Dear Jackson & Colton,
I had good intentions of blogging every month. I wanted you to have a place to go to look through your childhood. I wanted our family to have a place they could go to keep up with our various adventures. I wanted a place I could go to help me hold onto some of my most precious memories. But the year went at warp speed and this sweet keepsake fell by the wayside. So now I'll try to catch up a whole year in one spot.
Jax, you had your final elementary school choir performance. I love that your elementary school has a grade level show each year and you don't seem to mind performing.
The weather turned cold just in time for the lacrosse season to start. It was still super fun to watch, even from under blankets!!
The Vaughns hosted a super fun Valentine's Murder Mystery Date Night at their house. Dad & I played the assigned roles of high school sweethearts so it was an easy night for us.
Later that month, we celebrated Michelle's birthday at one of her favorites, Joe T's.
I had a little break at work so I stopped by for one last "Visitor Lunch" at your school. It's not as cool to have your mom eat lunch with you in middle school :(
The month ended with a visit to the orthodontist for you, Colt. After seeing your brother get his perfect teeth, you were excited to start the process too!
Downing welcomed you over in March, Jax. You officially picked orchestra as one of your electives and signed up to play the viola. It was a surprising choice as I thought you'd follow in the footsteps of your "tour guides" and go with the cello.
As if the middle school experience wasn't enough of a sign that you're growing up, you also cooked dinner for the family without any help from us adults. I wish I could say this became a regular occurrence in 2019 but I'm reporting live from the future to say it isn't so.
Colt, you were proud to show off your classroom at Open House. You not only loved your room, but you LOVED your teacher too!
What kid doesn't love a bathtub in their classroom?
In full disclosure, I think we should document more than just the happiness and rainbows. See your red skin in that picture? This is due to some repetitive tics that you started displaying. The redness is from frequently licking around your mouth. We started looking into what we could do to help you.
Spring Break started with some pool reconstruction. You boys thought it was cool to have an empty pool and hung out in it for a while.
A few days later, we headed on a mini-road trip with our besties. We took a quick trip down to Waco. Of course, we had to swing by Bucee's first.
Dr. Pepper Museum
Best dang lunch in Waco!
A short hike (that you later deemed your favorite part of the trip!)
You both jumped right into baseball when Spring Break was over. Our typical catchers were on the IR list, so you got to try your hand at a new position, Jax.
Later that month, we triple-dated ("Doug's Dangerous Dinner") for a birthday celebration for Dougie Doug.
Colt, you were my buddy for our church's Feed The Hunger volunteer event. You make a hairnet look good!
Colt, you played for the Cardinals this season and it was fun being with such sweet friends!!
The bluebonnets bloomed in April, and we were sure to get our annual pics!!
I should've known better than to let you two pick your own poses.
Of course, one of the best parts of April was when you turned ELEVEN, Jax!
And this is the exciting moment that you realized you were gifted a PHONE!
You were allowed to have your first sleepover - but we kept it small!
First up, we took you, Braxton, Noah, and Grae to hibachi.
We took y'all to Main Event and then you boys stayed up WAAAAAY later than me. Donuts greeted you in the morning and then you jumped into the pool to swim off the sugar.
Colt, April was special for you too as you ranked up with your Cub Scout pack.
The weather turned gorgeous so Grandpa and Grandma came to a few of your games.
In between games, you both kept growing up right before my eyes!
Jax, you learned how to pump gas.
Colt, you were Dad's right hand man during a little home project.
More Cub Scout fun...
Baseball had a winning weekend!
And, just a note, many many months later, and THIS picture is still the background image you set on your iPad. It makes me smile every time I see that you haven't changed it. 🥰
Mother's Day rolled around and I got a jar fill with words of affirmation. :::SWOON:::
I got some sweet quality time with y'all that Mother's Day Weekend when Grandma hooked us up with tickets to the Byron Nelson.
Not long after that, the school year was wrapping up and that meant a fun pool party for the 5th graders. A last hoorah, of sorts.
And then it was time. Time to graduate elementary school. They held the ceremony at your future middle school and it was sweet. You looked so handsome and grown and I could hardly handle it.
We wasted no time in kicking off summer with our first vacation. We flew to San Francisco to go visit friends.
Do either of you remember the time that you wanted to take some forest stairs in Muir Woods? It turned into the most difficult hike I've ever done!!!
The beach was chilly so we stayed in the sand!
We had a beautiful day for the Golden Gate!!
My camera didn't capture the true cuteness of those painted ladies.
We ate super fresh seafood in Fisherman's Wharf and that tongue could hardly wait!
Since we were so close, we trekked over to Yosemite for part of our trip.
