Myrtle Beach Tournament

These are some pictures of Colton's team receiving their second place trophies at the Myrtle Beach Tournament in November. I have some more on my other computer so check back later to see some really nice photos of Colton and Matt!

Colton Sailing

I told you that I have to make up for the delay in posting, so these pictures are of Colton sailing back in June/July! He went with me to DC and we stayed with my Uncle Jay. While I was at my conference, Colton went sailing on my Uncle's boat. They both had a great time!!! I was able to go the last day!

Colton & Uncle Jay

Colton steering the boat

He had a great time!

He enjoyed helping out!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We are looking forward to seeing everyone. I think we may actually set a record for the family we will see in a four day period!
I know it has been a VERY long time since I blogged last. I apologize for the delay. Well, I am not going to try and update about everything but I will give you some of the highlights.
Colton is doing very well in 4th grade. He seems to really like his teachers. He has his main teacher, Mrs. Groce, his math and science teacher, Ms. McNeil, and his AIG teacher, Mrs. Ligon. In 4th grade they do "teaching blocks". He goes to one teacher (Groce) for some subjects, switches classrooms and has another teacher for 2 subjects (McNeil). He seems to be adjusting well.
His fall soccer season finished up in November. They were a very young team and won their division. Colton was the goalie and had a fantastic season. They also finished in 2nd place in a tournament in Myrtle Beach. That was a fun weekend! He has decided to take a break from soccer this winter (will play again in the spring), so he will not be playing indoor soccer this year. Instead, he will be playing basketball! We are excited to watch him play! Our family friend (one of Colton's soccer teammates' dad) is going to be his coach, which Colton thinks is great...wait no he said it is awesome. So everyone will have a picture of Colton playing a different sport! I think my dad is going to help out and be the assistant coach too! It is amazing what a difference two new knees make!!!
Matt played in an adult Hispanic soccer league. We attempted to learn some Spanish, but only know a few words. We wanted to get the Rosetta Stone collection, but the price for that is ridiculous! Any way, Matt was a HUGE hit and everyone loved him! Well, I should say at first they were very apprehensive of him but now they love him. His team won their division (as Matt calls it...the old farts league) and Matt was voted by his team as the MVP of the season. He received the big trophy! Colton thought that was pretty cool. Matt is still coaching the youth soccer team and is now a member of the SASL (the local soccer association) board.
Me...I have been the cheerleader for my boys. I go to all their practices (Matt's team didn't practice) and games and cheer them on. I was/am the team manager for Colton's soccer team, too.
If we aren't out at a sporting event, we are just hanging out together. I will post some pics of some recent events today as well. We have been participating in all of the Christmas festivities, traditions, etc. Colton has really been getting into the Christmas spirit. Be warned though as he has gotten sentimental as well. We are going to the Polar Express in 3-D at the Imax theatre this Saturday!!! We are looking forward to it...well Matt not so much as he says that the movie freaks him out a little.
Well I will post some pics next!

Special Shoutout to Uncle Rob

Colton wants to let his Uncle Rob know that he has his old number in soccer (#7). He thought it was pretty cool when his dad told him that Uncle Rob used to wear that number. The legendary #7 lives on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Colton's Birthday and Soccer Games

First of all, we would just like to say thank you to our family and friends. Everyone has helped make Colton's 9th birthday really special. He LOVED everything that he received including the gifts and phone calls. He had a wonderful birthday weekend!!
On Friday, we drove Matt to Cary/Raleigh to meet his friends so they could go to the HORRIBLE game in Greenville. We arrived early, so we went shopping! Colton was able to buy a new goalie jersey. Then, it was over to Toys R Us, because the money he received for his birthday was burning a hole in his pocket. Then, we dropped off Matt and Colton and I went to Red Robin Restaurant, which is a yearly Colton Birthday Destination. He says the Fish Sandwich is his new favorite and that it was "love at first bite".
Saturday we went to Raleigh with my parents to go to the IMAX theatre where they were showing a movie about the ocean in 3D, which Colton really liked. Afterwards, we went to the Japanese restaurant where they cook in front of you. It was absolutely delicious!! Then, it was time to watch the dreaded WVU game. BOOOOO!!!! Poor Matt called a few times from the game and as Colton says "he wasn't happy".
Today, Matt arrived home around 10:00 am. Colton opened more gifts, was able to talk to some more family and then it was time to meet the team for the caravan to the double header. Colton played in goal and they won both games. It was EXTREMELY HOT!!!!!!!!!!! I do not know how the kids did it. We were in the shade and baking!!!! During the 2nd half of the first game, I didn't think Colton was going to make it and then he made an awesome save, so I guess he had enough energy to finish. During the break in between games, we sat in the air-conditioned car, ate grapes, drank water, and Colton had a Go-gurt. It worked and he was ready to go for the 2nd game. He did really great and we were very proud of him. After the last game, the team and parents sang "Happy Birthday" to Colton and then the team had Colton do "butts up" (see picture below-it is easier to see if you click on the picture to enlarge it). If you don't know what it is, here you go...a player (or several just depends) get in the goal, grab his ankles or covers his head, and others kick soccer balls at his bottom. Sounds interesting, huh? The boys think it is hilarious and enjoy doing it for some reason. Anyways, we arrived home and had Colton's fishing cake. What a great weekend.

