Plate for Carmen

Carmen always makes special gifts for all of us, so we decided to make something special for her this year. I took the boys to "Color Me Mine", a ceramic store in Frisco, where they painted a platter for her. They came up with the design idea and did all the work themselves. They even painted her cats under the tree. We took this to Carmen on Christmas Day and she loved it!

Griffin Basketball vs. Fowler 12/17/09

Alex's team won by 1 point in a nail-biter and Joey's team lost by 1 point in another nail-biter. Why do I always miss the great games??:-) Charlie went to both basketball games while I went to Tennis with Ben (he is soooo good at tennis). Games resume in January.

Christmas 2009

Hard to believe Christmas has come & gone so quickly! The gifts were plenty, but smaller in size and larger in price! The boys pretended to "believe", but we know they don't. They still get so excited and look under the tree every day for new presents and keep count as to how many each one has. Christmas Eve was got a couple of inches of snow. We still went to Macaroni Grill for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and then ventured out again for the 10 p.m. candlelight service. The roads were very icy going to church. Charlie ushered and Alex was acolyte. There were about 100 people there--we were surprised so many got out. The boys woke us up at 4:15 a.m. to do their gifts, but we said "go back to bed". That was a little too early, but we finally got up around 5:30. Oklahoma had about 14" of snow, so we couldn't go to Chandler under the following day. We spent Christmas day in our pj's enjoying each other and playing with our new goodies. Alex got a new bike, custom designed nike shox, impression phone, madden 10, cologne, clothes, itunes. Joey got an Acer, impression phone, cologne, clothes, UA shoes, movie, tony hawk ps3 game. Ben got a Flip, DSi, phone, games, shoes, pjs. Charlie got riding boots, movies, gift card for new clothes, coin counter, clothes. Lisa got Williams-Sonoma cheese grater, measuring cups & spoons that the boys picked out for her :-), clothes, jewelry, new electric skillet (luv it!).

Ben is a ROCK Star ARTIST!!

Christmas Card Pictures....why????

Why do I put myself through this every year???? After many takes and re-takes and yelling, we finally got one. The kids just cannot sit still long enough to get a good picture.

Basketball--Griffin vs Pioneer 12/10/09

Griffin lost all 3 games to Pioneer last night. Joey (#00) & Alex (#22) played well. Sure wish the lousy coaches would get off their butts and actually COACH the kids! UGHHH!!! Very frustrating.

Griffin vs. Scoggins Bball 12/3/09

C team won 31-5--Alex played great!! Hustled, got rebounds, steals, took several shots, but no go tonight. He played much improved from YMCA basketball.

B team won 37-18--Joey played awesome! Several steals and scored 2 points. Missed 4 free throws though, so he will need to practice those this week :-)

I love basketball, so I hope they enjoy playing too. I played on my first team at Chandler Jr. High in 8th grade. 3 on 3--no crossing the half court line--defense on one side and offense on the other. Oklahoma stopped playing that way after I graduated.

Upstairs bathroom leaking....

It's been one thing after another for the last few weeks....hot water heater went out, garage door needed a new spring, couldn't find the Christmas tree because we donated it last year and completely forgot, upstairs bathroom leaking into ceiling of downstairs bath! UGHHHH!! Charlie found a loose, cracked tile by the bath tub and says this is the reason. Now he has a repair job to do on the celing. Good thing he's a great handy-man!

Joey 12/3/09

Joey has his first 7th grade Griffin basketball game tonight! He was dressed in his game-day shirt and tie this morning and looked so cute! Go Joey!!! Can't wait to watch he and Alex play tonight. Go Gators!!!

It Snowed Today!! December 2, 2009

Rained overnight and then turned to snow about 7:30 a.m. Joey & Alex went to basketball practice at 6:30 a.m., so they missed it! I hope they got to see the snow at school. I don't think we've had snow before Christmas before??? It was gone by 10 a.m. Possibly more snow on Friday.

Thanksgiving November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving! We fried a turkey for the first time and it was yummo! Charlie was pretty nervous about the hot oil, but it was fine and the turkey tasted great! Carmen came over and brought pecan pie, pumpkin pie, carrot souffle, and green beans. Her pies were delicious, especially the pecan pie! Alex loved both of them and ate a lot of both pies. I made cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, spinach-artichoke dip and a salad. We kept it simple, but very yummy! The weather was perfect. We watched the Cowboy game after dinner and then more football.

Basketball

On to the next sport....Joey & Alex both made the Griffin basketball team(s). There are 3 teams (36 players out of 80 were chosen) A, B, and C. Tryouts were last Thursday & Friday and they found out Monday morning that they both made it. What a relief! They should find out soon which team they will play on and I guess it can change week to week, depending on how they play and improve. First scrimmage is Thursday at Clark. I hope they make the same team---life will be a little easier if that happens. :-)

Painted the mantel

I painted our mantel yesterday. Camilla Sage (RL) underneath and a black glaze (RL) on top. Took 2 coats of glaze to get the look we were going for. We really like it. We were so sick of the "builder white" mantel. Now we are considering doing the same treatment to our stairs. They have to be repainted either in the "builder white" or something. Nikki took me to her friend's house where she had painted her mantel & stairs and it was beautiful. Charlie even likes it, so we may do the stairs next.

