The Bowl Game, Baby

After a really fun day of travel, we were thrilled to be in Arizona!

There was a scheduled trip for all of the kids the morning of the 27th.  The men had meetings and then practice, and the women had a luncheon and shopping day.  We skipped all of the above and instead joined the kids at Jake's Fun Park. 

Each kid had to wear a certain shirt to specify their group. Andy's was a tad large...

Andy with his aunts....

Cal and daddy got to ride go carts, so Andy watched from the sidelines...

Tricia is a little on the tiny side, so she had to use a back cushion to help her feet reach the pedals...a problem I don't think I've ever had...

Thumbs up!

Andy wanted to ride...

After the fun park, Eddie took Cal to watch practice.  We were calling it the game since the real game was too late for the boys to come.  He thought it was awesome and came home talking about all of the touchdowns they got- haha.

The next day, we took the boys to a train park-- it was adorable.  They had a train ride and a carousel and several play grounds.  Before we left, we took a few pics...

The boys are in to hugging each other...   

Mimi with her boys

Riding the carousal-- Cal was nervous; had a death grip on Patty's neck.

Shosh leaned in for a picture.

Waiting for the train--

We had dinner in the room and then headed outside to one of the many fire pits to cook s'mores! 

CB, Mimi, Cal and Daddy sitting around the fire pit!

Cal came over to snuggle up with his momma...

They were showing Andy how to hold your hands out to warm them up-- he thought it was hilarious.  Cal was very timid around the fire...Andy wanted to run through it.  Fearless!

You know I was in heaven having both of these little guys sitting on my lap...

Poppy got out of a meeting and came out to meet us! Cal sat on his lap, where it was safe...

Poppy stood up next to the fire pit and propped a leg up.  Cal tried his hardest to get his leg up there too and said, "Just like you, Poppy!"

The only family shots from the whole trip.  Of course this was on the day where the hot water went out in the hotel and I had yet to shower... lovely hair, huh?

The girls!

This night, Poppy finished all of his work so he and Mimi offered to bathe and get the kids to bed so that I could go up to the  hospitality suite with CB and Tricia.  As soon as they offered, I think I sprinted down the hall- haha!

We got back after some yummy cocktails to find Cal asleep like this, in Tricia's bed. 

Whoops! After a transfer to his bed, he slept great!

The next day was GAME DAY! Like I said, the game started late-- 8:15 Arizona time, which was 10:15 home time... that means we wouldn't get home until at least 1am and I just couldn't do that to the kids before traveling home the following day.

We headed out that morning for a nearby park to have some fun.  The boys wore their TCU gear to support the frogs...

We had to get a picture in our matching shirts...

Even Andy is trying to do the frog sign!

The playground had a HUGE field which was really fun for the boys.

We went down slides...

Cal had a thing for Mimi's glasses the entire trip.  He wore them constantly! This thing was a little mini surf board/boogie board and was so much fun!

Then, Poppy got out of meetings and came to the park! Cal was so excited, he ran all the way to greet him!

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for naps.  Then it was time for us to leave for the game! We had an EXCELLENT babysitter for the boys.  She texted me pictures the entire time and they had so much fun together! This was a source of a LOT of concern for me, so I was so relieved it went well.

Unfortunately, we did not pull of a win at the bowl. :( We were leading for almost all of it, and ended up losing by 1 point.  Sadly, we didn't play well enough to win.  That's all there is to it.  But I can assure you, it was not from a lack of us cheering!

We had a fun time on the trip, and the boys were excellent little travelers.  They slept great and adjusted to the time change fine.  I was worried about having all of us in one room, but it worked out fine.  Cal wakes up some at night and calls out, but this wasn't a problem, thankfully.  We moved Andy in his pack n play into our bathroom at nap time because Cal woke him up during one nap-- he was watching ESPN and we heard him say (we were in the next room): "look Ahh-ndy! They got a touchdown!!!" Andy woke up and was a mess.  Oh well...

Traveling home was fairly uneventful.  We had to run in Charlotte to catch our next flight.  I sent CB, Cal and Eddie ahead to hold the plane while I waited for the stroller with Andy.  They couldn't find it- sigh.  After getting that, I loaded Andy and started to sprint through the terminals.  We made it fine, thankfully.

