Christmas 2013 and Other Random Things

Let's start with the other random things...

 

First, this is just cute:

 

 

Matthew is the best at leaving little "I Love You" notes for me.  They are usually filled with pictures of flowers, rainbows, and stick figures of Matt and I holding hands.  I love them.

 

I found this picture of Andrew at his very first 6th grade band concert:

 

 

He looks like a baby!!  I can't believe how much he has grown this past year, both physically and as a drummer.  He is now the head of the percussion section at his school.  He just had a concert, but we only took video, so here is a picture of him now.  He is bigger than me, and wears a size 11 1/2 shoe.  That's why he's a beast on the football field, consistently running 2 touchdowns a game! (That vein on his forehead is what I call his "mean streak" -- although he doesn't have a mean bone in his body.)

 

***

 

Now, let's get back to last Christmas.  I'm only almost a year behind.  I'll catch up.  I will.

 

Eric was visiting from back east, and we were so happy to see Grandma Penny.  We love it when she comes by.  In fact, I told Ben just the other day that I wished she's just move in with us.  Maybe someday!

 

On Christmas Eve day, Ben and the kids set out on their annual "shop for Mom and get breakfast" trip.  They ate at IHOP, then went shopping for my present.  This works wonders in getting them to bed on time Christmas Eve night!

 

We then went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to open a present and visit with the Kirschenmann grandparents.  We always watch for Santa to fly by, and that is our cue to go look at Christmas lights and find Santa's resting spot (it's over a few blocks from our church -- he stops there and hands out candy canes to the cars passing by).

 

The kids got a Go Pro camera from Uncle Eric this year.  We have made good use of it!

 

This year, with our newer bigger house, we were able to get some fun presents for the rec room.  The boys got a basketball game, and a ping pong table from the Manleys.

 

Christmas morning was it's usual mess of wrapping paper and toys.  It was exciting to have a real life stone fireplace to hang the stockings.  Later in the day, we had the whole family over for Christmas dinner.  It's nice to have it at our house - the kids can just settle in with their new load of toys and hang out with the family for the rest of the day!

 

Matthew and his kindergarten class made ginger bread houses.  So cute!  It was gone before we left - that kid has one serious sweet tooth!

Andrew Being Awesome

Andrew LOVES football.  I don't really like him playing it, but he absolutely won't give it up.  I think he mostly likes being part of a pack of boys, and of course, hitting things.  It is very hard for a mother to watch her son play football.  Actually, it's hard for a mother to watch any of her kids play any sport at all. You want them to do their best, to win, and especially to not get hurt.  But they get hurt in football.  It's like crab fishing -- there is probably a 100% injury rate in football.  And he was always trying to tackle someone much bigger than him.  And he was very successful at it.  He got defensive player of the game 2 or 3 times in an 8-game season.

 

 Football takes A LOT of time!  It really does take over our lives every fall, but that is just what we're going to have to get used to.  Because Andrew will always play football, I guess.

 

But I think my least favorite aspect of football is doing the laundry afterwards.  That is not fun, folks.  Not fun. 

 

Here are some pictures of the co-captain "being awesome" (his words).  In some of the pics, he hadn't gotten his name on his jersey yet (that was my fault -- we had two in soccer, one in football, and my symphony season was starting -- it makes me tired just thinking about it).  But he is #50. Their team made it to the finals, and took 2nd place for the season.

 

Grace's Birthday Party

 

Grace hit the big one this year -- 7!  She loves books, organizational products, art supplies, and sports.  She is going into the 2nd grade, and is one of the teacher's favorite students.  She is funny and smart, and always willing to help and learn new things.  She loves to hang out with Grandma Bertha, especially.  She is a hit over at Grandma's assisted living apartments, and loves to interact with all the residents.  She says that she is famous over there -- everybody knows Grace and always asks when she is coming back.  Grace is definitely an unforgettable girl!

 

First Day of School

Well, it has finally happened.  After 17 years of being at home with little kids, this is my very first year of adulthood without them with me all day.  I have been dreading this day for a very long time.  I love having my little buddies with me all day, running errands with me, helping me cook, going for walks and bike rides -- but I'm actually not as sad about it as I thought I would be.  It has happened like everybody else said it would -- the time they are at school flies by almost faster then you can even miss them.  But I do still miss them, and I always hate it when the summer ends and they have to go back to school.

 

We started new schools this year.  Haley stayed the same, but we are going to a new elementary school, since we moved.  Matthew will be bussed to a nearby school, since ours is overcrowded.  Andrew will be bussed to the middle school for the same reason.  So, this being the only year I would have had all 4 little kids in elementary school, those 4 kids will be attending 3 different schools.  So in all, we have 5 kids in 4 different schools.  All with different start and end times, which will make this year very, very interesting!

 

 

Joey's Cub Scout Aviation Day

 

Joey went with his new cub scout troop out to an air strip near where we live and learned about flying remote control airplanes.  These weren't the little kits you can pick up at a toy store -- these were very huge, very expensive planes.  Joey loved to get a turn flying them, and he said the best thing that happened was that he didn't crash any of them!