The Playoffs

This fall, something great happened in our house.

Noah got into football.

See, his parents are big football fans. We watch. We cheer. We jump up and down and do silly dances when our team scores. I've been known to drop an expletive here and there when they don't.

So every year when the NFL season starts, we encourage our kids to watch with us. Mostly it's so we don't feel guilty for virtually ignoring them on Sunday afternoons. But we also hope that by watching with their parents, they even start to think it's fun.

This year, it actually worked.

Noah fell in love with Stanford football and Toby Gearhart -- the man robbed of this year's Heisman Trophy -- after attending a game with his dad and brother. And he became equally enthusiastic about the NFL.

He had a football-heavy Christmas, and one of his gifts from my parents was a set of mini helmets representing all the NFL teams. He and his dad had them arranged on his dresser according to division for awhile. Once the playoffs started, the helmets made their way into the family room and were set up to represent the playoff picture.

All the teams in the foreground are now out and "watching from home."





For this next shot, I apologize to any Patriots fans out there (but only those who might read my blog). Noah gleefully plucked them out of the bracket after their loss yesterday.



Looking forward to next weekend and OUR big game.