Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

We had a wonderful time spending the day together as a family....
Lots of excitement, less fighting, more smiles

Our annual Christmas pajamas...I got pajamas every year growing up and now mine do too. They recently asked if they could open 2 gifts on Christmas Eve. They finally figured out they were getting pajamas every year...

We have lots of trees at our house...the main tree is the real one in the great room. We also have a tree in the playroom with all of the kids' decorations and trees in each of their bedrooms. Kate has a pink tree with Hello Kitty ornaments and silver tinsel.

Will & Sam have a candy-cane tree with fake candy cane ornaments (they would eat real ones and I would be left with a tree of wrappers) and a star on top that lights up.

Jake & Zane have a "Red River Rivalry" tree. Half the tree is Texas and half is OU. Zane has a Sooner Schooner and Jake has Bevo on his side.

I want to add a tree in the basement next year. I think I may have Steve convinced finally. I love all of the decorations at Christmas. I love them more now that we have a basement storage room where I can store all of the fake trees fully assembled!

Kate's Christmas Program

Kate had her Christmas Program at school. It is her last one since she will head to kindergarten in the fall. Lucky for me, my friend reminded me that I get to start all over next year when Sam starts!

She was excited about the program but preferred last year when she got to dress up like an angel. She said the shepard costume itches too much. I think she was disappointed that there weren't any sparkles on it...

Here is Kate with Catie & Keely. They are known as the Posse at preschool. They are a cute bunch and have lots of fun together.

Grandma & Grandpa Visit

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit a few weeks ago. They were able to see Zane's chorus program, Christmas shop, go to the movies, and enjoy Christmas traditions with us...

Sam was the lucky one who got dragged to the mall for shopping since he is the only one not in school. He did luck out and get to ride the train though. That satisfied him for a while.

Grandma wanted to take pictures and Kate was happy to oblige her. That girl loves the attention.

We decorated Christmas cookies and we didn't even wait until December 24th this year. It was the one thing that I didn't do last minute in 2009. We did have to do a 2nd batch on the 24th for Santa though...

Zane's Stage Debut!

Zane had his stage debut in the chorus program. It was "Christmas at the OK Corral". He played Quickwhiskers the Barber. He has been rehearsing at school Tuesdays and Wednesdays all fall. That has made for some EARLY mornings for mom since he had to be there at 7:15. Yikes! He loved it though and he did a great job.

This was taken right after the performance. Grandma and Grandpa were able to come to town and see him in the play. That made his night!

Gingerbread Houses

We decorated Gingerbread Houses a few weeks ago. It was a cold Sunday afternoon and Grandma was in town so it was the perfect time!

We do the house and the train so there is plenty of decorating/candy eating to go around...

Sam really just showed up to help eat the candy and tell us all what we were doing wrong. He loves to boss everyone around.

Hawks in the Championship

While I was in Florida for the Ragnar Relay, Jake's football team, and their awesome head coach (Steve!) headed to the Gwinnett Football League Championship! When I originally planned the Florida trip, the Championship Games were supposed to be played the week before but the whole season was pushed back a week due to the floods in Atlanta this fall. Even with the week the canceled games, we still played more Saturdays than I care to count in pouring down rain and mud. The 1st week of playoffs was the absolute worst. Not only was it raining but the fields were so torn up that there were knee-deep mud puddles all over. I was so tired of washing cleats and football gear every Saturday! Thank goodness the 2nd week of playoffs the sun came out and stayed out for the rest of the season.

It is a super big deal to make the Championship Game around here. The GFL is highly competitive. There were 34 teams around the county in the 10 year old age group. Jake's team has been really good every year. They won the Championship when they were 7, lost in the semi-finals at 8 and again at 9, and were the runner-up this year. The biggest challenge this year was that we switched associations due to our move last fall. Our kids will now go to a different high school and each high school has its own youth association, so our football team was a newly-built team in a league where most teams form at 6 & 7 and move up together. It is amazing the progress the boys made over the course of the season. Next year we are definitely gunning for the blue trophy!

This is the only picture I have of Steve & Jake from Championship Day. I had some friends take pictures but have not had a chance to get them yet.

Ragnar Florida

In November, I ran a super cool relay race in Florida. We had a team of 12 women and we were appropriately named "Run Like a Mother". We started in Clearwater and raced 204 miles to Daytona Beach. The race ended on the beach just behind the Hilton.
It was hard for lots of reasons...the running conditions, the lack of sleep, the length of the race. It was a huge feeling of accomplishment when we finished. I was the 11th runner. That meant I ran all 3 of my legs with night gear on. My 1st leg was an easy 3 miles on the side of a highway at sunset. The weather was perfect and the run was flat...the only obstacle was keeping my headlamp on when the 18-wheelers passed by. My 2nd leg was a bit more challenging...it was over 9 miles and I started just after 4:00 AM after being up all night. It was on a paved trail, which seemed cool, but was actually terrifying. The race is so different than anything else I've ever done. The start times are staggered so you don't really ever run with many other people. I think I saw a total of 4 people in the 9 miles. It was pitch black with no lighting other than my headlamp and the trail went in and out of neighborhoods and parks. The neighborhoods didn't bother me but being in a dark park in the middle of the night alone scared me. I would have enjoyed the run much more if I had a pacer with me. We decided that we would definitely add that for next year! We managed to get a little rest before our last legs but by this point we had a few girls who were sick from the running and lack of sleep. I ended up running a few miles at the end of another runner's leg and it was so hot. After that, I was not sure I would be able to finish my last leg. My last leg was 6.5 miles coming into Daytona Beach. It was evening and perfect weather. Thank goodness there was a lot to look at by this point because it kept my mind off the fact that my legs felt like jello. The girls on our team also stopped at every mile to cheer me on. That was a HUGE help! I ended up running a total of 21 miles and it was so hard but also so much fun. I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Gretchen and Ashley at their 1st handoff. Poor Ashley had to run 8 miles of the biggest hills in Florida. It was so hilly and she literally had the only major hills we ever saw in the whole race...

