Lord, Don't Let Me Forget!

Lord, please don't let me forget the big heart Jack has at the tender age of 6.

Before bed tonight, on Christmas Eve, Jack came up to me and said:

"Mom, I really hope Brooke gets the Ladybug Pillow Pet she wants from Santa. But if she doesn't, Dad, Will and I saw it at Walgreens today and we will go out and buy it tomorrow so she gets it. But don't tell her that - it's a secret."

I love this boy.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!
I know I will!

Christmas Play All-Stars

We had a busy morning last Friday. Jack's Christmas Play was at 9am and Will's began at 1030am. We made it to both, on time, considering there was snow, lots of traffic and 2 different locations!

Here is my angel. All 60+ kindergarteners were angels and looked adorable! We got a seat in the balcony so we could see all the action.

Pre-Play nerves

My good little catholic school boy with his hands folded!

"Go Tell It On The Mountain!"

Off to Will's performance....on the way I asked him if he wanted a snack. "Nope. I am gettin' ready. I am gettin' fired up." All-righty-then.

Posing with his amazing teacher, Mrs. Murray.

Showtime!
No-go time.

Will stood with his back turned most of the time because he was "a little shy." He sang all the words, but no motions.

He is still my angel!

Ho-Ho-Ho

The annual trip to Santa.
I have had the same Santa since Jack was 3 months old. Guess he retired.
Kids didn't notice but I DID.
Thanks a lot, Eastgate Santa circa. 2004-2009.
There goes the continuity of my pictures.

My take on the picture...

Jack thinks if he smiles big enough he will get the DS he wants...that he doesn't really know how to use or what it is all about but all his friends are asking for one.
Nope.
Still not getting it.

This looks goes with Will's signature phrase...
"You wanna piece of me?!"

And Brooke...
the look kinda speaks for itself.
Don't you think?!

Ho-Ho-Ho!

I Think He Has A Future...

Do we have the next Bob Costas or Dan Patrick on our hands?!

This is how Jack (all on his own) read the stats for the Bengals game today.



Guess he gave up (like the rest of us) after the end of the 3rd.
He did this for the UC basketball game last night, too.
And spelled everything - correctly - on his own.

Just love this little sports-minded boy.
But he is NOT happy that Will has beat him all weekend in the new game Daddy taught them -
HORSE.
Better start practicing, Jack! Your little brother is not far behind!

Family Pics 2010

Since my Christmas cards are out I can finally post my favorites from our family pics...cause you know anal retentive me can't show them until my cards are out.

I have issues.

We had our pictures taken at a cemetery. For real. Spring Grove is a cemetery and Arboretum on the west side. Again, Mandy does awesome work and we had a beautiful day.

Here are some of my faves:


This one was on the steps of the chapel.















This was leaning up against a mausoleum. Luckily, we heard nothing coming from the inside!

I always love getting family pics. Just hate waiting another year to do it again!

Week in Review

5 Days later, the flu finally left. I hope.

Kids went back to school Thursday, finished decorating for Christmas.

Black Knights prevail last night, with Jack scoring 1 basket and Will asking players
"You wanna piece of me?!" (His go-to, intimidating phrase)

Brooke cheered loudly, yelling "Hustle!" "Pass the ball!" and all the other phrases she hears people say and has no idea what it means.

Frisch for dinner with Grandparents Goshorn - our Friday night treat.

Jack is going to a Taekwando birthday party today. Young Son will attempt to break board with own hand. Hei yah!
**As a side note, this party and a Chuck E Cheese party in the same month is making my cake and ice cream parties look shameful. Thanks, other-kid-parents.

Andy has his first swim lesson today to help his time in the pool for his next Tri, hopefully this spring. If his FEMALE instructor wears a bikini, Andy may have to just drown.
Kidding.

Brutus, our Elf, has arrived to make our holidays bright - and our discipline easier. He reports to Santa, you know.

