Wednesday, December 12, 2007

New Names for All!

Hey Everyone!
I just wanted to let you know that from this entry forward, my kids will be listed by their nicknames in my blog. Since this blog is just hanging out there on the great big WWW... I figured it's better to be safe than sorry.

"So, what are their nicknames?" you ask
Veruka
Charlie
& Mike TV

"Hey, those names sound familiar," you may be thinking.....that's right, you know where they're from.

Yes, we really do call our kids these names.

Veruka got her nickname first when she was in second grade. She was CONSTANTLY saying, "Daddy, I want....." or "Daddy, I need...." or "Daddy, I should be first because....."

The boys nicknames naturally followed.

Charlie, because he is so much like Charlie in the movie.....good kid, follows the rules, succeeds in life. Also, his Dad's nickname was Charlie when he was growing up and he is a lot like his Dad.

Mike got his nickname because if the TV is on....he must watch it. He goes into a deep, meditative, trance like state, regardless of what is on.....seriously, it can even be a commercial. This is a kid that CANNOT multitask...so he will sometimes zone out in mid sentence, if he notices that the TV is on. We joke that his brain must be saying, "TV is on.....must watch TV....must watch TV." (He reminds me a lot of my future son-in-law :) ... R.H.)

Also, if you know Mike...we swear he is the next Jim Carrey. He LOVES to be the center of attention and can do dead on impersonations of Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller & many others....

So, I've gone back and changed their names in all of my past posts and from this point forward they will go by their nicknames.

Hope it brings a smile to your face.
Enjoy!

PS. M & J....check out your little girl's nickname under the Thanksgiving entry.

It's Trophy Time!!

Here are some pictures of the boys with their football trophies!!!


(Note how much bigger Mike's trophy is than Charlie's!!! Some things in life are just not fair!)

In addition to his trophy, Charlie got an extra award....called the Raider Award. We didn't know he was going to get it. It is only given to one athlete on the team (who is chosen by the coaches.)
It says on the plaque,


"The Raider Award goes to the player that demonstrates incredible heart, desire, discipline, sportsmanship, pride, and most typifies the spirit of the Sykesville Raiders."


We were proud of Charlie, but more than proud, we were so happy for him. It was really nice to see him get recognized for his hard work, good attitude, and great improvement that he'd made over this past season.
Here are my guys:

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

This past Sat, we made our annual trip to the Christmas Tree Farm to cut down our tree. (Actually, this is only the second year in a row, but I still like to think of it as an annual tradition.)


We had an artificial tree when we lived in Seattle and decided to to go back to a live tree last year, when the artificial tree bit the dust. Mike didn't have any memories of going to cut down a tree, so we decided he's gotta have those memories too, and went back to getting a live tree.
















The search is on!

The Christmas Tree farm that we go to is really nice. They have hundreds, maybe thousands, (okay, probably not thousands) of trees. They also have stations where they shake the needles from your tree and wrap it up for you like a giant present. This particular farm also has a little building where you can get hot chocolate and snacks, so you can really make it a nice day.

The funny thing about searching for and then cutting down your own tree, is that it is actually really hard to make a decision. At first it is easy to weed out the "bad" trees. 

(Unless you're Charlie....he had a special talent for picking out the fattest, mis-shaped, worst looking trees. We decided that when he grows up, it'll be his wife's job to select their tree!)


After 20 minutes or so of looking at trees, it starts to get hard. They all start to look pretty good, but at the same time none of them look perfect.


Then it happens, you see a family up ahead that has started to cut down their tree. You think to yourself, "They got a good tree....shoot, we should've been looking where they are. We could've had that tree."

(As if the tree they picked out is somehow the only good tree in the field.)


Then, if you're with our family, you get to listen to Mike ask about 100 times in a row, if we can please go get hot chocolate and snacks now because he is starving to death. (Of course the fact that he's just had a snack at home 45 minutes ago makes no difference, the snack shack has great power over him!)

















