Ballin'

We came, we played, we saw, we conquered.  Another weekend, another ball game.  It's what we do and I better get used to it.

Air Theo! I WAN SHOOT!

Orange Tigers and #1 daddy coach.  But really, he went to work at 4am to get started on bread making for some Tarheel teams, made it just in time to coach the Tigers, and headed right back to work for sub domination.

Don't be fooled.  They can coach a team for sure, any control if their own kids, doubtful.

Aunt Nat and soon to be Uncle Zack took these guys to see the Harlem Globetrotters!  Nash hasn't stopped talking about it.  He is currently working on his dribbling.

Sunday football for the 'Bulldogs.'  They tied (come on now...) and are ready to lay the smack down next week.

Nash had a touchdown run and Jackson threw a touchdown passed.  They are loving some football and I am loving having them on the same team!

Celebrating!

Nash fully embraced his 4th birthday this year.  He can be a hit or a miss and this was definitely a hit. For his birthday lunch we went to Jersey Mike's and for birthday dinner he voted hotdogs and Oreo cake. ( I was hoping for Kanki...) Then the wait began for CHUCK E. CHEESE birthday party.  Friday night we hit up the coolest pizza joint in town and won some awesome prizes, ate lots of pretty good pizza, downed some Sprite and just incase you didn't know, they have beer.  Chuck E. for the win.

                                     

Playing 'Baseball Guys.'  Jackson picked this out for him and has been super pumped about giving it to him.  It was very hard but he even kept it a secret!

Love this picture.  We have zero family pictures so this is pretty exciting.

Chuck E. Cheese time!

Theo was not a fan of Chuck E. or any to the characters, no surprise here, he preferred to SHOOT!

Nash didn't want to go in the ticket blaster so he let Jackson instead.  It must be harder than it looks... Better luck next year J-man.  

Never got that group shot I was hoping for, everyone was too busy throwing down.

My faves and their big ol heads all up in the photo booth!!

4 Years Old!

You are finally 4 my sweet Nash!  We have been counting down the days and we plan to celebrate you all week long whether you like it or not!  You are still just as handsome and stubborn as ever.  Thanks for being you Nashy.  We love you to Antarctica and think you are adorable! :) 

Nash's 4 year old Favorites

TV Show - Paw Patrol & Blaze  & Football games

Song - Uptown Funk You Up & anything KIDZ BOP

Foods - Oatmeal, PB&J, Hotdog w no bun, Chocolate donuts & mint choc. chip ice cream!

Candy - York Peppermint Patty, GUM, M&Ms

Toy - Football & Baseball Guys

Book - Shel Silverstein, 10 Gingerbread Men

Activity - ABCya.com, play football & restaurant

Don't turn around...

Theo is the sweetest, snuggliest, funniest goober I have ever had.  And the dude is crazy.  You really cannot leave him in a room alone.  If it sounds a little too quiet, then we have a problem on our hands.  Silence is deadly around here.  He does a really good job keeping up with his brothers and it is scary...

No diaper needed for Connect 4.  He likes to fill up the entire rack and then throw every single chip all over the den.

Cleaning the dishes.  Dude loves playing in the sink.  And it keeps him contained, so I let him.

Giving himself an insulin shot.  He slides the kitchen chairs over and climbs on the counter by himself.  Charlie has type 1 diabetes, a somewhat new thing in our house.  The boys are obsessed with watching him shoot up.  Don't worry the needles are well hidden.

Like I said, he scoots the kitchen chairs over and climbs on the counter.  This is not okay.  No one was hurt in this particular instance.  And yes, I took a picture.

Side note - When Jackson was this exact age he was about to be a big brother.  Now that is scary.  Theo is not about to be a big brother, no hidden surprises here.

Jackson meeting Nash for the first time.  He was not so sure about sharing his mom.

Ohhh Mexico!

Tuesday morning when it was pouring down raining and our kids had school delays because of the previous days sleet... we got out of town!  We went to Valentin Imperial Maya in Mexico.  I highly recommend.  We went with the Dukes and the Barfields, who also needed a little sunshine and butt wiping break.  They didn't actually know each other at all, but we knew after a few margaritas it wouldn't really matter.  It was so much fun.  The first day was a monsoon wash out so we resorted to the spa and hot tubs and drinks, but the next 3 days did not disappoint.  We plan to make it an annual trip, as long as the grandparents agree, and all are welcome to come!  :)  They reported that the boys were great and I bet they even miss them a little bit today.  Nothing beats going on a vacation except coming back home to some sweet loving smiling big ol hugs.  

My favorite part of the trip was waking up to this.  I never really 'slept in' but I slept hard.  They had an outside breakfast buffet just a few feet away that was oh so good.  I usually had an omelet  and a nutella crepe both made to order with a hot cup of coffee and a mimosa.  

Days were spent by the pool lounging, partaking in some water aerobics, and fruity drinks and a few walks on the beach.

The resort food was really good.  We got fancy every night and had a late dinner and did some dancing. 

The resort bar even played the UNC vs. Duke basketball game.  The Danny Green jersey did not bring the luck we needed.  In Mexico the disappointment seems to wear off pretty quickly.

