Better late than never!

I don't normally post football pictures in March, but my photographer friend had a son on Thomas's team and recently gave me these pictures that she took of Thomas last season.

 I have always loved big men with gentle spirits, and I feel God blessed me extravagantly when he gave Thomas to me.  Such a big, fierce competitor when he is on the field, but the kindest, gentlest heart in every other circumstance.  I love him to pieces and can't wait to see my sweetie in pads, hiking the ball again in a few short months!

In other February news...

We have a fun Friday every other week at our elementary school.  Here is MB and friends for 50s day.

 Thomas's school had their choir concert celebrating all things patriotic.  Thomas was so excited that his Deedah came so he could stand up during Anchors Aweigh, since Dad was in the Navy (so was Mom, but she was babysitting Ben).

 I think I love Valentine's Day more than most holidays!  Bryon bought me roses and I made our traditional Grandma's spaghetti and chocolate mousse.

Gus is such a protector of Mary Beth.  We couldn't love our pooch any more!

 Mom, MB, and I drove up to Dallas to watch Lydia and John David for a night while Michael and Jilinda went to a marriage seminar.  I love how MB and Lydia were holding their blankets the same way.  The kids were adorable, but I had forgotten how much work a 3 year old and 18 month old were!  Phew!

 We have a wonderful Fine Arts department at our high school.  Mary Beth and her three best friends got to watch the high schoolers perform Phantom of the Opera.  It was absolutely fabulous!  Almost Broadway good!

 We told Mary Beth one day that if she made a basket in her Upward game that we would take her to her favorite Thai food place.  She happened to be our only kid that day, so she enjoyed a date with her mama and daddy eating pad thai!  Fun times!

 Thomas participated in the UIL event Music Memory.  He listened to classical music nearly nonstop from December to February much to the delight of me, and the horror of his siblings :).

 Mary Beth and I had a MLK day treat getting matching pedicures.  I had no idea what a pedicure was when I was her age, but she is heart broken if I ever go without her.  A fun mother/daughter tradition.

 Another fun Friday was Cammo day.  Matthew let Mary Beth wear his hunting gear.  Mary Beth had also earned the right to bring her doll up for the day with points she had earned.  She was an odd spectacle going into school that day!  Halfway through the day, her teacher sent me the last picture and said that she cracked up the teaching staff by declaring that she looked like a Duck Dynasty mom!  I guess she really did!

Dodgeball 2013

For our 9th annual church dodgeball tournament, both boys got to participate.  Normally, the age limit is 7th grade, but this sports addicted 5th grade group of boys was dying to participate!  They held their own the first round of the tournament, but fell in round 3.  Meanwhile, we had high hopes for Matthew's team, who, as 6th graders came in 2nd place.  Alas, they came in 2nd place again this year, but they were pretty excited about it!  It is always a blast watching this tournament and are so happy that the money raised went to Hurricane Sandy relief.

Sweet Victory #14

For as long as I can remember, I have been an Alabama fan.  Saturdays growing up were filled with Dad sitting on a kitchen chair right in front of our tiny TV cheering for our beloved Crimson Tide.  Bear Bryant was a Santa Claus type figure to me.  Larger than life!  Dad took Michael and I to meet the Bear at a book signing near the end of his career and I was in awe.  Even after we moved away from Tuscaloosa to Texas, our dedication to the Tide never wavered.  I will never forget hearing that Bear Bryant had died on a Wednesday when I was in 2nd grade.  I told my Wednesday night bible teacher that my hero had died. She looked at me like I was crazy.

Fast forward several decades, and many good and bad seasons, and we have entered in to the years of Nick Saban.  It appears that the glory days of Alabama football have returned to those of when my father was an undergrad.  Now, we are sharing the love of Alabama football with our children.  All three of my kids are huge Baylor fans, but Bama is an integral part of their Saturdays in the fall, much like they were for me, my dad, and even my granddad.  No one has quite gotten into the spirit of Bama football like Thomas.  You rarely see him not wearing some item of clothing from Alabama.  Even his history teacher calls him "Bama"!

All of this to say that we enjoyed watching the Crimson Tide win their third national championship in 4 years and 14th overall in January.  It was a very relaxed championship game.  After the first 3 minutes of the game, we were fairly convinced that it would be an easy win.  Sure enough, Alabama beat Notre Dame 42-14!  It was fun watching the game with our little family and talking to Deedah after the game.  This was a particularly sweet victory for my parents, who spent their first anniversary watching Notre Dame beat the Tide by one point in the championship game in 1973.

With this game also meant the end of college football for the year.  What a great year it was for both of our teams!  Sic 'Em Bears and Roll Tide!