June 2024

 June was all about finally wrapping up our sports, starting our camps and getting ready for a much needed July Vacation!

We kicked off June with another trip to Atlanta for a volleyball tourney!  This time Hudson's team got some revenge on the A5 team that knocked them out of a Nationals bid and beat them in an exciting 3 sets in the finals!

In between all of our sports we managed to celebrate Sullivan turning the big TWELVE years old!  I can't believe she is almost a teenager!

The boys kicked off their summer with baseball camps and basketball camp!  Conner won two shooting competitions at basketball camp and they both had a lot of fun learning from the Indy Varsity players!

Tinsley got to spend a week at Lipscomb soccer camp with some of her TSC teammates and they had a great time!  Lots of soccer and lots of giant slip and slide fun!

Hudson and I hit the road to Orlando (again) for AAU Nationals for volleyball.  Her team played in the Club Division (4th out of 8) and ended up winning the Ruby B bracket.  So basically they finished about 27th out of 131 teams!  Not too shabby!

I hurried home for two days just in time for Sullivan and I to fly back to Florida, this time to Tampa for USYSA Southern Regionals!  Sullivan's team was playing up an a age group and had a great week!  They lost their first game but were able to bounce back and win out the week to advance to the Championship game where they lost a tough one!  So proud of them for battling all week in 100+ degree heat!  This team is special and I can't wait to see what next holds for them in their first year of ECNL!

While we were gone, Hudson spent a week at one of her favorite places - Camp Widjiwagan!

With sports ending we finally get to take an actual vacation and head to the Lake for a week!  Can't wait to relax for a week before we get right back into Middle school volleyball which starts early July and a week of Camp Widji for the little three!

May 2024

 Well we survived "Maycember" and it was a doozy!  Lots of sports, trips, school. parties, ceremonies, etc, etc, etc!

May started off with a volleyball tourney in Atlanta for Hudson and a soccer tournament in Nashville for both Tinsley and Sullivan.

Hudson's team battled hard in a big qualifier tournament in Atlanta and came up just one win short of qualifying for GNJC Nationals.  She has grown and learned so much this season, it has been fun to watch!

Tinsley's team played in their first ever real 7v7 tournament against teams TWO years older.  They won one and lost one 3-4 (their other game was rained out).  But I was so proud of the way they battled and didn't bat an eye at playing girls 2 years older and three times bigger!

Sullivan's team had a great weekend.  Unfortunately bc of rain they only got to play 2 games but they won both games and ended up tournament champs - also playing one year up in the top bracket!

We followed up that weekend with a Mother's day full of more sports.  

Thomas' baseball team played in their second ever travel tournament and brought home first place in the silver bracket!  They played so well and it was fun to watch them play against some good travel teams!

That same weekend Conner was selected to play in the FBC 6U All-Star game!  He played great with a few big hits and plays in the field and his team ended up winning the all-star game!

Hudson had another volleyball tournament, this time at home and they finished second place!

Tinsley finished up her soccer season with an in-house tournament where her team went undefeated!  It was hot but she played great!

The next weekend brought us the end of baseball for both boys and both of them wrapped up their season as league CHAMPIONS!  But most special of all, Thomas hit his very first HOMERUN!!!

As sports started to wind down, so did school.  Super proud of all the kiddos this year.  Both girls were named to the A/B Honor Roll and Hudson won the Art Award for 7th grade!  The twins had a great kindergartner year and grew so much.  They both won citizenship awards for showing great character at school!  Thomas had a tough 3rd grade year but I am proud of him for sticking with it!  

The end of May brought us to the State Cup for soccer!  Hudson's team had a tough draw and lost in the quarterfinals.  Sullivan's team had a fantastic performance winning the Quarterfinals 7-0, the semi-finals 5-0 and brought home the State Championship (playing a year up), winning the finals 3-2 in overtime!  Super proud of this team and everything they have accomplished.  They work very hard and play well beyond their years!  Looking forward to seeing how they do at the Southern Regional tournament in June in Tampa!

And last but not least, we celebrated Thomas turning NINE years old!  We somehow managed to squeeze in a fun party with his school and baseball buddies!

Thats all for now.  June brings us soccer regionals, volleyball AAU Nationals, camps, trips and finally some summer fun!

Here are the rest of the pictures from our crazy month of May:

https://link.shutterfly.com/JP2bXGl8qKb

April 2024

 Just a few weeks late, but in our world that is on time these days!  April was full of travel, sports, school events and much more!

We kicked off April with a little Mother/Son Nerf War event.  The moms dominated obviously!

We had all the sports going this month.....

The boys are fully into Baseball and doing well!  

Conner's team is the #1 seed going into play offs and he recently got the game ball for his solid fielding, including catching a few pop flies and throwing someone out at second from the outfield!

Thomas' team is also the #1 seed going into the play offs.  They also tried their luck in a Travel Ball tournament and did well!  They won one, lost one big and lost a close one in the knock out round!  It was a great experience for them to see what those teams look like!  They have another tournament in May so they will be ready to go in that one!

(I never order the pictures but thought this one was too funny)

Sullivan's team is still doing well and spent most of April wrapping up Midsouth League Play, finishing in a close 2nd place!  The rest of this month was spent preparing for state cup!  Sullivan's team also got to participate in Premier League Live when it came to Nashville!  They spent a great morning training with some cool people and even getting some TV time!

Hudson's volleyball team is still going strong.  They took a trip to Kansas City for a qualifying event against some tough competition.  They did not place but I am so proud of Hudson for continuing to improve and learn every day!

