Happy 13th Birthday Zander!

 Zander,

You are officially a teenager! I am so proud of the young man you are becoming! We have the best conversations on the way to soccer practice and I love the long car rides to your games that are out of town.  I love to hear how you think.  I love to hear you talk about school, what you are learning and what happens with your friends.  You continue to get all A's in 7th grade and were inducted into the Honor Society this year due to your academic, behavioral and leadership skills.  I love how passionate you are about learning new sports (taking every opportunity to practice volleyball, soccer and golf).  I love how you read your bible before bed in the evenings, taking notes on what you have read and challenging yourself to read through the bible.  You help with setting up and tearing down all the games during youth group on Wednesdays.  You are already looking for additional leadership opportunities at church (through the AV team).  I love your optimism about anything you do.  Your smile is contagious and your positive energy along with your encouragement helps me be a better mom.  Your smile might change this upcoming year as we will start the process of braces to straighten your teeth.... stay tuned...

We celebrated #13 BIG!  We went on your first ever cruise in March and were able to celebrate this milestone birthday after dinner one night with cake and singing.  You chose to have Jackson, Nathaniel, Austin and Max join us at Top Golf last Friday for some night time golfing!  We went to Jersey Mike's after church to celebrate with family.  You had cookie cakes at both celebrations (You and I both love cookie cakes)!  On your actual birthday, we went to Olive Garden (your pick) with Grammy and Grandpa to enjoy some delicious Italian and one more evening of desserts!  Going into this upcoming year, you will finish out middle school, already planning for high school by taking two classes for high school credit (Math 1 and Spanish).  I love how you plan ahead.  I love that you are collecting baseball cards and are organizing these cards into a system that works for you.  I will always be grateful that you were the one God picked to make me a mommy.  It has been one of my greatest joys to watch you grow this past year.

I love you,

Mom

Milestones and Ballfields

 

We got to celebrate Grammy’s 70th birthday on her actual birthday which was a small miracle considering the busy schedules all of our kids (and adults) have this time of year! Aunt Glenda came from Florida making the evening even more special. Grammy wanted time with her family for her birthday and I thought we were able to truly enjoy the time together. We are still waiting to celebrate my sister’s 40th birthday which will take place in a few weeks, on our next free night! Haha 

I got to chaperone Maddox’s field trip to Raleigh and had two of his best buds in our group! They were such a great group of boys to explore the science museum with! I think they had a blast. We were able to check out the Capitol Building and Legislative Building as well. Representative Zenger gave us a tour of the House floor to make our visit even more special. Maddox was worn out on the drive home but rallied for a baseball game as soon as we got back to town. Enzo, our two year old neighbor who loves Maddox, came to see him play. Most of our days have been spent on a baseball, softball or soccer field these days and I cherish every minute of seeing my favorite kids doing what they love!

Worn out after a long week!

Happy Easter from the Houstons

We have the best weekend celebrating our risen Savior! We are so thankful for Jesus paying the ultimate price and giving us the promise of salvation and eternity with Him. Happy Easter from the Houstons!

On Good Friday, we ate lunch at Chick-fil-A and enjoyed very large ice cream cones! Saturday, we went to the theaters to watch the new Super Mario Galaxy movie. Back to school on Easter Monday (a snow make up day) and back to the Monday selfies with the cousin crew!

This week, baseball starts back for Maddox! This means that we don’t have a free night until June…. I guess we will rest some this summer! Haha! Zander had a soccer scrimmage the same night as Maddox’s first baseball game. The Kennedys and Bakewells were at the ball field since Eli had a game and Emmy had practice at the same complex. It is rare to have three of the four cousins at the same place playing sports on a weeknight so we enjoyed being in the same location for once!