State 3A football game

The Saturday after thanksgiving, Andy and I took Marcus and Cale to watch their high school play in the state championship. It was the first time for the school to go, but not the first time that Marcus and Cale had been to Lucas Oil Stadium to watch high school football. I dragged them down to watch a game there a few years ago when Marcus was 5, Cale 4 and Ewan 2. Did I mention that game started at 7pm? Not so this year. This fame started at high noon. Andy's dad also came along for the fun.

Well, the team played hard, but did not win. It was cool to see so many fans of the high school come out to support the team. It seemed like they had more fans there, and both teams were local. The highlight for the boys was probably getting cotton candy at half time. I think they had fun seeing all the action, too. It was another fun thing to do over break.

time to decorate!

Missing no time, the day after Thanksgiving Andy took some of the boys to get a tree and I hauled out all our Christmas decorations.  I was determined to be able to enjoy them as long as possible.  I had bunches of help putting ornaments on the tree, including a neighbor boy, who was excited to help.

Of course, Kella loved the ornaments.

Our finished tree.  Many of the ornaments have since migrated to the upper branches thanks, in part, to Kella's eager hands.

Some more decorations...my Christmas snow globes and some of my snowmen.

The buffet with lights and another snowman.

I even put a pretty tablecloth on the table.  (I think that lasted for a day, but it looked nice)

Everyone's favorite, the Christmas lava lamp.  We are so cool.

Still have some pictures to hang up in the kitchen.  Art work from years past that the boys have done.  And, the kids stockings are hanging in the spare room, waiting for me to find a good spot to hang them.

Thanksgiving

Some scenes from Thanksgiving...

The traditional Indian that all the kindergartners do.  Done this year by Ewan.

We played some games.

Kella met Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lindsay.

We had some awesome dance moves going on.

Got an updated picture of the brothers.

Andy was so good.  I had lots of intentions of helping with the Thanksgiving meal prep, but was so tired from working the night before.  The only thing I did was finish prepping the rolls so Andy could bake them later.  Some of the sides were already prepared and he had done some of the cooking the night before.  And, we deep-fried the turkey, so that made things easier.  Hopefully, the morning went smoothly for Andy.  I woke up in time to eat and enjoy our company. 

glasses

Marcus and I went to the eye doctor a few weeks ago.  Lucky for me, my prescription hasn't changed much in the past few years, so I decided to keep rocking out the frames that I currently use and just get new contacts when I run out of the ones I have.  They dilated my eyes (which get big anyway) so I tried to take a picture to show folks.

Kella wanted her picture taken, too.

Look at how big they got!  Pretty sure the doctor got an excellent look at my eyes.

The big thing is that Marcus's eyes were finally ready for glasses.  He has been waiting for at least 2 years for the eye doctor to give the go-ahead and was excited to be able to pick some out.  He just needs them to see far away, like the chalkboard at school or the tv.  So far, he's been pretty good with them.  He takes them to school on Monday, so I hope it all goes well then.  He's not the only kid in his class with glasses and he should have a much better time seeing the board.

Ewan is hoping he gets glasses in January.

Happy birthday Cale!

Thursday was an important day.  Not only was it Thanksgiving, but it was Cale's 8th birthday!  We had a nice time celebrating at home with Grammy Linda, Grandpa Jerry, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lindsay who were all over for Thanksgiving.  Cale had a cake with a ton of frosting, got some presents and got to go see a movie that evening-a great birthday indeed!

My awesome green layer cake with my awesome new 8 year old!

Hmm.  Maybe I used too much frosting.  The top layer of the cake split apart and slid off the bottom layer like a slow landslide.  Frosting was dripping off the sides of the cake stand.

A new basketball for our basketball player.

A new game called Rush Hour that Cale has really liked to play.  It's a great strategy game that is 1 player.  Cale loves strategy games-this was perfect.  He is slowly making his way through the deck of cards that came with the game.

From Grammy Pammy.  Cale saw this hamster in the store a few months ago, and had to have it.  It plays the Kung Fu fighting song and whips around a little nun-chuck.  Over the course of the evening, the nun-chuck got slower, but the song is still going strong...

A set of legos.  Guess who got to help put that together?  The gift seemed like a good idea at the time.

Cale and Mommy (with an appearance by Kella and Ewan)

Cale held like a baby by Daddy

A blast from the past!

Happy birthday Cale!  We love you!

