Sunset Dinner

We had dinner on the patio at the club on a warm Thursday evening (2-11-16) and enjoyed a beautiful sunset!  Nights with no lessons/practices/games are fun to just hang out.  The kids ran around and played with their buddy Riley.  Perfect night!

Winter Baseball and Valentine Candy, the Perfect Afternoon

Coach Blake bought a fancy new pitching machine, and the dads and boys bundled up and headed to the baseball field to give it a try.  It took a little getting used to, but the dads figured out the best way to feed the ball.  The boys got some good hits and had fun getting some baseball time.

These two . . . we brought a bag of Valentine candy corn that they shared.  Let's just say this . . . pink teeth!!!!!  Beau had to brush three times to get rid of the pink! 

Love spending an afternoon with friends in the neighborhood.  Life is good!

Birthday Party for Nick

Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon . . . at Nick's birthday party!  These boys were pumped!

Ellie and Beau were happy to have each other, of course.  They always have to tag along to their big brothers' events and have such a good time together. 

Lincoln was reacting to his "almost" strike!!  He had to settle for a spare. 

The littles enjoyed the ramp for their bowling, and they were glad to get their own lane away from the crazy big boys. 

After bowling, we took a burger break.  Hungry guys! 

Video game time . . . even Mr. Corey got in on the action! 

Lincoln and Beau played Skee Ball, basketball, a fishing game, lots of arcade game, and then Lincoln found the coolest game he'd ever seen.  He used the crane thing-y to win his Mom this beautiful watch.  He just kept saying how excited he was to win so many diamonds for Mom!  Mom wore the watch for a few hours and played along.  (It is still in the bottom of my purse, and he still asks about it often.  Occasionally it gets a wear.) 

Serious faces while shooting things.   

We had a great time celebrating with Nick.  Happy Birthday, buddy!

Singin' in the Rain

The Pearce High School Theatre department put on Singin' in the Rain, and we made a trip to the matinee show.  These kids were so excited for the show to start.  We got there early, picked our seats and got ready to be entertained!

Beau and his shark hair!  Lincoln has been to a few plays at Pearce, but this was Beau's first time. 

We enjoyed the first act and were curious about how they would actually sing in the "rain"!  When it was time for the big number, they really did sing in the rain on the stage!  We learned that they built a stage a few inches above the real stage with drainage holes and hung a pipe with holes for water to fall down.  These high school kids did a great job singing and dancing in the rain!  We were amazed! 

Someone got a little too comfy in the dark auditorium and was a little too still . . . a short nap happened! 

After a short intermission, we got back into the story.  There was some kissing by the actors, which made the boys squeal with disgust!!!  The final number was spectacular, and the whole cast did a great job.   

Side note: Almost immediately, Lincoln and Beau noticed that one of the guys in the show was one of their favorite lifeguards from the club (from last summer).  They thought it was cool that they knew Daniel and wanted to wait for him after the show to say hi.  It was such a great show, and we were definitely impressed by our local high school.  We can't wait to see another show by the Pearce Theatre department.

Sports Week

Monday nights are for tennis!  The boys love an indoor sport during the cooler months, and they really have gotten better. 

When tennis is over, we all head over to the restaurant to have dinner together.  Such a fun tradition! 

One night before bedtime, Lincoln spent some time drawing up a plan for his team's next basketball game.  He titled it, " Mi sicrit plans for mi bascitball gam."  (So we need to work on not spelling everything phonetically.)   

Whoa!  That's a lot of activity on the basketball court!  Hope Coach Blake is ready for Linc's new game plan. 

Super sports week all around! 

Saturday Morning Birthday Party

Saturday morning was an early birthday party at Dave and Busters for Riley, the boys best buddy from the club.  Dad and Beau enjoyed some video games right away.

Lincoln was playing everything!!  The big boys pretty much stayed together and played lots of games. 

We got there at 10:00 am and pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.  Sweet hug break! 

When we had exhausted ourselves on video games, it was time for lunch.  They had ordered platters of mini pizzas and slider burgers and tons of French fries!!  Perfect for these boys!  Silly guys with napkin hats!!! 

It was a great morning to celebrate Riley's birthday. 

Fun Friday

We had some iPhone issues and needed to visit the Apple store for a repair or new phone.  Beau found a display iPad and played some new games while we waited. 

His main reward for so much patience during our appointment was pizza at the food court!!!  Willow Bend has a great food court, and he chose a giant slice from the pizza place and a slush from Sonic.  (The bad news was that the phone couldn't be fixed.  We had to go home and plug it in for 22 hours to save all of the pictures, etc.  They had a new phone ready on Monday.) 

Lincoln went to Cameron's birthday party at the Tae Kwon Do place on Friday night.  He had so much fun!!  They ran and jumped and kicked and punched for over an hour and loved it. 

An obstacle course had a tackling dummy that he loved. 

Time for their favorite part - punching through a wooden board.  They watched and cheered for each other.  Lincoln's turn . . .  

Success!!  He was so proud of his super strength!  They boys had pizza and cake and called it a night.  Great party!!! 

It was a fun Friday!  Plenty more fun is on the way for the weekend.

Basketball, Birthday Party, and Pizza

After a long week at school, we met up for Friday night dinner with friends at Fajita Pete's.  These boys are the best of friends and do everything together!!!  Loved having West with us this evening too.  After dinner, the dads took the boys to the Pearce basketball game.  They are all still really interested in basketball this season, and they enjoyed watching the big boys play.  (The Moms and the littles went to the Moody's for a while just to chat.)  Super fun night!