And in other Grand Parenting News, I took the advice of a friend (who shall remain nameless...you know who you are and I thank you!) and implemented a new discipline tool for Brooke's screaming. She DOES NOT LIKE hot sauce on the tongue for excessive screaming. She shuts up real fast now when the hot sauce bottle is put on the table in front of her.

If you have lost count, that is approximately 1347 nominations for Mother of the Year for me this year.
I am going to win for sure.

Have a nice, snowy weekend!

Terrific - or Terrorizing - Turkey Day

We actually had a great Turkey Day. It was the weekend that wasn't so hot.

We started off at Grandparents' Goshorn for lunch.

Mom and Son

Uncle Eric and Jack

Grandpa and Will

Then we donned our Bengal gear (to no avail) and headed to Indy for the festivities with the Sorg Clan and friends.

The kids played a fun game of Pin the Top Hat on the Turkey, compliments of Grandma Jenny.

No, Will is not good at acting blind. After we complimented him on such a great job he admitted he could see. I am thankful for an honest boy!

Crazy Cousins

This was our last decent picture of the weekend, Grandma and Jack watching the Michigan/OSU game before all hell broke loose.

The Flu. Need I say more?
We are all on the mend, thanks to Super Dad (the only one not hit with the bug) taking care of us and doing laundry for 2 days. Thankful for him and that we are "back to the grind" tomorrow.
Although today's "majama day" was quite nice.

And for those of you who knew (and knew I was a tad worried) Andy did not get a deer on his first hunting expedition. But he did have a great time and he did get to shoot a gun. And no one was injured. Thank God.

Hope you had a (uneventful) Terrific Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

May you be surrounded by your loved ones and friends today.
God is so good - be thankful!

I'm Feelin' It Too!

We got all gussied up Saturday morning and attended Andy's Aunt's wedding. We had a great time seeing Suz start a new chapter in the lives of her family and visit with family we don't see too often.

Miss Brooke was all glammed up in one of her Christmas outfits - she is the only girl, remember?
Anyway, as I changed her diaper I asked her to hold her skirt up, which had a crinoline in it.
As she lay there, with her big skirt fanning around her she exclaimed

"Whew! I feel like a peacock!"

Little Smarty Pants...you feel like a peacock and Mama does, too.
I am as proud as a peacock at you and your little phrases.

Text me, ok?!

I Can Admit It

I am a talker.
I was a Communication Major, for goodness sakes.
But now I can admit it...I might talk a little too much.
And I might be on the phone a lot too much.

Why am I just realizing this?

Because my little daughter walks around the house talking on her phone - primarily to "Stace" or "Aunt Julie."

And last night? She told me to "hold on a minute, Mommy. I am texting you." And proceeded to punch buttons on the phone.

I can admit it.
But I don't see any changes in the near future.
And I think my dream of my children not having a cell phone til college is just that -
a dream.

Cousins

We headed to Indy last Thursday for an overdue visit to see the cousins.

Thursday night Brooke stayed with Aunt Stacy, Cade and Reid while Daddy, Jack, Will and I went to the Butler vs. Hanover Basketball game. It was so nice to see all our HC and BU friends. Brought back lots of memories, as the last time these two teams played Andy played for HC and I was a cheerleader...and we almost beat Butler!

Friday we took all the kids to the Children's Museum.

This guy came along too. What a sweet boy!

Everyone loved the dinosaur teeth.

Cade wondered if they were as big as his.

And the slide was a big hit in the Artic area.

Cade liked the Polar Bears!

Now we can't wait til Thanksgiving to see them again!

Happy Veterans Day!

Thank you to all who have, are and will serve our country, especially my father, brother and Andy's uncles and cousins.

We are free and we are blessed.

What The #*@!

Jack was invited to a birthday party this evening.
At Chuck E. Cheese.
Ugh.

Wanna know the best part?
There was a GROWN woman walking around the place in
BARE.FEET.