The sequoias were some of the neatest things I've ever seen!
The icing on the cake was a visit to Tahoe!
Then it was time for summer sports - swim team and baseball!
At the end of June, we headed north for even more vacation to join to the family at the lake house!!
You kids wasted no time jumping in the lake.
You both want your own jet skis!
Our first night at the lake ended up with what is still one of my very favorite family pictures!!! 😍
One of our very best moves was renting a Jeep for the week. Dad & I both fell hard and decided that we WILL be Jeep owners one day.
That top down life is the way to go.
The rental fun continued as we rented our own boat for the week too!
The most memorable part of the week was our trip up to Mackinac. Instead of taking the last ferry home, we stayed overnight for the first time ever! SO COOL!!
Biking the island is a must!
What's cuter than downtown with more icee than you can eat?!?
We made sure to include Charlevoix as one of our stops.
And, if the National Cherry Festival is happening while you're there, it's an obvious sign.
<<See what I did there?!>>
Is it even a vacation if you don't putt putt?
S'mores are a must for any fire pit. The Grandpa is just an added bonus!
I scream, you scream, ice creams screams VACAY!
A super cool part of the trip was seeing the progress Grandpa and Grandma are making on their property.
Having GREAT Grandpa with us was the cherry on top of an amazing trip!
We squeezed a ton of friend time into July as we attempted to hold on tight to summer!
And then came August and we knew the end was near. This was the end of the Rangers playing at Globe Life park. They built a bigger better stadium so we attended one of their final home games before their big move.
Of course, we didn't let summer end without a big birthday celebration for you, Colton!
And then the church included you in their End Of Summer Bash - as an official member of the YOUTH GROUP! ::mind blown:: It was a paint war and you loved it. Our car? Not so much!
We spent our final summer day together exploring. This is probably one of the most beautiful spots in town!
Dad captured the first day of school and neither of us could believe that we had a 6th grader and a 4th grader!
September brought the return of busy sports schedules.
Jax, you continued with soccer.
Colt, you wanted to give flag football another chance.
You also kept with baseball.
As a 4th grader, you got the opportunity to join Student Council - so you did! And since I was the StuCo sponsor for my school, that meant that we got to miss school to attend a training together. I loved being at school with you all day!!! And Kate was there too, representing her school.
October meant Grandma's birthday! We took a girls trip down to Waco to do some shopping, see a comedian, and stay the night.
Later that month, your baseball team played at my very favorite ballpark. I love looking at the Dallas skyline between pitches!
One of your first middle school events was The Color Run. I grabbed this picture off of the school's social media account. This was obviously at the start of the run. But, really, you didn't look much different at the end. According to you, you did a great job of "dodging every color station".
Colt, your grade had their choir program early this year and you even landed a solo. Your dramatic "Saddle Sore" singing had the audience cracking up!!!
October also brought another baseball tournament. Sounds run of the mill, right? What we didn't know was that this tournament would be your last with this team. We knew you wouldn't play baseball forever but we really thought you had another season left and that you'd finish with the team you'd been with for years. Instead, a lot of shake up occurred and you decided to end your "career". If I would've known that this was the end, I would've taken a lot more than just these few pictures.
Flag football ended for you, Colt. You were quick to let us know that you want to move to tackle football. And we were quick to let you know that you'd have to wait until 7th grade. ; )
In between sports, we were still able to fit in our annual Monster Mash in Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood.
We also carved our pumpkins.
The month ended with trick-or-treating and one of my favorite costumes to date!
The cushion that helped the baseball blow I mentioned earlier was that your school formed a 6th grade team and y'all competed in Middle School Match Up. I relished the whole weekend and watched every game with tears in my eyes.
All good things must come to and end, I guess.
Thankfully, you've assured us that you have no regrets about your decision so that makes it a little easier for me to let it go.
Thanksgiving was a family affair as Grandma and Grandpa had extra visitors.
We ate quickly so that we could head to the Cowboys game 🏈
And then we hosted Friendsgiving and filled the living room 😍
The Facklers also hosted at their house.
Bass Pro came through yet again with THE big man!
Brandie's birthday bash was chilly but as fun as ever!
And, in the blink of an eye, we were celebrating Christmas.
We wrapped up the year with one more trip - this time, we headed east to Virginia to meet your newest niece.
I made us tour my old neighborhood. Best.Neighborhood.Ever!
Then we meet Miss Kennedy and loved on her for a few days.
Since we were so close, we swung through D.C. and spent one night in a gorgeous hotel before being super tourists the next day.
We made it back to Texas just in time to ring in the new year. Despite some big changes, we all agreed that 2019 was a year of great blessings. Any year with you two is like that. Bring on 2020!
