You know you watch too much football when...

...your 5 year old starts calling penalties on his little brother in the playroom.

Braden has decided that he wants to be a referee.

Our own Christmas Pageant

This year I decided that I wanted my kids to be in a Christmas Pageant. Braden's preschool does a Christmas concert and the church does various Christmas activities, but no pageant... so I decided to write and direct my own. I am very thankful that I have friends who are as crazy as I am and agreed to participate.

We transformed the dining room into our stage and we were off...of course Rozy's bed got utilized so she also enjoyed all the pageant preparations:

We started with some dress rehearsals/playdates...

Then came opening night...

The crowd: family friends and local celebrities (including Mary Cummings who took many of these pictures for us!):

They sang their hearts out:"Joy to the World" Finale with instruments.

The cast:

Joseph: Braden Lee

Mary: Addy Ritner

Shepherds: Coleman Lee and Jax Ritner

Head Angel: Lily King

Heavenly Host: Sophia and Olivia Simone

Three Wisemen: Jack Irving, Parker King, Jackson Obie

Stable Animals: Harper Obie and Ella Irving The brothers enjoyed their costumes...

Post-performance cookieSinging again...

Addy and Braden singing their song Silent night at one of the rehearsals:

If I knew how to upload the video of the event to a computer I would...

Oh how we love the Tribe

We are very thankful these days; for family and friends, a great community to live in, God's provision. We try to lift up an attitude of gratitude in our family, so when Braden's preschool teacher asked him what he was thankful for so she could post it on the wall for everyone to see Braden replied "fields". "You know Football fields, soccer fields, baseball fields and basketball fields..." Braden we are thankful for fields as well and for living in the town of our alma mater where we can root on the Tribe as a family.

And yes, we have embraced the Griffin as the new mascot... I when I say embrace I mean that literally. Coleman hugs the Griffin every time he sees him. He actually is no longer afraid of the Chick fil A cow because we convinced him that the cow is friends with the Griffin.

Basketball season has arrived...

Halloween Celebrations

Yes these costumes may look familiar. Braden picks the costumes each year and they coordinate with his birthday theme. He is a Tribe Basketball player and Coleman is his basketball. Next year Braden has already declared that he wants to be a USA soccer player and Coleman can be the soccer ball. I think Coleman might be old enough next year to know that he is getting the short end of the stick in this arrangement. Last year he was Braden's ref; maybe next year we could have two soccer players. Eventually we will run out of sports...Yes Coleman has a green pumpkin. He begged for this green one and it actually was helpful in determining whose was whose... Halloween lasted for weeks here... 3 parades, a trip to Dada's office, a party at Nana and Papa's new retirement home, a trip to the pumpkin patch, pumpkin painting at Chick fila, pumpkin carving, and of course our annual Halloween party with trick-or-treating around the most enthusiastic Halloween neighborhood ever. Let's just say that the effort I made sewing Coleman's costume was time well spent. (it is now a basketball pillow)

Thank you Chickfila for allowing us to do such a fun craft without the danger of having paint all over my kitchen... English Holland you are my hero...

Pumpkinville Braden' school parade. Coleman of course joined the class. He thinks he is in the class anyway and begs to "Go to Braden's class" every time we drop him off.
This is Coleman's costume in the "deflated" state. I could only take the the time to stuff him 4 times; the parade didn't make the cut.
Nana and Papa's new place held a great Halloween festival. Bingo, trick-or-treating, crafts, and cookies... Pumpkin carving. We found it was easier to just use the Mr. Potato head method... knives and young boys not a good combo... A visit to Dada's work...
Halloween dinner and trick-or-treating with friends!