whobody did that?: January 2014

Thursday, January 16, 2014

whobody put on a show?

So…with all of this time being stuck inside, Lola has been dreaming up and putting on

a LOT of shows for us.

This was the first one that she did…and it was actually this past fall sometime.

It was awesome though.

The biggest problem is…I don't have any photos of her actually performing in it…and my videos just won't transfer to my blog well. :) So, you will just have to see the set up!

First…this is her room…

she laid her blanket out on the floor and then

made a stage using a stool, another blanket, and an ice pack.

She also made special places

for each of us to sit:

As you can see below:

each 'seat' has a pillow, a blanket, a necklace, and a stuffed animal.

She also has a glass of water for each of us on her nightstand…

and handed out candy during the show.

She puts a lot of preparation into these things.

She even made a ticket for EACH person:

On the back it told you which spot was yours according to the stuffed animal on it!

There was even a place for stroller parking….just in case.

And, of course, a direction sign…in case we didn't know where to go.
Keaton was the ticket taker.

Lola did put on a VERY GOOD SHOW. She sang us a few made up songs and a few 'covers'.
It was wonderful.

This has been really good practice for her,
since she has plans to become a rock star someday.
(her thinking is that she will change her first name to Taylor, and find someone to marry with the last name Swift.)
that would be ONE way to do it, I guess.

I would say that there are about 2 or 3 "shows" put on a week around here.
Most of them involve all of the kids
…and range from "basketball"
and "volleyball shows"
to last night's show
"the leopard and knight in
shining armor show".

I love the kids' creativity and how much preparation they put into these things!
I should be taking more pictures of the shows to share though…

whobody is a panther pal?

The oldest 2 kids got to do the coolest thing in early December.

They took part in a basketball camp at UNI with the men's basketball team!

We headed to Cedar Falls for an afternoon with Keaton and Lola and took them to "Panther Pals". On the day of the basketball camp, the kids got to go around between the UNI-dome, the rec center, and the media room, and spend time with the Panthers basketball team and their coaches, learning about basketball.

They were all split into groups by grades, so the kids were both on their own.

(Which, by the way, would have made me a nervous wreck at that age.)

The kids didn't mind a bit and had a great time meeting new people and making new friends.

It was a very cool experience for the kids to have direct contact with these

"famous basketball players"

and they had so much fun having an afternoon without the little boys too!

They each got a basketball, a t shirt and a poster (cast) to take home.

After the practice portion of the camp, the kids got to go around and get each player's autograph (and the coach's!).

Lola got her basketball signed, while Keaton got his poster signed

…and even some on the back of his shirt!

Lola with Ben Jacobson! (The head coach.)

It was amazing how casual and personal the whole afternoon was.

We had a very good experience!

Then, THE COOLEST PART:

they got to perform during halftime of one of the Men's Panthers basketball games

…AND it happened to be ON Lola's birthday!

So, we loaded the kids up after school on Lola's birthday and headed to Cedar Falls.

We ate a very quick supper out…and then went to the game.

The kids had a blast at the game…we got to sit in the 2nd row.

Cruz LOVED the popcorn and the music!

Lola always has a little problem with static…. :)

and the lady pictured beside her was her new best friend that night.

Somehow Lola always makes friends and chats with the people next to us.

She has the gift of gab!

Of course, the kids didn't really want to cooperate for a picture…

there was WAY too much going on to pay attention to boring old mom and her camera.

Keaton always watches EVERY second of the game and has become a HUGE sports fan!

He loves to follow the Panthers

(and the Packers, the Heat, and, of course, the Clayton Ridge Eagles).

Cruz, well, he just LOVES to do whatever it is that Keaton is doing.

So, he was right in there cheering with Keaton yelling

"GO PANTHERS!!"

(Actually, I think he kept on yelling "go eagles"…but only because those are the games he usually gets to go to.)

It was finally halftime and the older 2 kids made it out onto the court for their big performance!

They actually got in the front

(which I was super excited about…

because then they were easy to find and take pictures of!).

They did some dribbling tricks and drills and were AWESOME!

Afterwards, I tried one more time to get a picture of all of them….

Not sure if you are able to see the future or not…

but if you look at this picture below…

well, you can just about guess what Cruz did with the basketball seconds later.

