Soccer Saturdays, Sundays and all the other days of the week!

With both boys in travel soccer this year and Zander playing on his school’s middle school team, most weeks have us on the soccer field 6-7 days! This past weekend was no exception. Zander had a local game Friday night and then a tournament about an hour away on Saturday and Sunday. We had the remnants of a hurricane come through our area which made for wetter and colder conditions on Saturday. The boys and I stayed in the car between games, reading books, resting and playing on some technology as we waited for the next game to start. Both were soaked as they enjoy being on the turf regardless of the weather! Fortunately, I packed extra clothes to ensure the ride home (and the wait time between games) had us in dry clothes. Zander’s team won their tournament and were very excited to get their champion medals. Zack got to enjoy the post game celebration on Sunday while I was back home with Maddox for his home game and Awana at church. Maddox’s team won 7-5 and Maddox earned a hat trick scoring at least three of the goals on Sunday. The weather warmed up and dried up before the first whistle of his game (although the warming up process before the game was rather wet). Maddox finished his 4th awana book on Sunday and has officially earned his Timothy Award for his 5th grade year. He is the first fifth grader to do it this year and we are so proud of his commitment to reading and memorizing scripture. In other soccer news, Zander’s middle school team finished its season yesterday by losing in the playoffs to Wiley. The KMS team has shown so much growth this year and Zander loved playing with some of his buddies from previous travel seasons. The team finished up 2nd in their conference. For now, we will continue our evenings and weekends in the world of travel soccer as we await the start of boys’ volleyball (Z’s tryouts are next week) and basketball (for Maddox). Finally, we are embracing fall at our house. I love the simple ways that Zack adds details to our front walkway to connect with whatever holiday or season is approaching.  Hello Fall!

All the Sports

We have fit in a lot of sports this past week! In between all the soccer (Houston boys), softball (Emmy) and baseball (Eli), we continue to see friends (thank you Carmen for meeting me for weekly runs while Maddox has practice) and work hard on all the academic tasks within the week (homework and reading books). You will see below that Maddox sometimes fits in his nightly reading on the car rides home from soccer practice. He also works hard memorizing his weekly Bible verses for AWANA (he is almost finished with his fourth book, and then he will have earned the Timothy Award). I feel so blessed to have been able to cheer on Z at three soccer games this week (two for his school team and one for his travel team). Maddox had a tournament this weekend and Zack took point on the Saturday games while I was with Zander (complete with a Waffle House breakfast before his local game). I made the trek with Maddox early Sunday morning for the second day of the tournament. They came up short in the semifinals with a 2-0 loss but it was fun to cheer on both soccer stars this weekend! I also love that I can catch the Kennedy kids in action. It is such a blessing that they live close so I can see them for weeknight games nearby. Finally, Maddox found out this week that he holds the current pacer test record for his school. I was testing students in the classrooms right outside the gym on Friday so I was able to snap a picture of him while his class cheered him on as he beat the previous record from earlier in the week. ;)

Fast Forward Toward Fall

I’m always sad when summer is over. I love the warmer weather, the longer days and the more relaxed schedule that summer has to offer. It has been fast and furious as we have headed into fall. We are busy every evening after finishing a day of school and work! I worked on our October calendar last night and noticed it was quite colorful with all our extracurricular commitments. It is a blessing to be in this busy stage of life where we enjoy events at church, school and within the sports’ arenas. The kids are enjoying school and continue to excel academically. We’ve fit in some dress up days which always amp up the excitement in an elementary school. The boys continue to enjoy the high intensity on the soccer pitch and they are gaining leadership roles at school and at church. This past week, Zander found out that he was voted on as the treasurer of Hawk Leaders at school. Maddox (as a fifth grader) helps on the audio/visual team for his children’s church services in Kidstreet and he was voted on by his class to be their student council representative. One of my favorite things from this past weekend was driving Zander to his soccer game about 1.5 hours away from home. Talking to my teenager the whole ride there made me truly appreciate the stage of life we are in. We were able to celebrate Grandpa’s birthday this past week and my parents made it happen for me to get Cracker Barrel “take out” in memory of Grandma Nancy’s 95th birthday. I’m trying to catch up with friends whenever possible. Carmen met me at Maddox’s practice last week and we were able to chat and run while Maddox had soccer practice. I’m truly blessed by the family, friends and schedule I’m currently experiencing.

