A year... really?!?... and Pinewood Derby

I can't believe that I've been blogging for a YEAR now!.... CRAZY! But that said, I CAN believe that I haven't blogged in over a month...CRAZIER! Basically December and January took off somewhere and most of it's a blur, but time to get my butt in gear and try to catch up a little or least update what and where I can. So if there are lots of post, sorry. And if there aren't very many posts, sorry. Here are a few events I am hoping to catch up on: Christmas, parents in town for Christmas, Hockey (always hockey), snow days and sledding in MO, pinewood derby and Beck's latest (leave it to me!).

Let's start with pinewood since it was just this past weekend. Tanner is no longer in cub scouts, so it was just Parker this year. They did double elimination this year instead of racing everyone on every lane like they've done in the past. Let's just say it was a very fast race and lots of sad boys who only got to see their cars go a few times and not race their friends. Parker got the "Hat Trick" award because of the design of his car. Of course... Hockey. Last year it was black and green and was the Dallas Stars. This year he painted it three colors and it was for his three favorite teams: St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, and the Chicago Blackhawks. Here's just a couple pics....

Parker getting his "HAT TRICK" award
Getting ready to race

Parker happy to have the race over with

Tan and Park playing hockey on the pond

Last week before Christmas (I know, Christmas will eventually get posted) it was really cold for quite some time. That means... POND HOCKEY!!! The boys love when it's cold enough they can take their skates and go skate on the pond. They had a great time and all their friends who were just trying to run on the ice were jealous that the boys had skates and were skating. It was cause for some serious brother-on-brother brawling, but they had a good time. Tanner didn't want to take his nice sticks so he just took one Chris' extra ones.

Parker chasing the puck.
Tanner is in gray and Parker is in the 33 jacket.

Nice little brotherly contest.

Parker on a mission...

At the end of the day, they can still stand side by side (the next picture I didn't post was Tanner pushing Parker out of the way... so much love :) Until next time....

Hockey Champs Fall 2008

Tanner Condiff #3 (after his mom's favorite number haha)

Parker Condiff #1 (because he really thinks this! haha)

Back row: Coach Kevin, Coach Derek, Braden, Tanner, Parker, Brad, Marlon

Middle row: Kevin, Kyle, Drake

Laying down: Riley and our goalie, Noah

They did it again! I can't believe I didn't post this, but the boys and their hockey team won their division again this past month. They did a really good job and both boys got goals. Chris had ordered their jerseys for the from Nike and they love them! They are in a middle of a session right now, but they have BOTH been asked to play up this next session in December and play on the 12 and under advance team. That's really good news especially for Parker since he just turned 9 and should be on a 10 and under team. The boys have really improved over the past few months and really are putting their everything into it which makes it easier for us as parents. So this won't be the end of pictures and more info to come as we get it. We're really proud of them and can't wait to see what this advanced level can do for them!!!

All about MOMMY!

My sister, Tam, had this on her blog and I thought it was a great idea. I thought it would be fun to see the kid's response about their mom! I asked them 25 questions at individual times so that they wouldn’t say what the other one was saying. It was so fun to see the things that they think of this old mom of theirs :). The responses are from T-Tanner who is 11 ½, P-Parker who is 9, E-Evan who is 5 ½, and the M is for “Mom” in this case, not Mason. I thought were applicable, I’d give the right answer. This is a long post, but was interesting for me to find out what I do as a mom and what my kids think I do as a mom!

1. What is something Mom always says to you?
T. Do your chores, T!
P. See Parker, “Easily distracted”
E. Like you and Love you!
M. Everyday….Everyday I will tell them each how much I love them in one way or another and try to give them something positive for the day.

2. What makes Mom happy?
T. chocolate
P. when I’m good and do my chores and homework
E. be good and stuff
M. They’re ALL right! I am happy with all of that and I’m most happy when they’re happy!

3. What makes Mom sad?
T. disobeying
P. when I don’t do chores and pout and get mad about it
E. don’t be good
M. Again, good answers! I try not to get sad, but make sure they know I care when they’re sad!

