Gingerbread Houses

When Christmastime gets near, it becomes Gingerbread House decorating time.  Every year, our neighbor down the road, Ms. Joan, hosts a gingerbread house decorating event.  She invites all the kids in the neighborhood as well as some other friends.  She makes around 50 gingerbread houses that the kids can come over and decorate a house any way that they want to.  There is a smorgasbord of types of candies.

The boys really got into decorating the houses last year and this year they stepped up a couple of levels.  Check out how well they did:

Mark working on his house.

I am being very meticulous.  - Jack

The finished products.  Nice fences.

A couple of days later while the boys were home for Christmas break, Mommy got our our reusable gingerbread house for decoration.  The boys enjoyed going to the store to get some candy and came home to decorate the house.

Two master craftsman at work.

It's not all work and no fun.  Mark shows this by eating a little candy.

The roof is done.  Now onto the siding.

The finished product.  We have trees, a car, a lake with fish, grass, and a walkway.  Just your average ordinary gingerbread house with a working chimney as seen with the smoke coming out.

Terrific Kid

The Kiwanis organization along with Cardinal Charter Academy, recognizes children that exemplify certain traits that Kiwanians represent.  The program is named "Terrific Kids."  This month, Mark was named one of the Terrific Kids at CCA.  As a reward, he was able to come to the cafeteria and be recognized in front of the other kids (2 per class per grade level).

Mommy and Daddy were so proud of Mark.  He was a little shy during the ceremony but we were very happy for him.

Here is a video of him receiving this award:


Here are some pictures from the event:

Mark and Drew waiting for the ceremony to start.

All of the 1st graders who were "Terrific Kids"

Mark and Daddy

Mommy and Mark

Drew Blackmond and Mark

NC High School Football Championship Game

On Friday, December 11, the son of one of Heather's good friends from high school was playing in the NCHSAA 3-A Championship football game.  Rocky Mount vs. South Point.  Heather's friend was the captain, senior running back for South Point.  We took the boys to the game.  They were very excited about going, even though the game was at Chapel Hill.  They were intrigued about seeing another stadium, even one with that crappy blue color in Kenan.

It was a nail-biter of a game that went into Overtime.  Rocky Mount survived to win 24-21.  Even though her friend's son didn't win the game, he scored a touchdown.

The boys had a good time, although they made sure that everyone in the family wore red (good thing that South Point's colors are red and white).

Rocky Mount vs. South Point.

The attendance, while really good for high school football, looks like a regular season attendance at a UNC game.  Haha.

Time to see Santa Claus

It was that time again.  The boys wrote down their list of a few things they wanted, and then we all jumped in the car and headed down to the Cary Towne Center for a meeting with Santa Claus.  We went on a weekday night as we thought it wouldn't be too crowded. W e were correct.  It wasn't crowded at all.

The boys took their new list of items they wanted from Santa Claus.  Jack and Mark read them to Santa.  He asked the boys which one thing they wanted the most.  And then he asked if he could keep the lists with him so he won't forget their wish list.  Jack and Mark really were happy that Santa was so smart in keeping their list.

Mark, Santa, and Jack

CCA school lunch visit

On the first Friday of December, Jack and Mark wanted Mommy and Daddy to come over to school and eat lunch with them.  They eat at 11:15 so that is a little early for us to eat.  But we did want to go see them at school during their lunch time.  The boys were excited to see us as well.

We were going to sit together at a table that had some empty seats.  Some of the kids at the table were Jack's classmates.  Mark was already at his table.  When we tried to get him to sit with Jack, he didn't want to unless his teacher said he could move.  He was very adamant about that.  It took Ms. Khatibi, Jack's teacher, to OK the move before he would move tables.  So cute.

Mom and Dad had a really good time at lunch.  It reminded us both of school lunch cafeterias.  Semi-controlled chaos.  Ha.

Here are some pictures from lunch:

Mark and Jack

Daddy shows up with his boys!

Mommy with her boys!

Drew and Mark

Christmas tree

During the first week in December, we got our Christmas tree put up and decorated.  The boys really helped us a lot this year.  This was the first year they were real particular where some of the ornaments were put on the tree.  The final product shows that they did a good job and Mommy and Daddy finished it up by making the finishing touches.