One funny story I have to share that happened while traveling home was in the AZ airport, Cal and I were washing hands and a woman was standing by the changing area getting make up out of her bag.  Cal was staring, I am sure, so she was talking to him, saying she needed to look prettier, etc.  After she finished applying make up, she asked him if she looked better and he nodded (ha!).  Then she said to me, "do you think he would like some of this orange flavored gum? I just started chewing this and it still has lots of flavor."  and pointed to her mouth to show me the gum.  Seriously.  And y'all, she didn't even look crazy.  She looked like a grandma or someone nice looking... sigh....

Anyway, we made it home around 9:00 and put those kiddos to BED!

I took a TON of pictures with my phone and will dump them all at some point on here...

So glad to be home! We are all working on adjusting our schedules.  The boys are sleeping in, so we are not complaining!



 

a travel day from hell.

The alarm went off at 3:35 on December 26th for a pick up time of 4:45 to arrive at the airport by 5 for our 6am flight to Arizona .

All was going well; we arrived to the airport right at 5:00am.  We asked which line we should be in since we need special assistance with the "infant in arms" ticket.  You can't get your tickets from the kiosk.  The lady sent us to the back of a long line (the regular check in line)-- me, Eddie, CB, both boys, a stroller, 5 bags (4 bags plus a golf bag) and our carry on suitcase.  After waiting in that line for about 10 minutes, a Delta worker saw us and said, "that baby have a seat of his own?" about Andy.  We told her no, he was riding on my lap.  She told us we were in the wrong line and needed to go to the special assistance line....like I asked the first time.  Sooo, we hopped to the back of that line and waited.  And waited. 

These two weighed themselves while we waited...

When we finally go up to the counter, we were told that because it was 29 minutes until our flight's departure, they would not accept our bags.  You must be there 30 minutes prior to departure for your bags to make it.  She told us that if we had only 2 bags, she would take it, but since we had so many, there was no way she would.  Thanks, lady.

So, we started trying to figure out a way to re-route us.  At first she didn't see anything until 4:00 in the afternoon.  Fine.  I called my dad and told him to come back to get us.  Then she found a flight that left at 9:30.  Fine.  I called  my dad and told him never mind. Then she tried to actually rebook us.  My sister in law and I have the exact same name: Carrie Elizabeth Williamson.  This set off ALL kinds of red flags in the world of airports.  They wouldn't let us book, why should one person need two seats? etc etc... it was a mess. 
 After chatting with our friend for over 45 minutes, we headed to security.  That went smoothly, thankfully.

We headed down for some breakfast and that went well too... then we had time to kill before our 9:30 flight.  It was only 6:30.  THREE HOURS to kill in an airport with two young boys.

THANK GOD for CB. Eddie gets a little anxious flying so he spent most of this time watching the weather forecast for Detroit (where we were re-routed), which was being hit by a blizzard... CB and I took the boys from one end of the terminal to the other.  We ran, we skipped, Andy dropped in the middle of the floor and did somersaults.... whatever we could do to provide entertainment...

Andy spotting airplanes...
    

Running and running and running.... (actually here he was about to go push the emergency alarm button on the elevator right behind him...it's perfectly eye level for him)...

I seriously wonder how many people saw...this.... and thought, "dear lord please do not put them on my flight!!!"  At least they were smiling, right??

With CB's help, we were all calm, collected and happy.  Seriously, I would have died without her.  CB, are you reading this??? THANK YOU!

Andy's lovie went everywhere with us.  It was SO SO nasty by the end of the trip. 

Going to the bathroom with my shadow.  I spent $10 a pop on some Delta airplane toys and the boys were loving them.  Greatest $20 spent...

We finally took off at 9:30-- woohoo! As we are boarding the plane-- we are in the very last row of the plane-- the flight attendant comes back and says, "hold on tight to those kids, it's going to be really bumpy." Excellent.  Have I mentioned that Eddie is not a great flyer? Cal was tired and when he's tired he wants his momma.  Eddie and Cal were on one side of the plane and me, CB and Andy were across the aisle from them.  Cal was crying because he wanted me and there was nothing I could do.  We held hands across the aisle.

