Not Sporty

Phil and Henry signed up for flag football this fall.  Both were very excited about the prospect, but Henry soon lost interest.  He was at a definite disadvantage: 1) he has my sport's genes, or lack thereof, 2) we don't watch much football so he didn't have much interest in the game.  He really thought he was just going to play with other boys.  The times he was most happy was when he was messing around off the field (or whatever it's called in football).

He spent most of his time chewing on his flag or playing with it ("because it feels good") and standing there, looking forlorn or lost or something.

Kate Turns Eight

I wonder if I will ever NOT feel nostalgic when my kiddos have a birthday.  Kate's was over a month ago, but thankfully there's no statute of limitations on blogging (because I have a backlog that dates much further back).  We had a celebration for just our family and then on the weekend Grandma and Grandpa came over as well as some family friends.  They conveniently have 7 kiddos that are all built-in playmate age for all my kiddos as well as some cute babies that afford me my baby fix.  All in all, a great way to celebrate Kate and what she adds to our family - lots of fun, sweetness, cuddles and most of all - smiles.  We all love her so much.

Our tradition is to let the kiddos choose whatever dinner they want, including side dishes.  When I asked Kate what she wanted she said, "I can have anything? - even Wendys?"  We compromised by having Wendys for lunch and I even sprung for the fancy Frosties.  Kate loves bacon more than any food and they have a "sandwich called The Baconator at Wendys.  840 calories and 51 grams of fat deliciousness.  Yuck. 

Not an unusual situation.  Henry is very touchy-feely and Kate loves that...except when delivered by Henry who is a little robust with his touchy-feelyness.  He also doesn't like to take no for an answer.  I see Used Car Salesman in his future.

Kate got a Barbie for her birthday and Henry is always willing to play with someone - for a time.  His version of playing Barbies is a bit more aggressive than Kate's.

and then there was the cake.  I think I may have worked harder on this than I worked on November 18, 2001.

Christmas 2009

Christmas day in the Carroll house was really fun and relaxing.  The kiddos were all very thankful for their gifts, which makes the parents happy.  I got the family the new Super Marios Bros game for our Wii; Phil and I played that for hours until we lost all feeling in our left thumbs.  We played some board games, kiddos played with their toys and we enjoyed the yummy lasagna I'd made the day before.  At dinner Henry announced, "This was the best Christmas EVER and it's STILL Jesus's birthday!"

Christmas wouldn't be complete without a photo like this.

Kate's very excited about her new "Zum Buddy."

Henry's new "Mic-Tar."

a blog post that includes Henry isn't complete without a photo like this.

Kate found the pickle this year - lots of excitement.

the aftermath.

Much - and I mean MUCH - to be thankful for.

As a P.S. I have these two random photos that seem to fit here.  "My" tree that Addy calls boring and a photo of the Beeker's parents - on our way to Phil's Christmas party.  We didn't mean to match, really.

White Christmas

We were supposed to leave at 5am this morning for our long-anticipated vacation in Colorado.  Yesterday at 1pm the blizzard began and lasted until a couple hours ago.  The snow plows are just now beginning to work on the roads, so we don't know how long our trip will be delayed.  I've decided to work on my long-neglected blog to try to make me thankful for the things I have.  I confess that I'm not feeling particularly thankful right now.  I was pretty attached to the idea of a cozy vacation in the mountains of Colorado.

First up: photos of the storm.  We'll see if this turns into a true blogging marathon or merely a 5K.

Phil removed the snow from the side of the house so there wouldn't be an "ice dam".

Our view of the homes across the street.  We couldn't get across the street to get a photo of our house.  We're hoping the snow plows don't take too long to get to our street and then we can head out.

After looking at these photos, I can say that I'm thankful for a snowblower and very thankful for a hubby to take care of all that outside "man stuff."

Snow Day

Henry really gets a bad rap around here.  It's well-deserved most of the time, but still, it's gotta be hard to be in trouble all the time.  This particular day, his sisters had been irritated at him for about 16 hours straight and I decided to quietly ask him if he wanted to go outside and play in the snow.  I asked quietly because if I had asked in anything higher than 2 decibels the girls would have wanted to join in and I wanted some Mommy/Henry time.  As I'm posting these photos now, Kate is asking when this happened and if that snowman is still outside.  The snowman is NOT outside.  This happened back in October and then we had some freakishly warm weather in November and the snow melted.  Of course we currently have snow, but the temps are well below zero and nobody around here wants to play when it hurts to play.

when he starts throwing snow at me, it's time to put away the camera