Thanksgiving

Last year during this time, we were on vacation in Florida. We spent Thanksgiving Day with these characters!! It was a very different Thanksgiving day for us. We had a wonderful time, but did miss our "traditional" dinner. So this year we are looking forward to our traditional dinner.
We are so thankful for so much in our lives. We love our family and friends. Hope everyone enjoys the day.

Weekend of Soccer!

We had a gorgeous weekend of soccer. The weather could not have been more perfect for soccer. We went to North Little Rock to Burns Park to play in the Fallfest Tournament. It was suppose to have been last weekend, but the rain forced it to this weekend. We have been playing in the tournament for as long as I can remember. Michael started playing in it years ago, then it became to the point where they BOTH played in it, now it is just Jacob playing in it. Jacob was so young when Michael was playing that he use to have to "trick or treat" down there, because many times it would actually fall on Halloween! Our weekend games were not so good to us. We played two games Saturday and one game Sunday. We lost all 3! Two games were good, close games. The boys played their little hearts out, played on a field much bigger than they are use to. These are great memories they are building. Not only are they a team, they are friends. Great group of boys! Great group of parents! The parents are the ones that make it all possible.

When I first saw this picture appear on my computer screen, it took my breath away. He looks so much like Michael!!!

And he really looks like Michael here! STOP growing!

Michael did drive down from Fayetteville and joined us. We sure did enjoy spending the weekend with him. Jacob LOVED that his older brother came to watch him!

We had lunch with Michael in Conway. Then to Wal Mart to pick up some necessary college essentials. Then we each headed our different directions. That was sad! But I sure did have a lovely weekend with my three favorite guys!

Halloween '09

We had some fun carving Halloween pumpkins. We didn't get to carve our pumpkins until HALLOWEEN day! We had to wait for Michael to come home. We have carved pumpkins every year. Both of my boys love to carve pumpkins, and it makes me so happy! (It makes me happy when Michael comes home too!)

What's wrong?

The good ole nasty stuff.

Ta da! Would we expect anything else but some type of sports theme? Awesome job!

Working so hard on his pumpkin. He was the LAST one to get done. Takes such pride! (He had coffee break and salsa/chip break during his carving)

Ta da! Witches brew! What a fine job!

Are you scared Michael?
Alex carved a ghost. She thought it looked like a thumb!
The three happy campers!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Basketball

Monday night was our first basketball game. We lost to ICC 21-16. We could have played better. Maybe next time! Tuesday night was soccer, we tied. So far...busy week.

War Eagle

Picture doesn't even do the color of the trees justice. I love fall. Everyone knows that I live for War Eagle weekend in Fayetteville. I have had our motel room reserved for months, our agenda all planned out...etc...Well things didn't go as planned....but they did work out. I've gone to War Eagle for YEARS..not much keeps me from going..I went when Jacob was two weeks old! Jacob has heard me talk about War Eagle all his life, but has never got to go. It's always been something that Roger and I did together, and the boys stayed behind. Well this year, Jacob got to be my War Eagle partner. He LOVED it. He and I left Friday afternoon and left daddy at work. They are having union negotiations, so he didn't get to leave with us. BUT he did get to join us. One of the guys lives at Springdale, so he rode up with him.

Jacob standing on the bridge in front of the mill. There were a ton of folks on this bridge. We blocked some traffic for this picture. What a trooper Jacob was...thanks for going with me son! You were a good lil shopper. (I did NOT buy one thing at War Eagle).

After Roger joined us we went and picked up Michael. Went to eat at Outback, then to the mall to buy Michael new shoes and a winter coat. (Gets mighty cold in NW Arkansas). He did spend the night with us at the motel...but this is what he HAD to do...STUDY! Pretty devoted kid, and pretty proud of him.

We took Michael back to his dorm around 9:00 am Saturday morning, he had some fraternity community service to do. We continued on our "craft" shopping in the area. Had a full day. Even started Christmas shopping. Bought one boy a Christmas gift. Go me!

Red/White Game

We kicked off the basketball season tonight by having a red/white game with all the teams. This was something new. The kids had a great time. Our first game is next Monday night. Can't wait. LOVE basketball.
I have trouble getting good basketball shots. Jacob shooting free throws..he missed both!

Whoooo Pig Sooooie

It was a chilly day in Razorback stadium yesterday. We all went to the Auburn football game. We won... 44-23. My boys LOVE football, I go because they go. I love the "tail gating" part, but we didn't get to do this yesterday, because the game started at 11:00. So not alot of time to do that. I do not understand football, guess I never will, they have tried to explain it to me over the years... We did call the HOGS!
We were in the nose bleed section! It was PITIFUL! We were at the very top...seriously. We climbed so many steps to get there, I didn't know if I was going to make it.ha
Full house!
I love to watch the band. They do some pretty amazing stuff.

