For Kade's second tournament, Mason and I made the trip with Erik and Kade.  It was beautiful weather, minus the insane wind, but we'll take what we can get with this spring we're having!

Friday evening, the field where Kade's practice was had an awesome basketball court where the rims the lowered down enough that Mason could dunk.  He felt pretty cool slamming it down!

One of Kade's teammates just happened to be the brother of Mason's good buddy, Gunnar.  So they got to stay in a hotel together all weekend, swimming and playing.  Made it easy for us mama's too....the little were entertained!

Mason and Gunnar pitching and catching on an open field at the tournament.

They got to go to Bass Pro together too.  Matching hats, matching giant fish and a pack of bubble tape to share.  Life is good for these boys!

The giant pillow fish he picked out.

Kade, Blake (Gunnar's brother), Gunnar, Mase

in their baseball necklaces

Nerds

So, I NEVER record Kade in action.  However, this game, Mason was occupied and I was sitting right up front and I thought, "I'm going to record a few minutes so Kade can watch himself back."  He's a great pitcher and I just happened to catch a pretty awesome round of pitching.

And then I decided to record him hitting.  He had been kinda struggling with form so I figured he could watch it in slow motion and analyze his swing.  Which, with this video, he's done about 1000 times.

However, the first time I've ever recorded him up to bat, I just so happened to catch his first ever over the fence home run!!!  Seriously, what are the odds!!

And the next time he was up, the bases were loaded.  So, I thought maybe I should record it just in case he got his first ever grand slam!  I couldn't believe it when he swung and the ball went flying in the exact same spot as his homer.  However, it stopped short of going over the fence.  But still an awesome hit!

 

Kade had his first baseball tournament the first weekend in April!  Mason and I didn't go but it sounds like we missed a good one!  They tied for first but ended up bring home second based on number of runs scored, or gave up, or whatever.  Either way, 2nd place!  

This is quite possibly the oldest looking 11 year old I've ever seen!

Mason's grade put on a program for the school.  It was cowboy themed.  He had his outfit planned for weeks.  Thankfully Grandpa C was able to hook him up with a cowboy hat and chaps.  They're his hunting chaps, so never mind the mud and dried blood 😉.  And Kade had some old riding boots that fit Mason perfectly!

He wanted me to take a bunch of pictures while he posed.  These were my favorites.

My favorite cowboy in action!

He took this job VERY seriously.  I've A TON of people tell me how amazing he did.  I'm not going to lie, it brought tears to my eyes how great he did.  I was a little concerned that someone thought it was a good idea for Mason to hold a spear like object on stage but he proved me wrong!  That's his favorite thing to do these days....prove us wrong!

 

I'm SO behind!!  Kade started spring baseball in March, he's had 2 tournaments in Des Moines already and a 3rd one next weekend!  Oh and he's also doing spring basketball!  So he's got his first tournament tomorrow and then 5 more until June.  Oh and we need to sneak some fishing in (if winter ever goes away!) for Mason.  Whew.

Spring baseball was such a cluster.  He had tried out for a team in December.  He thoroughly impressed the coaches and they wanted him, however they didn't get enough kids to make a team.  They still wanted Kade in their program to train, so we were trying to decide what to do.  Then a coach from a different club contacted us and asked if Kade would play for him.  After much debate, we went with that coach.  It's been great and Kade has made many friends and a lot of progress.  

Since all of the baseball planning was happening right in the middle of basketball season, he had it in his head that he wanted to play spring basketball as well.  So, he tried out for and made an AAU team that is practicing at the same time as spring baseball!  Lucky for Kade there actually hasn't been any overlap in practice times.  Unlucky for mom and dad, that means we've been taking Kade to practice 4 nights a week!!

He's loving every minute of it and, although overwhelming, we wouldn't have it any other way.  We love watching him play and doing what he loves.  I think we knew from the time he could walk that he'd be an athletic kid, so it's been fun to watch him grow and excel!

I think fishing will always be Mason's #1 passion but he's definitely showing more interest in baseball!

He even asked Kade to pitch to him...although we made him tone it down for his brother.

I've always said Mason's going to own a Chop Shop one day...here's my little car man in training 😆

This picture popped up in my memories on my phone.

2014.

I couldn't resist a recreation 8 years later.

 

Since Mason started preschool, we've regularly gotten reports for bad behavior.  Impulsiveness, not listening the first 3 times being told what to do, can't sit still, can't control himself.  In turn his grades have always suffered and he's never really liked going to school.  He's been on a behavior chart since Kindergarten, which he isn't much of a fan of.  

We got his tonsils out last summer, hoping that would curb the behavior.  While his sleep has GREATLY improved, his behavior and grades did not.  Now in 2nd grade, we decided it was time to get him tested.  To no one's surprise, he's been diagnosed with ADHD.  We've started him on medication and he is a changed man!  He's meeting his behavior goals regularly, his grades have seen a HUGE improvement and he's loving school! 

A couple weeks ago, he was chosen for Student of the Week!!  And while this may seem like an insignificant accomplishment to most kids, for Mason this is an award we NEVER thought he'd get.  I'm not going to lie, I cried happy tears when his teachers told me!

He tried karate, he wasn't a super big fan.  Didn't mind it but didn't love it.

We never went back.  Whoopsies.

Spring is in the air!!

Oh Mase.