Blues Brothers

We were also able to corral our boys and the Howard boys to snap a few pics. We think Cade was attempting to dance in some of these shots. Cade & Noah (the front two, and the oldest) were very game to pose for pictures. Tyler and Jack (the boys in the back, the younger set) were not so enthusiastic about taking pictures. I think they were busy plotting devious plans on how to take toys from their older brothers.

Soul Sisters

Over the Christmas holiday, we've been blessed to catch up with our friends Scott & Sarah Howard, who have moved to Wisconsin. Our Claire Bear and their Rachel (both the youngest of three kids and both with two older brothers) were born on the same day -- June 25, 2007. This was the first time they met; not a lot of words were exchanged, but they did try to hold hands. And then they both started falling to the right (neither girl can sit). And then Claire started wailing.

BFF for sure.

A Great Big Brother

Jack & Cade got to watch Bambie the other night, and for some reason, Jack got scared. So Cade snuggled up to Jack on the couch and put his arms around Jack. It was so sweet. Occasionally the boys can be this physically close without killing each other.

C'mon, Ring Them Bells!

Each Christmas, the young 'uns in our church get to be front and center on Sunday morning and sing a few songs for the congregation. It's always entertaining (as some kids are way into singing, and some kids are way into digging into their noses for treasures) and always sweet. I snapped a few pics of the kids before the singing started (the singing was recorded on the video camera).

The crew consists of ( from the left) Zander, Cade, Gage, and Collin. They are all good buddies and have not know what life is like without these guys in their lives. They are so gonna be trouble when they're older! (notice Zander has his daddy's 'ham' gene when he notices cameras around)

Bilingual Jack

I'm sitting here listening to the kids play on some Winnie the Pooh software on their computer. There is one activity in which common words (like shoe, circle, girl, etc) are translated into Spanish.

Jack, who can barely speak English, is having fun trying to repeat the Spanish words. Rather than sounding like Spanish, Jack sounds more like Lucille Ball on that episode of I Love Lucy where she's working in the chocolate factory and is stuffing chocolate in her mouth. Kind of sounds like what Lucy would have sounded like at the chocolate conveyor belt if she had spoken.

Priceless.

A Christmas Claire

Scott's Ideal Christmas Tree

Got these pics from Shelly (hat tip to you, my friend). Now this is Scott's ideal Christmas tree!

Our New House!

Well, it's just a gingerbread house, but it's still our new house! Cade & I decorated our first ever gingerbread house. It turned out alright! I don't think the icing had even dried yet and Cade was asking if we could eat it. We waited a few days before eating the roof and most of the candies.

Cade Speaks

We were loading the kids in the van on Thursday afternoon to come back home from my parents'. And we were telling the kids that it wouldn't' be long before we saw MawMaw and PawPaw again because they were coming up for Christmas.

And Cade yells out from the backseat, "Don't forget to bring the presents!"

Our Loss

When the phone rang at 7:45 Sunday morning, I knew who it was before I looked at caller ID. My dad was calling to tell me that his father had passed away.

My grandpa will be buried in Port Arthur on Wednesday, on what would have been his 99th birthday. He lived a full, long life.

At a young age, he had to go to work to help support his family since his dad abandoned them. And that was in the Great Depression. He later went on to play football at St. Edwards University in Austin. He married my grandma and together they raised 3 boys (one of which was my dad, who gave them enough trouble to equal 5 boys) and put all three of them through catholic school. Grandpa worked in shipyards, and he also worked in Texaco's machine shop for many years. In his 40s, he dug (with my uncle's help) a large pool in their backyard and then taught swimming lessons in his spare time (it was called the Fanette Swim School).

Later, he would be known for storing his chewing gum behind his ear while eating a meal. He'd also lick his plate clean if my grandma didn't get his plate away from his fast enough. He'd drink alfalfa tea every afternoon (it was horrible smelling stuff).

My love for re-purposing someone else's trash into a treasure for our house was born in my summertime visits in Port Arthur. My grandpa, grandma and I would go on bike rides, and sometimes physically get in dumpsters to rescue 'treasures' that could be fixed up. That's one of my favorite memories.

I'll miss my grandpa.

Greatness in Our Midst

When you mention the words athletic greatness, one may think of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots' current season. Heck, even Brett Favre is playing great this year. And yes, our own Tony Romo also possesses greatness.

But greatness has infested our house. Greatness has colonized our home. Greatness is epitomized in my husband.

