Double loss!

It has been almost 2 years since we have had any visits from the tooth fairy around here. Cooper has had a loose molar for a while (his "silver" tooth that has had a crown on it since he was 3!) and he finally got it out tonight.

 Since that was his 10th tooth out, and Zoe had only lost 8, she wasn't about to let him get that far ahead. She proceeded to work on her molar and out it came!

That tooth fairy was busy tonight!

love...

I love that even at 10 and 12, they still like to sleep together (every once in a while, at least!)

Stuffed, and blessed!

We had a large group for Thanksgiving this year. With the family growing, we were up to 19. I have been planning, making lists, grocery shopping, cleaning, preparing, and baking for what feels like a month now! Thankfully, my kids are old enough now to help out quite a bit and volunteered often.
It was worth every ounce of effort, and we had a wonderful day with family.
Tables were set...

 Slowly people started showing up. Traffic was awful, so everyone trickled in throughout the day.

(Jax and Zoe)

(Cooper, Martin, Sonya, and Zoe)

(Dad and Me)

(Jessie spent lots of time outside playing with the dogs!)

 Joe and I were BUSY cooking while everyone visited and enjoyed some appetizers.

(Cathy, Amber, Jeff, Wes)

(Martin, Nathan, Camilo)

(Baby Morgan and Sonya)

(Jax and Jeff)

(Gramps with Jax and Zoe)

 Gramps was serving the drinks. The kids anxiously awaited their sparkling cider, and Cooper chose a fancy martini glass to enjoy his "cocktail!"

We decided buffet style would be the easiest with this group! Turkey, mashed potatoes, 2 types of stuffing, honey-creamed corn, roasted green beans, creamed spinach, cranberry sauce, rolls, and salad. Yummy!!

 I couldn't resist getting this bib for Morgan. He was a good boy for his first Thanksgiving, mostly eating and sleeping the whole day!

 After dinner, we enjoyed another buffet...this time with desserts. This is my favorite part of the day. I baked, and baked some more, and created a variety of homemade treats!

 Cooper was a big help setting this up, and couldn't wait to finally eat them!

(Max, Jeff, Meghan, Cathy, me, Dad)

 My mom was the official photographer of the day, so Cathy volunteered to get at least one picture of her!!

 It was such a wonderful day. We have so much to be thankful for. The Lord has blessed us all and it is nice to take some time to reflect on it, and enjoy a day to just be together.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Skimboarding

Cooper spent the rest of the weekend at Mimi's house. Since Jax usually goes surfing in the mornings, they were at the beach at 6:30 am ready to go. Cooper likes to take the skimboard and do that while Jax hits the waves with Gramps.
Mimi tagged along and got a few pictures...

 Although it was pretty cold, the boys had a fun morning!

We are where?

A few months ago, Jax was looking online at his favorite fingerboarding website and saw an advertisement for a "Southern California Fingerboarding Event!" It said, "raffle prizes, contests, food and drink".  The boys were so excited, even if it meant driving an hour to get to this place. We really didn't know much about it, but since the boys love to fingerboard, we thought it would be a fun way to spend some time.
After dropping Zoe off at dance rehearsals, Coop and I headed to meet Mimi, Gramps, and Jax (Nolan tagged along too!). When I showed up at the address, it was not quite what we were expecting! It was an old house, in a rundown neighborhood, with a group of older teenagers in front. Oh my...what Jax gotten us into now?!

 

The boys even had their new fingerboarding shirts on!

The "event" was supposed to have started at 10. When we arrived at 11:15, nothing was happening. After waiting a few minutes, a couple of pickup trucks showed up with some big ramps. So they set everything up, and the kids paid their entry fee, and we headed in!

 We couldn't believe we were in the backyard of this strangers place, but somehow the boys thought it was pretty cool. It turns out that it was "organized" by a couple of the teenagers. At least they were friendly, and were very nice to the boys.

 It started to rain, so they quickly moved the very expensive, wooden ramps into the garage for the fingerboarding to continue in there.

 The longer we stayed, the crowd of teenagers and young adults got a bit shadier. After convincing the boys it was time to leave, we made a quick stop at a Subway (again, not in the best of neighborhoods!) and had some lunch before heading home.

It was a new adventure, for sure! The boys had a good time though, which I guess is all that matters. :)

Pizza with the Pack!

We celebrated the end of the Packers season with a team pizza party tonight. We enjoyed our time with this team, both the parents and the kids got along great.
Coach Jim took a few moments to talk about the heart of the team,  about each of the boys and present them with a small memento for the season.

Cooper truly loves being a part of this team, has enjoyed being a leader and working hard for Coach Jim and Coach Tom. We really couldn't be more proud of how dedicated he has been this season.

 Packers -Fall 2012!

Here's to another great football season...now it's time to move on to basketball next week!

End of the season...

I can't believe the season is over for the Packers! These boys had a great Fall, and ended last week with  7-1 record. They've grown so much over the last few months and were having a great time and truly succeeding. We went into the playoffs as the 2nd place team in the NFC.
We fought the Redskins tonight, and it just didn't go our way. We had played them earlier in the season, and it was a rough game, but we had pulled off the win. It just wasn't in the cards for us tonight.

 Cooper played cornerback on defense and had some great plays and fantastic flag pulls.

 He continued as quarterback on offense and battled through the entire game. There was some heavy rushing, and he held his own, but we just couldn't get the points.

 Coach Jim did his best to keep their spirits up and keep them fighting.

 In the end, we lost 12-0. It was a heartbreak for these boys and I felt awful for all of them. They worked so hard all season, and I hated to have it end like this for them. I truly wasn't prepared to be done yet...neither was Coop.

 Coach Jim and Coach Tom did a good job rallying the boys after the game and congratulating them on such a well-played season.

We are looking forward to celebrating with the team at the end of season party. Go Packers!