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!

All Potty Trained!

Yep, I'm a big boy now! 

It actually didn't take long, which is happier for everyone. Both these boys were amazing at potty training, taking it to heart when the time was right and accomplishing it in just a few days.

Drew had a potty chart at school, though most of the time he'd rather wear the stickers than put them on his chart. He never fails at home though to ask for a jelly bean to celebrate, that's for sure. 

The only downside? We have half a case of diapers in Evan's size left that Drew has always been too tiny for, and now have another half case or more of pull-ups that Drew won't use either! :) 

Halloween 2013

We had another awesome Halloween! A couple days ago the boys carved their pumpkins (with just a little help) and came out with great results.

School this morning brought parties in both their classes, and mommy stopped in to take a couple photos. These kids were oh.so.adorable!! Each one was cuter than the last! There were superheroes, butterflies, princesses, pirates, vampires, and just about everything you could think of. One of the moms sent vampire teeth for all the big kids, and they had a blast pretending to have fangs. Evan's class did a trick or treat outside with stuffed animals and some parents passing out the candy, and Drew's class took on a more Easter Egg Hunt approach with little bags of candy and toys scattered around the class. Both were pleased as anything to fill their baskets.

Halloween night? Nope, this is 9am.

Our costumes!

 It's like taking candy from a... stuffed animal?

 Waiting semi-patiently

Everyone have a seat and pick ONE piece to enjoy. 

No, not the microwave popcorn bag, and not the ruler. You can't eat those.

Shark class Halloween 2013

 Vampire footballer

 Those poor teachers... The kids were excited BEFORE all this candy. 

The afternoon must have been WILD.

 I want candy! 

 A cute "candle" made by Drew.

 Mommy, I take your picture!

 Singing the Skeleton song. They're so cute!

We picked the boys up early to head down to Grounds and do trick or treat on the Lawn. It's an amazing experience with at least a thousand people going door to door for candy passed out by the students living there. There's a lot of line-waiting, but there's also another door with 2-3 people handing out candy every 10 feet, so it's super efficient. We made it halfway before the boys were overwhelmed and our arms ached from the weight of all our loot, and headed home.

 Coach lays out a game plan for achieving maximum candy and fun.

 This doesn't reflect the amount of people
and controlled chaos. Not even close. 

 Our family costume: Football! Daddy is the coach, the boys are players, and mommy is (appropriately) the referee.Everyone we saw just loved it! 

 We found our friend EJ!

Madness. Glorious college town madness.

 Must. Eat. Healthy. Apple.

We rang the doorbells of our immediate neighbors and those on the street behind. Walking the streets in the dark with our flashlights and glow sticks and meeting new neighbors is always so much fun! At home we had time for popcorn and a smoothie (quite the proper Halloween dinner, no?) before heading to bed much later than usual. Mommy dumped and sorted the loot (peanuts here, everything else there) and realized there must be at least 10 pounds of candy! It totally filled a reusable grocery bag, and then some. Now we're on the hunt to figure where to send all of it, as there's no way we could eat this much, even in a whole year.

This is about half the haul. 

And the scale doesn't translate well. 

That's a big tub used for chilling drinks 

at a party. Crazy.

Halloween 2013 = success! We hope yours was happy too!