Bumper Bowling

Let's go bowling!  The Iveys invited us to join them for some bowling, and for some of our kids, it was their first time!

James was very good and hung out in his stroller almost the whole evening.  We had ramps and bumpers, and Emma and the girls were thick as thieves.

Susan was Super Mom, bowling with a baby in her arms.

When we finally let James out, he ran right for the balls.

As we hung out at the alley, Saturday night turned to Cosmic Bowling night.  We has some fun music, the kids got to experience a black light and some fun dancing.  The best part of the night was watching the kids bowl and do a little "Gangnam Style" at the same time.

A little competition

William has decided that he prefers to wear his character underwear backwards so he can see all the Batmans, Jokers, etc. in the front.  The other day he told me he was wearing 2 pairs so he could have villains and superheros at one time.  Well, at least he is wearing underwear, right?

Well, today I went into the boy's room and there was an explosion of underwear all over the floor.  We were on our way out the door to Mass so I forgot to ask what the story was.  William did volunteer the information that he was wearing 5 pairs of underwear to Mass, but I didn't think anything of it.  Until we were on our way to dinner.  I was talking to Tommy about the many pairs on William, and Patrick pipes in from the backseat: "Oh, I tried to wear more than one pair today, but I only have one on.  But that's nothing to Emma.  She beat us all with 13 pairs!"

Every boy needs his purse full of Legos in Walmart as he looks for more Star Wars Legos.

Pinewood Derby 2013

It's Derby time!  If you talk to William, it's called the "Highwind/Hinewind Derby."  Anyone else in our family calls it the Pinewood Derby.  We had 3 cars this year: Tommy raced the Bandit in the adult racing.  William had a Batman car, and Patrick decided to do Spiderman.  The siblings had their own race, so Emma used Tommy's car.  Everyone did really well, but Patrick was the big winner of his den, coming in 3rd place!

Tommy wanted to be Burt Reynolds, and shared his moustaches with all the kids who were willing to root for him.

Cubmaster Randy asked William if he liked Batman, since his car was obviously that theme.  But, in true William fashion, we had no idea that his response would be: "Well, I really like Batgirl better, but Batman is okay."  Randy was laughing so hard.  Can you see his red face?

Lowercase and Uppercase

Emma was describing one of her classmate's dads to me.
"He has glasses, and kind of a beard and his hair is like a lowercase U."
Me: "Lowercase U?"
Emma: "You know, it kind of goes around."
Me: "What do you mean, like Papa?"
Emma: "Oh no, Papa's hair is like an uppercase U."
Me: "And what about Grandpa?"
Emma: "Oh his is an uppercase U too."

HTTR!

Daddy's team made it to the playoffs this year!  It was a big Sunday in the house.  Daddy even got me to wear the burgundy and gold.

We were bummed that they lost the big game, but we were so excited that they made it as far as they did.  It's a fun family thing that we do together.

The Three Kings

 To end our marathon of family gatherings, we had Epiphany/Holy Family celebration at our house with the Gregory side of the family.  Fr. John Mosimann (the priest who married us and baptized Patrick) came to bless our home and lead the visit with the 3 kings.

 It happened to be the big Cowboys/Redskins game day.  :)

 Caspar,

 Melchior,

 and Balthazar

 in the year 2013.  Tommy doesn't even need a step stool.

 The blessing is accompanied by a rousing version of "We Three Kings" and the kids did a great job leading the singing as they walked father through the house.

I think our house is officially under the Lord's care.  God is Good!

Visits with St. Nick

 I love that the Scouts get a visit with Santa.  The whole family gets to spend time with him and get their pinewood derby car, as well as a candy cane and holy card, explaining the significance of the colors and design of the cane.

 William wasn't happy because he already saw Santa, but without me, so I made him go again.  Apparently, Mommy messed it up.  Even Santa said he already saw him.  LOL

 We tried for some Santa and James time, but he wanted nothing to do with him.

 Daddy, on  the other hand, gets along with everyone.

 Tommy took the kids to his old neighborhood for the annual Christmas party with a visit from Santa.  He brings a gift for each kid, and I think William got the best of them all!

 James was excited because it was a collection of balls!  His favorite thing.

 But he wasn't ready to thank Santa yet.