Yep…he threw it at Keaton…

and Keaton didn't see it coming since he was paying attention to me.

Poor kid!

(he didn't get too hurt though…he puts up with a lot!)

The rest of the game was a bit of a challenge, since Cruz now knew we had basketballs along…

but luckily we were able to keep the basketballs off of the court…during the game at least.

The Panthers Mascots are Lola's favorite part of the game.

(Oh, and, of course the cheerleaders.)

They roam around during the game and hang out with the kids in the stands.

T.C. is the male panther (T.C. stands for The Cat)….

and pictured below with Lola is T.K.

(yep…The Kitten).

I actually DID just google this to make sure I was right….clever, huh?

Anyway we told TK that it was Lola's birthday,

so she spent some extra time with Lola and gave her some extra hugs.

Lola was beside herself!!!

The problem with taking the kids to UNI games is this:

they don't start until 7:00 PM…

which is only about 1/2 hour before

we generally start BEDTIME at our house.

This kid below gets t.i.r.e.d.

So…I gave in and gave him his binkie and blankies for the 4th quarter.

(No, we haven't gotten rid of these yet….someday)

Oh look, Cruzie fell asleep.

(At least this is what he looks like when he is fake sleeping and snoring.)

He is HILARIOUS.

When we came out after the game, the weather had changed.

Poor Jason drove us all home on terribly snowy roads, while we all slept peacefully.

So glad our kids will sleep on the way home…

it gets to be a late night…but they recover well.

And most of the time, we consider it "worth it".

The Panther Pals program was really fun for the kids…

hopefully we can do it again next year!

(And maybe talk some friends into joining them!)

whobody had a wonderful christmas?

Here they are! Our pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

It feels like that was so very long ago (but, it really wasn't).

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to go to church with Jason's family here in Garnavillo. Mass is at 4:00, so beforehand, I tried to get some good pictures of the kids in their 'Christmas outfits'. (This is usually struggle…since we always seem to be running short on time…and we had to wake Cruzie up from his nap to get him ready.)

Here are the boys…as you might be able to see…

Nash is the current problem when it comes to getting a good picture of the kids together.

They are just too cute, if you ask me!!

After church we head to Grandma and Grandpa "Tractor's" house and have dinner and open gifts with Mason, Cagney and Devin. The kids love to play with these cousins…and I love that these cousins are getting old enough where they can watch kids like Cruz…and we adults can mostly just chat!

When we got home from Grandma's we set out some treats and goodies for Santa and his reindeer…and headed to bed!

Keaton and Lola were of course up by 6…

Nash slept a little later…

and everyone had to wait for Cruzie to get up at 8 so we could open our Santa presents!!!

(Nash looks a little rough here…and shortly after we opened presents, we found out why….poor kid.) Both Nash and Lola ended up with the stomach flu on Christmas day, but they DID both still enjoy themselves, and weren't too much worse for the wear.

Uncle Thom still came out to visit and play with the kids and that made their day! They loved playing all of their new games with him!

Look at Nash's face in this picture….I think he wanted a guitar too. In Santa's defense, he claimed he wanted everything on his list PLUS everything that Keaton and Lola had on their lists.

We had a wonderful Christmas.

For the first time (ever, I think), I felt like the kids didn't' get "too much" and the amount of new stuff wasn't as overwhelming as normal…for everyone!

Phew. Although the kids were a little under the weather, we had a great day and night just spending time together as a family.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas too!

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

whobody loved christmasapalooza?

We have lots of Christmas traditions, but one my favorites is Christmasapalooza!

I wrote about it last year in this blog post.

It is a tradition we began in 2006…and it is a wonderful Christmas party with some of our closest friends (and their kids…who, coincidentally are my kids' closest friends ;))

Funniest thing is, this group of friends consists of Jason's friends from high school! We are so lucky to all still be living close, and still hanging out…and most of all, the wives actually like each other (maybe even more than the boys do!).

So…the party is a blast! It is 'for the kids'…so we bring snacks, have Papa Murphy's pizza, and, if we are lucky, SANTA even comes to visit!

So.Much.Fun.

17 kids is a lot of kids to try to get in a picture.