Scott has been crowned Ants in My Pants Champion. He bested me 6 out of 10 games to be crowned as the elite Ants athlete of our generation. Bugs me that the picture is blurry.

Choo Choo!

This year, for the very first time, we have a Christmas themed Thomas train puttering around our Christmas tree! There's Thomas the tank engine, complete with a dusting of snow, a freight car wrapped like a present (if you push the bow, really annoying Christmas music plays!), and a caboose that has a snow covered top and wreaths on the side. The boys are enthralled. (You can kind of notice in the pictures below that Cade is playing a zone defense on the train. He won't let Jack get near it. Brothers.)

Our Annual Christmas Picture

Since Cade was born, we have sent out Christmas cards with our family's picture. The last 4 our of 5 pictures have been really good. And people are amazed at how we get our non-professional pictures to turn out well. I shrug my shoulders and offer absolutely no advice. The following is proof that it ain't easy getting a good family picture with kids (no, none of these pictures will be included with our card this year.)

Sick Again

Jack & Claire are sick again. Cough. Congestion. Fever. Red eyes. General yuckiness. Bleh.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

a fight is about to break out in the other room. But we'll just ignore that.

But it really is beginning to look like Christmas around here!

This past weekend, we went on our 2nd annual Christmas tree hunting expedition. The Dragos turned us on to this small family farm in Van Alystne called Wintergreen Farm (they don't have a website or I'd link to it). Unfortunately, we weren't able to go with the Dragos this year. Schedule conflicts. But MawMaw and PawPaw happened to be in town (long story short: PawPaw had to exchange a printer for the 3rd or 4th time that he had bought up here) and they accompanied us on our journey.


Our time began with a hayride around the farm before being dropped off to find our tree. These two pics were taken while we were waiting to go on our ride.



Once the tractor began pulling the trailer we were on, Jack wasn't too sure about things.



But Cade had a great time looking around at all the trees and beauty.



Finally it was time to start wandering among the trees. Just rows and rows of trees to pick from. Last year, Jack wasn't walking yet. So this year, he had a blast running around!


MawMaw and Cade stayed with a tree we found early on, but then, when we found a better tree, we called them over to our new location.


Cade and Jack watch Daddy cut down their tree. Cade eventually helps Scott with it, while Jack offers moral support by sucking on his thumb.




Jack so badly wants to be a big boy. Cade got to help Scott drag the tree out to the main drive (where we and the tree would get picked up). But Jack wasn't able to help and therefore sat down in protest.



We successfully got our tree home and into our super-fabulous tree stand (the Dragos actually claim this tree stand saved their marriage). It is now lit, decorated, and absolutely beautiful!

Funny Face

Isn't that a Barbara "Demo-Nazi" Streisand movie? Anyway...

Cade has this new fascination with making silly faces for any picture he is in. He'll strike an awkward pose along with a silly face and beg for his picture to be taken. And of course we are happy to oblige. It's just good blackmail ammo for later! (Note to self: show this picture to Cade's prom date)

Tummy Time

Everyone knows that you're supposed to put babies on their tummies to help strengthen their arms, necks, and back muscles. Well, with each subsequent kid, tummy time has decreased and decreased.

You know how getting in shape is so painful and hard? Starting a running habit is so hard. And it's so much harder when you run for a week. And then you take a few weeks off. Then you run again for a week. And then you take another few weeks off (this incidentally, is what Scott has been doing over the past several months, and it's killing him!)

I think the same goes for tummy time. Poor Claire. She just hates it so much!





At some point (like in this last pic) you just end up giving up.

PJs

We took this pic a couple of weeks ago. It's kind of blurry, but the boys are still cute in their matching race car pajamas!

MIA

I promise to post again soon. If you can imagine this , I've been busy!

Poor Jack

Claire has an ear infection, and Jack has had an upper respiratory infection that has now turned into a sinus infection. So they both have fevers, and Jack is now starting to drain the funk that has been in his head for the past week.

Jack has obviously not been feeling well, and he's been on this side of cranky for the past several days. Yesterday, Jack unfortunately got in a fight with something in his room (no, for once it wasn't Cade) and he lost the fight. The bridge of his nose took a beating and it swelled up enough to make Jack resemble a rhino. If I had a wide angle lens, you'd get a better feeling for the war wound Jack received yesterday.

I'm sure CPS is already on their way. Poor kid.