Santa Claus is coming to town!

I'll get to Santa in a minute. First I want to tell you guys about the football tournament Hunter particpated in Thanksgiving weekend. The Mesquite Steelers hosted it, and overall it was completely craptastic. There is a chat board for Mesquite Pee-Wee parents and coaches and I posted this top 10 list on there:

Top 10 Reasons NOT To Participate in a STEAL-ers Tournament:

10. The Steal-ers tried to play an 11 year old in an "E" team game.

9. They thought it was really hard to make a bracket with 3 teams, and wanted us to play 3 games, them to play 2 games, and the Gators to play 1 game, rather than everyone playing the 2 games they were guaranteed.

8. They told our "E" team during our huddle after a game, where ALL the parents were standing around, that we would play today at 12:30. Then later said, "We NEVER said that. Ya'll play at 3:30."

7. It was $4.00 for adults and $2.00 for children (including toddlers) to enter EVERY day. No weekend passes were offered at a discount.

6. When we arrived yesterday morning, nobody from the STEAL-ers organization was there yet. Needless to say, there was never much of a warm welcome.

5. The STEAL-ers "C" team was either unable or unwilling to provide copies of players bith certificates.

4. A parent from the STEAL-ers verbally attacked a pregnant mom from our organization, going so far as to threaten to run her over. Then continued to harrass and try to intimidate that parent throughout the weekend.

3. Did I mention that the STEAL-ers were appalled at the idea that we would request to see birth certificates? Despite the fact that we happily had given them copies of one of our teams birth certificates when requested. Apparently we were crazy to think that their "C" team might try and cheat even after there "E" team was busted trying to cheat.

2. The president of the Texas Raiders, who I'm told had boys playing with the Steelers, felt it was appropriate to talk trash to one of our kids about that kids father.

1. Despite paying our tournament fee, parking fee, and buying from concessions, they were unable to provide toilet paper in the bathrooms. Today they were kind enough to give a ration of 1 napkin to the women who went to concessions asking for some. There was a roll of toilet paper spotted in the concession area, but apparently you have to be a STEAL-er in order to be given that ammenity.

Anyways, Hunter was oblivious to all the bs and was awfully proud of his 2nd place medal. So, here are a few pics. I was really proud of him too. It was freezing all weekend, along with rain and sleet, and clearly my child has no fat to insulate his body. He did great toughing it out though, and even caused a few fumbles.

Now, on to Santa. The last time Grace sat with the big jolly guy was in 2004 when she was 6 months old. The following year she allowed me to park her stroller next to him while Hunter sat on his lap, however she wouldn't even look at the guy.

Last year she would not even go into his area. She screamed simply at the sight of him and hung on to Wes for dear life as she watched Hunter go and sit with him. Well, what a difference a year can make. She was totally excited to go see him this year. We met her best friend (or her boyfriend if you ask her) up at the mall. We arrived at the mall before Derek and Grace was getting very impatient. She kept waving to Santa and saying, "HEY! Where's you reindeer?" So, the first picture is of Derek and Grace both sporting fake smiles. The next one is my favorite though. Derek is done, but Grace is ready with her show stopping smile. I'm hoping to get Hunter by to see St.Nick sometime this week. I fear this may be our last year with him as a believer. I must take full advantage of it.