Here is the picture of our tree:

Chippy comes back

On December 1, our Elf on the Shelf returned for another year.  This year, he received a new name (Chippy) as the boys saw him named Chippy in the movie.  This time, he came bearing a gift.  He brought the boys the card game of Old Maid.  The boys really love the Elf and will look forward to his location every morning.

Here is a picture of the first morning that Chippy came back to the DeVault house.

Post - Thanksgiving football game

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we went to the final home game of the season with UNC-CHeat coming over to Raleigh to play the Wolfpack.  We had some of Jack and Mark's best friends tailgate with us.  The Kinders came over.  Jack, Mark, Ryan, and Drew had been figuring out the teams for their football game earlier in the week at school.  They were all excited to be tailgating together.  The game was fun for all of the boys.

As far as the actual football game, I don't really remember much about it so I won't mention anything...since State didn't win.

Here are a few pictures from the game:

At the tailgate, Grandpa, Jack, Mommy, Granna, Mark, and Daddy

Well, State has a chance of coming back to win.  What do you think boys?

That is a bad call ref!  - Mark and Jack

Thanksgiving in Tennessee

For Thanksgiving, we went over the mountain and drove to Tennessee to see Mimi and Poppy.  We were looking forward to seeing the cousins so that they all can play together as the Morgans were also coming to Kingsport.

On Thanksgiving morning, we all watched the Macy's Parade.  After that, we went over and saw Poppy and fed him lunch.  He was doing pretty good.  He seemed to realize that Jack and Mark were there and it was good to see him.

When we got back to the house, the Thanksgiving dinner was about ready.  We ate a really good meal.  That afternoon, the boys took Mommy, Daddy, Kate, and Macy outside to play some backyard football.  It was the first time that Macy had played, but she did pretty well.  Everyone really enjoyed playing some football.

That evening, we helped Mimi get her Christmas tree up and decorated.  All four grandkids, especially Mark and Macy, enjoyed helping out putting the tree up.

It is always good to see Mimi, Poppy, and the Morgans.  Here are a couple of pictures from the holiday time in Kingsport:

Yes, that is a penalty flag.  The boys play the game, coach the game, and are the refs.

Hugging my best friend! - Jack and Mark

Kate, Jack, Mark, and Macy

Funny picture time.

Christmas Card Pictures

Without further ado, here are a couple of pictures that we used for our Christmas card photos:

NC State vs. Syracuse

The weekend before Thanksgiving the Wolfpack was hosting Syracuse.  The Pack, who had already gotten bowl eligible the previous week, was hoping to improve its bowl destination with another victory over an ACC team.  This week was the first visit as a conference mate by the Orange. 

We tailgated that morning with their buddy Alex, along with his younger brother John, and their mom and grandmother.  Jack and Mark loved the fact that Alex was there.  We had to eat in a hurry so that the boys could go play some football before the actual game started.

The game was a rout from the beginning.  State really put the hammer down on Syracuse early and wound up winning 42-23.  A good time was had by all.

Here are a couple of pictures from the day:

John gets the ball to start the play.  I hope he has a good arm to throw it to Daddy.

When there is a fumble, you need to fall on the ball! - Mark

One happy boy! - Jack

This should have been a sign that the Pack would win.  3 good friends with the sun beaming down through the picture.  Jack, Mark, and Alex

Are you showing off your missing tooth? 

Artists at work

It's not all sports around our house.  On a relaxing Saturday afternoon with the boys, they wanted to continue working on some artwork they had started at school.  So out came the paint, the smock, and it was on.  Mommy and Daddy really enjoyed watching the boys work on their artwork.  Look at the boys really concentrating on their art:

What should the next color be?  Thoughts Mark?  - Jack

Really working hard to make the best painting possible.

A good artist always cleans his brush when he is finished.

Awards for the first quarter

In Mark's class, Ms. Thompson gave out awards for the first quarter of school.  She gave out awards for Math, Reading, and Science.  If a student had a certain grade in those subjects, they received a certificate.  Mark got a certificate for all three areas.  We are so proud of Mark.

Mark receiving his awards!

Last Baseball game

As I mentioned in the post regarding the Minor League tournament, the Lookouts' fall season came to a close as the second seeded Lookouts fell to the top-seeded Thunder 6-3 in an elimination game.  The game was close, but the Thunder used a 5 run third inning to take control of the game.  A bases clearing double turned out to be the difference.  The team played hard but the Thunder made a couple more plays than the Lookouts did.

