First Time Skiing!

There wasn't really any snow, but for a first time there was enough! We took the kids to Swiss Valley in Jones, MI. We enrolled the kids into a 2 hour ski school. By the end of it, Luke was on the ground crying. Brooke was bored. Ryan was just tired. However, all three kids admitted they had fund and they'd like to try it again! Its a great start and we expect even better on our next outing. Now, since it took 13 years to get Brooke on skiis for the first time ... lets see how long it will be until we take them out again.

Dome Dining

 Our family has really come to appreciate outdoor dome dining during this pandemic. I know it will go away someday, and we will definitely miss it.

Not only do we appreciate being outside, but we really like having our own space. We can talk and act how we want (almost like we are still home) and still get to eat a restaurant dinner. Its the best of both worlds.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

After a pandemic-related hiatus, the kids were finally back in the store for our Christmas Eve tradition. This year they served hot chocolate and made caramels. Brooke always demonstrates so much interest in being a part of the process. She wants to learn and do all the things. Ryan tends to get bored quickly and shows very little interest. Luke also gets bored pretty fast ... but he was a big fan of making caramel chews this year. Maybe there is an interested kid behind that short attention-span mind.

We also resumed our Christmas Eve dinner at Koi. We don't eat out often these days, but this even warranted a celebration. Everyone had a blast. Our food was amazing, and it felt a little bit like some of our traditions are coming back. It was a good feeling.

We did hit one small snag. The plan was to bake Santa some cookies, like we do almost every year. But, we got so caught up in returning to the store and our dinner that we totally forgot. We were really lucky that I had some random cookies in the pantry. Whew. Close one!

 

After hours and hours of prepping and wrapping, Christmas Eve 2021 was one for the books.

Christmas with the Schneiders

We went to Uncle Brad's house to celebrate Christmas with the Schneiders. Pretty big deal because we hadn't seen the cousins in almost two years. The kids were really excited to be together and easily fell back into their typical shenanigans.

Bodhi didnt get to come, but Grandma sent a present home for him. He was really excited about it.

Little Picasso

Luke has been really bringing home a lot of great art lately!

Little Picasso

Little

Jean & Ruth 2021 Holiday Card

Welcome Back Chippy

The Elf is here, and Luke is already writing him notes! Gonna be a long December.

Baking

Brooke baked sugar cookies today ... and she was kind enough to let Luke help. PLUS, she did her best to refrain from comment when he mangled the dough cutouts, hideously applied frosting and added the "wrong" color sprinkles. That was quite the feat for her!

A LONG Day in Merrillville Indiana

Brooke's team had their second tournament of the season. This one was in Merrilville Indiana (about an hour away). I kind of forgot that Indiana was not quite as covid cautious as we were. So, walking in and seeing everyone without masks was a bit of a shock. Then, we spent seven hours in the facility with all these unmasked people. Sheesh!

Overall it was a poorly run tournament. The girls only played three times, but we were there for 7 hours. It was work sessions and by sessions and games running late. It was exhausting.  But, they played really well and had some chances to bond. While I was both bored and exhausted, they were mostly happy. And forming unity as a team is more important than keeping your parents happy ... right? At least, thats what I told myself.

Ryan is on his way to being vaccinated!

Shot one is done!

The Lost Tooth (literally)

Ryan came up from the basement and told me he lost his tooth. Cool! He hasn't lost in in over 2 years. Then he tells me he lost it. Ok, not that abnormal.

Then he tells me he's not positive when he lost his tooth so it could be anywhere - including at his volleyball meet in the burbs this morning. He just noticed that it was missing - but doesn't recall losing it and doesn't know when that might have happened.

That's a little weird, right?

Ryan's First Volleyball Game!

   

Ryan's team had his first game today. It was really exciting! The team didnt win, but Ryan got a decent amount of playing time. We were surprised as he is just a junior member of the team. He even got a few plays!

Ryan is 11!

