Rock Climbing

 I took the boys rock climbing on New Year's Eve.  They had been pretty good all day, but they were ready to get out of the house and Greg and I were ready for them burn off some energy.  Ryan and I took a class in November, so I now have my belay certification.  It was Luke's first to go at it  in a couple of years.  They both had a good time - as you can see, Ryan was excited.

Both boys can make it about half way up the wall - then they realize that they are at the same level as the second floor above us, and don't want to go any higher.

 Luke attacked the wall like he does many things - no hesitation and tried to go up like Spiderman as fast as he could go.

Ryan climbs more slowly and deliberately.  Check out his new shoes-he picked them out himself and has woken up early the last 2 mornings to get dressed so he can wear his shoes all day.

We will need to go every few weeks in order for me to remember the correct knots to tie - Ryan was upset that Luke climbed about a foot higher, so we'll need to go back soon so he can try again.

Merry Christmas!

 We had a really nice Christmas.  Our Christmas Break is a little different this year - we had school until right before Christmas, and we have the week off after New Years.  Usually, we are off the week before Christmas and go back to school right after New Years.  Not sure which I like better.  I'm looking forward to this week with no plans or events - and it was nice to have Christmas parties and preparation over with early, but it made for a very difficult last week of school and weekend to get ready for 2 parties and Christmas morning.  We had my Book Club Christmas Party on the Saturday before Christmas - 13 kids under the age of 6 running around the house - but they were mostly in the basement being contained by the dads.  Then on Monday, we had Greg's family over for Christmas Eve.  We had Christmas morning with the 4 of us and then Nana and Grandad joined us a little later in the day.  Overall, it was all very nice.  The boys received some great gifts that they've been busy playing with and Greg and I love enjoying Christmas with them and through their eyes.

 Christmas Eve morning, I set the boys up with decorating their own gingerbread trains.  They had a great time with this and it kept them busy for about an hour.  They were very anxious and excited for Christmas Eve night to come.

 No real pictures from Christmas Eve - too much going on - but I did get this sweet picture of the boys' cousin, Tommy.

I had asked the boys to come and get us when they woke up Christmas morning.  They are not late sleepers, especially Ryan - so we knew it would be early.  At about 6:30, I woke up to the hall light being turned on - and found Ryan coming back upstairs.  He told us what Santa had brought him and he had already unpacked his stocking.  We kept him occupied for a short bit with Curious George and gave Luke a chance to sleep a little longer.  Once both boys were up - we headed downstairs.

 I love this reaction of Luke seeing what Santa had brought him.

 Luke requested a R2D2 costume - he told us that he had something different pictured in his head, but this was even better.  Santa felt really good to hear that!

 R2D2 has already gone through a few repairs, but I think he is finally ready to go.

 Santa also left a letter for the boys.  He wanted to let Luke know that this was his first request ever for a R2D2 costume and his elves worked really hard on it.  Santa also told Ryan that he loves playing Space Angry Birds, too.

Gift excitement:

 A remote control helicopter!

 Legos from Ryan!

 Star Wars Angry Birds PJs!!

 Ryan asked Santa for the Space Angry Birds stuffed animals.  He was super excited to get them and has added them to his large collection of animals that he sleeps with each night.

 Ryan and Daddy playing with his new helicopter.  The box states that it is for ages 14+ but Ryan has done a great job figuring out how to fly it.

Ryan, Luke and Grandad with Grandad's present.  I made the plate this summer with the boys' hand and footprints - they loved being able to help create it

We had a great Christmas.  Greg and I got each other new furniture - so that was super exciting for us, as well.  Now we have another week to play with toys - too bad it is too cold for the snow to melt for the boys to try out their new scooters.

Santa 2012

Sorry for the long delay between posts.  I sat down a few weeks ago to do a Thanksgiving post of our week in Lubbock - but when I started trying to upload pictures, I got a message that I had run out of memory space.  I thought Blogger was free, and it has been for the last 5 years - so not sure what is going on.  I was planning on paying for the memory space today to keep my journal of my kids going-but now it seems to be working fine.  We'll see how long this lasts.  Anyways - here is our annual Santa picture.  This year we opted to skip the mall Santa and take the picture with the Santa who joins our neighborhood's annual hayride.  Much easier.  Ryan has asked for all of the Space Angry Birds stuffies (his phrase) - not sure where he'll put them in his bed, he already sleeps with at least 15 other friends.  Luke asked Santa for a R2D2 costume.  Santa had not heard of that request before and I imagine that he (or she) has been very busy over the last couple of weeks creating a custom made R2D2 costume.

 Santa - 2011, age 5

 Santa 2010 - age 4

 Santa 2009 - age 3

 Santa 2008 - age 2

Santa 2007 - age 1 (the only crying year)

Santa 2006 - age 6 months

Cub Scout Update

 The boys have been enjoying Cub Scouts and they even earned their first badge this past week - the Bobcat badge (or rank?) - which really just meant they learned the oath, salute, etc.  Ryan was really excited about it.  Part of the ceremony was a Lord of the Flies type thing where the parents painted their kids faces.  Each color meant something, but I don't really remember what.  I do remember that the green was really hard to get off and there were several 1st grade boys with green stains on their faces at school the next day.

