Happy Christmas 2011

Well, family and friends, it's that time of year when everyone sends out their Christmas cards, letters, and photos. I'm doing something different this year. I'm not sending anything out because I figure that a lot of times, people read the letter, put the picture on their little Christmas card stand, and then it gets tossed after Christmas anyway. So, here it is.

We had a busy year once again, but with four boys, that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Big Daddy still loves his job with Morgan Stanley and spent a lot of time on the baseball fields this spring and summer. He was Assistant Coach for Bubba's regular season, and also during Allstar season during the summer. He had a great time working with all of the boys and learning a lot more about how to coach the kids. He built a batting cage in his garage so that the boys can hit all winter to get ready for next season. He's a baseball expert now, and is a great coach and a very dedicated and most awesomest dad! He is serving in our church as Assistant Ward Clerk. He was also a huge football fan this past fall for both of our older boys.

Mama keeps busy everyday with four busy boys! Most of you know that I finished my first book this summer. I started a couple of years ago, but inspiration hit this past summer and I wrote almost the whole book. It has been a really fun experience. I never thought I would be a writer, though I always thought it would be fun. I hope to have the editing process finished before my next birthday in May. I also started working on the sequel. I'm about 16,000 words into it and having fun continuing the story of my characters. I got to put Lit. degree to use this year writing reviews for an internet company. I serve as the Compassionate Service leader in our church.

Bubba had a great year. Baseball season started in March and he got off to a great start. He worked hard after the previous season because he made the goal for himself to make the Allstar team during the summer. We were very impressed with his work ethic and his incredible improvements. He finished the regular season with the highest hitting average, and did a good job pitching when we needed him. He is a great shortstop! His team went to the championship game and only lost by a couple of runs. He got to go to Bill Buckner baseball camp and learned a lot there. We had about a week break before Allstar season started in June. He was the lead off batter, and hit a home run in his very first at bat! He had a two week break between baseball and football. He was a four back this year on the starting offense and had his very first touchdown, and several carries during the season. His team went undefeated and won their Junior Year Championship game. He is also still taking piano lessons and is learning to play bass in a garage band. He started middle school in the 6th grade this year!

JP also played baseball and football this year. He did a great job for his team and played 3rd base and left field. His team went undefeated and went to their age division championship game. They won in the 8th inning and we only ever play 6! What an awesome experience for him. He got to go to a summer baseball camp at our local minor league team's stadium. He got autographs of the players and instruction from them too. It was a fun experience for him. He also had a great football season. It was his first year of tackle football. He played defensive tackle and had at least one sack a game. He scored the most points on defense with 3 safetys (6 points). We thought he would be timid, but as soon as he put those pads on, he was a beast. His team also went undefeated this season (they don't have a championship game at that age yet). He started the 4th grade this year and already has straight 'A's!

Peanut played his first year of coach pitch baseball this year. He was the best hitter on his team. He's excited to start Rookie this next season and practices in the garage with brother's every night. I can't believe how hard he can hit the ball with his little 6 year old body! He is doing very well in the 1st grade and his teacher uses him as the good example in class. She tells everyone to look at what he's doing when they aren't sure how to follow instructions. He loves football and wants to start playing flag football next year. We'll see.

Coco misses his brothers during the day while they are at school. Mama is teaching him at home with some preschool activity books. He loves to work on them and has even started tracing numbers. He has a very large vocabulary-including the word, "sick" to mean something is cool. It's funny to hear a little 3 year old talking like a big boy. He loves to hit baseballs in the garage every night and can hit really hard off the tee with an aluminum bat. No little plastic bats for this big boy.

We also love doing things as a family. We spend time in the cage in the garage most nights and I love learning to hit too. We went shooting a few times, to Disneyland in February with Grandma Susan, the boys all went camping and fishing with dad several times, and got to visit with grandma on the farm for a week this summer.

We wish all of you a wonderful and blessed year. We love our Savior Jesus Christ and strive to be more like him. We hope that you all remember him this season and all year long.

