Happy Halloween 2025

Halloween was on a Friday this year! Fun was had at school and in the neighborhood! It looked a little different this year since Zander was on a youth retreat the weekend of Halloween so we had a smaller crew to trick or treat, just daddy and Maddox! We still have a ton of candy at the house!

Came home a little tired Sunday afternoon!

Maddox and I got to cheer on Eli at his games on Saturday while daddy was doing inventory at work and Zander was at camp.

Just to document… Zander practices in all kinds of weather… soccer this week was cold and wet! He made his middle school’s volleyball team so hopefully the climate-controlled environment of those games will balance out the outdoor soccer practices and games still ahead before the new year!

Happy 10th Birthday Maddox!

“MadMan” Maddox,

You are officially double digits and I cannot believe we’ve had you with us for a whole decade! You wanted a sports themed birthday party so we used our church’s activity center and filled it with all the sports (basketball, soccer, football, corn hole and volleyball) for our sports loving kid! You have such an energetic, optimistic, kind personality that makes it easy to celebrate you!! I love watching you with your friends- how you encourage them, celebrate with them and genuinely light up when you are around others! You have the most generous spirit- sharing anything you have with anyone that asks you for a favor. You continue to have an incredible smile and a resilience to get back up (whether if it’s physically picking yourself up after taking a hard hit on the soccer field or if it’s at school and you get a less than desirable grade- determined to work harder, to learn more, to be better). You continue to memorize verses at AWANA (almost finished with your third book out of four). You love being outside, watching football (really any sports event), spending time with family or arranging play dates with friends. You have your mama’s extrovert personality and love any opportunity to see others. You are so smart (working out complex math problems in your head), a hard worker (asking your teacher for an additional charter book to keep working on your reading and improve your grade - since reading isn’t your favorite subject- haha), and flexible to join whatever plan comes your way! We have Monday nights this fall, just the two of us, while Zander has soccer practice and I love these moments with you, cuddling and reading. I thank God that He blessed us a decade ago with your arrival- two weeks early (catching us off guard as you sometimes still do). You were always meant to be the member that completes our family and we are so thankful it is YOU!

Love you MadMan!

Love, 

Your Mama:)

Lunch at Don Juan’s on your actual birthday 

Singing to you at church with your cousins and Grammy 

Opening presents on your birthday 

Breakfast in “bed”…. You slept downstairs in the living room with your brother so you could watch college football the night before.

A fire pit on your birthday…. Complete with s’mores!

Last Night in the Single Digits

Daddy brought lunch to school a couple days after your birthday and I brought donuts as a sweet treat for your class after lunch.

Fourth Grade - School Picture 

Fall Fun!

This weekend had all things fall for the Houstons! We started with our school’s fall festival Friday night (where Kristen and I were in charge of games again). Zander ran one of the games, Maddox ran around using all of his pre-purchased tickets, Zack supervised all the fun and I ran around ensuring games were running smoothly and appropriately stocked with prizes! I was worn out by Saturday morning but we had two soccer games (Mollie came to Maddox’s game), grocery shopping and haircuts to make for a full day “off”. On Sunday, we had our church’s fall festival where Zander and his middle school friends hosted a pit crew themed trunk for the “trunk or treat” while Maddox got to fill his pumpkin bucket with tons of candy while dressed as Spider-Man. We met up with a chef and firefighter to ensure a picture of the cousin crew. 

Dressing up as traffic cones during the car rider line in the mornings and afternoons to advertise for the fall festival at school….

In other news, Zack will be starting a new job in a couple weeks! He is still working for the same company that he has been with for 20 years but will be the High Performance Flooring Sales Representative for the Central Region of our state. With this new role, he will no longer be managing a store location and will spend more time on the road visiting various customers and stores while also working from home some (which I think Beau will enjoy the most). Due to the travel aspects of his new job, he was provided a company car for these visits. He went to pick it up this past week and the boys enjoyed looking at daddy’s new work “ride”. We are so blessed by how hard Zack works for our family and continue to pray for God’s provision through this new opportunity.

Author Visit

Two weeks ago, this soccer player had a hat trick (and only played the second half of the game as striker! ). He didn’t allow any goals scored on him while he played goalie for the first half! This kid sure is athletic!

It was National Frappe Day… it called for an overpriced sweet treat!;)

Zander had a soccer game 2 hours away last weekend… which meant we got home after 11:00 p.m. on a Friday night! We were all tired after the busy week and long drive back home!

A laid back breakfast was just what we needed that Saturday morning after the late night travels.

Dinner with friends this week!

Zander got to meet his favorite author this past weekend. He has read most of Alan Gratz’ books and owns many of them as well.  He came home with five signed books and his two favorites were personalized with a greeting addressed to him. It was such a fun afternoon for me and my oldest. We got to check out the first part of Maddox’s soccer game prior to the author visit. It was a wet afternoon on the soccer field but our Madman had a blast scoring two goals on offense and not allowing any goals when playing goalkeeper. 

Zander’s Honor Society Induction

Our boy was recognized at his middle school for their Honor Society; celebrating students’ academic achievements, leadership, service, character and citizenship. It is such a huge achievement and I’m so proud of how hard he works, his leadership qualities and his desire to serve others. We are thankful for the example he is setting for his brother as well. :)

I’m spending a lot of time with the Cousin Crew as well, before school each morning in my office, when covering duty free lunch for the teachers and while the Kennedy adults were out of town celebrating Boomer’s 40th birthday!:) I love getting to hang out with these three on a daily basis!

Maddox had his first field trip of the year. I didn’t get to attend (and am looking forward to joining him for his spring field trip) but I loved getting pictures from other parents who were there that day! This picture makes me smile…. Pure joy finding a rock that Maddox feels is rare and of great value. ;)

The boys wanted to go to the driving range last weekend…. They love all sports!

I got to see Ashley for lunch on a work day! She lives 2.5 hours away from me but had a training a mile from where my all day meeting was! I love how God provided the time and opportunity to see her for a brief visit.

The boys finished another puzzle (with mommy’s help).

Soccer Saturdays

We got to celebrate Grandpa’s 76th birthday last week! We are so blessed to celebrate each year with him and are so thankful for all he does for our family!

Got a hair cut!

While I was at the dentist, Eli knocked his teeth on a 1/2 wall at our school. I rushed back to school to give him cuddles until Grammy could pick him up and take him to the dentist to confirm his permanent teeth were in tact! (Linds and Boom were out of town). I am still cavity free since ‘83!

Zander’s 7th grade school picture 

He loves PawPaw’s bomber jacket! He wanted to send a picture to his social studies teacher.

Last Saturday we headed to Charlotte for a full day of soccer! We got to see the Cantrell kids for lunch and then EC and Ethyn joined us for Zander’s second game of the day!

On Sunday, we got to cheer on Maddox on the pitch! He played goalie for the first half and an offensive position for the 2nd half! They won their first game 5-1 and Maddox would want me to let you know that no goals were scored on him!:)

He got to see a friend after the game!

Sunday cuddles!

Matching my favorite girl for “School Spirit Night” at AWANA

Middle school friends meeting up at their elementary school during a teacher workday!

Eli reading his “All About Me” book before school 

Advertising for our Dine Out Night 

More Soccer Saturdays! Both boys played local on the same day…. Which meant we had a big fan club…Grammy, Grannie and the Kennedys!