Our first Teenager.....

April 1st, 2011 - we now have a teenager in the house.  Christian turns 13.  Hard to believe.  Before school, we had to have our traditional present opening so we grabbed a couple of pictures.  We had a party for him that evening, so I'll get more pictures of those up soon.

Our Teenager

We got him a couple of Xara soccer shirts

Matthew did something very special for Christian.  He had all of the men in the family to write a letter to Christian and then he complied these letters into a book for him.  He specifically asked each man to write on a certain character quality.  We were beyond thrilled with what values these Christian men wrote about to Christian. 

Julianna spent her own money to get Christian a present.  Notice HER excitement

Notice Christian's excitement (and the little red extra gift)

She'd added her little Sonic Toy as a bonus gift and thought it was SOOO funny!

So sweet

USA Soccer

The USA National Soccer Team came to Nashville to play an exhibition game against Paraguay a couple of days before Christian's birthday so we surprised him with tickets to the game as part of his gift.  Matthew, Christian & I went and I was thrilled because I'd not been to a professional soccer game before and I'd never been to the Titan's Stadium before, which is where it was held.

It was a cold night and it ended up raining a little on us but it was worth it.  Sadly, however, USA lost 0-1, but we got to see some great soccer and some great players that we had watched for a solid month last summer during the World Cup!  

USA & Paraguay before the National Anthems

A bunch of enthusiastic fans!

Landon Donovan

Jozy Altidore

Cold & wet but having a great time

Clint Dempsey

Michael Bradley

Proud of the Tennessee support to the game!

Soccer Champs

Our boys won 1st place in the Smyrna Soccer Tournament at the end of March.  We played hard and came out on top.  It was awesome - it was FREEZING, but worth it!!!  Way to go, Revs!

The White House Revolution Boys

Christian & Coach Matt

Matching Cuties

 Gigi ordered Julianna and her American Girl Bitty Twins matching outfits.  They were back ordered and when they came in, she was so excited.  These two pictures are just too cute to pass up putting on here!  Don't you love the tights???

 

Twister Fun

 Over Spring Break, the kids were dying to get together with Michael & Morgan, so in the busy schedules, they got together over night.  They had to leave mid morning the next day so they went outside to play a game while waiting to be picked up. 

Rebecca got a new game for Christmas and it's a twist on Twister.  They decided to play every variation of the game.  It was soooo funny and they had the best time.  Here are a few of the funny pictures we got!

Here was a game where putting the color over the body part and then touching another body part.

Obviously this was Christian's ear to Michael's shoulder

Elbows & Ears

Elbow to Elbow - Knees to knees

Tossing to arms & legs

My Children have problems.......

This is a goofy post, I know, but I have a couple of children who have problems.  As much as their mother enjoys pictures and they've known since birth when to smile, we have a blinking problem.  I don't know if it's the camera or just them, but with Christian & Julianna, it take MANY, MANY, MANY tries to even get a decent pictures.  So I had to post these.  These are just a few of the pictures we took to get a shot of Christian before his braces and then later with Julianna and her first lost tooth.  Goofy Children!!!

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We usually have quite a few of these!!

Then it usually ends up just hilarious for them (and frustrating for me)

First Lost Tooth!!!

Our sweet little Julianna has had wiggly teeth much sooner than either of the big kids did.  As much as I love toothless children, it made Mommy a little sad that she's growing up too fast.  Well, after that little tooth dangling, Mommy had to pull it out.  Can't believe she's lost a tooth before Kindergarten!!

Photo time

Another cute picture

With the tooth fairy pillow for the first time

Happy Mardi Gras!!

In the midst of a busy schedule, I tried to have a little family fun for Mardi Gras.  I had a Weight Watchers recipe for Red Beans & Rice that we all liked so we had that and a King cake.  

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King Cake from Kroger

My red beans & rice (healthy version)

And much to everyone else's dismay, it was Daddy who got the baby!