Coco's 1st Trip to the Dentist

So Coconut has NOT wanted to go to the dentist. I'm not sure why because he watches his brothers and the dentist is our neighbor, his best buddy's dad, and in our ward. So I decided that since he will be 4 in a month, he didn't have a choice anymore. So I scheduled him for today and didn't tell him until this morning.
I said, "We're going to the dentist today."
C-"For Peanut?"
M-"No, for you."
C-"NO!"
I was ready for a battle, but surprisingly, when we got there and I told him he could watch TV while they brushed his teeth, he was totally cool about it. The hygienist was awesome and explained everything. He loved "Mr. Thirsty" and would giggle every time she would use it. He also let her do fluoride, which Bubba always whines about. And Dr. Oto came and counted his teeth and checked for sugar bugs and he doesn't have any cavities. Yay-that makes 2 kids at least. Bubba has great teeth (like I did as a kid), JP just had 1 cavity not too long ago, and poor little Peanut has like 6 fillings. :( I just went in for my cleaning and there have been a couple of spots he's been watching, so he wanted to do one filling. Well, he got in there and it was like the other one I had-it got bigger the further he went in. He discovered that the last dentist did sealants over decay-so yay for me I get to have all but one of my molars filled. Only two left this week. Whatever he did last week when he did two, I told him to do it again because my teeth went numb so I couldn't fill the drill, but my face didn't go numb and I didn't have a migraine after. Funny story about sugar bugs: Bubba just asked me not that long ago (remember he's 11)about what sugar bugs looked like and how big they were. I laughed so hard and told him that they weren't really real. They just use that when you're little to explain plaque and how to clean your teeth. Too cute.
More to come for our Christmas letter. I've decided to save money and not send out pictures and letters this year-except to each of the grandparents. I figure they get thrown out anyway. So I'll post our letter and family picture as soon as I can get everyone to sit in front of the tree.

This and That

Coconut's loot from Trunk-or-Treat


Bubba's pumpkin that he carved himself. He got the idea from cousin Kelly who posted a picture on FB of it.


I carved a Grim Reaper for Peanut and a smiley face for Coconut and JP did his own.


We are each acting out our costumes. Peanut decided a couple days before to change to a motorcycle guy so he's revving his handle bars, Buzz Lightyear is flying, Harry Potter is casting a spell, the giant red Skittle is trying to eat himself, and Mama football fan is cheering.

I guess it's been awhile. I haven't been the best at updating lately. Here are some pictures from Halloween. We went to our Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday night and got so much candy that I told the kids we didn't need to go out Monday. That didn't go over well. I took the kids out in the freezing cold while dad watched football and passed out candy. Bubba stopped at one of the neighbor's house who had their garage door open, making scones and donuts and watched football for awhile with them until he froze and came home, so he didn't get as much "loot" as the rest of them. Luckily JP's wand lit up so we could see. We went down our street and then Coconut said he was cold, so we stopped at home and put on gloves and a few more layers before finishing up. I made a rule this year that they could have 6 pieces of candy a day-which means that we won't have candy until Easter, but it's also not so much that they throw up every night. :)

I'm enjoying no sports for now. I love to watch them play, but the break is much needed. In the off season, all 4 of them are in the garage in the awesome batting cage that dad built, hitting away. He's pretty hardcore and has them do several different drills. All of them are very receptive to his teaching/correcting this year. Even Coconut wants to hold the bat the right way now. By the time he's ready, he'll have to skip 5 yr. old t-ball and go straight to 6 yr. old coach pitch. JP is already hitting 100% harder than during the season. I think it was all that football upper body strength. He hit 47 out of 50 balls in the cage the other night. Bubba hits pretty much all of them-maybe 1 miss here or there. Even Peanut is an animal. B says that he has the best stance of them all, funny enough. The other night they were going out there and I asked for a lesson. I've always loved watching them and been so jealous that I totally suck at sports. So B put me through the same drills and taught me how to stand and hit. I don't hit all of them yet, but the ones I hit, I crushed. I'm pretty proud of myself for my first time. Maybe I can actually play with them now. :)

