First Fishing Derby + A Cardinal Fledgling

Good morning friends. How are you? How was  your weekend? Our weekend was filled with small moments that pulled us out from under the cloud that seems to be covering a lot of our days. It was a good weekend all things considered and a weekend that brought smiles to our faces numerous times.

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again — our boys are the freaking biggest blessings. I feel this every single day but it becomes all the more poignant when Ryan and I feel like we really need a sharp bolt of joy in our lives. They always, always deliver.

Our weekend kicked off with soccer on Friday night.

This was likely Chase’s last game of the season (there may still be a make up game coming up) and after coming off a team with an undefeated record last season, this season has proven to be the exact opposite. Chase’s team did not win a single game and, honestly, I’m so impressed with how Chase handled so many losses. He scored the most goals for his team this season and tried so, so hard out there. Most importantly, he always walked off the field with his head held high and positive, encouraging words for his teammates.

(Dress: Amazon/ Sunglasses: QUAY / Shoes: Madewell)

I’m proud of him.

Saturday

Saturday morning began with furniture building for me and Ryder!

Ryder and I share a love of puzzles and I swear it translates to enjoying furniture building together. I’m not exaggerating when I say Ryder sprinted over to me when I asked if anyone wanted to help build our new patio furniture and he took over electric screwdriver duties like a champ!

We are getting more and more ready for lots of outside time this summer and so far I’m impressed with the patio furniture I found on Amazon. We ordered these loungers and these Adirondack chairs and the quality as we were building the chairs seems great, especially for the price point. I selected them because I wanted something durable with a wood(ish) look that wasn’t real wood because they will stay outside 24/7 and be exposed to weather and the elements. Hopefully they hold up as well as I think they will!

While Ryder and I built furniture, Rhett got a fresh trim courtesy of Ryan.

Look at that handsome little man! I’m so, so impressed with Ryan’s hair cutting skills. He began cutting the boys’ hair about 6 months ago and is getting so good at it. Thanks for saving us a million and one trips to Great Clips, Ryan!

Once breakfast, Rhett’s hair cut and furniture building were complete, the highlight of our weekend occurred because we attended our first fishing tournament! I found out about a small fishing derby open to kids ages 7 and up through local parks and rec programming and when I mentioned it to Chase, he could not have been more enthusiastic about participating. There’s not much more Chase loves than animals and fishing and he couldn’t wait to bait his hook and get going!

Everyone registered had one hour to fish in a pond and awards were given out to the kids who caught the most fish, the largest fish, the smallest fish and the first fish.

Chase was so, so psyched when he claimed an award for the first fish caught and won a new spinning rod! He also managed to catch 8 fish in an hour; 6 catfish and 2 bluegills.

(Tank: Talulah / Overalls: Amazon / Shoes: Reebok) 

Watching your kids do the things they love is one of my favorite parts of motherhood and Saturday certainly delivered. Ryder and Rhett were also able to fish (and play with Hot Wheels cars in the grass, of course) so our whole family truly had a wonderful time.

As we were leaving the derby, Ryan and I couldn’t help but talk about how much his dad would’ve loved being there with us. Greg  joined us on a lot of our local fishing adventures over the years and we know this derby would’ve brought him a lot of joy. Over the weekend, Ryan received a card from one of his dad’s friends who said Greg talked about his grandsons and called them “magical.” I cannot get that word out of my head. What a beautiful way to describe our boys. We promise to keep Granddad’s memory alive in them.

After the fishing derby, we made our way home for a late lunch. The weather was so incredible and our boys didn’t want to come inside so we did picnic lunches and hung out outside until they requested a family bike ride. Since Rhett’s nap clearly wasn’t happening on Saturday, we loaded up the big kids ‘ bikes, a stroller for Rhett and Pepper drove to a local greenway for a 3.5 mile walk/ride.

About a week ago, Ryder learned how to ride a bike without training wheels and blew us away. You guys, the experience in teaching Ryder how to ride a bike was night-and-day different from Chase and we are giving all of the credit to his balance bike. Ryder understood how to balance and fly around on his balance bike and already understood pedaling from Chase’s old bike with training wheels so when we took the training wheels off the big bike, I am not exaggerating when I say he absolutely flew! There was almost no learning curve and it was unreal! Let’s just say teaching Chase to ride a bike was not nearly as seamless so we’re definitely going to be encouraging the balance bike with Rhett, too. My mind is still blown.

Ryan and I smiled a lot on our walk because the big kids had the best time flying through puddles on their bikes which we both remember vividly from our own childhoods. When do we stop getting so much joy out of stuff like this!? Kids know something we don’t, I’m telling you.

The rest of our Saturday looked like pizza and movie night at home.

Sunday

Sunday morning began with some very important business. We had a baby bird to check on!

Right before bed time on Saturday night, I saw a baby cardinal fall out of its nest when I was letting Pepper out. Ryder and Rhett were already asleep but Chase was awake so he flew outside to check on the baby bird. We read a lot about what we should do because the little bird seemed so vulnerable in our grass but everything we read and all the videos we watched said to do nothing, especially if you see the mom and dad nearby which we did. We determined it was a cardinal fledgling and was likely taking its first adventure out of the nest. We hoped for the best and were so, so happy when we came outside on Sunday morning and the baby bird was resting in a hidden spot near the trunk of the tree.

Chase then peeked up in to the tree and spotted two more fledglings hopping around on branches which made us feel so much better about the bird’s chance of survival.

When I shared a picture of our new little fledgling friend on Instagram, I received a handful of messages telling me they believe cardinals signify a loved one who passed is visiting you. I loved this idea and shared it with Ryan and it buoyed both of us. Little signs like this bring a simultaneous pang of grief and joy and you better believe our family is now all the more invested in this little cardinal’s survival. The boys immediately checked on it again this morning before school and it’s still just hanging out under the big tree where Mom and Dad continue to flutter around all day long.

After we made sure the baby cardinal was okay, we headed back inside for breakfast and melty beads/biggie beads before it was time for church. After church, Rhett went down for a nap and Ryan fished off our dock with the big kids while I met up with some friends for a DIY terrarium class at Plant House in Huntersville as a mini belated birthday celebration for me and my friend Carrie.

(Sweater: American Eagle — sold out but you can find it resale if you Google “American Eagle snowsoft mock neck sweater” / Slip Skirt: Target/ Shoes: Madewell)

We all selected our own vases and filled them with succulents or air plants and agreed it was a lot of fun! Sometimes when you do classes with friends they can require a lot of focus but this was a great one because it was so simple so it left us with plenty of time to catch up while we created something fun to bring home.

By the time I arrived home, Rhett was just waking up from his nap, so I scooped him up and then we all hung out at home, building more patio furniture, checking on the cardinal fledgling and doing the whole bed and bath time routine.

We wrapped up our weekend with reading in bed — I’m on book 4 from the ACOTAR series — and I slept restlessly but am feeling oddly okay this morning. I think the sunny 65-degree weather helps.

I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead and hope to see you back here later this week. Thank you for making my blog a part of your day!