Cale's tournament action

It's tournament time for Marcus and Cale's basketball teams. Marcus's final regular season game was Saturday morning. They won :-) and secured a high enough "seed" that they don't have to play again until next Saturday (instead of Monday night if they would have lost). According to the playoff grid, this makes them the #1 or #2 seed for their "conference". Wow. I didn't think they had won that many games, but anyway.

Cale had his actual tournament on Saturday. There are six teams in his conference and it was a single elimination (once you lose, your out) deal. The Georgetown Hoyas played their first game against the DePauw whatever they are and won! It was a fun game. The HS JV basketball coach was the MC and also brought some music to play during time-outs and half-time. Cale had a GREAT game. He got the ball on several turnovers, got to shoot some free throws and made, I think, 4 baskets (which is quite a lot for a K/1st grade team player). At one point, Cale had scored a couple times in a row and the announcer said "Cale Shaffer, he's on fire!" Cute! And, I appreciate that they actually said Cale's name right (instead of Cole or Caleb). All the boys liked hearing their names over the loudspeaker too. It's nice to get praise. They also announced the fouls overhead and some of the kids did not like that they had they names called for that. But, anyway, Cale played well, handled the ball well and was one of the better players on his team (for a first year, kindergarten player). Andy was impressed and was wondering where Cale's talent came from. I reminded him, that hey, I lettered my senior year in basketball and got the most improved player award. (And I played for a team that won one game the whole season and I had never played before-but never mind) There's a big difference in how Marcus and Cale each play on their teams. Marcus, right now is more of a post player-get the rebound, pass the ball out, not a big shooter. Cale is way more agressive-pass me the ball, taking shots, moving the ball down the court. It's fun to see them each play.

In Cale's second tournament game, Georgetown faced the Orangemen of Syracuse. It was a rough game. Syracuse had a couple of good 1st grade kids that kept the score up on their half. That year really makes a difference in skill level between K and 1st grade. Cale played well again-made a couple baskets, moved the ball well. You could tell the team was a little tired, having played @ 1030 with this game @ 1230. Well, they Hoyas lost, bringing their season to an end. But, that was okay, because they all got snacks and a trophy! Cale was TIRED the rest of the day! Andy and I agreed that we think the boys have had a great basketball experience and have seen a definite improvement in their skill and understanding of the game. We will definitely do this next year!

Here's Cale's team after their 2nd game. (Cale's on the bottom right) Coach Troy and his assistant did a fantastic job! The boys all played well together and you could tell the coach wanted them to have fun.


Cale with his big trophy that we had to make room for on his trophy shelf. It's the biggest trophy he's gotten, so he was very excited for that.

I made a bargain

I had a scheduled OB check-up today. It was nothing exciting, and everything went fine. I went with the mission to get my doctor to agree to not let me take the glucose tolerance test and just write me a precscription for accu-check test strips for my glucometer. My arguement (besides not wanting to sit for an hour after drinking that disgusting sugar drink) was that started this pregnancy overweight, I work nights, I don't exercise, my diet isn't awesome and I did have gestational diabetes with Liam. In my mind, I was thinking that if I failed the test, then I would have to take the 3 hour test. And, what if I failed that, then I would have to go to a diabetic class again and start testing my blood sugar. I thought, that maybe I could cut out all the middle steps and go right to the end. Well, my doctor and I made a bargain that I would take the 1 hour test (because I have a 50% chance of passing) and if I pass-great! And, if I fail, then she will write a prescription for the test strips and I will not have to take the 3 hour test. It's better than having to sit for 3 hours in the doctor's office and I only have to get stuck once. The test is 5 weeks from now, so we'll see what happens.

another lost tooth!

Cale lost another bottom tooth last night! It had been hanging on for several days and the new tooth was coming in behind it. I was at work and missed the excitment. I guess the tooth fairy was busy last night and didn't make it to Cale's bed. No worries, while the boys were eating breakfast, the tooth fairy delivered "her" present. Cale was excited! I love that the boys are still little enough to believe in the tooth fairy even a late one.

