McGrath Moments

My son is part of The CREW!!

I received a phone call this week from Braeden's teacher, Mrs. Munford. She told us that she had nominated Braeden for Student Leader at school and he would be recognized on Friday at a school assembly. She wanted to make sure that Ed and I were there to see it. This is his first "school recognition" and Ed and I were so proud of him!

At DRE (Delaware Ridge Elementary) they have a school assembly called Community Circle on Fridays(I think it is just once a month). Parents are welcome to attend. During this assembly teachers who have nominated students as Student Leaders are able to speak about the student and the student receives a red t-shirt that says, CREW on it.

Mrs. Munford said the nicest things about Braeden! She said he was a born leader and that he has learned to lead in a group setting without overpowering everyone else, which was one of his goals for the semester. Braeden is the first student that Mrs. Munford has nominated this year. We were so proud to see him go in front of the school and he was so excited!

Okay, the bragging is over.

Well, it has only taken me one full month to report on our Christmas events this year. Our family had a great Christmas. Always busy and stressful, but also filled with lots of fun and love. Our Christmas season started Thanksgiving weekend while Ed's sister, Katie, and her family were in town from Ohio. I know the kids thought it was very exciting to be able to open presents after Thanksgiving.


Braeden and Brenna had a fun time decorating a gingerbread house. Those things are harder to do than you'd think!

This year was our last year to celebrate Christmas Eve at my Grandma's house. It is VERY sad to think about. We have always spent Christmas Eve night with all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins at my grandparent's house. We recently moved my Grandma to an assisted living home, so we will not be able to all gather at her house anymore for holidays. Just another thing about getting older...CHANGE. I can do without so much change. I like things to stay the way they are.

Brenna was happy to wake up Christmas morning to something she was really excited for Santa to bring her...a dollhouse!! (Santa did bring her Cinnamon Toast Crunch as well!!)

Braeden was very excited to be surrounded by so many presents to open! Santa brought him a Nintendo DS and Big Foot. We have already had to put a daily time limit on our Nintendo use...it was kind of getting out of control!

Of course, we cannot forget that Christmas Day is not only Jesus' birthday, but Ed's as well. He requested red velvet cupcakes for his big day. Brenna and I had a good time making them together.

Christmas was followed by New Years Eve and we actually got all dressed up and went out this year. I totally went all out and bought the "sparkly" shirt and even glued on the fake eyelashes! We had a good time that night, but OMG we are old because it took like a full day to recover from all of the "fun"!!

My Aunt Terry watched the kiddos that night and believe me, they had a great time!! Braeden and Brenna are lucky to have her. She spoils them and makes sure they always have a good time, just like she did for me and my cousins when we were younger!

Right after New Years is Braeden's birthday. He turned 6 years old this year! Where does the time go? He is getting so big. I love him so much!

His first wrestling match was the morning of his birthday, so by the point this picture was taken, he was already in his PJ's. It had been a LONG day for him and me! He enjoyed having his grandparents, Aunt Lala, Uncle James, and cousin Carson over for pizza and cake.

The evening before his birthday, Braeden invited some friends to the movies to see Yogi Bear. We started with an ice cream sundae party, followed by popcorn, fruit snacks, and pop. You parents can thank me for the tummy aches later!

As I mentioned before, Braeden's first wrestling match was on his birthday. Being the first match, he did not know what to expect and neither did I. All I'm going to say is, I got scolded not once, but twice from my husband for "being embarrassing and treating our son like a baby"-exact Ed quote. As a mother, when you see your son getting tackled and smothered by another child(I know, this is what wrestling is) and he is crying, all I want to do is give him big hugs and tell him everything is okay, so that is what I did. Oh, I guess I did pick him up and carry him up into the bleachers to tell him it is all okay and Mommy is here. :)

My son is a caring, loving, emotional child and I'm not sure that this wrestling thing is for him. I do think we are going to stick with it and see where it goes. It might just be what he needs to toughen up. Ed did decide that he was going to make sure he got a little more practice under his belt before we send him out for another tournament. I will have to say that he did improve a lot from his first match to his second. He did lose both, but he scored 6 points in the second match(not like I even know what that means). Ed and I were really proud of him. He didn't quit and you could tell he gave it all he had!

That was quite a quick recap of our holiday! I hope 2011 has a lot of exciting things in store for us. Since Christmas is over, all I hear about now is our trip to Disney World. That is the next thing the kiddos are looking forward to!