I went to the University of Arizona for six years and never went to one basketball game. They’re kind of famous for their stadium, and their team is pretty good, from what I hear.

As I’m not a sports fan, it took me a bit to realize that we have something here that not every town has. With the university right in the middle of Tucson, there are 1,000,000 fans running around. About 2/3 of the locals wear red and blue on game days, and every cashier is asking for game updates when you leave Target and Home Depot.

Since I had never been to a game as a student, I didn’t realize that the UA pride exploded inside the stadium. Michael and I went to a game just before Christmas and we had a blast. I did notice, however, that the fans in the stadium were… um… not very nice to the opposing team. There was no courtesy cheer when they scored, and no clapping for a great play. As a mom of young ones (and someone who had never been to a college game before) I was a little bummed about their lack of sportsmanship.

I had no idea…

As a Christmas gift for the family, we bought four tickets to the University of Arizona (UA) vs. Arizona State University (ASU) game on New Year’s Eve.

The rivalry between the two teams is crazy.

Crazy.

And the rivalry? It starts right in our house.

I went to UA. Michael roots for UA.

Steve? He’s getting his master’s degree from ASU right now.

Poor Jack is stuck in the middle and switches his team loyalty every 5 minutes.

We should own this flag.

 Michael is the best trash-talking fan the UA has. Especially to his Dad.

So… if I thought the UA game I took Michael to was bad, the UA/ASU game was awful.

In a good way.

As we walked into the game, the nice man who took our tickets made a comment about Steve being allowed in even though he is “uneducated.” He said it with a smile.

Michael has told Steve before that he’s going to UA because he already knows how to read and that’s what ASU teaches you. 

We asked a nice couple to take our photo and after the gentleman said “sure!” his wife said “Wait… do you see his shirt? Oh. Wait. You’re all in blue and red. It’s just him in maroon. Ok, hon. You can take it.”

Then they ooohed and aaahed over Jack’s cute House Divided shirt. He was happy to have both logos on him.

We found our seats and ignored the looks Steve was getting. I posted this photo on facebook and a friend was nice enough to point out that Steve was covering the UA side of Jack’s shirt with his hand.

And his hand? Can you see it?

It’s in the shape of a pitchfork, matching the devil’s pitchfork on Jack’s shirt.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

It’s almost as funny as Michael’s shirt was.

When the game started, UA fans didn’t sit down until ASU scored their first point.

When ASU got the ball on their side of the court, UA fans waved their arms in the air and made loud annoying noises that I can’t describe. Just to distract the opposing team.

During the game, the UA fans booed (loudly) when ASU scored.

Nice? No.

But to be honest, it was kind of funny. I guess this Phoenix vs. Tucson rivalry has been going on for quite some time.

Michael kept his trash talking to a minimum throughout the game.

Steve cheered confidently for his team among the sea of Wildcat fans. He didn’t even get yelled at.

We won, of course. By a lot.

And it turns out that basketball is the one sport that I like to watch. I understand what’s going on and they don’t move too slow.

Season tickets may be on my (and Michael’s) Christmas list this year.

Wildcat Basketball – My New Favorite! is property of: Our Crazy Boys

Happy Holidays to each and every one of you!

From Our Family To Yours…. is property of: Our Crazy Boys

Growing up, it was a family tradition to gather together on Christmas Eve at my grandparent’s house. The family gathering consisted of…

5 Uncles

3 Aunts

Their spouses

15 cousins

1 brother

2 parents

Grandma and Grandpa

Several Great-Aunts and Uncles, depending on the year.

That’s a minimum of 36 people in a house that couldn’t have been bigger than 800 square feet.

Oh, and it had 6 foot ceilings.

Around Thanksgiving time, we exchanged names for gift-giving. Come Christmas Eve, the 4 foot Christmas tree was barely visible under the gifts.

I remember walking into Gram’s helping to carry an armful of gifts, trying to not slip on the ice and snow outside. It was freezing every year. My cousins and I went back and forth between hanging with our Dads who were watching football and our Moms in the dining room. We usually grabbed a plate of food – Christmas cookies, meatballs in marinara sauce, cold cuts on little bakery rolls, and shrimp cocktail were staples – and sat on the stairs that were in the middle of the house to wait.

Around 4p.m. every year, my Aunt Manky, Uncle Greg, and Uncle Art would disappear. After Uncle Art passed away, my cousin Timmy took his place.

