It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

We do Christmas up right here at the Mitchell house! We start early and we go ALL out!! We got a new 12 foot tree this year and I LOVE IT!! Matt, aka Clark Griswald, did the outside and I just realized that I don't have a picture of that. I will get that soon! Here is the new tree!

We still have our gingerbread tree...it is in the kitchen in our new house. Decorating was a nightmare this year since nothing from the old house really worked as well here. Lots of moving stuff around!

Santa is still above the mantle. The stocking holders have crashed, the cord keeps dangling, but it is there! Eggnog, our Elf, that reports directly to Santa has arrived! He's been quite naughty this year. He has sprinkled Chocolate Chips all over Carson's room. He wrapped the half bath in toilet paper.

He got into the Village and got snow all over the floor.

This morning, we found him in a bath of mini marshmellows. He's a handful!

We had a visit with Santa...I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this Santa picture! Carson and Cade were so excited to talk with Santa and told him what they wanted and how naughty Eggnog has been. Cannon, not so much.

We saw the big tree down at The Waterway after dinner out, post Santa visit! Funny side note here...we used the Valet to park the car that night because it was cold and we didn't want to walk far with the boys. Carson and Cade were SO CONFUSED as to why we were leaving the car running and some stranger was taking off in it.

We've cheered on the 'Horns!

We tried to get a pic of the boys by the fire...as usual, one didn't cooperate.

And the two big boys in front of the tree.

Carson had pajama day at school.

And carolling day at school, where he wore Cade's elf hat...however, he had serious doubts about wearing this because he said that he looked like "Jalapeno Boy!". SO FUNNY, that one...

We had friends over and built Gingerbread houses. Cannon mostly just ate the supplies and wreaked havoc on all of us.

NOTE TO SELF - Buy pre-built houses next year. These things are a pain to put together. Notice the Mommies doing all the grunt work here.

Working hard on decorating!

Carson and Cade's finished projects!

Two monkies with their houses (after I spent 1.5 hours cleaning up the mess!!).We are so excited and ready for Santa!! Can you see why I am a tad bit behind on the blog? Throw in work, shopping, wrapping, parties and more..this past month has been a blur.

Joey Visits

The Blakes have a new family member....Joey the labradoodle! We have been very anti-dog around here. First and foremost because of Cade's allergies...secondly because neither Matt or I want to mess with one as we already have our hands full. However, the boys have been asking for one. I am thinking that MAYBE we will do it in a couple of years. Cade is going through allergy injections right now and we will have to reassess after that. In the meantime, we have been talking to people about hypo-allergenic dogs that are good with kids and the labradoodle seems to be a top contender. Avery also has allergies, so the Blakes took the plunge. They were going to be gone over night, so we offered to keep him. It went pretty good!!

Carson didn't get that if you ran, he was going to chase you! At one point, he latched onto the back of his shirt and ripped his Cardinals jersey. Matt and I were laughing so hard that we couldn't even help him.

Cannon loves dogs...from a far! He didn't like Joey to get all rowdy with him. A couple of times, Cannon fell down while trying to get away from him and Joey would jump on him. He kept trying to play peek a boo with him...very funny!

Cade liked him, as long as I was holding him or he was settled down. Luckily, his allergies were fine and no break outs or asthma flare ups.

Carson really did the best with him....this picture is so sweet and ALMOST makes me want to get a dog.

However, no matter how good he was, we've determined that our little monkies are just not ready for a dog, and quite frankly, neither am I! We'll settle for visits with Joey for a while!

Carson's 6th Birthday

Carson turned 6 years old on November 24th!! I can't believe it! We had a laser tag party to celebrate. Here we are heading out before the big party! A rare shot of me and my boys!!

Me and the super handsome birthday boy.

On to Incredible Pizza. Here was the welcome sign. This was about were the good stuff ended. I do not recommend that anyone ever have a party here! I have had more than my fair share of bday parties and attended more than I care to count. This was the WORST. They were totally disorganized and we spent more time standing around and trying to entertain 20 five and six year old boys. Not so fun! Isn't that why you pay a small fortune to have parties at these places? Okay - rant over. That said, Carson had a blast!

We all ate pizza and then had cupcakes.

Our attempt at a group shot. Boys are so busy and silly at this age!

Carson spinning the birthday wheel.

We opened presents. Normally, I don't do this at parties like this, but our lovely hostess told Carson that he could. CHAOS. Oh, and we still have to finish our thank you notes. If you were there and haven't received yours, it's coming, I swear. Christmas preparations got the best of us and we're sorry!!

On to laser tag...Daddy giving instructions and Uncle Riche keeping the troops at bay!

Carson and Ryan in their gear.

A happy, birthday boy!!

