Houston Interactive Aquairum

The kids had Fall break a couple weeks ago. It seems like our kids are never in school, haha. Our district has SO many breaks. We tried to make the most of it and went to Rocket's games, played kickball, games, and went to this new Houston Aquarium with my parents and sister. 

We had a fun time trying out this new adventure! There were sting rays, sharks, fish, bunnies, turtles, so many things!

Grandpa paid for an interactive experience with the Lemurs and the kids loved having them all around them and petting them. 

There was a space for birds and reptiles and all sorts of things. 

They got to feed the camels. This one was only 5 months old. 

The warthogs and pigs kept eating all the kids shoelaces :) haha

We had a fun time and it was nice to try something new!

Ragnar turns 44!!

Ragnar celebrated another birthday a couple weeks ago. He turned 44 on September 25th. We love him and were happy to celebrate with him! We went with several couples to go bowling and to dessert the weekend before his birthday and we had a lot of fun! We also celebrated with my parents and brothers family and sister here in Houston. 

On his birthday morning we had a full day of soccer! We got in a quick donut and song and off to the fields we went!

Soccer and Germany are the other loves of his life..besides me of course ;)

He coached and refereed most of the day and then we went to dinner at Sharky's for dinner. 

He loves chocolate bundt cakes and so he got his very own. We had a nice day celebrating his life. 

This year he has been working hard to transition to a new job and work hard at making extra money where he can. It has been a tough year, but I am proud of him. He is a devoted husband and father. The kids love having him around and spending time with him! We hope this year is another year of growth for him and success. We love you Rags!

Sports Again!

This season of sports has begun at the Hartzheim home and we are excited. Cavin began his middle school Timberwood football season and is playing #99 as an offensive and defensive lineman. He is getting stronger and braver each game. He is still our gentle giant, so aggression doesn't come naturally, but he is getting more courageous and understands the game well. I am proud of him for working hard and being part of a team.

He is always to the side of the coach and watching the other players if he is not in, he is very attentive to what is going on. 

He is a cute kid!

Cavin also decided during football season he would earn his first paycheck and become a referee in the fall soccer season. He and his dad are doing it together. His first week went well. He just needs to be louder, but he made good calls and loves soccer. Ragnar and he get to do their first game together this weekend on Ragnar's birthday. 

As for Channing and Deacon, they are playing soccer with the Heatwave again. Channing's coach took a season off, so Channing really wanted to have Ragnar coach her. This would require Channing to play an age group up and with much bigger girls in the U12-U14 division. After much hesitation, he finally said yes and he has a great group of 18 girls. 9 of the girls go to our church and Channing loves being on a team with her friends and absolutely loves having her dad coach. They are the silver bullets. She plays mostly on defense, but she is learning and getting more and more aggressive with getting to the ball. As for Deacon, this is his 5th season with Wes Brown coaching. They changed his age group, so he is almost playing two years up as well. He really thrives with older kids though and made 3 goals the first game. He is a good player and just smiles the whole time he is out there. Soccer runs deep in his German blood! He is on the Blue Tsunamis this year and also has 5 kids from our church on his team and 9 of the 12 are returning, so he knows a lot of players and enjoys it. 

I just LOVE to watch my kids play sports and look forward to each game. I love watching them work hard and grow and do something that is healthy and makes them happy. Let's go Timberwood, Silver Bullets, and Blue Tsunami! I hope it's a great season for them all!! 

Back to School 2021-2022

The kids officially started school yesterday and it was a success. Channing was counting the hours for a couple days before as she was so excited. 

There is still a high amount of covid around, but people are doing their best to move forward and I was grateful school started in person as normal. 

Ella is a sophomore at Atascocita High School (10th grade). She starts early morning seminary next week. She is still participating in Orchestra playing the cello. 

Cavin is an 8th grader at Timberwood Middle School. He is the oldest at his school this year. He is in Orchestra playing the cello and trying out for football, basketball, and soccer. He is also going to do Math olympiads and National Junior Honor Society. He will be busy!

Channing is a 5th grader at Eagle Springs Elementary. She is also the oldest at her school and excited to rule the campus! She was still excited to take a picture with her teacher Ms. Thompson:) She LOVES school. She will try out for choir, and the school play and is still doing piano and soccer. 

Deacon is in 2nd grade at Eagle Springs Elementary. He lives for recess ;) He loves to play with his friends then. His teacher this year is Mrs. Posey. He is going to play soccer and basketball. 

I hope the kids have an awesome year at school! They are bright kids, so I am sure it will be a success!!

Deacon turns SEVEN!

Deacon turned 7 years old a couple weeks ago and was very excited to celebrate. 

He got his fun yard birthday sign courtesy of my employment, Sign Gypsies. He was excited to wake up to it. 

We did our morning birthday donuts and his Oma and Opa facetimed in to sing with us. 

We read with his new stuffed animal Georgie.

We also met Ragnar for lunch at McDonalds per his request. 

Then, he had his friend birthday party of slip n slide, water balloons, and water guns. He had fun!

The boys got to try and dunk hat the birthday boy with a ball!

We had cupcakes and snacks! Tate, Brooks, Cruz, Will, and Casey came. 

Later we had pizza with his grandpa Speers and Aunt Natalie, and Chris' family. 

He was excited to get a Fitbit watch, darts, a pro remote controller, a new soccer ball, water balloons, water guns, water toys, a beanie boo, pop it's, some clothes, and a laser tag vest set. He is easy to please!

Cavin was sweet and wanted to make his cake. It wasn't perfect, but Deacon was thrilled at his sports cake because his brother made it. Those boys sure love each other! 

He was glad to have cousins come for the family party!

For his birthday he wanted to go to a Houston Astros game, so Ragnar was able to get us nice tickets to go a few days later. 

We were able to get free tickets, free food, and free merchandise. It is nice to still know people who can hook us up!

It was fun to be so close. 

We had a great night and I think Deacon had a great birthday! We sure love him. He is full of energy and life. He is always moving and always either playing or watching sports. His favorite color is red. His favorite food is macaroni and cheese, vanilla wafers, and goldfish. He doesn't like chocolate very much and prefers vanilla. He still loves stuffed animals, mostly beanie boos. He plays basketball and soccer most, but likes all sports and is naturally gifted at many. He is still pretty shy around others unless he is playing sports, and that is where he is confident. He likes to listen to music and often falls asleep to his Alexa commentating a sports event. He always says "Let's GO!!" when something exciting happens. He is a good reader and likes school. He still prefers being around kids that are older than him and enjoys a good competition. He loves playing card games and Nertz is his favorite right now. We love you Deacon and hope you had a special day celebrating!