Winter Vacation from Mom's perspective

 It is Friday and we are leaving today for our 2 week vacation. Everyone has the sniffles and a few are feeling a little unwell. Lucy was taking advantage of the chaos and finding a comfy place in the middle of the action to sleep!

 Friday morning are the holiday parties. Macey having a small meltdown over her snowflakes. Couldn't even smile with her BFF.

 Mrs Ellis is opening up her gifts from the kid's parents. Lots of good gift cards!

 And Ryan, being, well, Ryan. Here he is with his science fair buddy and a kid who snuck in the picture!

 By 1:30pm we are on the road. With Lucy.

 She is still a popular family member. Everyone wanted a turn.

 Even if it was a little squishy...

 Christmas Sunday.

 Doesn't everyone look nice in their blue clothes. A coincidence merely.

 Macey helping Grandma at the Piano.

 Sunday was our 13th Anniversary. We went to lunch Monday at a sushi place in Tucson. Note that I took a picture of my spouse on our anniversary.

 And also my lunch.

 Christmas Morning! Wake up sleepy heads!

 This is everyone Christmas Day. Ryan is hiding behind Macey and Dan, but I promise he was there.

 Everyone happy and content!

 

A long day of playing and having fun.

 What's this? Boys playing Madden '15 on the new PS3. Macey not really interested!

 Always a few hot air balloons on the way to Kirsten's.

 Cousins.

 Coby and Grandpa on the special day.

 Five Guys for dinner.

 Nice.

 Going up to the snow.

 Dan loves this guy.

 

Last picture of Lucy in the car on the way home after a long 2 week vacation. I am thankful for the fun we had with family. And also how kind everyone was even though we were the harbinger of germs. This trip also included celebrating Ryan's 9th birthday, 2 trips to the minute clinic for sick kids, many more meals eaten out, and much laughter.

Alex Soccer

 

Alex has played soccer every season since moving to Plano with the same team. The original Bolts, turned into the Strikers when they went up to a bigger field. This season coach Roy was unavailable to coach, so Dan had to step up, along with Meg, an aunt of one of the players.



Here the team is celebrating going to the championship game! This was their best season yet.

The championship game was played on a cold and very windy Sunday afternoon. I stayed home with asthma man and missed the game. It was very disappointing for the game to played on Sunday, but with Dan as coach and with Alex being on the team 7 seasons, the boys felt like they needed to support the team and go to the game. They ended up losing, but they still got awesome trophies!

 

I'm proud of my soccer players. Dan is a great coach. Alex works hard and leads his team as captain by setting a good example on the field and on the bench.



November update

 Ryan had a birthday party far enough away that I didn't want to drive home in between. Sister and I went to Peter Piper Pizza while we waited.

 Dan decided to run a half marathon. After running a 100 miles in July, he was up to comfortably running 8+ miles at a time. No sense letting all that endurance go to waste!

 The race was early! The kids and I tracked Dan down with 30 min left of the race.

 We stopped and got him some surprises to reward his awesomeness.

 Dan had a running companion. Matt helped push Dan to do better than even his goal was. He finished with 9:20 minute mile. We were very proud of our runner!

 During the cooler months we find ourselves on the purple couch a lot!

 Snow! It snowed one night after the kids were in bed. It was just a dusting on the grass. It melted before the kids got home from school the next day.

 Lucy Lou can get some long claws and a messy face without proper grooming. Here she is looking sharp on her way home from her morning at the spa.

 Thanksgiving Day was a beautiful day. I was worried about the turkey not finishing on time, and over compensated. We had a very early Turkey Lunch. With Uncle Mike! He came down for a couple of days.

 We enjoyed our feast at home and then went off to play the rest of the day.

 Macey wanted to run around the pond with her puppy.

 Ryan wanted to wrestle his puppy.

 Everyone loves playing with this little pooch.

 The boys played both basketball and football.

 I remember being 8 years old and climbing the tree in front of my house. I would sit up there and read. It wasn't much bigger than this I don't think!

 Sister and I got creative and played rocks while the boys played football. We later went to the Contreras for Thanksgiving Dinner II. It is good to have 'family' here to spend time with!

 

Black Friday took us to the movies to see Big Hero 6. It also got the kids on the roof to help dad hang the lights. Only 3 weeks until we head to Arizona for the Christmas break.