Laser Quest birthday

Since the Morris family was here for Thanksgiving, we decided that we should celebrate Brayden's birthday with them before they left.  So, Matt made a football cake and we had a little celebration on 

November 23, 2012.

On November 26, 2012 Brayden had the traditional cinnamon roll breakfast.  That evening we meet Uncle Carlos at Red Robin to eat dinner.  Uncle Carlos gave Brayden a UT sweatshirt that he LOVED.  We came back home to open his presents.  The first present Brayden opened was a box of rocks and sticks.  Matt had been teasing him that he was only going to get rocks and sticks, so that is what he got. 

Brayden had his birthday party with friends at Laser Quest on December 1, 2012.  The boys that came were Dallin's cousin who was visiting, Wesley Mason, Joey Faylor, Taylor Dahlke, Harrison Snarr, Dallin Anderson, and Josh Faylor.  

They played 2 games of laser tag, and then we had a room where they ate pizza, sang Happy Birthday, and ate birthday cake.  

Brayden had fun.  It was the perfect party for a group of boys.  

refrigerator drinks

Blake has been a milk addict since he was little.  He would prefer to drink milk like it was water.  He would ask often to have a glass of milk.  I noticed that he would not always finish his milk so I would put the cup in the refrigerator and save it.  That way when he asked me an hour later for milk I could tell him that it was in the fridge.  He liked the convenience of not having to ask for help in getting a drink and started storing it in the fridge himself.  He even started storing cups of water in the fridge, when he can easily get some from the water dispenser on the fridge. Lately he has been storing multiple cups in the fridge.  We will  open up fridge and he has several cups of drink.  

Falcon Football

As a number of Brayden's school friends have played football the past couple of years, he had been asking for a chance to play as well.  He really didn't know much about the game, having never really seen it played other than an Air Force Academy game when we all went up to my 10-year class reunion.  He was somewhat handicapped from the start given the complexity of the sport and a father who really doesn't ever watch or follow it.  However, he was undeterred.

We signed Brayden up for the 9-10 year-old YMCA league.  I tried to explain the idea of the sport and some basic rules, but there was still a huge learning curve.  From the beginning he felt like he was REALLY FAST (and actually is much faster than anyone else on the team except one other kid), but he says he needs to work on throwing and catching the ball.  He is the tallest boy on his team as well, though he doesn't have mass on his side.

He has really taken to it and has improved considerably in the short season.  On his second game he ran the ball twice, the second time 3/4 the length of the field for a touchdown.  He was fast enough that he was able to stop and look back three times to see how close the defense was.

At his most recent game he explained that Tanner, another boy on the team, was able to pull seven flags during the game whereas he normally only pulls two.  The reason, he expounded, was that his father had offered him $2 for every flag he pulled and he had a lot of motivation.  This was obviously going somewhere.  Just think how many flags Brayden could pull if he were more properly motivated, he suggested.

When asked about the season, football is the sport he has enjoyed the most so far.  Baseball was also fun, but basketball not so much.  There are also some sports he has not played yet, like "hockey in the sky", which on further investigation I discovered to be lacrosse, and "swimming soccer", or water polo.

Temple with Kylee

On November 13th Kylee went for the first time to the San Antonio Temple to do baptisms with the youth of the Wiseman Ward. We were both able to go with her because Nicole Faylor offered to watch our kids. 

Off with their heads

We all decided to go with a family Alice in Wonderland theme for Halloween this year.

We set up a Mad Hatter's Tea Party at our car for the Trunk-or-Treat at church.

Halloween being on a different night from the Trunk-or-Treat gave us a second opportunity to show off our Wonderland duds.

Brayden came back home from tick-or-treating and said, "My arms are hurting because people are giving me double candy just because of my costume.  Only the elderly said it was cool."  Despite his impressive trick-or-treating yield, he downed virtually all of his loot that first night.

Julia had an scarier trick-or-treating adventure.  Carlos and I stayed back to hand out candy while Matt went with the Mason family to take the kids around the neighborhood.  About 45 minutes into the trick-or-treating I got a phone call from Matt asking if Julia had come back.  Learning that she hadn't, he suggested she was probably up ahead with the older kids and he went check.  He called back distressed that she was not with them either.  He said they were 2 streets over and he was going to leave the other kids with the Mason's so that he could go look for her.  He asked people along the way if they had seen her and even handed out his cell phone number so they could call if they saw her.  She ended up showing up about 5 minutes later at the house.  She said that she was scared with someone dressed up in a clown costume and didn't want to go to a certain house.  She said that the clown was following her.  She looked scared when she got home and said she was walking with strangers.  I asked her how she knew where our street was and she said she had remembered how many streets over they had gone.  She was worried it wasn't the right street because she wasn't finding our house.  When she got back she was fine with not going trick or treating anymore that night.

Blake was reminiscing about the Trunk-or-Treat a day after Halloween.  Out of the blue he said, "One day we go trick-or-treating on cars, not houses."

october activities

Matt made me a Bear Cub Scout cake to celebrate my 38th birthday because I was serving as as a Bear Den leader.

On October 19th we went to the Howl-O-Scream at Sea World to celebrate Halloween.  

On October 24th I voted for the first time.  

This year while we carved pumpkins we decided to make caramel and chocolate covered apples.  The kids had lots of fun helping to make and eat them.

The kids each had their own pumpkin to draw a face on and carve.  Matt and Uncle Carlos helped them do the carving.  Kylee was able to make her cat pumpkin all by herself.   

Caldwell Family Photos 2012

We took family photos this fall on the grounds of the Hill Country Hyatt just a couple of miles from our house.  Heather Widdison, from church, was our photographer.