Soccer is over...

...for now! The Jets ended the season a couple weeks ago. It was a pretty good first year for Maya and Braeden. Braeden participated more and more as the season went on. He is actually a pretty good player for his age. He is really aggressive and works really hard (when HE wants to). Maya was always one of the fastest runners on the field, but that's mostly what she did, run! She would just chase the ball and the players around the field. She would outrun the other kids to the ball and then kick it one time only or run right passed it! I tried to work with her, but she just didn't want to be mean. Tough to teach a kid that you can be aggressive and not mean. She'll get there someday. Camden has decided he now wants to play soccer after watching his sister and brother. Basketball is next on the agenda, then baseball for the spring... we'll see if we can squeeze soccer into the summer!

Braeden finally got his "trophy" he so desperately wanted after Camden got his trophy last year. Braeden wore the medal to bed for almost a week! Great season Jets!

Portrait anyone?

Camden and Maya have really been into coloring, drawing and writing together since Maya started Kindergarten. I looked over one night to see Maya posing for Camden so he could draw a portrait of her. It was so cute! Why can't they always play this nicely together?!

Every time she would move Camden would yell "Stop moving Maya! I'm going to mess up if you do!"

He even drew her adorable freckles on her nose and cheeks! Notice how large her right arm is in the drawing? He traced her actual arm to draw that one?!

Happy Birthday JoJo!

My dad celebrated his 60th birthday (I'm sure he won't mind me telling his age!) this month and the kids wanted to make him cupcakes. Well, they really wanted to take him to Chuck E Cheese, but I told them we could make him a cake instead. Of course, just to argue, they wanted cupcakes, but I talked them into a cake instead. Cakes are a little easier! I let the kids each have a quadrant of the cake to decorate. I had to help some otherwise we would have been eating all sprinkles and colored squeeze icing.

Happy Birthday JoJo!

Halloween Chaos

Halloween was chaos in our house this year as usual. We had a soccer game early that morning. Then we were off to the house to get ready for the day. We hit up 2 festivals and of course, we went trick or treating in the evening.

Introducing...

Super Mario!

Luigi!

And Princess Peach!

Camden and Braeden were constantly pretending to punch each other (and Maya) all day!

They jumped and slid in bouncies...

They got to pet animals...

They went on a "train" ride...

They played musical chairs...

And much, much more! And of course they got tons of candy! Happy Halloween everyone!

Surprisingly, we actually only saw one other Mario and Luigi all day! So their costumes were a hit everywhere we went! Braeden LOVED the attention!!

The Infamous Abbey-a

Braeden has been calling a lot of little girls "Abbey" for a few months now. I kept thinking that it was because of a sweet little girl he has in his Sunday school class, and I’m sure that’s how it started. There is a girl named Abbey in his Sunday school class that he told me about a few months ago so I just assumed she must have made such an impression that Braeden kept mentioning her and sweetly calling each and every little girl he met Abbey. But the name "Abbey" eventually turned into "Abbey-a" and he was talking about her all the time. He kept saying his best friend was Abbey-a, he couldn't wait to see her and she likes tickles! Then about 2 weeks ago, he flipped out with excitement that the cartoon Olivia was coming on TV. He would get excited everyday when it was time for the cartoon. I kept asking Braeden questions about her and finally realized that this little girl was in his Mother’s Day Out class as well as Sunday school class.

Braeden’s MDO fall festival was a couple weeks ago and I was so excited to finally get to meet this mystery girl my little boy was head over heels for. After the kids parade around the school, I went to his class to tell him how good he did and had hoped I would get to meet Abbey-a. I gave my little man hugs and kisses and told him how great he did in his parade and immediately ask about Abbey-a. Well, one of his teachers overheard me and said “Oh Abbey-a!? Well, her name is actually OLIVIA and those two just love each other! They run to each other every day as soon as they get to class and hug. They play so well together and are both very smart!” I said “Oooohhh! Her name is actually Olivia?! It makes sense now that Braeden changed the name Abbey to Abbey-a – I guess he was trying to combine the names?” Ms. Tonya then tells me that he has actually been calling her Abbey and Abbey-a and they have been working on him calling her Olivia. Braeden just ADORES this little girl and I’m so happy he has someone he looks forward to seeing at school.

Braeden was the line leader for his class! He did a great job!

All of the kids dressed up - it was adorable!

And.... Olivia! I'm sure it doesn't hurt that she's such a little cutie!!

A scary moment...

If you're a parent, you've probably had one of these. A scary moment. I'm typically the calm parent. Probably known as the mean parent to some. I'm the one yelling at my kids on the sidelines of a game to get up and shake it off. I really think I can tell the difference when my kids are crying because they are actually hurt or when their feelings are hurt. So, I encourage my kids to get up when they fall down, to keep going when some kid has pushed them down or to not cry when they strike out. I'm sure some parents would disagree, but this is how I handle many situations.

