Christmas Morning 2012

Christmas Eve

The snow started falling this afternoon and we ended up with a White Christmas! It is so beautiful outside and our neighborhood is lit up with luminaries in front of each house. Dallas Jr. said "this is the best Christmas!" He and Sterling had lots of fun throwing snowballs and sledding down the hill. We made our cookies for Santa and Dallas Jr. left a note with it. They finally settled in for bed and we are looking forward to Christmas morning and then traveling to SC to visit family.

NYC 2012

We had a great trip to NYC over the weekend. We decided at the last minute to make a quick trip and fit in as much as we could. We really had an awesome time! We stayed at the Marriot in Times Square right in the middle of all the action. It was SUPER busy but that just added to the experience. We went to the Disney store, the Lego store, and F.A.O Swartz. We watched ice skaters by the Christmas tree in Rockerfeller Center and then headed to Central Park for a Carriage Ride. We topped off the night with a great dinner at an Italian restaurant. On Sunday we watched the Radio Center Christmas Spectacular which was truly "spectacular." The kids and I had not seen it and we just loved it! After that they experienced their first cab ride as we headed to the 9/11 Memorial site and tried to see the Statue of Liberty but the fog was just too heavy. Our final stop was the Empire State Building. We fit in so much in the short time we had but the kids really loved their first time to NYC. We weren't five minutes out of the city on our way home when I turned around and Sterling was asleep still holding the cracker she was eating in her hand. Sterling said her favorite thing was feeding a carrot to the horse after the carriage ride and Dallas Jr. said the Christmas Spectacular and Empire State Building were his favorites. They each talked about it at their schools today and are still worn out. Nothing like Christmas time in NYC to get you into the Holiday spirit!

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving at our house this year with the Gatch's. The kids had fun making glitter turkeys by tracing their hands. I think I will be finding glitter for awhile but they had lots of fun and that is what counts! The guys deep fried the turkey and Virginia and I made all of the sides. Before eating we went around the table and said what we are thankful for. Dallas Jr. said soldiers and Sterling said Gracie. Other answers were friends, family and good health. We also went to the movies and Sterling, Virginia, and I ventured out on Black Friday to thrift stores to find the perfect sweater for the Gatch's "ugliest Christmas sweater" party. The boys played several competitive games of corn hole and went to the park. Thanks to the Gatch's for celebrating Thanksgiving 2012 with us. One of the perks of living in PA is being so much closer to yall!

Scotland Broncos

Dallas just finished up his freshman year of full contact football for the Scotland Broncos. He played linebacker and safety on defense and running back for offense. He made some great tackles and even scored a touchdown. His last game was his best with 9 tackles. He was a one man wrecking ball as his Dad likes to say. Considering he is on the smaller side, it was quite impressive to see him lay out kids that were almost twice his weight. There is an 80 pound weight limit for his age group and those kids had a red stripe on their helmet so you knew who they were. At 43 pounds soaking wet, he was intimidated at first but he really pushed himself and learned some great lessons. We could not be more proud of him for perservering through some tough times. He had only played flag football and some of these kids had been playing tackle since age 5 which is when they can start here. I thought that was really crazy! They are very serious about their football up here! We all had to adjust to a different, very serious form of coaching that included name calling, "what are you doing Susie?" was a favorite and lots of literally kicking them in the rear telling them, "get in there boy!" I have to say though it was quite refreshing in the days of everyone gets a trophy and everyone gets equal playing time to really teach these kids how to play the game and what actual life is like. Sometimes it's not fair and sometimes it's really hard. Sometimes you get the wind knocked out of you and sometimes you get knocked down but you pick yourself up and keep moving. If you make a commitment to something you stick with it and give it your best every single time. These were just a few of the things he learned this season. I learned so much about football this year watching through his eyes and I have a new respect for the sport. I know it helped Dallas to grow up in so many ways. Of course it's not the only way to learn these life lessons but for my sports loving son it was just right.

Happy Halloween

She's 3!

Our beautiful Sterling is 3 years old! We celebrated with two parties! The first was a Curious George party with family in South Carolina. The second was at home with Poppy here visiting. That one was Minnie Mouse themed. Poppy taught her how to hold her fingers to show that she is 3 and she tells everyone, "I'm free". She walked around for several days singing "Happy Birthday to me" and would tell anyone that would listen that it was her birthday. Thank you to everyone who helped her celebrate and who sent cards and gifts!