Cotulla Christmas

Darren got a Wii from Dammie and Papo for Christmas. He is very excited, and plays it non-stop until we make him take breaks. Uncle Wes and Aunt Shelley got him a Lego Star Wars game to go with it. I am amazed at how good he is at it. Uncle AD and Aunt Kourtnie and the boys got him a remote control car. I have become very agile, dodging that thing in the kitchen!

Kamryn got lots of clothes from everybody, and some fantastic new boots! Uncle Wes and Aunt Shelley got her a cute butterfly that sings and flaps its wings as it rolls around the floor. It encourages her to crawl. It is a very nifty gadget. All in all it was a great Christmas in Cotulla. Now we have Christmas at the house and then Christmas in Victoria. Christmas in our family last an entire month!

Kam Updates...

This is our beautiful girl as of late. She is so much fun! She is very vocal these days, and has quite a repertoire of coos and giggles. She is eating like crazy again. Bananas and Applesauce are her favorites, but she is still eating all her veggies too. Her sleeping varies, sometimes she wakes up 3 times a night and sometimes she sleeps through. I never know what to expect.

You have to watch her now when you go to give her a kiss on the cheek, because she has started to try and kiss back! But she just opens her mouth really big and slobbers all over you!

Last week she started sitting up by herself really well. And sitting up makes Little Miss Nosey Britches very happy, because she gets a much better view of all that is going on.

She has the best smile. When we pick her up in the afternoon, she is all gums! It is great for the whole family to see how happy she is to see us, and to be home. Darren is still the apple of her eye in the afternoons. She is still his biggest fan, no one can get her laughing like he can!

Her toes are her favorite teether. She can always reach them, and she is a master a kicking off shoes and socks. During the summer, this was not such a big deal, but now that it is cold outside I feel like I spend all day putting her socks back on her feet!

It's Either...

Last night after dark, we were in the driveway and Darren says, "Mama, look at that light in the sky, it's moving." I said "It sure is, isn't it."

He replies, "Yep. It's either a helicopter, a airplane, or a bird with a flashlight."

Football Banquet

Darren got another trophy at his football banquet to go along with his 2nd place Superbowl trophy. The boy is going to need a trophy shelf soon.

The team sat together at a table with their coaches. We were told by some of the mom's from the older boy's teams that decorating this "team table" had recently turned into an unofficial competition between the team mom's. We decided to snub the competition and their over the top displays. We had the boys bring their Superbowl trophies and lined those down the center of the table, enough said right? We did have a few balloons and the biggest cheapest pack of NFL trading cards I could find at Academy and sprinkled them down the center of the table to keep the boys entertained. Sitting still for a guest speaker isn't exactly easy for 5 and 6 year old boys.


Darren and his coaches, Jonovan and Jason. The coaches had as much fun as the boys did this season, and I attribute a lot of our success to that fact.

The guest speaker, Hunter Goodwin. He's a former Aggie Walk-on, and a former Minn. Viking. Rumor has it, we are campaigning for him to coach the freshman team next season. If so, I hope he keeps it as fun as the coaches from this season.

Superbowl

Superbowl was a heart breaker. We played Brenham Black. The game went into overtime, Brenham had the ball first, and they made their touchdown but missed the extra point. Our possession ended with a fumble recovered by Brenham, it was a tough way to lose. Their sidelines erupted, and their coaches rushed the field, and our boys burst into tears. When they realized they were still getting a trophy, the tears immediately dried up though.

Darren had gotten sick the night before and we didn't know it at the time, but he had Strep. Throat. He played the first two plays of the game and came to the sidelines crying that he didn't feel good. So he sat out the rest of the first half. His coaches and Zach and I kept checking on him, but he didn't want to play and nobody made him. After half time, he played a couple plays then told his coach he was going to throw up, so he came off the field again and sat out the rest of the game. When we got home he was running a 102 degree fever so I took him in to the Dr. Team picture with the coaches after the game. See how proud they are of their trophies?That's Darren to the far right. Poor guy! He was so out of it. Normally he would be right in the middle of everyone.

Hindsight 20/20, this was probably not a good idea Daddy.

But isn't he so cute in his uniform?

Kamryn's 1st Carrots

The video we took of Kamryn's first few bites of carrots was uneventful. This video was taken about half way through the jar. Darren was at the table working on his homework, and Kamryn was much too interested in him to even realize she was eating something new. She was looking backwards at him the entire time, which made it difficult on me. At the end I actually got some up her nose! I kept telling Darren to let her eat and to finish his homework, but it was a waste of time. The two of them kept looking at each other and smiling and laughing. It was a little frustrating, but cute. I hope they continue to adore each other in the years to come.

Hony Hawk Bike

Because I put up the videos of Darren when he was first learning to ride his bike, I thought it was only fair to put up a video of him now that he knows what he's doing. Our neighbors are breathing easier, their shrubs are no longer taking a beating from Darren's once daily crashes. He has finally mastered the stop and start, and Lord knows I don't miss the fits!
His bike is a Tony Hawk bike, named after Tony Hawk of course. So Zach showed Darren videos of Tony Hawk doing tricks in competitions and what not, so that Darren would understand more about his bike. I was nervous he would start trying to do the tricks, but so far he hasn't - thank goodness. He did however go to school and tell all his friends about his "Hony Hawk Bike", which we thought was really cute. We've now added "Hony Hawk" to Darren's famous phrases, right along side "tootpick", our previous favorite.

The funniest Big Brother EVER!!!

