Still Room for Wessie

On Saturday, we left Grandma's house and headed home one Darnell lighter. Wes stayed at Grandma's house for his week of fun. All the boys were so strong and confident as they said good-bye to each other. Wes then stood with Grandma and waved as we all drove away. I was emotional but held it together for my strong boys!

Tonight, I was giving Jared and Andrew a bath. I told Andrew several times that he could move back and spread out. However, he wanted to stay close to Jared and leave room for Wessie.

We all miss Wessie but he is having fun with Grandma.

Take care,

Kellie

Visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus - 2011

It has become our tradition to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus on the day after Thanksgiving. Before we packed up and headed to Grandma's house, the boys created their first Christmas 'wish lists.' We gave each of the boys their own Toys R Us catalog and they selected their favorite items for their 'wish lists.' The put the items on a piece of paper and we planned to take these with us for our visit with Santa. As you can see from Jared's list and the Barbie items included, there was no parental influence into the content of the 'wish lists.'

When we arrived to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus, there was no line! This meant we did not have to wait and we could spend as much time as we wanted with Santa and Mrs. Claus. The boys, armed with their lists, walked right up to Santa and Mrs. Claus to hand over their lists and point out their favorite items.

The excitement for Christmas has defiantly spread to the boys. While they started to understand the joy of Christmas last year, they REALLY get it this year. They were excited to see Santa and they are eager to get their presents. When you ask them what they want for Christmas, their responses are as follows:

Wesley - "Pirate Ship"

Jared - "Zombie Lab"

Andrew - "Everything"

Santa is still debating whether the Zombie Lab will find it's way under the tree but he really wants it. As a matter of fact, all of the boys have wanted this at some point. I love the innocence and truth in Andrew's response. He really does want everything! When watching TV, he asserts over and over, 'I want that' 'I want that' with every commercial that is shown. Actually, he ran out of room on the front of his 'wish list' and had to start attaching some of the luxury items to the back of his paper. When he was talking to Santa, he made sure he pointed out the items on the back of the paper (Two electric cars). I am pretty certain that these items will not find their way under the tree.

With the boys so focused on what they are going to get for Christmas, we will need to make sure we take them Christmas shopping for their gifts to give again this year. Last year, we took them to the Dollar Tree and they each purchased something to give everyone. We hope this helped them begin to understand that the joy of Christmas is also about giving and not just receiving.

After they visited with Santa and Mrs. Claus, it was time to take our picture....

Once we finished taking our picture, we spent a few extra minutes showing Santa and Mrs. Claus the pictures the boys took with them in 2008, 2009 and 2010. They seemed to really enjoy seeing the progression of the boys over the years. I can't believe how grown up the boys look in this years photo and that we have already taken four pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

With this visit, the 2011 Christmas season is officially underway!

Take care,

Happy Thanksgiving - 2011

Happy Thanksgiving from Team Darnell!!

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma's house and were able to play with our favorite cousins. We missed Uncle Lance, Aunt Kim, Aunt Joan and Pooka. However, the house was still full, the food was wonderful and we had a day full of thanks.

After Thanksgiving was complete, Daddy and I headed out to partake in the Black Friday (actually Thursday) craziness. We had so much fun, again! We were also able to get everything we set out to obtain. It's going to be a fun Christmas this year as the boys actually have wish lists and a certain set of things that they actually hope Santa brings for them. We are taking those wish lists to Santa and Mrs. Claus tomorrow morning.

Take care,

Christmas Tree Shopping - 2011

This morning, we headed out for our annual family adventure to find our Christmas tree. Yes, I know it is the day before Thanksgiving! However, we are going to Grandma's for Thanksgiving and then Wes is staying behind for his one on one week with Grandma. So, to shop as family, we needed to shop today.

When we were getting ready this morning, Wes asked if I knew where to find a Christmas tree. When I said 'no, where?' he replied with a commanding 'At Santa's workshop!' But, of course Wes. When we arrived at the tree lot, Wes was confused and asked over and over "where are the elves?"

Our trip was uneventful. I don't have a fun story to tell about the tree falling off on our drive home or fun video to post of the boys fighting the Christmas tree. The most interesting part of our adventure was the gentleman running the lot who struggled with math but excelled at sharing his personal life stories about hitchhiking from Maine to Florida three times and getting covered in fire ants.

Andrew wanted every four foot tall tree while Jared and Wed wanted the HUGE oak tree in the middle of the tree lot.

We got our tree home and placed in the tree stand before packing up to head off to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. We will decorate when we get home.

Note - this is my first post using the new Blogger app for the phone. I am anxious to see how this turns out. If it works more, you may see more posts from Team Darnell!

I hope you and your family have a happy Thanksgiving.

