Kolay came over and took some pictures of the kids for me.  There were some super cute ones!

 

 

Don't mind Donovan's long hair. 

 Donovan had a Friday off of school after PTC week.  So we went to the zoo, of course!  The aquarium is even more awesome than it used to be.  They have added a touch tank, among other things.

 Chamae loves the zoo!

 One of my recent projects.  Our living room has been really bare, so when a friend offered a coffee table and end tables for free, I took them!  Not too cute, but they were free!

 I ended up painting them a cream color and used chalkboard spray paint on the ugly tinted glass.  I think they turned out pretty good and they work in that room!

 We have a lot of trees all around our house, so we haven't had a leaf shortage.  They are all over!  The kids love to rake them up and jump in them!

 They continue to love drawing.  Donovan LOVES to draw with chalk outside, and Chamae is starting to follow in his footsteps.  I have to watch her if I let her draw on paper in the house though...she likes to draw on walls.  Thank goodness for magic erasers!!!

 At the last home game (which was also Sophomore recognition), the marketing people made cutouts for all the coaches and sophomores.  Joyce and I grabbed the 2 Brad heads.  I put ours on the mirror in our room :) He's so handsome.

This isn't the best video of Donovan playing, but it gives you an idea.  When he's playing "real" soccer, he is really aggressive and gets after the ball!  I'm loving it!  I didn't get any video of him during their Saturday games, but I'll try to get some in the spring when I coach his team (is it silly that I'm excited to coach 5 year olds?)

 

I just have to post a story about Donovan before I forget about it.  The other day, when Brad was out of town, we were planning on having popcorn and hot chocolate for a movie night.  Donovan had been a little disrespectful and mouthy that day, so he was getting in trouble quite a bit.  I had finally had enough and told him if I heard another whine or disrespectful word come out of his mouth, we would cancel movie night and wouldn't have hot chocolate or popcorn.  So of course he said something a few minutes later that got him in trouble.  I told him no more movie night and he threw a fit.  After he calmed down he pleaded with me to give him another chance.  I was being very firm and told him "no" and to not ask me again.  So he started being sweet and asked me again in a very nice voice.  I said, "no" again and he looked at me with his really sad eyes and said, "Mom, I'm trying to repent, but you're not letting me!"  After that, how could I not give him another chance?!?  Little stinker.  I gave him an hour to behave and he was a perfect angel the rest of the night.  I know I should have stuck to my original threat, but he brought up a very good point.  How could I not forgive him when he was trying to repent?!?

About Chamae:  Our pretty little lady has been a good mix of delightful and difficult!  She is such a sweetheart, but also likes to get her way and is a bit of a diva about it.  She is such a nut and makes us laugh all day, but can also be such a pill!  She is so full of life and energy!!!  She is the child that likes to run away in the store giggling.  I get a lot of sympathetic smiles from other moms.  She also loves to say hello to strangers.  You can tell they love it.  She is so cute!  Her funniest phrases right now are: "what da heck" (my personal favorite), "oh man!" (when she doesn't get to to something), "darn it.", "read book mommy?", "EIEIO (insert odd object or person rather than a farm animal)", "Sunbean?" (when she wants to sing Sunbeam of course), "Jacket on!" (she is like her mother and loves to wear jackets...but not shoes).  She actually says a lot and talks all day long.  These are just things she says often.