Our First Stars Game

We went to our first Stars game on January 17, 2011. We all had a great time!

The fun festivities before the game began.

Daddy and his Ellie Belle

Carson and Emmy with Mommy

Daddy and Ella again

We left the game a bit early since it was a school night, and we got a great view of the newsroom in Victory Park.

Miss Emmy

Ella Cate

Why they love a trip to the mall!

Our mall has reinstated the interactive stomp pad! They had one when the girls were babies, took it out for a couple of years, and now it's back! The stomp pad is my form of bribery in the mall, and the best part is that it doesn't cost a penny!

On this particular trip the kids played forever while I talked on the phone!

Loving a Long Weekend!

Today is the first day of a 4 day weekend for the kiddos and a 3 day weekend for me. We get Monday off for Martin Luther King Day, and Tuesday is a teacher workday. Even though I have to go to school Tuesday, teacher workdays are a treat because I get a whole day to get caught up in my classroom, and I get to eat lunch out with my team.
Our Saturday started off with everyone sleeping late. The girls were supposed to have a soccer game at 8:30 this morning, but we decided to keep the girls out of this game. El was diagnosed with strep Thursday afternoon, and is still recovering. Emmy has been hacking and coughing, so I figured all of the running they'd do in the game would only make them worse.
Around 9:45 Sam took Cade to his basketball game, and I kept the little ones home with me. They played while I cleaned and did laundry. I love starting the weekend with that stuff behind me, and lately that hasn't been happening!
When Sam and Cade got home we decided that we were going to take the kids to see a movie and to eat at Chik fil A in the mall. Chik fil A cost us a whopping $8.00 for all 6 of us to eat because I used calendar coupons. Then all 3 of the little ones rode the carousel in the mall for free because I had coupons for that too. I am so happy when I save us some money. However, Sam usually doesn't give me much credit for all of my coupon business. He says that I spend way more than I save. This might be true, but the times I save money make me feel less guilty for the times I spend too much. Since "Gulliver's Travels" was the only kiddish movie that the kids haven't seen, we decided that's what we would see. Sadly when we got to the window to purchase tickets we were told that they were only showing "Gulliver's Travels" in 3-D. That was a real bummer because 3-d equals an additional $4.00 added to each movie ticket, making a child's ticket $10.50 and an adult ticket $13.50. There was noooo way that we were going to spend $69.50 plus tax to see a movie that I'm not even sure about! So we left the movie counter with 2 kids crying and one kid having to be dragged away. We were going to try to go to another theatre, but we couldn't find one in the area showing that movie.
Instead we decided to go to Michael's to let the girls pick out some fun stuff to do their "snowman craft" homework for school.

Here is Emmy's snowgirl princess

and a $1 necklace craft that she got with her snowgirl supplies

and ellie's princess holding ice cream cones...so random yet so original

After I took pictures of craft time the girls played with my camera and captured some pictures that made me laugh! Here is Sam conked out in front of Carson's original artwork that he taped on the wall this morning.


and Emmy posing for her sissy!

Sick with Strep

Carson has been home sick with strep throat for 2 and a half days this week. Nana stayed with him the first day and a half, but I took the day off with him today. I enjoyed my time with him while he stayed in bed all day, poor guy! This is his 3rd time with strep since August. I was thinking this time at the Drs office that they would mention something about taking his tonsils out, but no. New guidelines say that they will consider removing a child's tonsils if they have had strep 8 times in 12 months! I pray he doesn't have to go through this again! His tonsils look AWFUL!

Indoor Soccer-The Flame

This month the girls started indoor soccer. They've had one practice and one game, and so far they are loving it! This is their first sport (aside from cheering in the fall). They are playing on a team (The Flame) with one of their best friends. The coach is very laid back and nice, and all of the spectators stay nice and toasty (my favorite part)!
The girls and Ashy-Dashy, as they call her, at their first practice. They are jersey #s 1, 2, and 3!

First game last Saturday being wild as ever! This Saturday I am promising myself that I will bring my big camera to the game because my purse camera takes LOUSY action shots!

My #2 (Ella) and #3 (Emma)

The girls taking a break with Coach Jason!

His 2 Front Teeth are Gone

Last week Carson's teacher pulled his tooth that we were referring to as his "snaggle tooth". Since he lost the first top tooth about a month ago the other top tooth had become very loose and shifted toward the middle of his mouth. It made it look like he had only one tooth. And while it was pretty funny, I was ready to get that snaggle tooth out of his mouth! He wouldn't let Sam or me touch it, so since he had let her pull his other tooth, I asked for her help! On the Monday that we came back from the Christmas break I asked for Mrs. Binford's help, and by the morning announcements snaggle tooth was gone! I love his toothless look!

Ringing in 2011

Sadly, I can't even remember exactly what we did on NYE! It probably consisted of going out to eat and hanging around the house! Before we went to eat Carson and Emma posed in these 2011 crowns. Ella was in a funk, so she didn't want her picture taken, and there was no way that I was getting Cade to pose in a 2011 headpiece!