Hudson's soccer team is doing well and wrapped up their ECNL RL schedule with a trip to Buffalo and Pittsburgh.  They picked up 2 big wins which clinched their spot in the ECNL RL Play Offs!  They are starting to play some good soccer and always battle hard!  We even had time to squeeze in a trip to Niagara Falls!  It was very cool, although a little cold, windy and WET!

Tinsley's soccer is wrapping up next month as well.  They finally get to play in their first real outdoor tourney and they are so excited!  

Hudson and Sullivan took some time away from sports one night to be inducted into the National Junior Honor Society!  Proud of them for keeping their grades up and putting in lots of volunteer hours!

The Twins also had their kindergarten performance and it was adorable!  As you can see they had very different approaches to the evening!

That is about all for now!  May brings us the end of baseball for the boys and soccer for Tinsley.  We also have two more volleyball tournaments and State Cup for the big girls' soccer!  I can't believe the school year will be over next month either!  This year has FLOWN by!

Here are the rest of the pics from our crazy April!

https://link.shutterfly.com/0xSwXg8iEJb

March 2024

 March flew in and out so fast, I am not sure what even happened.  I guess it was because we were on the go every single weekend in March!

March brought us the official start to baseball season for the boys.  Thomas is playing with his Crieve Hall Crushers team again and doing well!  This is their last season of coach pitch so I am soaking up all the action because I know next year in kid pitch might be rough....haha!

Conner is playing 6U Majors at Franklin Ball Club again.  He is on the Red Sox this season and is playing really well!

Tinsley's soccer season is going strong and she is looking forward to her very first real tournament playing 7v7 in May.  In March, between everything else, Tinsley got to attend her very first Daddy/Daughter dance!  I was out of of town for it but it sounds like she lived her very best life!  Big thanks to big sister Hudson for handling the hair and "make-up" while I was gone!

Thomas is still loving baseball and his team is on a hot streak!  In April they are going to try their hand at a Travel Tournament here in Nashville.  Should be interesting to see if they can hang with the travel teams!

Sullivan was on the go ALL March.  They had league games in Gulfport, MS followed by a Pre-ECNL showcase in St. Louis in back to back weekends!  Her team is playing well and she is loving 11v11.  

Hudson is double busy juggling soccer and volleyball.  Her soccer team is in the hunt to qualify for ECNL RL Play-offs for the second year in a row.  They had some big wins in March and need to finish strong in April.  

Her volleyball team is still looking for a bid to Nationals.  They have come up short in the qualifying events they have attended so far but hopefully they can make it happen in May!  They took a trip to a very tough event in Orlando in March.  They didn't get the results they were hoping for but they got to play against some of the top teams in the country!

Thankfully we did get a little downtime to celebrate Easter.  The bunny found everyone, we had an egg hunt and dyed some eggs with our neighbors!

That is about all for now.

April is just as busy as March with a volleyball tourney in Kansas City and a soccer trip to Buffalo/Pittsburgh we will be back on the road again!

Here are more pictures from our March adventures:

https://link.shutterfly.com/Y9qAxUWbSIb

February 2024

 February has been full of volleyball, more volleyball and a little bit of COLD COLD soccer.

Hudson's Volleyball season kicked off with events in Atlanta, Knoxville and home.  They took home second in AAU Super Regionals which was fun to watch.

We squeezed in a few soccer games and had a few more get cancelled for snow!!!

Sullivan attended her first ever middle school dance and had a blast!

Unfortunately, We also lost my Granny, "Mam-Mam" to my kids.  She was an incredible 104 and half years old!  She was witty and funny and stubborn and lived a long great life.  We made a trip to Eatonton, GA for the funeral which was a quick but good trip.  The kids got to meet some cousins they have never met before and got to see the Halter Cousins which is always a favorite in our house!

That was about it for February.  March brings us LOTS of travel for soccer and volleyball, Spring Break and the beginning of baseball games!  Never a dull moment!

Here are the rest of the pics from our February adventures:

https://link.shutterfly.com/Hy0MkVEQSHb

January 2024

 January, what a long, cold, snowy month we had to start 2024!

After a long Christmas break, the kids went back to school for a week before the big snowstorm of 2024.  We got about 7 inches of snow and a couple inches of ice which resulted in five more days out of school.  

We had a blast playing the snow until the temps dropped to -10 windchill!  But we made the most of it and got several days of sledding fun in!

January also brought us the end of the middle school basketball season.  Super proud of Sullivan for playing hard all year.  She was one of 2 sixth graders to make the Varsity Middle school team and played herself into the starting point guard role.  It was a tough season but they kept battling all year.  We finished 2nd in our district but lost in the first round of Sectionals.

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Conner, Thomas and Tinsley's basketball seasons are still going and they are doing well.  Thomas' team got their first win and Tinsley's team got their second win!  Conner is doing great also and scored 11 points in his team's last win!

Tinsley also made her first ever free throw!

Hudson's volleyball season is also going full steam!  She is on a new team this year and is really enjoying it!

Both Hudson and Sullivan's soccer seasons started back up in January also!  They played a couple of outdoor games in the cold rain a few weeks ago and did well.  It was good to get out and knock the rust off!

February brings us a LOT of volleyball and soccer, the end of basketball and the start of baseball!  Never a dull moment around here!

Here are the rest of our January pictures:

https://youtube.com/shorts/qL-LwGJIkho?si=pYtnHoYsARZ4vn4Z