Matt's 9th Birthday - Houston Food Bank

Matt loved Marlie's birthday party at Lunches of Love.  When we got home he said "Mom that was so much fun can I do that for my birthday?" With a big smile I said sure!

Let me first start by saying that I can't believe Matt is 9! While I want so bad for him to stop getting older I love the little man he's become.  I love that he is so organized and helps me so much at home! We couldn't get out the door in the mornings without his help. I love that he really cares about his friends and has had the same best friend since he was 3.  I love that he tries so hard at everything (except for singing).  I love to watch him play sports...any sport!  I love to hear him play the guitar because he's actually gotten really good at it. It makes me laugh (just a little and after I've chewed him out) that he gets in trouble at school for talking because at home Marlie does all the talking for everyone! I pray that God continues to surround him with teachers, coaches and friends like all of the wonderful people who joined us to volunteer for his birthday!

I wanted to find something different for Matt's birthday so we decided to volunteer at the Houston Food Bank.  In lieu of gifts we asked everyone to bring school supplies and peanut butter.  The neatest thing happened while we were getting our items for the HFB.  We were at Walmart (just to note...I hardly ever go to Walmart because no one in the entire store seems friendly) and Matt had a full cart of school supplies he had picked out.  We were headed to buy peanut butter when a man and woman walked by and she said laughing "are those all for you?" Matt smiled and explained what they were for.  She opened her wallet and took out $30 and gave it to him to by extra peanut butter.  The man with her then reached into his wallet and gave him another $30! I was shocked and Matt was super excited.  We thanked them several times and they were kind enough to take a picture so we could remember what a sweet couple they were!

We did a project called Operation Backpack where we packed bags with lots of different food items that get delivered to kids in need on Fridays so they have food for the weekend! We had tons of packs to assemble and it required lots of effort on everyone's part.  Here are a few videos of our assembly line:

The kids did great! Most of them actually worked really hard for 2 straight hours! 

  And a few of them stood around helping but doing a lot of talking and looking cute!

The parents did even better and we're so thankful for all the parents that helped too.  Especially the tiers at the end of the assembly line who suffered on the job injuries. 

I'm not sure how many "backpacks" we packed but it was a ton!  Thank you all so much for working so hard!

We are so thankful that Ms. Gommels joined us and brought Ms. Spooner, a new Fall Creek teacher with her!  It was a nice surprise for Matt that you all came to help!

  Everyone brought a ton of supplies - look at all that was donated!!  Y'all are awesome!



Such a fun day. Happy Birthday Matt!   

On Matt's actual birthday we decided last minute to head to Waco to watch the Baylor Bears play their first game of the season.  But this was not just any game...it was the first game in the new and fabulous McLane Stadium.  The stadium was amazing, the Bears won, the atmosphere was great and we got to see Robert Griffin III and hear him do the invocation which is just such a wonderful treat and great example for Matt.  It was a lovely evening!

And we got to see our brick that Daddy did for us!  Who knows if the kid's will go to Baylor but if so it's cool that this will be here for them.  And if they don't...well we'll save a lot of money! Happy 9th Birthday Matt.  We love you more than you'll ever know!  

Hooks Baseball

This post is way overdue but I didn't do a great job taking pictures this year so I was waiting to get as many as possible from friends and off of Doug's phone! 

Matt played with the Hooks baseball team again this year and the boys had a much better year!  A few faces changed but not many.  Matt primarily played first base again but also got to play a bit at third base and maybe had his best tournament when he played left center.  He played catcher a few times and that's always his favorite! The very last tournament of the season he also got to pitch an inning!! He did pretty well for his first time.  He did hit a kid in the shin but it wasn't too hard (thankfully) and the kid should have moved! Ha! He struck one kid out, another hit the ball directly back at him and he made a great play.  The last kid hit a great ball to third base and Caden made a great play and got him out at first.  So not too bad for his first time on the mound!

If I remember correctly...what are the odds of that?...the boys placed 2nd in their first tournament.  It was a great weekend in good ole Beaumont, TX except 20 minutes before the championship game ended, the temperature literally dropped 20 degrees, the wind picked up and it started pouring! So this is the only pic I got from the trophy ceremony which lasted maybe 2 minutes!

Here are a few other good pics of Matt from that tourney...

A few weeks later the boys played at Baseball USA and guess who won that tournament?  Our boys did! The boys played SO well.  Every kid on the team made a great play during the weekend.  It was so fun to watch and the boys were crazy excited! 

