How Sad...

How sad that my children have to have snowball fights with snow brought home in a cooler by my dad and sister after a ski trip! Gabe keeps telling me that he heard the weatherman say it was going to snow...and he wants to know when (it's only happened once in my lifetime so I hope he isn't holding his breath!). Very sad that they were extremely excited with the small cooler full of snow. The boys and Grandpa had a pretty decent snowball fight with the snow. A few days later, we sent a larger cooler up the mountain with Grandpa and Aunt Shay. With that snow, they were able to build a snowman and have two snowball fights!

Will digging into the sad little cooler of snow.

It didn't take them long to start throwing snowballs!

Will didn't like getting hit in the face (probably didn't help that he still had his "Christmas boo-boo").

Grandpa got in on the action...the boys were perfect moving targets for him!

The boys showing off their snowman (who looks a lot like last year's snowman!) - and Will is sporting his "Christmas Boo-Boo."

I really think we need to find these poor deprived boys some REAL snow!

Boingo's

There is a new place in town called Boingo's (it's Will's new favorite place!). The other day I took Will and Dalia and met up with some friends there. Will thought it was marvelous...

Going up...

At the top...

And down!

Will and his buddy Josh getting ready to race down the slides.

Will and Josh climbing the rock wall.

Family Pictures

We figured since we hadn't had a family picture taken since 2004, we ought to do it this year. My friend Aubrey was kind enough to go with us to a family friend's ranch and snap some shots of us. Despite a few animals who felt they should also be in the pictures, we managed to get some good shots.

Our family picture...

After we got some good family shots, I sent Mark home with Sam. Aubrey and I continued to take pictures of the "big" boys. Gabe and Will had fun cowboying it up...climbing trees and fences, playing on tractor equipment, swinging on a "horse", running, playing with sticks, climbing in the hay and on ladders, and just being silly! I have no idea how many pictures we took, but it was a lot! Here is just a sampling of what we ended up with (just be warned - it's fairly long!)...

Thank you Aubrey!!!!!

2008 Soccer Season

This year, we signed the boys up for soccer. They played on the Rhinos team through the city's parks and recreation department. It was fun having them on the same team (and knowing that there was only 1 practice and 1 game to go to each week was great), but it was also tough...they tended to stick together like glue! The boys have loved everything that goes along with soccer...practices, cleats, snacks, games, Coach Cory, etc. I can't say that either of the boys were "star" players, but they had fun and it was a good experience for them. They both did pretty well for their first soccer experience. Will was often times more interested in getting the coach's attention during the game..."Coach Cory, Coach Cory!" but hey, he's 3!

The Rhinos

Gabe and Will

(they were in the process of fighting over the ball when the picture was taken)

Fabi came to watch the boys play.

Warming up before the game.

1 - 2 - 3...Go Rhinos! (The coach has his hand on Will's back and you can barely see Gabe's hair over the blonde girl's head)

Ready to play!

Getting into position for the start of the game.

Gabe - ready to play!

Will - probably wondering where the snacks are!

Will getting in on the action.

Gabe (#4) getting in on the action...obviously on a colder day.

Sam was a good sport, he went to every game and supported his brothers!

Christmas...Black Eyes and Pony Cart Rides

My cousin, Matt, and his family came down from Bakersfield to join us for Christmas dinner. Matt and Molly have 4 children...Kassie, Sam, Nick, and baby Nathan. Gabe has been talking about Sam coming to Christmas dinner for weeks, he was so excited to have "a Sam, my age" come play with him! It's fun having them come to visit, especially since all the boys have a cousin their age to play with...poor Kassie is the only girl amongst six boys, but she handled it well!

Before dinner, the kids played with their new toys and enjoyed getting reaquainted. And, this was the first time that they had met Sam and we had met Nathan (born in October). Dinner went suprisingly well, considering there were five kids and two babies!

Grandpa has a neighbor who has ponies and a cart. Larry was kind enough to hitch up the ponies and take the kids and a few adults for a ride. While waiting for ponies to get hitched up the kids enjoyed playing on the swings and running around the property (under the "watchful" eyes of their dads). Mark and Will were playing "catch" with the disc swing...I'm not exactly sure what transpired, but this was the end result...

It doesn't look that bad in the picture, but as time went on it got worse (I should have taken one a few hours later!). He called it his "Christmas Boo-Boo."

Will was very embarassed and wouldn't show me the injury, so it took several of these types of shots before I actually got one of the injury...