This is the picture I got after I had already taken two "goofy" pictures and had said to the kids,
"Okay, lets take a nice one this time, everybody try to look normal and smile." Thank goodness we weren't counting on this for our Christmas card!

(Charlie kind of looks like a mini Jeff Schnorr in this picture, don't you think? Sorry, you only get that if you go to our church.)


Then our family splits into two distinct teams, tribes, camps, or districts....whatever you want to call them.

The first team is made up of Charlie and I. We go from tree to tree and say, "What about this tree? It looks like a good one."

The second team is made up of Brian and Veruka. They poo-poo and turn down every tree that Charlie and I select. "Too tall, too short, not full enough...that looks terrible...that's the worst tree yet...are you kidding?"

Lastly, there is Mike, he isn't on a team. He could care less about the tree. He is still asking if we can get hot chocolate now.


Mike does have a good comment though. He says he is waiting for the "Hallelujah Moment." According to Mike, the "Hallelujah Moment" is when a ray of sunshine comes down from Heaven and shines right on the perfect tree for us. Then a bunch of angels sing, "Hallelujah!"

I am waiting for that moment too!

Finally, we all agree on a tree. Woo-hoo! Now the fun begins.









Charlie cuts down the tree.

















Timber!















Me & Bri.........................picture taken by Veruka!

After getting our tree bundled up to look like a tree from a Dr. Suess book, Brian ties it to roof of the trusty minivan. We end our trip in the snack shack, where they cheerfully inform us that they have just run out of hot chocolate.

Now, here is the sad part.
We decorated our tree Sat night and Sunday we were heading out the door to go to Charlie's end of year Football party, when we heard a loud noise from the family room....the tree came crashing to the ground! It was so loud, it surprised us all. Poor Dakota came tearing out of the family room like a bat out of hell. (She still won't go near the tree!)

About 50 ornaments flew off the tree, but only a few were broken. We got it all back up and redecorated...so now it's as good as new.

We hope it stays put until Christmas is over. Last year my sister's tree fell over 3 times! (They switched to artificial this year.) We hope they can keep their record in tact for the highest number of times a tree can fall over in your house in one Christmas season....we don't want it!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Mike and his Crutches

Okay, I am slowly catching up.


Last Wed (on my sister Krissy's Birthday), we had our first snowfall of the season. It was beautiful! We ended getting 5 inches and the kids got out of school 2 hours early!!!


They all came home and went back out snowboarding and sledding. I was so excited because the boys went alone...without me!!! I sent them with a walkie talkie and off they went. I had finally arrived. I'd made it to that glorious moment where all 3 of my kids could be outside alone, without me right there. They like to go to the "good hill" about a block away. (I think every neighborhood in America has that one "good hill.") They were gone for a couple of hours...and checked in by WT with me every half hour or so. I was living the dream! My fireplace was on, I was nice and warm and dry and my kids were having a blast.


That night when Brian came home, he decided to take the kids out again. Once again they trekked down to the "good hill". Well, I hunkered down on the floor next to the fire with my current book, and thought to myself, "Now this is the good life!"


Well, no sooner had I said that to myself, when the door opened and in came Brian carrying Mike. He had gotten hurt snowboarding.....it was his knee....and he couldn't walk on it. Well, we checked him out...it didn't look that bad....and put ice on it.


The next morning he still couldn't walk on it, so I took him to the doctors and then to get Xrayed. There was a questionable area on the films right at the inside part of his knee, where they couldn't tell if it was fractured or not. So we were to keep him off of it for 4 or 5 days and see if he felt better. If he did, it would just be a sprain, if he didn't it would be broken.


Well, Mike and I went to pick up his crutches and he says to me,

"Mom, will I use these in school tomorrow?"


"Yes," I reply back to him.


He says to me, "This is a dream come true!"


So here he is, on his crutches.......

Isn't he cute????
He went to school Friday and got to live out his dream.
Good news, he is doing great now, and can walk on his leg....so it turns out it was just a sprain. Monday, he'll return to school without the crutches.
So, Mike got to live out his dream, and at the same time my dream died.
No more sending the boys to the "good hill" by themselves.....I guess I'll have to trek along and stand there in the cold. :(

What do you want to be when you grow up????

