GRAYS ROOKIE/FARM SEASON!

Well it was a very big growing season - a lot of the players hadn't played before which was good and bad - bad because we only won a few games but at least we weren't the worst in the league but good because it allowed Eli to step up and him and Caleb were the leaders of the team. Eli was pitcher and 1st base - he did awesome at both of those and we were super proud of him! The very last game of the season he hit his first home run!!!! He has been wanting to do that for a couple of years now - what a way to end the season!! Home run hit: May 30, 2015 (8 1/2 years old)

BUSY BOYS WEEKEND!

It was a good weekend for the Jensen boys in regards to baseball - Tyler had been anxiously waiting for his new glove...it finally came!!! He went straight to the mailbox to get it himself!





Tyson was waiting for a helmet and couldn't wait to wear it!

Mr. Eli has been waiting for quite some time to have his first home-run - well the day finally came!! 8 1/2 years old and he got it! (technically it wasn't a "true" homerun - it was really a triple but he was able to score off of their errors!)

 Eli also had pack meeting and day camp!

ELI'S TEACHER!

Eli filled out this paper about Mrs Cummard at the end of the year - ha ha! The funniest thing she does is say my butt!

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!

I know I say this a lot but I really can't believe how fast time is flying and I hate it - I wish it could slow down - I don't like my kids growing up and getting older. Today is the last day of school.

Emma survived 7th grade - 4th quarter was a little rocky with some 7th grade girl drama, but we survived - yes we, because parents have to listen to it, help through it and really try to explain how it really is no big deal even though at the time - its the hugest thing in the world. She had straight A's through out the entire year except for 1st quarter she got a B in math and language arts - I have no idea why, but she got it all back to A's after that.  One day at school, Emma and 2 friends showed up wearing pretty much the exact same outfit - too funny!

Then for spirit week they rocked the 80's loud and proud! 

Eli did great in 2nd grade. He was very proud being in the highest math group. He raced through all his work without any problems and we never helped him with homework - we loved it. The teacher loved how smart he was but wished he would have spent a little more time on his weekly essays - we on the other hand - didn't care :) At the end of the year assembly he got the music award - again. He told him brothers that they just called him up there for "his" music award since he got it the last 2 years. Also during the assembly they showed a 2nd grade slide show - when his picture would pop up you could hear a few people shouting "Eli" in the room - he is quite the popular little nugget. The very last day of school Eli asked if he could wear his skin tight under armour tank top and I told him to go put on a nice shirt since it was the last day of school - he said, "but mom, I want the kids to see all my muscles!" - and he was being serious! 

Eli and Mrs Cummard

 Eli getting his music award

Tyler and Tyson did awesome in 1st grade! We were very nervous to separate them for the first time, Tyson did just fine and had no problems...Tyler was very reserved and kept to himself at the beginning of the year, but by the end he was very confident in himself and would raise his hand on occasion and speak up and had his own friends - it was a great thing separating them and they are still best friends when they come home...we couldn't ask for anything better. 

Tyler started out in the bottom of his class but by the end of the year he had straight A's and kicked butt in math, but has to work harder at his reading. He got the "Mr Scientist" award in his class because he loves science so much!

Tyler and Mrs Lapham

Tyson also started out in first grade at the bottom of his class but he too worked hard and excelled and before we knew it he was in the top reading group! He LOVES TO READ! Tyson was voted, "Mr Caring" for his class award.
Tyson and Mrs Nelson

I still carried mom guilt around with me this year because I forgot to celebrate the twins birthday in kindergarten so I made sure to fix that this year. The second to last week of school I asked the first grade teachers if we could pretend the next day was the twins birthday and they both thought it was a great idea. I told the boys that night that tomorrow is their pretend birthday! They were a little confused at first and it took a bit to sink in that they were not actually turning 7 yet. They each got to bring in donuts to class and got to wear the birthday crown. They came home smiling from ear to ear and LOVED all the attention they got from their class. They asked me, "why didn't we get to do this last year?" I told them that I was sorry, but I forgot to do it...then Tyler quickly piped up, "It's ok, you are smarter this year!" 

The kids came home to the traditional "welcome home" with the new grade numbers posted next to it. 

I got a part time job this year - it started out as a job to just cover the cost of dance because we thought we might change studios and I needed money to pay for it, but then we ended up staying at SAS and using that money to pay for our cruise this summer with the whole family. It was a super fun job - 3 hours a day and ran a cash register for the high school kids at Hamilton High School - I loved giving them all a hard time - I made several friends and some kids would just come over to say Hi to me!

JARED'S JEEP!

