9.5 years later

Nine and a half years ago (approximately), I was in a hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska, saying 'hello' to a squirmy, crying little boy. He is an absolute joy. And he does things that make me cringe (not usually in a bad way, just in an 'oh ick' kind of way). Like today, he hiked Camelback Mountain with his dad and caught this.

That's a lizard, folks. Scott didn't have his camera, so some nice folks along the trail took his picture and emailed it to me.
Not only did he touch a lizard, he had to stick his hand in a crevice to pull the thing out. Ick, ick, ick. And I am so proud - he is all boy and I'm glad he's mine. And tomorrow, he's getting a haircut.

Bloggin' on a jet plane...

Just thought it would be cool to do - write a blog on the airplane. We're jetting to warmer climates for spring break - YAYAYAYAYAY!

Hope everyone has a great week!

sNOw day & A Project

Well, I am going to say it. Winter sucks.

Moving on, Scott has been working on a project that will be auctioned off at our school's annual auction next month. I happen to be the chair and we happened to need a project for the 3rd grade class to get behind and I happened to volunteer my wonderful husband...you know how it goes.

The 3rd grade parents generously pitched in to buy materials for....wait a minute....here it comes...a carpetball table! Yay!
Scott has been laboring in the garage, where, mind you, it's COLD because we're still in the midst of winter here. It took a couple of days and here is the result.We had a rousing family tournament during our snow day today and the kids are having a blast playing. So...we decided to keep this one and he will be making another one for the auction. (He said there were some things he wanted to 'tweak' anyway...good excuse to keep this one, eh?)
Next project...clean the garage.

Question...

For awhile, my daughter was very into "surveys." For instance: "What do you like better, toys or food?"

So, I am doing my own research. What would you rather have, someone to clean your house or a chef?

My pick (this shocked my husband, by the way) would be a chef. I really don't mind the cleaning. That's not to say I do it very often, mind you. But if I had a chef, I would always eat healthy food and I wouldn't constantly be thinking at 5:15, "Crud, what am I going to make for dinner..."

And if I could find a chef who also did the laundry, well, SIGN ME UP!!

Dinosaur Park

We (and by that I mean Scott and the kids) took advantage of our snowy March and created "Dinosaur Park" in our front yard. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.

Someone (won't mention names...) thought this was a "girl dog" because it had boobies, (sorry, Mom, I probably shouldn't use that word), but it's arms - it's a T-Rex and they have very small arms.
Below is a eupocepolis (according to Maggie.) (You-po-see-po-lis).
And this is the triceratops.

Scott helped with the T-Rex, but the kids created the others all on their own. We have officially decided to embrace all eleven months of winter around here and have fun with it.

Swim, Swim, Swim, Swim

Sorry, no pictures, but I have to recap our recent foray into the state swimming competition.

Jake qualified in three events: 50 back, 100 back, 100 free.

Maggie qualified in one event: 50 back.

Jake bettered his times in two events for personal bests. Mags bettered her time and got 3rd place. WE ARE SO PROUD!!

Swimming is a little confusing, it's like a ladder and we're on the bottom rung - C finals. The next level is A-B finals, then Championship finals and then Zone. If you make Zone times, you qualify for Nationals. I watched a 9-year old swim a 50 meter breast stroke in 36 seconds flat - he's going to nationals. (It wasn't anyone I know.) It was impressive.

Maggie qualified for A-B finals, but chose not to compete, which was just fine with us - it's a really long day when you have to wait five hours for a 50 second race.

So, next year, we start the process all over. It's been a blast and we can't wait for next year's state meet!