Rapunzel

My husband is going to kill me for posting this picture, but I had to.  I mean, how cute would Anderson have been if he was a little girl?  Hahaha!  I kept my friend, Shelly's, kids yesterday, and Stella wanted to play dress up with her, so she brought him a Rapunzel dress to wear.  Well, I'm a sucker for cute little Stella.  I caved. :)

Jake's Class Christmas Party

 Jake, Gabriel, and Ilyana

 Daniel and Jake

 My big boy and me :)

 Jake's class opening their present from Mrs. Winemiller

 Jake was like "it's pink!" Hahaha.  His teacher made these scarves for all the kids- how sweet is that?

 I was sitting on the floor at a funny angle taking this- Jake looks so small here! Ha!

I took a little blog hiatus, did y'all notice?  Tyson was gone recruiting last week and had recruits in all weekend- needless to say, I was exhausted.  And then Jake got hit with the stomach bug Sunday morning as we were leaving to go to church.  Fun times.

Anyways, Jake's class Christmas party was today, and I got to go celebrate with my big boy.  I just love his little class and his teacher.  Have I mentioned that his teacher lives on our street, and that her house is our turnaround point when we ride bikes?  Ha.  I feel so bad for her...she can't get away from the Summers boys even on her days off. ;)

15 Months!

Anderson turned 15 months old on December 4th, so here is a little update on him.

Weight: 26 lbs (70%)
Height: 33 inches (90%)

Anderson's little personality has definitely blossomed these past few months, and he is a MESS!!  This child is already throwing temper tantrums like y'all wouldn't believe.  I mean, I don't remember his older two brothers acting like this...at least not this early on.  Jake and Walker definitely could talk more than Anderson at this stage, so I'm chalking it up to a lack of communication.  Whew!

So yes, Anderson has quite the temper.  He is also very stubborn and knows what he wants and doesn't stop until he gets it.  On the other hand, he can also be the sweetest, silliest little boy ever.  God definitely made Anderson my last for a reason!  Hahaha!

Anderson is all boy and loves balls (he calls them "da") and cars (he even makes the sound "zoom zoom"), and as you can tell by the picture above, the boy is a climber.  Anderson doesn't talk much, like I said, but he does say "ho, ho, ho" and he slaps his face (like on "Home Alone") and screams "Aaaaaaaaaaa!"  He is too much.  He also never walks any where any more- he runs.  Usually, he's either running after his brothers or running away from them, eitherway, he's pretty fast for a 15 month old.

East Carolina

Our cameraman didn't get any pics of Tyson at all, but he somehow found this stressed out lady in the stands.  Hahahaha!

This past Thursday, we traveled to Greenville, NC to take on the Pirates of East Carolina.  Did y'all notice I said "we?"  I got to go!!!!  Woo hoo!  Coach O'Leary decided a few days ahead of time that the wives could make the trip, and I jumped on it.  It has been a looooooooong 5 months and this mama needed a break!  I had some friends volunteer to keep the kids, so off I went!

We left Wednesday around noon, and I took the best nap once we got to the hotel.  Then, I got ready and went to eat with the wives and the administration and had a great time (all while Tyson was working hard back at the hotel...hahaha).  On Thursday, Danielle Key (pictured above) and I hung out all day and just relaxed.  And then it was game time!!!

The game was a wee bit stressful.  I won't bore you with details, but we had the lead all the way until the 4th quarter, then they caught up, then they took the lead with a minute or two left in the game, and and then our qb ended up throwing a 60-something yard hail mary with a few seconds left on the clock to win the game.  It was one of the craziest endings ever!!  UCF won 32-30 and are now the AAC co-champions.  *Memphis and Cincinnati also share a piece of the title because we have no playoff game in this conference and we didn't play the other two teams.  Crazy, right?

So, UCF ends the regular season 9-3 and will play in the Bitcoin Bowl in St. Petersburg the day after Christmas.  Not much longer and I get my husband back!!!  (Well, after recruiting that is). ;)

Go Knights!!

Spelling Bee

This is the kid who won the spelling bee, Aiden.  Jake was pretty chilled out on stage, don't you think?

Jake's class made him signs.  It was precious!  His class was the only one that made the signs...Jake thought he was big time. ;)

Jake's turn!

At the very end, the kids all got a Spelling Bee spirit stick for their award.

One of Jake's friend, Callie, showing me her sign. 

Jake and his principal, Mr. Dolfi. 

This is Jake spelling "yarn" correctly.

This is Jake misspelling "zebra." Please ignore the sounds from the peanut gallery.  

Jake won the spelling bee for his class, so competed against the 7 other winners from first grade for the school's spelling bee.  Jake ended up getting 3rd place over all after he misspelled "Zebra."  I was excited when he was given the word because I knew that it was one he knew, but he got the order wrong and spelled it "Zerba." :(  I was heartbroken for him.  He said he got nervous and I asked if it was because I was there with the camera in his face, and he said, "yes."  Ha!  He handled it well, though, and even congratulated the winner without being told to do so.  He was actually excited to have gotten 3rd place and get a spirit stick. (Spirit sticks are little patch like sticks that the school sales or gives you, and they are a hot item for the first graders). :)

I am sooooooooo proud of Jake.  I'm proud of the way he handled himself after the loss (he's not the most gracious loser), I'm proud of the way he conducted himself on stage (well, other than seeming uninterested), I'm proud of him getting up on stage in front of the whole first grade and speaking, I'm proud of him for studying spelling words over Thanksgiving, and I'm proud of him and his spelling skills.  Go Jake!!

