AJR

AJR put on such a good show last year at the WonderBus Music Fest, that when we saw that they were coming back to Columbus, we had to have tickets!  Danny and I thought it would be fun for the kids to take a friend along, so that's exactly what we did!  Adrian and Mason joined us for the concert.

After grabbing dinner at Adriatico's we spent some time walking around campus.  We knew Gayle was opening for AJR, and we only knew one of her songs, so we weren't in any rush to get to the concert.

Our view was a little obstructed (we couldn't see what was behind the band - those sitting directly in front of them could see), but we were pretty close to the action!

We all had a great time!

What's Cadence Been Up To?

Can you even believe this is the same girl?!  These pictures were taken practically a year apart.  Cadence still loves to take a stroll around the Sunbury Square (weather permitting) after her piano lesson each week.  It's a cute, little tradition we have.  We noticed the tree had bloomed again, so we tried to recreate the photo we took last year in April.  Cadence has definitely matured - in her looks and attitude.  Everyone always comments on how much taller she's gotten.  As far as her attitude goes, she's definitely a big help around the house.  Now, some of that might be because she's wanted a phone; maybe some of that is just because she's sweet.  She's still as stubborn as can be, and loves to be right, but she also still has her soft side.  

I'm also thankful to have her as my sidekick at the boys' baseball games.  It's nice not sitting alone.  She keeps me entertained.  She even makes money sometimes, playing with the little kids!

Cadence has remained busy - when she's not at basketball or softball practice or taking piano lessons, she's been singing in the choir and playing the clarinet in band at school!  She loves to sing (and has a really nice voice).  She picked up the clarinet rather quickly and can even create short songs by figuring out the notes herself.  We enjoyed going to her school's recital.

I mentioned the little girls flock to her at the boys' baseball games.  Tinlee (Hunter's little sister) had fun "doing" Cadence's hair.

Here's Cora - also a little sister we know from Colin's basketball and baseball teammate, Darren.  She loves Cadence, too (I mean, who doesn't?).  She makes Cadence "play house" with her.  It's so cute.  At the Lex Center's recital rehearsal, Cora told her mom she wanted to get there early to see Cadence perform on the piano 💗 After Cora's first dance performance, I told her we were going to leave (we needed to eat dinner); Cora's eyes welled-up with tears.  We definitely had to stick around for performance #2 after that!

Cadence rocked her song at the recital - she played "Banana Pancakes" by Jack Johnson.  The recital had a theme of "The Menu," so all songs and performances were food/drink-based.

Oh, Colin...

Cadence's first softball game of the season was a HOT one! 

Storms rolled through after the game and we even had hail!  The boys were in a tournament out of town, so the girls went shopping that night!

 

What's Colin Been Up To?

Look at this kid!  I took this picture to send to Danny one day when he was traveling for work.  Colin looks so old!  He's definitely gotten taller.  His adult teeth have come in more.  He just looks so much older in this picture.  He's so handsome!

Now that we're pretty much on the other side of COVID, fieldtrips are back!  And parents were invited to chaperone!  We realized the last time I was able to chaperone a fieldtrip was when Colin was in kindergarten.  He just wrapped up 3rd grade.  That's a long time!  Colin and the rest of the 3rd graders went to COSI.  Even though we've seen the same exhibits several times, it's always a lot of fun.  I love watching Colin with his buddies.  In the first picture below, you can see Colin is the only kid scared to death of the glass elevator - he's holding on for dear life!

The 'Progress' exhibit is always a hit.

The 'Gadgets' exhibit is a little overwhelming, but there's so much to see and do, that the kids want to stay in there forever.

I was told to avoid the 'Life' exhibit, unless I wanted to answer a bunch of questions. The boys watched this video on breast cancer a few times.  They couldn't believe what they were seeing. 😂

Colin's school hosted an art show.  Each classroom displayed their class' work out in the hallways.  It was fun for Colin to show off his work.  We got to chat with his teacher, check out his classroom, and enjoyed dinner at the food trucks.  

Colin also had a piece of artwork selected for display in the Big Walnut Central Office!

Kid pitch baseball has been a bit of a challenge this season.  Colin and the rest of the boys are adjusting well and getting better at pitching, catching, and learning the new rules.  Colin has matured a lot this season - he can still get down on himself when he walks a batter or when he strikes out, but he's being kinder to himself.  I'm really proud of him.  

Colin also had a great season of lacrosse.  We're still not 100% sure that he'll play next season, but he had fun this spring and learned even more about the game.  It's fast-paced and it's really fun to watch him figure out this sport!

During the last couple games of the season, he even got to play goalie!  Jason, the head coach, got him some practice time in so he'd be prepared for the games.  Being goalie is no joke!  It's really difficult to block the ball from going into the net. He tried his best and did a great job!

Back to baseball - I snuck in some candid shots

Colin's buddy from school, William, was playing in the same tournament in Bucyrus.  William's mom sent me this sweet picture while I was at work.  Colin's only a couple of months older than William, but check out that height difference! 😮  William's always been a great friend to Colin.  I was told that Colin was a great friend to William, too.  William hit a pop up that was caught by the other team and caused the last out of the game.  Colin later found him after the game and told him that he had a great hit and gave him a hug.  William's mom said that William told her that Colin is such a good friend and he knew what to say to make him feel better.  💗

Raising Leaders: A Youth Sports Symposium

Back in April, Danny and a bunch of coaches, teachers, and other influential adults in our community held the Raising Leaders event at the high school.  It was a "collaborative event developed to build our community and raise leaders, aligning coaches and parents on how to work with our youth as role models."  Danny spearheaded the event after wanting to provide his travel baseball coaches some tools to deal with kids and difficult situations on the field.  Initially, he wanted to have a couple teachers sit with the coaches, where the teachers could provide pointers on how they deal with difficult situations in the classroom.  It was a great idea.  Whose brains are better to pick than teachers?  They're with our kids more than we are on a weekly basis.  The event turned into much more than that.  It included the mayors of Sunbury and Galena.  There were coaches from high school football, youth lacrosse, youth football.  Danny even got Colin's principal and guidance counselor involved.  Lastly, there was a speaker from the Positive Coaching Alliance.  It was a really nice event.  It flowed smoothly and was super informative.  It was nice seeing parents come together in an opportunity to make youth sports better.  I'm so proud of Danny and all of the time and thought that went into putting together the event.  He really wants to make things better for the kids, and hopefully, this is just the start of something great.