It doesn't look that bad, but by the end of the night the bruising had spread...the morning could bring black eyes, we'll see!

Nick on the swing that hit Will.

Gabe looking both confused and rugged in his new head lamp.

Everyone loved the pony cart ride, even baby Sam...I saw Molly get in with a baby, but assumed it was her baby! As the ponies turned onto the street, I turned to my sister and said I'd better go take care of Sam...she replied with "there he goes!" Oh, I guess I'll go help take care of Nathan!

Leaving on their ride...I took the picture and never noticed that it was Sam sitting on Molly's lap! I should have recognized that little blue cap!

Larry (my dad's neighbor) trying to help "Big" Sam keep his ears warm.

After the pony rides, we headed back in for dessert and to set up the train. Gabe and Will had been looking forward to the train for awhile...I think it may have taken more time to set it up than it was actually played with!

Will and Grandpa putting the train together.



Will, Kassie, and Gabe enjoying the train.



While the big kids played with the train, sweet little Nathan played on the floor and...

Sam chewed on everything in sight!

Merry Christmas to all...

Merry Christmas!

Suprisingly, the boys let us sleep in until 7am! That was in and of itself a wonderful Christmas present!

Mark heard the boys talking in their room for a while before hearing one of them walk down the hall. Almost immediately, he heard Will come running back down the hallway, yelling about Santa and a friend for CookieDog (a gift from Aunt Christine for Sam)! It wasn't more than a couple minutes later that the boys excitedly woke us up, anxious to get the festivities started!

It's funny to me how differently the boys approach Christmas morning...

Gabe systematically goes through the gifts - excited, but very business like...almost like he's taking inventory!

Gabe trying on his Nerf battle gear...

Will is a little tornado of excitement - squeezing each gift, exclaiming his love for it and the giver, then hurriedly dropping it to the ground to move on to the next!

Will, hurriedly checking out the Wii before moving on to something else...

There was a little disappointment from both boys about Santa not bringing a motorcycle (Will checked the garage more than once). We reminded the boys that even though they sent a letter to Santa with their "wants", Santa takes those "wants" into consideration and then chooses a special gift for each child...even if it wasn't on the list (after all, Santa knows best!).

The biggest hits of the day were walkie talkies, a superhero matching game, headlamps, and of course the Wii! As soon as the boys opened the Wii, Gabe knew exactly what it was and said "Oh, thank you! How did you know I wanted on?". Then he quickly ran to find the Surf's Up Wii game that he had opened the day before (for the full story, read "Hmmm, Christmas Came Early") and exclaimed how happy he was that he could play his game now. We set up the Wii and it quickly became apparent that Gabe has had far more experience with it than we knew! He's really good at it!

Gabe, discussing with Mark how he knows this is a Wii game.

Will, showing off his boxing abilities.

Sam slept through the major excitement of the morning, though I don't doubt that next year he will be right in the middle of things! He woke up in time to join us for breakfast.

We headed over to my parents around noon. The boys were very excited to see presents under the tree...the presents hadn't been there the night before! Gabe was very good at helping Grandpa distribute the presents, Will on the other hand would find one he liked and start to open it... I'm pretty sure he got hollered at by all five of us adults! Poor kid, he just wanted to dig in! My Aunt sent the boys all Christmas socks with flashing lights...they thought those were pretty cool, especially since you could see the lights flashing through the wrapping paper! It was fun to watch them get excited all over again...they walked away with more great toys, clothes, and Wii accessories. One of the gifts my parents gave Mark and I was a set of camp chairs...apparently they got tired of us borrowing theirs all the time for the boys soccer games! Sam enjoyed watching all the commotion from his walker...he had a great view! He came away with some fun toys that went directly into his mouth (nothing beats a little slobber to mark you territory!)!

Sam enjoyed looking at Nana's tree.

Sam also enjoyed having Will take him for rides.

Gabe playing with the superhero match game.

Will looking for something to fix or build.

Will and Grandpa took turns tying each other up.

Sam being festive in his Santa hat while playing with toys from my childhood.

One of the highlights was watching mom open her present from my dad...he got her Uggs and she was very excited to try them on. She tried one on for size and quickly realized she loved them and wanted to put the other one on. Only one problem...they were both right footed boots! Who knew there was someone walking around with two left feet? I thought that was just a saying! So, keep a watch out for someone wearing two left footed Uggs!