Icy Fun

We went to the lake to check out the thousands of birds stopping there.  We were hoping they were pelicans but we think they were snow geese.  We didn't get a good look because they did this right after we got there:

The ice was breaking up into bits like this.

 It was really cool!  We may have to research why the water froze this way.

 The kids had fun throwing the ice chunks onto the still frozen parts of the lake and watching them shatter.

 After a day of warmth the ice is all melted off the lake today!

District Wrestling

The big boys wrestled at Districts yesterday.  They have set weight classes there and we had to weigh in the night before.  At 110.7 Samuel wrestled the 112 pound weight class and came in 4th in a 9 man bracket to make it to State!  He lost his first match and had to wrestle back up the loser bracket to get fourth (which is the last place that goes to state).

Their weight class and grade level were written on their arms at weigh in.  Good thing the church shirt sleeves were long enough to cover it!  :)  

At 87.6 Thomas wrestled in the 90 pound weight class and got 3rd in a 3 man bracket. He qualifies for State because 4th place and up go!  He's excited to have the opportunity to wrestle there!  

Their team got third in the District and had 16 medal winners!  This is an especially big accomplishment because it's not just Class C schools.  We were 179 points ahead of the next highest Class C school.  Very impressive boys!

We didn't have Philip wrestle because Districts is a long hard day of wrestling and the Pre-K/Kindergarten grade level scores don't count toward the team points.  He'll have plenty of time to wrestle under pressure when he's older.

Congratulations everyone!

What Nicholas has Been Up To

Sleeping diaper-less on his new big bed (which he inherited when Mom and Dad got a new bed).

A little artwork. 

Using his chainsaw skills.

Building a "ninja warrior" course for his car.

Growing a little sunflower.

Building one of those cardboard cars with Daddy.  Samuel let him win it at the Band fundraiser.  It wasn't as bad to put together as Daddy thought it might be.

And almost breaking Julia's birthday present.

See that piece of toy bologna he's holding?  He put it in the slot of Julia's so-brand-new-we-hadn't-even-tried-it-yet easy bake oven.  And we couldn't get it out.  Jeremy had to get a special triangle bit for his screwdriver to open the oven up but he got it out.  Praise Jesus!  Julia would have been heartbroken.  Now Nicholas know nothing goes inside the oven! (We're not telling him about the special little pan that does fit in it.....)

Happy Birthday Julia Rosie!

Julia had an extra special birthday because she also received her First Confession!  When I first saw that First Confession was on her birthday I was worried she'd think it was awful because remembering what all you are supposed to say in Confession can be a little nerve racking.  Thankfully she ended up being really excited to get a bright sparkly clean soul for her birthday!

Here she is with a "clean heart" and her Baptism candle.  Father had everyone bring their candles and then each child could light theirs after they went to Confession.  It was a nice touch!

 

We went out for lunch after confession to the Chinese Buffet, per her request and stopped at Once Upon a Child and found her a nice Easter dress afterwards.

She also got a nice dinner at home the next night.  Grandma Raleen won a cake at the Band Boosters fundraiser Sunday morning and let Julia pick one out to be her birthday cake.

Happy 8th Birthday Julia!  We love you!

Bubbles

Nicholas and Addy do not get along right now.  They're 14 months apart, it was bound to happen.  They spend all day crabbing at each other.  Nicholas makes Addy mad, Addy throws a fit.   Addy gets into something Nicholas is doing (because she's little it's what littles do) so he gets mad and retaliates which makes her mad all over again.  Ug.

I distracted them from their circle of crabbiness with bubbles yesterday.

Score one for Lisa.

Try This

Have you ever made your own granola?  I hadn't either.  It's so good!  It's very easy to make too.  The only thing is I'm not sure it's cheaper than buying a box.  It all depends on what you put in it I guess.  I made butter pecan granola because I love butter pecan and I had some pecans I'd intended on putting in banana bread.  But it used almost the whole $5 bag.  Oh well, it was worth it!

Yum, yum, yum!

Hard Work Paying Off

After struggling through disappointment about losing lots of matches Philip won first place at last week's wrestling tournament!  He was very happy about his trophy!  In fact, I'm pretty sure he slept with it a couple nights...  

Thomas also won a match last weekend!  He looked really good doing it too!  Thomas your perseverance continues to amaze me and make me proud!

