Last Day of 7th & 9th Grade

 Another school year in the books!

    7th grade definitely had its ups and downs for Madden. He made a great group of new friends and we even got a few sweet notes from teachers saying he was a pleasure to have in class — though they also mentioned he might be just a little too chatty. 😅 Academically, it wasn’t quite the year we had hoped for. We tried to help him build better study habits, but let’s just say... that often led to more battles than breakthroughs. We're really hoping 8th grade brings a bit more focus and fewer struggles in that department.

    On the upside, he had a major growth spurt this year — it feels like he’s grown inches overnight — and we’re curious to see if that continues into next year!

Skylar’s first year of high school was a major success! She did an amazing job with her grades and study habits — we never had to remind her to prepare for a quiz or test. All her hard work paid off with straight A’s! She was also a total social butterfly, always out and about with friends. There were weekends where we’d drop her off at school on Friday and barely see her again until Sunday!

She loved being part of the school dance team and is excited for another year representing her school in that way. Next year will definitely come with more challenges, but we have no doubt Skylar is ready to take them on.

FNL 🏈 UC Davis Aggies (Spring 2025)

Madden had another incredible FNL season. It’s hard to believe he’s been playing twice a year since kindergarten—and still absolutely loves it. This season was especially meaningful because we managed to build a strong team made up entirely of boys from Madden's Pop Warner squad. Jake claimed he was going to step back from coaching, but we all knew that wasn’t really going to happen.

The boys had a great regular season, finishing 8-1 and taking second place in their division. Honestly, they could have gone 9-0—they just had one off game. For most teams, it wouldn’t have even been considered a bad performance, but for them, it was below their usual standard.

When playoffs started, they locked in. Keep in mind, this is the 7th/8th grade division, so to reach the finals, we had to go through several tough 8th grade teams. The boys played some of the best football we’ve ever seen from them—every single player stepped up.

We made it to the championship game against a huge 8th grade team. And when I say huge, I mean the other team looked twice the size of our boys. But it didn’t matter—our team simply out-skilled them. It was one of the most intense games I’ve ever watched. The game went into overtime, tied at 32-32. Our defense held strong, and then Madden scored the winning touchdown to bring home the championship. It was an unforgettable night.

This marks Madden’s fourth FNL Championship win—with just one more season to go.

Madden's 13th Birthday

We officially have another teenager in the house with Madden turning 13! In typical Madden fashion he kept his birthday really chill.  Requested steak dinner with the family and a margarita glass full of cookies and cream ice cream.  We did take him and 3 friends to conveyor belt sushi (which of course I forgot to take a photo) and that was how he wanted to celebrate.  

Last Day of 8th and 6th Grade

These last couple months has been filled with many milestones for Skylar.  Turning 14, 10 years of dancing at CDC and now graduating from 8th grade.  Both Madden and Skylar had a great middle school year.  They both were in ASB together which was a lot of fun. Sadly Madden didn't want to follow in his sisters footsteps of doing ASB for another year but it was fun for them to be in one class period together.  Skylar of course got closer to a ton of her friends, Madden made a bunch of new friend and has had 2 girlfriends this year..haha!  

Skylar got amazing grades while balancing several hours of dance each day. Madden started off strong but unfortunately lost a little sight on school and didn't end the way we would of liked.  Going to keep a better eye on him next year because we know he has the potential.  It's going to be another couple years before they are back in school together so I definitely cherished this past school year.

6th Grade carpool on the first and last day of school.

Getting her 8th grade diploma.

Skylar and Isabelle.  Sweet Isabelle is moving back to Ireland this summer which is making all the girls really sad.

Skylar and Anna.  Anna came to this school just this year and these two couldn't of been faster friends.  They dance together and I don't think Skylar would of survived some of her classes without her.

Lucy, Madeline, Skylar, Ashby, Amelia, Isabelle, Anna, and Adri.

Lucy and Skylar..Besties since the first day of Kindergarten.

Skylar and Madeline have known each other since they were 3 years old.

Amanda, Skylar and Lucy.

Couldn't be prouder of our girl!

The graduates!  Off to CHS next year!

How it started....................How It ended.

FNL Spring 2024 (Charlotte 49ers)

Another winning season in the books for Jake and Madden in FNL.  Season definitely started off rough with a lot of kids injured and playing with only 5 players for a handful of games.  In the end we got moved down to the silver bracket for playoffs and came out as Silver Champions.  Madden was a stud once again the field always playing his heart out.  It will be the first time in several years that we will be having our Fridays off next season as Madden is going into tackle in the Fall.

Madden and his girlfriend Isabelle both won their championships.

 

Madden's 12th Birthday

 

Madden is official 12 years old! He was such a trooper this year for his birthday.  Of course his birthday fell during the most hectic week/weekend possible for Skylar.  He was so chill and just asked to go out to dinner with a couple buddies.

We got him an ice cream cake.

Took Cooper, Ian and Travis to Korean BBQ for dinner where the boys had the goal to eat collectively 15 rib-eye steaks.  Pretty sure they made it to 12 total.  Madden had a great time celebrating!

Friday Night Lights 🏈 North Carolina Tar Heels (Fall 2023)

🎵WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIENDS🎵.  
We had an awesome season playing in the 5th/6th highest level conference.  We ended the regular season 8-1 and a little bitter that we weren't crowned conference champions.  We took that and used it as motivation in the playoffs.  We made it to the championship game playing against a tough team.  Our boys stepped it up playing in probably the most intense FNL game I have ever been apart of.  We were down 2 touchdowns with under 4 minutes to plays.  Our boys were incredible those 4 mins and ended up winning the game with 2 seconds left with Madden catching the tieing touchdown and catching the game winning extra point.  

No More Braces

 YES!!! The day has finally arrived!! Both kids are officially done with braces which we couldn't be more excited about.  Madden finished up his second round this month.  Love seeing that smile!

8th and 6th Grade Class Photos

 Madden 6th Grade

Skylar 8th Grade

6th Grade Camp

 Madden headed off to 6th grade camp for a week of outdoor activities, hikes and fun with his friends.  Unfortunately, 6th grade camp was not Madden's jam.  By day two he was trying to get the heck out of there by telling the nurse he had a seizure.  Luckily we talk him into staying which I don't think he was too thrilled about.  

When I picked him up the first words out of his mouth, "That was the worst week of my life!"  From his thin bed mattress, his bunk mate, his activity group, the food, the hikes and all the safety talk, it was hard to find something that Madden did like about it...haha!  Being his first time away from home for an extended period of time we are proud that he stuck it out miserable or not.

Eating breakfast in the cafeteria.

Learning about climbing the rock wall.

Making candles.

Hanging with activity group.

First Day of 8th and 6th Grade

After a two year back the kids are finally back in the same school.  Hard to believe Madden is starting his middle school journey while Skylar is almost done with hers.  I'm thrilled that they are back together and to make it even sweeter Madden decided to join ASB with Skylar so they even have two class periods together.  How much they interact in ASB is still to be determined but I hoping they enjoy being together.  I'm looking forward to seeing the new friendships Madden makes as Skylar as made so many great new friends during her time there.  

Madden with his middle school carpool buddies.

Year 3 and probably they last year carpooling together.  Crazy to see how much they have grown since 6th grade.