Party for Preemies

Fred has been working on getting a non-profit setup to raise funds for other charities. We've named the organization Benefit Bashers and have Brice & Kate Campbell on our board of directors. We are working on 501(c)(3) status. We hosted our first event this last weekend. We raised money for Fairview Foundation & March of Dimes. We called the event Party for Preemies - Football Style. The evite showed about 40 yes RSVPs, so we were a bit nervous about how the night would go, but we had a great turnout - I think about 75 people in all, and raised about $2500 for the organizations. It was a fun night!

Room setup with our football theme.

Ref & the 50 yard line (my head is a pylon)

These two had great costumes - concession workers. Tim is Wally the Beer Man. Adrea is selling Cracker Jacks for $26.

Middendorf Family representatives. Steve as Bill Belichick was spot on and Lisa still rocks a cheerleader outfit. A few refs, a couple Patriots fans, and a penalty flag round out the family.

Our Crown of Glory folks came out and rocked the dance floor!

Hosts & classmates.

Super Bowl LII Comes to Town

Minneapolis hosted Super Bowl 52 (LII). Adrea was a Crew 52 volunteer and Tim did the polar plunge at Super Bowl Live on the Nicollet Mall. Adrea planned an evening outing for me and the boys to take in some of the Super Bowl fun. We got to see the ice sculptures and do some football photo ops before watching Tim (in a hawaiian penguin outfit) jump in freezing cold water.

At the end of Nicollet Mall, we watched the omni-like film "NFL 360" before heading to the NFL Experience at the convention center. We only had 2 hours there and there were lines for everything, but we got as much done as we could. The boys got to run obstacle courses, test out their punting skills -  Adrea had to show them how to punt, and see how they'd look as Vikings players.

Jacob

Gavin

Wyatt

Boys testing out their throwing arms.

It was fun to feel the excitement in Minneapolis and see all the hubbub. When I asked Gavin a few days later what his favorite part of our trip downtown was, he answered that it was seeing Tim do the polar plunge. You never know what is going to be a hit with kids.

1st Place at Last

Jacob's team had a one day tournament in Forest Lake. The first two games they played they won easily. The third game again Stillwater was another story. They were behind most of the game, but they kept on working it. So with about 30 seconds left Jacob made the basket to tie it up. Then in OT he made the free throw to put them ahead. 

Gavin hits double digits!

Gavin turned 10 on January 8th. The boys had a basketball tournament the weekend before his birthday, so Grandma Nancy was down to watch the games and help Gavin celebrate his birthday. We asked him where he wanted to go for a birthday supper and he chose Burger King, even after we asked multiple times about other restaurants that we could go to. So, we hit the Burger King on Saturday night with Grandma. Then we had enough money left over to go to Culver's on his actual birthday. Gavin got a new Thielen t-shirt & new shoes for his birthday, a pocket watch from Aunty Drea & Uncle Tim, & a giant nerf gun from Uncle Corey & Aunt Megan.

Another successful basketball weekend

Both boys were in Apple Valley the first weekend in January. It was a successful weeknd, except for the crappy t-shirts both boys got.

Apple Valley - 2nd place

Apple Valley - 3rd place