End of Season Awards

End of the season Baseball awards took place on Saturday. My pictures are not that good, because it was 105 degrees, there were tons of people and just me with the boys.

Cooper and The Thunderpups.

Hagen and The Indians.

A day in the life of little boys...

Just a short post, describing the boys latest bike riding experience. Cooper has still not really taken to bike riding. He knows how, it just seems to scare him. Needless to say, this drives Hagen crazy. So, he was determined to 'teach" Cooper how, and he went to work devising a plan.

Cooper's bike tied to Hagen's with some rope.

Ready for take off.

Crying the whole time! Cooper was not having any of this.

And this is how most things end around here...Cooper upset.

Hagen's Birthday Party

Friday, July 15th, we celebrated Hagen's birthday. originally we had planned to spend the day at the waterpark, but because Erik still had pins in his foot that could not get wet, plan B came into affect. We headed to Tyler that morning, after picking up Hagen's friend Cannon. We spent the morning at Gander Mountain and then Academy, where Hagen used his birthday money to purchase a bow and arrow and a BB pistol. He was beyond thrilled. After the shopping trip, the boys decided on Olive Garden for lunch. I was a little suprised at their choice.

Having a great time.

After lunch, we headed over to the movies to see Transformers 3.

Ready to watch the movie.

After the movie, we headed home to have hagen's birthday party. This year we just had family at the party, and of course our neighbor Collin who seems to be a part of our everday life.

Hagen's Mabank Panther football cake he requested. I LOVE this cake. The Cake Mama (find her on facebook) made it! She did a great job and it tasted wonderful. She is awesome, thanks Niki!

Blowing out his six candles.

Cooper and Payton enjoying their cake.

G-Paw and Bobbie giving Harper her first drink of orange sunkist. I know I probably won't win mom of the year but she loved it!

And of course, nanny had to feed her some cake!

KK and Harper.

Opening gifts.

And....A Swamp People shirt. Thank you Aunt Mae Mae.

What a great day!

Hagen turns 6..

Tuesday, July 12th, Hagen turned six years old. I can not believe he is already this big. Some days I look at him, and almost don't recognize the young man he has become. I have no idea what happened to my baby. Erik and I decided we were going to start a new tradition this year, and take each child to breakfast by themselves on their birthdays. So, early Tuesday morning, before Erik went to work, he, Hagen and I headed to Denny's to celebrate Hagen's special day. KK stayed and watch Cooper and Harper, and let me just say that Cooper was less than thrilled he was not coming along. However, Cooper would be the first one to object if someone decided to tag along for his birthday breakfast. Hagen was really excited he got to have special time by himself.

Erik and Hagen waiting for breakfast.

My six year old boy, with the sweetest smile.

We had a wonderful morning, and can not wait to continue this tradition.

Later that morning, KK decided to carry the boys on a trip to the fire fighter museum in Denton. THe boys had been looking forward to this and were so excited. They also got to stop and eat at Cracker Barrel, where they sang Happy Birthday to Hagen. What a treat.

KK and the boys.

Hagen,
Wow, it is hard for me to believe you are six. You are growing into such a sweet handsome little boy. You live life to the fullest, and take advantage of every moment. I don't believe you have taken naps since you were two. You play hard all day long, and love being outside. Your brother and sister already look up to you. One of the things I love about you is your huge heart and the sensitivity you have.

At 6 yrs old:
You love to play outside and ride your bike.
You love to dress like a fireman and "put out fires" with the water hose.
You wear a size 4 shoe, and size 8 in clothes.
You like to play baseball and football.
Your favorite TV shows are Swamp People, Deadliest Catch and Whale Wars, your favorite swamp hunter is Joe.
You love your nanny's strawberry cake, and dislike chocolate.
You love hot dogs, toaster struedels, and steak.
You will be starting kindergarden in the fall.
You are very energetic (to say the least)
You love to work cows with your pops.
You learned to swim on your own this summer.
You also learned to tie your shoes this week!
You are a early riser, around 7 am every morning.
You had a wonderful time at VBS this summer, and that makes me smile.
Harper absolutely LOVES you and constantly follows you with her eyes if you are in the room. You can easily make her laugh and giggle.
You are most definately my kind-hearted child.
Your favorite ice cream, is a strawberry sunday.

We can not wait to watch you continue to grow into a young man. We are already so proud of who you have become.

End of the year baseball party.

Sunday, July 10th, we held the end of the year party for Hagen's baseball team, The Indians. I am so thankful that this was one party that all I had to do was provide the venue. The other moms brought the food, drinks an activities. It was so hot that day, so our good friends , The McManus', loaned us one of their "graveside" tent canopies for shade. Yes, they are gravediggers! Ace's grandad loandes us a water slide for the day, and our team had enough money left over from sponsor donations for pizza, drinks, and watermellon. The boys had a great time. We had a great T-ball year this year with wonderful coaches, and learned so much.

