Tundra Time Trial

I am finding quite a few posts that I started, but never quite finished. Just think of it as my 2011 - Year in Review. Maybe if I started now, I'll have it wrapped up by the end of December.

It's actually kind of fun to look back at these pictures. The Tundra marks the beginning of the race season, usually mid-February. I remember being so happy that it was sunny and warm. We had had such a horrible winter that we were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to thaw out. (Little did we know that it was going to be a brutally hot summer.)

We had a strong finish. These are the 13-14 winners. James was pretty happy with third (as you can tell from the pictures, both Miguel and Abigail have more muscles).

Flag Football

Last winter Christopher decided he wanted to try out flag football. Of course, we were already one week into the season but we were able to find a league that would take him. We signed him up for the 10-12 year-old league. He had just turned 10, but he is a good athlete so we figured it would be a good fit.

I liked the structure of this league. It was 2 hours per week on Sunday afternoon. The first hour was practice and the 2nd hour was the game. His very first practice, he was given the medal for the week. The word for the week was "Listening" and his coach said the "new kid" did the best job listening. I think it was a few more weeks before we went from "new kid" to Chris.

Christopher learned quickly and it didn't take the coach too long to figure out that he was also quick as the dickens.

Did I mention that they decided to combine leagues so he was actually playing 10-14 year-olds? There were kids out there with facial hair - not a very fair match up, but I digress. The coach designed a special play for Christopher and the kid (I guess I didn't do any better with names than the coach did) who usually played quarterback. (I would say almost facial hair, but definitely growth spurt.)

QB would hand off to Christopher and then CBT would make a little shovel pass back to the QB. It was awesome and amazing all at it. Christopher just completed one of those passes here. (I confess these pictures aren't nearly as good as other sports - it was just plain too cold to get out the good camera.)

While he just seemed to small to me out there, that didn't stop him. He was quick. He was part of the play whenever he should of been.

He's making a great play here - trust me, I know he's tiny. He "ripping" the guy with the ball. ("Ripping" I learned was what you said instead of "tackle." Makes sense.

Short season, but it was fun.

Christmas with the Whitmans

Over the years, we've evolved to a certain Christmas tradition. Papa, Da and Aunt Tammy spend the night with us on Christmas Eve and then the Whitmans come Christmas Day afternoon. 2010 brought us a pleasant little surprise....snow.

So, an excitement level that was already incredibly high moved a bit more into overdrive. Once they get to town we have a HUGE meal and we open presents, not always in that order. This year, well, this year was a little different.

It started out fairly normal. We took turns opening gifts and admiring each one.

As usual, there quite a few "Alabama-themed" gifts. Of course. We wouldn't have it any other way.

The Alabama gifts come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

That said, we don't forget Aunt Joanna, who doesn't appreciate Alabama gifts as much as we do (nor does Bear).

It's not uncommon for a cookbook to show up amongst the gifts. I think there's a gene in our family that creates the need to collect cookbooks - even if you don't really cook that often.

Aunt Tammy usually racks up with both Alabama gifts and others.

But my favorite part of Christmas this year was absolutely Aunt Joanna. She was in rare form. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe any more. Here I think she is pretending to be a woman on oxygen who refuses to stop smoking. (Ok, I know that is not a funny topic, but you just had to be there.)

And then as a show of absolute Christmas spirit, she treated us to a reading of the Night Before Christmas Tide style. That was huge for someone who is a dyed in the wool Auburn fan, but she did it and she did it with gusto and enthusiasm.

We just have a blast when we're together and we just love to laugh.

It may be chaos, but we enjoy spending time together.