Ice Skating 101

Any ideas on what to do on a *no*school*because*it's*conference*time*Friday? How about ice skating with the kiddos?

Well, that's exactly what we did last Friday with our good friends the Cupps. The kids ALWAYS ask me whenever we walk by the ice arena (which in our town happens to be in the mall, therefore we walk by it often...) if we can go skating, and in true parent fashion I always respond with a lame, "ohhh, maybe next time" type of answer. Can you imagine my children's surprise when not only did they get to go skating, but it was MY idea?? (or at least not their's, maybe it was Vicki's? I don't really remember...) They were SOOO excited to go skating, and we all had a fun time.

Drew and his buddy Ben did pretty well all by themselves. Lars and Matthew did great after a few trial runs, and then could pretty much hang with (or fall with) the big guys. Maddi and Abby relied on lots of hand holding in the beginning, but by the end, they too were ok with trying it out on their own. All in all, they had a GREAT time, and it was a nice way for two momma's to fill the day for some active little kiddos!

Elephant Hat

Maddi came home from school the other day and was very excited to show me her art project she got to bring home. She told me it was an elephant hat. I expected gray. It was pink. With *tassles* or something. It was adorable...

Rockin' it Miley Style

I was first made aware that Miley Cyrus was coming to Des Moines' Wells Fargo Arena back in June 2009. I never even flinched when it came to deciding whether or not to go, for my daughter's sake of course. Now, telling a 5 year old (actually she was 4 at the time of ticket purchase) that she gets to go see Miley Cyrus in concert is one thing, but the fact that the concert was still 4 months away would have been too much to bear. (For me AND her)

My friend Vicki, who also has a 5 year old, and I decided to not tell our girls about the concert until the actual day arrived. After many conversations, phone calls, trips all over town trying to find Miley t-shirts, and trying very hard not to actually slip up and spill the beans, the day finally arrived. We were so hopeful that they would understand that they were going to see Miley... LIVE, onstage! and we may have been *slightly* nervous that all of our planning may have been in vain.

The plan was to pick the girls up at noon from school, and then take them to the car and explain to them that we had a surprise for them. We had put their new shirts in gift bags and the girls opened them and squealed with delight. I'm pretty sure they thought that was the surprise--and they would have been thrilled with that! But when we told them that they were going to the concert, they LITERALLY squealed with delight...and didn't stop for several miles ;)

We met up with some other friends and we all had a great time! Maddi was all about the *hot pink* hair extensions we found at Claire's, and the pic of her rockin' out is to Hoedown Throwdown. She did get a little tired by the end and even though she sang the songs, she wanted me to hold her while we danced for Party In The USA (the first pic in the post). But all in all, Maddi loved it. When we woke up Saturday morning she said, "Mommy, thank you for taking me to the concert!"

I think the surprise worked!

Lars' 7th Birthday

It must be impossible that my little Lars is now 7! You have brought such joy to our family and I am so proud of the boy that you have become! You have such a wonderful sense of humor and happy-go-lucky attitude, and are completely driven to be able to *hang* with the big boys. It is this same determination that makes me admire you, yet also creates some challenging moments for me as your momma. This challenge is good for me, and even better for you, and I hope you always keep that level of determination as it will serve you well someday!! You are a bright, lego-fanatical, video game loving, momma snuggling, action packed, energy filled kid and I am completely and totally in love with you!

Happy Birthday Lars!!

Flag Football

Football time is here once again and the boys are playing flag football--Drew for the Jaguars and Lars for the Redskins. Lars was *BEYOND* excited that he finally got to play a sport this fall, now that he is a big 1st grader and all. The first game of the season found Lars at the QB position and he relished the spot. My favorite moment is a toss up between the time when Lars tried to yell out "HIKE!" and the kid playing center didn't hear him, so he literally SCREAMED it the second time, and the other moment was when one of the kids tried to yell hike! and his mouthpiece fell right out of his mouth. These little munchkins with these huge mouthguards making their mouths/lips look ginormous just cracks me up. That being said, Lars' team is 3-0 as of this writing, so something must be going ok!

Drew has also had a good learning year. His team is 2-1 and during the second game of the season he caught a pass and ran it in for a touchdown. Very EXCITING!! It is interesting to see just how much bigger the 3rd/4th grade teams are compared to the 1st/2nd grade teams, and kind of sad to remember that Drew was in that league just a few short years ago, and is now going to be ready for pads next year!!

We have lots of fun watching the boys play this fall, and even Maddi is capable of making a friend or two each week to play with for our 3-4 hour marathons at the football fields!

Bike Ramp

One of my sons' favorite pastimes includes riding their bikes over ramps and they LOVE that they get "AIR" when they fly over the ramp (read--a few inches). Here are some pics of the two of them tearing up the pavement...

GNO

Another great visit from one of my best friends, Clare, who lives in DC. Catching up is so effortless, and we always have a wonderful time together. I love that.

Another great friend Erin and her hubby Mickey also joined us, and Jamie I never laugh harder than when we are together listening to one of Mickey's stories...Jewish kid from South Brooklyn-he's got some good ones :)

Love ya both and until next time...

Lei

One of my patients is from Hawaii originally, and is skilled at making leis. Here is a picture of one she made for me and brought in at her last eye exam. The tiny little flowers were beautiful and it smelled absolutely WONDERFUL!

I've decided my next lei needs to be one I actually get in Hawaii :)

Hawkeye Fever

We had a busy weekend, and to start it off we took the kids on the "Hawkeye Express" train to Kinnick Stadium for some tailgating. The kids always have a blast doing this and it's a great way to start off a football morning...snack foods and pop for breakfast, playing football in the stadium parking lot, and just watching all the people hoping for a Hawkeye win!

The train is a pretty awesome way to get to the game sans traffic, and then we take it back to the "station" (aka IHOP) so we can get home just after kick-off to finish watching the game. We grabbed some Culvers on the way home and lunch was even served! Although the game wasn't that pretty, it was a win nonetheless.

Go Hawks!

Jamie is 40!

Here are some pictures of the big 40 birthday bash celebrated at the Riverside Casino! We had never been there and haven't even been in a casino for YEARS, so I though it would be fun to get away for the night to play with the "big kids". We had a great time and Jamie couldn't have asked for a better way to spend his birthday than with his 2 brothers (and their adorable wives, of course!) We also had a few extra friends that were able to make it our for the big celebration and we all had a blast between dinner and slot machines, and of course the blackjack table!

Happy Birthday Jamie! I love you!!