My cousins and I never realized that people left – it was too busy to notice a few people being gone. But we always knew that if we sat on the stairs long enough after we ate, Santa would come. One of us would hear his bells and alert the others. We would wait until we could see him through the front windows, and someone would open the door for him. Grandma always greeted him at the door with a big hug.

Santa would sit and as gifts were handed to him he would call people up to sit on his lap and get their photo taken. Everyone had to sit on Santa’s lap – no exceptions. That means if you were too scared, your Mom would go with you. If you were too cool as a teen, your Aunts and Uncles would tease you until you sat on his lap. If you were getting too old, well… you never really got too old. Everyone sat on Santa’s lap.

Steve’s first year at our Christmas Eve gathering

There were mountains of used wrapping paper everywhere, as everyone got at least one gift. After Santa left, everyone would linger a little bit longer, but people would begin to leave and drive home to get ready for Santa to come to their houses.

I have amazing memories of Christmas Eve, and it’s hard living far away from family this time of year. I try to have traditions for my kids, but I can’t come close to Gram and Pop’s house.

What Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions happen in your family? Are you able to keep up traditions that you had as a child?

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Need an idea for a Christmas tradition? We started a scavenger hunt tradition last year, and are super excited about doing it again this year. It slows down the present opening and gets everyone moving a bit on Christmas morning!

Christmas Eves To Remember is property of: Our Crazy Boys

Who else has a Christmas elf?

We just got one. Yes, my kids are 7 and 11 and we just heard about the elf this year. I’m a little slow.

Louie is a welcome addition to the family… sometimes.

Sometimes he is naughtier than the leprechaun that visits us in March.

And sometimes he leaves messes for us to clean up. Because I need one more little one to clean up after.

But when he makes messes, he usually does something nice to make up for it. After the flour debacle, we woke up to find him stamping my Christmas cards.

Most of the time he’s good, though. And he keeps us on our toes and on our best behavior. He reports back to Santa, you know.

In the past few weeks, we have found Louie bowling with our fruit,

taking a long soak in a hot tub full of marshmallows,

keeping a watchful eye on Billy the hibernating lizard,

helping himself to some of our Christmas candy,

playing with the gift wrapping,

and swinging from our window blinds.

He is quite the character.

If you’re in the market for an elf, we  bought Louie from Amazon. He’s actually called Christopher Pop-in-kins, and I just saw that he’s on sale for $11. There are many variations of Louie. We chose ours because he looked the friendliest to me :)

I post our photos on facebook and tag Christopher, and he always responds with a fun and witty comment:

This may be the last year that Jack believes that Louie reports back to Santa, but I have a feeling that we’ll have fun playing with him for many holiday seasons.

Do you have an elf of the shelf? What kind of trouble does he or she get into?

Meet Louie, Our Elf! is property of: Our Crazy Boys

Every once in a while, it’s necessary to take a break.

For your sanity, for your family, for yourself.

I didn’t plan on taking a break, but it turns out that it was a necessary thing. I’m trying to keep the computer closed between the hours of 3-8 p.m. which, I have found out, is my most productive time of the day.

Hence, no blog posts going up.

I thought I’d let you know what we have been up to.

My dear friend Nicole brought her family back to Tucson for a few days, and we were able to get some girl time in.

Ignore that messy counter. We’re making memories. 

Jack decided that life around the house was a little boring, so while he was feeding Billy, he threw a mealworm up.

Yes, up.

Onto the ceiling fan. Where it stuck.

Until it fell.

Yup. I can’t even make that up.

I went out on a rare lunch date with some of my best and oldest friends (they’re not old, our friendships are). It was the best birthday gift ever!

Our amazing server wasn’t an amazing photographer, so please pardon the crazy colors. Tucson doesn’t normally have lime green trees :)

Well, maybe my new iPhone4S was the best.

No… they’re tied.

We have been eating artichokes like crazy. With the amazing recipe from The Killer Griller, we have grown to love artichokes during the past few months. Yes, right in time for them to go out of season. But next year, we are ordering a case of them from Ocean Mist Farms right at the beginning of the artichoke season – They seem to have the absolute best artichokes.

Jack and his mini-artichoke. We thought he would love it, and he did. Can can easily eat an entire huge artichoke by himself!

In other news, Michael declared that he wanted a megaphone for Christmas.

Shortly after, Jack decided he wanted one, as well.

Anyone who thinks it’s funny and buys my kids a megaphone for Christmas will be getting nightly midnight visits from me and the megaphone – in person or by telephone.

