Catch-all

So, I'm not going to back-post all of this stuff, and I'm actually not even going to make sure the photos are in order (as you'll see right away, here)... just posting some stuff I've been meaning to post for a long time. We'll see how far I get before I burn out and you don't hear from me for many months again! :) And I reserve the right to go back and back-post after all anyway, because I'm OCD like that. 

Ben and Matt for Halloween. Matt was a lumberjack, which he LOVED, most especially because now he has workboots "just like Papa." Ben was Iron Man War Machine. And luckily we have a book of all the Iron ...Mans (Iron Men?) so we actually knew who War Machine was. And plus it was on clearance. So.

Ben played flag football this summer/fall and absolutely loved it. We will definitely be doing this again! He's in the back row, third from the left.

A better shot of Matt's costume. I made him the fleece beard and suspenders, thrifted the plaid shirt and got the hat at Walmart for $3. The boots (not pictured) were by far the biggest "investment," but of course he can wear them other times and, most importantly, they are like Papa's. Did you hear he has boots like Papa?

The boys, Christmas Eve. I made their pajama pants at the very last minute, because I love for them to have new PJs on Christmas Eve and I especially love it when they match. I ordered footed PJs online that were all matchy-matchy, but the smallest size was way too big for Matt, and yet too small for Ben. By the time I went to the store to try to find something else, footed pajamas were a thing of the past. Sigh. So, flannel gingerbread men pants it was!

Ben played t-ball this past spring/summer, which was his fort foray into "organized" sports. And I use the term 'organized' very, very loosely - nobody knew what in the world was going on, ever, and because Ben is unusually sporty and kind of big for his age, this was really just an exposure thing for him. He will likely have lots more fun playing coach pitch next year. In this picture, Ben is second from the left, after all of the children received a trophy for basically showing up to the trophy ceremony. There was pretty much no other achievement involved. You can guess how I feel about frivolous trophies.