Whew. I do believe that was my last big birthday party for this boy! He wanted to have a few friends over to spend the night this year, but I was afraid that they were still a little young and wasn't sure how the other parents would feel about that. Next year, we'll be going that route for sure!! I'm done! On Carson's actual birthday, he had school this year. I went up to his school and had lunch with him and took brownies for his class. Then, Jack, his BFF, came over to play. We met Jack's parents at Rico's and the boys had a blast!! Big fun for my big boy!!

T-Ball End of Season

This is so far past right now, that it seems silly to even blog about it. HOWEVER, it was a big deal, so I'm going to go ahead and document it. Carson's team made it all the way to the World Series game at Orwall!! This was so exciting for the kids, and maybe more so for the parents!! We had an awesome, awesome team this fall and really met some great people. Unfortunately, we literally lost in the last seconds of the game. We normally only played 5 innings, but we had to play an extra inning for some silly reason. We were up in the 5th and only had to get our three runs in and we were home free. Well, things went terribly wrong and somehow, the other team made 3 outs and we lost. SO SAD. There were kids crying and I wanted to cry for them. They lost while they were all out on the field and the other team was going nuts in their dugout. Those poor boys didn't know what happened!

Before the game...

Carson with three of the boys in his kindergarten class after the playoff game (they played under the lights, which was pretty cool!!).Team shot after the final game.Carson and Coach Dad.Proud Mommy with her boys! Notice Cannon and Cade were missing...I hired a babysitter so that I could actually watch the game!Cheers! Toasting to a great season at the team party after the game. This picture of Carson and his buddy, Hank, cracks me up. I am sure that we'll be seeing more shots like this as they get older!!We also had another very important t-baller finish up his first season in K-Ball!! He pretty much had an uneventful season...picking flowers and playing in the outfield. He batted well though!! Then the last game came around and decided to tackle a bunch of kids. One on his team, one on the other team as the poor kid was trying to run to second base. Comical, that Cade! Look at this proud boy getting his trophy!

He was so excited to have his own trophy!He had a great time with Fall Ball. We're looking forward to next year, when he has a little bit more maturity on his side (God willing...). He sure is a cutie patootie though!! I love this smile!For now, we're enjoying a little bit of calm before Spring Ball kicks off in less than two months. Ahhhh....the joys of boys!

Halloween 2009

Oh, I am so far behind on blogging! We have been going full speed ahead for weeks. We had a great Halloween here at the Mitchell house. The week was full of activities, parades and parties! We started off with a little pumpkin carving here at the house. I was surprised and how much they were actually into it this year. Both Carson and Cade designed their own faces and then I helped them cut them out. Cannon was totally grossed out by the inside of the pumpkins.

Cade with his pumpkin.

Carson with his pumpkin.On the Friday before Halloween, the boys each had parades at school. I really didn't want to send them in their real costumes before halloween because I figured they would be filthy. SO, they went as Buckeye Football players...and they looked pretty cute!Tough little Cade! He really didn't want to wear this, but I remembered that I had these old silver soccer cleats that were his size, and that changed his mind!Handsome Carson.Carson's school had a storybook parade. You had to bring the book with your character that you dressed up as. Here he is with his best friend, Jack.

And again with Jack and Lucas (aka, Michael Jackson...his costume was a riot!)

And Cannon...he went to school in this shirt and changed into his costume right before his parade.

Then we were on for the real deal! The boys all went as various Batman characters this year. I love me a good theme!! I was just thrilled that they all agreed on something!Carson was the Dark Knight Batman.

Cade was old school Batman.

And then we had Robin (who refused to wear the mask).

We went to a cul de sac party first and waited for it to get dark and then went out trick or treating. Cannon heading off to his first stop!All the boys at the first house (which they all went in and were making themselves at home...granted, they knew them and have been in their house many times....but still!).Matt and Cannon came back to pass out Candy after we took the little guy around our cul de sac. I went off with the big boys and covered our entire neighborhood....for two hours! They had a blast. This is Cade's first successful trick or treat. He has sick one year. Another year, he ripped his costume before we even started and had an asthma attach. Last year, he was so freakin' hot in that Buzz Lightyear costume that he wanted to go home after a couple of hours and take it off. While we were walking around, he said to me, "Mommy, I am not too hot in this costume this year! I love trick or treating!! Thank you SO much for taking me and I love you!". How sweet is that little stinker? Carson had to abandon mask because it was too big for his tiny little head.Cannon manning the fort, covered in chocolate and waiting for trick or treaters. He got so into this! He would give each one some candy in their bags and try to get some out sometimes for himself. ;-)The big boys checking out their loot.Then the sugar high kicked in! They were acting like maniacs, dancing around on the porch. We laughed and laughed at them.Cannon was throwing my decorative pumpkins.We had a great time!! Can't wait to do it all over again next year!!