Basketball

Brinley has been playing basketball with the YMCA for the last month.  She came home from school one day in November asking me to play.  We are not a basketball family.  We don't watch it on TV, attend games (other than high school games my cousin's son plays in a few times) but a boy in her class plays so she wanted to give it a shot!

She has really enjoyed practicing and has shown more aggression than she did in soccer with rebounding and wanting the ball.  She is definitely the fastest one on her team and is the first one down the court to be on defense! The first game was completely hilarious! With only 1 practice before the first game, the kids were traveling a lot, falling on the ground, and shooting at the wrong baskets! I wish I would have videoed it! 4 games in, the kids have improved tremendously and are actually passing to other teammates when they don't have a shot.  It is amazing how quickly they can pick up a sport at this age! I think basketball is a sport we will be playing for a few years to come, especially once Clayton turns 5 and can play because he is anxious to get in on the action!!!!

Brinley dribbling down the court

She takes guarding her man very seriously!!!

 Look at that form! Brinley making one of her 4 baskets of the game

New Years Eve

I woke up Tuesday of last week a massive sore throat, fever and ears stuffy. After a day of rest and no improvement, I headed to the doctor to find out I had strep throat, sinus infection and double ear infection.  I guess the craziness I have been living since we moved in finally caught up with me! I was put on enough medication to cure an elephant and finally felt better by New Years Eve.

We decided to stay at home and have a few friends and their kids over for a fantastic evening.  The best part of the new house is having the playroom upstairs.  All we have to do is send the kids upstairs to play and the adults can have conversations! It is great! We got fajitas from Pappasito's and everyone brought desert.

After the kids demolished the upstairs, we sent them outside to play and pop fireworks! The weather was nice so we ended up staying outside for the rest of the night. The kids played on the swing set, drove the Jeep and chased each other.

Clayton loved the fireworks!!!!

 Brinley had fun as well

 A few of the fireworks Jason was popping

 The crew that helped us ring in the new year at midnight (actually 11, we celebrated East coast time)

 Our kids made it to midnight without a problem, but they couldn't make it up the stairs to go to bed!!!

Christmas Festivites

We had a wonderful month of December filled with family, friends, food and Christmas celebrations! I could easily do 5 or 6 posts on our adventures, but I will keep it short and sweet with a summary!

Since I am room mom for Brinley's class, I lived at her school the last week before Christmas break.  They had a polar express day where they wore their pajamas, watched the movie, drank hot cocoa, ate cookies and took pictures with Santa.  All of which I had to help coordinate and execute! Another day was party day where I had to get pizza, drinks, all the supplies for their craft (they made Christmas trees out of ice cream cones, green icing, and various candies to decorate) and wrap 22 "penny" presents for all her classmates. On this day, I was up at the school for 5 hours! I was one exhausted momma, but it was worth it when Brinley told me I was the best mom ever :-) After school that day, Brinley also her dance Christmas party. The girls got to watch the Nutcracker, sing Christmas songs, eat cupcakes, and had a visit with Santa! After the party, I dropped the kids off with the Smith's to see  Marian's Christmas concert because I had a coaches meeting for Brinley's softball this spring (I got suckered in!) I don't think I have ever slept as hard as I did that night.
Brinley and Clayton with Santa at the dance studio

On Clayton's actual birthday, we met up with the Smith's to head down to Moody Gardens Festival of Lights.  It was a perfect weather night, just cold enough to wear hats, but not so cold we were miserable.  Clayton loved the lights and ran the entire walk screaming "Look" "oooooh" "WOW". People were laughing at his enthusiasm.  The kids even got a chance to play in "snow" while we were there (aka-ice brought in).
My family in front of the big tree at Moody Gardens

Another night we made Gingerbread houses with the kids. Brinley was very meticulous with her house, making sure it looked just like the picture.  Jason had to do most of Clayton's because he just wanted to eat it. As soon as Jason gave him the ok, he dug in!!!

A few days before Christmas, we made and decorated our cookies for Santa.  We normally do sugar cookies because those are our Santa's favorite kind.  At Brinley's school, they read a book that said Santa loves chocolate chip cookies, so that is what we had to make....our Santa was a little disappointed ;-)

Christmas Eve we packed up all our presents and headed over to my parents house for our celebration.  Instead of doing the traditional Christmas dinner, we decided to do appetizers.  We had chick fil a nuggets, tamales, cheese dip, ham/cream cheese roll ups and plenty of desserts! It was wonderful to just stand and pick all day instead of one huge meal! It may have to become a tradition!!! After snacking, the kids opened their presents from Mamaw and Pops, or Mamaw Claus as we call her.  The room was filled and we came home with a car load of fun goodies to play with.  Brinley's favorite, her American Girl bed for her doll.  Clayton came home with a remote control Cars racetrack that takes up half his room!
The cousins- Reese, Brinley and Clayton

In the middle of the present opening chaos

Once we got home, we got in our Christmas pajamas, sprinkled reindeer food made at school on the lawn, and put out Santa's cookies and milk.

On Christmas morning, we had to wake the kids up to open presents.  We were on a tight schedule because we had mass at 9:30 and then had to be at the Smith's by noon and I had to cook my dishes to take over there.  The kids were so excited by all the presents left for them.  Brinley was especially excited that he left her a note on her new paint easel! Clayton really enjoyed his bat cave too!

I love this picture! Both of their expressions of finding socks and underwear in their stockings! Santa had to be practical this year!!!

