Santa Clause was good to Boston

I guess Boston must have been a good boy because Santa pulled out all the stops this year. When Bossy came downstairs on Christmas morning, our entire living room was filled with an inflatable jump house. Santa even had to move the couch out of the living room to make enough space.

I can barely see his stocking! It's covered with so many goodies!
Opening present...

Merry Christmas!

Boston cracks me up with his presents. He doesn't blow through them like your typical super-excited kid on Christmas morning. He carefully opens each gift, examines it, asks questions about it and really appreciates it before moving on to the next one. It took us 4 hours to get through Christmas morning!! Good gracious!

I made a killer breakfast casserole. Chris has been begging me to make it again.

Pre-K Christmas Party

Me and my little man at his Pre-K Christmas Party!
Gammi came too and joined in the festivities!!
Boston with his teacher, Ms. Nicole. We gave Ms. Nicole her first teacher ornament.
Boston and his class enjoying the holiday food.

After lunch, the kids had a book exchange. This is Bossy picking out his book to open.

He was very eager to rip off the wrapping paper. (It was a Christmas book.)

Chris's Birthday Party

Chris wanted to have a party at home this year. We had a crazy card, pajama birthday party. So, everyone came over in their comfy PJ's and we played cards. We had 3 card tables set up. 2 tables for 500 and 1 for poker. Good times.

Chris is wearing the crown that Boston wore when he turned one. Chris turned 31, so I thought it would be funny to add a "30" to the crown. So, now it says, "it's fun to be 31."
Shannon, Carey, Keith and Asha playing 500.

Chris, Tina, Brennan and Justin playing 500.

Mike, Shannon and Thiggy playing poker.

Chris trying to help Tina decide how to play her hand.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is quite busy for us because we split the day with both sides of our families.

Round #1: Thanksgiving at the Vander Horst's house. YUMMY!
Barry, Chris and Mom filling their plates.

I love my mom and dad! My parents have the most breathtaking red Japanese Maple tree in their back yard and it's always at it's peak at Thanksgiving. Perfect for picture taking.

Gramma pushing Bossy on the swing. My parents use to push me on that same swing when I was a kid. Heartwarming.

Family pictures. We needed a good one for our Christmas card. I think we found a winner. :)

Round #2: Thanksgiving at the Marco's. We were so stuffed by the end of the day. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday. Love it. I'm sad to have to wait 11 more months to celebrate it again.

Boston was his favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Raph. Gammi came dressed as Iron Man.

The Caldwells came to celebrate Dash's 1st Halloween.

Michelle and Chris stayed at the house and handed out the candy to trick-or-treaters.

Our spooky house.

Boston's Birthday!

I can't believe that my baby boy is 4 years old!! Boston LOVES the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (Raph, in particular is his favorite) Gammi is our family cake maker. I think this is her best work so far. Great job Rhonda!

On his way to a Halloween party, Jackson stopped in for a little birthday fun. Here are the best buds. Maybe Boston should consider a new best friend since Jackson is threatening his life at gunpoint.
Daddy's favorite gift to Boston. Sorry Bossy, you're doomed to be a RedSkins fan whether you like it or not.

Boss really wanted to bob for apples for his birthday. It ended up being the highlight of the party. Good call Boss.

The birthday boy with his prized newly bobbed apple.

It was cold and rainy so we had to hit the pinata inside the garage. The funny part was when the sting broke off of the pinata before the boys had smashed it open. They just hit it on the ground until they broke through.

Our wonderful family. Thanks so much for coming to Bossy's 4th birthday party. It meant a lot to have you there.

Fright Fest at Six Flags

We gave Boston a choice on how he wanted to celebrate his birthday.

Option #1: We could throw a big party on Saturday at our house with all of his friends and family, rent an inflatable jump and go all out.

Option#2: We would have a small, family party on his birthday and then go to Six Flags the following Saturday.

Boston chose the best of both worlds and opted to go to Six Flags. The Ross family went with us and we had a BLAST! Good choice Boston.

Fall Fun at Corn Dawgs

Chris, Boston, Gammi and I went to Corns Dawgs to enjoy the fall festivities. We met up with our friends, Tasha and Adrianne and their children. Boston always has the best time playing with them.
Our little sunflowers, Boston, Adrianna, Taylor and Jordan.

Nice little family pic. We're sitting right in front of the corn maze. With the exception of Chris, we all wore our Halloween shirts. I just can't seem to get him out of those RedSkins shirts. :)

We had lots of fun riding on the Cow "Train", sliding down the slides, playing numerous games, walking though the corn maze and playing in the corn box. That's right corn box. It's what looks like an over sized sandbox but instead of sand, it has raw corn. Chris and the kids LOVED it!

Boston's First Soccer Practice

Boston's first soccer practice was at 5:00 on Monday. What the duce? Why the coach thought 5:00 was a great start time is beyond me. I don't even get off work until 6:00! (Don't worry, we talked it out with the coach later. Turns out we aren't the only parents that were inconvenienced by a 5:00 start. It has now been changed to 6:00 PM) Luckily, Gampi just so happened to be off work that day and was able to take Boss Man to practice. Gampi was very sweet to swing by my office on his way to soccer practice so that I could wish my little man good luck. (that and Boston's cleats and shin guards are no picnic to put on. Either way, I'll take it!) Here 's me and my little soccer man at my work.

My work associates, Claudia and Amy got a "kick" out of my little stud muffin soccer man.
On his merry way to soccer practice. Look at those cute little shin guards!

Rollin' in Gampi's Trans Am.

Peachtree Road Race 2010

This is our cotton trophy for running the race. We wear it with pride.

This picture was taken with Chris's phone, right after the we completed the race.
To all my adoring fans and blog followers, I deeply apologize for the laps in my blog entries. July has been quite a month for the Fox Family. (as you will discover in future posts) So, here's one to help ease your suffering, and I hope that more will follow shortly.
Chris and I celebrated our independence on the 4th of July by running a 10K. This was our first time participating on an organized race and we LOVED it. I'm honestly sad that I'll have to wait another year to do it again. 50,913 completed the Peachtree Road Race this year and it was fun to be a part of the excitement.
Chris was a superstar runner, and he completed the race in 49 minutes and 33 seconds. That puts him at 3,388th place out of the 50,913 that finished.
I was not quite as speedy finishing at 1 hour 5 minutes. And one hour running in the Georgia summer heat feels like an eternity - especially the last mile as it's really heating up. It was still an amazing experience and my adrenaline kept me pumping through the torturous heat. My goal for next year is to complete the race under an hour. Even if my time is 59 minutes, I'll be proud. Here's to next year...