Going Back

 Many of you know that after baseball season was over this summer, Braeden flew home with my mom and brother and spent the last 4 weeks of summer in Washington, just as his brother did last year.  My Dad, pretty diligently (especially considering his work schedule) kept a blog of Braeden's trip, and if you're interested in seeing it the address is: www.braedenmann.blogspot.com

He flew back home on Saturday, August 25, just 2 days before the start of the school year.  He was fortunate to fly with another little 8 year-old who's dad was waiting for him, too.  I had to get a picture of his dad, because I thought it was sooooo cute how excited he was to see his son!!  He hadn't seen him since Spring Break, and he was kneeling with camera in hand!

When Braeden got off the plane I noticed his cheeks were a little bigger, his hair was a little longer and his smile was a lot bigger!  They say everything's bigger in TX!

He gave me an excited hug and then was ready to head down and get his luggage.

He was sad that I didn't bring his little sister (the one he had really missed the most!), but I explained that I couldn't bring her down to the gate with me and that by the time we got home, it would be WAY past her bedtime.  Plus, I promised him a date with mom, that we would go and have dinner together.  He was okay with that!

We decided on Red Robin, but when we got there, they told us they were closed to the public because they were having a "friends and family" night along with training for their employees.  As we expressed our sadness and started to turn and walk away, a manager came over and asked if it was just the 2 of us.  We told her yes, and she said, "Come with me."  She told us that they had a table for us and brought us to be seated.  As she was taking us to be seated, she informed us that appetizers, meals and drinks (minus alcohol) were complimentary... FREE FOOD!  How lucky can we be!  We enjoyed our dinner together and had fun catching up on his trip!

Freeze

Dear Kamryn,

Can I freeze time and keep you just how you are now?

Happy to have your hair done...

Willing to let me dress you up in anything I please.

 

 

Walking around the house, baby doll in one hand, sippy cup in the other...

 

 

With your favorite shoes on because you just LOVE shoes!

 

 

Cute as a bug, blonde as can be!

 

 

Blue eyes sparkling, dimples showing with every grin...

 

 

Willing to hand out hugs and dish out kisses whenever asked!

 

 

Can I just bottle you up...

and freeze time before it's too late?

 

 

 

I know it's not possible...

So instead, I will take as many pictures as possible so I can freeze this moment in time the best that I can, and remember the days you spent melting our hearts, before you go out melting so many others!

 

Love,

Mommy

 

Off They Go!!

6:30am came around pretty quickly for 3 little boys that were used to sleeping in until they felt like getting up.  Poor Braeden was sick on Sunday, not able to keep any of his dinner down, but toughed it out and was feeling much better Monday morning.  Carsen and Gaven were pretty excited for what the first day had in store.

 

They are getting pretty used to the "usual 1st day of school" poses.

 

 

Braeden - 4th Grade

 

 

Carsen - 2nd Grade

 

 

Gaven - Pre-K... here in our city, they do all day Pre-K, same school hours as the big boys, so it's a pretty big deal here!

 

 

I'm cheesy, so I just love their matching backpacks!  They all picked out "their" color.  (we assign them colors with certain things - bath towels, backpacks, toothbrushes... etc... that way if someone leaves something out, I know who to holler at!)

 

 

It looks like the crack of dawn because it is!

 

 

One of my favorite things about the first day of school is all the bright, new, shiny shoes!!

So my kids don't really have a prayer at having small feet.  Their dad having size 14, mom wearing an 11.5, uncle Chris with 17, Papa with 16, Grandma a 12 and Aunt Colee an 11.  They have had big feet from day 1.  But more specifically, this spring, we bought Braeden a size 4.5 baseball cleat, making sure he had room to grow into it so that we wouldn't have to buy him new baseball cleats halfway through the season.  It didn't work, we had to buy him a 5.5 just a few months later.  This summer, while in Washington, my parents bought him new school shoes in a size 7!  It's not so much the size, there might be kids in the same grade with bigger feet... it's the change in size in just 5 months!  Unfortunately, he now has something called Sever's Disease.  It's a condition common in kids when their foot bones grow too fast for the ligaments and muscles to catch up (or that's how I understand it) causing severe heal pain.  We're hoping it passes quickly for him and that he won't miss out too much in his fall sports!  Stop growing, kid!!

 

 

Waiting to get on the school bus "for the first time EVER, Mom!"