Jared's mid-life crisis - I mean jeep! This wasn't some jeep he went out and bought on a whim - oh no - he had been thinking for the last 2 years about what his next vehicle was going to be. He went back and forth and on several different things, a newer Colorado, a little car, a Silverado but finally he realized he needed to have a Jeep! He couldn't just go and get any jeep - oh no - he needed a special jeep - no one had this unicorn jeep he dreamed about so he created himself an excel spreadsheet and went down to the dealership and custom ordered it. He watched it for several weeks online to check on the different development stages that it was in. Finally it had arrived at the dealership but it was still waiting for the lift kit and the swing arm to be installed but the nice people at Earnhardts called Jared and let him come down and check her out while he waited. Yes, they let him into their garage, he got to get in it and ride it, touch it, smell it and he probably would have licked it if all the other workers weren't standing around and talking to him about it.

May 1st finally came and he got to go down and pay for it and drive it home. Sadly, 19 days later Black Beauty was in an accident and she had to go back to the shop for repairs for 2 weeks - it was a long 2 weeks for him. Finally she was all fixed up and ready to come home again. He is quite happy with it and well deserving of it!

 My sweet Tyson boy is a little too short for the jeep. He tried to climb in it one night when we first got it and fell out onto his head. I wasn't with them when it happened but when I found him 2 hours later and I asked him about it, he told me he was fine but he couldn't really see when it happened and he saw 2 of everything - lovely.

SOCCER IS OVER!

In 2015 Eli being a young age of 8 has had to learn some hard life lessons. He got dropped from his Heat baseball team that he was on for the last 3 years and had been on since they started and now he got dropped from his Legacy soccer RED team (the best team). Its been hard and good for him. He of course is sad about getting off each team, but then we teach him how both things were blessings in disguise. The Grays his new baseball team only wins a few games, but the coaching staff is a lot better and we are going to see Eli grow a lot more with them. With soccer, well, we got to teach him about how in life "politics" plays a part in everything and the Jensens weren't die hard soccer families and it rubbed them all the wrong way - but - it is also a blessing because he is playing 3 sports at the same time and one of them was eventually going to have to go and we didn't want to have to make the choice so we are glad it was made for us.

The day after try-outs Eli got the call that he was invited to be on the WHITE team - the second best team - the coach was super sweet about it and said how he knew this was a hard phone call for us because Eli was on the red team for 2 years, but he told Jared that if Eli would play for him he would get to be goalie (like he knew Eli wanted), he would get the majority of the playing time. he would work extra hard with him so he could make the red team the following year, etc...Jared told him no very nicely and he ended it with - If you change your mind - please call me and I will have a spot for him. It left a nice taste in our mouth about Legacy.

Earlier that week before try-outs were completed - one morning as we were getting ready for school Eli randomly came up to me and told me he made his decision - I asked him what decision he was talking about and he informed me that he finally decided what his favorite sport was and that was baseball! So, after we knew what team he made we let him decide what to do and he was fine about not being on the white team - he was sad to leave his friends, but happy to focus more on baseball and wanted to make sure he could do some rec soccer stuff to keep up his skills.

After many, many texts and emails from the RED team to find out what team Eli was on - I finally posted a letter on the page:

Hi team!

It is with a heavy heart that we say good bye to our dear soccer family. Eli was invited to be on the white team. We have talked to him this past week and he has decided to focus more on baseball this coming year so we will be taking time off from soccer full time. We might put him on an excel team or something similar to keep his skills up in case he changes his mind down the road.

We have truly loved getting to know all of you and wish the team the very best of luck during the next 2015/2016 season! If you get together for fun and play soccer over the summer - please let us know because Eli would love to play with his friends - he is most sad about not being able to see his friends.

Keep up the good work team and please for the love of soccer - beat the Blackhawks this year and beat them hard 😉😘

Love,
The Jensens

Eli got several sweet replies (from everyone except for the coach - jerk!)

and he got:

Elizabeth: So....I am not sure what to say except that I am sorry, that I think Eli is great and has a great vision of the field and that I will miss in the field. That I will miss you guys but we will stay in touch cause I consider you guys part of our extended family. We will stay in touch. 

Brian: The thing I enjoyed about Eli the most is that he always had a smile on his face and having fun. Thats really what its all about.

It's nice to see that even though the coach did not like that Eli played so many sports and wasn't die hard soccer - at least everyone else loved him the way we do :)

Everything happens for a reason and we feel good about quitting Legacy. Love Eli and his love of sports. He is a good kid! 

We did have an end of the season soccer party at the indoor Kwanis pool. The families all got together and we did a potluck dinner, the boys got a cake and a new size 4 soccer ball and they swam and had a blast together!
 

Last tournament of the regular season - San Tan Ostrich Festival