What the #*@!
Don't call me next week when you have Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.

Gross.

A Saint In The Making

Monday was the Holy Day of All Saints' Day. Jack's school celebrated with an all-school mass. The kindergarteners were assigned a saint to dress up as for the day. Jack received
St. Francis of Assisi.

We caught him outside as he was walking in with his classmates. All the teachers loved his outfit, especially his birds on his shoulders and birdseed to feed them!

Here he is filing into mass. All the older kids went in and got their seats. The kindergarteners marched in and stood around the altar - all 60+ of them! So cute! There were some awesome costumes! Jack's 5th Grade Buddy, Jack, helped him with his sign. Jack wanted to make sure his costume was "fancy." Ahhh...my little Type-A in training. Love it!

You never know...this could just be our little St. Jackson in the making!
We are blessed by you, Jackson!

Lil' Hoopstars

Friday brought the first night of basketball for ALL the boys. Daddy has been waiting a LONG time to coach his boys. All the drills at home and at the gym on Saturday mornings are paying off...

I might be biased, but they are pretty good.

Who is going to be the next Michael Jordan?

That would be me.

I think he might be the next Reggie Miller.

And Brooke?

She liked cheering with Grandma and her pom-poms.

I mean REALLY cheering with her pom-poms. Cheer of choice?
Rah-Rah-Sis-Boom-Bah.
All 3 of them are chips of the ole' blocks.

Halloween Hoopla and Happy Birthday!

The Goshorn House was full of Halloween excitement this year. Batman, Robin and Super Girl could not wait to get their little hero-hands on candy!

Since both boys had parties at the same time, Daddy volunteered at Jack's and stayed for lunch. Dad at party = no pictures.

I volunteered at Will's party. They started off with a parade at the beginning of school...

Cutest Batman Ever...

And continued with a party at the end of class.

It was fun to meet all of Will's friends.
I was in charge of bringing a special book to read during the party. Will picked out a Max and Ruby Halloween book.

Everyone was enjoying the story when Brooke yelled out from across the room:

"Mom! I pooped. Change me!"
Classy.
Happy Halloween from the White-Trash Family.

Saturday night we had our annual Fall Outing with The Markarian Clan and hit up the Harrison Spooktacular.

My heroes and Angela's Animals. They are a crazy mix!

We had fun eating at BW3s ahead of time, playing games and taking a hayride.
The kids simply loved being with one another and running around. We liked watching!

Sunday the boys trick-or-treated with friends and Daddy while I took Super Girl to about 5 houses. She wanted to go home and hand out candy with Grandma and Grandpa Goshorn.

Grandpa's Little Helper

Grandma helped sift out all the peanut candy and Grandpa kept us all...

laughing. He is good at that. Today is Grandpa's Birthday - we love you Grandpa!

Hope you had a great Halloween!

She Did It Again

Again...marvelous pictures by Mandy Paige.
Here is a sneak peek...you know Type A-Anal Retentive me can't reveal the Christmas card pics before they are mailed out!

In LOVE with these 3 mo-mos!

Lucky Little Lady Of Leisure

While the boys opened presents for their birthdays back in September, Little Miss Brooke was not to be forgotten. She got a late birthday/early Christmas gift from Grandma Jenny and Grandpa Bill.

Doesn't every little girl need a pink kitchen?!

She LOVES her kitchen and is constantly making us cheeseburgers and Iced Tea (2 faves of Grandma Goshorn) and is nice enough to share the space with her brothers.

We have since moved the kitchen up to her bedroom and, thus far, there have been no midnight runs to the fridge to play.

Santa might be bringing her a table and chairs so she can play tea party this winter.
Another favorite activity? "Ladies of Leisure."

Yes, she says that.

Ladies of Leisure is when she and Grandma Goshorn or Mommy or Grandma Jenny take her shopping, out to lunch or any other "girls only" activity.

One lucky little (spoiled) lady.