I'm such a disappointment

Joe just discovered that although I went to college at Texas A&M, I didn't actually play football there. He's so disappointed in me.

Wait till Charlie finds out that Dad didn't play football at Baylor, either. They may disown us.

Let it snow!

Who'da thunk it? Snow in Houston. Big huge flakes too, just as I was picking up the kids from school. They loved it!

Wordless Wednesday

It's the most wonderful time of the year

That's the hangman answer: "It's the most wonderful time of the year." We had no correct answers. Of course, we had only one comment, so I don't know whether anyone else cared to look. Cort got it immediately, though. I guess he and Joseph think alike.

Makes my Monday

Hide-and-seek. The greatest game in our household. We switch it around a bit, and we have only one hider (with parental help if needed), and the rest are seekers. This can keep all four kids engaged.

Although they love it, the kids' giggles always give them away when hiding. And they aren't really that good at seeking either. They'll go into a room, give it a cursory glance, and decide that no one's hiding in there. No looking in, under, or behind anything.

I, on the other hand, am a very good hider. I can usually find a nice, cozy, comfortable hiding place and sit there silently for a very long time while the kids run around trying to find me. It is a great way to take a break. And that is why hide-and-seek makes my Monday.

Hangman

Both of the boys love to play hangman. This morning, Joseph and I were playing. The piece of paper below shows the letters he had correctly guessed when he figured out the whole thing. Took him about 5 seconds. A prize to the first person who can figure it out as well.

Wordless Wednesday

Soccer Mom

Soccer season came and went without much mention on the blog. But the boys truly enjoyed it this year. Charlie had enjoyed it last year. Truth be told, he wasn't as good this year as last year (or, more precisely, this time there were other kids on the team better than him). But he still had a really great time. And his celebrations for scoring a goal rival Brandi Chastain's. Joseph was more lukewarm about soccer last year -- he always professed to enjoy it, but he just never looked like he was having that great a time. But this year, he definitely loved it. He was often in the middle of things trying to get a foot on the ball. He also loved to fall down a lot, both inadvertently and intentionally. Both boys showed a lot of hustle. They even played a doubleheader (due to a cancelled game during Hurricane Ike), and both played both entire games. That's a lot of running up and down the field, folks. They were exhausted, but they never quit. We were proud of them!

Special thanks, once again, to "Coach Keith.," He is amazing with all the kids and manages to actually teach them a little about soccer too. The boys idolize Coach Keith.

Mom and Dad enjoyed soccer again too. We always knew Cort -- as sports-fixated as he is -- would be into his sons' games. (I will say, though, that he is very good about realizing they are just 4 and not pushing them or going overboard.) I can't help but get really excited at the games, too, though. I probably yell more than Cort. And that may be why soccer never made the blog. I kept trying to take pictures of the boys in action, but I could never concentrate on the pictures for the game and kept getting shots like this:

Makes my Monday

I'm starting another blog "feature" that I stole from other blogs I read (yes, I spend too much time reading blogs now). This one is called "Makes my Monday" and is basically just something that I love that really makes my day. For this first one, I'm going to address something that has "made my day" recently with regard to each member of my family.

I love that Joseph got sooo into decorating for Christmas. And Joseph isn't the sort that will get excited about something just because you tell him that he should be. No, he was truly excited.

I love that Helen has recently started screeching "Da-da! Da-da!" at the top of her lungs, and when Cort responds she just smiles at him as if to say "Just making sure you are paying appropriate attention to me, dad."

I love how much Charlie exasperates me in the same way that his father does - he wants sports on all the time, doesn't pay any attention to anyone or anything else when sports are on, and despite saying "I'm coming, I'm coming," he stands rooted in front of the TV to watch "just one more" play.

I love that every time I vacuum, Will gets out Charlie and Joseph's old play vacuum and vacuums with me. He even moves all the chairs in order to vacuum underneath the table.

I love how even though Cort is generally a more go-with-the-flow type of guy, he almost always not only acquiesces, but fully participates, in my many elaborate plans to try to make our family run smoother and our kids be more well-behaved. Oh, and that he put up all our Christmas lights.

Deck the Halls!

We had a great holiday weekend. As soon as the turkey was eaten, we started looking forward to Christmas. Friday morning began the decorating, and it was so much fun! I've always had an idealized fantasy of Christmas decorating as a family, but up until now our kids have been so young that Christmas decorating was more a what-can-we-piece-together-during-their-nap type of event. But this year, it was a family event.

Will and Helen weren't huge contributors, but they had a really good time hanging out with us while decked the halls. And since they were in good moods, we chalked that up to Christmas cheer.

Charlie was a little more into basketball than Christmas, but he helped some.

But it was Joseph who really made the event. He LOVED putting up and decorating the tree.

We got some great shots that look like Will and Helen are helping decorate the tree.








In reality, they were taking the ornaments OFF the tree. So the tree is now gated.




Hope everyone is getting in the Christmas spirit as much as we are!