Happy Easter!

We hope everyone had a happy Easter!  We had a great time in San Antonio with our friends and family.  We started Saturday morning off with a trip somewhere with all the kids.  We worked on something for our Mom's for Mother's Day so I will have to post pictures later so we don't ruin the surprise for Aunt Dawn and Aunt Dani. 

Saturday evening we spent with the Hatters and the Zunkers.  The Hatters moved and we were excited to see their new house.  The kids were excited to see their new pool!  The kids all ended up getting in and were absolutely frozen, but had big smiles on their faces! Luckily Hayden had a brand new bathing suit to loan to Marlie so they could match!!

 Here are Davis and Marlie...she just loves these boys!

 And Cale and Marlie.  This picture is so cute it makes me laugh!

And these handsome men...Parks and Matt.  Matt loves hanging out with Parks.  Wish we loved in the same place so I could watch them play ball together.

The Dads that let them swim...watching the kids closely!  :) 

It was so nice to see you guys and we love the Hatter's new house! 

After lots of partying Saturday night we woke up so tired that the kids didn't spot their Easter baskets for awhile.  When they did they were excited to see that the Easter bunny brought them what they had given up for lent.  Matt - soda and Marlie - chocolate. 

We got dressed and headed to a very long Easter mass.  The kids looked so cute but it was so sunny and I didn't get a great picture.

Then it was off to Gram's for the big Easter egg hunt!  The kid's had fun finding eggs and then swimming in the freezing water again!

School Daze

I am so proud of both kids!  They are working so hard in school and we have gotten such good feedback from their teachers. 

The first line in Matt's assessment was "Matt is an independent student who completes work showing his best effort."  This meant so much to me as we try so hard to teach the kids to give 100% no matter what they're doing.  Mrs. Grady said he helps her in class and works hard.  He is 1 of 3 kids in his class who gets to do research on a topic and then prepares a presentation for the class.  He is reading very well and even got an award for reading 25 Caldecott books! 

Matt was student of the week a few weeks ago and we had fun putting this poster together with pictures of all his family and friends.  Matt we are so proud of you for working so hard and mostly behaving in school! 

Marlie is doing so well too!  She has started reading already!  Mrs. Lisa said she loves having her in class and can always count on Marlie to give the right answer...sometimes before she's even finished the question!! Marlie got the award for "Best Personality" and also got a "Star Student" award, both of which she was VERY proud.  If you've been around her she's probably told you about it. 

Marlie loves school but has asked me a few times if I could please teach her at home!  She is the perfect student but the 2 times she has been in trouble she went all out!!  One time she "mooned" someone during nap time and the other time she whacked another little girl.  YIKES!  It's that red hair...you better watch out!

We made it to the Superbowl!

Pretty funny...last weekend our football team made it to the Superbowl.  We lost by 2 points but we never thought we'd make it there so the kids were excited anyway!  They got a medal and Matt was sure only the second place team got medals! Gram and Papa Howie drove up for the big event and Nene was there too.  We all cheered Matt on! 

Matt also got a medal last week for being "honest".  I'm not really sure exactly what he did to earn that but he was very excited so we will be too!

It was nice to have all the Dads pitch in to help coach.  Coach Doug, Coach Joel and Coach Dan all helped and we all laughed a lot.  Once because Doug told the ref he should throw a flag because the other team's coach had shorts on that were too short, another time when Doug got on Coach Dan, walked onto the field and Coach Dan proceeded to yell and throw his hat on the field.  I love these guys! 

Here are some final shots from the season.  Matt can't wait to play again next year, but for now...we are full speed ahead in baseball world and that is so much fun too!

 

Boots & Bling!

The rodeo is always a fun trip for all.  Great Uncle Tony & Aunt Ruth were in town and insisted that the kids couldn't go to the rodeo without boots.  Matt loves his brown boots with blue stitching and Marlie said she loves the "bling bling" on her boots.  She even talked my aunt into buying the matching belt!!  They looked adorable.  Thank you so much for taking the kids to buy their boots.  They love them!! 

I'm not sure why but I think Matt looks gorgeous with his cowboy hat on!  I always want to tear up.  Maybe because he looks so much older.  I thank God daily for my healthy and beautiful children! I just wish we could slow down the clock.   

It was off to the fairgrounds!  The kids are probably getting a tad old for the kid's carnival but we decided Marlie wasn't quite ready for the big rides so we stayed with our usual routine.  A ride on the carousel and on the ponies...

Then off to the big slide!  I was so happy that Matt could help Marlie and I didn't have to go!  He carried her sack all the way up the stairs and made sure she was okay at the bottom.  Marlie was smart enough to hold her hat all the way down!

Doug took the kids to the petting zoo while I waited in line.  Marlie just loves the animals.  I think she could hang out here all day!

We waited 45 minutes to ride this ride but it was worth it because Marlie said it was her favorite. I don't think we waited that long at Disney World!!

Marlie loved this little roller coaster.  I think after the "rock your world" roller coaster at Disney that this was not too exciting for Matt!