Colton sitting in his new camp chair that has speakers for his MP3 player. He plugs in his MP3 player and he is able to listen to his music.

His new digital camera that also does video clips and can be a web cam.
Planet Earth DVD trivia game
My crazy boys
Aren't they cute?!!!
Spanking time

Indiana Jones Legos!!

Colton fresh out of the shower and playing his really cool Guitar Hero toy. He puts this little amp and belt on. Then, he plays air guitar with a special pick by strumming it in front of the belt. Then, plays various songs as he strums.

Colton "the goalie"

Butts Up
The Fishing cake

Waiting for the Bus & the 2nd Day

Let me start off by saying that I am not going to show pictures of every day of Colton's 4th grade year, but he did look really cute/handsome, so I took a picture this morning and put it on here (see below).
Well, Colton's first day went really well according to him. He seems to like his class and his teacher, so that is great! He did have homework on the first night, which he was not really thrilled about, but he did it. He rode the bus home for the first time. Not sure if it lived up to the hype that he had created in his head about riding the bus, but he seemed to enjoy it. He did say that it "was loud". He liked that he was able to ride in the same seat as one of his friends from his class last year.
You will see some lovely pics below of Matt and I waiting for his bus to arrive. My mom took the pictures as she was far enough away as to not embarrass him. My mom was supposed to be the one meeting the bus, but Matt and I ended being home due to someone stealing Matt's exhaust system off of his truck. Why would someone do that?????????? Matt thinks they did it for the copper in the catayltic converter.
Oh well, another day in the Dutchess Family!
Colton did get up this morning quite well and was ready to face another day as a 4th grader!

Waiting on the bus

Matt and Colton talking about the 1st day

Colton on the 2nd day of school-isn't he handsome

Colton's First Day as a 4th Grader

Today was Colton't first day as a 4th grader! I still cannot believe it! He has Mrs. Groce as his main teacher and Mrs. Ligon is his AIG teacher. Colton is really excited because he has 3 of his really good friends in his class and even more in his AIG. He was really excited this morning eventhough it was difficult for him to wake up at first (see pictures below). Also, today is the first day that he will be riding the bus home. Gram will pick him up today at the bus stop. You know he is getting older when he doesn't want her to take pictures of him getting off the bus :(

Colton right before I woke him up

Colton having a very hard time getting up this morning
Still trying to get up
Brushing the teeth
Applying the deodorant (He says he smells like Papa Kenny)-By the way, he said it was ok if I put these pics on the blog
Off to school

Putting the backpack on and getting ready to get out of the car at school

Back to School Sleepover

Colton had some of his friends from his 3rd grade class over for a back-to-school-I-hope-you're-in-my-4th-grade-class-this-year sleepover. They had a lot of fun. We had 6 boys (7 if you include Matt) in the house. They played Playstation, Star Wars, flashlight tag, basketball, and who knows what else. Matt grilled hot dogs for them and we made homemade ice cream sandwiches. We even made snow cones.
At 12:00 am we put in Transformers (a movie) and popped some popcorn so they could chill out. The next morning, Matt made pancakes and bacon, which they seemed to love!
It was a great night and it worked! Colton has 3 of the 5 boys in his 4th grade class! He was so excited when we went to Open House and read their names on the classlist.

Pancake Man
The boys (missing one)

The Weekend in Kenna

The Dutchess Trio drove to Kenna, WV! We went up to drop off Colton for his weeklong vacation in WV without his parents! Colton did better than his mom and dad!!!
Before we left, we enjoyed a weekend at Papa Kenny and Grahamcracker Libby's. Amy and the boys came up as well, so that was nice to visit with them as well. Then, some more family came over on Saturday when Todd, Melissa and the girls stopped by. It is always nice to see everyone as we don't get to come up as much as we would like. It was a weekend of fun, family, awesome food and "man's room" entertainment. I swear that is some delicious popcorn!!!!!
Colton and I took Grey to Wal-Mart so that he could pick out his birthday gift. After making his selection, Colton introduced him to Guitar Hero (a video game-see picture below-yes I took a picture of Grey while in Wal-Mart).
The kids enjoyed playing in the inflatable pool. Who knew that even the older kids would have so much fun!!! Ken, Matt, Amy and I played Scrabble while watching them. I actually won for once! Amy usually kills us all, so she must have been taken it easy on us. Later that night, we played "Last Word" and we discovered that Ken (I mean Libby) was VERY good at it.
It was a great time until it was time for us to leave without Colton; however, he had an AWESOME time which you will read about soon. Colton is going to write about his week on the blog this week and will include all of the pictures he took while he was there.

Grey in Wal-Mart playing Guitar Hero

Colton takes a picture of Grey enjoying his Dairy Queen ice cream
The boys jammin away in Dairy Queen


Morgan and Grey-how cute
Playing scrabble

Morgan squirts Colton with the water hose

Colton took the next 4 pictures
CHEEEESSSEE

You want some fries with that-Grey playing with the McDonalds toys