4. How does your Mom make you laugh?
T. by messing with me
P. when she puts those curly things in her hair (I did this ONCE and he hasn’t forgotten since… he really did laugh hard!)
E. tickles me and my neck
M. I am a nut! I make a fool out of myself and I’m really good at just down right being a dork! It’s a talent I have!

5. What was your Mom like as a child?
T. weird- you have this scar thing on your face
P. she was smart and good and funny
E. like me cuz I be good
M. Tan was referring to my birthmark and I can see how he thinks that classifies me as a “weird” child. I tried to be good and smart and funny, but I do know that I adored my brothers and everything they did. I played sports because of them and loved being with them.

6. How old is your Mom?
T. 34
P. 34
E. 14 (oh I wish!)
M. Yep, 34!

7. How tall is your Mom?
T. 5’6”
P. my guess is 5’9”?
E. 14
M. I think I’m shrinking, so I’m going with 5’7”ish

8. What is Mom’s favorite thing to do?
T. playing with Mason and us
P. eating chocolate
E. play games
M. all the above! Anything with kids and family is great! I will admit I do love my kids, but a good GNO is fun too! Gotta get the estrogen in sometime!

9. What does your Mom do when you're not around?
T. clean and watch mason
P. clean up what mason makes a mess of
E. make stuff like food and stuff for mason
M. Sadly, that is my life. I clean and watch Mason. (and talk on the phone)

10. If your Mom became famous, what would it be for?
T. dancing and cheerleading (oh I love you!)
P. being the smartest person in all of the world. I know for sure it wouldn’t be a bikini model! (Thanks, Park! I know that for sure too!)
E. cuz hers eats cake
M. FBI’s most wanted??? Hawaiian Tropics Bikini contest winner??? Woman folds her 10.000.000th pair of jeans before 35! I don’t know, not planning on being famous, sorry!

11. What is your Mom good at?
T. athletic sports like basketball, volleyball and soccer and dodgeball with me and friends. Just not hockey, she’s not good at hockey!
P. math, cleaning and volleyball
E. soccer
M. I take the compliment and go with sports/athletics. I used to be a pretty dancer too! (don’t be too shocked, I have proof!)

12. What is your Mom not good at?
T. cooking meat (he means grilling… that’s Chris’ job)
P. hockey
E. kickball (what? I rock at kickball!)
M. I can’t believe they didn’t say SINGING! I am not a good singer!

13. What does your Mom do for her job?
T. cleaning
P. cleans the house and takes care of us
E. spidergirl
M. I’m spidergirl who cleans the house and takes care of kids! That sums it up!

14. What is your Mommy's favorite food?
T. chocolate
P. candy and chocolate
E. chocolate
M. Ok, ya got me! I love chocolate!

15. What makes you proud of your Mom?
T. winning National dance stuff- that’s Nationals and that’s cool
P. that she’s always nice to me all the time and my friends
E. she feed my dog for me everyday
M. I need to get tougher on these kids! Doing THEIR chores!

16. If your Mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
T. Minnie Mouse
P. Minnie Mouse
E. Batman
M. really? Goofy!

17. What do you and Mom do together?
T. we talk and stuff
P. we watch movies together and play sports
E. plays a game
M. Yes, Yes and Yes! As long as we’re together…love it!

18. How are you and Mommy the same?
T. we’re both athletic
P. both good at math
E. red, red and black, black (we both had black track pants and red t-shirts on)
M. All the above! I guess cuz they all did come from me, it’s only appropriate that they are something like me!

19. How are you different?
T. she barely eats anything to me… I can eat a lot!
P. she does contacts, and I don’t do contacts
E. she has long hair and I have short hair
M. I a girl who wears contacts and I eat just fine! The biggest difference… I’m a girl!