Cale's music program

Cale's music program was last Thursday.  Everytime we go to one of these programs at the school I think, "just bless these music teachers-it's a lot of work to do this-and I'm thinking that most of the kids ballparked the actual note they were supposed to be on".  Surprisingly, I have heard this concert before, having sat through it for Marcus, I guess when he was in 2nd grade.  It was a rough go, getting in the building.  Liam was terribly upset about not getting to change his clothes like Cale did after karate, and, as a result, refuse to walk.  Of course it was cold outside.  Perfect weather to have a battle of wills with a 3 year old.  Kind people walked by and tried to encourage him.  Their efforts were in vain.  Finally, Liam agreed to walk in with Marcus.  (I had already sent Cale in to his class.)  We made our way to the cafeteria/LGI room, sat down in back (on the floor) and had ourselves a picnic dinner while we waited for the show to start.

Cale's class performed in the 2nd half of the program.  He looks so excited, doesn't he?  Or maybe he's just really focused.

Had some awesome dance moves in the back of the cafeteria.

Gives you an idea of how far back we actually sit.  I don't feel like torturing anybody with my children, and sitting in the back makes for a quick escape.

Was it nice?  For 2nd graders, yes it was very nice.  The kids knew their lines and sang nice and loud.  Andy (lucky dog) missed the show since he had to work.  Don't worry, he got to see the 12 mins of video we took.  Some of the shooting was questionable, but if you sit down, you don't get too dizzy.

photos of the boys' room

The boys' room is at a point of completion.  This year, it got a new paint job, new curtains and another set of bunk beds.  I found some neat wall art at Meijer in the form of classic comic book covers. And, after some trial and error, managed to hang up the boys' freshly repainted names. 

You can see the black black-out curtains.  They definitely helped make the room cooler this summer.  But, even though they block the morning sun, the boys still get up early.

Hung up a corkboard so they can hang their little trinkets up on it, if they want.

A view of the bunkbeds.  Marcus and Liam share the one on the left and Cale and Ewan have the one on the right.  Marcus and Cale scored the top bunks.  I think Ewan likes having a cave-like area for his bed.  Liam, I think he just likes being with the "big boys".

handsome boys!

Finally had a chance to upload the boys' school photos.  And, I finally got them ordered to send out to the family.  They look so big in these photos!

Cale-2nd grade-This has to be his favorite shirt.  He wears it almost every week to church, even though he has 3 or 4 others to pick from.

Ewan-kindergarten-this smile is cracking me up!

Marcus-4th grade-He did not want to even bring a nicer shirt to school to put on over his play clothes.  Like it was going to kill him, or something.  Guess who won that battle?

first snow!

Our first snow was Monday morning.  It was one of those wet, heavy snows with big, fat flakes.  I didn't think any would survived hitting the ground, but, it did.  By mid-day, the sun had come out and the weather had dried up and all the snow was gone.  But, it made for good sleeping weather that morning for a tired nurse that worked the night before!

(sorry about the flash globe, my bad)

Halloween 2012

Hey everybody!  Here's how the family looked before we headed out the door to do some trick-or-treating.  We have the blue ninja, Ewan, the red ninja, Cale, Spider-Man, Liam, scary-looking-person, Marcus and Kella in some doctor jammies that I found at a consignment store.  There was some strife over the ninja costumes.  Liam was extremely jealous and couldn't wait for Cale to take his costume off that evening so he could wear it.  In fact, Liam wore the red ninja costume again the next day.  All day.  We made it to a trunk-or-treat that was actually held indoors because it was pretty chilly outside.  Then we drove back to our house and walked around the block.  Andy met up with us at that point and I took Kella home to pass out candy-we had people coming up to our door as I was trying to get in!  Liam and Marcus came home next while Ewan and Cale started down another street.  Must have been too much for Ewan, because he came back soon, too.  Cale, the candy lover, walked almost the entire neighborhood and was rewarded for his efforts with a bucket full of candy.  We even had some candy left over, I tend to overbuy because I'm afraid we'll run out.  More for us, I guess.

No jack-o-lanterns this year.  I made up for it by putting the little battery candles in these two little dudes. 

Scenes from the park

Took Liam and Kella to the park today after I voted. It's funny how 43 degrees feels warm when the sun is shining. They swung on the swings, climbed and played with leaves. All that fresh air definitely helped them take some nice naps today!