Mother's Day

As I write this post on Mother's Day, I think about my boys' birth mamas.  They're the reason I even have this blog!  They chose me (and Erik) to raise their babies and I hope they are at peace with their decision.  These 2 baby boys are my everything and I'm grateful every day I get to be the one they call mom.

We talk about their birth moms often, their reasoning for making the decision they did, the fact that God put us all together.  

We know Kade's birth mom well and although we don't know Mason's, we cherish her just as much.  We explain that everyone deals with things in their life differently but that doesn't mean he's less loved.  Because, man, do we love these 2 not-so-little gentlemen!!

Picture  catch up.

This spring Kade tried out for a travel baseball team.  

It was a AAA team that played a couple tournaments in Iowa in April.

He did great!  They didn't do so hot but he loved the experience and that's all that matters! 

First time playing on an all turf field.

No dust!!  It was amazing.

Mason had ZERO desire to watch baseball so he stayed home with G&G and did what he does best with his cousin Isaac....

FISH!

I still can't resist taking a picture of this sleeping beauty.😆

 

Easter and Spring Break

The cousins on Erik's side

The middles

The hunt is on!

Kade and Violet hid the eggs for the younger kids, Kade took his job especially seriously for his brother.  Mason didn't find 4 of his eggs.  However, for about 2 weeks afterwards, Grandma would send us random texts saying, "found another egg!".  Luckily it was just candy and a couple of them had holes chewed through, so some critters had themselves a good Easter!

Kade helping Owen

Kade holding Brooks super high for his airplanes!

Kade and Grandpa went crow hunting down at Grandpa's woods.  They hit a certain spot on the road and Kade takes over driving.  He's a good driver but I'm not sure I was ready to see this!

Grandma and I stayed behind and tended the fire while they hunted.  Mason and Erik were on the Mississippi....fishing of course!

My brother is building a house and the boys have taken a few trips to go "dumpster diving" for scrap wood.  Well, Mason though he hit the jackpot with these headphones and he wanted his picture taken.  I threw them away when he wasn't looking 😆

An afternoon of bowling!

Kade and Isaac are SUPER competitive so they were trash talking the whole time.  Luckily they both won 1 game each and were both happy with that.

Mason, on the other hand, is just there for the party.  He couldn't resist dancing in those sweet shoes.

 

Between basketball and baseball seasons, as well as between squirrel and turkey hunting seasons, the boys found themselves with not much to do.  

Kade doesn't handle "not much to do" very well, so he decided to become a crow hunter.  

Yep, you read that right.  

Crows.

He bought himself a crow call and a lay out blind (I'm sure that's got hunter's cringing as that's not the correct term).  

We figured he spent about $400 as well as about 30 hours to kill 4 crows.  

Yep, you read that right.  

4 crows.  

Like I said, the kid doesn't do well with down time.  But they had fun!  

It turns out Mason is quite handy with the saw!  I was a little worried for his 10 digits but Erik said he was actually very careful!  Perhaps we've got a carpenter in the works?

Yep, crow decoys.

Kade and some buddies played in a 3-on-3 tournament and ended up winning it all!

It was just for fun for a fundraiser but the championship got quite intense.  Turns out we had beat the team in a tournament earlier in the season and they were out for revenge.  They got a little dirty and very mouthy. So, it was extra fun beating them again. 😆

Dad/coach giving pointers.  

Look how well they're all listening to him!  

I need to learn his secrets.

Their team name was "Dirty Blondes".

Kade was very thankful his hair is already that color because the rest of them dyed theirs "blonde" 😆

Mason and his buddy Gunnar heading into their 4th grade party night.

Unplanned twinning for work out!

Like I've said before, Mason doesn't miss a chance to dress up!

This was for "Swap Day".  He decided to dress like Dad.

I think he nailed it...

Erik doesn't see what's funny 😂

 

Kade spent the day playing with his baby cousins while they were at grandpa and grandma's. 

He looks a little exhausted, 2 boys will do that to ya! 😆

The last of the basketball pictures, baseball season has already started!

Mason's team won a few games.  

A few games more than what we expected from them😉

There was definitely a lot of improvement though and they had fun, so that's a win in my book!

Mason got invited to a birthday party at an axe throwing place.

Thankfully everyone came home in one piece and no bandaids (or stitches) were needed.

On our way to Mason's last basketball tournament of the season.

Kade's end of basketball season party.