the big one's coming! (White Death 2011)

Have you seen the weather report? I guess the midwest is going to get hammered with a snow/ice storm of awesome proportion. As I write this, the sun, the has melted much of the current snow on the ground, has now gone behind the clouds. It's gray and dreary looking, like it will snow soon. I guess we'll get some ice first (yippee!) and I'm hoping our power stays on. We have lots of blankets, I got some more candles (good-smelling Christmas discount ones), our flashlights are ready to go and I'm turning on our gas fireplace so it's ready in case we need it. And, our grill has propane, so we can eat something besides sandwiches. I'm sure Andy thinks I'm overreacting. And, I could be. I might be getting swept up in the news frenzy (and being tired from working the night before probably isn't helping). Thank goodness I went grocery shopping on Saturday. I hear the stores are just nuts today. Our fridge and freezer are stocked. We even still have 3 gallons of milk. I did see a guy at Menards rush in (at 8am-sunny, clear) to buy a generator and then hurry to load it in his car and be on his way. So, I hope everyone reading this stays warm and their houses stay lit. :-) I'm glad I don't have to work again until Saturday night. We'll see what tonight and the next morning holds.

and our adventure with the orthodontist begins...

At their last dentist visit, the doctor wanted Marcus to see an orthodontist for a crossbite. His upper teeth line up slightly behind his lower teeth. I finally made the appointment and took him last week. The result: a retainer for Marcus. I didn't think he would need one, but was not surprised after seeing the xray of his upper teeth and being explained that Marcus had a small mouth. This retainer will create more space for all his "big" teeth to come in and hopefully (per the orthodontist) he will only need braces (probably) once all his adult teeth come in.

Marcus is so funny about new situations. When the orthodontist said that he would be getting a retainer, he said, "I don't think I want one." We told him it would be okay and the orthodontist said, "I bet there are other kids in your class with retainers." I said, "He's in the second grade." I'm pretty sure he's the first kid in his class with a retainer. Anyway, Marcus was anxious about the retainer so I helped him decide on what flavor that the molding would taste like (fruit punch) and what color his retainer would be (green, glow-in-the-dark). He liked both the decisions. We got the molding done and shelled out a fair amount for this thing and then had to wait a week while the retainer was being made. And, actually, Marcus was excited about going back to get the retainer.

Well, on Wednesday, we went back to get the retainer and thank goodness I remembered that appointment because I had forgotten to write the appointment down on the calender. I looked at Marcus at 4:50 and remembered that the appointment was at 5:40. I still needed to feed the boys and put on "daytime" clothes (since I was still in jams-I had worked the night before). We made it there 10 mins late, fed and dressed :-). Marcus got his retainer and let me take his picture.




A nice close-up. He gets to wear this for 6 months with periodic check-ups to adjust if needed (and, I already wrote the next appt on the calender). He gets to take it out for meals, recess and basketball. He's done great with it and I'm curious to see the outcome.

It's a girl!

Let's get right to it-our family is going to get a little bigger! We're havng a baby! And, it's a girl! I couldn't believe it when the ultrasound tech told me. I thought it might be a girl after the first ultrasound when the heartrate was in the 170's (all the boys had HRs in the 140s), but at the second ultrasound when the tech captured the HR @ 143 I said, "Oh, it's a boy." "You can't go by the heartrate," is what the tech said right back. (I know, you really can't judge by that.) "I know," I said, "but the boys all had HRs in the 140's." I bet she was pleased to show me that I was wrong and that it was a girl. Our girl is due around June 15th, although my one doctor said they will probably induce a week early. I guess she doesn't want to deliver another almost 10 pound baby.

Yup, clearly a girl. Even I could tell that from this photo. We do have a name picked out that I think we are going with: Kella Elizabeth. It fits all my crazy name requirements: does not start or end with a letter that any of the other kids' names start or end with, does not rhyme with any of the other names (although it does have that hard "c" sound like Cale's) and the name is Irish for warrior. I'm feeling pretty good about this name and have gotten some positive feedback, so I think it's a keeper. The boys were leaning toward Princess Peach or Baby Boo (thank you Mario Kart), so I'm not sure how they will take the actual name. And really, the boys are aware that a baby is coming, except maybe Liam, but I don't think they really care. I mean, at this point, the baby isn't really interfering with their lives.

