Football Fun & More

 Hey, friends and fam!  I have a tiny minute at the end of this day where I am ALL CAUGHT UP on transcripts, so I'm writing a quick blog.  'Twas a fun family gathering at Jace's first Junior High football game last night!  (Their official first game was cancelled due to a muddy field after all the rain a couple weeks ago, so game one was an away game at Casady, which is pretty close to JB's house, so she joined us!)

Team huddle + fierce team pic (the lack of smiles cracks me up!)

Amanda (TJ's mom) and Jace + Jace on the sidelines (for a brief minute - he played the great majority of the game) + Mom and I with our Chet Wilson fans!  The sun hit hard on the vistor's side of the Casady field, so I was happy I had those with me.  I mentioned that I'd have had a 3rd one, but I had to use it to kill a bug in my car.  JoBug laughed at me for throwing it away rather than washing it off (which never for one second occurred to me) and said, "Gah, I'm glad y'all aren't poor." lol  Rach:  "We are too, JoBug!!" lol

Team huddle (love that he is #77 this year!!) + me and Kyndal!
(Mom and I switched sunglasses for a bit.)

They won 28-8, and Jace got a tackle, so he was thrilled and making sure everyone saw it. lol
Here's the proud grandparents + a selfie with a K-Faith photobomb! =)

Jace with Axel, TJ, Fielder, and their Coach!

With his mom, and with his Aunt Lindsey!

Yesteryear and yesterday... Jace Michael and his friend, Fielder!

Jace had trouble removing his jersey, which was fairly entertaining. lol

A post-game dinner with TJ and his family at CFA! =)

From Mel's latest podcast... something I hope to come back to and spend time really writing about later.  Just sharing it in case you want to do the same.  The idea is to write down your highest possible hopes, then share them with someone you trust... then save it to look back on years later!

Often accurate. lol

A cute collage of Sarah and Lyndsay (my former classmates) on day one of 3rd grade and day one of sending their kids to CHA this year! =)

Totes legit.

I'm caught up on The Gilded Age.  In spite of her flaws, Bertha Russell is one of my favorite characters ever - I am so cheering for her success and joy!

My big accomplishment for the Labor Day break week was a closet clean-out and taking a few bags and some old boots to Goodwill - huzzah! =)

This idea... has merit.  I'd be buying a vinyl album ASAP if T-Swift made this announcement. lol

I ran right over to meet this fluffy white dog on my latest walk with Kristin... her name is MoMo... she is a prancy 3.5-month-old puppy, and she looks like the freaking adorable dog (Kevin) from The Proposal!!

Yesterday was Jill's birthday, so HBD to her!  Love the Lemieux fam, and I'm grateful for their loyal friendship and loads of fun memories with them!!

That's all for today.  And now I'm off to family dinner.
Tomorrow will be all about homework!!

Thanks for being here.  I love you and believe in you, and I want to remind you that God is always with you and for you...  strengthening you with the right desires and all the grace and power you need to live a life that is pleasing to Him!!

❤ ❤ ❤

Birthdays & Breaking Agreements

The Mini Miss K's 12th birthday was on Thursday!  I was able to move my Thursday clients to Wednesday night (yay!), and we had Mom's spaghetti (Kyndal's fav) for her birthday family dinner.  Here's me and the birthday girl ~ I just love her so much!!  I've realized how much I love to celebrate the people who love to celebrate themselves! lol  I always have and always will appreciate people who get excited about making a big deal of their birthday and embrace the belief that their life deserves to be richly celebrated!!  I'm on that list.  And Kyndal making us a detailed Google slideshow of her bday wishlist and spending the last couple months planning her party during family dinners puts her firmly in that category. lol #embracelife #youareworthcelebrating

She was looking so cute in her new leopard pants and pink shirt and birthday button. ❤

Mamaw with T&C!

Carter joined us for Kyndal's bday, so it was good to get caught up on his life and hear all of them catching up on the latest CHA-circle news.

MWC Sams did a slightly better job on this cake, but still not too impressed!

The Parrish boys!  J's inability to hold the serious face makes me happy. =)

The Miss K and everyone else!

And finally, a happy through-the-years slideshow!!

