Last Soccer Weekend (For Now)

Michael finished his last soccer game on Saturday.  The regular season should have ended mid-November but with all the rain, the games kept getting rescheduled. So here we are getting the last game in a month later.

The day started out pretty warm, but so windy. Right when the game started, it started to rain and I kept my fingers crossed that there would be not lightning. Michael's team won 2-1 to finish off this half of the season.

Mark got a ride to the soccer fields.

The day started out really warm so Michael dressed him this morning in shorts and a muscle shirt.  Mark says he likes this shirt because it shows off his big muscles. Love him!

It was really windy.

This is his "cute face."

My favorite picture! Love his flowing hair.

It rained for almost the entire game and I though about taking pictures, but Mark had my phone.  It kept him busy and allowed me to watch the game so I wasn't messing with it.

Later that night, we picked up my brother from the airport. He was staying with Saturday night and most of Sunday on his was back to California from Chattanooga.  Michael had lots of fun playing with him. My boys love their Uncle.

We took him to lunch at Brio.  Mark refused to take a picture.  It was one of those days.

Mark went on a field trip to the bowling alley on Friday. He told me that he was the only one to get a strike! I didn't go with the class, but my friend Alicia sent me this picture of him. Of course, he picked out a pink ball ;-)

New (Old) School & Scarf Exchange

It was a big day yesterday! It was Matthew's first day back at the school he started at this year.  To make a long story short, I transferred him out of Eubanks when we moved in October to the school we were zoned for.  He had a hard time adjusting and wanted to go back to Eubanks. He was really unhappy about his new school and so I started the process to get him back to Eubanks last week.  Today he was a happy little boys again.

I am so glad I switched him back. I get such a warm feeling just walking back into this school.  The teachers are so sweet. As we were waiting for his schedule, his Language Arts teacher came by and told me that she kept his notebooks and journal just in case. The Vice-Principal called him by name and the staff here is just so friendly and warm. I really did miss it here too.

I also hosted my first scarf exchange and had so much fun! These ladies are the best.  We each got a new scarf to take home.

 Lots of fun.

Lots of laughing...

There was some stealing going on.

I don't know why I look humongous in this picture.

It was so much fun that I think I'm going to make this an annual thing.  Love being able to hosts these get togethers with my ladies.

Show and Tell Tuesday - Christmas Decorations

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  This year is what I call Christmas lite at the Fisher house for a couple of reasons: 1.) It's been crazy with the renovation and the move that I'm still trying to get settled in and 2.) We are celebrating Christmas in California so we will be gone for two weeks.  I figure, no need add to go all out with the decorations.

That being said, Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday and the time between Thanksgiving and New Years is the BEST! I love, love it, love it.  So during this time of the year, it's like Christmas threw up in our house-normally.

This year is a little more subdued, but I still want to share so I'm linking up with Andrea at Momfessionals for Show and Tell Tuesday - Christmas Decorations!

I guess we can start with the Christmas tree!  I'm sorry that it's not lit up.  It's on a timer that only my hubby knows how set and I am not messing with it. We don't have a topper because I have not found the perfect one yet - it's been three years.  My kids are getting impatient with me....

A closer look at the ornaments.

Every year, I replace the boys picture with the current year school picture from October.  This is the first year Mark had a school picture taken in Pre-K.

This is our mantle in the family room. I haven't decided how to hang the stockings yet since as you can see, the mantle space is almost nonexistent. 

My boys' gingerbread houses displayed in the dining room.

This is the last picture I have of these boys with Santa so I display it every year. They stopped believing in Santa Magic 2 years ago. Look how little they were.

This is the heart of our home - the kitchen. Yes, Winter our elf is hanging from our chandelier.  He's a party animal.

My Amarylla bulb that I sprouted a month ago.  So excited to see it bloom. I had to tie the stalk and leaves to the shutter because...

this happens if I don't.

Did I mentioned that I love Bath and Body Works candles? They had them on sale for $8.50 last weekend and I might have gone a little crazy.

 Ornaments in glass. So pretty, yet so easy...

Our kitchen table. I had three reindeers for my three boys but someone broke the littlest reindeer.  Clue - he is also the littlest of my three boys.