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer

Now that Zander is playing for his middle school team and BOTH boys are playing travel soccer, we are fitting in a lot of time on the pitch these days! Zander played three games in the last seven days and Maddox played two. It has been quite warm in the afternoons and weekends which means mama is having a “two shower” day to account for all the sweat! Haha! Zander played goalie for a bit this past week for his school team which is something he has never really done but did pretty well in the position. Although I will add that I enjoy seeing #10 (school number)/ #70 (CCFC number) playing his typical offensive position as winger or striker. Maddox got recognized for his stellar performance at the tournament a couple weeks ago by being nominated for Team of the Week! While he has played goalie in the past and does it quite well, I love watching him as a winger, striker or in the 10 spot! Here’s to a lot more soccer this fall!

Grammy and Grandpa joined the three youngest cousins for Breakfast with a Buddy at our school on Friday and made these kids super happy to begin their day! Finally, we got Zander’s 8th grade school picture and Maddox’s Fifth Grade Fly By submission. It’s hard for me to believe how fast this year is already going …. Please slow down time!

Labor Day Weekend 2026

Zack was out of town all last week for work. Due to some missed flights based on weather delays, he drove through the night from DC to make it home to us on Friday. Beau enjoyed keeping us company as we shuttled the boys to all their extracurricular activities! On Friday night, we got to enjoy Carolina Core’s final game of the season. An added bonus was getting to join Aunt Kelly and her family in her company’s suite for free food and air conditioning! On Saturday, the boys invited their best friends (Jackson and Austin) over to enjoy Partee Shack and then a sleepover. We took the boys to church on Sunday. Zander went to lunch and Top Golf with his youth small group afterwards. On Monday, we spent a few hours at Urban Air. We did the ropes course, the sky rider, the climbing wall and trampolines. It was a fun family outing after all the plans we’ve had recently! I can’t believe it is already time to head back to work and school for another week! The weekends go by way too fast!

Soccer Season

We fit in five soccer games this weekend! Zander had a single season game that was local and their team won at home! Maddox’s team had their first tournament of the year and came home champions! Maddox had nine total goals for the weekend, including a penalty kick that caused his team to win the semifinal match in the last few minutes of the game. In the final game, Maddox had a hat trick scoring two goals as right winger and then having an incredible free kick placement where the ball faded into the goal at the last moment! This caused them to tie up the game and force a penalty kick shootout with their team winning the shootout 4-1! Maddox is pretty excited to have a champion medal at his first ever soccer tournament and is really excited about the year ahead! I see a lot of soccer games in our future for the Houston brothers!

SURFILMUSIC Tour 2026

We have two weeks of school behind us at this point and are getting used to our new routine! I am loving the ages of our kids, our conversations in the car and even the busy schedule with nightly commitments for sports and church! I don’t want to claim we have it figured out but things seem to be falling into place each day! Last weekend, I took Maddox to our local honeybee festival while Zander played a round of golf with two of his buddies from school (Austin and Max). They had a thunderstorm pop up around hole #12 and I’m thankful they knew to head to the clubhouse where they waited out the weather and were able to go to the driving range for a bit afterwards. They got a rain check for the back nine to play on a different day. On Sunday, we had a pool party at the McKillops. You will see Maddox attempted to photo bomb the teacher picture! Haha This week, I had to organize our beginning of grade assessments. Carmen brought me a delicious coffee drink before we started the assessments! I’m so thankful for our friendship! This weekend, Zack and I were able to head to Raleigh for a Jack Johnson concert (one of the only musical groups that we agree on and enjoy together) while Grammy and Grandpa took our boys to Zander’s first soccer tournament of the season in Charlotte! We were all over the state this weekend but we are so thankful for the grandparents ensuring the boys were where they needed to be so we could have a night out! We will have many soccer games in our future as both boys are playing travel soccer this year. Zander found out on Friday that he made his middle school soccer team as well! I see us on soccer fields for the foreseeable future…. Stay tuned for picture updates of all the fall sports!