Fun Filled Day of Science

The second grade just went on a wonderful field trip to the Math Midway exhibit at the Frisco Sci-Tech Museum.  This was a day of firsts for Christian as it was his very first time to ride in a school bus and sadly his very first elementary school field trip.  Needless to say, he was anxiously waiting for this day to arrive and so was I.  After getting to the school to find that everything there was under control I decided to leave before the students boarded the buses so that I could get to the museum early and see how the day would run.  I am sorry that I did this though as I did not get any photographic proof of Christian actually boarding the bus.  He has often asked me if he could ride the bus to and from school, to which I give my standard reply...there are a lot of moms that are not able to drive their kids to school and be there in the afternoon to pick them up so you should be thankful that I am able to do that not to mention the bus drives by our house every morning at 7 am when I am just going in to your room to wake you up.  We have a hard enough time waking up at 7 am, I don't even want to think about 6 am.  By this time we are usually pulling into the driveway so this conversation can come to an end.  There is nothing wrong with riding the school bus, in fact I am sure I would find it much easier if he did, however, I never rode the bus to school and I don't want my kids to either.  But back to the field trip.  

Once all the students arrived (the busses took the "scenic" route as I stood out in the freezing cold trying to find and direct them via phone which way to go) we went in to the theater area for a group introduction and a few science experiments.  The students were amazed when one of the teachers was asked to stand up and swirl 2 glasses of water around on a board without the water spilling out.  It definitely kept everyones attention and had them laughing when the water finally dumped out.  (Don't try this at home.)

Next we all broke out into sessions and for Mr. P's class the chaperones each took three or four kids through the science stations in the midway.  I don't know that I offered any educational benefit to them, but we had fun. The square wheeled trikes were so interesting that I even decided to take a turn.

I must say that this was a wonderful field trip.  The kids were busy the entire day and never had a chance to get bored.  When it came time for lunch a few of the moms and I snuck away to grab a quick lunch at Best Thai.  It was yummy!  We ran next door to Peace Love and Popcorn and tasted Dill Pickle popcorn and picked up a couple treats too.  Christian LOVES that place and so do I.

Once the day came to an end Christian surprised me by asking to ride back home with me.  I thought for sure he would have wanted to ride back on the bus with his friends but he did not.  Instead he had a friend come home with us to play!  Fieldtrip #1 was a huge success.  I even received 4 or 5 emails from teachers the next morning with nothing but positive comments.  YAY!  Christian and his friends talked about some of the cool science experiments for days and I was just happy to be there.

Snow Day

We picked the boys up from Pa Pa's house Sunday morning after they spent the night with him the night before.  We ended up staying several hours visiting with him and Edwin, Bert's brother,  before we all decided to go to Mom's cafe in Aubrey for lunch.  YUM!  On the way home Chad decided we needed to have a little fun so he went to an undisclosed location and did donuts in the parking lot!  The boys laughed harder than they ever have while I held on to the door handle for dear life, laughing and reminding Chad his entire family was in the truck.  Chad did not even have time to stop the truck completely before Carson pleaded for him to do it again.  We laughed and Chad spun us all around some more until he decided there was only so much time you could do this with out getting caught so we better head home.  On the way, Christian asked if we could go to the farm and sled behind the truck like we did last year but Chad said it was too wet since it had rained so much before and it would tear up the pastures.  As soon as we got home the boys put on the warm layers, I grabbed the camera and we went out to play in the snow.  Chad decided to get out the little OLD tractor that could and pull the boys on the sled around the house.

The boys decided mommy needed a turn so they piled on top of me and daddy pulled us all.

Where's Christian?

Pulling the boys down the road and back Christian decided to do snow angels with his arms.  When they got back he was soaking wet and freezing!  Time for a fire and hot chocolate!

Hard to believe this snow would stick around for 4 or 5 days as it never got above freezing.

Christian's Big Surprise

Last Saturday was Christian's first basketball game of the season and we had a BIG surprise in store for him.  A secret person was going to come to his game.  I had texted earlier in the week to let him know about Christian's game since he had not gone back to school yet and he instantly replied back that he would be there.  I decided not to tell Christian anything yet in case for some reason it did not work out.  So, Saturday morning when I got a text to know he was definitely coming I decided to just let it be a big surprise.

Our doorbell rang a little after 2 pm and Chad went to the door.  The boys and I were in the kitchen getting ready to head out for Christian's game when in walked.....Jake (Ross' best friend)!  To say that Christian was shocked is definitely an understatement.  In fact, his reaction surprised even me a little.  He literally stood their speechless for what seemed like forever after his jaw hit the floor and his eyes got as big as saucers.  I don't think he moved until Jake came over and gave him a big hug to let him know it was real.  At one point I honestly thought he was going to cry!  It was so sweet.  He then handed the boys their Christmas presents. They both eagerly unwrapped them to find an awesome new Auburn jersey for each of them!  The boys loved them!

We then all piled in the car and headed to the game.  We made it to the game early so Christian took Jake and sat down with the rest of his team to watch the end of the game that was playing.  During Christian's game Carson pretty much sat in Jake's lap the whole time.

Christian was a defensive animal but unfortunately they lost 21-6.  It was devastating.

I guess he found it hard to smile after just losing

We all had such a wonderful afternoon and I will never forget that day.  It meant so much to me that Uncle Jake would take the time to come and be there for my boys!  Here they are decked out in their jerseys, which they ended up wearing for three days straight.  They wore them the rest of the afternoon, slept in them, wore them Sunday and again on Monday since that night was the Championship game.  Luckily I was able to convince them Sunday night to take them off so that I may wash them so they would be clean for school the next day.