 Until I can find a replacement, there are only two.

That's all I've got. I promise that next year will be better.  It will be like Christmas threw up again.  Happy Holidays!

Weekend Randoms

We had a fabulous weekend of doing nothing!  Those are the best aren't they?  No games, no practice, no commitments. But we did have the plumber over for most of the day yesterday installing the 2nd hot water tank. And he will be back sometime this week to fix the circulating pump that he just installed yesterday.

Listen, I am so blessed in so many ways so I feel bad complaining, BUT I am so over having people come over to fix or deliver things and not getting it done correctly the first time.  So many examples! They either brought the wrong fill-in-the-blank or they have to wait for parts or something is broken. 

Simple delivery of new washer and dryer? No. The dryer was dented so they had to redeliver. Simple delivery and installation of our murphy bed? No.  They couldn't install the handles because they didn't have long enough screws.  Then there's the possum living in our attic issue, but i won't even get to that.  I'll just say that after almost 2 weeks, I think it's finally been taken care of.

Anyway, what a beautiful weekend.  We didn't do much. Bath and Body Works had a candle sale and I may have gone a little crazy with the candles. It was so nice outside that we spent a lot of time at the park on Saturday.

These two and a friend were playing tag on this web-thingy.  They called a time out so I can take a quick picture.

This little one hung out in the sandbox most of the time with a little break to go on the zipline and the fast slide.

This guy made his appearance Saturday morning. He was Smitty with the two older boys, but Mark has renamed him Winter.  

Since the two older boys no longer hear Santa's sleigh bells, Matthew has been so sweet and is so excited to join in on making Winter magical for Mark.

This was how we found Winter this morning.

It' s a little sad that Michael and Matthew are over Santa, but I knew that it would happen.  This was the last picture we got of them with Santa Claus.  I think it was the year that that Mark was born which was in 2011.  So stinking' cute.

We decorated the gingerbread houses last week.

This is Mark's. The roof had a line of peppermint, but they've somehow disappeared. I wonder what happened to them along with the jelly beans?

This is Matthew's.  He was over it by the time he finished decorating one side of the roof and his chimney fell off.

This is Michael's house.  Yes, that is a gingerbread man with his head blown off on the ground.  He's been playing too much Call of Duty.

What We've Been Up To

Well, we've been up to a lot and I haven't really posted about it much mainly because I'm exhausted thinking about it.  We've had people coming and going to fix up the house, delivering furniture, taking care of rodent problems, kids changing schools, kid changing back to old school, Thanksgiving, Christmas decorating and other little things in between.

We ordered a custom farmhouse table that will be delivered tomorrow.  Super excited to see it. I scored big with these chairs.  They were $100 each and they will look awesome with the farmhouse table.

This little guy loves going to the new playground near our house.  LOVES it.

He calls this the "fast slide."

My girlfriends and I attended the Tabletops fundraising event last month to help raise money for a local battered women's housing complex.  What a great cause and we had so much fun looking at all the beautiful table settings.

This was my favorite.

Then the next day, we drove to Austin for a girls weekend.  Actually we were only there for a night but it was time well spent with these lovely ladies.

Matthew is on an Odyssey of the Mind team this year and I think he likes it.  He has not complained about it so I take that as a good sign. His team participated in Spontaneous Spectacular a few weekends ago.  It was kind of a practice for the competition that they will have in Spring.

What do you do with an outdoor fireplace on a cool night? You make s'mores of course.

Love to see this kid smile.

This one too.

We went to Costco and I had to share this picture.  It's rare that Mark let's M his hand when I'm around.

And we started reading Christmas books during bedtime!

Love this kid's smile too.

More fun at the new playground.  This time all the boys went.

Selfie with my little.

I found this picture on the computer - Mark must have taken a picture of Julia while she was taking a picture of him. LOL.

It was freezing the whole time my parents were here for Thanksgiving. Perfect weather for Pho.

We went to Korean Barbecue for dinner and our traditional visit to Yogurtland afterwards.

My boys love to decorate the tree shirtless.

Mark is obsessed with Splatoon. He said he wanted to pretend that he was in the game so he put on his gear and got his "paint gun."  Love it.  Love this boy!