Cale's snowman

The weather is much warmer right now, and in the next few days all the snow will probably melt away. But, Cale got a chance to make a snowman before the snow really started to melt. Andy helped him after they both worked hard clearing off the rest of the driveway and the sidewalk to the bus stop. It wasn't great packing snow-it was pretty hard, I guess and there was still that layer of ice underneath the snow. They made the best of it, and created out little snowman. The eyes were made of grapes and the buttons and mouth of blue food coloring. The food coloring ended up running all down the front of the snowman. I think I was the only one that saw that later that afternoon. By the next day, the snowman was completely gone. I'm glad Cale got a chance to build one-he's-very proud of his work!

meet guacamole!

I think we've found our paint color for the rest of the downstairs! After many trips to Menards, many paint strips and five other paint samples on the walls, we have found a green that looks great, goes well with the dark brown in the front room (called pumpernickel) and does not make the room too dark. It's called guacamole and I'm sure we will be buying our first can of it in the next few weeks. I'm excited to have a direction now with the color so we can finish painting. Parts of this paint job should be cake-several large walls with not a lot of trim work. And, then there's the kitchen-around the cabinets, pulling out the appliances-that could take a little longer. It seems like I always want to paint, or have Andy paint something, while I'm pregnant. It must be a nesting thing. Maybe my babies secretly crave paint fumes, I don't know. But, I know that there have been paint jobs with every pregancy I've had: Marcus-his bedroom, Cale-his and Marcus's bedroom (different house), Ewan-living room, my bedroom, Liam-his future bedroom (different house), and now new baby-the entire downstairs, touch-ups to Liam's room and (hopefully) our bedroom. I do have until June :-).

an uneventful week update

This week has been nice because nothing new or exciting has happened. The boys have gone to school/preschool. We've been to our basketball and gymnastics classes. Homework has been done. School valentines have been addressed. Playing. Eating. Sleeping. Nice.

I am eagerly awaiting the warmer temps predicted to start arriving tomorrow. I can't wait for Andy to be able to chip away the rest of the ice in the driveway and on the sidewalk. Temps in the 50's next week sounds like a heat wave to me! I bet I have a few of the windows cracked to air out the house.

Looking ahead, Marcus and Cale each have 2 more basketball games and then they are done for the season. I have not signed them up for any new sport. It looks like the next local sport is baseball/t-ball and I think it is way too competitive (re: parents take it too seriously). I'm thinking we will take a break and then sign up for swim lessons again. They all need to learn. Ewan will probably do gymnastics for another 2 sessions, seeing us through to the end of the school year. His instructor said that after this next session (Feb-the beginning of April), Ewan can move up to the next class. He really is learning something!

Andy is done with girls basketball after a tough loss on Wednesday. He just has boys basketball left for his winter sports and then will start with the spring ones.

That's it. See how nice it's been? I'm hoping to have time for a Menards run today with Andy to look for a closet door for Liam's room. Our first project of the year will be finished soon.

Have a nice weekend!

this is what we woke up to this morning

After 2 days of sun, cold, and no precipitation, we woke up to a fresh coat of snow on Saturday morning. I'm going to say that it's about 1-2 inches of fresh powder that has covered the icy stuff that has not even begun to melt yet. (*sigh*)

Tried to get a picture of how the snowpack sits a couple inches above the patio door when we open it. Per the very excited weather man (he is an excitable guy) this is not the "hardest hit" we will be in the next 7 days. Lovely.

lysolling the house is not working out for me

We have been fortunate not to have been hit hard with illness this winter. Some upper respirtory stuff, some low grade temps, some stomach bugs. It's just annoying little things that make me have to wash all the bedclothes and wipes down everything with cleaner/wipes. Last week, I'm pretty sure I had some kind of mild flu thing. This week, I think poor Liam has the same thing. Temps of 101-102, hot, whiney (who wouldn't be) shakey (with chills). Tylenol and ibuprofen are his new friends and he is getting them around the clock. Last night, he woke up for some more and to watch an episode of House Hunters International with me (they picked the first house). Poor little man, you can tell he feels like junk. Being sick hasn't hurt his appetite though, or kept him off his milk. It just makes him want to be held all the time. :-(

Finally done with being stuck at home

Our "snowed in" adventure wrapped up on Friday with a 2 hour delay for Marcus and Cale. They were so excited to get on the bus and I was never so happy to see the school bus. Hmm, guess I'm not cut out for homeschooling after all.

