I told you we blink and it would be Christmas........

Here we are and Christmas is over....what a busy few weeks we have had.....Christmas cards made from photos we took during our mountain road trip......this time at least Boo Boo was feeling better, thankfully....A Christmas concert from Bambeano, two Christmas parties at school and 2 weeks vacation for Mummy from work, phew....

So stuck for ideas for Christmas cards Bombshell suggested another trip to the mountains to take some pictures, I love Bombshell and his impromptu road trips, that is one of the things I love about him, I on the other hand have to plan vacations and road trips.... I think my new year resolution will be to bring back the family Sundays we tried out this year......

It was a tad cold in the mountains but no snow so a walk around Blowing Rock on a very quiet Sunday we managed to capture some great pictures...

 
 

 



















Busy few days mailing gifts, Christmas cards and shopping, followed by a few days off to enjoy Bambeano's Christmas concert.  I was able to get a a prime seat for a full house to watch the Kindergarten Christmas concert and what a joy it was....lots of fun.

Busy Christmas party followed before a week end and then some days out of the office for me, allowing me to get a lot of things done before Santa's visit.

Another impromptu road trip from Bombshell included a visit to Christmas Town USA.  Bambeano had never been and Boo Boo was less than a year old when we last visited so it was a great suggestion on Christmas Eve for the kids to enjoy. 

Basketball Season........

No sooner has soccer season finished and we jump into basketball season......

Bambeano is a fierce sportsman and can turn his hand at anything. 

So first game of the season and we put on his new outfit....but wait a minute I thought they wore basketball jerseys.....it turns out they may be wearing dresses this season......hmmm gotta figure out this one....... not only do we have a dress for a jersey but the shorts I got Bambeano are a tad too long.....judge for your self in the pictures.

So with Bombshell working this week end I had basketball duty to cheer on Bambeano, this kid was on fire it was like he never left the court.  Even his coach had to talk to him to turn it down on the celebrations :)

Now at this age they do not keep score, why I do not know, but they want to teach the kids the game, which to me seems a little bizarre as they need to know when the ball goes out the ball goes out, am I right or what?

So after about 7 or 8 baskets Bambeano had a fantastic game as did the rest of his team, out of 6 kids I think most if not all scored at least a basket.  This is going to be an interesting season

 



Takes a run down the right court



AND SCORES!!!!!



Geez I'll blink and it will be Christmas........

Oh the joys of working, with kids, holidays and anything else you want to throw at me.

I feel like I have blinked and already we are only just over 2 weeks away from Christmas....ARGH I am not ready I need more time, maybe I will give up sleep and walk around like a zombie will that work.

The kids are busy with school and Boo Boo continues to amaze Bombshell and I with her academics.  She had to learn spelling words for Spelling Bee, y'know that spelling bee competition that is on TV that those can spell those amazing words, yeah that one, the one we hear words we have never heard before; well not really thinking it was a spelling bee competition but more a name her teacher put to learning spelling words for a test BOY WAS I MISTAKEN......

Boo Boo was taking part in an actual spelling bee and having to compete against her fellow 25 class mates.  Here is the run by run play described by Boo Boo in typical Boo Boo fashion (highlighted in red)......

Running to great me at after school a very excitedly Boo Boo came running up to me.....

"Mummy, Mummy, I won the spelling bee"
"Wow that is great news"
"yeah Daddy told me I would get to go to DC"
while wondering what in the world Bombshell had promised her in order for her to do her test well
"What did Daddy say he would do?"
"If I get through all the rounds I get to go to DC"
This is when it finally dawned on me she was doing the spelling bee as in the TV challenge

"Mummy everyone got stuck on 'stellar' they all kept saying S-t-e-l-l-e-r and getting it wrong so when it got to me I was saying it is my head and thought S-t-e-l-l-a-r and so that is what I said and got it right and this wasn't even a word we had on our list to learn"
"Well done"
"Now it was down to 12 of us, then just me and Nicky" (I'll use this name because for the life of me I cannot remember who it was)
"When it was down to me and Nicky we had to spell 'wriggle', Nicky went first and spelt r-i-g-g-l-e and got it wrong so I thought maybe it is like 'write' and has a silent 'w' so I spelt w-r-i-g-g-l-e and got it right"

Bambeano is doing well in his own right but this post belongs to our ROCK STAR BOO BOO.....