The aftermath of present opening

We went to mass and enjoyed a beautiful Christmas service.  We were asked to bring the gifts down, at first we were hesitant, in fear of Clayton running down the aisle or something worse! But they gave the kids the collection basket to carry and Jason had a firm grip on the back of his collar ;-) and it all went great!

We headed over to Smith's for Christmas day lunch and more present opening.  After stuffing ourselves, the kids got even more presents!!! Brinley loved her Tinkerbell fairies and Clayton got a huge Lego ship complete with a shark and cage!

"WHAT?? Cars pajamas?!?!?!?!" BTW- he is pant less due to a diaper malfunction

After presents, Hannah wanted to sing Christmas carols around the neighborhood.  The girls made song list which consisted of:
We wish you a merry Christmas
Last Christmas by WHAM (Brinley absolute favorite Christmas song.....weird right?)
Jingle Bells
Feliz Navidad
We walked to 4 houses on their street and the kids belted out the songs.  It was quite hilarious to watch.  Everyone got quite a kick out of the kiddos, especially Clayton who was dancing and singing the last word of each line. 


As you can tell, we had quite a busy month! Which is probably why I have been stuck on the couch for the past 3 days with strep throat, sinus infection and double ear infection! But it let me catch up on blogging!

Now that I am caught up, my new years resolution is to stay up to date!

Clayton's 3rd Birthday

Clayton's actual birthday is on the 18th, but to save mommy's sanity from having to throw a party the week before Christmas, we have his party on the first weekend in December! This year's party was a shark theme.  Ever since shark week on discovery channel, he has been obsessed with sharks (see his Halloween costume in the post below). Having a shark party was actually easier to throw than I thought it would be.  Thanks to my new obsession, Pinterest, I found lots of great ideas to make the first birthday party at our new home successful!

Here is the shark cake I made

Since the Christmas decorations were already up, I wanted to make it look like a party for the little guy! Here is my "water" entryway into the cake room.  Jason made use of the extra moving boxes and made shark bean bag toss game that turned out super cute!!!

Here are a bunch of the boys digging for treasures

Clayton blowing out his candles

The crew who helped us celebrate

The birthday loot....I didn't need to buy for Christmas did I?

Happy 3rd birthday Clayton! You are becoming such a little man! You are talking up a storm by using sentences.  Your favorite one is "what you doing?" You are very inquisitive and want to know how everything works.  You sleep with an entourage of stuffed animals in bed, you LOVE cars, snuggling with mom, pushing your sister's buttons, making everyone laugh,singing Christmas songs, wrestling with the dogs, Scooby Doo, dinosaurs, playing and watching football and soccer, and driving your jeep in the backyard! You are an amazing eater and most meals we wonder where you are putting all your food (you get that from your daddy) Unlike your sister, you LOVE anything sweet and would rather dessert than your meal. We are so blessed to have you in our lives and we love you very much!!!

PS- as i type this you finished your 3rd day of potty training with no accidents! Way to go and keep it up!

Catch up time---October

Well, this move has really done a number on me! I feel like I have been running around with my head cut off since September 27!!!! We are finally somewhat settled in the new house and loving it! We breezed through October like it never happened. Although these posts will not be as detailed as I would like, I am going to try and catch up so I can start 2012 fresh.Jason and I headed to Arkansas for the Auburn game and to shower Wendi with great things and her little boy, River.  We had a great time visiting with friends and cheering on the HOGS (who won!)

Me and my girls, Rachel, Wendi and Amanda tailgating

We also had a great visit with the cousins, Wyatt and Liam, from Switzerland.  They had a blast playing with each other. It was as if they are together all the time! On a hot day, we took the kids to the Oil Ranch for some fall fun. The kids got to ride horses, feed cows, ride a train, play in tee pees and run wild!!!
Clayton, Liam, Wyatt and Brinley

This is the kind of picture you get when you wait until the end of a long, hot day to take a picture with the pumpkins!

Clayton feeding a cow



One night we had a Halloween party for the boys since they were going to be leaving before Halloween.



We also attended a Halloween party at our friends house that was tons of fun!!!

For Halloween, we carved pumpkins.  Jason carved Clayton's but he had fun pulling out all the insides.  Brinley drew the face our hers and I helped her cut it out

Of course for Halloween, we went trick or treating! Our new house is on a circle with about 20 houses.  All but 2 were handing out candy, so it was a great way to get just enough candy and meet all the new neighbors! The kids had a blast and Clayton really loved getting all the candy!

My sleeping beauty and Shark getting ready to trick or treat

Soccer season has begun!

This past Saturday, Brinley had her first soccer game of the season! We have the same coaches as last year (including Jason as assistant coach) and 4 players back from last years team. 
It was a hot, humid morning, but the season kicked off to a great start.  Brinley scored 1 goal.  She was very excited and ran off the field to give me hug and five. 

Brinley and her BFF's Addison and Halle

Brinley's first goal of the season

kicking the ball

Clayton enjoyed the game from the comforts of his own chair with water and soccer ball

The next two week are going to be crazy for us! We are in the process of packing to move to our new house! We are very excited and ready for more room to spread out! 

Zoo date with my lil man

On Monday, after dropping Brinley off at school, Clayton and I headed into the Houston Zoo for the morning.  We got there right when it opened and left after lunch.  We had the entire zoo to ourselves! We were able to watch the elephants get a bath and feed the giraffes. Clayton really enjoys not having to share mommy and we had a very hot, but very fun day!

yes, my son in having a conversation with the chimp

 Riding the lion on the carousel.  He was ROARing the entire time

 Oh no, the lion is going to eat me!!

 Feeding the giraffes was his favorite part of the zoo trip, at least that is what he told me!