Every year on Christmas Eve we have The Cat Creek Classic. It’s not your typical casual backyard football game. It’s legit. And intense. It’s competitive. Usually someone ends up injured. It’s hard to the core. And the guys love it.
I actually really love it too. Football was such a big part of Zach’s life. It was his identity for so many years. And it’s the ONE time a year that he gets to fully enjoy something that was so important to him. He loves it. And I love seeing him on the field, it brings back so many wonderful memories of cheering him on from the stands!
This year it rained really badly on Christmas Eve so the game got postponed to the first Saturday of the new year. We headed over to Mrs. Charlotte’s as soon as the kids got breakfast and the game was set to take place at 9 while the little babies napped.
Everyone in their jerseys…with Tess wearing some football gear too 🙂
We brought chairs for the big kids to get to watch the game and I was surprised at the big change in Kye from last year to this year. Last year he wanted to just run around and was annoyed that Colt just wanted to sit and watch the game the whole time. This year? Kye was very into it! He wanted to watch and he wanted to play. I know it probably made Zach’s heart happy!
And then there’s this child hahaha
Oh Britt 😉
The teams are always pretty much set in stone. Mr. Rusty and Uncle Steven are brothers so they are always the quarterbacks for their teams. Obviously their sons are on their teams as well! Aunt Karen also always plays on Steven’s team. Zach and Jordan are the players that never change on our side but usually some new people play or some others don’t want to, etc. This year it worked out really great! Zach’s cousin from Mrs. Charlotte’s side, Austin Plyler, was able to play! He really was a great addition to the team and I loved having his sweet wife, Katie, with us on the sidelines! Also now that Cole is engaged and since we didn’t have it on Christmas Eve, Gabi was able to be there! SUPER pumped about having another Parker woman in the family later this year 🙂
In year’s past Jordan has written a recap of the game but he didn’t this year (when really this is the year he should have…dude was FOR SURE the MVP!) and I’m terrible at football stuff so this is going to mostly just be a lot of pictures 🙂 I do know who won but I can’t even begin to tell you a final score or anything like that!
Jake is a beast now too so their team is stacked!
Cole dominated, as usual!
Austin was a great match up for Cole! It def made it more exciting from the sidelines!
Jordan had several touchdowns and even an awesome interception (see I do pay attention!)
Always the cheerleaders 🙂
Last year Colt wanted to be IN the game SO badly. And there is just no way kids can play. It’s an adult game FOR SURE. But it worked out great where the kids were able to play in their own game during halftime. It was decided to do boys versus girls and they all warmed up on the sidelines towards the end of the first half.
I love this 🙂
Casey was the captain for the boys and Jordan was for the girls. I’m sure at some point this will all get too intense? I mean as the boys get older? I’m not quite sure how it’ll all get handled! But now that they’ve been allowed to play…we will always have to have a kids game! Colt played football this past season but Kye hadn’t ever really done much with a football before. Child walked away from this game LOVING football. He asked if he and Daddy could go play outside when we got home so he could practice. It was precious. When Zach was a kid he would sleep with a football in his bed and practice tossing it up in the bed. I was in a mega sentimental state (watching Zach play does that to me!) and I told Kye he could do the same thing 🙂 So now he sleeps with his football by his head in his bed. We for sure won’t be allowing him to play anytime soon (not that he’s even asking to play on a team) but it’s sweet that the interest is there and it’s a great bonding thing for him and Zach to enjoy together.
Britt took it so seriously
Using the ball as a weapon is a pretty good strategy 😉
My sweet girl loves her Daddy
Colt is SUCH a sweet cousin. He ALWAYS looks out for Britt and truly just adores her. It is adorable
Jordan helping Britt score 🙂
Back to the “real game”
Kye spent the rest of the game begging Colt to throw the football with him. Colt wanted to watch the real game but Kye had gotten a taste of playing and just wanted to play. Such a huge change in him from last year when he asked to go play on G-Mama’s playground rather than watch!
Of course Zach has a great catch and you can barely see him in the picture! Oops!
This is a good example of how intense it gets!
Tess napped horribly. Katie was so sweet to go give her the paci for me so I didn’t have to miss the kids during the halftime game. It was VERY cold and wet and I didn’t want to bring her out there to nurse. I did end up getting her up early and bringing her out for a few minutes when it was time to clean everything up. Carter got to come out too and was so cute all bundled up!
For the first time (ever? in a long time?) WE WON!!!! Whoop whoop! Team “Aged 2 Perfection” dominated 🙂 Hopefully it’s a trend that will continue! Austin Plyler better be ready to come back next year haha! I’m also not sure who got stuck keeping that massive trophy…I’m just glad it’s not us 😉
Official trophy presentation from Little Mama
Tell me this isn’t SO precious! Colt is SO proud and I love how mine are holding hands!
If you have 9 minutes to spare and really wanna see the game…here’s a link to the game film! Also there is a shorter highlight film (I mean, of course there is). You can watch that here!
After the game I ran inside to nurse Tess and we had a casual lunch for Mrs. Charlotte’s birthday celebration! She and Mr. Rusty also gave the babies their big Christmas gifts…we all completely forgot about them on Christmas morning. Oops (third kid probs, right?). Don’t they look so cute in their cozy coupes?
It was a great game and I loved having it on a different day than Christmas Eve! It got to be ALL about the GAME! I loved getting to see Zach have so much fun and loved that Kye is now included in on the fun too 🙂
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