They also had the Rain Gutter Regatta last month.  The boys and I spent 2 Sundays working on their boats at a friend's house.  We had thought it would take a couple of hours, but there ended up being a lot of sanding, painting, gluing, etc., that took a lot longer than expected.  We got the Pine Wood Derby cars this past week that have to be ready by January - we will get started on that one earlier.

The Regatta was a lot of fun.  Ryan, however, got really frustrated when he thought other people (including Luke) were cheating by pushing their boats along - but he still won a couple of races.

Late Halloween Post

 We had a great Halloween last week.  Luke chose to be Abraham Lincoln and Ryan chose to be Iron Man.  Earlier in the summer, Ryan was going to be George Washington - so I was excited about another year of coordinating costumes.  But then Ryan wanted to be something else and we settled on a Lego Man.  I was going to make the costume, but suddenly it was the middle of October and we were going out of town, and I was out of time.  I felt horrible for not making Ryan's costume, but Ryan was so excited about picking out Iron Man.  It does make for an interesting costume combo.

 The boys' school has a costume parade on Halloween with all of the classes marching around the school in their Halloween costumes.  Experiences like this is why we chose to send our kids to a neighborhood elementary school.  We are fortunate that our neighborhood school is truly one of the best in the state - and I think many people have great memories of school experiences like this.  There were some really great costumes, and some not so great.  I was shocked to see that there was a kid in Luke's class dressed up like the Scream guy - who lets their 1st grader dress up like a R-rated horror movie character?

 Greg continued his annual tradition of carving pumpkins with the boys.

 This year they turned out pretty funny.  Greg let them draw whatever picture they wanted on the front and he carved it.  Ryan's is cute - I don't have any idea what Luke was hoping his would look like.

Precious little boys - they love Halloween.  We had gorgeous weather and the boys had a blast walking around several blocks in our neighborhood.  One of the best parts is that we now have our new year's supply of candy.

And a look back to our past Halloween days:

 2011 - 5 years old

 2010 - 4 years old

 2009 - 3 years old

 2008 - 2 years old

 2007 - 1 year old

2006 - 5 months old

TCU Football Game 2012

 We had our first of many (we hope) annual trips to the TCU v. Texas Tech football game.  Greg and I are TCU grads and my dad, sister and brother-in-law are Tech grads.  The schools used to play every year, but it has only happened a couple of times since I was in school.  But now that both schools are in the same conference, they will play every year again.  This year's game was in Fort Worth, so the four of us left after school on Thursday to drive half way to Fort Worth - we met everyone else on Friday and had a great family weekend.  The 4 kids had a blast playing together, and the adults enjoyed a great game.  Unfortunately, TCU lost in triple overtime - but it was a good game and we have a really young team who played beyond their years.  Next year's game in Lubbock should be a win and we plan on being there to watch it.

 I was so excited for the boys to get their picture with Super Frog - we've been able to do that the last 2 years, so I was thrilled to get their picture for the 3rd year in a row.

 Tech fans, overall, are well-known to be very obnoxious.  I grew up a Tech fan, so I'm not just saying that.  When I was in high school, Tech made it to the Cotton Bowl for the first time in like 50 years (and my dad was so excited that we all went to the game) - they ended up losing by like 50 points to USC.  The highlight of the game was when the Tech fans threw thousands of tortillas onto the football field, and Raider Red (the mascot) got kicked out of the game for getting into a fight with a USC band member.
  I say all that to say that our companions to the game were a lot of fun.  My mom and dad, and Conny, Todd and kids made it a fun experience despite the loss.  Jacob even went up to Ryan after the game and gave him a hug and said he was sorry that our team lost.  In reality, Ryan didn't really care - but it was a sweet gesture.

 One of the biggest appeals of a TCU game is how family-friendly the whole thing is.  This is due to the fact that 10+ years ago, TCU was awful and no one went to the games.  In order to boost attendance, the school started a Bleacher Creature program where kids get to run across the football field with the football team before the game.  I love that even though TCU is now an annual powerhouse, they still have this great tradition.  Greg took the 4 kids down to the field and ran across with them, while the rest of us watched from the stands.  I think they loved it.

The kids are all lined up on the left and the team (with Coach Patterson) are in the center.

They all take off at the same time.  Tech ended up coming out at about the same time, so it was funny to see all of the Tech players dodge the kids as the raced across the field.

We walked across campus after the game and stopped by the Horned Frog for a quick family picture.  Across the street from this, is the Chapel where Greg and I got married.  Luke asked if he has to get married there, too.

Another great thing about our visit to Fort Worth was eating great food.  We went to Joe T. Garcia's after the game for Mexican and the night before we went to a German restaurant where the kids (and my dad and sister) danced the Chicken Dance with the German band.

Overall, it was a great trip and the boys did a wonderful job in the car.  We broke the trip up over 4 days of driving, which really only gave us 1 full day in Fort Worth - but it was all well worth it.

Go Frogs!