Cake Thief! (or GrandTom's 65th birthday)

GrandTom was here yesterday celebrating his 65th birthday with us. The boys were ecstatic, as always, that GrandTom was here, and were really happy to be able to help make him a cake. After the cake baked and cooled, I was ready to frost it. I turned one of the round cakes over onto a large plate, leveled the top with a knife, and opened the frosting. Kyle had bought a delicious-looking can of whipped cream cheese frosting, but when I opened it, I discovered that it had clearly been stored above the 80 degrees recommended on the label. It was a yellowy, oily, deflated mess. New icing was desperately needed, so Braden and I headed off to the store for more icing (and ice cream!). We left Garrett playing quietly in his room and Kyle and Tom contentedly watching TV on the couch.

When Braden I came home, this is what I discovered:

I shrieked for Garrett, who came in the kitchen looking all sheepish. I picked him up, pointed at the cake, and said, "did you do this to GrandTom's cake?"

Noooo, Garrett shook his head, and then pointed at Braden. Yeah, right! By this time, Kyle and Tom had joined us in the kitchen and we were all having a difficult time smothering our laughter.

Kyle took Garrett into his room and put him in time out in the corner. Here's where I found him a few minutes later:

And here's where I found Cali, snorting up the cake crumbs from the carpet. Look carefully, and you'll see little pieces of black cake all over the carpet.

Here's Garrett snuggling up to GrandTom telling him sorry for eating the cake.

And here is the cake. It is probably the ugliest cake I've ever made (I ran out of frosting!). The chocolate ribbons on top are brownie icing that I spontaneously bought because it looked so good. I was picturing drizzles of chocolate. Not quite. Tom wanted nuts, so we added chopped pecans to the top.

Here's GrandTom blowing out the candles with a little help from the kids.

Here's Braden enjoying the cake (gosh, he loves posing for pictures!).

And here is the picture that Garrett insisted on taking of the cake.

We love you, GrandTom and are very thankful that you came to celebrate with us!

Pumpkin Patch!

At the movies with my favorite boys...

At the 3-D showing of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs...

Boys' ingenuity

A few days ago, the boys and I were sitting around the table eating take-out from Taco Cabana. They asked for tea. I wanted to eat.

They made do without me! Yes, those are straws they have dunked into the pitcher of tea.

Aggie football!

Edit: Every time I've read this since I first posted it a few hours ago, I've found something that I want to change or fix. I always feels lots of pressure writing blog posts because I'm an English teacher, after all. My posts should be witty and clever and well written and poignant and funny, but most of them are just kinda okay. The point is to share stories of my kids with their far away grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, and whoever else stumbles across the blog, right ? So who cares how I write...(except for maybe my colleagues and former students who I know read the blog)?

What a family adventure! We made our first trip with both kids to an Aggie football game, and we actually had a pretty good time as we watched the Aggies easily defeat the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

We parked at the mall and took the TAMU bus to campus. This turned out to be a pretty good plan, partly because it was free, partly because it shortened the walk for the little legs, but mainly because the boys thought riding on the bus was one of the best parts of the evening! We see the buses all over town, and they were terribly excited about the opportunity to ride in one. Our seats at the front gave Braden a full view out the window ("just like the front of the Metro in Washington, D.C."). As we were walking up to the mall from the parking lot, Garrett took in the full view of the brick front of JC Penney's and said, "mommy, are the Aggies on the other side of that wall?" Awwww.....

The bus dropped us off in front of the quad, and our brief venture through the arches was Kyle's first time to step foot on the quad. I was surprised by that, but I guess there really wasn't much of a reason for him ever to be over there (unlike me, he did not ever date a really cute cadet).

Once we made it to Kyle Field, we still had to walk to the far corner, since our tickets were in section 100--the southwestmost corner of the first deck. Inside the gates, we stopped to rest little legs and to take some pictures.
Garrett and I both wore our brand-new Aggie shirts.

The boys are members of the Junior Aggie Club, and they get free tickets to Aggie sports, including one football game. The tickets aren't the greatest, but it only cost our family $50 to see the game. The seats are in the ooooold part of the stadium, and it isn't very easy to climb in and out. This part of the stadium was clearly designed for people to find their seat and stay there. They must not have been thinking of little kids who desperately need snow-cones, popcorn, potties, etc. Here's Kyle navigating his way through the mass of other Junior Aggie Club members and parents:

Braden turned around for one quick pic.

