Happy Birthday Jude!

Follow us on Twitter too!

OK, you're probably thinking, "Twitter is so scary" (right, Kristin?) and "I just don't think I can do it" (sound familiar, Kristin?) and "I'm too busy" (Kristin?), but in order to truly experience the 2009 Sinclair Family Christmas Adventure, you really should check it out.

Here's all you have to do:

1) Go to twitter.com
2) Click on "Sign up now"
3) Fill out your name, user name (how you'll be seen online), password and email
4) Click "Create my account"
5) I clicked on "Skip this step" at the bottom of the "See if your friends are on Twitter page" and "Look who else is here"

That's it! When you get to your home page, you can search for "SinclairFamFun" or go to twitter.com/SinclairFamFun and then follow us.

We're pretty much packed up to leave this afternoon and hope it all fits in the car. We're getting Corey at school at 3, and then the fun begins!

Coyotes Games

Carrie got us tickets for the Honeywell suite a couple of weekends ago, which was great! However, it was an 8 p.m. start after a birthday party after hockey so Corey was pretty tired by the second period. We had fun, though! In fact, as part of the "We Win, You Win" promotion, we got four more free tickets! Corey and I also went to see the Coyotes-Wild game. Even though he wore his Wild jersey, Corey was cheering for the Coyotes (who won again, 2-0).

Busy Week!

After a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with Grammy and Grandpa and the Evahnenkos, we've been pretty busy. Corey and I went to the ASU hockey game with Jason and Zach last Saturday night, and then Corey spent the night at their house. We all went over there for lunch/dinner the next day for Zach's birthday. Corey loved his "24 Hours with Zachy!"

On Tuesday, Brody's preschool class had a field trip to the Phoenix children's museum that I went with him for, and then we met Carrie fun lunch at Chase Field. I also was the class helper on Thursday. Friday night we watched Polar Express and Christmas Vacation.

This morning we went to play in the snow at a local mall. Corey's hockey team fell behind 7-1 early, but rallied for an 8-5 defeat. Carrie made us hats in the Capitals team colors. Now Corey is at another birthday party and we're resting (watching Polar Express again) before going to the Coyotes game tonight!

Capitals 8, Lightning 3

Corey and the Capitals won their second straight game to improve to 2-4 this season! Luckily for Corey -- who slept just 6 hours at a slumber party last night -- it was a relatively easy outing as he saved 9 of 12 shots!

Bobo's Special Day

I don't know if he was bothered by all the attention Corey got this weekend or not, but Bobo had a blast spending some alone time with us today (Carrie worked a half day). Him and I walked over to the park by the hockey rink, which took 30 minutes or so. We saw some smaller parks, crossed the bridge over the canal, watched the ducks and played on the playground. Then Carrie met us and we had a picnic lunch. Then we went to Dick's Sporting Goods and Bobo had a blast checking out the tents, skiing equipment, soccer stuff, hockey sticks and -- finally -- the foosball table. It took us quite a while and a lot of persuading to convince him to leave Dick's! Next was a trip to the Superstition Springs mall. Bobo loved the Christmas stuff and the "Kids Play Area." Afterward we came home, and even though he insisted he was not tired, of course Bobo fell asleep while watching TV.

Happy Birthday, Corey!

Corey's 7th birthday has come and gone, and we had a great weekend! Sunday we had doughnuts and pancakes for breakfast, and played with his new toys, including DS games and board games (Brody enjoyed watching Corey play "Phineas and Ferb"). We watched another Vikings victory and finished the remaining sandwiches from the party for lunch, and had salmon per Corey's request for dinner. It was an exhausting but fun weekend! Here are a couple of photos from my phone for now, and we'll try posting more later.

Happy Crazy Birthday Party Day, Corey!

Today started with me coaching Brody's soccer game this morning because their coach was out of town. It was great, but ... it rained! I'm on the field telling the kids it's just a little rain, no big deal, and I look over and all the parents are huddling under the one covered area. It was interesting, but we had fun!

Up next was Corey's hockey game, which was a ton of fun! The Capitals played great, Corey made 18 saves and they won for the first time this year. (The video on the previous post tells the story.)

After hockey, it was on to Corey's birthday party. They played hockey (of course) in the grass, kickball, and on the playground. We also had sandwiches and cake.

Tonight his friend Zach is sleeping over (our FIRST sleep-over) and we played with new toys, had more sandwiches and cake.

Here are photos of Corey's hockey birthday cake, him after the game and the victorious Caps in their locker room.

Tomorrow is the real birthday. It should be fun!

Capitals WIN!

The Capitals were finally victorious! (A win for Corey's birthday, I think.) So of course, the team dogpiled our son the goalie at the end.

Random photos

Carrie and Brody watched the Sesame Street anniversary special tonight, and Bobo was captivated. (He also was snuggly in his comfy footie jammies.) Here's a recent photo of Corey playing hockey, as well. The Capitals still are winless but having fun. Be sure to check out the link to their Polar Ice page on one of the previous posts. Corey was the team's player of the week during their second game when he made 27 saves!