 

 

I laughed at this picture because he looks scared out of his mind!  He wasn't... REALLY... I promise!

 

 

By the time the bus came and went, there was actually some daylight!

 

 

Kamryn watching for Braeden, Carsen and Gaven to get home from school.

 

 

 

 

There they are!

 

 

I love how Gaven comes off, backpack emptied and shoe untied!

 

 

And of course, I wasn't the one they were most excited to see! But I could have told you that!

 

 

School update: The first week went very well for all of them.  They love their teachers and classmates.  We had a surprise on Wednesday when Gaven's principal (he is at a different school than the boys because they older boys' school doesn't have English Pre-K) called to tell us that they had too many Pre-K students at their school and needed to move Gaven.  I wasn't very happy at first, but to make a long story short, Gaven went to his "new" school on Thursday and Friday and is doing just fine.  He loves that he's still a Tiger.  All of the schools, elementary, middle and high school in our district are Tigers, but he didn't realize that.  I think it's a great way of promoting school spirit in kids through the years until they enter high school, having been a tiger all their life!

 

Here's to hoping the second week and on are just as successful as the first!



One Last Hurrah

We decided to close out the summer with a swim in the pool and a movie night later that night with some of our best friends.

 Carsen and his best friend, Colby

 

 

Not sure if Gaven's leap for joy was because there were still a few days of summer left, or because school was starting in just a few days?

 

 

Carsen moves up to machine pitch for baseball this Fall season.  He's been very excited about his new team, one of the reasons being because his coach bought a pitching machine and cage that he has in his back yard for the boys to use as much as possible. With a set-up like this, who wouldn't love it?  It's like little boy heaven!  I'd even love to get in there!

 

 

One of Gaven's best friends, Brianna, watching the movie with him.

 

 

Cheesers!

 



 

Popcorn for all!!!



There was Baseball... and a Birthday Party Broke Out!

If Carsen could pick two things for his birthday, they would be baseball and pizza... so that's what we did.  He invited some of his closest friends (all who happen to play baseball), told them to bring their swimsuits and their gloves and let the games begin.

 

They all swam for a while until Dad got home with the pizza.  While eating, Gaven found himself a cricket and thought it was funny to pretend he was going to let it eat everyone's food.

 

 

 

Pizza, watermelon and lemonade... boy these boys are easy to please!

 

 

Then the kids broke out the gloves.  I love getting pictures of them being so serious.  Carsen was the catcher and they took turns pitching to him while he called balls and strikes.

 

 

Love the face!

 

 

...and the tongue!

 

 

Left to right: Carsen, Gaven, Colby, Kadyn, Mason, Jamaar and Mason

 

 

Party favors (I can't help but hum "Take Me Out to the Ball Game")

 

 

Present time:

 

 

Carsen has been excited for his 7th Birthday ever since Braeden got a DSi for HIS!  He didn't know for sure that he was getting one this year, so he was pretty excited when he pulled it out of the package!

 

 

Thanks to a consignment site I'm a regular on... I found him this great case and a few games to go with it at a GREAT price.  I think the thing I LOVE the most is that Carsen didn't even realize or ask about them not being new.  I'm not sure if he didn't even realize they were used, or if he didn't care... either way, I love that it didn't matter to him!

 

 

Breaking it in... notice his necklace, too.  Apparently these are the hit thing with boys around here... they're some sort of Phitan Titanium (don't know what that even means).  Carsen has wanted one for probably a year now, so when he got one from his buddy for his birthday, he put it on, and I'm not even sure it's come off yet.

 

 

We DID have cake and ice cream, but we got so caught up playing baseball that we almost forgot and the poor kids had to practically shove it down their throats as they were heading out the door, so I didn't get any pictures!

 

Happy Birthday, Carsen... I still can't believe that you are 7!  You are one of a kind... we LOVE you very much, Doodle!

 

Carsen's best friend Colby (who literally lives across the street from us) has been out of town for the past month and a half.  They got together the other day and played for hours!  I love these two little guys... I was cleaning the kitchen and all I could hear were giggles from the other room, so I grabbed the camera to catch a picture!

 

 

I tried to get a few pictures the other day of Kammy all dressed up and ready for church... she wouldn't really smile very big for me.  Especially once she headed over to the swing and wanted to get in!

 

 

I love this little girl!