From Zero to 100
After the weekend in Branson, we had some down time. The kids spent a few days at the lake with my parents and I started preparing for the start of the school year for Mizzou. Practices for school softball and baseball started during the 2nd week of August for Gracie and the next week for Owen. They each had a few weeks of practices prior to their first games. I had all of the training sessions, scheduling, and initial meetings with new students and tutors. It was very busy when the third week of August arrived.
I feel like that was already such a long time ago and so much has happened in the past month!
Fun Times at the Lake with Grandma and Grandpa
Swimming in the pool
Crazy how Owen is finally getting big enough to support Gracie
Heading out on the boat
Driving somewhere at the lake; probably out to eat.
The following weekend, we made a trip up to Iowa for one of my friends' wedding. My favorite running friend tied the knot on August 13 and we had a great time. It was a very short trip, but we made it worth it. We hauled the dirt bike up there so Owen could ride with River. We did not know that Chad went ahead and bought another one to have up there. Go figure.
Owen and River on the dirt bikes; Kaia joining in on hers.
I think Owen can sleep anywhere.
Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, this is what happened when we gave him some Benedryl for all the tick bites he had running through the timber with his friends a couple nights before. It was terrible.
It was pretty hard to wake him up until a few hours after the Benedryl.
Prior to leaving for Iowa, the lawn mower died. For real. Blew up.
While Owen was driving it, the radiator blew. I was not home, but Nick said he hadn't seen Owen move that fast in a long time. So now we have invested in a bigger, better one that can haul manure. Gracie has used it once, but it is a little more complicated to drive and doesn't turn as easily. Hopefully the kids will get used to it.
New lawn tractor. It's a bit bigger.
High School sports have started for Gracie!
Mud.
Thank you Gracie.
This is Emilee. Gracie looks up to her and she has so far been a great role model for Gracie.
I'm sure this will continue through basketball this year.
The freshmen who travel with varsity. There are quite a few.
First day on the job.
Southern Boone's first tournament was in Hallsville on August 27. I had to miss the first two games due to work, but made it to the third/championship game, which we won! It wasn't exactly the way we wanted to win (last run we scored was on an error), but it was a win.
Then we went to the rodeo that night and celebrated Owen's birthday the next day. It was a pretty full weekend.
Birthday fun!
12 years old!
He had a sleepover on his actual birthday which was a Thursday night. The kids were not in school yet, so that worked out well.
Party with lots of friends
Owen loves having all of his friends together.
Love this face!
Rodeo
Finally we got to go to the rodeo in Ashland again after the event being canceled for two years due to Covid concerns. It was a fun night, but not as much fun as I remember it from the past.
Maybe that is due to our kids being old enough that they don't need to hang out with us anymore and they only find us if they need money.
Another birthday!
Gracie turned 14 this year. She had a game on her birthday, so we celebrated the day before and she took cupcakes for her teammates the following day.
$ from Grandparents
Berks from Grandma
Nikes from MOM.
It looks like Owen is impressed, too. 😂
Team pictures for Southern Boone
Gracie's school softball pics for Southern Boone
Gracie with Haley
They also played in a couple different Aces tournaments together
Nova and Gracie
Nick saved the day for this home football game.
Gracie sent me a text about 5 hours prior to the game to have me buy some Leis and grass skirts. I could not find them anywhere in Columbia. Nick took the girls to Hobby Lobby in Jeff City and they hit the jackpot. They found a box of 50 AND hats! For each home football game, there is a theme and if you don't dress up, you don't get to sit in the "black hole" aka the student section of the bleachers. Very important that you comply with these social expectations. So I think these girls made the cut and Gracie to the box of leis to share with anyone who needed them.
Gracie with some friends at the football game.
Gracie and Sadie getting ready
More Softball
I think I am done taking my own pictures for softball. Now that she is in high school, there is someone who has an actual camera and can get really good shots. Here are a couple from the first few games.
Nick took Owen and a couple of friends to the first Mizzou football game.
