Happy 11th Birthday, Kade Will (2 weeks late)!!

We were on vacation last week so I'm WAY behind on posts.  So far behind that Kade's birthday was 12 days ago and I'm just getting to it now!  This year his birthday fell on a Tuesday, before our vacation so we didn't take any time off to celebrate.  Instead, on Saturday, he got his very first friend party!  I was going to do it last year, on his golden birthday, but...COVID...so we celebrated big this year.  

He started his morning playing in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament with some friends from a past team.  They got 2nd place!

I didn't get to go to basketball because I spent the morning party prepping.

Of course it hasn't rained a drop all summer, but the day of the party it was torrential downpours and severe thunderstorms.

Thankfully the storms took a break just in time for the party and didn't pick back up again until later in the night!  Whew!

Slip n slide kickball in not-so-hot weather...thankfully twelve 10 year old boys don't care about that!

The party was from 1:00-4:00 and they played the entire time!

Well besides a quick stop for snacks and presents.

I told them to pose and half of them yanked their shorts up and acted like dorks.

I really hope to recreate this picture in 8 years.

Cake time!

Kade ended up having 3 friends stay overnight.

I'm not kidding, they played baseball until 9:30 at night.  I finally just put a pizza on the deck and hoped they'd feed themselves eventually.  Then they woke up and played more!

Tyeson, Kade, Porter and Owen

Lawn mower rides never get old!

This is 11!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KADE-O!!!!

 

Renegades

As I mentioned before, Kade's 10U season was tough.  There were 3 teams that all needed to be divided equally, that meant the good players were divided equally which, in turn, meant Kade got split up from a lot of his friends.  So, a couple of the dads got together and created a competitive team for an end of year tournament and they called themselves the Renegades.  

Kade was SO excited for this weekend!  It was a two day tournament in La Crosse with all of his buddies!  And THEY WON!!!  14 teams were entered and the Renegades got 1st place!!  They went 6-0 for the weekend!  The team they beat was super good and had been playing together all summer (40+ games) and our boys came into the game having only played together for 1 day.  The most exciting part was Kade got to be the closing pitcher and he did wonderfully!  That kid is good under pressure--he didn't get that from me!!

Kade got to be in the front row of a picture for once!

The last game was against Kade's buddy Oliver!  

These 2 are 1 day apart in age and they have been friends basically since the day they were born!  

A picture with their mama's!

Mason and his buddy Jack

 

Last week was the last week of baseball for the summer.  Whew!  As much as I love watching my boys play, it was getting overwhelming with baseball 4 nights a week!!  I'm sure I'll miss it soon, but it's been kinda nice this week not having to rush home for a bowl of cereal before heading out to a field.  

I had Wed-Wed off this past week as this is usually the week we visit Lady A in her hometown.  However that didn't work out this year, so we spent 4 nights camping and watching Kade play in a baseball tournament in La Crosse.  Those pictures will have to wait for next week because I took a ton!  Let's just say it was a great ending to an otherwise boring 10U season.

Mason was the sleeper this year in baseball!!  He started out rough.  First of all, he missed the first 2 weeks because of his tonsillectomy.  Then he just didn't seem to be enjoying himself, he didn't like being in the outfield, he was pretty lazy with warm ups and practice, he was not paying attention and didn't seem to care to learn.  He just overall gave the impression he was NOT into baseball.  Then he watched a day of men's slow pitch softball and all of the sudden he was IN IT!!  He wanted to play catch every night, he was loving his games especially the outfield, he even practiced pitching with Erik one night!!  I can't wait to see what the baseball future holds for this kid!

Kade's last 10U game was against the other 10U team.  

We weren't supposed to keep score since technically they're all on the same team, but we totally won!

Kade is 3rd from left, back row of course.

Mason and Kade with their buddy, Ollie.

One last story...Mason is now swimming in the deep end without any assistance!  We knew he could do it but he was uncharacteristically scared.  Anyone who knows Mason knows that he acts first and thinks later.  He's impulsive and fearless.  So I was SHOCKED when I said, "Mason, you CAN swim.  You can jump into the deep end and you will be fine.  There's life guards and Dad here and they're all watching you.  You WILL be fine."  And his response was, "Mom!  It only takes ONE TIME to drown!"  Who is this kid?!?!  I appreciated his apprehension and thoughtfulness....is this a sign of things to come??  Either way, we talked him into trying and of course he did it!!  He's still not super confident but we're happy to know that he can at least tread water and doggy paddle enough to keep his head above water.  Summer has been a success!