WE LOVE YOU BOO BOO GREAT JOB

Happy Thanksgiving.......

I may not be American but my babies are so here we are on Thanksgiving day giving thanks to my beautiful family, health and happiness.

My kiddos give me so much joy but nothing can beat our Soccer Saturdays.  A few weeks ago we have both Bambeano and Boo Boo in soccer tournaments.  Scheduling was a tad tight but unfortunately or fortunately which ever way you luck at it Bambeano was knocked out in the quarter finals on penalties :(.

He played his heart out winning the 1st round in the best fashion with a hat trick for a 3-0 win.  Onto the 2nd night and boy was it a cold one.  A goal from Bambeano, affectionately known on the soccer field as Lil Bambeano, before the other team went up 2-1.  Nail biting stuff with only minutes to spare we had a free kick in which one of our players, Miles, scored an unbelievable free kick curling it at the last minute to hit the far side netting, OMG I lost my voice!!!!!! Bombshell shattered his clipboard and here we are off into over time.  5 Minutes to win or lose it.......Not sure how much I could take of this....on a school night no less..........

The minutes ticked by with several heart stopping moments.....Bambeano hits the post not once but TWICE and the ball just would not go in the net.........On to penalties......Bambeano did great in goal with 2 saves scoring a penalty for us but we went out loosing 2-1 :( 



He dives and he SAVES



Bottom right corner he SCORES


Bambeano I am so proud of you and Coach Bombshell.  36 goals for (with 6 of the 10 kids scoring this season), 5 against, 11 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. 





So that was Thursday night now onto the week end for Boo Boo's games.  She also had a tournament with 2 games on Saturday, followed by an 8am game on Sunday and possibly the finals a few hours later.

First game was against FCCA Huntersville, remember the game where we had a trip to the ER with a suspected dislocated jaw.  Well Boo Boo was on a mission she was pysched for this game, determined they would not beat her this time.  Well it didn't take long before we had a hand ball in the box and Lauren had to face a penalty, OMG I could not bear to watch, but wait a minute she was determined they would not beat her, camera ready let's see how this turns out.......

Well whatever Bombshell can do 2 nights earlier, Boo Boo can match, penalty taken and she SAVES

Great stance BOO BOO

GREAT SAVE
 

Boo Boo was right she was determined.  We returned the favor of the score earlier in the season and beat FCCA 4-2.  Way to go CSA Cabarrus Elite.  Now onto game 2.    Who would have thought I would witness 2 heart stopping games in one week.  The girls from Palmetto were tough and did NOT give up.  We were scoring comfortably with a 7-1 lead for it to get to 7-5....when will the whistle blow?????  Not happy with the other team getting back in the game CSA finished it off with a 8-5 win.  With winners of the group they were now off to the semi finals.

A 7.15am arrival at the soccer fields on a Sunday morning was not a happy prospect for Boo Boo.  She is not a morning person at the best of times so this will be interesting.  Despite this she seemed pumped up to get to the finals, a place her brother was not able to reach.

Well the girls came through with a 6-2 win, now onto the finals against what appeared to be a tough team from Alabama.  With just over an hour to her next game we made a pit stop at home before making our way over to the park for the finals.   The field grass was cut a lot shorter making the pace of the game much faster.

Boo Boo excelled in this game like she has never done before......jumps to try and save the balls and dives but this team was just too darn good.  She got many hands to the balls.  All in all a good game but in the end we could not prevail.  The girls did great 2nd place and received their medals with pride.

Congratulations girls

Halloween has come and gone......

