Christmas

Christmas Eve the boys and I went to my parent's house for late lunch/early dinner.

 Thomas had fun building with Papa and wood scraps.

Nathan enjoyed popsicles and Christmas movies with David

 and Santa came and brought the boys & their cousins Christmas jammies

 I love Tommy's face in this picture!

 Christmas morning, Thomas and Nathan came into my room at 3am....I told them it was still the middle of the night and they needed to go back to bed until the sun is up or Santa will be to scared to bring them any presents.  It worked, we got up for the second time about 7am.

The boys really didn't have a lot of things on their Christmas lists this year, so they ended up getting everything they asked for!

the one thing Thomas really wanted was a Hot Wheel Car Maker

 and one of the things that Nathan really wanted was Trash Tossin' Rowdy

 David didn't want me to put any pictures of him opening things up, his list was short but expensive this year.  He ended up getting most of what he wanted & is happy with what he got.

 What better way to end a morning of opening presents and Christmas excitement than with a nap!  And of course crawling inside the big gift bag to make sure there is nothing else in there!

catch up to Christmas

David's baseball team had a tournament in San Diego last weekend, it was nice and warm so the boys got to enjoy some swim time!  (the extra boy is a kid on David's team that I took down with us)

 LV Coyotes  (David is #7)

 David catching....He caught both games on Sunday

 and David hitting....he had a few really good hits that tournament

 This weekend we decorated sugar cookies for Santa....the boys each got to pick one of the cookies they decorated to save for him.   There was lots of little tongues licking the frosting and mounds of sprinkles!

 and the boys did a gingerbread house 

 and rice krispy train

 Thomas & Nathan

Thomas had his 1st grade Winter Program at school.  That morning he told me he didn't want to go to it, I told him he didn't really have a choice since I had to go since I was in charge of the refreshments, he told me that he would go, but he was not going to sing!  This is his class doing their song, he is the one on the far right.

Polar Express

 While the boys were at school Friday I packed up the car.  Once they all got home, we loaded up the van and headed out of town.  I did not tell them where we were going, they just knew we were going to a hotel.  We were headed to Ely to go on the Polar Express.  They were so excited that it started snowing on the way up there and when we got to the hotel Friday night it was 19 degrees and snowing and tons of snow on the ground already.   Saturday morning, after breakfast we headed to the park to play in the snow.  The boys had fun sledding down the hill, making snow angels, throwing snowballs at eachother and trying to make a snowman.  Later Saturday, we went to the train yard and picked up our tickets for the train ride.  Thomas and Nathan were so excited that they were going to go on the train!  

Once we got to the North Pole Santa came onboard and the boys got to visit with him & of course take pictures.

 Sweet little Nay-Nay...he was SO excited the entire train ride he had a hard time sitting still.  He kept talking the whole way to the North Pole about everything, what he wants for Christmas, school, friends, trains. Once Santa got off the train and we started to head back to the train station I asked him a question and he didn't answer me, I leaned over and looked at him and found him sound asleep!  Apparently going to the North Pole was way to exciting for him!

the next karate kid

Nathan got his uniform during his last class. He was SO excited to get it I had to put it on him before class started. 

busy week

This week I finally got all the boys school pictures back!  It's hard to believe all 3 are in school....David is in 7th grade, Thomas in 1st and Nathan is in preschool.

Nathan has some exciting news....he has officially started karate!  He LOVES it!!  He is going to the same place that Thomas goes.  His class is him, and three other boys all that have birthdays within 3 months of eachother.  

 This picture is blurry, but it is of him running during warmups...I just love his happy face!  The lower one is him working on his high block.

 One of Tommy's training wheels fell off yesterday!  Guess it's time to take them off and figure this two wheel stuff out!!  I think he'll do great...his training wheels are up so high they don't touch the ground at all when he rides, they just keep his bike upright when he starts.

 Tonight (yes, before Thanksgiving) we went to Bass Pro Shops to see Santa.  The little boys LOVE going to "Santa's house" Nathan's favorite of course, was the train set up

 and the talking/singing reindeer

 the boys picture with Santa!  ALL of them smiling!!  Kinda sad, no one was afraid of Santa this year!  All the boys talked to Santa and gave him their requests, and both little boys climbed right up in his lap.  I'm excited to see what they do on Christmas Eve!! 

catch up....again

For Halloween this year Thomas wanted to be a dog.  But when it came time to wear his costume decided that he only was going to wear the head & paws....

 and Nathan wanted to be a garbage truck.   Ever try to find a garbage truck costume?!  Impossible!!  I did not have the time to make him a garbage truck costume this year and was trying to figure out what I could convince him to be.  When we were at Disneyland in October next to our hotel was a huge Halloween store that we checked out and found a dump truck costume for Nathan!  He was thrilled with it!

  David decided he was to old for Halloween but wanted to get a mask to scare kids trick or treating

 The boys ready to go...

 We have been LOVING the weather in Vegas these last few weeks!  We have gotten to play outside a lot and finally start enjoying the swing set, trampoline and other fun toys out back.  Nathan loves to lay in the saucer at night with me.

 Of course we have been going non-stop with baseball.  We just finished our Veterans Day tournament, David's team finished in 6th place.  The boys played great and are really coming together as a team.  At their practice before the tournament this last week David was up to bat, swung at the pitch, hit the ball and broke is metal big barrel bat!  Luckily it is only a few months old and the company is replacing it! 

busy life!

I can't believe that it is the end of October already! This month has flown by!  I took the boys (Thomas & Nathan, David stayed home for baseball) to Disneyland for an early birthday trip for me the weekend of the 12th.  We had so much fun!

David had his first Court of Honor for boy scouts.  He got 5 merit badges, scout, tenderfoot, 2nd class and 1st class.  Great job D!

We had our first out of town tournament with the Coyotes.  The boys played well.  We ended up 1-3 in the standings.  David had several good hits, and great catches.  The game they won, Saturday morning (my birthday), they won 7-0 and David had an awesome diving catch in center field and at the beginning of one of the innings his coach pulled him aside & told him to hit something great for my birthday....he hit a triple that bounced into the outfield fence just feet from being a home run! 

After the games Saturday we had a team pizza party & watched the world series game, and the coaches surprised me with a birthday cake and card.  It was such a fun surprise! And what I thought was going to be a cruddy birthday turned out to be a fun night with our new baseball family. 

I only had David (obviously) and Nathan with me for the tournament weekend.  Thomas was invited to a friend's birthday/costume party and wanted to stay at Grandma's house so he wouldn't have to miss it.  (that in itself was the best b-day gift ever!)  I love that kid, but sometimes when you remove the middle child there are a lot less problems :) 

I am constantly being amazed by Nathan.  He started preschool 6 months ago, in April, with summer vacation he has only been going for 4 months.  He has grown and developed so much.  This is one of his newest tricks....he can spell his name!  He can also spell his best friend's name (Chase).  

Monday night I carved pumpkins with the kids.  My parents brought us back pumpkins from Washington earlier this month & they were so much easier than any store bought pumpkins we have ever gotten to carve/clean out!  Nathan wasn't thrilled with the pumpkin guts, but Thomas loved it!

 I caught David!  He did not want me taking his picture!

 This years pumpkins....Nathan (happy face) Thomas (spooky/scary) and David's (baseball LVC for Las Vegas Coyotes)

Tonight Thomas had karate.  He tested last week to advance in the ranks and he passed his test!  He was awarded with his gold stripe tonight!

 Good job T!!

his karate class & instructors

Now it's time to get ready for baseball practices, trick or treating and a scout camp out to finish off October!