The boys are keeping us busy, as usual!  Kade has been VERY into golf this spring.  

One day, Erik took Kade golfing 18 holes in the morning and Mason fishing in the afternoon.  While I cleaned the house and prepped for the upcoming 3 weekends in a row of camping, baseball and baseball!  Thank goodness school is finally out, it was starting to get in the way of our fun!!

Mason had Track and Field day last week.  He did the softball throw, the long jump and ran the 400.  I wasn't able to get off work but Erik took the day off to cheer him on.  

He also had a field trip to the government center where they did a mock trial.  I'm not sure how but Mason was chosen as the judge!  Let's just hope he always stays on this side of the law!!

Kade joined a gym, with his buddies Porter and Charlie, called ETS.  Starting May 1st, they've been going 3 days a week, getting up at 5:20am to make it to the 6:15 class before school.  He's been showing us his muscles and we're definitely seeing results!  Can't believe he's old enough to weight train!!

I took them out for pizza after one of their evening workouts.  The nerds all sat on one side of the booth while I sat by myself on the other side 😆

 

Mother's Day weekend we took our first camping trip of the season.  We lucked out with the weather, it was raining when we set up the campsite and it was raining when we took it down, but other than that it was decent.  We even managed to get a little sunburned!

The campground it perfect for both boys.  It's right on a trout stream for Mason and it has a nice 18 hole golf course for Kade.  And with the boys being the ages they're at (meaning I don't have to watch their every move) I was able to sneak a little nap in by the fire!  It was a successful start to camping season 2023.

Isaac, Kade, Jay, Violet

Grandpa put Kade to work clearing weeds on the land.

 

We're still plugging away at the school year!  Now that the weather has turned, it's getting very hard to come inside and get to bed early.  Mason has the countdown going for us, I believe he said 15 days left but he always adds, "Not counting today or tomorrow".  I'm not sure who taught him countdowns but you can never really trust it when he's not counting a few days 😆

Baseball has started for Mason!

This is his serious pose.

Erik got suckered in to coaching AGAIN!!  The poor guy can't catch a break, although he doesn't really know how to say "no".  Which is amazing because Kade and Mason sure do know how to say 'NO" repeatedly!  They must've learned that from me.

We spend many hours at the lake down the road these days.  

It's almost bass season!

Unfortunately I didn't have 1 new picture of Kade for this post.  

So I made Erik and Kade recreate one for me 😆

March 2014

9 years later...

 

Kade bagged his turkey!!  He was pretty excited!

Mason is big enough to drive the tractor!  He's been going in circles for now and practicing running the bucket.  So far so good!  I can't believe he's big enough already.  Time is flying by.

Mason learned how to properly throw the ball this year.  He's been taught for a few years but this year he finally listened 😉  Anyway, Kade now truly enjoys playing catch with him!  It's been fun coming home to see this when the weather permits.

All weather fishermen.

 

These pictures pretty much sum up our last week and a half!

We thought this was the last snowstorm of the year.  So we went out with a bang.  After putting the snowmobiles and snow tubes away, we got them out again for a day and had friends over to play!

Kade and Isaac

Mason and Gunnar

Even got a little basketball in.

Then it warmed up enough for Kade and Grandpa to take a walk in the woods.  Mason missed that trip because he was sick.  However, spring break was just a few days away and Mason was well enough to join that trip.

A great picture of the boys!  

Until you notice Mason's zipper is down and Kade's chaps are WAY too short 😆

Then it got so warm for Easter, they did their hunt outside and Mason was comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt.  

Who am I kidding though, that kid is comfortable outside in just his underwear when it's 10 degrees outside.

I completely failed at Easter this year.  I forgot to take my annual picture of the boys with their baskets.  I'm so sad.  I gotta remember to just make them pose anyway one of these days.

This year Kade decided he wanted to be the one in charge of the scavenger hunt.  So he put together clues and hid the eggs for Mason.  However, I did still hide a basket for him!  He's getting older way too fast for this mama.

And then it got SO warm that, of course, Mase had to hit the open waters!!  Unfortunately he didn't catch anything but that kid is a different person when he's got a pole and worms in his hand.  

I love watching Mason fish.

And, now we're back to winter.  The boys even had a 2 hour late start due to a snowstorm.  I knew I shouldn't have put all the snow gear away. 😒

Fingers crossed May weather treats us better.

 

 These past few weeks have been a DOOZY!!  To say I am sick of this season is an understatement.  It started a few weeks ago when I got super sick for 3 straight days, I couldn't even get out of bed unless it was to run to the bathroom.  A couple days later, Kade caught it.  Unfortunately he was in school when it hit so he had to throw up in the school bathroom.  Well, that triggered some anxiety for him, which we didn't realize for a couple days.  So every morning, when we thought he was well enough to go to school he'd have a panic attack at the thought of puking in school again.  He'd get so worked up, he'd end up throwing up at home.  We finally realized it after he missed an entire week of school, and a basketball tournament.  He had been fine all weekend, then Monday morning he was throwing up again.  After talking with Grandma and getting some breathing techniques as well as short trips (15 minute increments) into the school, he was finally able to go back.  He ended up missing 8 days but his teachers were very understanding and he caught up in no time.  

Just when we thought Erik and Mason were in the clear, Mason caught it.  Unfortunately he did not make it into the bathroom so now we're dealing with an overwhelming smell in his bedroom.  Because of that, he's been sleeping on the floor in our room.  Kade has also been on the floor in our room, to keep all the sickness contained.  Which means Erik has taken over Kade's room in the basement. 

To top it all off, Kade ended up catching the bug AGAIN two days ago!!!  Thankfully, since he's already fought it off once, he recovered quickly.  Just when I think it's safe to put the puke bucket away, it comes right back out again.

Fingers crossed Erik stays in the clear!!!

In healthier times, Kade's tournament team ended up taking first place out of 16 teams in a 2 day tournament!!  They only had 7 boys, but those 7 are the energizer bunnies--they never stop!  

Kade kicked butt and really showed what he can do when he gets competitive.  The championship game they ended up playing the team that beat them the day before.  It was a competitive team that talked a lot of trashy and they got in his head the day before.  He came back ready for revenge!  They ended winning 42-33 and Kade had 25 of the points.  Unfortunately it was unknowingly his last tournament of the season, since he was sick for the last one.  Thank goodness he went out with a bang!!

In other news, he was measured at the doctor and he's now 5'10"!!

Mason on the bench helping coach