What a show.

Love this kid. Glad we got to spend the day with him.

Love this kid too! He enjoyed the football game.

Another family that we know went to the game. We all went to eat at Logan's Roadhouse...it was YUM-O. Michael took us on a "tour" of his fraternity house. He is "pledging" right now. He is pledging Lambda Chi. We got to meet his "big brother". He is excited about all of this. Me? Not so sure about it all yet! We also went to the mall and then to Wal Mart. Our typical stops when we go to see the boy. We had a great day!

NJHS

Today Jacob was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society; along with about 20 other 7th and 8th grade students. We are so proud of you! Congratulations!

13th Birthday...

Soooooooo....on Friday my baby turned 13! Can you believe it? He is now a teenager. 2009 has certainly been a year of milestones for us. Jacob is such an outgoing, caring, loud, rowdy child. He certainly keeps us on our toes. We love this boy! Happy 13th birthday son.
Friday night we celebrated at the bowling alley with 15 of his friends...boys AND girls! The kids seemed to have a really good time. This is the first year in a long time that I didn't have the boys over for a sleepover. This was a nice change.

One of Jacob's buddies got him a "crown" and "Barbie". This has been an on going joke between the two. The older brothers started it years ago! Tradition continues. He did NOT wear his crown all night...just slipped it on for me to snap a picture.

He couldn't get the candles to go out. They kept re-lighting. He didn't like that. He had some help getting them out.

Another buddy got him a Batman costume. We had a lot of laughs. This is such a fun group..they love to aggravate one another.

On Saturday both sets of grandparents came up to celebrate. And the Elliott's who are just like family to us! We had a cookout and made home made ice cream. I had an ice-cream made before I knew we were going to do homemade ice cream. I LOVED how the cake turned out. He was proud of his ice cream cake. (We didn't eat any of it today--oh well, we will eat on it this week).

I LOVE this picture of Jacob and his Grandma Leonard. I just managed to snap it at the right time.

Jacob with Aunt Mel and his grandparents. They made a 3 hour drive. We were soooooooo happy that they came to celebrate with us!

Jacob with his other set of grandparents. He was one lucky boy to have both sets of grandparents come celebrate his day.

And....we finally got our go-cart fixed. We have had this go-cart forever! But it had to have a new engine in it...our friend has been working on it for awhile....well, it was ready today.

His helmet is as big as him!

Michael even rode it for awhile! He was funny to watch. He is almost too big for it...

But I guess some things you just never out grow.

Yep, he came back in this weekend to help celebrate Jacob's birthday. EVERYONE was happy to see him! He spent some time doing homework...he seems to have plenty of that!!! I don't care if he comes home and has to do homework...I just LOVE it when he IS home!

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY JACOB! IT WAS A GOOD ONE!

Soccer Time..

Well...it's that time of the year...it's SOCCER season! My boys (this includes Roger) LOVE soccer. I love this time of the year. We had our first soccer game last night and another game tonight. Roger has always coached Jacob in soccer. We knew NOTHING about soccer 13 years ago when Michael started. But we soon learned the game and came to love it. It's a great activity and the kids get alot of exercise. I sure couldn't run up and down the field like they do. We have a great group of kids that play and alot of them have grown up playing together.

We will sure miss our older son playing soccer this year. His high school coach asked about him today.

Jacob is kinda under the weather this evening...he got a flu shot today.

My boys....

Michael made came home for the weekend. Did I say how much I LOVE it when he comes home? His visit/stay is never long enough! Jacob thinks his brother hung the moon. Michael takes the time to play with him. Jacob is into basketball right now and talked Michael into playing some ball with him.
I cherish every minute that he is home with us. I am happy that he is happy! Letting him grow up and fly is one of the hardest things I've ever done.... I continue to take it one day at a time, and he continues to have patience with me.

Road Trip

Another road trip today...Fayetteville bound! Michael didn't come home this weekend because he wanted to stay for the Razorback game last night (which the Razorbacks lost 52-41). We didn't go to the game because we have been under the weather and needed the time to rest yesterday. Michael hasn't been feeling well either...we took him medicine. So hopefully he will get on the road to recovery soon, because he doesn't have time to not feel well.

Always happy to see my kiddo.

We had a nice day. Went to eat lunch at TGIF. Then onto the mall...both boys ended up with a few things (getting ready for winter). Ugh. Then onto Wal Mart to pick up a few things. Back to the dorm to unload stuff. We left about 6:30. We all LOVED spending the afternoon with him.

This little guy is flat worn out from his travels! He fell asleep watching his Cardinals play! He gave up a birthday party today to go see his brother! He misses him too.........