Christmas

yes folks, its the clapper.  I cant quite imagine what Santa Claus must have been thinking when he saw the clapper on their list.  Jack has wanted it ever since he saw it for the first time on TV.  The top picture is the weird folks from WWE, the Wyatt's are a group that i believe is from deliverance.  Real freaky.  The kids go nuts every monday and Friday and they are glued to the TV.  Its never quiet around here, especially during wrestling.

     Cat got her gymnastics bars from Santa....there goes Daddy's room that we just did over.  Jimmy got all his crazy Xbox games from Santa

  Laura enjoying all her weird gifts including a bacon bread bowl gift.....as seen on TV of course.

Christmas Eve

Poor Santa

     Poor Santa Claus....what he has to endure through the holiday season.....

We never posted for thanksgiving......2014

Oh yes, we did have a thanksgiving dinner...and what a dinner it was.  Aunt Jo had us all over her new place and there was only limited damage.  The food was spectacular..not that it isn't always, but for some reason, this years grub seemed that much better.

 

                      Just remember, its all about the cranberry sauce,...but only the real kind, with ridges in it

Cutting down our tree

     Its a wonderful new holiday tradition that we join the cousins cutting down our Christmas Tree.  This years tree was collectively picked out by the younger ones.  Its not the most beautiful tree by looks but because of its history its awesome.  We all parked near the entrance shack and loaded up in the rear of Jamie's pickup truck.  What memories riding around in the back of the pickup.  Imagine riding to and from the beach...or anywhere for that matter in the back of a pickup, sometimes standing.  One quick stop and we could have flown for a while.  ahhhhh, the memories.

     Each kid had the chance to get into the snow and take a turn at the saw.  Down it came.....such fun...though its scary to have Jackie handling anything that sharp isn't it.

They are growing up....

      The new pictures arrived and its hard to believe the little buggahs are getting so big.  Every day I look at them they all seem to get just a little bit taller.  Jimmy is oh so close to being as tall as I am.  He's just a hair under me, even though he says he's taller but I know its only a month or two away.  The pictures came out great....such smiley little buggahs

Swim meet 11/16/14

Second gal closest to you is that competitor Laura going for gold.  She had a great swim meet this weekend.

Its Snowing!!!!

     I don't know if I can do this justice.   Sunday morning I had intended on sleeping in just a little bit and the kids were supposed to be nice and leave me alone.  I had taken some medications the last couple of days and we were gonna just let it run its course for the final day before work.  Mom was at work and Nana was supposed to come pick the kids up early to bring them to church or breakfast or something.   Nana didn't make the call for church and Laura had slept over Kara's house.  When what to my wondering ears did occur but one miniature Jackie exploding in wonderment at the sight of the first snowflakes of the season.  All I could hear was LETS GO, LETS GO CATHERINE, ERIN.....the hustle and bustle of little feet running around furiously and excited voices continue on and on and finally I gave in and went outside with them.  Really, how couldn't I !!!  There is a place inside my chest that just gets so heavy when the kids do such fun things like that.  This is what I want the kids to do, get out and have some fun, not be afraid of the cold, or rain and I definitely don't want them to sit their asses on the couch all day and watch WWE re-runs.  I absolutely love that they want to go outside and play.  That's what snow should be all about...and even better, it was their idea!! 
     On this day, they played hockey (with full goalie uniforms) and they also went out in the back yard and played on the swingset (in the snow, or what passed for flurries).   I don't know if my words did it justice, or if maybe its not a big deal, but I think these kids are so cool!!!  We ended up finishing the morning with nana at the diner and the kids went over nana's for the day.

Laura playing football....flag

     Laura and Erin's team made it all the way to the championship game, losing on the absolute last play of the game.  It was raining, it was cold and it was slippery....but what a fun game it was to watch.  Its one of those times where you have a renewed spirit of youth sports when you see it all done right.  There was no bitching and moaning from the sidelines, the refs didn't think they were the show and the parents (for the most part) just shut their mouths unless they were cheering on the teams.  It was a back and forth game and the kids were loving it.  Erin and Laura could be heard with an occasional growl.  They were the only two gals on the team.  I was very proud of them, especially how much fun they managed to have....

                                                 Erin giving us a growl

                                                Showing off the hardware!!!

Halloween 2014

 

      Yes,  Well, its one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time..haha.    I got the costume from a friend and didn't really do much research into seeing if it fit before I went out with the kids.....to be truthful, who cares anyway......we had a great night with great weather.  Umple loved his costume and I think Jack and Catherine make great cops and Mario.  The other kids were very good also. 

 

 

      Joey came over and joined us for the candy walk along with Catherine Q. and Erin.

 

Jack's Football season is over....

      His first season as an All-Pro flag football star is in the books.  I"m thinking he had a blast.  It was big business all week for him between soccer and football.  He takes it real serious.  They got trophies so he told me that they won the championship.

                                       And there is the championship team....the Steelers!!!!

Ye ole Annual Ugly Pumpkin 2014

      Yes, the Old ugly pumpkin carving night.  Daddy has been okay at a number of things, but pumpkin carvings and snowmen...well, not so much.  Anyway, this one looked kind of passable.  I let Laura do the nose and I think she is carrying on in my tradition.  Jack was a little less squeamish this year about sticking his hand into the pumpkin muck...Catherine just loves anything and if its weird, Laura is all in.  James even joined in on the festivities again.  As if he had a choice!!!  He did have fun and was a good sport.  Damn teenagers.