More basketball

****Yikes! I have a lot of updating to do, so expect the past two months of our lives to be caught up in the next few days!****

Clayton also took a basketball class at the YMCA this winter.  His class met once a week to learn the basics of the game.  At the end of the 8 week period, they scrimmaged another class to show off what they had done.  While Clayton did a great job of making baskets, his dribbling skills leave a lot to be desired!!!

he really did enjoy playing basketball, he was all smiles the entire time there!

 

 making a shot while his coach was playing defense

 

 playing defense while his coach tried to shoot

 

 getting his trophy

Monster Truck Jam 2013

This past Saturday, Jason and his dad took his kids to the Monster Truck Jam.  I decided to sit this one out and opted to have a girls night with a friend :-)

 

From everything the kids have told me, they had a blast! Jason bought "pit passes" which allowed them to go down on the floor before the show to see the trucks up close and meet the drivers. It was an all day affair and they are still talking about it!

 

Jason with Brinley and Clayton (who was checking out how big the tires were)

Posing with the Batman truck driver (clayton's favorite of the night)

Grandpa with his grandkids

Brinley posing with the driver of the Dalmatian truck (her favorite of the night)

Clayton enjoying the show

Brinley ran to the front when it was the Dalmatian truck's turn (and held out her autographed program)

The kids are already talking about going back next year and that I have to go with them to see how awesome it is :-)

Basketball

Brinley has been playing basketball for the YMCA for her second season all month long.  The teams are still coed and the boys are much more aggressive this year, so she mainly plays defense.  I think this will be the last season we play basketball, because after watching volleyball practice next to her basketball practice, she is wanting to do that!

 

taking shots during warm ups

 playing defense- this boy was kinda annoyed with her..ha ha!!!

 Taking the ball down the court

 Brinley and Halle posing after the game

Christmas

We started our Christmas celebrations with Brinley's dance party.  The kids had cupcakes, punch, sang Christmas carols and then Santa Claus paid everyone a visit!

 The next day, was Brinley and Clayton's school parties.  Of course, they were at the same time! Since I am head room mom for Brinley's class, I had to enlist my mother in law to attend Clayton's  (which is why I have no pictures). Brinley's party was a lot of fun.  They made a snowman picture frame, decorated a reindeer sugar cookie, ate tons of yummy food and then played musical chairs for their book exchange.  The kids had a great time and this momma was exhausted! I couldn't rest for too long because that day was my birthday and we went out to eat with my family that evening.

 We also fit it in our busy schedules to decorate the Gingerbread dog houses that our Elf on the Shelf, Winter, brought the kids.

 Christmas Eve, we went to my mom and dad's house for presents and lots of yummy appetizers and desserts! The kids got way to many presents as usual!

Brinley, Clayton, and Reese

Clayton with his train table mamaw and pops gave him. He loves it!

When we got home, the kids got into their Christmas pajamas and set out the cookies and milk for Santa

Christmas morning the kids slept until 7 and then they came downstairs to see all the goodies that Santa left them!

Clayton didn't even make it all the way down before he saw the clock for his room, he asked Santa for

Testing out the bean bags Santa brought for their playroom.  It has quickly become their favorite things to jump on

Brinley putting on a puppet show with her new theatre that Santa brought

After opening our presents, we headed over to the Smith's for Christmas brunch.  We had lot of delicious breakfast food and opened presents.  Again, the kids got more presents than they needed!

Love these stinkers

It was 85 degrees out, but Brinley loved wearing her new gifts from grandma

We had a great Christmas and I am glad it is over! I am ready to reclaim my house from toys and decorations!

Our Angel makes her acting debut

Brinley made her acting debut in our church Christmas play this past Tuesday.  She brought home her lines for her part in October and I immediately noticed she had 3 sentences to memorize, while all her CCE classmates only had 1 sentence.  She was very excited to practice her lines every night and we worked on her saying them loud too.

 

When it came time to say her lines in front of lots of parents, siblings, grandparents (including both sets of hers), she said them loud and proud.  She was the first one in the play that we could hear and understand her lines.  The other two angels followed suit and said their lines loud as well.

 

"Fear not, behold, I bring you news of joy. In Bethlehem, this very night was born a baby boy.  God sent his son from up above, to save his people with his love."

Clayton's 4th birthday party

We celebrated Clayton's 4th birthday yesterday (ten days early) with an Angry Birds party at Fun Max Jumpin. A lot of family and friends came out to help us celebrate our little man.

Clayton with the Angry Birds cake I made him. He told me "you did a great job, mom, this is a nice cake"...my sweet little boy! 

He spent most of the time sliding down the slide

I managed to get a picture at the beginning of the party before he was ringing wet with sweat!

A quick family photo before cake time

Blowing out his candles

Opening his presents in the big blow up chair

 

After leaving the party, we headed home and started opening all the gifts he got so he could play with them.  He spent the night enjoying all his new toys.  I even got woken up by him holding a toy ready to play this morning!

Soccer Season

The kids finished their soccer season the second weekend in November.  Although we spent the majority of the season with me taking Clayton to his game and Jason taking Brinley to her game, which were at the same time, their last game was spaced out so we could watch both kids and take some pictures!

Clayton had an amazing first season! He was playing up an age division and he pretty much dominated the 5 years old as a 3 year old.  He really has great ball control and is will go after the ball at any cost.  He scored at least 7 goals a game and I think his game scoring high was 10 goals (we stopped counting that game). In fact, in his last game, the other coach asked for him to be taken off the field because he dominated her team and she wanted her kids to score some goals...ha ha!

warming up with daddy

this cracked me up, he concentrates so hard and makes the funniest faces

Scoring one of his many goals of the game

He was most excited to get his trophy after the game

 

Brinley finished her 3rd season out by scoring 2 goals in her last game.  Her age division has really improved with the girls playing positions, passing the ball and playing defense.  She averaged 1 goal a game.  The scores aren't very high now since the girls understand how to stop them from scoring now.

 

a little pre game pep talk from daddy

 running the ball down the field

 passing to her team mate

 throwing the ball in

 getting her trophy at her team party the Wednesday after her last game

 

We have enjoyed having our Saturday mornings free of having to rush anywhere! The kids start basketball practice next week, so onto the next sport!