The Dads promised the boys they would do the harlem shake if they won a tournament.  This had to be one of my favorite memories of the year.  We all must have watched this 20+ times to make sure we saw each Dad and kid dance.  So maybe it's not a great "harlem shake" but it's a fabulous "Hooks Harlem Shake".  A special thanks to Coach Joel for the entertainment!









Good news, bad news...good news is that the boys played so well that they got moved up to Elite! Bad news is that now we're playing with the big boys and games just got much harder.  The boys struggled a bit playing elite teams but they sure tried. 

 

Coaches decided to end the season with a kid-pitch tournament because next year they move up to kid-pitch.  It was really for practice and I sort of assumed it would be pretty wild.  Well guess what...the Hooks won that tournament too!  Seriously?  Yes.  I was so proud of those boys. 

Matt congratulations on a great year!  What I like most about your team is all the high fives and chest bumps after someone makes a good play.  You won't win em all but you play hard and do a great job encouraging your teammates.  We are a proud family all in orange!

Chicago!

This summer we headed up to Chicago for Doug's cousin's wedding.  I remember a few trips to Chicago when I was a kid and it is such a great city. 

We got in late Tuesday night and realized that our trip was off to a great start.  The little boutique hotel we found was lovely. We will definitely stay at the Hotel Burnham again! The Concierge, Jean-Luc directed us to a great pizza place down the street.  He was so kind and helpful during our stay. We had awesome pizza and pasta and they surprised us with a cookie dessert that was amazing!

Wednesday morning we headed to the Museum of Science & Industry.  This is such a great museum for adults and kids! The kids loved learning and touring the huge U-boat that is housed there.  We also did the coal mine tour which was really educational too. The kids got to learn about farming, the importance the invention of the train had on our country, how tornadoes are formed and even about why we poop.  I know, even Marlie thought it was gross.  Later that day we walked down the Magnificent Mile and had to stop at Nike town of course.  We ended the day at an amazing restaurant called the Purple Pig where we ate fried pig's ears and roasted bone marrow...all way better than they sound and the kid's loved it too! 

Thursday we woke up late and had an early lunch in Little Italy at an amazing little Mom & Pop restaurant.  Afterwards we headed to the top of Willis Tower.  I did this as a kid and thought it was amazing, but I was pretty nervous.  Once we got off the elevator I could feel the sway of the building. I was fine until Doug and the kids made me go out onto the Skydeck! As you can tell the kids weren't scared at all!  But the views of the city from up here are amazing!

A quick trip back to the hotel and then we took the train to Wrigley for the Cubs game!

We went early, of course, to watch BP. Dad bought us seats right behind the Cubs dugout which was great for the kids.  They got 2 autographs and Matt got 4 balls throughout the game from the Cubs players.  He said it was the best game he's ever been to!  It was definitely a treat to see a ball game at Wrigley Field. 

Friday morning we had a late breakfast at a little spot near the museums where Marlie and I shared a red velvet waffle!! Then we walked through the parks on our way to the Shedd Aquarium. It was chilly enough that we had to break out our sweatshirts we bought at the Cubs game.  It was fun strolling through the park.  The kids had the most fun rolling down the hills in front of the museum and picking dandelions! It was such a beautiful morning!

We finally made it into the Shedd Aquarium and the kids went straight towards the stingrays.  The Shedd is amazing but our kids are a little spoiled from our trips to the Exumas. We play with stingrays in ocean, touch starfish, snorkel with bright colored fish and swim with sharks!

On Saturday we drove to the suburbs to meet up with the rest of the family in St. Charles! Courtney and Jason's wedding was absolutely beautiful! It was so nice that we got to see all of Doug's family.  You might remember these guys from some pics several years ago in San Diego.  Doug's cousins Rick and Ed are such great guys! 

All the kids had a wonderful time with each other and spent most of their time on the dance floor!  I think Matt didn't want to be outperformed by his little cousin Tim so he was dancing all night too!  I was so proud of him for getting out of his comfort zone!

It was a wonderful evening for sure.  The next day we went to Doug's Aunt and Uncle's house for more festivities.  Rick and Dawn have a beautiful home with an amazing yard!  It's big enough for a football and soccer field and the kids spent all day playing outside.  The weather was amazing and Matt said this was by far his favorite day. What a fun, relaxing and lovely day!

Monday we headed back into the city before flying home.  We stopped by the Field Museum for a quick visit.  Matt wanted to the see the Tsavo man-eating lions!  We had to take a picture near this wonderful sculpture outside Soldier Field.  I thought this was so beautiful!  What a nice way to end a great vacation!