Christmas Pictures

Last Thursday, the boys had a snow day. There was NO snow on the ground. BUT, in true Virginia fashion, they closed school due to the THREAT of snow...lol. Always amazes me. ;) So, since they were ALL home, I decided it would be a good time to do Christmas pictures................



Looks like it went well, huh? ;)

WKYA Chargers 2010 ~ # 3 Highlights

Christmas Time is here again!!

My favorite time of year has finally arrived!!

Daniel got the honor of putting the star on the Christmas tree this year!! We have been using this star for 9 years. Michael, Gramps and I made it in 2001 out of cardboard, foil and tape and I try my hardest every year to keep it safe!! :)


Of course, he needed a little help from daddy!!


This was the tree after I finished it! Usually the boys fight over where they are going to put things and almost knock the tree over in their attempts to find the perfect spot, so this year (due to time constraints) I made them each a pile of their ornaments and they took turns. I think this may be what we do from now on!!!


When I pulled out our lights this year, EVERY SINGLE STRAND would not work, sooooo, Robert ran to the store and got new lights. They are very different from any lights I've ever put on a tree before, but I think I like them. Or they are growing on me, anyway...lol. They are a little bit on the neon spectrum, but they were a big hit with the boys!!

30 Days of Thanks.....Days 29 & 30

The last 2 Days of Thanks are dedicated to my two youngest boys. They are so very different, yet two peas in a pod. These two keep me on my toes, make me laugh uncontrollably and make me want to pull all of my hair out! Paul dancing and Daniel trying to copy him will forever bring a smile to my face!! :)

Paul,
You are a wonderful child! You are ALWAYS willing to lend a hand, even when you aren't asked. You are incredibly funny. I love how creative and organized you are!! Sometimes I think you might be a little OCD.....but we'll just blame that on daddy. ;) I like how you are developing your own personality and turning into your own little person (even though I think you are WAY too young to be doing this already). You have such a sweet spirit and I just think you are the GREATEST six year old I know!!! I love you more than I can possibly say and I am so happy to be your mommy (at least for a little while longer.....until you decide to start calling me mom)!!

Daniel,
My little love bug! You are the sweetest little boy I've ever know. I love your smile, your laugh, and the way you giggle like a crazy man!! I love it when you say, "my brother, Paul" or "my brother, Michael". I love how everyone is your friend. I like to hear the stories about daddy taking you to the grocery store and you putting things in the cart or touching peoples booties.......that silly man, he obviously doesn't understand what the seat in the front of the cart is for!! I even love how you get absolutely DELIRIOUS when you are tired, it makes me laugh! I just love how sweet you are and I hope that you stay that way!!!

What I love the most, is how you are together. Like two peas in a pod!! or Bat Man and Robin....heehee :)

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 28

Day 28 ~ SO Thankful for SLEEP!!! I got to sleep in 2 hours longer than normal thanks to my wonderful hubby and kids being as quiet as they could be. LOVED IT! It was just what I needed too!! Haven't felt this good in a while. :)

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 27

Day 27 ~ Today I am especially Thankful for my parents!! Without them, I wouldn't be here....lol ~ I couldn't resist ;)

Mom and Dad,
You two are the greatest parents that a person could EVER hope for. Without your endless advice, comfort, support, thoughtfulness, and love, I don't know where I'd be today. You guys have been my rock these last few years and I just want you to know how very much you are appreciated. Mom, next to Robert, you are the best friend that I have ever had. I know we've had our moments, but I'm so glad that we finally got to where we are now!! Pops, you are one of the best men I know. You are ALWAYS there when I need you and I appreciate so much that you make that drive to see us every few months!! You are GREAT parents and even better Grandparents!! I love you both more than words could ever say and I am so very Thankful that you are my parents!!

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 24, 25, 26

Day 26 ~ Today I am Thankful for GREAT food! I missed some of my favorites yesterday, so I think I may have another Thanksgiving tonight...lol. I may have to go without the turkey, but as long as I have some of Grandma's dumplings and some pumpkin pie, I'll be all set!!!

And since I've been such a slacker and not kept up with this, I have two more days to go.

Day 25 ~ Today I am Thankful for FAMILY! ALL of you! We spent a nice day at my brother-in-laws house, had some great food (and dessert), and made it home with some leftovers! I did miss being in Ohio with my family, but I sent them all some love!!

And just one more.

Day 24 ~ Today I am Thankful for laughter. Especially when I hear it from my children! To me, there is no better sound in the world!!