We have been telling people for a while that no one can make Kam laugh like Darren can. Here is indisputable proof that Darren is in fact THE funniest big brother EVER!!!
He hadn't played his Nintendo DS in a couple weeks, but decided to play it yesterday evening. He played for about an hour, that is a long time for him to sit still. Then he hops up and says, "YES! I defeated those helicopter drones with Optimus Prime!" and he starts dancing around all crazy in the living room. Add in Kamryn laughing and me filming him and he just kept getting crazier, and Kamryn loved every second of it!

Kamryn's 1st Peas

Kamryn had her first taste of baby food last night! We decided to start her on peas because we're pretty sure she has her Mama's sweet tooth. If we would have started her on applesauce or peaches, she would have never eaten peas. Zach recorded her first bites. In the beginning you can see her anticipation, fist clenched and her eyes are on the spoon, she was expecting her apple banana cereal. I imagine the peas were a bit of a shock. The camera shakes a lot because Zach thought her faces were hilarious and he was laughing. His favorite part is on about her second or third bite she cocks her left eyebrow.
Even though she made terrible faces after each bite, she still ate about half a jar. And don't worry, I gave her some apple banana cereal to wash down the peas.

The Chain Gang

Zach was recruited to work the chains at our game in Brenham a couple weeks ago.

I think he enjoyed it, I know Darren liked having Daddy right there on the sidelines. I don't think it's any coincidence either that this was one of Darren's better games.

The next few pictures are from a game in Waller. This was a tough game that our boys fought hard to win in the final minute. The bizarre thing about this game was the penalties, they were numerous and not one penalty was called on the home team, not one. I guess they were just a disciplined bunch... Darren received his first penalty ever, a block in the back.

Pictures of Kamryn on the sidelines.

Kam's New Noise

When we were driving around one day, Kamryn discovered a new noise. She kept making it, and kept making it, she was very entertained with herself. We were all entertained as well. In fact, Zach made the block again, just so we could hear a little longer. It is indeed a testament to what being a parent is all about when playing with your spit becomes not only video worthy, but sending to the grandparents worthy. Enjoy!

Austin Park

Across the highway from the hotel we stayed in during Michelle's wedding, was Austin Park. We drove by it several times and the Go-carts and Putt-Putt Golf course were just too enticing to pass up. So the morning after the wedding, we let Darren swim at the hotel pool for a while and then went and grabbed some pizza for lunch and headed to Austin Park. It was much bigger than it looked from the road. Our first stop was the Go-carts. The Go-carts looked great from the outside, but once they started up it was pretty obvious from the sound that underneath that shiny fiberglass was somebody's retired lawn mower. You can hear it for yourself in the video at the end. The one Darren drove was especially slow. We aren't sure if that was because Darren didn't have it floored like the other kids or if he just drew the short straw and got the crappy mower, I mean Go-cart. Either way, he got lapped. But the good thing about getting lapped was that for a short while, it looked as though he was in first place. Go Darren! When the time was up it was obvious he wasn't impressed and we quickly moved on to the Putt-Putt Golf.

He had just gotten buckled in, and was getting acquainted with the controls.

At this point he was in "first" place.

We didn't have a stroller and it was pretty hot out, so we kept moving Kamryn from shade spot to shade spot as we made our way through the course. She seemed to really enjoy herself.

The first thing you saw from the highway was this castle. We were a little disappointed it wasn't actually part of the course, just a gigantic center piece.

This was Zach's hole-in-one. Lindsey made one too, but I don't have a picture of that. She rode with us to the wedding, so she kinda got drug along to Austin Park as well. She had a good time though, and actually I think she might have beat Zach at Putt-Putt.

This is the video of Darren during the Jr. Go-cart race. He is in the yellow and blue one bringing up the rear. You can hear Zach yelling at him to push the petal down harder, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was just as fast as that thing could go.

Michelle's Wedding

Michelle and I met in Sunday School when we were three years old, and Lindsey grew up just down the road from Michelle, so the three of us have known each other a while and we have managed to stay close friends through the years, although Michelle ended up at Texas State rather than A&M with Lindsey and I. This means we never met a lot of Michelle's "other" friends. A few weekends ago, she got married to a boy that (gasp!) Lindsey and I have never met. Now granted, we had heard lots and lots about this Will person from Michelle and it was obvious that she was completely in love with him, so he got points for that, but we needed to form our own opinions. What kind of guy is Will anyway? Well I can't speak for Lindsey, although I'm sure she'll agree, I learned all I needed to know about Will during his dance with his mother. First of all, the song was "In My Mother's Eyes" by Willie Nelson, very good choice. But secondly, and most importantly, he bawled like a baby. His tears were so sincere that I cried. So he gets an A+ in my book. Mama's boys hold a special place in my heart.

The wedding was gorgeous, and Michelle was stunning. Pastor Bill performed the ceremony, he also married Zach and I six years ago. The reception was tons of fun, the food and DJ were awesome and Will's brother gave a great toast.

Darren found a friend and the two of them played outside the tent for most of the evening.

Lindsey and Michelle

Kamryn and her bunny

Mrs. McDonald and Kamryn

Happy Baby Girl

Our baby girl is such a happy thing. Right now both our kids can't breathe through their noses, when you walk down the hall at night after they've gone to bed it sounds like Darth Vader is in their rooms. Kamryn is a bit worse than Darren, she is actually hoarse from snoring so much. Zach has started calling her boogers. He says it so sweet to her though, "Good Morning Boogers", and she just lights up and starts pumping her feet and arms. I agree with Zach, we could all learn a lesson from Kam, she is so happy even though we know she feels like crap.

She is teething right now. She is constantly drooling and gnawing away on her fingers or your shoulder or her bunny, whatever she can get her chubby hands on.