20. How do you know your Mom loves you?
T. she says she loves me everyday and gives me easy chores sometimes just to be nice
P. she cleans my room and makes my bed a lot and she says I love you a lot.
E. cuz you do my chores for me.
M. Dang! I gotta stop being nice! Haha I do love my kids a lot and try to help them out when I can.

21. What does Mom like most about Dad?
T. he’s a football player
P. that he’s handsome
E. he ride tractors
M. okay…what?!! Dad’s not a football player, he doesn’t ride tractors and everyone says the kids look just like him, so it must be handsome!

22. Where is your Moms favorite place to go?
T. mall
P. hockey
E. playground
M. Yep! Actually all time favorite place… the shower! I love to just “get away!” it’s my time where no boys are allowed!

23. What does mommy say to you everyday?
T. “I love you! You’re a special kid, T!”
P. “Good job! Nice work, Park!”
E. “Good job, Ev!”
M. I guess my kids are good and I love them. I hope they know this!

24. What’s mommy’s favorite color?
T. green
P. green
E. green
M. yep! Green!

25. What’s mommy’s favorite restaurant?
T. Chili’s
P. Chili’s
E. Red Robin’s
M. I love anything with a good steak…. Stony Rivers has the best steak, but for overall and quick fix…Outback.

So I guess all in all there a few things to know about me: I love chocolate, I clean to much, my kids have chores that I guess I do to often :(, and I love them A LOT!

Leaves are falling all around....

The joy of backing up to trees in the fall time is taking some time to rake them and play. Parker, decided on his own one day, that it was time to start raking. Bless his heart, he raked and raked and raked until he got a decent sized pile of leaves. It was just too much fun not to share and have fun with them. He was a little sad when everyone started throwing them because "I worked really hard, mom and now they're everywhere!" So the next day, I went out, raked (only 1/2 the yard, it's a workout!) and got smart and got out the leave blower and made some huge piles for him..... to earn some money by picking up! He and Tanner worked hard and was happy he found out that you can work hard and play and sometimes even get rewarded! I think they ended up with something like 15 of those huge black trash bags full! (Not to mention we could do it all again today).

Parker in his pile of leaves!
Parker and Evan

Parker and Mason (who didn't like this at all!)

L-R Nick, Parker, Josh, Evan, Tanner
The boys enjoying some of Parker's hard work!!

Fall Weather that is CRAZY!!!

We have started quite a few trends in the neighborhood. First, it was everyone came over for the tramp, then the basketball hoop or the Foosball table, but now we have most boys aged 5-12 playing hockey! We have one of those outdoor hockey nets where the guy stands in front of it. They love it!

Kids L-R Parker, Austin, Tyler, Tanner, Ryan, Nick, Evan, and Miles.

The boys on a "Beck Break". Snow cones for everyone...Yeah! It was so nice, I pulled the snow cone maker out we had snow cones.



K, I had to share this pic (and cut as much of me out as possible), but Mason looks like he has hair and it looks like it's curly. But, 1. He doesn't and 2. It's not curly, but I thought it was adorable that it looked like he has hair :)

My snow cone helper. Luckily everyone had one. He loved feeling the shaved ice and had a few brain freezes!

SLAM DUNK! He's getting ready for some basketball with the brothers!

Mason as the goalie for the boys....NOT! He kept walking in front of it and standing right here just like this every time. I hope he's not trying to tell me he wants to be a goalie!

The weather has gone from BEAUTIFUL in low-mid 70's to highs of mid 40's. It's definitely fall and is no longer shorts and t-shirt weather. Just wanted to share some fun outdoor shots!

Carving the Pumpkins

It's so fun to have big kids who could care less about carving the pumpkin other than it gives them another opportunity to play with knives. Tanner hated the pumpkin patch because he's too cool and carving is "stupid" until he realized he would get to be the master carver. Evan was very serious with drawing on his face this year. It was soooo cute! Parker just couldn't get enough "goo" and thought that getting in a pumpkin seed fight would be "awesome" :) (I pulled out mean mom and wouldn't let that happen!) So here are just a few pics from our carving event!

