!  We had three tourney wins, one 2nd place finish, and an MVP nomination for Jake (I think – I really should check with my stats guy before I make those quotes!)

What will I do without my baseball entertainment!?  These boys are so fun to watch!  I surely won’t miss washing these white baseball pants!!  Maybe I will get a couple things done that keep falling to the bottom of my list 😉

 

I think this is our 3rd and final summer doing the Burning Tree Golf Academy in DeSoto, every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon.  It is always boiling hot, but it’s a great time to see their cousin, Collin, and have a little fun on the golf course.

The culmination is a 2 day tournament with volunteer caddies and about 7 or 8 total holes played.

 

Morgan was too old to participate this year and we will be out of town for the awards ceremony, but of course all 3 of them are hoping for 1st place medals!

Each year we make a summer fun list and rarely check very many of the boxes, but we still keep trying!  One item that never falls off the list is the summer sleepover with aunts and uncles.  This is a non-negotiable.  Everything else can fall by the wayside, but not that one!How is it nearly impossible to find a night to do this!?  We have all summer for heaven’s sake and we still struggle to get this on the calendar.  I, for one, am thrilled we got this accomplished because if I had to hear them ask one more time when the sleepover was, I was going to lose my mind!!We are leaving for vacation tomorrow and I actually think the kids were more excited about the “summer fun sleepover” than going to Hilton Head for the first time!

They got pizza, did a little artwork on the driveway, watched a movie, and always a putting competition!  Apparently Jake lost to Shauna (the non-golfer of the group).  I think he will be asking for a re-match soon!

Jake had to sneak out at 7am for baseball but these lucky ones got to sleep in!

And I love this little mirror image they did comparing 2012 to 2018.  Wow – I can’t believe how much they’ve changed!

 

And last night Morgan got to have her sleepover at Aunt Jenn’s with her friend, Emily Kate.  Now that is a real miracle to get these two schedules to align!  They rarely get to see each other because we live in different areas, but they always have a blast!  We have gone from this…To Morgan driving her own car over the Aunt Jenn’s!!  With Brian in the back seat of course!  How is this happening!?

Thank you aunts and uncles for making my kids so happy this summer!  Now, I’ve really got to focus on getting them to my brother’s lake place or I’m going to be in really big trouble!!

Happy Summer!