We took off on what I can only describe as a realllllly bumpy flight and it was HOT on that airplane.  There was no cool air blowing out so both CB and Eddie start to feel a little ill.  CB requested an airsick bag from the attendant (it was that bumpy).  

Andy was exhausted and finally gave in.  He slept for the last 20-25 minutes of the flight...

When we landed in Detroit, Eddie turned on his phone to see a text from Delta alerting him that our next flight was delayed 3 hours.  

So, we did what any other normal person in our case would do...

As we were delayed, the blizzard came in more and more....

The boys had a great time watching it snow. I was nervous that we wouldn't get out because the board showed a ton of canceled flights. 

Our flight was supposed to leave out of one gate and then they announced that it was rescheduled to another gate, 65 gates away.  So, off we trekked to the next gate... are we having fun yet?

We finally boarded our next flight and then got in the de-icing line.  Our plane had to de-ice before take off...along with every other flight taking off out of Detroit.  This line took forever.  We waited over an hour.  Andy finally fell asleep (but didn't stay asleep long....sigh). 

Once we got in the air, Cal fell asleep in his seat with his head on my lap.  I panicked because I knew he didn't have a pull up on, and he is SUCH a heavy sleeper, he still has to wear them at night/naps.  I started smelling something urine-like and felt his pants. He had soaked them. I think he probably peed 4 or 5 times-- they were that soaked. 

I let him rest a little while longer, then woke him to take him to the bathroom with a change of clothes.  Do you know how small those bathrooms are? They are really small.  The two of us squeezed in there and attempted to change him.  He decided he had to pee again, so I turned him around to go in the toilet.  He pointed his penis straight up and sprayed the ceiling and walls instead. 

After changing clothes and wiping down the bathroom, we were back in our seats.  phew.  The first flight attendant gave us drink vouchers for it being such a miserable flight, so CB and I had a cocktail on the plane to calm us down.  It was lovely...especailly since the flight attendant told us to keep our vouchers-- it was obvious we needed them....!

A while into the trip, I leaned over and told Carrie we only had about 20 minutes left.  Then the flight attendant came by and told the people next to us we still had about an hour and a half.  I thought Carrie and I were going to cry. 

We landed and Tricia was there to greet us.  The hotel was really nice and we were thrilled to not be traveling! I quickly unpacked-- to find my entire can of hairspray had sprayed out (it had a cap ON and was in a plastic zip lock bag) all over my clothes.  So I threw my clothes and Cal's stinky pants in the sink to attempt to do laundry. 

We were supposed to land at 10am, and instead got in around 8pm.  At least we made it!!! And, to their credit, the boys were wonderful the whole day.  They just rolled with it all!

More on bowl week next post...


 

Christmas Day: Part 2

After opening presents at our house and playing with them for a while, it was time to head over to my parents house to see what else Santa might have brought...

The big present over there was an F150 truck, just like grandpa's! Cal and Jackson both got one-- and they are two seaters, so all of the kids could ride.

After daddy showed Cal what to do...

He was OFF!
You would think he's been driving one of these things for years! He was cruising up and down sidewalks, through the streets...

Everyone was out watching them go.... we were all laughing hysterically....

Nug wasn't too sure of it all, so he snuggled up to CB to watch...

Cal was too funny driving this thing.  He held on to the wheel and had the funniest look on his face.  He loved it! He is usually very timid, but he was ALL about this truck.  He even veered off the driveway down the huge hill at my parents house.  He was wild!

These trucks go pretty fast and they even have a radio on them! HA! Catherine came and rode in Cal's car.  They are so cute together.  She is only 6 months younger than Cal and they really get along well.

It was precious to listen to them talk...Cal would say, "hold on, Caferine! We are going fast!" And Catherine would point where she wanted to go and then scream, "GOOOOO!" 

Heading into the side yard...

CB and I didn't coordinate very well... opps! Still a cute picture!

Back to the streets...

Andy was just taking it all in... not quite ready to sit shotgun in the fast trucks...

