Birthday Bash!

I cannot believe we just celebrated Jackson's 9th birthday! We could not feel more blessed than to have Jackson as our son. He continues to develop a steady and strong character, with a lot of silliness mixed in!
Brooke was my little helper and she helped me lay out the plates for the boys. She knew something exciting was about to happen.









Jackson wanted his friends to meet at their school for a game of flag football. It was a beautiful afternoon and they had a great time!















Action shot...I don't know whether he caught it or missed it. I'll say he caught it of course!













Here is the team....Drew played too and he is lurking on the side. I just wanted to get Jackson and his friends in this one.











Then it was a short walk home for pizza and cookie cake. Jackson has never liked cake. He doesn't like the all the frosting on cakes. I know what he means. A cookie cake was perfect.









Ready to blow out the candles...















Next on the agenda....the Mavericks game. I painted the boys faces and we headed downtown. I thought they looked awesome!











Gangsta kids from FloMo













Finally, home and getting settled for bed. They were all asleep by 1 a.m., although in the morning some of them claimed they stayed up all night long. Yeah, right!
These boys were so fun to be around and I think they all had a great time.
Happy 9th Birthday Jackson! We love you!

Holiday Happenings!

We started out holiday celebration at my parents house this year. Brooke loved hanging at her own little table coloring and peeling stickers out of books!










One day, all the boys (Jason, the boys, Papa, and Uncle Ben) went to Snow Creek where they tubed down the big Kansas mountain. It actually was perfect for them and they had a great time.





Hold on tight!










This is toooo cute! Brooke put her little doggies under the Christmas tree and was having a little face time with them.







Autie A brought some fun games to play on Christmas Eve. This is her version of "Minute to Win It" We had to pull all the tissues out of a kleenex box in a minute....could we do it? YES!!

Staying with tradition, a cardboard table was set up for puzzles. Ben and Jackson doing a NFL puzzle. Grandma Bernice would be proud!

The boys on Christmas morning with their Itouches! Thank you Nana and Papa!

Our second stop was at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The kids just posed in this position out of the blue....once we saw it, the cameras started flashing. I love Jackson's arm around Drew, but the hand on Brooke's forehead....that looks a little forceful :)

One of our traditions from Grandpa....his famous Belgiun Waffles! We were so spoiled...we had these every morning and Jackson is even writing a "how to" paper on how to make these waffles!

The boys sandwiching Uncle Josh.

One of their all time favs....XBox Kinect. Fun times ahead! Thank you Gma and Gpa!

Brooke was in heaven when she saw her new Wiggles DVD. It immediately went in to the dvd player and by the end of the day, we all knew the songs :)

Grandma and Grandpa brought Brooke and the boys bourets home from their trip to Paris. They also got those little wooden jumping jacks from Germany.

One day, we went to the bowling alley on fort. It was so fun!

How cute is this dinosaur that they have for little kids to roll their bowling ball down? Brooke loved it and scored better than her mom!

Bowling Buddies!

The night before we left, we went to the T-Rex Restaurant where we learned of Brooke's love of dinosaurs. Who knew?? She followed the dinosaur around the restaurant and still talks about "Dexter the dinosaur"

The gang at the end of a wonderful Christmas season!

The queen returns to her throne!

We're slowly getting back into the swing of things around here. You can see Brooke is enjoying one of her new gifts. Holiday wrap up to come....stay tuned!

Completed Projects

Drew finished his Lego project....the Winter Wonderland! It is so pretty, so we decided to hot glue it in this display box and then we can bring it out every year. He has moved on to the next project...the Village Bakery. He wants to have it done before Christmas so we can display that one as well :)

This is Jackson's model of Taipei 101. He has been studying skyscrapers of the world in his Leap class and he chose this one. After they researched it, they made a model of it and then presented it to the class. I had never heard of this building before, but he can tell you all sorts of facts about it. Pretty cool!

Highlight of the Year!

The World Series....Texas Rangers vs. San Francisco Giants. My dad, Jason, and the boys were at the first home game of the World Series at Texas Stadium.






The giant Clydesdales horses before the game...

You can see the view from their seats....their backs were against the fence!

Leaving the game....they won! You can see the excitement on their faces!

Drew decked out in his "Claw and Antlers" shirt!