Fiesta Bowl Jr. Champs 2011

Mama and brother both sportin' our Mean Green

That's right-our boys won their championship game!It was the greatest day of Bubba's life of course. The team we played has been undefeated for 3 years. We played them last year and lost in the last 20 seconds of the game by a 2 point conversion. So Bubba aptly named this the "Revenge Bowl." What an intense game! Our sponsor (whose son is on the team), bought us all rally towels so we waved those around during the whole game. We also stomped on the bleachers for each major play. The other team copied of course, but they didn't have cool towels like us. No one scored in the 1st quarter and finally in the 2nd, we scored and got the 2 extra pts. (There are no goal posts at this age). Then they scored. Then they scored again. Then we scored again, so at the end of the game it was tied 16-16. Since it was a championship game, they went into overtime. They got to start on the 10 yd. line and had 4 downs to score. So we went back and forth and when we missed the extra 2 we thought we were done for. Then they missed it. After double overtime and still being tied, the announcer said that if it went any longer, the coaches would have to suit up and come out onto the field and arm wrestle. Ha ha! Oh yeah-I forgot to mention that there was an announcer who announced each of them by name at the beginning and then as they would make plays during the game. It was such an exciting thing. So anyway, in 3rd overtime, we scored first and MISSED the extra 2 again. And we thought it was over for sure then. So they went and on their first play got a face mask penalty of 10 yds. Hooray for us. Then on the next play, they fumbled! And we recovered it! Mustangs win 36-30!!! I actually started crying. It was so intense and such an awesome experience for them. Bubba is on the kick off return team and he got a good 30 yds. on his play. It was awesome! I'm so proud of my boy. He amazes me with his awesome talent. They got a cool trophy and I've never seen 21 boys so excited in my life! Watch out next year!



Love this picture! He's #76 in the front with the awesome block




Mustangs #1! Woo hoo!


All the kids got a picture holding the trophy

Mustang & Eagle Football

#62


JP is the one facing/running toward the quarterback.


Sack that caused the fumble. He's the one underneath the quarterback.


All three of these pictures are Bubba trying to block one of the big guys #10. He has a very determined look on his face.




So Saturday was JP's last football game. Even though they don't have tournaments at the Freshman level, their team considered it their championship game because both teams were undefeated. Well, we creamed them 26-0. Way to go Eagles! JP had a sack that caused a fumble and a couple other tackles too. My mom came up to see it and watched almost the whole game, but Bubba's game had started a half hour after JP's and since it WAS a tournament game she came over for the last quarter. We all watched the first of JP's game though and B and I went over during Bubba's half-time.

So Bubba's team-the Mustangs-had a super hard game. There were two games that day between four undefeated teams and the winners of each will play this coming Saturday in a championship game in the evening at a high school under the lights. Pretty exciting for these 11 yr. old boys. The other team had 3 mega-huge kids. They were all taller than me for sure and they were crazy strong. Poor Bubba had to block one of them and would get a little block in and the kid would take off with Bubba hanging onto him. It took like 5 kids to take him down when he ran the ball. The other team scored in the first quarter, but missed the extra point. We struggled hard and fought our way down the field several times, but couldn't quite make it. Then in the 4th quarter with about 4 minutes to go, Bubba caught the pass of his life. It was for about 12 yds. and it was on either a 3rd or 4th down (can't remember for sure). He made a ONE handed catch and moved us down the field which completely turned our game around. We were able to score in the last 2 or so minutes and GOT the extra points. So it was 8-6. Then another superstar kid on our team caught an interception when the other team was like right at the end zone! With about a minute left we ran one more play and then took a knee to finish it up. Hooray! In 3 years, we've never had such a low scoring game. We were so proud of all of those boys. Coach got a little emotional during his speech and it was such a neat moment. So now, we'll play the only team we've ever lost to this Sat. And it's time for payback baby! We only lost to them by 2 points last year in the last 20 sec. or so of the game. Then we'll be done with sports until March! As much as I love to watch these guys, I'm so beyond done with practices every night!