I really love that song and feel nostalgic whenever I hear it, thanks to S.C.  And I always call her "preshface" on the blog, so it feels appropriate! lol

Anyway, now that all the August events are over, all my best excuses for continually eating unhealthy foods are also gone.  And as my own presentation reminded me, I'm. not. stuck. and I'm. not. a. helpless. victim. in any area - I have the power to make better choices that build new habits and create real change, and I'm taking that seriously.  I don't love the trajectory I've been on lately with stress-eating and negative agreements (thinking patterns that are more aligned with the enemy's plan for my life than God's), and it's 100% up to me to fix that.  I'm gonna throw it out here that my new goal is to actually reach the 155 goal weight Dr. Matt set for me last summer.  Health is definitely not all about the scale numbers, but I was too quick to decide that number would be impossible for me.  It isn't the impossible dream, and it would actually put me at a healthy BMI and probably a size 10, which would be awesome and not extreme or absurd.  And I don't want to sell myself short by leaning into the old/familiar identity and limiting beliefs, so I'm leaning into new possibilities!  Here's to being intentional about breaking terrible agreements, setting new goals, agreeing with God's plan for me, embracing a new way of seeing myself, and staying the freaking course.  For the record, while we're on this topic, I'd like to be at 177 or below pre-pregnancy, then use wisdom and stay under 200 if God allows me to get pregnant... and then eventually (think 2027) push myself to reach 155 and try to maintain within 10 pounds of that + get 45 minutes of good exercise six days a week for the foreseeable future.  Okay then, great talk! lol  I am buckling down on healthy eating and training for my Route 66 Marathon Relay starting tomorrow! #getexcited #teamchettles

Hope you have a lovely Sunday ahead.

I love you and believe in you!
And I believe in our ability to course correct,

and I'm confident God is with us and for us in whatever we may face today!

❤ ❤ ❤

12!

My youngest niece turns 12 on Thursday!  They celebrated with a colorful slumber party on Friday!! 

Rach took them out for a movie + mall fun + Ted's dinner, then Triston, Jace, and TJ joined the girls for a glowing night swim at Mom and Dad's!

The decor was awesome and ever-so-slightly over the top, as per usual! lol

Rach went all out with the posters, banners, tents, balloons, and aerials!

Where Rach gave this party 190% effort, the MWC Sam's gave it a heartfelt 10% effort on his cake. lol Still tasty, but the decorating job was very rough!! 

Kyndal has been planning this party for several months, so I hope it was all she wanted it to be!  The matching tutus, shoes, and sunglasses are pretty cute and fun!! =)

Happy last full week of summer to the niece and nephews, and happy Monday to my lovely blog readers!

❤ ❤ ❤

Last Day Celebration!

Our morning prelims decided to waive, so I was able to attend the CHA Awards Assembly at 11:30! 

Rach brought these confetti poppers and somehow got permission at the last minute for Jace and his 5 best friends to do them at the very end of the elementary assembly (after their whole class sang a cutesy farewell song).  Considering they had zero practice and just decided to throw this in today, it went very well and was super festive and fun, and totally unexpected for CHA!!

This = awesomesauce teacher gifts Rach made for Mrs. Husted (5th grade) and Mrs. Garcia (6th)!

He got a lot of compliments yesterday and decided to wear the purple suit again for the last day of school so everyone could see it. lol  We were all pleasantly surprised to see Jace get the character plaque for "Determination: Do Hard Things!"  The teachers each choose two students from their class to receive an award, and Mrs. Garcia chose Jace and Lindsey. ❤

Mom and Rach told me Jace was getting something, but Rach figured it was a paper award, not a character plaque.  He's never gotten one of those before, so I love that it happened on his last day of elementary!

Individual pics with our award winner! ❤

And now we can remind him of this quality whenever he wants to give up on something difficult! ;-)

Huzzah!  Soooo much confetti!!

Their deal was that the boys had to stay after and clean it all up, so kudos to Axel, TJ, Jaceman, Asher, Jace, and Gideon (who's not pictured here) for being an awesome clean-up crew! #worthit

Kyndal Faith with Colin and Eva.  Not sure what this hand signal in the left pic means, but I'll find out at our next fam dinner!  Before the school-wide assembly, she was recognized for Individuality in her class today, which feels appropriate! =)

Now K is having a few friends over for an End-of-Year swim party at Mom and Dad's, and Jace is working out with Neal!  Congrats to them on their character awards, and HAPPY SUMMER to all the CHA students!!

