Paul, Kristen. Brayden, Kaiden, Akoy, Kove and Baby Lainie

Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Giants are going to State!!!

Kaiden's baseball team ended their regular season with a win last night, which puts them with a 7-2 record AND they are going to the state championship!!! This is the first year that any of his teams have gone to state, so it is really exciting. (Kaiden is arguing that the first year he played, his D-back team went to state. I think it was the city championship, that all teams go to. Maybe we will never know who is right.... I guess it doesn't matter, they are going this year so that's all that matters. YAHOO!!)

Kaiden has improved SO much this year, I am so proud of him!! He is hitting WAY better, has made a lot of great plays in the infield and has even pitched quite a few games. Paul has been working with him on his pitching and hitting and he has a great coach and assistant coach. They are so patient with the boys and have put in a lot of time with them. (My neighbor and Kaiden's best friend's dad is the assistant and he has been great to help Kaiden) The state championship starts in July so the team will be practicing quite a bit until then, and then it's off to the championship. Stay tuned for an update of how they did......

Monday, June 1, 2009

Dance Festival

This past Wednesday, Kaiden's school had their annual Dance Festival. I think the school has had this tradition since my brothers went there and even when Paul did (Wow! that's a LONG time.) It is so much fun, I'm glad that they have kept the tradition. Kaiden has been able to participate in it since he was in kindergarten. I'm not so sure he thinks it is so fun,especially now that he is SO old. A few days before the festival, he was telling me about the different songs they were dancing to and said, "There are a lot of girl moves that we have to do, you'll see." He was pretty cute doing the dances but you could tell that he was embarrassed. He was smiling pretty much the whole time though but I think it was more that he was laughing. I got a little teary-eyed thinking that he is growing up so fast.

I can't believe that he is going to be in 6th grade this coming year. He is so smart and a really good kid (with the exception of the few arguments we have had over doing jobs and pulling weeds :) I don't know if this is a normal mom thing or just a weird Kristen thing, but there are times that I worry that I am not teaching him all that he needs to know. I worry that I need to do a better job at teaching him to be a hard worker or a better team player or more about the Gospel or about always being nice to others. He is starting to become more independent and I wonder if I am running out of time for teaching him things. It seemed to be a lot easier when he was younger because he did everything I said and didn't question it. (well, not too much) Now he has his own little personality and he is starting to question some of the things I tell him ( not anything bad but some things like thinking I am overprotective when I want him to take my phone when I let him go over to the park with friends or he complaining about ALL the jobs he has.) Really, it isn't that bad but I start thinking about all the things my parent taught me (some that I know I hated) and hope that I am teaching Kaiden all the things he needs to know to be a good young man. Ooops, I am rambling...

Anyway, Kaiden is going to be in the 5th/6th grade class split again. It's funny to think that he was worried at the beginning of the school year, about being in the harder 5th grade class. He did a great job though and loved it! At parent teacher conferences his teacher would tell me that he was a great student, well rounded in academics and sports and he loved having him in the class. Kaiden is even a little sad that school is over, he says that it is mostly because the fun 6th graders will be gone. He got all A's and one A-. I gave him a hard time about the A- but was just teasing. I am so proud of him. I'm soooo glad that we started early on with our homework and reading routine. He always gets his homework done before he does anything else, if he doesn't do it at school, and he LOVES to read. I just hope it continues this way.....

The Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend this last weekend...... My cousin graduated on Friday night so Kaiden and I went to that with my mom. I'm not sure if I am weird but graduations make me cry, like weddings, babies being born and other things like that do. I wasn't sobbing or anything, just a little teary watching the senior video and thinking that these young kids are leaving a part of their life and starting a new chapter, a BIG new chapter.

My mom and I were talking to Kaiden about how fun high school is and we wondered what kind of sports and activities he would do when he was that age and what kind of kid he would be. We told him that he needed to try to be nice to everyone, no matter if they were popular, quiet, smart, not so smart, athletic or not, that he should be friends with everyone. I know it was funny to be talking to him about stuff like that but I sometimes I just think of those kind of things.... When I started thinking of the time when Kaiden graduates, THAT made me cry..... (I'm weird I know)

Akoy had a game later that night so I dropped Kaiden off at his dad's and rushed over to the game. Luckily it started late so I didn't miss too much. Akoy even hit a double, so that was fun to watch.

On Saturday morning we got up too early for a Saturday, to go to our towns Fireman's Breakfast. Akoy and Kove thought it was pretty neat that we got to eat in the fire station and that there were tons of fireman serving them breakfast. Of course we had to take their pictures by the fire truck.

Paul's brother-in-law built a little motorcycle track behind their house so we headed up there after breakfast. Paul was riding as crazy and fast as the boys and got pretty banged up. (I don't think his body is as young as he thinks it is) It was a busy but fun weekend....