Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Fall Sports!

The Fall sure is a busy time! Our September is packed, but hopefully October will slow down a little! We are busy during the week with the kids activities and the to/from school multiple times a day! (We live about 12 miles out of town.) Then, tomorrow, we leave for a 4 day annual Theater conference in Dallas for our new job - fun, fun!

Last week, Bmaw and Mama Dee joined Cambree at a Bingo Night fundraiser for girls' athletics!

Me and Mom took a break from the shop on Friday and ran errands (Hello, Hobby Lobby!) and ate some Chick-fil-a!

Blu stayed home and ate a hot dog. ;)

We got Mom, Dad, Paw, and Bmaw tickets to the Lyric Theater to see the Patsy Cline show for Grandparents Day!

Another football game - this time in Ballinger, Texas, and another win!

Caedmon and his friend "Taco!"

#9!

Brothers!

Dad loves watching these Fall sports!

Ready for the national anthem!

On Friday, we let the kids have 3 friends over each to hang out for the afternoon/evening!

Caedmon chose Nate and Guy.

Cason chose Brennan, Peyton, and Devean.

Jump!

Cambree chose Sierra, Bailey, and Hannon.

See my New Day mini-mural on the wall??

Lunch at school...we have eyes everywhere!

Cason had another great soccer game this past weekend, winning 9-2 and Cason scored 2 goals! He's SO good at dribbling, and he makes epic faces!

We are loving watching Cambree play volleyball on Monday nights!

And of course, there's always work to be done! I helped Paw with the post hole digger...for approximately 67 seconds!

Monday, September 17, 2018

September Days

Busy busy! The weeks fly by, filled with school days, days in the shop, extra-curricular activities for our kids, church activities, and fun family time together! Here's a look at last week for the Tidwells!

On Monday, Cloud stopped in for a couple of hours from Costa Rica! He had a meeting in Dallas and drove down to say hey!

Dad working on sanding scale model sets in the shop!

Cambree had a volleyball game on Monday (they won!), but we spent most of the week filming youtube videos for her student council campaign! :) Check her out on youtube - Cambree Tidwell!

On Monday, we went from a volleyball game for Cambree to a drive to a nearby town for a cross country meet for Caedmon! He beat his time from last year's meet by 1 minutes and 24 seconds!

Great group of boys!

Grandpa was there to cheer him on! (and fix his shorts...)

Yes, I do have a different Bangs shirt for every sport..

Mom & I stayed at the one mile marker to cheer him on!

Tuesdays seem to be our free evenings at home, so we played some basketball, filmed a youtube video, and had some backyard football fun!

Let's see... on Wednesdays we pick the kids up from school and head straight to the FBC gym to hang out with a bunch of middle schoolers until church starts! We are up at church from 3:30 to almost 8, so it's a long night!

Thursdays = football days! Last week's game was in Winters, so we drove about an hour to watch our 8th grade team play! Here's our muscle man!

Caed is playing kickoff team, cornerback on defense, and some wide receiver on offense. He had an AMAZING open field tackle!

So proud! A 20-0 victory!

Caed and his girl, Sierra ;)

Cambree & Bailey - Cam loves to go and hang with her friends and the cheerleaders!

Grandpa was in his element!

Some LONG time family friends made the football game, driving from near Tyler! I hadn't seen them since I was 15 years old! Thank you Bro. Darryle and Bren for coming!!

Paw was there too - any excuse to ride his motorcycle, he'll take!

Go Dragons!

On Friday, we closed up the shop and Blu worked with his dad on his carport!

Ready for sheet metal!

Bro. Darryle and Bren came by for the grand tour of our place and for lunch - it was great to visit and to hear about their own mission experience back in the late 70s in Tanzania!

So then the adventure began...we decided to take the boat out on Friday after school. We loaded up ice chests of drinks and hot dogs, picked the kids up from school, and headed out for a fun evening! Well, after getting the boat on the lake and fueling up, we noticed the boat was taking on a LOT of water. The plug had come out somewhere/somehow, and we managed to get back to the marina/dock to fix it. (Blu stuck his big toe in the plug while I ran up to the marina store to buy a new plug). We started going again, got Cason on the tube, and noticed some dark clouds...and then thunder. Blu sighed and told Cason to get back in, we couldn't take the boat out with thunder/lightning, so we'd try again another day. Cason got in, we started driving, and BOOM. The boat died. In the middle of the lake, with a huge storm coming. It absolutely wouldn't start. So we call Blu's brother who's a cop and he called the lake patrol to come get us. (By the time the call made it to Lake Patrol, it was "A family of 5 is sinking in the middle of the lake!) I was panicked about the lightning, Cambree was taking pictures, and Cason was eating a hot dog through all of this... The storm finally hit (strong winds and rain) and it pushed our boat over to some reeds. We rowed with waterskis as best we could and finally Blu was able to get close enough to jump in and swim us over to a dock, where 2 older men had been watching us and were waiting to help. Lake Patrol finally arrived and towed Blu, and the rest of us walked about 1/4 mile to meet Paw, who came to pick us up.. Nothing like a Friday night adventure...

Cold. And freezing. But not scared. (Just me.)

See those clouds?!

The long, wet walk..

On Saturday, we enjoyed some outdoor time throwing the football and playing volleyball!

We also got a new toy, so that's been fun!

It was finally time to watch Cason play a sport! He is on the Outlaws soccer team, a VERY good team who are extremely well coached! They won their first game 13-0. Cason played striker and midfield and had some amazing assists!

Getting coached during a break!

Our Saturday ended with a quick visit from Deb, who came by in her new ride to pick up the cat we "fostered" for the last 2 weeks!

Sunday was a great day of Sunday School, worship, lunch with new friends, naps, pool, Sunday evening small group, and a trip to Walmart/Home Depot to get ready for the week! Oh, and trying on some new things purchased for our VERY cold weather trip in February! :)