On Saturday morning, we all went to cheer Lincoln on at his basketball game.  He's super quick and the best defender ever.  (Need more pictures!)  After the game, we went to the club to celebrate Addie's birthday.  Blake had hired Mr. David (who puts on a show for different Primrose locations each week) to entertain the kids.  Beau was in awe of seeing Mr. David outside of school!  He does a fun show, sings lots of songs, tells jokes, and makes balloon hats!  The boys are pictured with Addie, but not the birthday girl Addie!  We missed out taking a picture with her. 

After some resting in the afternoon, we headed to Carmine's for dinner.  The video games are their favorite!  Beau was doing some exciting driving!

Lincoln took his turn on the other race car game, and he scored so well that he got to type in his name on the all time leader board.  (Not enough skill to drive a real car, but love that he's doing great!) 

Carmine's pizza is the best, and we loved ending our busy Saturday with a family favorite.

Silly String Fight

A nice (warm) January afternoon was the perfect time to break out the silly string!!! 

The boys had a fun battle in the front yard and went through several cans on silly string while attacking each other!  Lots of laughs for sure! 

We went for a walk through the neighborhood when the silly string was done, and we found Nick outside playing on his neighbor's swing.  A lot of swinging and a lot of fun. 

These unseasonably warm January days have been surprising, but we had several in December too.  It's been a really mild winter, and we have made sure to get outside to enjoy it.

Arkansas trip to Grandma Ruby's Funeral

An unfortunate event led to a emergency trip to Arkansas.  Grandma Ruby passed away, so Mom booked a flight to Little Rock and rented a car to drive to Dumas.  It was going to be an early wake up with no chance to be late to catch the flight, so extra alarms were needed!

Lincoln did a lot of thinking about Mom's flight, and he had a lot to say after prayers.  He had been siting in his room for a while working on a demonstration and delivered his presentation with lots of detail.  (Sorry it got a little graphic about dying, but he was so serious.)

Beau listened to Lincoln from the hallway and went to his room to make his own presentation. 

No pictures were taken during the trip, but it was as nice as the situation would allow.  We had a family lunch at church, visitation and a nice service at the funeral home, and a sunny burial service.  Even under the circumstances, it was nice to see lots of Freeman family.  Lincoln and Beau didn't go to Arkansas; they went to school as usual.  They both had a few opportunities to visit Grandma Ruby, and I'm glad they got to know her.  (They probably most remember her puppy dogs!)  Back home safe and sound pretty late that night, but it was definitely good to go be with family. 

The Polar Plunge

A chilly Sunday (January 10) was the day of the Polar Plunge!  We were meeting friends at a pool over in East Dallas for a charity event.  (Totally can't remember what charity we were supporting, but we gave our $$$.)  It wasn't crazy cold that day, but it definitely wasn't warm.

The sponsor was Hypnotic Donuts owned by a friend of the Moody's, and there were delicious donuts everywhere!!  There was also snow to play in!!  Lots of snowballs were flying by courtesy of Lincoln, Nick, and William. 

Beau and Ellie had a great time running in the snow too.  We got interviewed and photographed by the Dallas Morning News (but didn't make the next day's edition).   

OK, finally time for the actual plunge!  There were lots of people (adults) line up at one end of the pool, and the challenge was to swim all the way across in the freezing January water.  Lincoln and Beau didn't have any business in that crowd of grown-ups, so they waited on the countdown and jumped in at the steps at the end of the pool.  And they jumped out really quickly!!!!  It was cold!!!!   

They really didn't get too wet, but they huddled in their towels.  They were the only kids that participated, and we decided they did great! 

We watched as the adults participants swam (probably 50-60 in all) and cheered them on.  Then we got donuts!! 

It was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and we still laugh about jumping in a freezing pool in the winter! 

Penguin Bananas

A little free time in the evenings can always be filled with fun things to make.  We found this picture of penguin bananas and had all of the items already.  (Yes, we usually have edible eyes in the pantry for decorating cookies/cupcakes.) 

We melted the chocolate and got started.  Lincoln was so eager to dip into the chocolate and get it exactly like the picture.   

Beau was more interested in eating the m&ms but did have fun making his penguin too.  (Crazy spiked hair!) 

Our finished product . . . looked pretty good and tasted good too!!! 

Beginning January 2016

New Year's Day . . . sleep late, play, lunch, play, nap, play, dinner!  Someone didn't get the sleep late memo, and he was crashed out at dinner at the club.  It's hard out there for a 4.75 year old!!

In his much more advanced age, the 6.75 year old had taken more advantage of the rest times and was happy and ready for dinner! 

In his much much more advanced age, the 37.5 year old had made such good use of his rest time and was able to stop at the newly opened Dairy Queen in the neighborhood for a dipped cone on the way home.  Age is wisdom, folks!! 

A couple of days later, we took advantage of the warmer temps and hit up the playground.  Rock climbing wall was the choice for Lincoln! 

Beau and his big Razorback hoodie played on the swings forever! 

We spent a while updating our reading list.  Lincoln needed to log the books he has been reading over the break, so we took some time to write them down.   

We have been enjoying the relaxed schedule and just hanging around.  Back to school and back to work is a reality, but we have really lived it up over the break!