Sports!

Well, here we go again! Our weekend got busy pretty quickly. Mark had his very first soccer tournament this weekend. Although the games did go their way, I think he played really well for his first couple of games on his first select team. I'm very proud of him.  

He was so excited to finally be able to play on a more competitive league and he seems to be getting along with his new teammates. He had two soccer games - one on Friday and another one on Saturday. His game that was scheduled for Sunday was cancelled due to rain, which was a relief because he had a basketball game as well.

After his game on Friday night, we went dinner. He deserved a big dessert which he had no problems finishing with Daddy.

His basketball team played against a team that had a lot of his friends on it on Sunday. It was so fun to watch especially since the Dragon Ballers won 21-8! I don't know what it is but victory is always sweeter when you play against your friends. Haha!

This was the only picture I got for this game..

But here's a few from their first game. They won that game 10-8.

Michael's school soccer season has started and they are looking good! He had a couple of scrimmages this weekend and won both. He has a preseason game this Tuesday and another on on Friday so we are going to be busier than we've been in a long time, but I welcome this! I just hope that it continues and he gets to finish the season his senior year. Of course, I didn't get any pictures. 

I entertained the idea of getting all three boys to take pictures with Santa this year since I don't have a picture of all 3 of them together with Ole' Saint Nick. I didn't really think it would happen, but I threw it out there. The older boys were not into it, but I persisted and this happened! I am so proud of myself for using the right combination of threats and bribery to get it done. Ha!

We went to breakfast after this the Santa session and everyone was happy, including this mama.

Birthday

Last month, Mark turned 9. I think there is a big leap from 8 to 9. Not just physically but also emotionally and mentally. I'm no expert, but he's much more mature this year than same time last year. He has his emotional meltdowns, but that's a another whole post.

But, yes, he turned 9 last month and I am just writing about it now. We celebrated with ice cream cake with family. We did celebrate a day early because M had to leave for a work trip on his actual birthday.

Mindcraft lego set from grandma and grandpa was a huge hit.

He was THRILLED about this gift from Poh-Poh and Gong-Gong. He couldn't wait to start building in. It took him a week.

He requested homemade Belgian waffles for his birthday breakfast. It's his favorite!

Then he had a great time celebrating with his friends at his birthday party at Stampede Arena. We had a little issue with Stampede (they were renovating and didn't open in time for our scheduled party) and had to delay the party a week, but they were great and had the room all decorated for us! This was a nice surprise. It was one of the easiest parties I've thrown.

We had to cut the cake and then do candles because, you know, COVID...

Love these two guys so much!

I can't believe this little baby is almost double digits. Happy birthday to my sweet baby boy! I love you more than anything in the whole wide world.

Still Here

So it's been a long hot minute since my last post. I don't know why but I just have not been really into writing lately. Blame it on COVID. I just felt overwhelmed every time I sat down to write. I've missed a lot and I may go back and do some highlight posts but for now, here's the low-down of what we've been up to lately.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house again this year. That's alway a fun event. We had the traditional Thanksgiving food, but the boys requested Peking duck again this year so we added that to our menu. It was a pretty laid back day. Of course, I didn't take any pictures except for this one before everyone came over.

Mark did an amazing job in helping to set the table. He LOVES this part of hosting Thanksgiving. We did a semi-formal setting this year so there were more plates and glasses to set out. He has great eyes for the small details.

Snowflake made his appearance and brought the boys some hot chocolate bombs which is all the rage right now. I am thrilled that Mark is still into this tradition.

What do you do when you have hot chocolate bombs are waiting for you? You make hot chocolate and decorate the tree! I have to say, I'm quite happy on how the ribbon on the trees turned out this year. It's so much easier and looks much better when you cut the ribbons before you work it into the tree. Don't let this picture fool you. This was the only ornament he hung. Haha! 

This boy was the most excited to decorate for Christmas. He actually did most of the decorating around the house. 

Matthew hung the most ornaments out of the the three boys. and the only one wearing a shirt. Haha!

Mark picked out another ornament for Michael and Matthew this year. Last year, he picked out different birds for each of them. This year, he picked our different owls. 

I love that this is turning into a family tradition. He already has picked out a theme for next year - snow globes. Can't wait to see what he will chose for them.

The boys are back "in" school today. I was certain that school was going online after Thanksgiving break because the COVID numbers have been exploding, but am thankful that the district is still giving us parents a choice as to either go virtual or in-person. Mark and Michael are in-person and Matthew is going to school virtually.

I've been substitute teaching for the district and I have to say that I am really liking it. I've discovered hat teaching the high schoolers is much easier than the elementary school kiddos, which is the opposite of what I thought it would be. I'm sure it's completely different from a regular school year, but it's really neat to see what different classes are doing.

The best room I've been in is this one. I would have loved to have a classroom like this when I was in school.

This is my little set-up in the back of the room. I had time to work on some of my own things while the students were working with their teacher during their online instruction time.