Also on the Christmas list?

An ATV, an airsoft grenade launcher, and a new iPod touch.

Hmmm…. The list gets smaller as they get older, but it gets more expensive.

And a little crazier.

Oh… Grandma Teetsie came to visit!!!

We got some girl time in while the boys were at school, and Grandma got some much needed spoiling in.

And Jack. He was hamming it up for her.

Michael even got to take a half day off of school and go to lunch with us :)

In other fun news, Jack called our neighbor a vampire.

To her face.

In her defense, she doesn’t look like a vampire. And she doesn’t act like a vampire.

Jack will just do anything for a laugh. Apparently, we are still needing to discuss appropriate and inappropriate things to say to adults.

I know I’ve said it before, but just to be clear.

Michael? NEVER called an adult a vampire.

Or threw mealworms onto the ceiling fan.

Or threw a football really hard in the garage, breaking 7 of Steve’s 30ish Hard Rock shot glasses that he has been collecting for 18 years.

It’s been a crazy few weeks, friends.

The boys have been playing with the Grinch Cam app. Have you seen it? It’s totally worth .99 while the kids are waiting at a restaurant.

The boys have been asking me to lie down with them at night when they go to bed, and knowing that these times are coming to an end before I know it, I’m not saying no.

I’m spending as much time with them as I can, and thinking a lot about where the blog will be when they get to an age where they don’t want me blogging about them anymore.

I realized this fall that I have been missing a lot of time with the boys while I have been blogging about them, and that’s not what any Mom wants. There has to be a balance somewhere, and I’m looking for it.

So, please be patient with me while I over-post one month and under-post the next. I have an almost finished story about the auto show last month and how fun that was for me – a Mom who blogs about her boys. You’ll see that soon. I’m also over here at Dinner Tool a few times a month, and find that sharing facebook status updates are sometimes easier than full blog posts.

Don’t worry – The blog is sticking around, and will still be family-focused, but I’m thinking about adding a little more about the entire family. More recipes that we love and fitness, maybe? I was just accepted as a FitFluential Ambassador and am getting lots of post ideas from other ambassadors. Our life has changed a lot since Our Crazy Boys began in 2009, and I want to make sure to represent that as well as share all of the fun things that are going on out here in the desert.

All bloggers evaluate their blogs every few years, and I guess it’s just my turn!

In addition to the funny stories about the boys and the crazy things they do, what would you like to see more of? Less of? I’m sure we can all come to a compromise ;)

Can I thank you all enough for the kind comments on my last post? You have made me smile :)

Life In Our World… is property of: Our Crazy Boys

In Arizona, there really is no fall. No autumn. The temperatures drop a little, but there are no leaves changing color yet. That happens around Christmas.

So, we make fall. We find it.

We light candles (Michael is my designated candle lighter, and Jack is the candle blower-outer).

We open the windows and pretend it’s cool outside even though it’s still too warm.

We find fun activities to do… like popping indian corn on the cob.

We bought small cobs of unpreserved/untreated corn (smaller cobs pop better).

Soak them in water for about 30 minutes before popping.

Place one cob at a time in a small paper bag, fold the top to close. Press the popcorn button on the microwave and listen for the popping to slow.

Some of the popcorn pops right off the cob, and some pops on the cob. I melted some butter, put the cobs and loose popcorn in a bowl, and tossed it a little with salt.

The boys approved :)

We find fall by watching football. Well, the boys watch. I take pictures of them watching football.

We play tricks on each other every once in a while, too. Not because it’s fall, but because we can.

And since it’s Arizona, we go out for ice cream. And sometimes, I let the boys order whatever they want.

Even if it’s a huge sundae that I know they will never finish.

And on our way home, we turn the seat warmers on in the car and pretend that we are freezing.

Because then I don’t miss fall so much when Grandma Teetsie sends me pictures like this one:

Because we find our own fall here.

Finding Fall is property of: Our Crazy Boys

I should start by saying that I’m not a movie person.

I love going to the movies, but that has more to do with the sit in the dark and not hear “Mom. Mom. Mom. Moooooommmmmmm” part. And sometimes I take naps there.

Oh, and I love watching the boys’ faces when they are watching. That makes me smile.

But I am not a movie person.

Today, I took the boys to the movies.

We heard Eminem.

We love Eminem.

I overheard the boys placing “bets” with each other.

I bet Atom will win this one. He’s really strong. 

We smiled. All of us. We didn’t really laugh, but do you know that smile that takes over your face when something good happens and you can’t help but smile?

