Brooks Lucas Makes a Sack (or Four)

Lucas has been begging us to sign him up for tackle football for a while now. Finally for his birthday this year, we acquiesced. We paid $250 for him to be involved in the spring indoor league. Needless to say, he was thrilled. But his elation turned into dissappointment. Come to find out, the league lost our information, and when I was finally able to figure out what team he was on, the team had already been practicing for 2 months. Lucas hated feeling like he didn't know what he was doing. He wasn't used to getting tackled and hit for 2.5 hours a day, 4 days a week. It came to a point that he wanted to give up.

Edgar and I decided to have a 'teaching moment'. We made him go to practice, and encouraged him to try his hardest. We told him that even when things are hard, it is important to not give up. We also made it clear that he is a part of a team, and his team is counting on him to give it his all. He fought us every step of the way.

But now, he has seen the light. He worked hard, and has realized that he has some mad football skills (I know, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor too!). He is loving his practices, and he loves hitting and getting hit. His team is number two in the league, and Lucas got MVP of his most recent game with 4 sacks and one fumble recovery! All I have to say now is...GO LUCAS! GO HAVOC!

Traedon's Gift

Can't Fool Lucas

Christmas 2009

We had an awesome Christmas this year. I probably have too much fun spoiling the kids. I reconcile it to the fact that we don't buy them alot during the year, I always tell them to ask Santa. I also make myself feel better about the fact that my kids are spoiled...is that they are still pretty sweet. Here is Brie in her Christmas PJ's (American Girl Doll matchie-matchie) opening her 'big' gift.

"Date Night with Traedon"

We have recently noticed that 'talkative little Trae' has been blending into the background lately. He is starting to remind me of a little Chameleon, and content with succumbing to the milieu of the family. Edgar and I tend to be too busy for his silly little ramblings about Castle Crashers or making the 'Eaglairs' do the romance dance (video game talk that I pretend to understand). So unfortunately Traedon is retreating to our basement dungeon to become more engrossed in romancing 'Sweet Tooth Beavers' (I probably won't need to give him the birds and bees talk after he has mastered the game). I miss his quirky little "What if the Dinosaurs were still alive and my shoes had turbo boosters on them?" questions.

So Edgar and I decided to take our 6 year old on a 'Date' with mom and dad. We want to make sure that he knows that he is still important to us, even though our eyes glaze over when we endure endless video game references. He was very apprehensive about the word 'date' and made sure that we were not going to line him up with a 'lipstick wearing woman' who plastered kisses all over his face during dinner (which is what obviously happens on dates, and he will have no part of it). He also didn't want me to misinterpret the 'date' term because it is not appropriate to 'date' one's mother. After we dropped the term 'date', and finally agreed to say "do you want to go to dinner with mom and dad?" and Traedon responded with "as long as you know it is not a date", did he agree to go.

It was so fun! Traedon really opened up and was thrilled to be able to talk to his hearts content, and to have the total attention of his mom and his dad. No big brother interrupting him with "oh my gosh Traedon! Do you really think that would happen?!", or his big sister's 6th grade friend catastrophe's getting in the way of his train of thought, or a 2 year old baby tantrum leading to mom whipping the screaming baby out of the restaurant while dad cleans the thrown plate of mac and cheese off his lap.

We had lots of laughs. He even told me who he had a crush on in his class. I told him that I was so excited to post this new shocking information on facebook. He gave me a stern look and said "mom, that would not be cool". So in the hopes to be cool, I will not divulge her name...only to say that it rhymes with Haily, but starts with a 'B' (and you know who you are, you first grade vixen!). We ordered the 'Molten Chocolate Lava Cake' with which he shoveled into his mouth with the skill and finesse only a 'Harris Man' can accomplish (Edgar and Trae both had chocolate goatees by the end of the treat).

We love you Trae and will make sure you never again retreat to the background!

BrieOcea turns 12!

Brie turned 12 on October 24th. My little girl is not allowed to have any more birthdays. I made a new rule that she can no longer grow older. But since she is making the choice to defy my rule, it is fun watching her grow into a young woman. She has such a sweet little spirit about her. She loves that she now belongs to the Beehives. Every sunday she has a new spiritual experience because her Beehive teachers are so awesome. She warms my heart, and inspires me to be better. She came home after her first time in Young Womens and exclaimed that she felt the spirit to the point that she nearly cried. If you know Brie, you know that she 'nearly cries' at everything she doesn't cry at (I am sure many of you remember that she had a complete and utter meltdown when King Kong finally died at the end of the movie). But it is still awesome to be a mom of a little girl who feels so much, and who has a testimony at such a young age.

She had a lot of fun on her birthday. She will always have a Halloween party. This year everyone dressed up in their costumes and went 'Treat or Tricking' - reverse trick or treating...knocking on doors and giving candy to the kids at the different homes. She received a Mountain Bike with gears, a tumbling blow-up thingy featured in the video below (and don't worry, she only suffered minor injuries), and a cell phone. A little bit spoiled, but she deserves to be a little spoiled.

Rohnin has a Birthday!

Little Rohnin turned 2 on Monday! My little devil spawn is becoming a BIG devil spawn! He is such an awesome little kid with a big personality. He really knows how to get what he wants by turning the world around him into chaos. I am so proud of his manipulation skills, if only I had half the talent this little monster has! The following are his cute personality traits to date:

1. He loves to eat...his favorite food is cereal, unless of course that is on the menu, then he hates cereal. He will beg for pizza until you put it in front of him, then he will cry for cereal...ultimately desiring the pizza. I have a dirty little secret that will stop all fits. I just have to give him a glass of Diet Coke (I am such a good mom).
2. He is a fan of Pixar, namely Monster's Inc, Nemo, Toy Story II, Shrek, & Monster's Vs. Aliens. He can watch them all day if we let him. But if you find him in one of his moods, he will cry for "Memo" until you put Nemo in the dvd player, then he will pitch a fit for "Mama Inc". Edgar will acquiesce until he has tried all the dvd's only to settle on the first. I don't give him a choice, and will let him throw his fit (with a sippy cup of Diet Coke).

All this in mind, we love our little monster and wouldn't trade him for the world. He warms my heart when he is thrilled to see me after work, running at me, smiling from ear to ear with his sweet little dimple lighting up his face...going in for a kiss on my cheek, only to be denied by him pulling away at the last second to ask for "Ghek".