My Life...

I just might lose my mind for reals this time.

How hard is it to-

-Take your socks upstairs when you go up
-Replace the toilet paper roll (since you've already taken the new roll out and placed it on the counter)
-Take your shoes off by the door, rather than in the middle of the kitchen floor
-Put your bowl in the sink (I'm not even asking you to put it in the dishwasher-just the sink!)
-Put the cereal back in the cupboard-only if there's still cereal left in it please!
-Throw your wrappers in the trash
-Pick the pillows up off the floor and put them back on the couch, rather than walking all over them with your stinky, dirty feet
-Put the blanket back in the basket
-Pick up your costumes off the kitchen floor after you've stripped it off
-Put the Wii remotes/game back when you turn off the Wii
-Turn off a light!
-Pee IN the toilet
-Take your toys back to your own room, rather than depositing them downstairs and leaving them there-under the table, in the middle of the kitchen floor, on the kitchen counter, or in the middle of the carpet-all places they will get stepped on and destroy the foot of the person who has stepped on them
-Throw your backpack on the bench in the mudroom, rather than in the walkway between there and the kitchen or in the middle of the kitchen floor

We just had a FHE last night on our new chore chart. Surprisingly none of these things were mentioned. I just noticed all of this today-because that's when it all happened. They now have daily jobs that they rotate-dishes and table, living room and stairs, playroom. Which we've always had. Unfortunately for them, there will be no more Mr. Nice Mom and letting them get away with skipping a day, or heading off to their friend's house before mom realizes/forgets that the job wasn't done. Now we will also have weekly jobs-clean your own room and bathroom once a week. That's all I'm asking-ONE day a week. And now there are also 3 new required weekly jobs, which used to be bonus jobs they could do for extra money. Dust, take out all the trash in the house, clean/organize kitchen counter. They drew those last night and Bubba got stuck with kitchen counter and threw a hissy already and ended up in his room. I informed all of them that this is to teach them how to work because I grew up in a house where our mom never made us lift a finger-and guess what? I didn't know how to do laundry or iron until I moved in with my grandparents after high school and she taught me. And I really couldn't cook much unless it involved a box. And I quickly learned that I didn't like living in disarray. "I know how to work hard," came Bubba's reply. "Well then prove it," said mom. "I'm not the maid. You are all old enough (minus Coconut) to help out and clean up after yourselves. I still do all of your laundry and cook for you-amongst other things."
Guess what JP did today on his own without being asked-the dishes. And Peanut decided to do the dusting last night because he didn't want to have to remember later in the week. Plus he cleaned the playroom yesterday. I'm still working on Bubba. Although, he did actually go and sit at the piano and practice without me saying a word. I wondered what had happened to my child that "hates" piano and who had replaced him. He begged for lessons for two years and loved them for the first few months-until baseball started (which is way more exciting). Now, I'm lucky if I can force him in there once a week (besides actual lesson day) to sit and play. He was in there playing away today telling me how much he loves his new song. Hallelujah!

Labor Day Weekend

Inside the ice caves


Coconut caught a 20" 4 lb. fish on his dinky Cars fishing pole. He started yelling that he caught something and was reeling it in. JP ran over and took it from him while Bubba pulled it in by the line and Peanut held the top of the pole. Dad was yelling for them to run it up on the bank so they didn't lose it. Bubba caught the other big fish.




At the top of the volcano. It goes off about every 2,000 years and it's been that long now!



Big Daddy took the boys hotel camping for Labor Day weekend. It really was too cold to go outside camping and B wanted to watch a football game the first night so they stayed in a hotel and went and did tons of fun stuff. Lava Cave, Craters, lots of fishing, swimming. It was a nice weekend for Mama to watch a million movies, write, and eat ice cream for breakfast. :)