Bracket Madness

The kids have been obsessed with brackets for the past month. With their basketball brackets only getting action on certain days, they decided to make some family & friend brackets, filling out the brackets with names and then flipping a coin to see who wins.

Bracket Mania

Baby Preparations

With just about 2 months to go, we are starting to get serious about getting ready for the baby. In March that meant updating our bedroom, where the baby will be born and where we tend to spend a lot of time in the first few weeks.

We repainted, lowered the bed, made room for the birth tub, and redecorated. Other than some work in the basement, to get ready for school, this is the first work we have done in any of the rooms since we have moved in.

Intimate White walls, with a Romance accent wall
Intimate White walls, with a Romance accent wall

200,000

In 2006 we bought our good old Mazda MPV. I think it had around 68,000 miles on it at the time. Today we crossed the 200,000 mile mark. We have always asked a lot of our car and with our growing family we will be asking even more. I am sure it is up for the challenge!

200,000 Miles, at the intersection of 42nd and University
200,000 Miles, at the intersection of 42nd and University

Ice Skating!

The kids were outside this afternoon and they decided they wanted to play hockey on the creek. A few minutes later we had our shovels and skates out and were getting to work. We were cut short by the dark, but I can tell we are going to enjoy having the ice skating in our back yard!

Safety notice: How thick was the ice? I am not sure. It looked really thick but I didn’t have time to drill. Tomorrow I am going to drill a few spots to see the ice depth. No one fell in, and it is supposed to stay below freezing for the foreseeable future.

Free Skate!
Free Skate!

Good Snow!

Today we had our first big snow of the year. We had a couple of good snowfalls back in November, but December was warm and dry. It looked like we were about to enter a cold period with no white stuff on the ground, but mother nature took care of us!

It snowed all afternoon and we got out after dinner to clear the driveway and sidewalks. This year we also haul some of the snow from the driveway to the back deck, so we can build a little hill for our kids and the school kids to play on. It is a little work, but well worth it.

The Snow Crew
The Snow Crew

In other news, remember Andrew’s snowman from Christmas Eve? It is still going strong, which is pretty much a Christmas miracle.

House Puzzle

Over break we worked on a puzzle that we had borrowed from the Reagens. Before deconstructing it this morning the kids wanted to preserve a picture, so we could remember who chose to live in which house. Hopefully they remember better than me!

When the kids wake up I will have them remind me who is living in which house.
Elliot – B3, Mari – B1, Andrew – B4B, Rob – C1, Susan – A5

White Christmas?

It isn’t looking like it is going to be a White Christmas, but the kids at least got to play with a little bit of snow this morning!

Lucia, Andrew's snowman, Mari's snowman. Elliot also made a snowman, but he had some stability issues so Elliot decided to play soccer with him.
Lucia, Andrew’s snowman, Mari’s snowman. Elliot also made a snowman, but he had some stability issues so Elliot decided to play soccer with him.