Bobo soccer update

Brody eating his apple DURING the game! They were getting ready for a goal kick! He did awesome today, and even scored a goal!

Happy Halloween!

We went to Evahnenkos' house last night to celebrate the spooky holiday. From left to right, Brody the Pirate (ARRR), Carrie the Vikings fan, Corey as Darth Vader, Kaden the Colts football player, Nancy the witch, Zach the Falcons football player and Dylan the Cardinals football player. So clearly... a football theme this year. Though I wore the horns briefly (note the braids - nice touch, right?) I suspect that Rob will have them on this afternoon. Really more of a football season prop than a Halloween prop with Rob!

We also learned that in Canada, they say, "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. Could be big, could be small, could be the size of Montreal."

The ones who really enjoyed the outing the most were Brody and Kaden. It was really the first year they could enjoy it and understand it. Brody kept saying, "I've got trick-or-treats!" He was so proud of his haul!

After trick or treating, the boys dug through the candy. Since Dylan is allergic to nuts, we came home with far more candy than any two boys should have. People at Honeywell should be warned; my desk will be stocked for weeks.

We gathered around the fire in the backyard. (Technically, Corey and the older boys played Wii most of the night.) Brody and Kaden shared a chair while they each dug into their popcorn balls. By the way, best treat ever. 100 calories and not candy. Too bad they've eaten all the popcorn balls they got!

All in all, we're up probably 10 pounds of candy, and the boys are recovering by watching hours and hours of cartoons today!

Yesterday was not just about Halloween. We started with some soccer action, and I'm proud to say that this time, it involved Brody going out on the field!!! Now, he won't go out on the field without Rob (so Rob subs in for the coach), but after six weeks, there is some progress!

That and Rob managed to capture a picture of him smiling in his uniform. You can barely see me and Corey in the red chairs in the background. I can assure you that whatever is happening on the field or bench, Corey is telling me a knock-knock joke. Thanks for THAT book, Nana! :| Corey thinks they are so funny that he reads them when Brody isn't nearby.

The coach has an adorable six-seater fold-out bench and the kids all sat down (well, close) at halftime to dig in some apples. Brody is the third one from the left, concentrating more on the apples than whatever Coach Jason is saying.

We followed soccer with lunch and while Brody napped, Corey and I made chocolate chip pumpkin cookies and went to his hockey practice. No pictures since I didn't bring the camera, but not like I'd have time to take pictures since Rob kept texting me to ask me what was going on!

We'll take Corey over to the rink later to practice some hockey skills, which should be fun, and will at least be one activity on this lazy Sunday!

Next up for us: planning Corey's birthday party!

Happy Halloween!

More photos!

Trunk or Treat!

Brody had his Halloween party at school today. They get dressed up and then "Trunk or Treat" in the parking lot out of people's cars. Here he is getting ready before school.






Here he is with his class before the festivities begin.
















He is using the bag that he made in class (and showing off his Pirate loot).













The whole class patiently waiting.
















One last group photo!


















BOTH pirates together!

More photos

Here is a photo of Brody and Carrie during Corey's hockey game last weekend. Corey skated out, and did pretty well, but I think his team really missed him in the goal.

The other photos are from when Carrie was in Orlando, my birthday, etc.

Fall Break Photos

Corey did a Fall Break update on his blog, but here are some more photos. The highlights: Mites hockey (two games and practice), Bobo soccer, Coyotes game, haircuts, odd jobs around the house, trips to Tucson and Flagstaff/Grand Canyon and too much to eat and drink! It was very busy, but fun!

Bobo ALMOST Scores!

The good news is I seem to update the blog more when Carrie is out of town; the bad news is I'm a week behind! Here is a video from Brody's soccer game this morning. He did really well, especially considering he was involved in a collision and bumped his head. Here is the play where he came SO CLOSE to scoring a goal (he'll be the third green player to appear on the scree). Afterward Brody said, "Thank you guys for cheering for me."

Enjoy!

Capitals lose opener

I forgot to post something last weekend because things were so crazy, but Corey had his first hockey game of the new season. Instead of two teams of about 20 for mites, they now have a "league" with four teams of 11 or 12. There were referees and music between plays and everything. The sweaters and socks also look great! The kids were pretty excited by the whole thing. Corey's team lost 10-9, and it was an exciting game. Both goalies faced about 25 shots each. Obviously, with smaller teams the kids get more tired which seems to mean more breakaways. Corey has practice tonight and then the next game is Saturday!

Until then, here's a link to the official Capitals home page: www.polaricegilbert.com/page/show/111737-capitals.

Enjoy!

Star Wars In Concert

Corey and I went to "Star Wars In Concert" with Hope Kids last night at Jobing.com Arena. It was an orchestra concert with a choir, narrated by Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) with a huge HD movie screen showing clips from all the movies. There also were some special effects like laser lights, flame throwers and dry ice. It was pretty cool! We also walked around before and saw some of the costumes from the movie and characters were walking around ... or rolling around in the case of R2-D2!