Fun at the Big Top!

The end of January we went to the circus with our good friends the Copelands. Their oldest son, Preston had come home with information about special tickets. These tickets benefited the Children's Miracle Foundation. They were a little bit more expensive, but sooo worth the money. With these tickets, we were able to go to a private party before the circus. They had characters, bounce houses, face painting, balloons, games, tattoos, great food and most important...all the free beer you could drink! What a deal! We arrived about five and ate dinner and then it was off to play! We had five kids total, so you really had to keep your eyes open. They all wanted to go in different directions. We were happy to go early to this event. We felt that if the children got bored or tired at the circus well, we at least got something out of it! The kids played hard for about two hours, then it was time for the show. 

I will just toss this in!

Best Friends!

Cool Tattoo!

We changed our hair color?

I love Minnie Mouse!

We got into the Arena and as you can imagine the lights, toys and fun gadgets you can purchase were everywhere! Always, at a ridiculous price might I add! Well, what parent does not at least buy one thing for their kids to take home as a memory of the circus! Both kids got theses light up wands that twirled in the air and had ribbons and lights hanging from them. Only a small price of $22.00 a piece!!! Seriously...how have they gotten away this highway robbery for so many years? People like us:)...Oh well, they still play with them to this day, so it was worth it!

Some of the favorites of the night, were the horses and the tigers! Here are some photos of them. It is hard to take pictures with a kid in your lap twirling a toy the whole time! We all had a great time! I hope we can do the private party every year...because it was so worth it! The kids were wiped out by the time we got to the house and slept well that night!

This tiger has some serious jaws on him!

T-Ball

This is gonna be fun!

This is not hard!

Brian decided this year that he wanted to coach Christian in his t-ball league. When he first told me this, I thought oh no, this is going to be interesting. If you know my husband, than you also know of his lack of patience. Trying to coach twelve four year old kids in t-ball would be a challenge. The kids really do not know the game, so he was going to have to teach them the fundamentals of this sport. They will learn how to hit from a tee, run the bases and even try to catch the balls flying at their heads! Hence the helmets they will be wearing!:) I do not even like balls flying at my face, much less a four year old. We will see how long their attention spans last. I picture kids staring at the sky, picking their nose, watching birds and whatever else occupies their thoughts at the moment. Pretty sure it won't be the game, if I am a betting person. The games will be fun for them no matter the outcome and I for one can not wait to witness them!

There is goes!

Step into it Christian!

The four years olds do not really play their games to win out here. It is more for fun than anything. Next year is when the craziness starts. They actually have a draft? Seriously, is this the big leagues...these kids are...kids! Apparently, it gets ridiculously competitive once you get to the ripe age of 5 years old. :) I think his is where Brian's frustration has come into play. The young kids are not important, so it has taken awhile for them to get their uniforms, set practices and even the game schedule has been disorganized. Their have been some issues with communication on the league's side. Never the less, we got it figured out.














All the kids live in our neighborhood, so they have been holding practices at the park in our neighborhood. They practice drills for thirty minutes and then play afterwards. Works out perfectly. I have not gotten to see a practice because Hen is usually sleeping. However, I won't miss a game! I can not wait to see these sweet angels running in circles out on the field! It will definitely be amusing, another thing that will frustrate my husband! I am curious to see who looses it first...the kids or their coach! The first game is the Saturday we get back from the beach. Should be fun! I will have video and pictures to post...stay tuned.

Mary Lou Retton hear I come!

At the end of January, I started Henley in Gymnastics. She is not old enough to do a class on her own, so it is more of a mommy and me. I really don't do anything, but be there by her side to watch and help if needed.

There are a bunch of little girls in her class, but she seems to be the oldest. Coach Gibson takes them through a number of fun things in the hour we are there. They jump on this trampoline that is very long and thin, like a sidewalk. At the end there is a huge pit, which they get to jump in and play! I think this is her favorite? After that, we go to an obstacle course where they do front rolls, walk balance beams, work on balance, jump through things and the list goes on. They get to go on the parallel bars and hang like monkeys and work on strength. They swing on ropes, climb on ladders, practice learning hand stands...you name it. Then there is the finale. This giant slide that goes underground? Not really sure what it is used for, but it is lots of fun! They jump down and try to run up...does not work very well. Usually coach is in there helping them out, it is pretty steep! They love it! Everyday, when Henley does not have school. She wakes up and asks do I have gymnastics today? To say, she LOVES it, is an understatement! Right now we are out for Spring Break and she has been so sad. We are going to the beach next week,and she told me she wanted to stay home and go to gymnastics! Looks like we found an activity she really likes! She will do her version of a somersault around the house and jump up and say, Ta Da! She will start back to gymnastics in a week. I will get some video and pictures. It is hard to do when you are out helping on the floor!

The Big Ice Storm of 2011!