Me waiting for the handoff from Ashley just before starting my 1st leg. Notice the awesome headlamp & reflective vest that I was lucky enough to have to wear for all of my runs!

Limo Ride

The boys got to ride in a super-cool limo and go to our ultra hip ice cream & candy shop, Scoops during school. They sold enough items between them to each earn the trip. I told them to enjoy it because they might not get the chance again.

Thanks to the grandparents!!!!!

Kate at the Pumpkin Patch

Kate's preschool class went to the Pumpkin Patch in October. We had perfect weather, unlike last year when it was freezing cold. I was also smarter this year and arranged for Sam to play with a friend. He is not a fan of hayrides!

We had a great time. The hayride is one of my favorites. The people who run it have all sorts of scenes along the way set up with scarecrows. It is way more fun than your typical hayride. The lollipops were from the part where the hayride stops and 2 of the scarecrows come to life and hand out lollipops. Kate loved it!

Kate and the posse! She and her 2 best friends, Catie & Keely along with another friend, Jae on the hayride. Kate, Catie, & Keely have been nicknamed the posse by their preschool teachers and "triple trouble" by their gymnastics teacher. They have started referring to themselves as the posse. Yikes!

Happy Birthday Will!

Will turned 6 on October 6th. He celebrated with cupcakes at school, cupcakes at football practice, dinner at McDonald's, and a Birthday Party at Monkey Joe's followed by pizza, cake, and a pinata at home. He wanted an army cake and an army pinata. His favorite gift was the DSi he got from Grandma & Grandpa. He had several friends plus his friend Nick who is actually Zane's age but Will loves playing with him and has been buddies with him ever since his brother started playing football with Jake a few years ago.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Sam turned 3 a few weeks ago. We celebrated with cupcakes at football practice, a Birthday dinner at Chick Fil-A (Sam's choice), a football cake (also his choice!) and presents. His most favorite present was a new bike. He loves to ride that thing whenever he gets the chance.

This was taken after football practice and dinner----it was really late to be opening presents...especially on a school night!

Sam blowing out the candles on his cake. He was fired up for his birthday. He loves to tell people he is 3, or sometimes he says "i Pive" (I'm five). We sure love this kid.

Kate starts gymnastics

Kate started gymnastics last week. She loves it! I wanted her to try ballet & tap but she rarely has the same opinion as me about these things. She was quite adament about gymnastics. This picture is her, Catie, & Keeley. They are all 3 good friends from preschool and they are the only 3 in the class--very convenient! She gets excited on Mondays and is ready to go as soon as she wakes up. She says her favorite part is jumping off the trampoline into the foam pit!

School Starts

I swear, the summer passes more quickly each year (or maybe I'm getting older---no, that can't be it!). We had a great summer this year. The kids are all at such fun ages---Jackson is not too old to enjoy hanging out with the family and Sam is just old enough to tag along without needing a stroller or a nap! We had lots of great days at the neighborhood pool. It was quite the hangout, which meant there was usually a friend for all of the kids there. It was the 1st summer I can remember where I did not have to be in the water the whole time. Everyone except Sam swims now and he eagerly wears a life jacket and then swims like a fish with it on. I had no idea what I've been missing out on---great conversation with good friends while the kids play. I also found out just how great "Adult Swim" can be. The first day of summer I groaned when the lifeguards blew the whistle because I knew that meant that the kids were going to be complaining for 10 minutes about not being in the water. I soon found out that if a mom goes all of the way out to the middle of the pool, she can not even hear the kids on the side of the pool whining---especially if she puts her head under the water!

School started much too soon. I still think it is wrong to start school when the heat index is still around 100 degrees but they didn't ask my opinion so we started on August 10th. We have 3 boys all at the same school. It's Jake's last year of elementary school and Will's first. We figured out recently that Will will have 2 siblings with him the whole way through elementary school. I foresee many more years of PTA!

Will's Kindergarten Top 3:
1) Lunch
2) Snack
3) Recess

Seriously....that kid is all about the food. He loves buying lunch (yuck) because they have all different flavors of milk. It's usually the first question he asks when I wake him up in the morning.

I also found out that Will and Jake have recess overlapping. I realized this when I asked Will what he did during recess and he told me that he played kickball. When I asked him who he played with, he told me "the 5th graders". I confirmed with Jake that he and his friends let his little brother play with them. Jake told me that he is pretty sure Will is the only kindergartener in the history of their kickball game that has ever gotten to play. Someday Will is going to figure out what an amazing big brother Jake is to him.

Kate Bakes!

I have almost the same pictures of myself at 4 doing this very important job in the kitchen. It has now become Kate's very important job. She knows exactly what to do and gets a little ticked if anyone (meaning Sam) tries to take over her territory. Lately, Steve has had lots of football coaches over at our house for meetings as the youth football season begins so we have had lots of occasions to make treats. Kate has been in heaven!

Destin....Part II

Zane had lots of fun building sandcastles with his cousin....and then Sam would knock them down.

Kate loved the boogie boards. Actually, they all loved them. We were smart and bought 5 so no one was left out. They did get used quite a bit.

The boys working on one of their sandcastles on the last day we were there...

Will was especially happy since his dad let him sneak a Dr. Pepper out of the cooler! :)