Samuel won first place at the meet as well!  The way the weights fell he didn't have to wrestle his nemesis Gavin.  Just kidding about the nemesis part but Gavin is REALLY good, a bit heavier and more muscular than Sam and from the public school across town so he and Sam often have to wrestle.  Sam hasn't beaten him yet, actually, I'm not sure anyone has beaten him this year.  I forgot to get a picture of Samuel with the trophy. 

Now, is wrestling season over yet?

Junior First Lego League

Julia and Philip participated in Jr First Lego League.  It was Julia's second year and Philip's first.  They had fun and hopefully learned something about recycling and putting together a project.

Not so Disappointing After All

So I know I said I was disappointed in our blizzard in my last post but it turned out okay.  We got two snow days out of it and despite not getting a cozy "stuck home in the snow with only fun stuff to do" feeling we did have a lot of fun together.

We checked out Labyrinth from the library.  Everyone enjoyed it, except when Nicholas enjoyed it by messing up the real game going on.... 

 There was plenty of digging out to be done.  Sorry about the creepy eyes.

See the black cat on the left in the picture below?  He showed up Monday before the storm.  He's a neutered male who absolutely understands what "inside" is and did not recognize the sound of dry food hitting the bowl (and he initially turned up his nose at the cheap stuff Jeremy bought).  He's still here and has (mostly) learned that he IS NOT welcome in the house and that dry food is what will be served.  I have a feeling he's never even seen a mouse.  Oh well.  He's friendly and likes the kids and no one has claimed him.  He's not quite named.  We're considering Boomerang (because he keeps coming back) but Jeremy likes Go Away (which he was told a lot because of his desperate tries to get inside) however Julia vehemently protests.  I suggested Go Away, Princess so Jeremy could call him Go Away and Julia could call him Princess.  But he's a boy and Julia doesn't like the compromise.

Waiting for the kiddos to come in.

We enjoyed some puzzle making too.

 Jeremy requested "gourmet" cupcakes.  I made mint, peanut butter and mocha.

 And after two days of fun everyone was ready to leave the house and go back to school!

Brother Pile

Jack Frost

We had some amazing frost the other day. 

Today is a snow day after a very disappointing blizzard.  We got all ready for fun snowed in stuff and then got way less snow than predicted. They had already canceled school though so I guess it's not so bad.  We've played games we checked out from the library, done a puzzle and watched some extra tv so far.  Working on rest time and homework now.   Then we have a few other fun things left to do before everything gets back to normal.

Still Cute

Even when they're sick.

Everyone is feeling better now, yay!

What Nicholas has been Up to

Enjoying his new tool box from Aunt Pat

 Splitting open his lip.  Ouch.

 Writing his name!

We're starting with just Nic and he still needs to be shown how to make each letter but we've got a good start!

Wrestling

It's wrestling season!  I am a partial fan.  I love the boys going to practice and getting out lots of energy.  I love that it teaches them lots of life lessons.  I don't love sitting at meets for hours just to watch maybe 27 minutes of my sons wrestling.  (3 minutes each for three matches, assuming no one pins or gets pinned in less time and no byes.)  Also all the little boy disappointment...doesn't matter if it's my son or not.  I know it's okay for kids to get disappointed but man, it's hard on the heart.

 

The coaches don't generally arrive in time for the preK-K warm ups.  So Samuel took things into his own hands.  Best part of the meet for me and I actually only stayed for Philip's matches.  I had to get back home because I had to help with St. W's pancake feed and didn't see the big boys wrestle.

 

Philip is heavy and short.  He's ended up wrestling a lot of boys who are taller and leaner.  That is hard to make up for.  He didn't win any matches at this meet and he cry wrestled.  (Meaning he cried while he wrestled.  Talk about breaking a mama's heart.  And dad didn't come to this meet because he was sick.)

 

The next week he won one match and that was enough for him.  He doesn't care what place he gets.  He just wants to win a match.  He's won a few other matches and lost some too.  He gets to decide if he wants to do any more matches from here on out.  Keep working Philip, you're doing great!

 

Our club hosted a meet this weekend.  Philip got to towel tap (tap the ref with a pool noodle when time is up).  He only did it once or twice before a bigger boy took over.

 

Thomas is plugging along with wrestling as usual.  I am always impressed (and especially proud) with how he just keeps wrestling and doesn't get discouraged.  He doesn't have a winning record yet, but he did pin a guy two weeks ago.  Good job Thomas!

 

Samuel wins lots and loses some.  He got second at this particular meet.  He works hard and is pretty good.  Keep it up Sam, we're proud of you!

Go Cavs Go!