I think they had a lot of fun, and it was a Thursday before school started, so they didn't have to worry about getting up early the next morning.
Gracie and Nova hanging out with Dancer.
Nova is small enough to get on her.
A few more pics from softball... I took these at Eldon and the most recent home games.
Grace was MVP of the Eldon game.
Getting ready for announcement of lineups
National Anthem time.
Grace with her Aces teammates from Tolton; Sadie and Montana
Gracie and Ava played in the Little League World Series together.
So, it's kind of crazy, but we are three weeks into the softball season already and have a 9-4 record so far. We are ranked #6 in the state and have been beaten by Fulton twice, in the same tournament, and Fatima in a regular season game. Both teams are ranked ahead of us. Ironically, Gracie has played with a lot of girls on both of those teams in travel ball competition and will play with 3 of the Fulton girls when school ball is done. We have a tough schedule next week, playing both Helias, which is a bigger school, and Hallsville. We beat Hallsville during the first tournament, but they will be tough to beat again. I am pretty excited about the rankings, though! Southern Boone has a pretty tough schedule for their season. There are less than 3 weeks until districts and we play a lot of good teams between now and then. I'm so excited to see how well we can do!
A little more Lake time...
We made another trip to the lake on Labor Day weekend. It was great to get out on the boat for a little bit! Then we went again to see Annie and Chad after Gracie's tournament at the lake last weekend. Just a little time at the pool.
Nick and Owen floating in the water.
Gracie taking a nap in the sun.
Fun with cousins!
Southern Boone lost the first game Saturday morning against Fulton in their tournament, so we spent that afternoon with family at the pool. We would have liked to have kept playing softball, but this is a good alternative.
Jumping in!
Swimming with Kaia
Kaia was very excited to spend time with Gracie during this trip!
This is out of order, but the kids finally had their first day of school on September 6! The two weeks between Mizzou's start and Southern Boone's start felt like forever. I was working well over 50 hours/week and really struggling to get kids to where they needed to go for practices. Luckily Nick is a lot more flexible than he used to be, so was able to do a lot. We also have awesome neighbors who let the Britton kids tag along. Gracie has teammates who can drive who were also able to help out with rides. Ugh. So much to coordinate. The coaches often change the practice times at the last minute, so that doesn't help either.
Open-houses for different schools and orientations were also scheduled at times that didn't make a lot of sense to me. Gracie couldn't even go to hers because she had a game. Nick couldn't go to Gracie's game because Owen had his open house for middle school. Then orientation was in the middle of the day for Gracie, which is not very convenient for two parents who both work in a different town
But anyhow... enough complaining. The time finally arrived for them to return to school.
First day of 7th grade for Owen and 9th grade for Gracie.
Just waiting for the bus.
Same... He has equipment to haul with him now, too.
Annual picture of us!
Nick had already left for work.
Ready to go!
We forgot Ruby this year. She usually makes an appearance in at least one of our pics.
Tackle Football!!!!
Owen has been waiting for this for so long! After playing flag football since first grade, and after more than three weeks of middle school practices, he finally got to play a game. I have never seen him so exhausted after coming home from practices. They are working them pretty hard and I think he is still loving it.
Owen got to go out for the coin toss.
#32 is our little man
After winning
All smiles after his first game.
I couldn't catch him before he took his shoulder pads off. I really wanted to get a picture of him and his friends after their first game, but they were too quick. I think my only complaint so far, is that he doesn't quite have the whole hygiene thing in check yet. I thought Gracie smelled raunchy, but when Owen and his friends throw their gear bags into the car and enclose themselves in that small area, it is pretty nauseating. I feel so bad for the parents who are driving Owen home from practices when I can't get there in time. Ugh. Gross.
Homecoming 2022 is drawing near. Gracie's boyfriend, Chase, asked her to go last week and we have ordered her dress. I hope it gets here in time. He wrote her a message on a softball to ask her.
Chase and Gracie
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