For Ryan's 11th birthday we decided to take the kids bowling at Lucky Strike Wrigleyville. The plan was a little bit ruined when Ryan continued to hit gutter ball after gutter ball (and Luke was picking up points left and right). Despite the fact it wasnt the initial plan, we decided to let the kids play some video games in order to ensure we could walk out of there with some smiles. All the "kids" (including Dad) were pretty big fans of the riding bike and driving car games. Everyone was happy. Whew!

We wrapped up the evening with cake and candles, and of course presents!

Halloween

Brooke started off trick-or-treating in the neighborhood with a couple of friends, while Ryan and Luke went out (close) just the two of them. Everyone felt very grown-up and independent. 

After some early trick-or-treating, we all went out to try to score some more candy by hitting some of the streets a little farther away then just our block. All three of the kids hit up every house they possibly could.

Bodhi, the chicken, is definitely ot the biggest fan of Halloween

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The kids got so much candy, it was pretty much ridiculous. The candy on the table is just the stuff Brooke and Ryan collected. They decided to combine their candy and sort it by type. Luke kept his separate.

End of i9 Basketball

2nd Place Champions

The Catherine Cook JV Girls Volleyball team took 2nd place in the championships (losing to British). This was an amazing feat given the fact that the last time the girls played (after no season last year due to covid) they didnt win a single game. They had such an amazing season. It was great to be back playing school sports, win or loose, and it was great to see the comraderie between the girls. Now onto club volleyball!

Little Picasso

Luke's first family portrait of the year :)

Little Picasso: Running Theme

Luke brought home a lot of art this week. There seems to be a pretty common theme. I asked him about it, and he simply said "I like volcanos"

Makes sense.

Reading and Waiting

We've got 10 minutes to stall to pick up Ryan and Luke has three new library books. He will be done with them before we even get home, but I love seeing him dig into a book.

Happy 45!

I love no longer being the oldest in the house! It was another low-key birthday, with kids activities scattered throughout and a birthday present that got lost in the mail ... twice.

But it was also a happy day, and that's all we can ever ask for.

Major Milestone: Ear Piercing

I took Brooke to get her ears pierced today. It was quite exciting day, because she's been putting it off for three years. Day after day there is a new excuse and a new deadline for getting her ears pierced. She's wanted to do it since she was 10, but has been too afraid. But, by some weird miracle (I still don't understand) she agreed to do it this weekend.

We went to Target, which has a new partnership with some earring company and has been doing lots of adverting in my social media feeds. Good thing, because we could do a return plus shop plus pierce some ears!

She was really nervous, but did a great job. The second one was worse than the first (it always is), but she did it. I paid and we started strolling to the front to do my return. She said, "when she did the second one everything went black for a second." And I figured it was just nerves. We got most of my return processed (just waiting on the receipt) and Brooke asked if we could just leave and go to the car. I looked at her, and her eyes were glassy and staring at nothing and her face was really pale. I knew what was coming next.

I tried to reach and grab her, but the cart was in between us. I grabbed and held her and she started to collapse, hitting her head on the cart as she went. I pushed the cart out of the way and tried to brace her as she went down. She hit the ground and immediately opened her eyes and said "Im fine." The customer service girl (who also tried helping me grab Brooke as she fell) was freaking out and wanted to call and ambulance. I said no, but asked her to watch Brooke (laying on the floor, in Target) so I could find her some juice or something. Luckily they had coolers by the checkout so I grabbed a Gatorade. A few minutes and a few sips later … and we were good to go.

So, it seems Brooke has inherited my keen ability to pass out. I'm hoping it was just a really random thing triggered by a lack of food (she worked out and hadn't had lunch yet) plus really high stress and fear.

We will know for sure when they dissect frogs in science class!

Medal Time

Luke's basketball team not only won today, but Luke got the "teamwork" medal! He played great, aggressive on the court, getting rebounds and making shots. He's very excited!