MN Timberwolves and Swarm

We got some tickets through Hope Kids to go to a Minnesota Swarm lacrosse and a Minnesota Timberwolves basketball game over the last two weeks.  As you can expect, Kieran was looking forward to both of these....football is over and he needs something to occupy his time.

Two weeks ago, we went to St. Paul for the Swarm and no one really knew what to expect with the lacrosse game...

Kieran certainly kept busy watching...

Luke didn't really take to the game much, he preferred to walk in the concourse seeing what was all there (though it might have been the mini donuts he really liked)...

Lex really liked the popcorn...

But everyone really seemed to like the lacrosse game, it was a new experience...

And they won in overtime (all Kieran has talked about for months is games going into overtime...he really wanted the Super Bowl to go into overtime)...

Last night we went to Minneapolis for the Timberwolves game...

The kids were given lunch boxes right away (which they really liked) and Lex found some dancers...

Of course you have to take pictures at your first game...

I think the kids liked the basketball game better (I know Luke did)....

Lex still liked her popcorn...

But a completely new experience for Luke was the finding of the 'trough'...he had no idea and refused to use it...

The Wolves won too (111-109) against the Phoenix Suns, their 12th win of the year...Kieran's thinking he's the lucky charm...

President's Day & Strep Throat

How do you spend President's Day?  We're doing it differently this year....

Kieran and Lex tested positive for strep yesterday....Sarah was diagnosed with strep this morning...all three of them slept in the living room last night.

Maddy's been gone all weekend, so she's okay.  Luke and I have avoided it so far...we'll see how long that lasts, Luke went to Bev's today thinking it'd be more fun....

The Pinewood Derby

Kieran's Pinewood Derby is tomorrow....he originally said he wanted a 'fast' car, but then decided to build a truck.  The design is his idea - I did the work with the saw, he helped the sanding/glueing/painting, the paint scheme was Sarah's idea, Maddy helped with the Patriot and Seahawk symbol.

His two favorite teams have made the Super Bowl - the day after the Pinewood Derby.  He wanted something to represent both teams.  Heres the early version of the car, after the cutting and glueing...

The finished (almost) product...the Patriot side.  The washers will be added or removed, based on the weigh-in at the derby...we've got to get as close to the maximum allowed weight, or we think we need to get to the maximum weight....

Here's the Seahawk side...

For the record...Kieran want's the Patriots to win the Super Bowl...

Outdoor Fun

Winter break is coming to an end and we've been out on the lake a few times the last couple of days.

Luke is the one whose gone the most, today Lex came with.

They spend a lot of time falling down though...

But it hasn't bothered them too much yet...

There's more pictures with them on the laying on the ice than standing....

Again...

Lex is particularly unstable...

Up and down, up and down....

Kieran hasn't come out to the lake yet...he and his chin still remember the five stitches....

Happy New Year!

2014 has gone and now 2015 has started....we did our best to watch it come in last night.  Maddy was off doing what sixteen year olds do, the rest of us were at home.  We started the night watching Night at the Museum:  Battle of the Smithsonian.  I'm pretty confident that Sarah and I slept through most of the second half of the movie or the battle portions of the movie....the kids stayed up to watch all of it.

The movie ended around 9:45, leaving a long time before the ball would drop (and we were just shooting for New York time, not Minneapolis)....

Luke was the first to fell asleep....

Kieran was eager to stay up....he kept talking about how hard it was and how tired he was...

Lex wasn't up much longer than Luke....

Kieran made it to 2015 (for New York)....

We then all agreed that we could go to bed....happy 2015....

Holiday Lights

We went to Mankato yesterday (Dec. 26) for the Kiwanis Holiday Lights show put on at Sibley Park. There are over 1 million lights displayed at the park (with over 8 miles of extension cords to power those lights), with many of the lights accompanied by music.  It's free -- though they ask for food shelf donations and will take cash if you offer -- so it's a fantastic display.

Lights...Lights...Lights...

Most of us were happy to be there...it took Lex a few minutes to wake up after the drive...

More lights...

Luke and a Christmas tree...

There are lights on all sorts of things...

Kieran and Luke...

There was a contest for the best decorated Christmas tree between the non-profits who volunteer at the park...here's Lex's favorite...the ballerina tree.

More lights...

Why not sit on a tractor while viewing the lights?

More lights...

2014 is the year of the selfie....right?  Well...here's ours...Luke's there (barely)...

The show runs through New Year's Eve....

Merry Christmas!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

Just like the ones I used to know

Where the tree tops glisten

And children listen

To hear sleigh bells in the snow

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

It was not to be this year, and we don't know too many people who were disappointed by that fact.  We woke to Christmas with the yard looking like this:

Not having any snow did not slow any of the activities.  The tree before the early morning drama began...

First up was the stockings left by Santa and one present to tide the kids over for a while, Lex was happy with her horse....

Luke got some more dinosaurs....

Kieran got his Tom Brady jersey (he's the best player in the league, just ask Kieran -- he'll tell you)...

Later, all the presents were opened...Lex still likes Dora and Frozen...

We're getting a lot of presents (ornaments) that have been made at school....

It's not all actions, occasionally there is some downtime between presents to catch your breath....

What do you do after opening presents on Christmas?  Kieran and Luke play one of their two new playstation games...

While Sarah gets on the computer to inquire why a gift was messed up...when you order a pair of boots you expect two boots of the same size and different feet.  What was sent was two boots, both left feet, one a size 8 and one a size 9....

Merry Christmas!

Maddy's 16th

After a long day of school, work, managing dance practice and dinner with Sarah at Rey Azteca in Waconia, they got home to start birthday cake and presents.  It was about time too ---- you can only hear questions like "when do we eat cake?  when is present time?  why?  how?" a few times before you start losing it --- these questions were asked somewhere around a million times yesterday...

Everyone was excited when Maddy and Sarah walked in....we had to start with cake/candles and singing of happy birthday.

You don't really get to blow candles out by yourself in this house....

In fact, it's a little bit of a race to see who can blow the most candles out...

If this trend continues, we'll never have a remaining lit candle to indicate that he or she has a boyfriend or girlfriend....it that's what lit candles still represent.

Then it was time for presents (and shortly thereafter, thankfully, bedtime)....

Driver's license test is scheduled for next week...

Santa Comes to Town

Santa came to the local bank Friday night and the kids went to give him their wish list.

Kieran told Santa he wanted a Tom Brady (QB for the New England Patriots) jersey, an Andrew Luck (QB for the Indianapolis Colts) jersey and football cards.  Santa later told mom and dad that he would be getting Kieran a Tom Brady jersey....

Lukes request was much simpler.....lots of dinosaurs!  It doesn't matter if it would be dinosaur toys, books, puzzles, clothes, etc.  He wants dinosaurs...

Lexy's was by far the most detailed and specific.  She wants a pink horse with a saddle, a rider, carrots, apples and oranges (the horse has to eat you know)...

No one cried, everyone spoke, it was a nice trip to Santa...