December 2021

Skylar and her friends had a holiday gift exchange party.

 

We celebrated Jake's 40th Birthday

Christmas & New Years Eve 2012

After not being together last year for Christmas, it was so nice having the whole family back to doing our traditional Christmas Eve.  We all went to my parents house, got their earlier and did a couple hours of tamale making with the family.  It was like we didn't skip a beat, back to boss each other around and complaining about how everyone was doing something wrong...haha!  It was great!

Skylar and Madden even got in on the tamale making.  

Our last Christmas Eve before we have a new baby in the family.  Toni is pregnant and expecting a little boy July 2022

All the little cousin patiently waiting to open gifts.

Skylar and Madden leaving Santa cookies and milk before bed.

Walking in and seeing their gifts.  They were both up bright and early.

After a wonderful holiday with family, we were locked up for New Years.  Yes, after almost two years the Ernest family went down with Covid-19.  Lucky for us it was super mild.  I tested positive first and then Jake and Madden fell a bit ill, Skylar we are still stumped on as she never felt sick so we are thinking she may have been patient zero.  The week after the holiday it was just us hanging in the house, watching a lot of TV, and Skylar never really getting out of her pjs.  Jake came up with the idea that on NYE we would do a cake decorating contest.  We broke up in teams and each had one hour to do a circus theme cake. We all had fun with it.  The decorating turned out to be pretty hard so they weren't amazing but for first timers we were pretty happy with them.

The kids and Jake stayed up to midnight by playing video games and poker.  I choose to go to bed around 9:30, so I did see the east coast ball drop.  It was nice ending the year with the four of us together.

Holiday Cards 2021

 

Friday Night Lights - Fall 2021

 Boy, did we have a fun FNL season this year.  About a year ago we decided to leave the team Madden has been playing on since first grade.  Jake had been assistant coaching and just felt like it was time to move on.  Last spring we landed on a great team and had one of the best seasons Madden had ever experienced but unfortunately we couldn't stay with that team because several of the boys were a year older and they moved up.  We were once again without a team and stressing that Madden wouldn't found a team to play on.  Then luck fell our way and Madden's buddy Ian had a spot on his team and we were in! Jake being the awesome guy he is, reached out to the coach of the team letting him know he would be more than willing to help out with practice, etc.  Two weeks later the coach text Jake, told him he didn't have the time and that Jake was the the Head Coach.  So we went from almost not having a team to having a team and Jake now head coaching.  Jake had been a assistant coach for several seasons so he was more than happy to step up to the challenge, and boy, a challenge it was..haha!  Several of the boys on the team either had never played or hadn't play for many years.  

The first couple games were rough to watch and I was already planning our exit for when the season was over.  Jake seeing the struggles and if you know Jake, hates to lose, really took the time and worked with our team.  Half way through the season the boys got their groove.  The highlight of the season for me was when we played the team we had left and we beat them.  We ended the season winning 5 straight games and had a ton of momentum going into the playoffs.  

The playoffs were amazing, they had us playing back to back games and we were dominating each team.  The first round I believe we were scoring 40+ points and the boys were stoked.  After 5 playoff wins we were in the championship game!  Madden has been playing FNL since kindergarten and had never won a playoff game and now he was in a championship game.  In the end we lost and were the runners-up, but boy, it still felt like a championship win to me.  From seeing where the boys started to being in the big game was just amazing.  

I couldn't of been more proud of Jake and Madden for all their hard work and commitment.  

Madden's highlight reel from these season was awesome and I didn't even get all his touchdowns on tape.

Madden' Competitive Soccer Season 2021

 During Madden's 2020 season of rec soccer I think we all realized that it was time to move to competitive soccer.  Madden was scoring 5-6 goals a game and it was harder for his skills to improve when playing with such a wide range of different skilled players.  I had recently starting working out with a trainer who happen to run his own competitive soccer club, so I think it was faith.  During 2020 fall school year the kids only went to school twice a week, so on his days off Madden would come to my workouts so he got to know the coach and when I told him about the soccer tryouts Madden was all in.  December of 2020 Madden participated in the try outs and boom, we were all in.  

The club we join is a very small soccer club.  So small, that Madden as apart of a 2011 team (a whole year older).  We were so proud of Madden playing with older kids and a bunch of boys he didn't even know.  Through the year Madden went from playing soccer just a 10 weeks in one year to practicing four days a week and playing all year around.  His is now great friends with all the boys on the team and we have come to love all the families.

With covid early 2021 was a bit of a rough start.  We played in a couple tournaments which didn't really go our way, but the boys were still trying to gel together. 

Madden got to play pick up game against his school buddies.  Our team won!

Throughout the year the club holds camps which Madden loves attending.

Once summer game we had three tournaments lined up.  The boys played great and we made it to the finals 2 out of the 3 tournaments.

The club did a fun club night out and watched a professional soccer game.

Our league season was a huge success!  We won all of the games, but two, and once again was a runner-up for the season.  Even though the boys didn't win it all, their improvement is night and day.  Watching them all play together is so much fun.  Our team has such a wide variety of ages that its pretty awesome to see how well we hang with bigger clubs.

Madden has been working his heart out all year.  When coach mentioned that he need a bit more work he gladly would let me take him to extra practices on his days off.  He would sometimes be playing soccer 5-6 days a week and never complained.  It's been awesome watching him improve and play his first competitive season. We can't wait to see what next year brings him and the team!

Jake's 40th Birthday Party

 When I told Jake that I wanted to throw him a 40th birthday party he immediately said no to the idea.  Lucky for him I wasn't taking "no" as an answer and told him he is loved by so many and people will want to celebrate him and celebrate they did.  Jake had about 60+ people come out and celebrate with him.  It was awesome seeing so many friends/family from different parts of our lives all together in one room.  We had great food, lots of drinks, and tons of dancing.  The highlight of the night for our guests were the cardboard cutouts of Jake.  People were taking photos and dancing with cardboard Jakes all night long.  Jake had a blast and definitely worked the room all night.  All of our friends gave us so many lovely compliments on how much they enjoyed the night could of partied forever (luckily they didn't because people were getting very tipsy).  It was a night to remember and I wish we could relive it again as I loved celebrating the best human I know!