Birmingham, Alabama is not exactly known for cold weather. However, there is at least once a year that we get snow, ice or a mix of both! The whole world shuts down around here when there is any talk of winter weather! The meteorologists here are crazy and take of the TV for hours when the threat of winter storms are anywhere surrounding this state!

When we realized that it was inevitable that we would get a lot more ice than snow...we made sure we had the clothing to play in it! Parked our car down at the bottom of the driveway and waited for the fun to begin!

Our friends the Copelands, who are more like family came over the next morning after the storm to play. The hills in our neighborhood are pretty steep, so we took full advantage of the ice on the roads. Ethan made a make shift sled for the kids to go down on and it was great! I do not know what they are called, but you know the pads your chair sit on at your desk? They are made of plastic. Anyway, they make for a quick slide! He took their’s, put two holes in it and tied a string through it! Perfect for sledding!

Hold on Tight!

My future hubby!

Here are some great photos of the kids (including the big ones) going down the street! Lots of Fun!

Backwards?

The best run of the day!

Daddy and Me!

Last year, we decided that we wanted to start a new family tradition, an annual ski trip. Brian has always been a big skier, so we wanted to make sure the kids picked it up early in life too. Brian and I took Christian out to Park City last year and he loved it! We wanted to go again this year, but when I was pregnant, I would have been to far along to go. Brian decided to plan a trip just for the boys to go out to the North Carolina Mountains. They invited our friend Chad McCartney and his daughter Riley to go with them. They already live in North Carolina, so it was an easy trip. They picked them up from the airport and they all drove to Sugar Mountain for a few days.

Chad’s daughter, Riley and Christian got along great. She is 7, I believe and our son loves older women! :) During the days the boys would ski by themselves for awhile and the kids had private instructors to learn more about skiing. Then in the afternoon they would meet up and everybody would ski together! The North Carolina Mnts. are a little different than out west. First of all, it was ridiculously packed. I assume that the people who live close by take full advantage of their location! The snow is a little more icey than normal, but they had just gotten some fresh snow, so it worked out perfectly!

They also went tubing, got in the heated pool and just all in all had a great time! The kids were exhausted every night and I am sure the “boys”snuck in a few cocktails!  I know Christian enjoyed some needed alone time with his daddy! I do not think he missed me until the last night...where he finally asked when he was going to get to see mommy again? I missed you to buddy! :)

My husband is terrible at recording any great moments on video or camera! I told him specifically, please take pictures/video of everything! I gave him all the tools to do so...he came home with NOT ONE picture and some not so good video! Here is what I have to show you from the trip!

Christmas 2010

This Christmas we were anticipating the most excitement out of the kids! They are 2 and 4 and the thought of presents sends them into a tailspin! You would think that they just won the billion dollar lottery or something?

Lets see if I can re-cap the events of Christmas Eve, Eve (the 23rd) through Christmas day.

Me and Aunt Julie

Every year we have to share the holidays between our two families. However, it makes it really difficult when you add at least two more families into the mix. There is not only us, we have the The Mizerany’s, The Murphy’s and The Banta’s to schedule time with. It can get a little hectic figuring it out, but we get it done each year. We had spent Thanksgiving with the Banta family this year, so we were to be spending Christmas with my family. We worked it out, so that Julie, Steve, the kids and the Banta’s (Nene and Poppy) would be coming over to our house for dinner and present opening on the 23rd. Julie is always so gracious to cook for everyone each year, so we decided to have them to our home this year! If you have ever eaten at the Mizerany’s house than you would know that Julie and Steve are culinary experts!  Anyhow, Brian and I love to entertain our friends but, we no way cook like Julie and Steve. Brian decided that we would smoke a pork tenderloin, make his mom’s famous potato dish ( which apparently is someone else’s famous potato dish), rice, salad and rolls. Well, he got this recipe from a friend for the pork tenderloin and it called for the meat to be wrapped in bacon. Sounds yummy...right? Well, here is how the dinner went down...the tenderloin got a little burned because of the bacon grease...we were able to salvage it though...it is ok honey... a valiant A for effort. We sit down to dinner and everything looked good. Christian and Poppy did our blessing and it was time to EAT!

Hiding from Poppy!

Crazy Cousins!

Love my cousin!

