Christmastime

The tree is decorated. The college kids are home.

Why oh why do I still have to go to work?? Ugh. Tonight I'm feeling sorry for myself since our schools don't let out for the break until Friday, the 23rd!!

Wish me luck!! (and luck to Riley and Andrea who have finals on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday!)

Our kitties love baby Jesus

This is Figaro last year.  He just loved laying right by baby Jesus.  Perhaps this will give us all a little comfort now-- since we all miss him.  

This afternoon I set up our nativity.  A few hours later I checked to see if the lights were on and I found this!! Noel, our other kitty (Figaro's mom) up near baby Jesus.

How sweet are our kitties...

No wonder we love them so much.

P.S. Please don't die Noel. We want you to stick around here with us.

Christmas Time...

It's that wonderful time of the year.

I've been a little behind, but I FINALLY have gotten my house mostly decorated for the season.  I seem to have a system to my madness:  First the tree, then the mantle, then the family room.

Our family room has a snowman theme.

Then comes my favorite part of the 'unpacking' of Christmas pasts.

Yep. I even had to take a picture of him. The posted picture is Kevin's little snowman.  He made this little guy in kindergarten.  Isn't he SO cute!  I laugh smile a little each year that I unwrap him from his 11 month nap in bubble wrap.  When he is placed on the table, I know that Christmastime has truly arrived!

we live and breathe soccer

It's that time of year again!

we live

we breathe

we soccer

I'm not even kidding!  Riley & Andrea both made the JV soccer teams at school.  It's still preseason-- but that doesn't mean they don't play a lot of soccer.  They just completed a two day tournament.  For me, that meant I watched 4 games on Friday and 5 games on Saturday. (NINE GAMES!!! but who's counting?)

I'm a dutiful mom. I watched every game.

Holy.

That was a lot of soccer.

I'm pretty sure I dreamt soccer last night.

It was a great tournament. Riley's team finally found their confidence and beat a team that had already beat them twice. It was wonderful vengeance. They were SO happy. It built their confidence and they won a few games. More than that, they started playing hard. It was great to see them pull it all together. I am sure next weekend's tournament will be great for them.

Andrea's team hasn't met much opposition yet. They tied one game on Friday-- so they were put in the 'silver' bracket for Saturday. They found success in every match and won the silver bracket.  It was fabulous.  Soccer is a relatively new sport for Andrea, but she is doing great.  The 'real' season begins in January.

Brrrrr. 

And we have get to go to more tournaments this weekend!!

Well played kids. Well played.

P.S.

I promise to take post pictures of Riley next week!

Grouchy Pants

I miss this guy. :(

He will be missed...

Our kitty Figaro has been missing for a couple of days. Unfortunately we found him today. He was Jacquie's kitty and the only son born to Andrea's kitty, Noel.  He loves to lay in the sun on our neighbors patio in the afternoons. He doesn't like our backyard because he isn't a big fan of Ella.  The two of them were like water and oil. They just love to fight.

He must have been sick, because he just simply passed away laying on her patio.  We are sad to have him gone. It just isn't the same walking up to our front door and not hearing him "greet" us in his own special grumpy way.  Even though he was rather grumpy and grouchy old soul, we loved him just the same.  He was an adorable kitty and usually won any neighborhood cat fights.

Rest in peace Figaro. We will miss you. You'll love going back to this POST to see a great picture of Figaro with his mother.  It's a great way to remember him.

Ha!

I couldn't resist sharing this.... :)

It makes me laugh every time!