Last night there, finally got a group shot.  We took one right when we got to the resort.  We were a lot pastier and had on a lot more clothes!  Until next time!

truth

grubbing

These boys like to eat.  I can only imagine how much they will consume  as they grow older.  I can barely keep up right now, and it is not doing much for my waistline.  Our favorite 'family friendly' dinner spots are Nantucket, Kanki, Jason's Deli and Jersey Mike's, obvi.  Our go to dinners at home that everyone will actually eat are spaghetti, steak, and mexican.  We make them try whatever is on the table.  If they don't like it they can have something else.  We say the blessing and Theo ends with a loud 'AAMMMEEENNN!'  During dinner we go around the table and say something that no one knows about us that happened that day.  I have found this question gets a conversation going a little better than, 'how was your day?' and the boys love it.  It is hard to get a decent dinner on the table at a decent time, but in the end worth it.  Almost as fun as baby-sitter nights....

'DATS HOT! HOT! DATS HOT! MAAMM, DATS HOT!'

The thrill of Kanki.  It runs in his blood.

Charlie works a night at Jersey Mike's about once a week.  And guess who goes there for dinner?!  If they aren't too busy Nash gets to help out and he is all over it.  This boy is counting down the years to  being able to work at Jersey Mike's!  His favorite thing there is... Doritos!

Da Spaghetti!  Jackson eats dinner in about 35 seconds and wants dessert.  It takes a lot for him to stay in his seat and wait till everyone else gets done, but he is working on it.

Love!

Happy Valentine's Day from my 'ADORABLE' big boys!  They call each other adorable as a big insult, which I hope continues throughout their life.  

Valentine's Prep

I have never been a huge fan of Valentine's Day.  It is always too crowded to go out to eat and flowers are overpriced and I don't do heart necklaces and pink is not my color.  I will take chocolate, all the chocolates.  And, lucky me, I have had the same Valentine for the past 18 years and he spoils me all the time.  I do like planning sweet stuff for my boys.  They all have card exchanges at school this week.  We have been working on addressing them and putting stickers on them.  Ya'll, they are so slow and sticky and distracted.  It has been taking for-e-ver.  They were really excited about the cards last week and we started early.  Now I make them do a few(one) everyday before they are allowed to have a snack.  Just spreading the love over here.

Are you ready for some football...!

'We have a busy day today guys.  After church we are going straight to flag football practice and your first scrimmage and then it is time for the Super Bowl!'
'Are you serious? The real Super Bowl?  Today? Yes! Finally!!' -Nash

Everyone in our house has been on Super Bowl countdown.  We were super pumped this year because the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos (Peyton Manning) were in it, our 2 favorite teams.  Since these guys still manage to pull for whoever wins, this worked out well.  But first things first, I9 Flag Football!  They are letting Nash play up so he gets to join his big brother and dad.  He only had a few expected meltdowns but all in all the 'Bulldogs' ruled and Coach Charlie was worn out!


Peyton Manning with a little Cam Newton celebrating.


Ironman hard at work at practice.

We headed to a Super Bowl party at the Country Club that had kids downstairs and adults upstairs, holla!  Jackson stood his ground and wore his Peyton Manning jersey.  I was impressed.   He and his bud Cal took this picture and wanted to make sure we sent it to their Kindergarten teachers!

Theo joined us for the 2nd quarter upstairs.  Warm cookies and daddy snuggles.

Fresh Cuts

We were way overdo on some haircuts.  The big boys love getting them - peanuts, watching a show, haircut, a neck massage and a sucker - all for $10, what is not to love?  Theo does not like it one bit.  This time he sat in my lap and screamed the entire time while I held his head in place.  My apologies to the other dudes in there hoping for a relaxing cut.  He survived, gave the lady who cut it a high five and looks too old.

Dread head.  Theo twirls his hair, serious dreads.  Multiple nights he has woken up screaming and his finger was stuck knotted in his hair.  Also, my kids could not believe I had a lava lamp when I was a kid.  'That is aaamaazing mom.'  It was the coolest.

Nash has some thick, straight hair.  When it starts sticking up, you know it is that time.  Here he is working so quietly in my Wednesday morning Women's Bible study… because he refuses to go to his class?!???

Jackson is also a big hair twirler and has a bald spot on the back of his head to show for it.  He also could no longer see what he was doing.  Here he was working on his 100th day of school project.  I convinced him to make a Qixels with 100 pieces.  Originally he was hoping to put 100 Legos in a plastic bag. Meh.

20 Month old BOY!

Post cuts dinner date.  'Can ya'll look at me.  Hey, guys say cheese.'  I forgot to bribe for a picture pre-milkshakes.  Really, they can't look away or their mom will eat it.

Ballin

My boys usually play sports with dad.  Right when he gets home from work it is time to throw football or shoot basketball or hit baseball or wrestle, etc. etc.  Yesterday, we were all in the yard waiting for dad to get home (tick, tock, tick, tock… it's past 5 o'clock) and Nash didn't think I knew how to play soccer.  Ha, I am older and slower and chubbier but I laugh at you little fools.  I won 12-2, because sometimes you just have to show a house full of boys what is up.  

Long sweater to hide love handles doubles as super mom cape.  Don't challenge me boys.  Someone left crying.  It wasn't me.

basketball time!

Jackson had his first 2016 basketball scrimmage this weekend and it was i-n-t-e-n-s-e!  Just kidding, I barely saw one possession.  But he said he almost scored a 2 pointer and he thinks the Orange Tigers probably won! I was busy pulling Theo off the court constantly as he just wants to 'shoot, shoot, SHOOT, I wan shoot!'  The dude is obsessed with basketball.  Nash is just shy of being old enough to play on a team so he helps Charlie 'coach' and practices his dribbling on the sideline.  He behaved unbelievably well, this boy has come a long way since last year.

Jackson is so fast I could barely get a picture.  ;)

Coach Nash.  All seriousness when it comes to ballin'.

'Mom! Shoot! I wan shoot!'  And for a 20 month old, he is pretty impressive.