USF

UCF beat rival USF 16-0 in Tyson's first shut-out!  And it was USF's first shut-out at home EVER!  Woo hoo!  I'm so proud of Tyson and our Knights!!  Next up, ECU this Thursday night at 8 pm (I think).  Go Knights!

Thanksgiving!!

 The boys and I with my parents and my Granddaddy

 Granddaddy had rotator cuff surgery 1 week after my Grandmother's death.  He had a really tough time after surgery- I'm so thankful we had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with him.

 My cousin, Trey, drove my Granddaddy over for the day.  The boys LOVED playing with him!

 Do y'all see all of these new teeth?

 Walker teaching Anderson how to walk the dog. :)

  A little backyard football game with Granddad.

The boys and I drove to Georgia to spend Thanksgiving week with my parents.  (And no, Tyson didn't go with us.  I can't tell y'all how many people have asked me this and were shocked when I was like "umm, no."  It's football season, people!!  There is no time off!)

It was a pretty rough week, to be honest.  I got sick almost immediately as we pulled into Georgia and spent my first day at the Urgent Care Center.  I got it nipped in the bud pretty quickly, though, so that my immune-deficient mom wouldn't get it.

Mom also had a rough week.  She tries so hard with my boys, but they just wear her out.  And chemo seems to be really wearing her down these days; the further she gets into her treatment, the harder it is on her body.

All that being said, we still had a great Thanksgiving.  I definitely missed Tyson so much (it was my first Thanksgiving away from him since we've been together), I missed my Grandmother, and I missed my sister and the rest of our family that couldn't be with us...BUT, I'm very thankful that the boys and I could be with my parents and my granddaddy.  I hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving as well!

SMU

 Tyson, Pat (Tyson's GA), and Zo- our old UAB crew. :)

 I'm pretty sure I see a tear in my husband's eye.  :(  He loves this group of seniors...especially these two boys right here.  This is why he does what he does and spends so many hours at work- for these players.

This past weekend, UCF beat SMU 53-7!  Our defense held SMU to only 116 yards and SMU only had 4 first downs the whole game!  Go defense!  I think that brings our total defense to like #4 in the nation!  (But who's counting). ;)

The boys and I actually went to this game even though it was a wet, soggy mess!  I haven't taken Anderson to a single game all year, so I was feeling a little guilty.  We stayed home the first half so that I could take full advantage of Anderson's nap time, though, and we showed up at half time.  The rain really started coming down with about 3 minutes left in the game, so the boys and I went under the bleachers and waited for Tyson to come out of the locker room.

Next up, USF this Friday at noon.  Go Knights!  

UCF Santa

 Did y'all know that Santa is a UCF fan?  Hahaha!  He told us he watched the UCF game from his sleigh. ;)

 This is a classic!

 Sweet, sweet Walker.

Umm, how big does Jake look next to Santa?

After watching our Knights play in the soaking rain this past Saturday, we dried off and went to see Santa at the UCF Bookstore.  We were the only ones there, so each boy got to spend a lot of time with Santa and told them what they wanted for Christmas.  This year, in an attempt to unspoil our children, we are only letting the boys ask for "something you want, something you need, something you wear, something you read."  So Walker told Santa he wanted a Power Ranger gun and some socks; Santa looked a little confused at that.  Ha!  Jake told Santa he wanted Lego Star Wars Christmas set, and Anderson just screamed.  Hahaha!  I will say this- I took the big boys to the potty while Tyson and Anderson stayed back to pay for the pictures.  Well, Tyson said Anderson walked over to Santa and started playing peekaboo with him!!  By the time we left, Anderson was smiling and waving at Santa.  Hahaha!  Maybe we should've given Anderson time to warm up before handing him to Santa; then again, we wouldn't have gotten that classic screaming baby photo. :)

For 2009 Santa pics, click here
For 2010 Santa pics, click here
For 2011 Santa pics, click here
For 2012 Santa pics, click here and here
For 2013 Santa pics, click here

*I tried to create a collage so that I could compare all the years with Santa (especially that screaming baby pics), but I was having problems downloading all the pics.  We have a picture, though, of each boy looking up at Santa like that 3rd picture.

Jake's Thanksgiving Program

Sorry about the paper in the face.

Jake's class had their Thanksgiving program this past Thursday.  They sang some songs, read us some Thanksgiving Day facts, did some crafts with us, and then ate Thanksgiving lunch with us.  Yep, I  got to go through the good ole lunch line.  Hahaha!

We had a great time and I really enjoyed my time with just Jake!  Happy Thanksgiving!!