Sleep Over

Well, we all survived Zach inviting a friend over for their first sleep over. I have to say it went well and learned a few things along the way. When I think back to my school years some of my fondest memories with friends were having slumber parties. In fact, I still have in my mind that I would like to have some grown up girlfriends over and we stay up all night talking and eating, but never quite get around to organizing it. Anyway, the things I learned this weekend

1. If you just leave them along they work things out. I admit it I am a meddler- I never want feelings to get hurt and with boys angry feelings usually lead to some sort of physical retaliation- so I don't want anyone to get physically hurt either. But, I did more sitting back this time and guess what- they would work most things out on their own- mostly no tears and no blood.

2. They recover quickly. It was getting later last night and happy attitudes were fading fast. They were bickering about something and this was the moment I was waiting for- they're too young, I knew this would happen, they wouldn't be able to get along, I hope this doesn't ruin there friendship forever, I hope his parent don't mind if I call now to come pick him up . . .. But within about a total of 5 minutes- they are laughing and giggling again like nothing ever happened.

3. Use your gut to end things on a good note. They both got some sleep, woke up in good moods, talking about spending the rest of the day together. Zach invited his buddy to church- all went well. We should have ended it then, but they begged to stay a little longer. Well, that little longer ended up in a wrestling match and tears. Which I telling myself don't dwell on the 2 or 3 negative instances and remember they had mostly 18 hours of fun.

Boys playing basketball

Cale and Zach both had their second basketball games yesterday through the Ankeny Park and Rec. At Cale's age their are 40 teams of ten 4-5 year old boys and they play for 6 weeks on Saturdays for one hour. I remember starting to play basketball in the 5th grade and I think it was 4 Saturdays. But, not here, some kids at Cale's age group really knew what was going on.

Cale's main interest is racing kids down the court, he loves to win! He had to wear pants this week, because last week he kept lifting up his shorts and we could see his butt cheeks. The adults were laughing and Zach was embarrassed for his little brother- 'Mom go tell him to put his shorts down'

Zach really has improved his basketball play and interest in the sport this year. For me, I just like that he is using up some of his endless amount of energy on a basketball court instead of jumping and running about the house. :)

As you can see, Zach definitely has some height advantage.

Hustling after the ball. Sorry about the blur- it's a challenge for me to get action shots with my camera.

He's even got some ups!

Christmas with Eric's Family

Eric's mom and dad- Marvin and Dianne. We were able to celebrate with Eric's family on Saturday. We had planned to go on Christmas Day, but with the roads still bad, we decided to postpone a day.

The grand kids, Cale, Owen, Zach and Shelby

Eric's sister, Lynne, her husband Brian and their kids, Owen and Shelby

What a wonderful Christmas! I always enjoy Christmas and really don't remember having a bad Christmas, but I would have to say this was one of my favorite all around Christmas's. Today, I was trying to decide why that was and I came to several conclusions. I am very happy in my life, wonderful husband, great kids, etc. I have finally found contentment in my life with a lot of help from Eric and spending time in prayer. I said no to some things pre Christmas- just so I wasn't uptight about getting things done. We were able to enjoy a day with each of our parents and celebrate Christmas with our extended families. And Zach and Cale are getting to ages- they are just fun to be around, Christmas Eve we all went into big church, we came home and we were all able to play Mario Cart. On Christmas Day, we played the wii together and we played games- this has always been my dream and now I am living it!

Christmas 2009

Christmas morning- Cale says, "Santa did come, Come look guys - we got presents"

We keep asking them what were their 3 favorite gifts and they keep changing. But, a few of the highlights from Santa/us are - they each got a Beta fish- closest thing to a pet that they will get for awhile, Mario and Sonic Olympics for the Wii, for Zach a pokemon game for his DS and Cale some cars from Cars and the games blokus and Mastermind.

The boys patiently waiting to open presents. Mom can be so annoying with her camera!

We hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas. Due to the weather we stayed home all day. I do miss seeing extended family on Christmas, but I will have to admit I did enjoy being in my pajamas all day and staying home and playing.

Abbas Family Christmas 2009

We went to my parents house on Friday night and spent the night with them. On Saturday, we enjoyed the day celebrating both my mom's birthday and Christmas.

Cale and Zach had fun playing with cousins and of course opening presents.

We had a lot of fun this year playing games. Mom had found a game called Right Left Center- the best thing about the game- We all could play- even Cale. It's a simple game, but generated lots of laughs and even some new words from Cale- "Shakalacka Shackalacka"

The Beenken's - Sorry Cassie- I didn't realize you weren't looking!

The Fisher's

Eric was with us too, but didn't get many pictures of him- oops!

Snow Days December 2009

Having fun in the snow!

Getting ready to shovel! Eric and I don't really mind shoveling and our drive way really isn't that long. But, we really didn't have to do that much thanks to our nice neighbor with a blade on the front of his truck.

During the blizzard I didn't let the kids go outside, but they were so excited about sledding. So, if mom's not going to let us sled outside, we are going to do it inside.

Sorry about the lack of clothes on Cale, but he is a little furnace.