basketball

We're in the thick of basketball season here.  Ethan was an awesome defender yesterday and blocked 2 shots in a row! He loves basketball.  He loves all sports, I guess, but he seems to really like this and baseball the best.  Until I allow him to play football, probably :)

Elliott is really enjoying it too.  He said he didn't want to play last year and then complained that he wasn't playing every single time we took Ethan to practice.  So he was excited for the season to begin, and has been doing great!  

He was getting the blue star from his coach here a few weeks ago.  I can't remember what all the colors mean.  I'm thinking maybe blue is effort?  Can't remember.  I do know that he got a foul in this game and his coach was making a big deal out of that cause it meant he was really getting into the game - he had been a bit hesitant before.

girls' weekend

I was lucky enough to get to go away this weekend.  It was soooooooo nice to get away.  I needed it.  I feel so much more relaxed and refreshed now.  

Here's a little glimpse...

just for you Nyla :)

good-bye sunny CA

hello snowy STL

valentine's day

Look what Brian surprised me with the night I got home from California:

YUM!!

I love chocolate covered strawberries.

A friend asked if I had eaten them all yet.

Told her I hadn't, but, sadly, I probably will.

What a great guy.

He watched the kids all weekend so that I could get away,

and even thought to celebrate V-day a day early since

he knew he would have to work late the next day.

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day much.  I didn't even think about getting the kids anything for Valentine's Day until I got to school for their parties that afternoon and heard the other moms talking about what they had done that morning.  Oops.  I didn't even remember to get anything for their teachers.  Ethan was so disappointed that he didn't have anything special for his teacher.  I felt so bad.  He decided he would make her a special Valentine card and gave it to her the next day, so all was good again. 

So, anyway, despite my sorry display of Valentine enthusiasm, we managed to get to the store and get pizza crust to make heart shaped pizzas as our special Valentine thing.  I have to say I enjoyed that very much.  It was simple, fast, and didn't leave any chocolate laying around for me to have to talk myself out of every day....hour...minute?

I do love those boys so very much!!

science fair

This was the first year Elliott did a science fair project.  He has asked a few other times and we've put it off, knowing it's a lot of work.  We felt like he could handle it this year, so he signed up and decided to explore which type of cup was the best at keeping ice from melting.

He did a great job figuring out the experiment with some encouragement from Brian, and he was a bit surprised at the findings (but not me, a big fan of the Tervis).  He thought that the ice would last the longest in the aluminum water bottle because the opening was much smaller than the other cups, but the Tervis Tumbler came out the winner.

It was a really great learning experience for him, especially since he had to do it all on his own.  He realized how much work it really is.  He made it home with a 3rd Place ribbon, and I haven't heard him say that he wants to do it again next year yet.  I'm sure he will.

February Randomness

Ethan got his own library card the other day.  He wasn't exactly this excited about it.  This face is more like "is this smile big enough for your picture for the blog?".  But he was and still is pretty excited to have been given the responsibility of the library card.  He even had to sign the back of it.

Three years ago we bought a new washer and dryer.  We knew they wouldn't last as long as the set we had before, but we thought it would be longer than 3 years.  We were wrong.  Hello new washer!  On the up side, it is soooooo much quieter than the other one and it sings a fun little song when it's finished washing.  Made me think that it would be fun if you could program them to have different ring tones like your phone.

I thought I was going to document a day in our life through pictures.  Saw someone else do it on their blog and thought it would be fun.  I forgot to keep taking pictures after 8:30 that morning.  Oh well.  Another day.  But this was part of that - Ethan finishing homework that morning.

Hello spring flowers in the snow.  Why can't you stay in the ground and sprout when you are supposed to?  Is it because of the 60 degree temps we've had for so many days?  Are you confused?  Your tulip friends in the backyard are confused also.  I fear that you will become so confused that you will end up just staying in the nice warm ground.  So disappointed.

dragging

Confession time. 

I'm still in my pajamas. 

It's 11:17 am. 

I hardly ever do this. 

I blame it on the NyQuil. 

I thought for sure I had strep earlier in the week. 

Nope, just a virus. 

Now my voice sounds like I've inhaled smoke for 2 days straight. 

I haven't. 

And my head feels like a swimming pool.

I have accomplished a few things. 

I've paid bills. 

I've cleaned baseboards. 

I've cleaned the washer. 

I've washed dishes. 

I've made some phone calls. 

I've cleaned the bathroom.

I've straightened up the family room.

But I'm still in my pajamas. 

And it's making me want to crawl back into bed.

Maybe it's time to get the yoga pants out.

monopoly

I think we played Monopoly 300 times over break.

 

Well, maybe closer to 5. 

Elliott L.O.V.E.S. this game.

 

He likes to be the banker and figure out all the money.  He's really good at it, too.  I like to play when it's just the three of us.  But I'm done once Brian gets home and wants in on the action.  I first played Monopoly with him many years ago and quickly learned that he has no mercy.  And I get angry about his "business strategies and tactics" that seem rude to me (there's a very good reason I'm not in the corporate world).  So it's better that I just don't play.   The boys learned this pretty quickly too.  In fact, nobody likes to play Monopoly once Dad gets home :)  Well, maybe Elliott every once in a while.  He likes the challenge.