Before long, we were taking the trucks on the golf course.  This picture is my all time favorite from the day.  If you can, click on it to see it bigger.  Cal is so serious, Catherine has her mouth wide open, and Andy is sitting in the back holding on for dear life.

Cal went to visit Jackson in his car for a quick picture.  These kids will be riding together in a real car in no time.... and I am NOT rushing that!!!

 Each car had license plates.... Calvin and Andy!

It was such a fun and happy day.  The kids were well-behaved and everyone just had a great time being together.  After a delicious lunch, we headed home for naps and last minute laundry...we had to pack since we were leaving EARLY on the 26th!

I felt SO blessed all day on Christmas.  I love each present I got, but the real presents are the sweet little guys who call me Mommy.


 

Christmas Day: part 1

Santa made it to our house and we were soooo excited to see what he brought! Cal woke up first and came into our room.  He was a little worried that he woke up too soon, so he climbed in bed with us and said, "you hafta shut your eyes right now or Santa will not come!" I told him that as soon as Andy woke up we could go down stairs... next thing you know, Andy is awake and we are heading down the stairs.  CB (Eddie's sister) was kind enough to grab the camera to snap pics of us coming down.  I know I look fabulous all decked out. 

Peeking around the corner to see if he came...

Andy got a Mickey Mouse microphone in his stocking!

Cal was SOOOO excited to open the airport from CB!

Andy was just in awe of it all.  He didn't want to open any presents, he just wanted to look at everything.  We kept handing him boxes and he would set them aside and go look at something else. 

My football guy got a helmet...

My sweet boys in the Christmas jammies that Manning brought for them to wear!

Speaking of Manning...as many of you know, the elves go up to the North Pole on Christmas Eve and do not return until the following year.  Cal was SO excited to be getting the things he's been asking for from Manning that he kept wanting to show him! He would stand up and say, "look at this, Manning! Oh man, where is Manning? Why he leave?" It was adorable... and also, on our trip this past week, every time Andy would act up, Cal would remind him, "Manning still watching you!" haha

Round one of Christmas was a total success.  My parents popped over to bring some doughnuts and coffee and watched the boys open some of their Santa gifts. 

After the opening was done, we got to play with the new goods for a while! It was SO mild on Christmas day-- very un-like everyone posting pictures of white Christmases-- so they boys played in the driveway with the new basketball hoop the Santa brought. 

We headed over to my parents house around 11 for round two....

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve this year was lots of fun, as usual. 

We played hard all day, picked up CB from the airport and took some great naps! We woke the boys up at 4 to bathe them before heading to church for the 5:30 family service.  It isn't our favorite service at church (at all), but it's a nice thing to do on Christmas Eve.  After church, we headed over to mom and dad's house for some food and beverages!

Cal at church, sport coat and bowtie on...

After church we gathered at mom's house.  We were all sitting in the living room, having some family time, when Andy decided to perform somersaults....typical. 

Grandpa tried to read "Night Before Christmas" to the grandkids.....

 Then Nugget was over it...

 Pretty soon it was only CalBoy and Grandpa....

All of the grandkids got new coats so we had to head out on the deck for some shenanigans...

We had Cal, Jackson and Catherine in this truck and the dads took turns spinning them around the deck.  It was terrifying and hilarious at the same time. 

Andy rode the tricycle and was happy as can be...

We all thought we heard some jungle bells while we were outside so we thought we should probably hurry home to go to bed so Santa could come. 

Cal literally ran to the car and once we were all strapped in, he said, "daddy, you are gonna have to drive FAST!" We got home and Cal started stripping off his clothes as soon as he walked in the kitchen.  He was in a rush to get to bed!!! He jumped on the potty and said, "I gotta push this poopoo out fast!" He pooped in record speed and was in his jammies.  He jumped into bed and CB asked him which book he wanted her to read.  He help up his hand and said, "no, CB, no books tonight.  We hafta hurry and go night night right away!!!" Eddie asked him if he wanted to say his prayers, and he stuck out his lip and said, "no thank you, daddy, I jus wanna go night night so Santa can come!!!" And literally within 5 minutes of walking in the door, he was sound asleep...

Once the kids were down, the elves got busy downstairs, assembling, attaching decals, and laughing way too hard...