Thursday was another day like the others. The boys played outside on the snow/ice, played the Wii, watched some tv, played a few games, argued, whined, you know, the usual stuff. I dangled over Andy the allure of going off the reservation to get some milk and maybe a new door for Liam's closet (newly painted white by Andy-thank you!). It took him over 2 hours to break through the ice in the driveway and he had to do it or we would not have been able to pull the cars back into the garage once they backed out-no traction in the driveway. By the time he was done, everyone was ready to play outside again and I graciously (re: excitedly) told Andy I would go get milk in his place. I know, how generous of me. And, guess what? Outside of our subdivison, the roads were fantastic! They were dry and clear and I bet we could have driven on them the day before. Anyway, we replenished our milk and cereal supply and got through the rest of the evening.

The next morning, Marcus and Cale were giddy with excitement to get to go back to school. Andy let them go outside a good 20 mins early to wait for the bus. (he was mostly tired of listening to them complain) They played outside until they got picked up and went on to have a great day at school.

Now, back to our normal schedule.

still snowed in

Day 2 of our stay-at-home adventure wasn't too bad. Some tv, some MarioKart, some videos, some games. The boys got to go outside twice to play. They had a blast and stayed outside until their cheeks were a nice rosey red color. The ice/sleet/snow mixture was hard enough that even Andy didn't fall through and the boys, on their sleds, just glided across the yard. (you can see how shiney the snow is in the picture) Even our neighbors came out to play, too, and they took Ewan home with them for a little bit. But, there is only so much tv and video games to watch. And, the house hasn't grown an extra room to entertain the boys in. I'm feeling a little stir-crazy and was really hoping for just a 2 hour delay for the school tomorrow. The weather really isn't that bad out just cold and a little windy. But, tonight, I saw the blinking voice mail alert and heard the voice saying "school is cancelled for Thursday". Man. That's three days now that we've been home. All I know is that I'm sending Andy out on a milk run tomorrow. We're down to 1 gallon and need to restock. Now, it's time to relax and watch Chef Robert on the Food Network.

snowpocalypse 2011

We knew last night that today would clearly be a snow day. It's been kind of long and hard to stay indoors and not go anywhere. We filled our day the best we could...

We sent the kids outside to play for a little while. The sleet/ice that fell last night was firm enough that you could stand on it. Andy could have ice skated down our street. The boys were able to slide on the sleds in our yard.

Even Liam got to go outside today. We found a pair of snowpants that were a little big, but worked out for us. He had fun being pulled on the sled by Andy.

There is a little bit of a slope in our yard and our neighbor's yard that the boys were able to slide down.

The cats, for once, did not try to run outside when the sliding door was open.

Had some Bey Blade competitions. Definitely a boy thing.

Taught tactial skills to the boys with nerf guns. You're never too young to start learning how to handle weapons :-)

Marcus under fire.

A good dad shows no mercy against his children-even in nerf wars.

We played a little Uno and another game and that was our day. The weather outside got icky again this afternoon. It has started to sleet/ice again with the promise (?) of snow overnight. School has already been cancelled again for tomorrow and this will tack on 2 more days to the end of the school year. (We have already used the 1 flex day they built into the schedule.) Here's to hoping that we keep our power. Oh, and that the weather breaks before we need milk. We have 2 gallons left, which is a lot for some people, but we go through almost a gallon a day. Stay warm everyone!