Sports Sports Sports

This fall has been a busy, but fun sports season!  We took a break from taekwondo for a couple of months, or we'd have something going on almost every single day of the week.  It's also nice for the kids to be able to focus on just a couple of activities.  Colin is playing flag football and lacrosse for the first time and Cadence is cheering for tackle football.  These are all new sports for the Schuermans, so it's been nice learning and watching our kids learn as well!

During the week, each kid has practice (once a week) and football games are on Saturdays.  One particular Sunday, we had football photos...

...followed by Colin's first lacrosse game...

(Cadence "did" my hair)

...followed by Cadence's cheer photos.  It was quite a hectic morning!

The lacrosse Colin is participating in is "zip" lacrosse through i9 sports.  Each Sunday he has a 30 minute practice followed by a 30 minute game.  Things are slightly different than full-fledged lacrosse and there are no pads or helmets, but the basics of the game are pretty much the same.  To encourage passing, when one of the kids has possession of the ball, they have to pass it at least once before they try to score.

The cheerleaders hold the banner for the football team to run through before each game.

There are only 4 girls on Cadence's cheer squad, but they are doing such a great job!  I love all of their cheers and they don't repeat a single cheer during an entire game.  Some cheers are really cute and make you chuckle!

Colin's slowly learning the game of flag football and his skills are getting better with every game.  It's hard to say if he'll play next fall (or maybe give soccer a try).  We shall see!  

I'm not sure what this pose is, but we'll take it!

Colin was a sportsmanship winner early in the season - he was very proud of his medal.  He tries so hard at each lacrosse game.  It's been a lot of fun!

Danny caught a snake one day in the back yard after lacrosse - eww!

Mom's 60th Birthday Bash

So, I was horrible about capturing moments of my mom's 60th birthday party via photo.  We hosted the party in our back yard, so with all of that busy-ness, it got overlooked.  Our family friend, who is a self-taught photographer, was in attendance, so I did bust out the fancy camera for some pointers.  The following pics are all that I got - sorry, mom.  But I hope you enjoyed your special day and you have memories of that night and the ones that love you very much!

See what I mean?  The photos were more "me playing with the camera" than actually getting good photos of my mom with her closest friends/family. Shame on me!  I always hate bugging people for photos, so this is the best I did. Such a big milestone birthday for my mom, who means so much to me, and I don't have much to show for it!  I know my mom had a good time, though.  I invited people that she didn't expect and it was nice to spend time with everyone.  It was really hot, so the kids took relief in the pool!  We all love my mom so much - she deserved a day celebrating her and what a great person she is.  Love you, Mom!

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park

I've mentioned before that my parents are awesome, right?  Well, they are.  Just one of the many reasons they are the best parents and grandparents EVER is that they take my kids on weekend RV trips.  Danny and I tagged along in 2017, but starting last year, the kids went with my parents without us.  It gives Danny and I a kid-less weekend and it allows my kids to have fun with my parents without Danny and I nagging about what they eat or what they buy, or whatever else 😂

About a month ago, they all went to Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park.  Mom sent me lots of pictures of all the activities they did.  It looked like a lot of fun! 

Here they are gem mining.

Mom and Dad must've spent some moolah on that one!

They had contests for the kids - they were proud of their color-changing cups prize.

I heard paddle-boats were a hit; pretty sure my dad did most of the work!

I was told that Cadence was really good at these canoe/saucer thingys - they said Colin just attached to my dad with his oar.  My mom said that Colin also went on the inflatable obstacle course on the water!

Camping calls for s'mores!

I'm fortunate to have such generous parents.  My kids are pretty dang lucky, too!  They had a lot of fun and made many memories.  Danny and I enjoyed dinner out for some tacos and got lots of painting done around the house.  Win-win!

Cadence's 9th Birthday Pool Party

This year, we convinced Cadence to have a pool party at our house for her birthday party.  She's wanted a pool party before, but with the above-ground pool, there wasn't a lot of room.  She also wanted a sleepover, but we compromised on a long day party with all of her friends.  She invited both boys and girls this year, and in total, there were about 15 kids.  Weather-wise, it was the PERFECT day for a pool party.  We had other activities for the kids, but they mainly stayed in the pool the entire 4 hours.  Some kids went on the swing set, the trampoline, and the zip line, but not as many as I had anticipated.  We also had water balloons and a field day type water game on deck in case the kids got bored in the pool, but they were having so much fun, we didn't want to interrupt!  We'll keep those things on standby for the future.  They enjoyed snacks, pizza, cake, and ice cream.  I'd say it was a successful party!

No matter how fun the pool is, kids are ALWAYS up for a piñata.

Ahhh, Summer

I've mentioned before that summertime is just my favorite...enjoy some of our summer happenings below...

"Auntie" Erica got the kids some pretty cool pool toys for their birthdays!

Cadence might not have won Danny's work drawing contest, but we're super proud of the finished product!  They were supposed to create a super hero related to Custom Glass Solutions.

The kids attended a summer camp affiliated with the YMCA this summer.  They would include photos in their weekly newsletter showing the types of activities they had going on - here's Cadence showing off a drawing she made.

And a LEGO creation

Colin had a lot of fun with LEGOs during LEGO week as well.

She's such a good artist!

I took Cadence to the orthodontist and we really liked the painting in the exam room!

The kids being silly with Daddy

Every year we attend the 4th of July parade in Sunbury, check out what's going on on the 'Square, watch the hot dog eating contest, hang out in the pool, and then watch the fireworks at the high school.  It's always a fun day!

The kids' goal is to always collect as much candy as they can.

Honest Abe was there!

The kids' friends from camp were at the fireworks as well!

We spent the following Sunday morning riding the Olentangy trail and checking out OSU's campus.  We stopped at our favorite pizza place - Adriatico's - for some lunch!  We got lucky and got to catch the final match of the FIFA Women's World Cup!

Of course we had to make a pit-stop at Mirror Lake!

We caught wind that Cousin's Maine Lobster was going to have a food truck in town that night.  Mom and I stood in line for 1.5 hours to grab dinner for the adults.  It was good, but not worth a line that long!  It was neat to try something from a company that was on Shark Tank, though!

My mom's awesome. She hung out with the kids for an evening swim after camp one day.

For Mother's Day, Colin (ahem, Danny) got me a gift card to Cracker Barrel.  We love their breakfast!  But really, Colin loves their mac & cheese.  We had a little "date", just the two of us, while Danny and Cadence hung out at the Sunbury Farmer's Market.  Cadence had gotten me a gift certificate to a nail salon, so we had already gotten our nails done before our summer wedding!

I snuck this photo one day after a swim -- awwww, they love each other.

The kids are really good at chess!  A friend at summer camp taught them.  They do great with strategy and planning ahead!  I don't have the patience!

My cousin's daughter turned 9 years old a little over a month after Cadence.  She posted the picture on the left on Facebook and I couldn't get over how much Cadence resembles her -- I had to create a side-by-side comparison! 😮

Danny and I attended the first round games of TBT (The Basketball Tournament) being held at Capital University.  It was a lot of fun watching our past favorite Buckeye basketball players playing together again. Carmen's Crew ended up winning it all in the end ($2 mil jackpot) and an added bonus: Danny and I were on ESPN!