He's watching the field here, but he spent most of the game watching the jumbo screen which was just to our right.

I loved this old man sitting behind us. He yelled and sang at the top of his lungs. He was a true Aggie fan! Other than him, there are two things I notice about this picture. 1) I love my new haircut (thanks, Isaac!), and 2) when on earth did those wrinkles show up around my eyes? I had no idea I look so old. No wonder I haven't been carded in awhile...

Braden really got in the spirit of the 12th man and loved waving his towel when the Wrecking Crew was on the field (are they much of a wrecking crew anymore???).

Aside from the bus ride, Garrett's favorite part of the game was the giant tub of "popcorny." He munched on it for most of the game. If you haven't been to campus in awhile, that is the indoor practice field visible just over his head and beyond the wall of the stadium.

Daddy and Garrett get ready to watch the pulse of Aggieland..."Now forming at the north end of Kyle Field..."

I've never seen the band so close! The downside is that we didn't get the full effect of the marching patterns, but it was really exciting when they were on our end of the field.

A family picture before the second half begins.

We made the decision to go down to the grassy space behind the bleachers on the south end of the field right below the jumbo screen. There, we could lay out, the boys could run around if they wanted, and we could watch the game on the screen while listening to the crowd. It was like having the best stereo system in the world! And, the portapotties were very close!

I almost forgot! Right as we were getting down to the grass, Kyle yelled, "Erin, hold Garrett up, quick!" The football team was on their way out from the locker room or wherever, and we were literally three feet away. To a five year or three year old (or to their mom), they looked HUGE and AWESOME!

Braden totally posed for this picture. He loves sticking his thumb out and yelling, "Go Aggies!"

One of the coolest things was when I asked to sneak past the barrier and take a picture near the edge of the field. The attendant said yes, then told me to go to the field, and offered to take the picture. How cool! Garrett did not want to step foot on the field, however, so we stopped on the edge.

Braden says that this was his favorite part of the game (followed in close second by the bus ride). When we were down there watching the game close-up, he told me that he never wants to play football and that he'll stick with soccer. Too much crunching in football. His great-grandfather and his GrandTom (both were football coaches) will be pretty disappointed. His daddy and his Granddaddy both frequently relive their high school glory days, and they'll be pretty disappointed, too. Mommy, however, is perfectly happy.

I bet Braden changes his mind by 7th grade. ("no, I won't," he told me after I read this part of the blog to him.)

Braden is super-sensitive to sound. As soon as the Aggie score (and they scored 8 times in this game), he would cover his ears to prepare for the cannon. On our way out of the stadium, we walked right past Parson's Mounted Cavalry and the cannon. I thought it would be cute to get a picture of the boys and the cannon and the Cav boys, but this was as close as I could get Braden. I think it makes for a pretty cute picture anyway!

Not surprisingly, the boys were asleep before we made it home...and they slept in their own beds all night long. It was a fun night! We'll do it again next year!

Braden's first discipline note

Braden received his first discipline note in kindergarten today. He was very embarrassed when I asked him about it, said that he was just yawning loudly and protested emphatically, "it isn't a big deal. Don't worry about it!" (hahahhahaha). He was mortified when I wanted to call Linsey to tell her about the note!

As a teacher, I of course side with the teacher here. I'm certain he was not just yawning!

My favorite part of the note is Braden's shaky little "B" in the student initial blank. I bet he just about cried when he had to initial that!

Interestingly, Garrett was playing with my camera that he had pilfered out of my purse. He just happened to catch a few seconds of video of me checking Braden's backpack and discovering the discipline note. Sometime, when I have the time/patience to download video, I'll post it on here.

My little superhero...

On Saturday, we went to the boys' friend Ryan's birthday party at a local gymnastics place. The party had a superhero theme, so Braden donned a dark green shirt and his Incredible Hulk "smashers" (which he ditched shortly after arriving at the gym).

Garrett wore his Batman PJs, and I think he makes a terrific superhero!