This Kid

He is just as much fun and a ball of energy as these pictures would suggest. 

Gun slinger. Underwear make a perfect holster.

Tower Stacker 

Ninja Warrior 

He made his dad these special "ear wings".  

Time, go ahead and freeze. Nolan is such a delight and quickly growing up. We all get such a kick out of his personality and antics. 

Plainsmen Pals

We signed up to get a buddy that plays high school basketball for our feeder school, the Plainsman. We got paired with coolest kid, he has been so sweet to all the boys and it's been great to be able to attend games and events to cheer him on.

Getting to shoot around before practice.  

It's been so eye-opening for me to hang out at the high school. Some of these players/fans look like legit adults. Grown-up, but highs schoolers. I am never around high school kids, and in fact teach four year olds; pre-k being the complete opposite thing to high school. In just a few years we will have high school kids, in a few years we will have these weird kid-adults. In 5 years our kids will grown and change tremendously and Jon and I will not hardly change at all. Last Friday when we went to a game, I looked at all the students around us and tried to imagine Seth or Ollie making such bizarre clothing choices. (Ha. Do you know what kids are wearing these days?) I could see it happening. 

This is one reason I love the Harry Potter books so much. I think Rowling creates aging students (and Harry) so effortless-ly and honestly. I suppose I should re-read book 2 when Seth turns 12? Parenting research and one of my favorite hobbies collide. 

Anyway, Go Plainsmen! 

Lubby Christmas

Here's some pictures from Lubby Christmas (as opposed to Minne Christmas... coming soon!).

When we first put up our Christmas tree we probably (likely) still had out fall and Thanksgiving decor. Nolan wanted gifts under the tree immediately and decided that this little pumpkin would be a perfect first gift. As more traditional gifts started to pile up, Nolan kept moving the pumpkin from the back to the front and center. Once or twice someone tried to throw away our little (beginning to rot) pumpkin and Nolan would pull it back out and place it back where it belonged. Nolan even took it one step further and got out the Halloween pumpkin candy buckets and put "gifts" in them for Ollie. 

Christmas morning came, and I was the lucky one to be gifted the pumpkin. The honor! The rot! The new traditions being born?!

Lots of fun to be had and goodies to explore. 

Nolan's new little v-tech tablet-thing-a-ma-jig. Perfect for a long trip ahead of us.  

This was a super big moment in the Mot household; Seth unwrapping a phone. I need to take some screen shots of some of our first texting conversations. So simple, darling, and touching, frankly. 

Here comes the Red Power Ranger. 

Ollie's big present this year was a ticket to go watch a live tapping of American Ninja Warrior with Dad. He was also pretty stoked (understatement) about some new Bey Blades. 

More fun awaits in Minneapolis! 

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree...

At the Christmas Party Hop.

Once upon a time there was a December when I looked at my calendar and realized that I had volunteered to be in charge of six Christmas parties. Why on earth was I feeling so alive and capable in November, I have no idea. When I told my friend Eryn about my six party conundrum, she had the audacity to laugh at me and tell me I was a "classic 8". Throw in the half dozen other Christmas-y events we had going on and it made for a bunch of rockin'. 

Party 1: Book Club!

Parties 2 & 3: Work Parties, of which I took no pictures. 

Christmas lunch at Waters. Thankfully I was not in charge of this one. Lol

Ollie, Jon, and Morgan 

Nolan picking Frosty's nose.  

Party #4: Christmas Party for the Special Ed department at Waters. My friend Johanna and I worked on this one together, a meal and gift cards to Spec's, your friendly liquor store. Hahaha 

Nolan's pre-k party! So cute, such great kids. Mine, of course, is the greatest. 

Gift Exchange with Jennifer. She got the boys this super awesome basketball game. We've already logged quite a bit of time on it. The neighborhood kids will never stay away now. Who's the best?

Party #5: our small group's party 

Party #6: I was in charge of Ollie's third grade class' party. Lots of snacks and we played minute to win it games. 

Candy cane fishing 

Building Christmas Trees 

More fun with more friends. 

Checking out the growing pile. 

Whew! A full December to be sure! Lots to celebrate, lots of love. 

Carol of the Lights-5K

This race was so much fun. Such a great atmosphere, so many fun, over-the-top Christmas outfits and participants decked out in lights. Times like this make me want to be a real-deal runner. 

How cute is this? They even had a little photo booth with these print-outs. 

Here's most of our crew! With 1,300 participants and a wide range of abilities we had a meet-up stop for after the race so we didn't lose anyone. 

Getting ready! Priorities: Selfies before stretching.  

The run was through Texas Tech, so lots of lights and Christmas-y scenery. 

I think everyone's favorite part was running through the Tech stadium. 

Ollie killed the 5K, with a time around 18 minutes. I am so shocked and proud of him! Seth came in around 25 minutes. Jon ran with a friend's daughter, Bailey, and finished about 10 minutes behind Seth. Jennifer, Nolan, and I stayed together and I actually ran the first mile. (We don't need to mention that my run was the pace of Jennifer's fast walk.) Around the time we got to the stadium a few kids from our crew were waiting to walk with us, otherwise I may have actually run more! Like I said, that fun runners' atmosphere was motivating! We finished in around 44 minutes. Whoop!

We had a blast and Ollie is already asking when we can run another 5k.