Toothless

Someone lost a tooth today! 

It's been wiggly for a week or so, and we've caught Evan playing with it occasionally. Today we were driving home from Duke, the kids were watching a movie, and somewhere in the middle if the Virginia freeway I hear, "Mommy, my toof is out!" 

Sure enough, I turn around and he's proudly holding a bloody little nugget in his hand and there's a big hole in his handsome little smile. 

We pocketed the tooth until that night when we could tuck it safely into our new tooth pillow, and the next morning found that the Tooth Fairy had left a whole $5! 

Duke

We took a somewhat spontaneous trip to North Carolina yesterday to watch the Hoos take on Duke at the storied Cameron Indoor Stadium. It's only a 3 hour trip, and while Mike has been there before, the rest of us couldn't miss the opportunity! Selling the trip to the boys only took three words: "hotel plus pool!" 

After a car ride that included more potty stops than we care to admit, most of them happening less than 6 minutes after we left a potty stop, we arrived and went to explore the campus. I don't know what I expected, but I wasn't quite prepared for how beautiful it was! All old stone and turrets and carvings and arches... And the cathedral!  Simply stunning. I wondered several times if it was the inspiration for Hogwarts. 

You'd never guess, but this is the basketball arena. 

Not many students outside in the cold for tonight's game, but some were camped out for the NEXT one! 

Just hanging out courtside during warm ups... No biggie. 

"Mommy, it's too LOUD!" And the game hasn't even started! 

Mike told me there wasn't any space, but this is unreal. Barely as wide as my shoes. Many apologies to Malcom Brogdon's parents who were so very gracious about my knees and the boys' feet constantly in their back! 

Tip off

So very close to our other favorite Evan. 

Check out the seats: literally only a handful of rows in each of two levels. And that's it... The ends don't go any higher either. So intimate, so tiny, so intimidating, and so loud! 

Game over. It was a REALLY close one... We'll get you next time, Coach K! 

Can you see the big huge tears? Drew realized we didn't win. "We not (sob) score enough (sob) points! I so sad (sob) for the players! (sob-wail)" 

As if the players' parents we were sitting with didn't feel bad enough about losing, now the loss made a kid cry! 

Panthers' First Game!

Evan joined the Panthers basketball team this year, through the Upward league. He's had several practices with Coaches Chris and Katie and the team of kindergarteners. (We talked the league into letting Evan play a year early, impressing them at tryouts with his level of athleticism and basketball knowledge. Yep- tryouts for kindergarten ball.) The Panthers' first game was today, bright and early across town at 9am, and I'm not sure Evan slept a wink last night. He was pretty nervous. 

The team, and Evan, did wonderfully! We were impressed by how most kids truly seemed to remember the rules. Pressing (guarding too close) and stealing were whistle-worthy, and big travels got a call from the ref. Evan got the Defense Star for his team, in recognition of a great job- he played tight defense and even caused a couple turnovers! 

Is it too early to start putting these clips into a highlight reel for Coach Tony?? 

Manager Duties

While we were in Tennessee for Christmas, our basketball team was also in Tennessee for a game! Of course we stopped and cheered and spent the night. While we were in the hotel, Evan got invited to not only ride the bus with the team to the game, but also to serve as a Team Manager and sit on the bench! What an awesome honor! It was a good thing he had just received an official Virginia jersey for Christmas, so he was dressed perfectly. After some initial nerves on the bus, Mike went to the ticket office and Evan went to the locker room with the other managers, coaches, and players. Drew and I drove separately and didn't see them until gametime! Evan did a great job, cheering when appropriate, carrying towels, and helping set up the chairs for the players during time outs. Unfortunately UVA lost the game by a massive margin, so we're not sure any guest manager invitations will be happening again. :( But it sure was a night to remember!

 Can you see Evan at the end of the bench?

Santa visits

As we prepare for Christmas, the boys have been very preoccupied with Santa. They're not asking for anything special, in Evan's words, "We want whatever--Santa always brings something great--and a blue stuffed alligator." Very sweet! (But where'd the alligator come from??) 

The boys haven't wanted anything to do with seeing Santa for several years now, but after dinner near the mall

one Tuesday they wanted to check him out. We were the only ones there and after staring for a few minutes, they wandered over and said hi. No pictures, no stress, just a little chat. Mike took illicit phone-photos while I tried to block him from the view of the elves. 

A couple days later we found that one of Santa's representatives was at Lowe's, so in the hopes of another free candy cane, we had another chat. 

Here's hoping your Christmas is merry! 

He's back on the shelf!

Rudy the Elf returned to our house! The boys were thrilled that he came back, and love hunting for him every morning. He made quite the impression his first morning by finding and helping himself to the donuts! He was caught red-handed, sitting on the table with crumbs and a little powdered sugar on his nose. Silly elf! 

Here are just a couple of his other hiding places: he stole Drew's balloon, raced motorcycles with some of the superheroes, and used blocks to remind the boys that he knows their names for sharing with Santa. We love having Rudy around! 

Basketball team

Evan is signed up for a basketball team! We had to advocate a little to get him on since its really for kindergarteners and up, but Coach decided to take a chance and let him try. Tonight was their first practice, and Evan did amazing. They stretched, ran, jumped, dribbled, talked strategy, and of course shot the ball. The hoop is a little lower and the ball a little smaller than standard, but its perfect for the 5&6 year olds. Games start in January-- Go Panthers!