But we were really proud of how well the team played all season.  Jack and Mark definitely belonged in the Minor League and we were really ecstatic how much they improved over the season.  And it won't be too long until the spring season starts.

Here are a couple of pictures from the last game:

Coach Josh talking to the team after the game.

The boys soaking in every word from coach.

Boys receive a new Bible

On November 1 (or the first Sunday of the November) of each year, the first graders at church receive a new Bible from the church.  This is a big day.  Each kid walks up to a microphone and tells everyone their name and then they receive a new Bible.

Jack and Mark were excited to get their Bible.

Now, each week that they bring the Bible to Sunday School, they get a sticker next to their name.  When they receive a certain number of stickers, they get something from their teachers.  We aren't sure how many or what the reward is, but this is a good start to get the boys accustomed to always taking their Bibles to church.

Here is a video of the boys getting their Bibles.  I apologize for the distance away from the front.




Here is a picture from that Sunday at church:

The boys after church with Grandpa.  The similarity in their dress is cute and yet a little bit eerie. 

Different Halloween this year

Normally, Halloween is all about trick or treating.  However, this year was a little different.  Halloween was on a Saturday.  And that particular Saturday the Wolfpack was hosting #3 Clemson.  The game started at 3:30.  So our plan was to go tailgate, go to the game, and then go home to have the boys change into their costumes for a little trick or treating.

The tailgating was good, especially given the poor weather at earlier games, as it was our first tailgate of the season.

The game was very exciting.  State jumped out to an early lead and was leading 20-19 with less than a minute to go in the first half.  The Pack missed a field goal attempt and two plays later (and one giant WR push off that was not called) the Tigers scored a touchdown to take the lead at the half and wound up rolling to a 56-41 win.

When the game was over, we quickly got back to the house so the boys could change clothes and turn into bull riders.  This was their outfit:

Two bull riders.  They look really good!

Playoff time in the Minor Leagues

At the end of October, the Lookouts finished the regular season 8-4 and in second place.  Now it is time for the playoffs.  As second seed the boys were hoping that the winning would continue in their try for the championship.  Jack and Mark have really enjoyed this season and have gotten much better over the past few weeks.  It has been really good to see.  We are very proud of them.

In the playoffs, they lost in the first round to the Mudcats, who the Lookouts had just beaten in their previous game.  The tournament is double elimination, so the Lookouts still had an opportunity to come back and win.  In their first elimination game, they played the River Dogs.  The Lookouts split two games with the River Dogs during the regular season.

The team mom brought out the big guns as she showed up with the baseballs with the Lookouts names on them:

Baseballs with the boys' names listed on it.

That night the Lookouts beat the River Dogs 7-4 to advance on in the tournament.

Unfortunately, due to some upsets, the next team the Lookouts had to play was the Thunder, who was the top seed.  The Lookouts played hard but came up short by a 6-3 score.  

The season is now over.  However, the boys worked hard throughout the season and Mommy and Daddy were real impressed at how hard they played and how much they improved.

With the season over, we need to wait until next March.

Return to the Pumpkin Patch

Every October, we go to the Phillips Farm out in Cary for some good old Halloween fun.  The boys love going out there every year.  They love all sorts of games.  They like to play the football and basketball games, go down the slides, take a hay ride, and pick out a pumpkin.  This year, we added a new thing (for us) at the farm.  We completed our first ever corn maze.  It was a lot of fun.  The boys helped us and lead us through the maze, correctly answering 10 questions.  The questions were all about sports.  I know, shocker that they chose the sports category.  Those are our kids for sure.

We all had a great time at the farm.  It is always one of the favorite times of the year.

Here are some pictures from the farm:

Do I look like Jacoby Brissett?  - Jack

Time to watch me win this cornhole game! - Mark

Sliding down the slide.  - Mark

Should I go faster?  Probably!  - Jack

Oops.  I just fell off the big bouncy pillow! - Jack

Look at how high I can jump Jack! - Mark

The bicycling John Deere tractors need some help getting around the circuit from Mommy.

I look like I am straight off the farm. - Jack

Mark needs a little help to finish his lap from Daddy!

I know I am straight off the farm.  - Mark

Beginning the corn maze.

Mommy with her two boys!

Who is coming out of that tube?  JACK is.

Am I having fun or what? - Jack

Brothers

Best friends.  

This is my pumpkin! - Jack

This is my pumpkin! - Mark