Jackson cheering for the Rangers :)

OK, so here's the story.....My dad, Jason and the boys went out to TX Stadium the night of the game to see if they could buy some tickets from someone out there selling them. There were no scalpers to be found. They walked around the stadium and the game started. A car pulled up and was selling tickets. They wanted $500 for 2 tickets. No way......they had decided to just drive home and watch the game on tv, but then a bus pulled up. A man wearing a MLB jacket got off the bus and asked Jason is he was looking for tickets and if these little boys were with him. Jason said "yes" to both questions and the man said, "Here are 4 free tickets. Save your money and spend it on those little boys somewhere else. Enjoy the game." I just get chills whenever I think about that! So cool and made such a great memory that will last forever. ...even though the Rangers lost :(

Just don't wanna forget...

Drew: Mom, who wrote the bible?
Me: God did.
Drew: Wow-he has pretty good handwriting.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

What a funny, funny, girl! In her first 2 years, she has managed to bring the color pink into our household, introduce her brothers to tu-tus, add a high pitched squeal to the household noises, and make her way into all of our hearts! I cannot imagine life without her and she truly completes our family. I know that having her here will influence her brothers and how they view girls and the type of men they will become. Because she has 2 older brothers, she knows how to hold a gun (a toy gun) and make shooting noises, she knows how to jump on top of a dogpile, and she desperately tries to dribble a full sized basketball.
Wow, how time has flown and what fun it has been! We thank God for her everyday....what a blessing she is to our family. We love you Brookie!

Video Games and Vomit......

Video Games and Vomit. That's what our weekend consisted of. It was Drew and Brooke's birthdays, so we had big celebrations planned. We pulled off one and not the other....





Drew's party was awesome. This is the inside of a trailer that is loaded with 4 flat screens and any video game you could want (within reason:) )





The boys went in this truck and were in video game heaven! Now, Jason and I don't love our kids playing video games and we have rules for when they play during the week/weekend, but it was Drew's birthday, so we indulged him!





Our big 7 year old. Drew has the sweetest heart and a loving, outgoing, personality. He loves life. You can just watch him and see how much joy he finds in the small things. He will talk your ear off and has all sorts of ideas that just blow your mind. We love him so much!

Blowing out his candles.......he just wanted a cookie cake this year. Easy to please :)

So, we pulled the boys away and had them in the garage to eat cake and ice cream. I figured they were boys, so they could eat on the floor....I know girls would never go for that. It was a beautiful day too.

After cake, we had a silly string war.....16 boys going full force.

Drew tangled up in the silly string. I was so thankful my parents and mother in law swept up the driveway with all that string on it.

Now....presents!!! Drew still LOVES legos! That's all he asked for. He got 2 big Christmas sets that he is working on intesnsely because I mentioned that we could use them as a Christmas decoration....he's determined to display them.

Now.....poor Brooke....we had to cancel her party. She was so sick. This is where the vomit comes in. Her cake was made, the table was decorated, party favors were ready, but she was not. So sad......although she doesn't know what she missed! Her Grandma, Nana, and Papa were here, so she was as happy as she could be.

In her pj's, she's the only guest at her party :( She couldn't even eat any of her cake that Nana made.

All in all, the weekend was good. Drew had a blast and this is where you can find him for the next month. He sets up shop on the dining room table and gets every plastic bowl out and goes from there. He's making progress and I will post his masterpiece sooner than later I hope!

NIGHT SHIFT

So.......I have been laying the boys clothes out on the floor of their room each night. Before they come down in the morning, they are supposed to get dressed.
Well, tonight, we thought the boys were in bed, but Jackson came downstairs to tell us he couldn't sleep. You can imagine my surprise when I saw him in his clothes for the next day!! It was obvious that he had forgotten that he had them on and when I asked him about it, he said he does it every night!
I couldn't really argue too much because I had never noticed that they were extra wrinkled or smelly, so Jason and I had a good laugh with him and sent him to bed.
I chose not to fight this battle tonight.......I'm too tired and he was cute :)

Halloween Team

Just so you know....the boys chose to be the Cowboys a long time ago, before they really screwed up their season. Last night, they represented the greats from the past...Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach, and of course, their favorite Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader :)


Our "team" pose









My cousin Chris and his family came over because guess who their son was.....Tony Romo! We were slowly getting more and more Cowboys....






Here are Chris and Jenifer with Kyle









Nana and Papa here for the fun!










Finally.....here's the whole team!! The Pottorff family came over as well and you guessed it, they were Cowboys too! They were anxious to get started and as we took this picture, the doorbell started ringing with our first trick or treater, so this was the best we could get.

Brooke really got into Trick or treating. The big boys took off and left her and Kyle on their own which was perfect. After the first 2 houses, they totally got it and after every house, they would look into their bags and just be in amazement over their candy! After every house, Kyle would say to Brooke "Do you want to get some more candy?" And she would say "Yes" and they were off......they were the little trick or treaters we saw last night. It was a fun night for all!