 We love you Jake and we love our jerseys!  

Ringing in the New Year

Chad and I brought in 2011 at Jim and Brenda's house surrounded by good friends, good fun and good food.  It was nice to have an adult night knowing the kids were having a blast at the lock-in until I received word at 12:10, through a call from a friend's son, that Carson may not be feeling well.  It ended up he was fine and the festivities continued.  Here are a few shots of the evening thanks to Brenda's son who was paparazzi for the evening.

Chad and Brenda

 Honey, Kara and I

Chad and Joel

Peace

Chad holding court with the ladies

Jim made the mistake of passing out with a house full of people and a wife that thought it would be funny to get him with shaving cream!

Brrr...last shot of the night!  Happy New Years

We look forward to another wonderful year full of love and laughter with our amazing friends and family!

A Little Fresh Air Never Hurt Anybody

This has been the most relaxing break ever as we have spent the majority of the time since Christmas as a family at home in our jammies.  This is definitely not a normal occurrence for our family as we are usually always on the go.   This week though we have watched A LOT of movies, played many games of Battleship, Jenga and ping pong, the 3 boys have spent hours playing PS3, we have had more than our fair share of hot chocolate and cookies, and I have organized the house after Christmas.  It has been wonderful!

I decided one day that we needed to get outside and take in a little fresh air.  The boys immediately decided to ride their new scooters and show us their crazy mad skills.  I was actually impressed with Christian's little bag of tricks. 

Christian thinks his Spark scooter is SO cool!  He kept lifting the bottom up though to gauge how quickly he was losing his spark bars.  I kept telling him to relax and just enjoy making the sparks because Santa left a box of extra spark bars too!

Carson is one cool dude in his sunglasses while he is trying to keep up with his brother.  He kept saying, "even I can do this, watch".

I don't know how many times I can say this but they are both growing up entirely too fast!!

Next it was time for basketball

Is this Ross Jr. or what?  He has started making this face and every time he does I immediately think of Ross and that chin. 

Dad showing Christian he is still cool and can do donkey kicks and other tricks on his bike

They got just about everything out of the garage today...scooters, bikes, dirtbike, tractors, and skateboard.  Chad raised Carson's training wheels up on his bike today too.  Here they are making me a nervous wreck riding the skateboard down the driveway and trying to land in the grass.

Now onto a little yard work.  Christian is quite the helper.

Merry Christmas

According to Christian and Carson, this was the best Christmas ever, however I think they say that every year!  I will say that this year was reminiscent of Christmases past and for that I am grateful.  

The boys could not wait to get to Sonia's house to celebrate Christmas Eve.  I know they had one thing on their mind.....presents, but I also know that they love spending time with their family.  Christian always talks about how much he loves having everybody over or going to Aunt Tawnies or Grandmas house to be with the whole family and that makes me smile.  That afternoon we all sat around laughing, talking, tracking Santa and discussing his route.  After a few moments of hilarious disfunction and our VERY yummy meal, Christian on his own accord decided he would do the dishes.  Don't get me wrong, he has chores at home and always takes his plate to the sink when he is finished, but I can't think of one time that he has ever run water over one of them.  It was an amazing site to see and while we were all still sitting at the table I came to one conclusion, he must think that Santa is watching him and that this just might score him extra presents!

Christmas Eve

The boys wasted no time and quickly moved into the living room to pass out presents.  This year they were sorted in moving boxes by recipient which made it very nice when it came time to pack up (although not so good for pictures).  They decided to tackle this box together and I love seeing the excitement on their face.

After all of their hard work passing out presents, they can't wait to tear in to their own packages

I got so caught up in catching wrapping paper and watching them unwrap that I forgot to take pictures.  I did get a few though.

 Christian was beyond excited when he opened this headset.  If you only could have seen the expression and oh yeah dance that he performed.  It was priceless.  Thank you Yai Yai

Tackling Shea Shea before dessert.

Sonia, Nikki and Chad

Shea bench pressing both boys.

After dessert we spent several more hours huddled together and it was very nice to sit around and enjoy each other before heading home to get ready for bed.  I am so sad I did not get any pictures that night  putting out cookies but here they are Christmas morning once they walked in and saw Santa was good to them!  Time to wake up Daddy!  

(Note to self:  rearrange the furniture next year to get better pictures of Christmas morning or put the boys in a different spot)

Digging in their stockings and comparing goodies.  Christian says this is his favorite part.

New Scooters 

It looks like Santa and the Reindeer loved their treats!

My little Super Hero

A few pics of the house Christmas morning, wish I had not cleaned up Santa gifts yet

I LOVE MY BOBCAT TREE!

This year, Chelsea spent the night Christmas Eve so she could be there Christmas morning.  Mom, Grandma and Ta Ta came over around 9 or so and we immediately began to make a big breakfast before the boys passed out presents.  Once again I got a little overwhelmed and forgot to snap pictures!

Is he handsome or what?

Christian just knew there was something for outside in this box, little did he know it was a new tv for upstairs from Grammy and Pa Pa

Christian sat down that afternoon and wrote Santa a thank you note without being asked...another first!

We had so much fun playing ping pong all afternoon on this tabletop set and snacking in the kitchen until dinner. 

The boys went upstairs to watch the first movie in our home theater

Christian and Daddy had a late night match after everyone went home.

This was another wonderful holiday spent with family and friends!