All about the ice

Winter's here!

And I finally got to go to Crashed Ice! I don't know why I'm so drawn to this event, but I've been talking about going for years and this year I finally made it happen! These people are crazy, skating down super steep hills and drops, catching huge air as they come over the top of a hill, falling and jumping back up to race on. It's just silly. It was everything I was hoping for!

Parent vs child basketball game

At the end of the fall basketball season, Adam's team had a parent vs. child game. Those big kids out there are the parents.

We had to make a "bounce pass only" rule for the grown ups after they kept doing this.

These two got to ref the game.

They've been friends since kindergarten, maybe earlier. Good kids!

Go Adam!

Good game, good game, good game...

And Fiesta Cancun after! 

Kids on one end, grown ups on the other

And tweens in between

After dinner, the boys starting singing Jingle Bells and making up a dance. Totally obnoxious and loud for a restaurant, but it struck me as so darn innocent compared to what 3rd grade boys could be doing that I just giggled and took a picture.

Thanksgiving at Kim's

Aside from Adam's birthday, we celebrated Thanksgiving at Kim's in Madison.

On the way down, we stopped at the "train restaurant" for Adam's birthday and Kim drove up to meet us there. Jim was his usual lucky self and won 500 tickets on a Space Invader bonus.

The weather was gorgeous, so we took a lovely walk

Goofy kids

Us ladies in the kitchen

A lovely spread! 

Awww...cuddles

Merry Christmas Kim!

Adam's a little bigger than he used to be.

The gingerbread kit turned out to be worth every penny.

Thanks for hosting, Kim! We loved every minute!

Trip to Bob and Kate's

Last fall, we took a relaxed trip to Bob & Kate's house in the Quad Cities. I say "relaxed" because we took our time and stopped at several RoadsideAmerica.com places on the way. If you are traveling lazily across country, I highly recommend this website, you never know what you will come upon. Apparently, there is a phone booth in a small town in Iowa that you go stand next to for a minute or so. The neighbors keep an eye on it and will call you to say "Hello!" We haven't tried it yet, but it makes me smile to imagine.

Anyway, we stopped in Mason City (now on my short list of places I can imagine living) and went to The Music Man Museum. 

It is a ridiculously fancy indoor copy of the street in the Music Man movie, complete with store fronts and ice cream shop and popcorn stand. 

It is built next to the childhood home of Meredith Wilson, who wrote the movie. A tour of the home is included in admission. It was neat, and a lovely place to stop to stretch our legs. The coolest part about it is that they have space inside for the community to use for events and performances, as well as upstairs rooms for music lessons. 

A double bell euphonium (if you listen closely to the song, you'll hear them mention this)

Bob and Kate's house was fun, as always! They have a lovely, comfortable house, a funny puppy, and a pinball machine. What else do two kids need? 

We stopped by a nearby park that has statues from George Seurat's Sunday in the Park painting.

This painting just keeps showing up in our lives. When we first met, Jim told me how much he likes it, so we have a copy of it hanging at the top of the stairs. We went to the Guthrie Theater this summer to watch a play based on it. And here it is again!

And there's a tank to climb on in the same park :)

John Deere has a super cool pavilion with a bunch of their equipment to check out and videos of them working and video games where you can try to work them on your own.

 This was really neat for all of us.

And we met Max. He's their super fun puppy that is a lot more fun for the kids to play with than lazy old Ava. Our favorite is that instead of "down", you say "go flat Max", and he does this. Love it!

Adam's birthday (last November)

Did you know my boy turned 9 in November? On Thanksgiving! We travelled to Kim's on his birthday, but he didn't mind.

He's not too old to enjoy the 'train restaurant' in the Dells. And, of course the arcade attached! 

I missed getting a picture of his cake at Kim's house, but he loved it and had a great day. He's growing up so amazing! 

Things he's into right now:

Minecraft

Pokemon

Games

Math

His iPad

Basketball

His drum kit

Cello

Tennis

Video games

You're welcome

Reading again

Laura had lost all interest in reading for almost a year. This was a big change for this girl who was a very hungry reader for years. I tried all kinds of books, but especially those similar to her previous favorites, Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. But nothing stuck, and it was very sad.

In fact this girl, who was a fantastic writer in elementary, hates both her English classes in middle school. They are so boring, cover things she learned in 2nd grade, and she hasn't written one story all year. I'm so irritated with the middle school english department!

But on a whim, I pulled a random Barbara Kingsolver book of the shelf and started reading it to her one night. Now she is hooked on Kingsolver's imagery and humor! She giggles so much at the clever surprises in the dialogue and continues reading after I leave the room, something she hasn't wanted to do since Percy. I think she was just tired of the juvenile books and ready for some quality writing. There are more complicated and adult topics that we have to discuss, but that's ok. It feels so good to have her interested in reading again! Now, to get her writing again!

Music concerts

Both kids had concerts on the same night in December, and both introduced songs. Proud night in our household! Here's their speaking parts and a favorite song from each concert.

Laura's hiding back there just in front of the kid in the white shirt in the back row in the middle-ish of the picture. Its a big band! Actually, its 3 separate 6th grade bands that came together for the concert. She's first chair trumpet in her class! Woohoo! 

 

Basketball!

Basketball has been both super and challenging for Adam this year so far. He clearly has talent, is aggressive and hustles on the court when he's engaged, but he has a nasty temper, is aggressive and has some breathing problems when he gets overly frustrated. 

Snarl

Rebounding is his thing. Check out the height of his jump!

He has his daddy's natural muscles

Adam is big for his age. This boy guarding him is a monster. 

There was a bit of a tussle this game. 

They both got to shoot some free throws. 

We opted for the extended season this year, so we're only halfway through!

Christmas decorations

Laura and I worked together on our Christmas decorations this year and I love them! Simple and cozy