I think this is in part because I watched many parents over my sports years growing up (especially with girls) coddle their kids. And more times than not, I watched parents make the situation worse by doing this. I'm not sure if I despised it because I wanted to be one of those kids that could cry when they got an out or didn't score the goal or if I just thought then as I do now - are you kidding me? Seriously? You can't cry every time you get an out, don't win a game or score the winning run! I can't cry now, as an adult, when I don't get a good evaluation at work, or when I don't like my boss. I'm a firm believer that sports and many extracurricular activities teach kids many valuable lessons in life. Are they all good? No, I'm sure they aren't. But my point in all this rambling is that I feel like I've learned many valuable lessons through the years with all of my extracurricular activities - and of course, I must give much credit to my parents, to not overreact to every situation.

(Here's the but - and it's a small, brief but, but still a but) However, a couple of weekends ago, I woke up to Braeden crying *er, screaming* in the middle of the night. This is not typical, but does happen occasionally. I went upstairs to check on him and opened his door without turning any lights on.

Me - Sweetie. What's going on?

Braeden - (crying and sobbing hysterically) I have a wizard!

Me - You have a lizard? Where? On the wall? (we had been playing outside a lot the last few days because the weather had been so nice and they were chasing lizards one day, so that's what I thought he was saying. And I thought he had been dreaming about them and it wasn't real.)

Braeden - NO! I have a wizard!

Me - What are you talking about? Where is this lizard?

Braeden - Right here mommy! (he says this as sad as can be and points to his lip)

I finally turn on the hall light and when my eyes focus a little I let out a huge gasp! The gasp, of course, freaks him out so I immediately say "oh it's ok, mommy just got scared with the light on, I thought I really saw a lizard on the wall. Let's go downstairs and get you some medicine."

Little did I know that he couldn't really talk properly because his lip looked like this! The entire time he was trying to say BLISTER, not wizard or lizard!! terrible mom moment.... terrible mom moment...

I wouldn't have even taken any pics except I thought if I take him to the pediatrician the next morning I want him to see just how big his lip actually got. Not the best pics because they were taken with my phone. But my poor baby!! :(

This was one of those scary moments where the cry really meant something and I would have panicked had their dad not had similar allergic reactions. (and let's just say that my extracurricular activities over the years helped my reaction since I said all of the above! :) ) I am not sure what happened with Braeden or why his lip swelled the way it did, but I knew enough to give him benadryl. Which I did and then slept the rest of the night with him on the couch so that I could monitor him. Not even 4 hours later his lip looked close to normal. My little man was running around as normal as could be the next day, but it was still a bit of a scary moment!

Baby Nixon Baby Shower

We had a baby shower for Kim and Jon a couple weekends ago and it was a hit! Kim and Jon are so loved and have such wonderful family and friends. This baby is going to be spoiled! I feel so terrible that I didn't get more pictures, but I'm going to blame it on trying to be a good hostess! :)

All of the food was yummy!! (or so I heard - I'm going to blame that on the good hostess thing again!) Although I did manage to get plenty of the sangria!

Can you say SPOILED??! Congrats baby sis! I love you and can't wait to meet my new niece!

Bible Presentation

Our church had a bible presentation for 1st graders and the pastor signed and gave each child their very own bible. It was so sweet and a big moment for Camden. While I thought he would be really nervous and possibly not want to do it, he did such a great job walking across the stage to get his bible.

I say "get closer guys" and this is what I get!

Always being silly these days!

Great job Camden!

Time for the signature… did I mention that Camden only takes silly pictures?!

Camden turns 7!

I can’t believe I have a 7 year old!? Where has the time gone?

My sweet, chubby first born at a couple days old....

My silly, skinny first born 7 years later...
We had a small family party at Chuck E Cheese

We had cupcakes!

Yuck! Wonder if that will come off easily?

And the gifts…. Yep, you guessed it, the boy got his very own Snuggie!

And he's been wearing it... Often!!

He is getting so big! He is reading everything. He is such a smart kid. He is silly and funny. He is making good decisions (mostly :) and being a good example for his younger brother and sister. And while he’s TRYING to grow out of kisses and hugs, I’m REALLY trying not to let him. He is a secret nighttime snuggler – kissing and hugging me after his sister and brother are in bed – but you didn’t hear that from me! I’m so proud of you Camden! Happy 7th birthday!

Downtown Aquarium

Once again I’m back on the bad blogger list! Well here goes my attempt at a quick catch up over the last several weeks of happenings…

We headed to the Aquarium in downtown Houston for some fun a few weeks ago. I found coupons for all day passes for $5 so we were off to enjoy all of the events more than one time. The kids haven't been downtown all that often and they were amazed by all of the tall buildings!

We went through the Aquarium Adventure Exhibit. Camden being silly sizing up the fish...
We rode the Ferris Wheel a couple times...

We rode the carousel a few times...

We rode the train around the area and through The Shark Voyage.

It was a gorgeous day! We had a blast!