* * * * * * *

In other news, yay for these new shadow-box frames at home!  I've gotta work on pinning the cap straight, but when I get that right, it'll be fantastic! =)

Potentially the most ridiculous thing in my entire home, but it was $2 and it makes me laugh!  #johnnylawrencefanclub #allvalleychamp

Finally, I taped some new photos over my existing wood panels at work!!  It was time for an update - the only one that's not new today is the one from Dad's 40-year SF party in 2022!

And on a more serious note, please be in prayer for JoBug, my fun-loving aunt, who went in for major surgery on an celiac arterial aneurysm this morning!  She'll be in the hospital for at least four days as she begins to recover.  Also be praying for my friend, Kristen, who is in the midst of a rough journey battling leukemia - currently diagnosed with pneumonia and seeking a white-blood-cell donor for a life-saving blood transfusion! 

Praying for good doctors, full healing, all the support they need, and for extra peace and strength for both of them and their families!!

That's all I've got for you today.

Happy Wednesday, friends and fam!!

❤ ❤ ❤

Movin' On Up!

Today marks Jace Michael's final day of elementary school, and last night was his long-awaited Sixth Grade Graduation ceremony!!  Purple suit for the win!

Pre-ceremony pic with Megan Elizabeth, there to see her niece, Afton, graduating!

Processional -- Pic with Grandpa -- Diploma moment -- Pic with his Mom!

Destiny and Gideon did a great job as their class speakers, and Josh Bullard gave a great mini-message on "Obedience brings liberty; disobedience brings bondage!"

Happy and proud of himself - yay!

Pics with Aunt Lindsey and the proud grandparents!

They had a long greeting line for everyone to congratulate all the kids... I was ready to capture a sweet moment, but here's the Miss K with a classic fakeout handshake! lol  #siblings

Pics with a few of his former teachers: Mrs. Champion, Mrs. Garner, Mrs. Gentry, and Mrs. Orr!

Pic with Josh and Emily, fist bump with Mr. Harpole, the Lorg family, and Mrs. Tinker and Mrs. Garcia.  The Jaceman is a social one!!

Pic with Sheriff Johnson (TJ's dad); pic with Marshall and Stonewall, his fav upperclassmen!

The boys! ❤

Baby pic cuteness; Jace and Gideon!

Parking lot pic with Mamaw!

We liked this lighting better! lol

Believing Jace doesn't care deeply for long, sentimental letters, I kept this one short and to the point! lol


Yesteryear:  There was no official ceremony due to Covid, but here's my post from our Sixth Grade Graduation Party for Triston... This summer of 2020 pic with the women and children of our fam tells me A LOT has changed over the past five years!!  P.S.  I love Kyndal's baby tooth smile and her feet not yet touching the ground here. lol

By the next summer, Rach and the kids were five months into a high-conflict divorce/custody battle, and Dad was in the hospital recovering from a potentially-fatal bout with septic pneumonia... I'm thankful the rest of us made it to CHA for the ceremony for Carter's Sixth Grade Graduation!  In God's kindness, we had no idea how dramatically things would shift that summer - by August, he was living with the Deppen family and no longer a regular part of our lives.  We love and miss him - we've all settled into a new normal at this point, but that awkward and gradual loss is another good example of ambiguous grief, to be honest.  I'm grateful for lots of good memories and some level of continuing connection, and I'm praying for God's hand of protection and blessing over my niece and all three of my nephews!! ❤

Speaking of yesteryear, here's a real throwback to me and Rach on our Sixth Grade Graduation day... me and Jenny Womble 1996, Rach and Megan Smith 1997!

Congrats again to Jace Michael - now a teenager moving into Junior High School!  May he continue to grow in maturity and move through life with contagious joy and confidence!! ❤

That's three down, one to go - I'm sure the elementary side will miss Rachael's awesome decorating help and teacher gifts when next year comes to a close!  This year, we had me and Jaceman graduating... and next year, we will have Kyndal Faith's Sixth Grade Graduation and Triston Michael's CHA Senior Graduation - get excited!!

❤ ❤ ❤