Boy I am getting a little behind with my posts......we have had a few busy weeks in the Bowden household..... Halloween, soccer tournaments and tomorrow is Thanksgiving.....boy this year is flying by.

First Halloween so this year we had a pirate and a SWAT police officer.  Miami Vice eat your heart out.   This year was my first year since Jack was a year old that I got to take the kids trick or treating and Bombshell stayed home handing out the candy.

Off we went with the neighborhood, a tradition each year.  Stay tuned for more news I will get caught up with the soccer tournaments with some great scores and even better pictures



Boo Boo's pumpkin courtesy of Bombshell



Bambeano's pumpkin



My AWESOME SWAT officer



Blink and it is Friday WHAT!!!!!

My oh my where does the time go.  Here we are already Friday and a fun filled week end is fast approaching.  so let me start by bringing you up to speed on last week end's festivities, you already heard about Grandma & Grandad's visit and Soccer Saturday.  Now on to our adventures at the Biltmore Estate visit that I promised.........

Up early on Sunday, camera charged, kids loaded up in the back and off we went on our way to Asheville.  The ride didn't seem to long and as soon as we hit the foothills the collection of fall leave colors was amazing I just had to capture (of course while trying to do it through the speed at which Bombshell was driving)

 


We shortly arrived in Asheville and decided to walk around a bit as none of us had ventured into the downtown of Asheville.  the weather was perfect, nice sunny day and temperatures warm and comfortable.  After enjoying the sights of Asheville......

With no suitable lunch spot (all the good recommendations had over an hour wait) we decided to venture over to Biltmore Village.  After finding a lunch spot to eat it was now time to enjoy the rest of the day at Biltmore Estate

The kids were wowed by the long drive up especially with Bombshell stating how long the walk would be to pick up the mail and take the trash cans to the curb LOL you could see their little heads digesting that information and probably thinking how glad they were to only have a short walk to take the trash and recycle bins out at home :)

First stop was the house and while I remember the front I clearly didn't remember shuttle buses and no parking near. So I am sorry for the less than perfect picture, inside didn't disappoint they had started to decorate the house in all the Christmas decorations, I know, I know it is not even Halloween yet but it sure did get me in the spirit, should i mention Christmas is only 57 days

So after the house tour we planned our trip to the next stop, the Antler Village and more importantly WINE TASTING!!!!!!

So off Bombshell went with Bambeano to get the car while we stayed outside the front of the house, Now where is Jeeves when you need him.  Well quite frankly I think we have our own Jeeves judging by the pictures below

While we drove down to Antler Village we took in some great sights of the gardens and the colors of the fall foliage that taking pictures was hard not to pass up,  just look at the coloring of these pictures it was breath taking.

 



First stop at Antler Village was an ice cream for Grandad.  He was going to sit and enjoy the sunshine while the rest of us walked over to the farm and animals.  While Grandma was getting the ice cream I took advantage of some great pictures of Boo Boo and Bambeano

So after leaving Grandad happy with his ice cream we walked off over to the farm house and farm animals.  It was a nice pleasant walk and the kids were super excited to be outside.  There was plenty to see and do.  Bombshell and the kids trying the hat at some old games, pictures below tell a 1000 stories let's just say some of my pictures before editing were either blurry or crooked or both with all the laughing.

Well after busting a gut laughing we moved over to watch the blacksmith and then onto the animals.

 
 

Now onto Mummy's favorite part the WINERY while Bombshell got the kids ice cream.  So back with Grandad the 3 of us made our way over to the winery, starting in the cellars before making our way to the tasting.  2 whole pages of wine tasting and no limit SIGN ME UP!!!!

Grandad started the party going by smashing a wine glass, now I am not sure if it was too much slosh or just not knowing his own strength when setting the glass down, my bet is the latter, so with that Grandad finished up and went into the store with Bombshell and Bambeano while Grandma and I carried on enjoying the tasting, can you tell......