That smile.

The 11 year-old star of the movie is amazing. Adorable. And he makes you smile.

I watched Jack pull on his shirt and shorts while breathing deep with suspense when Atom was boxing.

No, no, no. YES! 

The boys were literally sitting on the edge of their seats.

Holding their fists high in the air when their favorite robot won a fight.

I may have teared up.

A few times.

And on our way out of the theatre, I had to keep saying no boxing in the mall. hands to yourself.

It was pretty cute watching them recreate the scenes.

I would take them again tomorrow if they didn’t have school. Real Steel was that good.

If you take your little ones and want to avoid the fight scene, go to the bathroom right after the end of the fight between Atom and Twin Cities. That’s what we did and we walked back in when the fight was ending.

Real Steel has a sweet storyline about a Dad and his new relationship with his son. It’s empowering to little ones because the star of the movie, the one who controls the lead robot, is the 11 year-old.

Real Steel has been out since October 7th, and since nobody told me to go see it, I’m taking this opportunity to tell you to go.

Now.

Take your little guy and go watch some robot boxing.

——–

I was not asked to review this movie or compensated to do so. I am on the marketing list for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and was provided with photographs and video to share with my readers. All opinions are completely my own. 

Real Steel {A Mom’s Review} is property of: Our Crazy Boys

This past weekend marked our 6th annual themed Halloween party!

We worked all day getting our house spooky for the night.

And I made Red Bull and Smarties jello shots (click photo for the recipe):

We had a blast, and loved seeing what everyone came up with for our Infamous Criminal/Villain theme! Here are a few of the guests:

I had a twin! Can you tell which one was me?

Steve (bottom right) was PeeWee Herman, and was bummed that he couldn’t find platform shoes like the ones in the movie. So, he did what any guy would do. He made some.

Old golf shoes + white spray paint + wood + some screws =

White platform PeeWee shoes.

He even went all out and learned the dance.

I’ll spare you the photos :)

And Jack helped with the morning-after ritual: Fishing the freezing cold beer out of the beverage tub with the snake grabber. He’s getting pretty good at it after six years!

Tell me his bed-head isn’t the cutest thing you’ve every seen?!

I want to hear about your Halloween! Do you have parties? Can you guess some of the costumes that were in the collage? Do you have any great ideas that we didn’t think of?

This post is linked up with some wonderful ladies – Amanda and Angie, Susan and Janice, Julie, Amy, and Kristi! 

Happy Halloween! is property of: Our Crazy Boys

Here are the boys’ adorable twin cousins, which of course make them my adorable niece and nephew.

I thought a caption contest would be fun. The prize? Hmmm… How about a Twist & Pout. I just ordered a few and I’ll share!!

Contest will close next Wednesday, 10/26. Make me laugh!

—

This post is linked with my Wordless Wednesday friends Kristi, Amanda, and Angie. Go say hi!

In The Family {Wordless Wednesday & Contest!} is property of: Our Crazy Boys

Do you need a laugh?

Because I need one.

I spent today with Jack.

Jack is 5.

And independent.

Very independent.

He argues questions everything.

He yells is passionate about being heard.

He is a class clown energetic and funny.

But he. is. tiring.

These are the days that I need to remember how hilarious he can be.

How unique he is.

How he loves to love everyone.

So, here we go:

This is a picture of Jack “papaya-ing” in Hawaii. He jumped out of the “papaya” and decided to swim next to it.

—–

The other day, I took the boys to On The Border.

Michael was excited to order and said, “Mom, I love Mexican food.”

Jack looked around and with his mouth wide open, said “This is a Mexican restaurant? I don’t like Mexican food!”

- I should mention that Jack loves Mexican food.-

When the waitress came to take our order, Jack asked politely for a “Non-Mexican quesadilla with some non-Mexican rice.” He also enjoyed eating the non-Mexican chips and salsa that was set on our table.

When his non-Mexican quesadilla came?

He didn’t eat it.

He made nachos out of the meat, lettuce, and tomatoes that fell from Michael’s taco.

Michael’s Mexican taco.

Jack is funny.

He loves to be noticed.

And to make people laugh.

He’s our entertainer.

Our questioner.

Our rule bender.

Our Jack.

—–

This post was originally published on 3/20/2010 and it’s one of my favorites. It reminds me of why I started this blog; to laugh and remember (in times of stress) how lucky I am. 

Our Jack is property of: Our Crazy Boys