Hands up

I am loving Saturdays.  We have had so much fun watching the fellas play basketball.  We usually have a few hours between games and Frazer has a game room so we can kill sometime between games!  Ethan may have beaten me at air hockey. 
The Miami Heat were on TV this afternoon.  When I came back from my run, the fellas were watching it.  There was two minutes left of the game and I decided to stretch and watch it with them.  Link looks at the TV and yells, "Come on guys!!!!  Get your hands up!"  We have created two basketball monsters.

Stormy Weather

I knew it was supposed to rain today, but that is all I had heard.  I get a call around 11:00 telling me that school is going to close at 12:30 due to the THREAT of bad weather.  Why does this never happen when I am working at school! 
I went and got Ethan and the boys have been playing hard ever since!  It is nice to have both fellas home!

Just like Daddy

Link: Mommy do I look like you?
Me: I think so. Who do you think Ethan looks like?
Link: He looks JUST LIKE DADDY!
I backed up my photos today and found this adorable picture of Nate and Ethan. It was taken right before Lincoln was born.

Basketball

The guys are doing so awesome at basketball.  Nate and I are having a blast watching them play better and better each week.  This morning before the first game, Link's friend had a b/day party at Pump-it-Up.  The guys played hard and were worn out. 

This picture was taken within the first five minutes of the game.  Link hadn't even been in, yet!  Luckily he played super hard once they got started!

Lincoln saw me with my camera and decided to pose while in the midst of the game!!! Ethan's game was so fun to watch today. We felt like the teams were matched up pretty well. The players were very respectful and courteous on both teams. Ethan was amazing today. He was so aggressive and tried to shoot many times! At one point in the game he was paired up with the biggest fella on the opposing team, who happened to be a very sweet guy. It was fun to watch the match-up.  

I got this video of Ethan stealing the ball and then getting knocked down. Poor guy really got hurt. The coach took him out, but he was ready to jump back in a few minutes later!  

We had so much fun today!  Both boys made us super proud today.  Lincoln was awarded the offensive player star and Ethan was awarded best effort and most Christlike!!  

Lunch Bunch

Lincoln misses Ethan terribly when he is at school.  He asked earlier this week if we could go have lunch with Ethan one day.  So, I gave in and we had lunch with Ethan today.  Ethan enjoys having us come to lunch (not because we are there) because he gets to sit at the special table with his friends. It is entertaining to watch them eat their lunch.  They have no front teeth!

We are considering going to Disney during Spring Break.  It all depends on our next assignment.  In order to get Link ready for all the walking we will do, I have been taking him out for a walk every afternoon before Ethan's bus arrives.  Two days ago, we were walking and Link says, "We better get to the bus stop before someone kills my poor Ethan."  I have no clue where this kid gets his dramatic attitude! 

He has really been enjoying his walks.  It's very rainy today.  He asked if we would get our walk in and I told him that it was doubtful.  So, he told me to just bring a towel. 

Warmer weather

 On Friday, the weather dropped into 20s at night and got up to the 40s during the day.  Link was so excited when I told him he could wear a sweatshirt all day.  I put this (hand-me-down) sweatshirt on him and he was so excited!  He asked if I could take a picture of him.  I told him OF COURSE!!!!

A friend from Lufkin, made the boys "disgruntled fowl" hats.  His excitement doubled when I told him he could wear his hat. I had to make him take it off hours later! 
I think Mommy, Daddy, and Ethan are LOVING the warmer weather, but Link loves his sweatshirts!

Ariana's baptism

 Nate's God daughter, Ariana, was baptized today.  

 Ariana and the boys were terrific during Mass today. 

Ariana became so fussy after the actual baptism.  She is usually so happy.  When the ceremony was over, Nate told me that the water was SUPER cold!  Poor thing!  :)

It was such a nice day!  We are thankful to have them in our lives! 

Fun Facts

Ethan was able to move his reading level up over the Christmas break.  He is he reading more fluently and reading longer books.  But the reason he is so excited is that the new reading level opened up a lot more books that he can check out in the library.  Unfortunately, this guy will only check out NON-FICTION!   I am so tired of listening to books about sharks, snakes, cougars, eagles, etc! 

The boy is turning into a little encyclopedia.  The other night, while looking at a shark book, he said, "Do you think this is a remora?"  "Ughhhh (silent pause and look to Nate...who gave me the same look) what do you think, Buddy?"  "I think it is" he said.  Apparently, a remora is a suckerfish that lives on sharks. 

I begged him to bring a fiction book home tonight and he sighed and said ok!  Such sacrifice!

Basketball

The boys had their first basketball games yesterday.  Ethan was so excited.  His game was at 1:15 and he wanted to put his uniform on at 8:00!  Lincoln was not excited about the game at all!  To our surprise, Lincoln loved it!

 As you can see, he was the smallest by a LOT.  His skills were seriously lacking....but he loved it!  When the game was over, Nate went up to the coach and in a very serious face said, "I need to know why my son didn't start!"  It was hilarious.  The coach was taken aback at first and then saw us laughing! 

 Ethan's team was a little more aggressive than we were expecting.  It was the opposite of soccer.  The parents were super laid back here, but the kids were out for blood! 

 The floors are carpet and Ethan fell and started crying.  The way he was crying you would have thought he had blown a knee.  Come to find out it was just a rug burn.   In his defense, I saw more kids crying than ever before.  If it wasn't rug burns, it was someone took the ball from me.  I just hope that they chill out by next game! 

I love that they pray before the game.  Maybe next week they will pray to just have a good time!  I didn't get video of Ethan playing this week.  I did get some awesome video of Lincoln bringing the ball down, Lincoln passing the ball in, and Lincoln trying to be the assistant coach.  Click on the underlined words to see the video.

Giggles

Just some funny sayings from this crazy house:

Ethan:
Ok, if you are so clever just do it yourself.
I know that that Sprite burns my eyes, but I like. 
I can't believe I misspelled Ankylosaurus.


Lincoln:
Is is bad to freak people out?
How many full family days do we have left?
Could you watch Dead Man's Chest and tell me everything?
(after time out) I am so mad at my mind for doing bad stuff.
Who came out of the belly first, you or Uncle Josh?

The clean up begins

 We began the clean up today.  The clothes have been unpacked and laundered.  The snacks and miscellaneous items we brought on the trip were put up a few days ago, but I had not tackled the toys until today!

For some odd reason, the fellas really got into the clean up and helped SO much!!!  They each went through the new books and toys and put everything away.  We had two odd junk buckets (one in each kid's room).  They went through and tossed odd pieces that we had no clue where they went and they even tossed those ridiculous McDonald's toys.  I think this is the first time either one of them have participated in throwing anything out!! 

Mommy time

It has been almost two weeks of "full family" time here.  After lunch today, Nate and I were cleaning up lunch and doing some laundry.  Link comes over and says, "Mommy let's lay on the little couch together."  I told him I would after I folded some laundry.  He says, "Just let Daddy do and we can snuggle."  I think he is missing his alone time with Mommy!