The slide in the background and our "cemetary" tent.

Hagen, Drew and Payton enjoying their pizza.

Birthday Boys! Both share July 12th!

Cooper and Beau enjoying cupcakes.

A perfect end to a great season!

Thursday's toe surgery

Thursday, was Erik's big day. His long awaited foot surgery. Erik was born with hammer toes on both feet, and just recently his left toes have started to cause him quite a bit of pain. A few months ago he decided to go see Dr. Beck and they decided it would be best to repair the toes on his left foot. So Thursday morning, we arrived at Mother Francis Hospital in Tyler for Erik's surgery. He was a little nervous!

In holding, before the surgery, in his pretty blue cap.

The surgery took about a hour, and everything turned out good. Originally, we hoped that internal rods could be used in Erik's toes to correct them. However, during the surgery they discovered that the internal rods would not hold and external pins had to be used.

Erik's foot after surgery. Those pins will stay in about two weeks and then be removed. As I write this, we are on post-op day#3 and Erik is getting along pretty well. He has quite a bit of pain in the morning but after he moves around some it improves. KK watched all of the kids while we where at the hospital and I am so thankful to her and her help. My children are so lucky to have great grandparents.

Parades, parties, and rodeos

Last Saturday was a full day of birthday parties an annual adventures. We started off the day with our first birthday pary at Hannah's house. She had the coolest water slide and a snow cone machine! The boys had a great time. Unfortunately, I was busy with Harper so I was not able to get any pictures. But rest assured it was a great summer afternoon. After, the party we headed home for some afternoon naps, we still had a long evening ahead of us.

That afternoon, we headed to Market St. To watch the annual Mabank Western Week parade. Our town host an annual western week and rodeo, this year they celebrated the 56th anniversery. Such a great event that we all look forward to every year.

Ready to watch the parade.

Mrs. Sony, the boys old sitter watching the parade.

The firetruck leading the parade.

Andrea and Betty leading the parade.

The rodeo queen.

Collecting candy from the street.

After the parade, we headed to Presley's house for her 5th birthday party. Cooper, of course, could not wait! She had a Peter Pan themed party. It was so cute.

The Captain Hook treasure hunt.

Sword fighting.

The cannonball toss with Beau. Cooper and Beau have become such good little friends. I am so sad they will be moving to Oklahoma in a few weeks, however very excited for the Wendel family as this is a great oppurtunity for them. Beau's dad just accepted the head football/athletic director position in Ardmore,Oklahoma.

Is this not the cutest cake ever? Niki Bell, a.k.a. The Cake Mama, on facebook, made it. She is making Hagen's cake in a couple weeks and I can not wait. I thought this was the cutest Peter Pan cake.

After the party, we headed back to town to the rodeo. Harper and Cooper decided to stay with Erik's mom, KK. So it was just Hagen, Erik, and I. I think Hagen was so excited to have a night to himself. Before we left the house, Hagen imformed us he needed a new straw hat, because it was summer and he could not wear his felt one. My good boy, he has learned well, his Pops will be so proud. As soon as we got to the rodeo, he picked out a brand new straw hat.

Hagen and his friend Austin watching the rodeo. He was so excited to sit on the fence with the "big boys".

Getting ready for the calf scramble. This is a bad picture from my phone, but Hagen looks forward to this every year.

We had a fun packed Saturday!

A Ballpark tour.

Last Friday, Erik had the day off. We love those days. That day we planned a jam packed day. First that morning, we headed to Arlington. Recently, we had purchased a "community support" Ranger's ticket coupon book, it was full of coupons for half priced and free ranger game tickets. The catch was you had to either mail it in or personally purchase tickets from the box office in Arlington. After purchasing the tickets we decided to take the boys on the tour of the ballpark. They were really excited.

Posing in front of a suite.

A view from the suites.

Hanging out on the bench in the batting practice room.

The batting practice room inside the ballpark.

In the press room.

In front of the clubhouse.

Standing in the dugout in front of the field.

Hanging out in the dugout.

The boys with our tour guide Audrey.

What a great time we had. After the tour we headed to lunch at Jason's Deli. Then after lunch, a quick shopping trip at the Allen outlet malls. It quickly turned into a "quick trip" after Erik discovered the joy of shopping with three children under the age of five. We decided it would be best for us to take turns sitting in the car while the other ran into the stores.

After shopping we stopped in Mesquite to see Cars 2. It was a GREAT movie! I loved it and would so go see it again. The air conditioner quit working during the movie, so when we left the theatre they handed us all free movie passes.

We had a great full day.