I am pretty sure it was the first bite for my dear mother-in-law, Debbie. She started to choke and we all thought that maybe the food had gone down the wrong way? When a few minutes had passed and she was not better, we were not sure what had happened? Debbie was in pain and her own family thought she was being dramatic! We should all win family of the year awards...Anyway, we had been trying everything to help. Then somebody realized there were toothpicks in our meat? HUH...What? Oh no, the toothpicks had all thinned out and frayed from the cooking and Brian had not taken them out of the meat! Now, this could of been an error anyone could have made, but a bad one at that! Now, we all thought she must have swallowed a tooth pick and we were going to try to get it out! Here is how that went down. Debbie tried drinking water, but it hurt really bad. Then Lynn and Julie tried to gag her, so she would throw it up! Then the drinker in the family (guess whom that would be) suggest doing shots of 151 to make her vomit! Poor Debbie...it was a nightmare. I guess about 30 minutes later, Lynn and Debbie were headed to the Emergency Room. We realized there was nothing we could do, so we all stayed behind and waited to hear from them. We continued with dinner...very cautiously I might add and then we opened gifts from the Mizerany’s and Banta’s. We would not get to see Julie, Steve, Bennett and Pres again before Christmas! The kids enjoyed this very much and then later played and played till it was very clear bedtime was approaching or been past already.

Cool Dinosaur Aunt Julie!

The Crazy Starts!

Love Playing Dress Up!

Flying Once!

Flying Twice!

Three Times!

      

 We had heard from Lynn a few times during the night. In fact, Debbie did swallow a toothpick! They were having to sedate her and remove it from her throat! The toothpick had been lodged sideways in her throat...with the meat still attached in the middle! Ouch! I think the valuable lesson learned is...make sure to chew your food! :) Oh yeah, and if you eat at the Banta’s make sure you check the meat for toothpicks before you eat it! :) Just kidding honey!




CHRISTMAS EVE

We went to the early service at church at 4:30, which Christian slept entirely through, but none the less was beautiful. I have to tell you that are Pastor has such a way with words. He moves me to be a better person every time he speaks! The service ran a little long, as always on Christmas eve. We had dinner reservations with my family and the Banta’s too. We were going to this great Italian place called Bellini’s. The restaurant is a little upscale for children, but they have this great back room that works out perfectly for the kids. They are able to get up and run around and not bother anybody else in the restaurant! That in turn makes for a more enjoyable meal for mommy and daddy! However, poor Debbie was on a liquid diet only from the night before.

We were supposed to have 15 people at dinner that night with all the families, but it did not work out that way. Everyone was getting sick. We had sick cousins, sick mom and sick kids too. Both our children had come down with the Flu? There ended up being 9 of us and we had a great time! As you can see from the pictures some adults might have had a little to much vino! Especially when you are playing ring around the rosy and rolling around on the floor with a toddler...Punkin! :)

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Batman House
Lately, our children have been sleeping really late...like 9:30 late! I know most people would welcome this behavior, but it drives me crazy. During the holidays the kids schedules are so off and they end up staying up WAY past their bedtimes. On Christmas morning there was no exception tho this at all! The anticipation of Santa Claus and what he might have left for the kids, well it was lacking to say the least. Brian and I got up, dressed, made mimosas and breakfast. Still no sign of the kids stirring...so we waited and we waited. Debbie and Lynn were staying over at Julie and Steve’s house, but wanted to come over in the morning to watch the kids open gifts. When they got here the kids were still asleep! It was around 8:00am...We decided to wake them up...it was going to be a long day!

My KItchen!

I video record the kids every Christmas morning going to the tree to see what Santa left for them. I keep waiting for the day that they will come running out screaming and yelling with excitement, but we have not gotten there yet! All I get is sleepy eyed children wandering into the dining room...half asleep! It takes them a few moments to even realize what is going on and that they have been left presents by Santa! :) I know this will probably come in the next few years, but I guess I am still a kid at heart! I get so excited for them because I love Christmas myself!

The big Santa gifts this year were: Henley got a kitchen and an American Doll Baby, Christian got a Batman House with all the Good and Bad guys to go with it and a Reading Tag Learning Game. They of course got a lot more, but I am not going to write it all down. It was too much, but hopefully they know how blessed and loved they are! Nene and Poppy watched them open their gifts from them...since the ER visit a few nights before prohibited it sooner. Debbie and Lynn completed Henley’s Baby fetish by supplying her with a cradle and highchair! I tell you that little girl was in heaven playing with her babies! Christian received some much needed clothing, since he grew 2 inches in 4 months!

A book from Nene and Poppy!

Ooh...nail polish!

Even Jetta enjoyed her present!

When we were all done opening gifts at our home, we packed up and went over to my parents for more fun! My poor mother was sick and I am not sure if she remembers much about Christmas Day at all...:) We took turns opening gifts and everyone had fun. There are so many people opening gifts, that I can not keep track of who got what. My Aunt, Heather, Mom, Dad and us were all there. Sorry guys...my memory can not go back that far right now! However, everyone loved what they got! :)

The rest of the day was spent cooking Christmas dinner. This is usually my moms job, but she was laid up in the bed. So all the ladies pitched in and made dinner this Christmas Night. It turned out very good...if I say so myself! :)

Christmas turned out great this year, chaos and all! However, with one exception...but he was with us in spirit!