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 23

Day 23 ~ Today I am Thankful for Melatonin. Daniel has been sleeping SO much better! Hopefully, it keeps working, and we can all get back in a regular sleep pattern. A good night of sleep = a happy family!!! :)

Chargers Football 2010

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 22

Day 22 ~ Today I am Thankful for School Pictures. School pictures chronicle all of the bad haircuts, bad skin, funny glasses, braces and funky outfits you were forced to wear all those years ago. All of which are good for a laugh when you're older!! Luckily for my kids, I am sympathetic to their plight and I make sure they have good haircuts and I let them pick their own clothes.......that way, they'll have no one to blame but themselves! ;)

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 21

Day 21 ~ Today I am Thankful for music. Music of any kind. I love to hear it (and sing it when no one is around...lol) and I love to hear my kids sing too! Even when it's, "Jingle bells, Batman smells,"......I think you all know the rest!! This one is VERY popular in our house right now! :)

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 20

Day 20 ~ Today I am Thankful for my husband.
Robert,
You are my best friend, my other half, my sounding board, the calmer of the storms in my life and so many other things. You are one of the greatest men I have ever known. We have been through so much in the last year and a half and I am so grateful that you've been by my side through it all. I never would have made it through without you. You are a great husband and an even better father. I am so Thankful that you came into mine and Michael's lives!! I love you more today than I did yesterday and I'll love you even more tomorrow!! So, Thank You for being who you are!!

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 19

Day 19 ~ Today I am Thankful for Netflix. Without Netflix, our weekly movie night wouldn't be as much fun!! We've seen some GREAT movies lately!! Thanks Netflix for being so quick getting those movies to us. You ROCK!!

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 18

Day 18 ~ Today I am Thankful for cough medicine. Enough said.

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 17

Day 17 ~ Today I am Thankful for the "nice" moments with my kids. You know, the ones where no one is crying, screaming or fighting. There are so few of them that I thought I should be thankful for the ones I get!!

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 16

Day 16 ~ Today I am Thankful for the BEAUTIFUL weather we are having!! You walk out with a sweatshirt on thinking it's gonna be chilly and you realize it's a heat wave!! LOVE IT!! Bonus for me that the kiddos can go out and play after school! :)

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 15

Day 15 ~ Today I am Thankful for the drive up pharmacy window at Walgreens! I love that I don't have to drag my sick kiddos into the store in order to get them the meds that will make them feel better. Love it!! I do not, however, love that they paged me overhead to tell me that they didn't have the meds......even though they looked over the prescription BEFORE I left the drive up window. Sometimes all you can do is shake your head in wonder.

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 14

Day 14 ~ Today I am Thankful for my Public Library. I get to read all of the books I want.......for FREEEEE!!! The only draw back is that sometimes I have to be patient, and that is NOT one of my strong points....lol ;)

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 13

Day 13 ~ Today I am Thankful for ESPN. I got to watch the Ohio State v. Penn State game!! YAY ESPN!!! Way to go BUCS!!!

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 12

Day 12 ~ Today I am Thankful for my oldest son Michael.
Michael,
You are one of the greatest things in my life and I love you more than you could ever understand. You are such a great kid and I am so proud to call you my son! I know that life isn't always easy or fair, but remember that I will ALWAYS be here for you NO MATTER WHAT!! 'Cuz you are AWESOME!!! I love you bub! :)

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 11

Today I am Thankful for the men and women who CHOSE to serve their country. Whether it be in a time of war or a time of peace, you signed your life over to the United States of America, fully ready and willing to fight for your country. I say this not only as a proud Veteran, but as the proud granddaughter, daughter, sister and wife to Veterans as well!! God Bless you all and God Bless this great country of ours!!

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 10

Day 10 ~ Today I am Thankful for my home. It's a lot of work to take care of a home, inside and out, but it's worth it! Every night my family and I have a safe, warm place to lay our heads and for that WE are thankful!!

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 9

Day 9 ~ Today I am Thankful for Tostitos. If I didn't have my chips and salsa, I wouldn't have had anything for dinner. It's been a LOOONNNGGG day! :/

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 8

Day 8 ~ Today I am Thankful for "confirmation of appointment" phone calls. If it weren't for these phone calls, I would show up on the WRONG day for appointments that my husband scheduled. I love it when he tells me the wrong date....lol. ;)

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 7

Day 7 ~ Today I was Thankful for Daylight Savings Time. I totally forgot, so I actually got an extra hour added to my day!! Gotta love that!

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 6

Day 6 ~ Today I am Thankful for my couch. Yes, my couch. Without it, sometimes I'd have nowhere to sleep. You see, my husband snores and my youngest thinks it's his life's mission to get in my bed at ALL hours of the night. It's here, it's broken in, and for that I am Thankful!! ;)

30 Days of Thanks.....Day 5

Day 5 ~ Today I am Thankful for Middle school, Elementary school and Preschool. Without these wonderful establishments, I would have long ago checked myself into a mental institution......preferably one with padded walls! ;)

30 days of Thanks.....Days 1 - 4

Since the month of November is when Thanksgiving finds itself, I have decided to give my Thanks.....everyday. At first, I thought I'd write it down on paper and then post it the last day of November, but I decided that it might be better for me to do it every day. So, I will do days 1 - 4 and start fresh tomorrow!!

Day 1 ~ Today I am Thankful for Diet Coke. Without it my life would be tasteless!!

Day 2 ~ Today I am Thankful for Public Elections. I am so glad that my VOTE counts and am hoping for change!!

Day 3 ~ Today I am Thankful for Facebook! Without you, I wouldn't know what my facebook friends are doing every minute of the day, AND I wouldn't have entered a contest to win FREE sunglasses from my sons' eye doctor.....now I have an AWESOME new pair!! WOO HOO!!