So, we have to wait for a little bit to meet her. But, we can't wait!

Cale's basketball team photo

Cale's basketball coach took this photo of the team at Jr Husky basketball night and was kind enough to send it to the parents. There's Cale, front and center, right where he likes to be. Looks like they were having fun, doesn't it? :-)

Marcus and basketball

I got to take Marcus to his basketball game this morning. Usually, Andy takes Marcus and then we meet up at Cale's game or there's time to drop Marcus off at home and pick up Cale for his game. Anyway, Marcus's team had 5 kids there today, so everyone played the entire time. The coach is a serious person who also coaches the 2nd grade travelling team (can you believe that the 2nd grade had a travelling team?) and whose son plays on the in-house and travelling team (and is a good little point guard, but also very reluctant to pass the ball to other players). Marcus appears to play a kind of post position and does well getting rebounds (he is one of the tallest players on the floor). He doesn't shoot very much, but will pass the ball back out to the perimeter. Marcus's team won the game which was accompanied by the most "jump ball" calls I have ever seen. The possession arrow changed at least 15 times that game. Marcus did a good job guarding his player and I think his ball handling skills have improved since starting the season.

Marcus is #7 in black in the photo. I had another one added, but just erased it on accident. No worries, it was still of his back. I only took a couple photos. It's hard to get good shots of kids that keep running around :-).

Jr Husky basketball night

On Friday, I got to take the boys to the Heights basketball game because it was Junior Husky basketball night. All the teams in the league were going to be introduced in between the JV and varsity games. In all, I think around 200 kids got to come out onto the floor. I hadn't taken the boys to a basketball game since Liam was an infant. They all had a good time, mostly because we got to have snacks at the game (re: candy). I think Liam ate a whole box of popcorn by himself, too. Marcus and Cale got to go down to the floor and give high-fives to the varsity players coming out onto the floor-they thought that was fun. We stayed for 3 quarters of the varsity game and only had to change seats once to a less crowded section. We probably could have stayed for the whole game, but it was getting a smidge late, Heights was clearly going to win and Liam needed a diaper change that I would have rather done at home. I tucked some very tired, happy boys in that night.

A shot of teams lined up around the gym.


Liam was happy after eating a whole box of popcorn. :-)


Marcus and Cale were happy to see that I had snacks waiting for them when they got back to their seats.

Ewan did enjoy himself-I promise. He did break down once when I asked him to stay in his seat while I went to find Marcus and Cale ("You don't love me." he cried. How sad. Thankfully, Cale came back to his seat on his own so Ewan had company while I hunted down Marcus.) All was better once he got a drink and was able to eat some cotton candy.

basketball and Cale

Cale and Marcus have are in the middle of their basketball season at their school. I tried to get some pictures of Cale's game today. Only one on my camera looked good and the last two I took with my phone (I do not understand why I can't get a flash setting to work for the gym, but anyway). Cale loves to play and likes to be the one to pass the ball inbounds. His dribbling has improved tons since he started and he has made a fair amount of baskets. He plays on a K/1st grade team. Their name is Georgetown. All the K/1st teams are named for college teams in that conference (whatever it is). It's kind of fun to watch them play because half the time the kids don't really have any idea what is going on. And, they just go all out. The poor ref tries to call fouls to help teach the kids the right way to play. It's a great learning experience for Cale and I think he's having a lot of fun.

Here is the "starting five", lined up and getting a reminder of which basket they need to go to. You can't see him, but Cale is in this picture.

(from my phone) Cale is in the gray shirt in the middle of this photo.

Can you see Cale? He is by himself, his shorts have a bit of orange trim on them. I think he's looking to see which way the ball is going to go.

I hope to have some photos from one of Marcus's games soon. I may have Andy take them with his phone...