Tatum is DONE with 6th Grade!

Holy Moly!  The Meekers are officially done with Elementary school!  Can't believe my baby will be in 7th grade!  Super proud of this girl of mine.  Here she is with all her cute friends enjoying their last day together!

Max--Teen Life Short Film

Max was just recently cast in a training video for the Catholic Church.  This video will be an International Training Video used by the Catholic Church so it's kinda a big deal!

So Max played the part of the "Catholic Football Fan Teen Boy" perfectly.  He ended up having the BEST time with the other teen guys in the cast--only 2 of the other boys were actually Catholic.  So it was a super fun Friday morning for him (that he got paid for so that's a bonus:) . And he made lots of new actor friends to follow on Instagram!

(Yes!  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints makes movies and OF COURSE I would love for him to be in one but they are always looking for "Lamanite-looking" kid actors and well, my boy is just a little too white:)

Here they are "watching" a fake football game:) .  Just cracked me up because Max pretty much NEVER watches football:) Hey...when you're an actor you can be anything:)

Ice Breakers--12U CHAMPIONS!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!  No one has ANY idea how BIG this is for our family!!!  Between our 2 girls, we probably have about 20 seasons of Chandler Girls Softball under our belts (NOT exaggerating) and we have NEVER come in as Champions.  The closest up to this point has been 3rd place!  So we've definitely paid our dues!!!

This team was Tatum's first season in the 12U division so there are new rules and regulations that come into play.  Tatum and Chloe V. are the dream team at Pitcher and 1st Base--these 2 were probably responsible for 90% of the outs made this season.  Chloe is an INCREDIBLE pitcher and she definitely lead this team right up through the final game.  Tatum continued to lead in her hitting averages and foul ball catches.

This Championship round was the best of 3 games.  You can look at our team and they are all these little tiny girls!!!  They were most definitely out-sized and out-powered by the other team.  But our girls...the best word to describe them I think, "scrappy!"  And they pulled the final win off in a big way with great base stealing and base runners--I seriously have NO finger nails left!  

These girls SOOO DESERVED this win.  They ended the season with a 12-1 record and then then finished in 1st.  CRAZY proud of these girls!!!

From left to right:
Rylie, Chloe V., Marcy, Coach Jon, Aspen, Tatum, Megan, Mary,
Coach Allison, Julia, Marlee, Chloe M., Coach Ron

The DREAM TEAM!!!

Mary, Tatum, & Marcy

The Fab 4:
Rylie, Chloe, Tatum, & Marlee

COOL STORY:  We had a party to celebrate these girls the following Saturday.  One of the coaches came to talk to Chris and I.  He said, of the 12 girls on this team, he only saw 4 of them going anywhere in this sport and Tatum was definitely one of them.  She keeps her cool like no one else and just really knows and understands this game which helps her make smart decisions quickly.  LOVE this little girl of mine!  Whatever she does with this sport is fine by me.  CRAZY proud of my little athlete!!!

Ethan GETS HIS BRACES OFF!!!

Tuesday, April 30th was just a normal day in the Meeker household.  Ethan had an orthodontist appointment but it wasn't anything special--as far as I knew.  But then he called me and asked, "Hey mom!  Can I get my braces off today?"  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!  What kind of question was that?!  These past 4 years this poor guy has endured 2 oral surgeries--1 cancer scare and 1 surgery to pull a tooth down with a chain--multiple tooth extractions, an expander (the WORST) and 2.5 years of braces so OF COURSE he could get those dang things off!  He did not need them one more minute!  I know some moms would have said no because they didn't get the before/after pic but not me!  GET THEM OFF ALREADY!!!  WOO-HOO!  I then took him out to his favorite restaurant (Arby's) for lunch to celebrate!

So THIS picture is my most favorite smile in the whole entire world.  Dr. Shane Blacker is a miracle worker.  These teeth are PERFECT!!!  Smile away my boy:)