Super Soccer Star!!!!

This year Drew started playing soccer.....and better yet, Matt was the coach of the TEN 3-4 year olds!!! It was definitely one for the "experience" books! Needless to say the Tams Realty Rangers probably wont be going to the next World Cup, but they did improve so much over the season and, most importantly, had FUN! They ended up winning their last 2 games (and one other game during the season) which was a perfect way to enter the "off-season"!

Now to my little soccer star :) He scored a goal during the second game and was SO excited.... the next game he didn't score any (the team had a tendency to defend against their own team members) and was in tears the entire 2nd half! Poor baby! Fast forward a bit....to the LAST game! The entire team stepped it up and Drew scored TWO goals! He was (and still is to be honest) SO excited at his accomplishment!


Here is Drew after scoring a goal! He did a little superstar jaunt...it was hilarious!!!

Running towards the goal....giving it his ALL!

Determination!



Break-time!

All-in-all it was a fun season!

New Year....New Goals!!! And Catching Up on Christmas!!

So, it's January 10th and I already find myself WAY behind on my "resolution" to keep the blog updated regularly (I'm won't commit to daily because I'm not quite sure our life it that interesting!) But with being out of town for two weeks and developing a pretty nasty stomach flu that quickly spread throughout our house, I am a little behind with it all! But I will catch up!

We had a wonderful Christmas! Actually we had about 10 Christmases, or at least it felt that way! We traveled to Texas for Christmas to visit my aunt and uncle who were unable to make the trip to Yuma this year! An added bonus was that my sister-in-law and family live in the same town, so we had some great family together time!

So, we started on our 18 hour journey on the 22nd of December deciding to make the first day the longest and drive about 12 hours. It was a tough day, but the kids were pretty close to perfect....of course they had a wide variety of movies they were able to watch in the car :)

The second day was shorter, which worked out nicely because we were ALL a little cranky about the idea of being in the car again! Drew was anxious to get to Texas, Addie was anxious to not be stuck in a car seat, and Matt and I were anxious to stop hearing The Wonder Pets and Dora the Explorer.... Only real problem was that Drew developed a nasty cough somewhere in New Mexico and wasn't really feeling his best.

Sooooo...at long last we made it! Their house was beautifully decorated, as always and full of Christmas spirit. We relaxed, enjoyed some dinner and rested up for the busy days ahead.

Day 2 was filled with all kinds of crafts (courtesy of Aunt Terri and Uncle Denny, of course) It's a good thing Drew goes to preschool, or he wouldn't even know how to hold a paint brush! Yep, that's how crafty I am....but another thing I resolve to improve on this year :) They made ornaments with glitter and paint, cookies for Santa and an awesome gingerbread train!!! It was POURING rain outside which made it really feel like winter....for us AZ people who could never handle actual snow! :)

The Gingerbread Train....even Uncle Denny helped out only a couple of weeks after back surgery!

After crafts, we had a wonderful dinner and opened a few presents. Unfortunately, by this time it was obvious that Drew was REALLY not feeling well, so we just opened a couple and decided to save the rest for Christmas morning. Terri and Denny had just purchased a WII which Drew (and all of us for that matter) had quickly come to love! We had a great family bowling game....totally reminded me of the WII commercial where everyone spends Christmas in front of the TV playing WII and doesn't want to bake cookies or look at lights....Yep! That was us!!!

The BEAUTIFUL dinner table!

Christmas Eve....Drew not feeling too well :(

Lovin their Pillow Pets!

Playin' some WII Bowling!

Drew fell asleep very annoyed by the fact that some of us weren't catching on to the concept of the WII remote as quickly as we should have been... he kept saying "Push A" in the cutest, yet most annoyed sounding voice possible! We continued to "practice" as he slept on the couch....



...all was well until he woke up having slight convulsions...and of course had a fever! Ugh! Luckily it came down with Motrin and a bath and we all went in and got some sleep in hopes that he would feel MUCH better for Christmas morning and adding Motrin to the Zyrtec he'd been taking hoping to avoid another incident!

So, that brings us to Christmas Day! MANY more pictures and fun to come!

Christmas: Night 1

Here are some pics of our FIRST Christmas celebration at our house Sat night! My kids are not spoiled! Haha!!


A gift that Santa had left under our tree one night! He came early since we won't be home on Christmas!

The present made a good chair!

Addie loves her GiGi! :)

Addie and Melissa playing with the new Barbie car!

Drew wanted this microwave....