So, Brian is driving in the car with Charlie and Mike and asks them,
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

They think for a moment...and.....


Charlie answers, "I want to be an NFL football player."

Brian asks, "Why?"
Charlie replies, "Because it'd be awesome!"

Then Mike answers, "I also want to be an NFL football player." (Little brother is alot like Big brother!)

Brian asks Mike, "Why do you want to be an NFL football player?"

Mike replies without missing a beat,
"Three reasons, Dad.
The fans
the fame,
and the chicks!"


Thanksgiving Week

We spent a great couple of days with my sister Mary, brother in law Jeff, and their daughter, Mylie. They came up to Maryland to stay with us and arrived Tuesday night....the day after Charlie's Bday.....and stayed until Sunday morning.


We had a really nice visit with them.

Here are some pictures of us all bowling....





For Thanksgiving day, we all went to my parents house. It was really neat because it was the first time in 20 years that all 4 of the "S---------- kids" and their spouses and children were all together on Thanksgiving!!!
So, where are the pictures you ask?
I forgot my camera....sorry. (Maybe someone else will share photos they took and I can add them here.....hint, hint.)
Yes, I am pathetic, I know. I can only get better, right???

Charlie's 12th Birthday!

I am so sorry to have been away from the "Blog" for so long. We've had so much going on.....let me start by catching you up from the beginning.....Charlie's Birthday.

Charlie turned 12 on November 19th! I know....I can't believe it either!!! How can Brian and I possibly have kids that are getting so old?????? Shouldn't we still have toddlers and babies????

Anyway, I digress. Sorry, let me get back on track. First of all Charlie's #1 birthday request was an XBox 360. This has been his number one gift item for the past 3 years, so this year Brian and I decided to give him some ultimate joy and actually get it for him. We spoke to him about maybe spending less on his party and also trading in some old video games to go towards the purchase of the XBox.


So, he asked if he could do a sleepover party. "Sure," I said in a moment of weakness, when my brain was apparently turned off. "That sounds like a great idea."

He and Veruka typed up invites on the computer ......and Charlie handed them out.

Let the fun begin!

The day arrived, and I woke up with my brain fully functioning......Oh my gosh....what had I agreeed to? 8 boys for 16 hours! What was I thinking?


Before the insanity began, we let Charlie open his presents from us.
















Here is the XBox moment!


Then it was party time.


So, what do 8 eleven and twelve year old boys do for 16 hours in your house???














Eat a lot of pizza.....
















Play many, many games of "knee football"....

















Eat Cupcakes! Mmmmmmmm!







Open Presents!!!!




Play many hours of Madden 2008 on XBox....

And barely sleep!!!

Now, here is the worst part. Due to my slowness in loading the pictures onto my computer and updating the blog...some of my pictures got "accidently" deleted by Veruka while they were still on my camera.....so I no longer have the photos to prove it. (She honestly thought they were all already uploaded.) Not only was there very little sleeping going on.....there was lots of fun had by all...... and there was a Sharpie marker involved!

That's right....a Sharpie marker!

Charlie woke up with a beautiful drawing on his face, done by his buddies........ in Sharpie marker.

To pay them back, he and a friend (who shall remain nameless) drew a mustache and circles on the cheeks of one of the culprits and colored all over the feet of the second culprit. (I know, I don't get the feet either!)

When they came up to eat breakfast, we saw the extent of their artisitic abilities. Of course they all thought it was HILARIOUS!

I imagined the worst...since Thanksgiving was only 2 days away.....can you imagine the poor boy going to Grandma's house with a handle bar mustache on his face???? His Mom would've died!

Well, I don't know why, but by some miracle of God, the marker washed off!!! All evidence was eliminated before the first Mom appreared to collect her tired son. Whew!

I am only sorry that you can't see the pictures.....I've learned my lesson, and will be uploading my photos immidiately from now on!