Take care,

Kellie

Saturday Morning Bike Races

On the boy's 2nd Birthday, they received their Little Tikes bikes (aka. their motorcycles). They have used them in our backyard for a while and over the past several months, the boys have really been riding faster and faster. Our backyard has a small patio and the boys ride end to end on the patio but do not have a lot of space to 'open her up.'

Daddy had a wonderful idea to take the boys over to the neighborhood pool's parking lot to ride. Now that fall is upon us, the pool is closed so we assumed the parking lot would be empty. Daddy was right!

Daddy parked the truck at the entrance of the parking lot, set up two chairs for us to sit back and the boys rode and rode! It was fun to watch them ride and as an added bonus, they really wore themselves out. The following video is a little longer than usual but it was such a fun morning, I wanted to have these memories. Enjoy...

In the video, the boys are riding and at one moment, Andrew returns on foot... huh? He had "parked" his bike. Once he gave Wes the idea, Wes parked his bike and started running. Before we moved away from the parking lot, Wes had run over a dozen laps; my Energizer Bunny!

Daddy even joined in on the racing fun and took a lap to race the boys...

After a while, we decided to move over to the gazebo area. The boys would race from one end of the area to the other and back. I was sitting up on a bar area while taking the video.

I sure hope Santa knows that the boys have just about out grown these toddler bikes and are ready for some 'big boy' bikes, with helmets! I know that they should have probably had on helmets for this morning's fun but we actually don't have them since they have only been riding in the back yard... yep, bad parents! Hopefully Santa knows better!

Another fun day for Team Darnell!

Take care,

Soccer - 2011

Our soccer season has been a wonderful journey!

It was a true joy to experience Saturday soccer games. The soccer games for 3 and 4 year olds are entertaining and as equally stressful at the same time. As the season started, I was hopeful that we would score a goal. I quickly learned to reset my expectations for our 3 year olds. My goals transitioned to hoping we would play when called upon and maybe, just maybe we would

actually kick the ball!

I can also honestly say the most important objective was that the boys had F-U-N! I think we achieved this goal. Whether it was the playground at practice, the big fun hill at the game fields, hanging out with Cal, the half time snack or maybe even the actual soccer, the boys had fun! Mommy and Daddy were very proud of them for this wonderful season and experience. I look forward to many years of Saturday game days.

An important lesson I learned during this season is just how challenging it is to watch the game when you have three children on the team. It was very rare that all of the boys were on the field at the same time. So, I found myself trying to watch one playing

while one was wanting a drink and another was needing to potty or anything else equally distracting. We decided to call in reinforcements to help capture our soccer memories. We called upon Christy Baldwin of Christy Baldwin Photography to photograph the boys on one Saturday. The following pictures are from this game. Thank you Ms. Christy for doing such a wonderful job of making my little guys look like real athletes! Enjoy...

Jared -

Wes -

Andrew -

Andrew taking some pre-game kicks...

Andrew -

Wes warming up...

Jared tries to keep the ball away from Cal...

Andrew tries to steal the ball from Cal...

Cal loves his triplets and also loves to pass out big hugs...

The boys enjoying a pre-game run up and down the big hill...

My sweet Wessie...
Andrew warming up with the team... (PJ, Reva and Blair)
Jared warming up...
The pre-game circle. They bring the teams together before the game and remind them about sportsmanship and other rules of the game. They are to hold hands and recite the sportsman's creed...
It's game time! Wes in action...
High 5's for Jared from Coach Alexis...
Jared...
Wes...
Andrew...
Jared had no fear and was always very aggressive and right in the middle of all the action...
Go Jared, GO!!!
Very proud Mommy....
Half time = Snack time...
Mr. Jayson and Ms. Katrina, Cal's parents, are so wonderful to the boys. At the first game, Ms. Katrina shared animal crackers with the boys and every game after that they asked her for animal crackers. She is always willing to share whatever treat she has in her back with the boys. Thank you Goldmans for being so patient and kind to our guys...
Wes and Andrew resting before the start of the second half...
Andrew - "Is everyone ready?"
BIG kick to start the second half...
Jared takes the ball...
Wes...
Jared...
Wes - is that a intense yell or a yawn? Hmmm....
Wes...
Wes standing with Junior and MJ. Junior and MJ were, by far, the most talented players on our team and in the entire league. Junior turned 5 during our season and that 1.5 years really set him ahead of our crew. It was an honor to be on their team!
Wes...
Cal passes out some more hugs to Jared...
Andrew...
Post game celebration tunnel...

1-2-3...GO COUGARS!

We are #1!!!!
"The Guys!" They are enjoying their after game granola bar snack. What a wonderful group of young men...I was sad to see our season come to an end. However, I was over the moon proud of the boys for how wonderful they did during their first team sporting experience. The boys were also super excited when they were awarded their very first trophies...

Congratulations boys! We are so very proud of you! I also thank Christy Baldwin for capturing these moments so beautifully.

These are moments I will cherish forever!

Take care,