Tan going in!
Evan's scary pumpkin face...for him and his pumpkin!

This picture should have been first of him scooping guts. You can see his drawn face on this side. Pretty good, Evan!

Parker with a little pumpkin soup ;). The boys had a really good time.

Pumpkin Patch

I can honestly say this was a very bittersweet pumpkin patch visit for me! We always hit the pumpkin patch by mid October, but with Chris constantly out of town and various activities, we hit the pumpkin patch at 1:00PM ON HALLOWEEN DAY! I mean, really?! To top it off, the weather was PHENOMENAL! It was almost too hot for Halloween (did I just say that?!). I usually make sure the kids are bundled up and look cute on the outside, but as you can see it was a free for all and anything goes this year! I had pants and short sleeved shirt which was one extreme all the way to Mason who had on shorts and T-shirt. No socks, no shoes, no jacket....nothing! Chris of course was sweating in shorts and T-shirt, but then again...what's new! Here are some pics of our pumpkin patch visit ON Halloween!

Parker, Evan, Tanner and Mason on the hayride.

Park, Mase, Tan, and Ev in front of the big bale of hay spider. You know me and spiders...this was close enough. LOL

He's so stinkin' cute! He was so happy just doing whatever! He was entrigued by the witches and bats they had hanging in the trees.

By far his favorite thing to do the whole time we were there and not doing something else was to go and push over the pumpkins. If they were standing up, no matter how big or small, he'd go over and push them over. I was having flashes of football practices in the future and plowing things over. I would go and put it up and he'd go and push it over...it was really cute (and comical!)

This is one of my favorite pics and is GREAT in black and white. He loved the tractor and this was a perfect shot!

Happy 9th Birthday, Parker!

Happy Birthday, Park! I can't believe he's 9!!! Where does the time go??? Parker had a great birthday this year. The best for him was going to the Blues hockey game and seeing the Dallas Stars. And as great as that was... He also loved getting presents, eating at HIS favorite restaurant, Chili's (he always gets the ribs), mom's homemade chocolate cake, and the never ending sleepover with his friends and his trademark..."midnight snack"!

These pictures are out of order, but you'll get the idea.
Grandma and Grandpa Thompson got Parker 4 new additions to his Webkinz collection.

Nanny got Parker the Iron Man DVD with bonus Ironman cartoon.

Of course a birthday would not be complete without SOMETHING new for hockey! He's been wanting this 195 Hockey stick that brother got for his birthday and has had to wait so long that he gave it a big hug and a kiss...literally! He was very happy!

The real mini hockey set or "shinny hockey" as the boys call it. Now they each have a real goal rather than mom's laundry baskets to use as goals. (Chris' fingers were in front of the flash that's why a few pics are shadowed.)

And his first present... the official NHL mini stick for the St. Louis Blues. He's wanting to collect all the NHL teams and hang them on his wall in his room. I guess we'll see. (Oh and as a side note to these pictures.... the scrape above Parker's right eye is where the puck hit him earlier in the day. They were playing outside without their helmets on and took one in the face. Needless to say...He loves it and thinks it's so cool!)

All in all, he had a great birthday! Tons of hockey stuff (stick, mini hockey, trading cards, mini stick), a few DVD's and PS2 and DS games, and as always, Parker's favorite....cold hard cash! Happy Birthday post (a little late), Parker! His birthday was on Saturday, October 25th.

Seeing Stars???

For Parker's birthday, he wanted to go to a hockey game and see his favorite team, the Dallas Stars play. The Stars are only playing at the Blues game twice this season, so we had to go the week before his birthday. As we all walk in and are sporting our St. Louis Blues apparel (NHL Hockey for those of you already lost) or just our blue and gold...Parker has on his Dallas Stars jersey and some green mardi gras beads and is already for this game. My poor soon to be 9 years old is getting booed by random drunk guys and thinks it's great as he's yelling "Let's go Stars!" in the middle of a Blues game. (I'm not kidding...he's my wayward child, i swear!) We had such a great time though! We made sure to get some nose bleed seats so he could "see the whole game and not miss anything" and he got to bring his best bud Nick and I got a babysitter for Mason, so it really was a great evening. Of course we spent just about as much money on concessions as we did the tickets, but he was so happy....they all were really lovin' it! The sad news was that the Blues WON 6-1 and his Dallas Stars lost. He was sad, but when the Blues score 5 goals or more, you get a free blizzard at DQ and he forgot all about his Dallas Stars! Thanks for an awesome birthday party, Park!
Parker at his soon to be 9 Birthday party! He was SOOOOO happy!