Fall Soccer Season Ends

Joey's team tied 1-1 against Barcelona on 11/12/09 and lost their last game of the season to Irving Elite 4-0, the first place team who should really be in D1, on 11/14/09. They finished in 3rd place in D3. What a big turn around from the previous 2 seasons. Joey played outstanding in all games, but has recently complained of heel pain, so we have to check that out. They have a tournament this weekend, Texans Fall Festival and then we are off until January! His team is playing futsal to stay in condition over the break. No practices though, just games. A nice break from driving to Farmer's Branch for a while.

Gators defeat Roach 45-0

Gators won their final 7th grade A team game vs. Roach 45-0. Alex played well and got a lot of playing time. Our offense scored on their 1st or 2nd down most of the time, so defense saw alot of action! The parents got to go on the field after the game to take pictures. Alex had fun playing football with his friends and overall it was a great experience for him. Now it's basketball tryouts this week. The Gators finished their season 8-1. Yeah GATORS!!!!

This was more than likely their one and only season as Griffin Gators. It looks like Cobb Middle School will open next year and most of the A team will be at Cobb. I hope it opens since it's about 2 blocks from our house and the boys can walk to school every day!!

Ben plays tennis

Ben has been taking tennis lessons from Dave for 2 years now. He only takes them once a week, but he's really getting the hang of it. We keep trying to get to the courts to practice, but can't seem to pick a good time when they are available. I hope he sticks with it--it will keep him in shape.

Weekend Update

Charlie's at NASCAR all weekend with Rob and Greg being crazy boys. Sunday's game was at 8 a.m. at Richland College, so the boys and I spent the night at CC's along with Boomer. We ate at Babe's Sat., man that was good fried chicken!!! Then went to her house where we watched OU stink all night long! They are horrible...oh well, there's always next year, I hope! Carmen treated us to quesadillas today for lunch, yum yum. Back home now doing laundry, getting ready for school tomorrow. Monday is Alex's last Gator football game. Go #32!! It's 6th grade spirit night, go Ben!! No soccer practice Monday, so we can all go to the football game together! Yeah...nothing better than football under the lights inTexas.

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer

Three soccer games this week. Trying to catch up from all the rainouts. 2 ties and 1 win. 11/5 tied McKinney United 1-1, Joey scored the goal. 11/7 tied Andromeda 1-1, Joey scored the goal. 11/8 defeated CD Independiente 4-2, Joey didn't score, but played awesome mid-fielder and forward the entire game. Big guys finally stepped up and scored some goals. It's about time!

Gators defeat Wester 11/3/2009

It was a close game, but the Gators came out on top 12 to 10. Wester Wildcats scored on the kickoff return, so we were a little worried if the Gators were ready to play or not. Alex started on defense and played the entire game. He sacked the QB on their first defensive play and then made another tackle. He played really well. I'm glad I was there to see it since Charlie was at soccer practice with Joey. Go Gators!! One more game to go and then basketball tryouts the very next morning!!

SOCCER....FINALLY!!!!

We finally dried out enough to play soccer and my boy didn't disappoint! They won 4-1 and Joey scored 2 goals!! LOVE watching him play soccer! He's a great mid-fielder, passing the ball exactly where it needs to be for the forwards and he's an awesome forward who does this great kick and turn to score a goal! He's so fast that most of the defenders can't stop him so they pull on his jersey to try to slow him down (see picture).

3 more games this week and should have 2 next week to finish the season. Please...no rain...

Halloween 2009!

This was the first year the boys didn't go trick-or-treating :(

Ben went to a party at his friend, Laura's house and Joey & Alex went to a party at Chance's house. They all had a lot of fun. Before they went to the parties, we went to CC's house. This was her first Halloween in her new house. She spoiled the boys with popcorn and Sonic gift cards and had lots of yummy snacks for us too! She's such a great aunt! Charlie and I had lots of trick-or-treaters--Sunny just sat at the door staring at them. It was funny. After handing out candy, we went to the Fellhauer's house for munchies and football! The kids came over too after their parties. It was nice to hang out with them. We hardly see them anymore since we are all so busy with all the kids stuff. Alex won for the scariest costume at his party and Joey won for most original (?). The kids voted for each other. I'm so glad Alex won for scariest, because that was the whole reason for purchasing the mask he chose! Joey was some crazy rabbit with a saw cut thru his stomach and Ben was a vampire. He helped me do his own make up. Happy Halloween!