Party Time!

One of Matthew's teammate's dad is the GM for the Texas Rangers and he offered to host the team's end of the season party at Rangers Stadium so last night, we braved the freezing temperature and made our trek to the ballpark. I was a little worried that it would get cancelled because of the weather, but the freezing rain held out until we got home.  Yay! However, a trip that should have taken half an hour took us more than an hour.  It was so worth it though. Matthew had so much fun that he did not want to come home after the party. What an awesome experience to be able to do all the stuff he did last night!

Mark fell asleep on the way there.  How sweet is my Michael?

We had access to the underground parking because that's how we roll :-) M almost pulled into Tom Hicks' parking space.

This is the family entrance into the team's clubhouse.

We got to hang in Ron Washington's office for a little bit.

Then we went into the press room.

Mark will now take your questions

"Guy in the back row"

Then it was off to hit some balls in the batting cages. Doesn't everybody bat with their crocs on?

Prince Fielder's locker is all ready for him

Michael standing in from of Yu Darvish's locker. He's not the most organized player on the team.  I asked Jon if the mess was staged.  It was not - he is that messy and he did leave all his stuff there. I'm sure you all wanted to know that.

I dared M to put on Yu's hat, but he was too chicken to do it.

Chilling in the dugout.  Literally.  Freezing rain was starting to fall on us out there.  We also got to go out on the field , but it was too dark for pictures.

This was one of the better pictures of all the coaches and the dads who helped out throughout the season. I'm so thankful for these guys because they helped Matthew fall in love with playing baseball. More importantly, they helped him out of his shell.

Coach Lance gave each player a goodie bag and told a little story about he'll remember most about each player. It was so sweet.

 Marky listening very carefully.

What an awesome night!

Brrr...It's Cold Outside

This week has gone by so quickly.  Is it really Thursday already? It's a very cold Thursday which is hard to believe because it was 80 degrees yesterday.  Again, the big news around here is the freezing temperatures anticipated for tonight and tomorrow morning.  The boys may have a snow/ice day tomorrow which means they get to stay home from school. We have plans to go to the Gaylord Texan tomorrow afternoon to see the beautiful Christmas decorations, but we may have to postpone it. I hope not because we will lose a weekend. This late Thanksgiving thing is really messing me up.  I have to really cram activities into 3 weekends instead of 4!

On Tuesday, I took Marky to story time and he was so cute.  They sang "Jingle Bells" and he was really into jingling his bell.  Halfway through, he decided he needed more than 1 bell so he got up and helped himself to another from the basket they had out.  He always looks so serious when he's participating in the activities there.

After story time, we went to the fountain and and ate our snacks.  It was such a beautiful morning. He was excited to see the Christmas tree up at the square.  He's been so excited about Christmas and all the decorations! I don't think he gets what's going on yet, but he knows something is special about this time of year.

Our Elf made his appearance this week and has been moving all over the place.  Matthew was a little annoyed that he only moves around the living room so he's been making an effort to move more around the house. Ha ha. This morning, we found him camouflaged into our Christmas tree.

This morning when Matthew went to move the elf on our Christmas countdown calendar, he noticed something that really amused him.  He said that he wanted to take a picture of it.  It looked like Santa was eating the elf's hat.  He's absolutely right. He loves moving that little elf.  He's so excited about Christmas and I'm so excited because he's so excited!!! I am so blessed and it's such a joy to celebrate this time of year with my babies!

This is What TWO Looks Like

Mark turned 2 a little over a month ago. What a difference a year makes.  I have been so blessed to be able to stay home with him and watch him grow.  Of course there are times when I'm ready to pull my hair out or give him a good punt, but he's so sweet most of the time. There are so many things that he does and say that bring me so much joy. Little moments like when we are in the car and he calls out "Hey, Mom. I love soooo much!"

So what did we do for the little monkey's special day?  Not much! The night before, we had grandpa and Jennie come over for cake.  They got him the ginormous "Hug Me" Elmo doll.  I find it a little creepy but he took a liking to it.  He likes to feed it his plastic food that Sarah got him. Usually there's peas in Elmo's mouth.

This is what I found this morning.

November 3rd was such a beautiful day!  It was sunny and warm. Matthew had a baseball game that day so off we went to the ballpark.  Mark always has fun climbing on the bleachers and walking around while we watch the game. Today, he got to hang out with Matthew in the dugout too!

So excited to see Matthew Bo-Bo!

I love how Matthew is looking at Mark.  So much love!!

Hanging with Bo-Bo in the team dugout

Then we came home and he wanted to water the plants.

Then he played on his swing set with Michael Bo-Bo.

 It was a fun day!

Christmas Around the House

Christmas decorations are up.  Phew, it's a lot of work, but so worth it!  I love decorating for Christmas. This year, I did not get anything new.  I'm using all the stuff I had from last year, but rearranged a few things to make it feel like I have some new stuff.

Actually, for this year, I want to do some Christmas canvas artwork with footprints from the boys.  We'll see how this goes.  I don't think I'll have problems with the 2 older ones, but Mark might be a little squirmy.

This is our family room.  This is where I put up a mini tree that serves as a place for all the ornaments I don't want on the "big" tree.

A little close-up of our mantel. I love these stockings.

Our digital countdown clock

I got the mercury pot last year and planned on an arrangement of red roses, but it was easier to plop in the poinsettia. I think it turned out nicely.

 This is in a little corner of my kitchen counter. Yes, we need more paper towels.

Our dining room

Our living room with the "big Christmas tree."  We've had this tree for a couples of years and I still have not found the right topper for it yet.

These are the mini trees I made for the boys.  Each one has a theme that relates to my little guys. I will have to change Matthew's from basketball to baseball soon.

Linking up to Kelly's Corner - Christmas Tours of Homes.  Can't wait to get more ideas, especially for the tree topper!

Post Thanksgiving Post

Thanksgiving week went by so quickly! Today, the boys are back in school and we are somewhat back to out routine for another 2 weeks before they get 2 weeks off for winter break.  December is going to fly by.

We didn't really do much of anything last week.  We had our Thanksgiving at my in-laws (turkey and prime rib-yum, yum).  Mark decided that he loves sweet potatoes.  Who wouldn't when it's covered with marshmallows? Michael did not care for turkey, but Matthew said that he had the best turkey ever. Funny boy.

The next day, our high school football team was playing in the quarterfinals of the state championship playoffs at the Cowboys Stadium so we decided to take Michael and Matthew.  I had a good time and both boys were really into the game-even Matthew up until the last quarter.  Our team did not win, but it was a very close game and it was nice to not have to pay an arm and a leg to get into Jerry's World. I was not allowed to bring in my purse into the stadium and I left my phone in my purse so no pictures.

The weekend was quiet.  I didn't do much shopping because we really didn't need any big ticket items and the stuff I want go on sale all the time. My biggest score were $.99 poinsettias. Hah-hah. We decorated the trees and I'm pretty much done with the Christmas decorations.  There are a few final touches, but the majority of it is done.  Too bad I'll only have it up for a few weeks.

Marky preparing a meal in his diaper. We took this play kitchen down from the attic and he loves it.  This was Matthew' kitchen originally and I'm so happy that we can get more use out of it. I'd forgotten about it until we saw it while we were bringing the Christmas stuff down.

Saying "cheese" before Thanksgiving dinner.

A little snack before dinner

I made everyone dress up.  They were not happy about it at first but they got over it.

Mark loves to line up his car like Matthew did.

Putting up ornaments!

He found the beads and decided to wear them for the night.

The finished tree!  I had to go back and rearrange the ornament the next day to balance it out.  But they did a good job!