Parker and his best friend, Nick at the game.

Mom and Parker enjoying some rivalry time! "GO BLUES! GO STARS!"

I wasn't kidding we were in the nose bleeds! This was the last minute of the game and where they were so far ahead, the place had cleared out, but was really full.

The 4 boys enjoying the game. Evan really got into and asked before we even left "When are we going to a Blues game again?" He's so cute!

Parker's field day to the ZOO

So only 3 days after hitting the pumpkin patch with Evan, I then was able to go with Parker and his class to the St. Louis ZOO. I get to his class at 8:30 and just as walk in, again this oh great feeling comes over me. I figured we'd each have about 4 kids to watch and I had my 4 picked that she'd give me. Of course, the worst one in class, the next worst one, Parker and then another kid who's pretty good, but COMBINED with Parker and these boys would be not so good. So before she even started telling the groups I whispered to Parker who I thought and he didn't have a clue. The teacher reads the names. All the other parents have 4 kids so I knew I was right on....or was I? Well I was hypothetically speaking because I guessed the right 4, but she gave me 5 boys! Why do teachers do this?!!! You've already given me your 2 WORST kids and then I'm the only one with 5?!! And as a teacher would say to help you feel better, "you're a mom of all boys and I figured if anyone could handle this group it would be you." Are you KIDDING ME?!!! I haven't recovered from my group 2 days ago let alone ready to deal with 5 third grade boys at the zoo where they can run wild. Luckily I had a couple tricks up my sleeve and we did see a few other groups at times that no was lost (for more than 10 minutes) and everyone survived... i hope! I'm starting to see why they only have 2 field trips a year.

We saw lots of great animals: bears, pumas, gorillas, tigers, monkeys, snakes, zebras, penguins, all your great zoo stuff.

I'm just wondering if they teach the teachers to say that or if it's the best excuse to say SUCKER they have or why they do that? I don't think they'd give the best girl in the class only the other best girls (actually, yes they would). Oh well, I do love my boys and I guess I can "handle it".
This was my group and one other group. Of course you say, "Sit so I can take your picture" and they all sit on each other and immediately have to let me know to "rock on", so here they are. Parker is on the back row in the center.

For one quick second we were able to take a picture with one of the girls groups. Parker has (and has had) a thing for Faith who is second from the left in the red sweatshirt. She's almost as tall as him and is so cute. You can see the kid top on the top right not posing...he was "buddy" all day.....allllllll day :) Love ya, Casey! (and now you're "famous like Parker")

Cardinals Baseball Game with the boys

We took the boys to a Cardinals Baseball game the end of September and I forgot to post about it. We had a great time. Although we spent a lot of money by the time the night was over, the kiddos had a blast! We were on the 13th row between home and first base (closer to home plate though). Parker thought for sure he'd catch a fly ball :) (didn't) and Evan was infatuated with breaking the peanuts out of the shell and getting them all ready to eat for us in his cotton candy bucket. The night was awesome.... perfect weather, perfect seats, no baby to hold and fight the whole time, it was GREAT!!!! I hope the link will connect you to a few of the pics from the night. Click on each picture to get the full view or do a slide show :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/CondiffCrew/CardinalsBaseballGame#

You and me goin' fishin' in the dark

One of our boys favorite things to do is hit a pond by our friend's home and go fishing. Our friends had said they hadn't had much luck lately, but like days of old... the Condiff boys come and there WILL be some fish to catch. :) I didn't get any pics of Mason hanging out in the stroller or Tanner and all the little tiny crappies he was catching, but tried to get the majority of Evan because he was having a blast!