Day 4 ~ Today I am Thankful for Starbucks. I don't go very often, but that Venti Tazo Chai Latte was exactly what I needed this morning!! :)

There are so many things to be Thankful for, so I thought I'd start out with the little things first. ;) Keep checking back to see if I stick with it...lol

Halloween 2010

We had fun carving pumpkins!! Paul's, Daniel's, Jess' and Michael's is up top ~ his dragon head caved in when he tried to pick it up. :(

Paul dressed as Chris Cooley #47


Bat~Dan We used this mask that we've had for years, Paul's SWAT costume from last year with a printed bat symbol glued on the front and a cape from a Batman costume from when Michael was batman at age 4! This was definitely a LAST MINUTE costume!! :) But he was the best lookin' batman out there..lol...and he kept saying, "I want candy", instead of TRICK OR TREAT! :)

The Crew ~ Michael dressed up last minute as a sniper. He wore his PJ's and some camo stuff of Robert's and carried a Nerf Gun!!

We had fun trick-or-treating, but I am so glad it's over!! Paul was the only cooperative one during the whole getting dressed process, and at one point was the ONLY one that was going.........KIDS!!!! WHAT would I do without them?!?!?! :)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Daniel!!!

This is the cake that Michael and Paul decorated for Daniel. I think they did a great job!!


He was so excited for his birthday. He got to take cupcakes to school for his friends, he got to wear a crown, AND he gets to have an awesome birthday party with his family tomorrow!! What more could a 3 year old ask for??!!

A Little Halloween Fun!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Random Cuteness

A couple weekends ago, Robert decided to rotate the tires on the van. I was inside and Daniel came running in from outside saying, "I need to get my tools!" This is what he was doing..... so cute!!

We Support Breast Cancer Awareness

I decided to go pink with the blog for the month of October. I wanted to show my support for Breast Cancer Awareness!!

Rain, Hide Outs and Camoflage

There hasn't been too much going on here lately. Last week, it rained for 4 days STRAIGHT! Which meant no football practice for Paul and no going outside for ANYONE. It was a LONG week. Here's a pic I took on the 2nd day of the downpour....

It filled the pool cover with so much rain that the water IN the pool started coming out. I was ready to build an ark!!

While it rained, Daniel took to building "Hide Outs" in his room. This is him doing his signature move (he does it ALL the time) in front of the first hide out we made.


He wasn't too thrilled with that one because he wanted it to be dark inside, so this was take two. I had to cover the sheet with blankets to block out the light. So, I thought I'd try to get him to take a nap.......in the hide out. Nope, it didn't work.
This one STILL wasn't exactly what he wanted, so I then had to cover the open side with more blankets. So, after 3 takes, we finally got it right!!


These pics were taken just yesterday. Paul has been hounding Robert to put camo paint on him. He wore his camo pants to school and put on his green shirt and camo hat when he got home, all in hopes that daddy would FINALLY break out the face paint! Well, he got his wish!! They drove around the back yard on their 4 wheeler and truck with wooden guns hunting deer....lol. Oh what imaginations they have!! :)

Air Show '10

On Saturday, while I was working :(, Robert took the boys to the NAS Oceana Air Show!! They had a great time and Robert took some awesome pics!! (Michael did too ~ he took the one of Daniel sleeping in the van.)

The Blue Angels


The old and the new!

Michael, Paul, Anderson, Daniel and Uncle David!!

This is BEFORE they got to the air show! Robert said it was very loud even waiting to get on base.

First Game Fiasco.....

Last Saturday was our first football game. We lost. The boys played hard, but there was not enough organization and some of the boys got confused. Pair this with the team mom talking trash about our team......AT THE FIRST GAME. I was NOT happy. Our boys are ages 5, 6 and 7. The team mom kept going on and on about teamwork. THEY ARE LITTLE KIDS.......of course they don't get the concept of "team work". I know grown folks who don't get it. I just don't understand people like that. *sigh* I guess it's gonna be a LONG season. :/

Anyway, here are some pics I got of Paul (when another kids "fan club" wasn't standing RIGHT in front of me.....grrr). He ROCKED out there blocking! Way to go # 3!!!!





He took a little bit of a beating on this one!! But he got up, shook it off and got right back in there!! :) That's my boy.

First Day of School 2010!!!!

Yesterday was the first day of school. Everything went wonderfully!!! I couldn't have asked for a better day. :) All my boys had great days.......the only bad part was all of the homework that I had to do. ;)

Labor Day Weekend

We saw these dolphins just beyond where the waves were breaking. There were either alot of them or the same ones kept circling back around, because every time we looked up, there they were!! :)



Robert surfing for the first time in YEARS! He forgot how much upper body strength it takes. He should definitely get out there more!!




Robert took Michael out to try to surf. Hurricane Earl really had things churning, because Michael couldn't even get out far enough to get set up to catch any waves. He was really beat up after being out there!! I think he had a good time trying though!! ;)

WKYA First Annual Football Opening Day 8/28/10

WKYA Tiny Mite Chargers 2010 #3



Paul warming up for their mini game. :)




Game Time!!!


Paul playing Center.