4th Set of Stitches for W

Friday night ice skating with uncle Tim. They almost made it once around the rink before Wyatt 'face planted' on the ice and busted open his eyebrow. They spent the rest of the evening in urgent care getting 10 stitches. Fred met them at 212 Medical, as Adrea and I were busy coaching our future NBA stars.

 

 

Fun Night Out & a Win

Fred and I went to the Eric Church concert with the Michaels and the Blommels. Fred and I didn't know any of the music and we couldn't understand a word he sang, but the pre-concert and post-concert company was fun and the actual concert was fun to watch and people watch. We stayed downtown in a hotel, but made it back to Chaska by 8:30 am on Saturday to see Gavin's basketball game.

Gavin's team came out strong, showing all they learned from their coaches. The other team didn't want to keep score, but the boys knew that they scored a bunch more than the other team. Before the game, I said to Ethan "we aren't going to keep score, but we are going to win anyway" to which the wise 3rd grader says "in the end we all win". I can't wait to see what bit of wisdom he'll share with me next week.

3rd in Shakopee

The first weekend in January the boys did a one day tournament in Waconia and ended up as consolation champs. Last weekend in Shakopee, Jacob's basketball team played some good games to earn themselves 3rd place. Jacob made some great baskets and got a few boards too.

Gav's team had their first game, with Adrea, Tim & I as coaches. We played the 2nd grade renegades and they creamed us. Ethan noted that "the first game is always a little rough". The boys took the loss in stride, but Coach Adrea took it hard.

Sunday Morning Mustaches

This is what Sunday morning looks like at our house. They say they are Abe Lincoln & JFK, at the beach. 

Gav Bday

Gavin turned 9 on the 8th. We went to church and had shrimp for lunch. Then Gavin's friend Jackson arrived and we took off for Grand Slam. The boys played laser tag, mini golf, some arcade games, and jumped on the trampolines for a while, until Jacob's teeth made contact with Jackson's head creating a gash that needed stitched. Party over. Before cake. Gavin was bummed out about the whole deal. We dropped Jackson off so he could head to Urgent Care with his mom and we went home to wind down with a movie. The boys thought we could redeem the night with Osaka. So, we headed into Eden Prairie for a late dinner. It took a little longer than planned, but it was a good time and we came home for some cake to wrap up the day.

Christmas 2016

Yes Christmas seemed to have zipped by in between basketball and Fred's knee surgery (ACL repair on December 7th). Gavin and Wyatt were in the church Christmas program. Gavin was "Joseph" and did an awesome job memorizing and reciting his line during the show. Wyatt was one of the camels and also did a great job on his line.

Joseph - center stage

Cute Camel in the middle

We all had off of school & work starting on the 23rd, so we headed up to Melrose on the evening of the 22nd to avoid the snow that was threatening on the 23rd. We made a pit stop at the mall to finish up our shopping.

The 23rd we spent at my mom's doing some baking/treat making. Adrea & Tim showed up later in the day and the Rosenbergs (minus a sick Isaac) came over too. Adrea & Alyssa let the boys open a couple presents.

On the 24th we started the morning with brunch and stocking presents at my mom's, then headed to the Middendorfs for lunch and presents. We dressed up for church - the boys all had shirts and ties, but Gavin decided his was choking him, so he didn't wear his. After church we returned to mom's for soup supper and opening the remaining presents.

Pre-Stocking Opening Picture

Post-Church Picture

Middendorf 8

Notable presents: Jacob - a shotgun from Chad & Mary, the basketball he wanted from Grandma Nancy, and an iPhone from Santa.

Gavin - an electric scooter from Corey & Megan, boxing gloves from Grandma and Grandpa Middendorf, and a mini iPad from Santa.

Wyatt - boxing gloves from Grandma and Grandpa Middendorf and a mini iPad from Santa.

Mom and I had plans to go to Grandma Lyd's on Christmas day, but it was raining and freezing, so we decided to stay home. I was hit with a cold, so I hung out at mom's and did puzzles and napped, while the boys went to Middendorfs to play cards and games.

We celebrated Gavin, Jordan & Riley's birthdays on Monday at the hotel in Paynesville. The boys got to swim and we had pizza and cake before heading back to the cities.

Yep, that's the best picture I took.

We opened presents when we got home. All the boys got books, a few clothes, a game, and a water bottle. Then they opened their Santa presents. He was pretty generous this year. Jacob actually cried when he opened his iPhone. The little boys loved their mini-iPads too. It made for a quiet evening.

Gavin surprised by his mini-iPad

Jacob pleased with his phone.

We did our annual lights & DQ outing on the evening of the 27th. Some people were already done with their lights, but we found some fun ones. My mom came down on the 28th and we did another lights tour with her.

Our highlight of break was puppy sitting for some friends. We had Blu, a sweet black lab puppy with us for a week. Other than the puppy, Jacob had a couple basketball practices and we went skating at Centennial Lakes one day. The boys saved up their money to buy an XBox One, so we went out and bought that one day. They were so excited to play with it that night with the babysitter, but the game they bought took about 6 hours to download so that didn't work out for them. They only have Madden 17 and Minecraft on the XBox currently and they fight and whine about the Madden all the time, so I am not a fan of it.

Skating break at Centennial Lakes

Blu - Our house guest for the week.

New Year's Eve we hung out at home and watched Ghostbusters. About 20 minutes in Gavin was asking to turn it off, but we made him tough it out and he found his courage and made it through. We celebrated the new year with sparkling grape juice and then headed to bed immediately.