His poor little Pirates of the Carribean fishin' pole wasn't sure if it could handle this "BIG FISH". (Total man with his hands as far as they could when he told you he caught a fish "this big".) His award winning fish. The pole just couldn't hold the weight of this "big fish" so Chris was teaching him to hold the line.
Evan's award winning bass! Way to go, Evan!!!

Parker with a cute little one on his pole and Tanner was getting about a 5 incher off his line. It was fun and as always the boys had a blast. As you can sort of tell from the picture it was getting dark. They fished until they couldn't see anymore and until lines started to get crossed and we called it good. We're glad we've got some great friends we can call and say "WE'RE COMIN' OVER" and they're flexible enough they can roll with the punches! Thanks, guys!!!

Parker playing GOALIE?!?!

We've ventured on a new path...hopefully only for one day! Our goalie's grandma had passed away and we needed a sub. Couldn't find one and so the coach asked if anyone would want to do it. WELL.... my good, sweet, adventurous little Parker says, "I'LL DO IT!!!" with a big smile on his face. So they had a 10 minute practice where they all took shots on him so he could "practice". (Our original goalie has done this 3 or 4 sessions now, so Park had a lot riding on his shoulders). The game comes Friday night and I've now gone from the cheerleader in the stands for the whole team to Parker's main cheerleader about ready to pee my pants because I'm so nervous for him. Every little save and block the first half was me pounding the glass and screaming. If it was safe for him to look over, he'd look over and with a big cheese wave his blocker or stick or something. He of course was fine, but when you put the youngest player at 8 on a 12 and under team where he's in 3rd grade and the next oldest is in 5th grade, that's a lot of pressure for my boy (or come to find out...just mom!)

He did AWESOME!!! I was so proud of him! He did his best and really truly did do a great job. After the game all his teammates were giving him "high 5's" and "bumps" (knuckles) and he had a grin from ear to ear. We did win so that was nice to not have to worry how a lose would affect him. He came home and said "I could do that again!" I said, "It's OK, Park. Noah will be back next week." He then informed me to tell the coach he wants to be the sub in case they need him again. He's such a good kid and I'm glad he was able to have this opportunity.

PS Not the best picture, but when you're taking it through the glass with a baby, it's just for the memory :)

Tan and Park in the KAYAK

Tanner can be a lazy kid. He will do what you ask, but he's not going to go above and beyond just because. If it's something he likes, then he'll give it 100%. We went over to a local lake with some friends while they swam and trained for the triathlon. We took our kayak in case someone needed some "rescuing" (and yes I "rescued" someone) and also so the boys could try it out. It was 7 or 8 at night, so getting dark, but you can see that Tanner is actually working hard on this thing. He loved it! He would dig and thought it was great to see how fast he could go.
So of course... anything Tan does, Park is up for the challenge. Here's Parker glidin' by. He loved it as well and they both want to know when they get their own :) I'm glad Chris is helping to instill "fun" into them, but I know they're going to be sad when they get another ball of some sort at $20 instead of a kayak at way more than $20 :)

Hockey

Hockey is something that we just can't get away from in this house. Between the boys playing at home with friends, at the rink, watching it, trading cards about, reading about it, their dad also sells it, so it's literally EVERYWHERE! We haven't taken the camera forever and the rinks are dark and hard to get a picture of, but here's one of Tanner getting ready to intercept and actually take down to pass off for a goal. It was a great assist (of many) for Tanner. His best position is defense, but he handles the puck so well and skates so good, it's fun when he does get to play forward.
Again, not the best picture, but Parker is in the black in the middle of the skaters passing it up. He holds his own very well for only being 8 on a 12 and under league and being the youngest. He's in 3rd grade and there is one in 4th, but the rest of the team is mainly 5th with 3 in 6th. My kids just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE hockey!!!