And then, unlike all prior years, we stayed for the REAL rodeo!! We were so excited that we got to sit right up close.  As soon as I explained to Matt each event and that this was a sport, he was excited! 

We got to see Train in concert which was pretty neat too.  Both kids love "Hey Soul Sister".  When they played "Save Me San Francisco", Marlie jumped out of my lap and started singing and dancing.  It was one of those hilarious moments that we are getting used to with Marlie.  This time it was 1% embarrassing and 99% awesome.  I heard everyone around us saying "oh look at that little girl".  I wish I had it on video!
It was a long day but we all sang all the way back to the car.  It was about 5 minutes before they were passed out in the car.  What a wonderful day!

Are You Ready for Some FOOTBALL??

Matt has been wanting to play football for about a year now.  It seems we always have something going on so we weren't sure how to fit it in.  So Doug found a casual winter league and we are up and running.  The boys practice on Saturday mornings and play right after.  Doug said he would "help" coach but I think now he is officially the offensive coordinator.  Both my boys love it! Here's our little team that includes Matt's great friends, Caden and Cole.

This is a flag football league as you can see.  I am VERY much against boys this young playing tackle football when they can have just as much fun playing flag football.  This league is 6-8 year olds and these three fall on the young end but do just fine. 

Matt loves playing defense and is typically the first to get to across the line of scrimmage.  He's still learning how to pull flags which is not as easy as it looks.  He's already scored twice on defense getting 2 safety's!  On offense the kids are rotating position but Matt looks great in the QB position.  He throws great spirals but we don't pass too much.  He has gotten to play running back and did score a touchdown but man...not the speediest kid I've seen.  I was literally on the sidelines running in hopes to make him move faster!!

What makes me laugh is that I think having a mouth piece makes these boys feel like they're playing in the NFL.  They love them!  I am disgusted by them and then even more so when they fall on the ground and they pick them up and put them back in their mouth!   

What also make me laugh is this! Poor Cole...might as well crawl through there to get the ball.  Matt barely snaps it back!  Hilarious!

A big thanks to Dad for helping these boys!  This is so much fun and at the moment...Matt's favorite sport!

Disney Whirled - Part II

Whew...I think we are on Day 4.  The plan was to spend a half day at Hollywood Studios and then go home to take a nap!  The plan was also to sign Matt up for the Jedi Training Academy.  We were so lucky that he was able to do it, but the show wasn't until 4:40 so we spent the entire day at the park!!  We saw everything there was to see!  Matt and Dad went on the Rock Your World Roller Coaster several more times.  Marlie and I watched Beauty and the Beast again too (we are still singing the songs).  Doug took the kids on the Tower of Terror against the wishes of a woman in line near them who thought he was insane for taking Marlie.  She even offered to watch Marlie while he and Matt rode.  HA!  We did Star Tours a few times and of course the Toy Story ride again where we got to take a picture with these guys. 

This was Matt and Doug's favorite park for sure.  We promised the kids they could have their faces painted so we did that too! They LOVED it!

But the coolest part of the day was Jedi Training.  Matt loved it! He got to fight the "real" Darth Vader.  Marlie didn't want to do it but still talks about it today!

From here we went straight to Whispering Canyon cafe and had another great and fun meal.  At one point it looked like Marlie was about to fall asleep sitting straight up in her chair.  Poor thing, Doug and I laughed so hard!  We watched the fireworks at Magic Kingdom from the top of our hotel.  It was pretty awesome. 

Day 5 - back to Magic Kingdom to conquer the other side of the park.  We got smart and got a stroller for the kids which was so helpful! We all were excited about Pirates of the Caribbean and Capt Jack Sparrow!!  We had fun in the gift shop too!! We had lunch with the characters from Winnie the Pooh.

The boys went to ride more rides and Marlie and I went to see Tinkerbell and her "boyfriend".  What a super cute setup they had for Tink.  Marlie was so shy and excited. 

We met up with the boys again, climbed the treehouse and then went on the Peter Pan ride one last time.

Great time for a nap huh? Nope...off to Epcot! Seriously? Yes...which worked out nice because we rode on all the cool rides a few times.  We loved Test Track and Soarin and loved, loved Turtle Talk with Crush! 

Day 6 - I think we actually slept in a bit and then headed back to Epcot.  We ran into a few characters on the way in. 

The boys got to ride Mission Space and then we had a wonderful lunch at the Biergarten!!  German food just like my Grandmother used to make.  It was wonderful and the kids danced to a polka band! We wandered in the countries, had a crepe in France (of course) and then headed home.  The kids loved the giant bath tub in our room and had fun taking a bubble bath! We got into our pjs and headed to the top floor again to watch the fireworks. 

Departure Day - We had breakfast with Mickey and friends before we departed for the airport.  We ate so much on this trip!  

It was a wonderful trip!  It will take me a few years to get my energy back to do it again but we will sometime in the future!  Doug ended up having a great time and I did too.  It was definitely nice to all be together for a week.  Now I'm ready for a real vacation where I can sit and do nothing!!!! There are some other cute pics in the slideshow!