Addie LOVED her car!

First batch of toys! They loved everything they got and each other got!

Getting sleepy!

Want to know what was in the BIG BOX! You'll have to wait until next post!

Christmas Village

Wow! I think I finally have all of our Christmas Cards finished! What a nightmare that was, but I think they are pretty cute :) Next year I just might stick to the cute pre-fab ones that you simply insert your picture, a nice holiday greeting and pick them up from the store (envelopes and all :) So much easier! Now SO much to get done in less than a week! Yikes!

For now, here are some pictures from the Christmas Village her in town :)

Christmas Extravaganza Evening!!!!

The preface the entire post...

When I mentioned to my sister-in-law last night that we were going to meet Santa, she said "I can't wait to see pictures!" Not a good thing to tell someone who has an obvious picture taking addiction!!! Haha.....so here we are with PLENTY of pictures from our fun-filled evening last night!





Alright, so here was MY PLAN for yesterday...Addie normally takes a nap around 1pm, but most days she is tired before that, so yesterday (since I didn't have to pick Drew up from school at 12:30) she was going to go down around noon....at 3:30 the kids would put on their super-cute matching jammies and we would head to this really fun train, where we took our family pictures, which reminded me of the Polar Express... Santa would come...we'd take some cute pictures of the kids and then head to Drew's school for the Christmas Extravaganza....

That was the plan...seemed reasonable...but here's how it all went down....

Around noon both kids were bathed, lotioned and brushed and Drew says to me, "Mommy, I'm tired, I WANT to take a nap!!!" Seriously, could it really happen where both of my wonderful children would nap...at the same time? Sounded like a plan to me! So Drew climbed into his top bunk and I put Addie down in her bottom bunk. I closed the door and crossed my fingers... After 30 minutes Addie was still giggling but not a peep from Drew. I figured he had fallen asleep and she was just taking her time! WRONG! I opened the door to find Drew hanging one of his stuffed animals over the side of the bed and Addie reaching up and giving it kisses! SO CUTE...any other time! So I kicked Drew out of the room and laid Addie down...it was now 12:30! The noises, moaning, babbling, etc continued until 2:30 when she finally feel asleep!!! So much for our 3pm outing! I then walk into the playroom where Drew is now laying on the floor....ASLEEP!! I now know we aren't going anywhere until AT LEAST 5!!!

So by 5 both kids were up and ready! Good thing was they were well rested!!!! So off we went. We decided we'd "meet" Santa at Grandma's house, but thought we'd stop by the train first for some pictures! We got there...kids were cute and happy...but my camera was acting a little funky! I later discovered that it is always a good idea to have the lens completely attached to the body of the camera BEFORE attempting to take pictures! Problem fixed....off to meet Santa!!

Drew was cool with Santa.... but had a slight feeling that it was actually his Uncle Mike! Addie was unsure to say the least! We'd seen Santa at the mall and she had completely flipped! So I was expecting tears and screaming!

She didn't disappoint! Santa walked in and the tears started...she wanted NO part of him! She sat on daddy's lap and then crawled to the corner and "hid"....

Drew talked to Santa...Santa talked to Drew and then Addie appeared.... she crept towards him and then away... she was curious, but didn't want to be held!

The played and she loved the gift he'd given to her... I loved it because she did the exact same thing Drew had done with Santa 2 years ago! Sometimes it nice to see similarities...even through the delays!

I love this picture! We have a very similar picture of Addie 2 Christmases ago looking at him just like this! Except then she was draped in oxygen tubing and feeding tubes!!! Such a reminder of how far she has come!!

This doesn't happen very often.... it is happening more and more, but I still just love to see them playing together.

When Santa left Uncle Mike came over and brought presents for the kids, since he won't be here for Christmas.

Addie loved her doll carrier!

Drew was so anxious to open his present!

I LOVE this picture! :)

Hmmm...fun! Thanks Uncle Mike!!! I hope I'm getting ear plugs for Christmas!

Rockstar!

Well, that was enough fun and excitement for me for the evening, but we weren't done yet! Off to Drew's Christmas Extravaganza! He found his friends, Taylor and Kyla...

Ky and Drew are in preschool together...so cute! Funny thing is, her mom and I were great friends in junior high! Time sure does fly!!

Picture with the snowman....

This is one of the cutest pictures ever...I must say!

Awwww!!!

Drew caught the gingerbread man!!!

Addie was happy once we let her loose!!!

And so this night comes to an end!!! Let the holidays begin!!!