Feliz Navidad!

I didn't realize it was February 4th already because we are still immersed in Christmas music in the car. Matty never fails to request "Ho Ho" on our short trips to and fro. None of the kids complain but I have to say I'm pretty sick of it. So….since we're still in the Christmas spirit here in the Cesarz house, I figured I should probably sit down and post about Christmas…then maybe we can give Jose Feliciano a rest : )

We were so blessed with another wonderful Christmas filled with excitement, anticipation, health, love, and joy. Let me tell you, Christmas with 4 young kids is the best it ever gets. We followed our Christmas Eve tradition first with a beautiful Mass out at Holy Family, then dinner at Bandidos. Yum!  Once home, we got  ready with reindeer food and cookies for Santa. The excitement in the air was palpable!

Santa must have not come until late because Nathan and I were up until midnight. Luck was in our favor as we didn't here the patter of little feet until a bit after 7:00 (woo hoo!)

The rest was a blur of smiles and giggles and magic. I think the pictures speak for themselves. Until next year Jose…….

Stockings from Santa

Drew is moving too fast to get a good picture !

Spider-man Spider-man

That is what I call excited!

Relaxing after a busy morning!

Pre-Christmas Festivities

We had so many events leading up to Christmas I decided it should be it's own post. Tree decorating, Rachel, and Andrew's Christmas programs at school. 

Last year I demanded nicely asked if we could get a fake tree. I was sick of paying a billion dollars and the tree dying the next week. So….this was our second year with a fake and I have to say, I kind of miss the real thing. Nobody comes close to making candles that smell like a fresh cut tree. It was nice not to have to buy a tree this year but I may have to politely ask if we can get a real one next year (or have the children beg)……

Everyone helped with tree decorating

Hmmmmm where to put the next ornament…..

Rachel getting ready for her Christmas concert

Andrew all dressed up for his moment to shine

Yep, that pretty much sums up Andrew. He looks like the cat that swallowed the canary

uh oh…maybe he did swallow a canary

Preschool Life

Preschool is up and running (ok so we're almost half way through the year…) for Drew so I thought I would post a few pics and let you know how he is doing. The first few days of school were rough….it's tough to leave mama for the first time. Drew's teacher were awesome with him and by day 3 we had no tears at all!! He's doing great now and loves his teacher "Mrs. Burger-son" (Her name is Mrs. Bergeson but Andrew really likes burgers so the name  came naturally )

Drew with "Percy the Penguin" the class mascot! Percy gets to come home with us ever so often and we get to take him on adventures!!

Smile Percy!

Drew's Halloween Parade….Andrew surprised me with this! Instead of being shy he was the kid that announced every song they were going to sing from across the room! You could see how excited and proud he was to be a "big kid"!! Rachel and Jacob got to see it too which made him very happy

Drew outside of his Penguin class

Skip Its Trip to Asheville

We had a blast a few weekends ago as we travelled to the mountains of Asheville NC with Rachel's Skip Its Team!! These kids amaze me. On day one they performed 3 shows at local elementary schools (30 minutes each), then took a short hike to a waterfall. The next day, they did their parade routine for over a mile through downtown Asheville, then took a 40 minute hike (one way) up to a look out point!! The funniest thing was that on their "down time"  many of them were still jumping. Talk about great shape!

The boys did great cheering their sister on. We were definitely the only family crazy  brave enough to take their 4 small kids : ) And people told us that…..

With all that activity our kids were sure to fall asleep on the way home right?…..right?……..
Nope, with the exception of Matty (who napped for the 1.5 hrs in the parked car while Nathan took the big kids up the mountain hike) the kids were still going strong as we pulled into our driveway at 8 pm Saturday evening.
We were so proud to see Rachel performing with her team-----it is so much fun to watch!!

Getting ready for show #1

Rachel and her buddy Audrey

Beautiful!

Brrrrr……ready for the parade!

Matty looks snuggly doesn't he?

Here they come! We were at the end of the parade route so they were definitely tired but did great!!

Spiderman even shows up at the Asheville parade!

"ummmm Daddy…. I'm tired of walking"
Said Drew about 10 minutes into the 40 minute hike…..

Made it!

Whew!! 

Ninjas and Zombies, and Skeletons OH MY!

Happy Halloween!!

You know that Halloween in the Cesarz house always starts with pumpkins! We got some good ones this year. Unfortunately after carving them, the weather warmed up and by the time Halloween rolled around they were nothing but mush : (  We still had fun and this was the first Halloween Rachel and Jacob carved their own! 

The kids had a blast with trick or treating this year and even Matty joined in. He learned very fast that all he had to do was flash that blond smile and get a piece of candy!! The neighborhood was hopping with witches and ghouls, luckily we had a zombie and two ninjas to scare them away……….

Could YOU say no to that face? 

The perfect Jack-o-lantern!

Let the festivities begin!

Matty loves scooping the "brains" out

Halloween 2013

Rachel B and Rachel C

Sneaky Sneaky Black Ninja

Quick on His Feet Red Ninja

Bad to the Bone

Grammy and her Zombie

Sportsmanship

Ok…..this is a bragging post……just warning you….if you don't want to hear how cool we think our kid is, don't read ahead….

At the end of Jacob's season, his coach asked each family to vote for who they thought should receive the "sportsmanship award". The person you voted for had to have a list of characteristics, namely, good attitude, improvement during the season, willingness to play anywhere, encouraging their team….all the things you can think of that encompass good sportsmanship. We were thrilled when Jacob's coach pulled us aside and said he had won the team award by a landslide! He asked us to be at closing ceremonies so we could see him receive the award. What we didn't know is that from the winners of each team, one is picked by the coaches as the overall winner. 

Guess who won……. : )

The league sportsmanship award is the biggest they give. And this being Jacob's first season on a team with 5-8 year olds says a lot!! We couldn't be prouder of him. 

I think it is summed up by Jacob on the day we played our last game….Jacob got out of our car and next to us were a few players and coach from the Scrappers (the team we were about to play). Without prompting of any sort Jacob turned to them and said "Have a great game guys". Just like that…..the Coach looked at me with a bewildered look and I just shrugged my shoulders. I mean, what kid does that? Jacob just kept on walking like it was nothing. 

Now, I would like to say it has to do with how great of parents Nathan and I are but the truth is, that is just Jacob's nature. He's just that kind of kid. Everyone from his teachers, to his coaches see it. 

Way to go Jacob, we love you and are so proud of you!!

Jacob and his GIANT trophy

Jacob and Coach Penley

Jacob and a few of his team members

Salem Skip Its

Rachel has waited a long time and worked really hard for this…..and she did it!! She tried out and made the school jump rope team. She is officially a Salem Elementary Skip It. The Skip Its travel to schools, parades, and other events and put on performances. It is really fun to watch and we are so proud of her!! Rachel worked for months to be able to perform the tricks she needed to make the team. We are so proud of how she followed through and made it happen!!  Once again, I'll say how awesome and blessed we feel to see our kids do well not only at school, but in activities as well. Way to go Rachel!!!

Part of being a Skip It means french braids in your hair….so that means momma has to learn. This was my first attempt and it actually wasn't half bad!! 

I will try and post a video and more pictures here soon….she has a performance tonight so hopefully we'll get some good ones!!