Thanksgiving and Thomas's First Communion

We got the whole week off again this year for Thanksgiving, so the whole Kall gang came to Flower Mound. We thought it was the perfect time for Thomas to make his first communion too since all his Catholic relatives would be in town.

First to arrive was Yvette and her two kids, Alxander and Annelie. We had fun spending time with them since we don't see them very often. Annelie and Charles are the same age, and after she got used to his craziness, they had fun playing together. The best part was making these adorable turkey cupcakes.



We made the cupcakes on Tuesday...


And then turned them into Turkeys on Wednesday...


This was the perfect project for these two. They are the littlest of all the cousins, but were very excited to have a project that was just for them. And what a good job they did!!



By Wednesday night, everyone had arrived and we were in full swing chaos. We had 9 extra people staying here at the house, and 7 others at a hotel. The kids played a lot of games both in and outside, and the moms cooked. Luckily the weather was beautiful all week and the kids spent a lot of time across the street at the park.



Poor Alexander busted his lip during a game of football!

I didn't get too many shots of our feast, but we did have a big one. Here are a couple of the kids tables.



Annelie was so excited when Jacqueline finally arrived. An escape from all the boys!

After Thanksgiving, we did some Black Friday shopping and celebrated Alexander's birthday at the bowling alley. Then Saturday was the First Communion.

Thomas was so excited (and a little nervous) to finally make his first communion. He was so handsome in his fancy clothes.




When we got to the church, Thomas was waiting in the back when his freind, Jay, arrived to support him. It was so nice for Thomas!!!



And here is his big moment!




We came back to the house for a celebration. We had brisket and queso and beans and ribs (at Thomas's request). We ate cake and Thomas opened a few presents. It was a really good time.



This jersey was from Thomas's godparents, Uncle Danny and Aunt Tricia, who were not able to make the first communion.

In spite of the craziness and the mess, it was a really fun week. We all miss our cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents!

Halloween

Halloween was lots of fun at the Kall house, as usual this year. We went to the pumpkin patch because Charles insisted, but the other boys had fun too!


The boys by the "UP" display. Every year there are new displays from the various popular kids movie that year. fun!


Charles quickly got lost in the hay maze and had to jump on top to find his way out!

A few days later was Halloween. We met up with our good friends and had a little pre-trick-r-treating party in their garage and driveway. Then it was time to suit up. Joshua was the Riddler from Batman, so we spiked his hair up and painted it orange (like Jim Carrey in the movie). I also attached the mask to his face and blacked out his eyes! Pretty cool.



Thomas wanted to be Michael Jackson. He has been obsessed with him and his music ever since he died this past summer. Steve and I played a lot of his music for the boys just to let him know who he was and how great his music was. Thomas wanted all the songs on his ipod. We got creative with his costume turning an old black shirt of mine into a jacket and using other things we already had. Add a wig and a glove, and you've got Michael Jackson. He really liked wearing the black eyeliner. I know, I know...trouble.



And then there was Charles. He wore an astronaut space shuttle costume to a Halloween party the week before, but on the actual day wanted to be batman. We had an old, cheap dress-up batman costume and that was good enough for him. He didn't want a mask, a hat, make-up, nothing. But boy did he have fun trick-r-treating!



He wore the batman ear "hat" I made for him that afternoon for two seconds for this picture, than went without it the rest of the evening.

Fall Sports

With school starting, that can only mean one thing in the Kall household...fall sports. This is the first time all THREE boys have played a sport at the same time. Joshua played tackle peewee football, Thomas played flag football and Charles played soccer.

Joshua was on the Gators, which turned out to be quite a good little team. He had a great first experience with football and wants to play again next year!



He played on both offense and defense. His biggest play of the season was catching this pass against the number one ranked team, TCU. The Gators later went on to win the game and come out on top for the regular season.



Here he is making a block, and all hot and sweaty after one of their wins.












The Gators went onto the playoffs and won all the way up until the very end. They ended the season in 2nd place. It was lots of fun to watch. Here is Joshua about to get his trophy after the championship game. That is his coach, Rudy, and ex-Dallas Cowboy, Tony Casillas, handing out the trophies.



Thomas played flag football at the YMCA and Steve was the coach. Thomas LOVED playing football. He has been waiting a long time to get to play it, and really had a good time. He was the quarterback most games, and was a darned good one.

















Charles played soccer on the Big Dawgs with his best friend, James.


His first game was not a huge success. He got on the field that first time and would not kick the ball. He just chased everyone around and acted afraid to get into the mix. We were a little baffled because he didn't act this way at practice. At the first time-out I asked him why he wasn't trying to kick the ball and he said, "those guys out there are CRAZY". He had never had to go up against another kid and fight to get the ball. So after practicing on being more aggresive and bribing him with milk shakes, he had break-thru about three game into the season. He scored 5 goals and was so proud of himself. From then on, he was really into the sport and excited to try to score goals. He got very competitive, alway keeping score on the sidelines when he wasn't playing.

Thomas Turns 8

Thomas's birthday is only a month after Charles's, so school starts and we are quickly planning a celebration for Thomas. He decided he wanted to skate again this year, but we chose to roller skate instead of ice skate this time.

We started the morning off with our traditional donuts on the birthday plate. We have done this for so many years now, the kids really look forward to waking up to presents from the family waiting and seeing how mom shaped donuts into their number. Eight was an easy one...It was just two Krispy Kremes from Kroger plopped down onto the plate.



Next Thomas opened Charles's present (a Tony Romo Cowboys jersey) and mom and dads present (a spark scooter). Joshua was still at a friends house from a sleepover the night before. When he got home later, he gave Thomas a set of Bendaroos.

The spark scooter turned out to be pretty cool. It is just a regular razor scooter that has a pad on the back that when pushed down with your foot makes sparks fly. Of course the pad wears down very quickly...something to spend allowance money on, but it's fun while it lasts!

Here is Charles checking Thomas out in front of the house. Working on the best technique.









Sparks are flying!












Later that afternoon we were off to SkateTown for the party. All the kids really did have fun!!

Thomas did pretty well. He only fell a few times.




Here are some of Thomas's buddies that were at the party:



These are Thomas's good friends Jessie and Olivia.


Check out Charles...he started off using one of the cool wheeled frame things to help him, but soon found he did better without it. He was so cute!


Charles's best friend, James, and his mom wheeled around for almost the entire party with the help of this cool little frame.

Even Steve reluctantly strapped on some skates and got out there for a little bit. And of course Joshua had fun racing around, faster each time!

After an hour or so of skating, we moved to the party area where they had hot dogs and chips and were able to cool off a little bit.




Then they played the ice cream game





And ate cake (yes, a cookie cake again. The Kall children are not fond of regular cake). It was a Cowboys cake...kind of.




We opened presents at home so the kids could have more time to skate. It was a really fun afternoon and a great birthday!!