Basketball, Storybook Ball, Stegemann's, Sledding

We love our 'Friday night family nights'. This particular night we went out for dinner and then went to one of our favorite frozen yogurt places only to find it had been renovated since we were last there.  It now has a more 'coffee shop' feel with couches, board games, coloring books etc. It is a fun and inviting environment so we hung out playing for a while. One of our favorite babysitters works there too so it is always nice to catch up with her.  We realized the kids had never played Checkers before so Eric taught them on the gigantic floor version. Such a fun night. 

Happy kids with bellies full of yogurt!

I think I mentioned last post Kennon started playing basketball through the YMCA league back in January. The first couple of gatherings were practices but the picture above happens to be his first official game. He is mid screen in the silver shorts.  He is really doing well and improves in his skills from game to game. We are really proud of him and he LOVES it!  He has a great coach, Coach Tate, who happens to live in our neighborhood.  

Defense….defense….defense….

Maddox and I attended the annual Storybook Ball at the Family Museum a couple of weekends ago.  She got all dressed up in a dress we had been saving for a few years as it was a bit large when it was handed down from the girls across the street. But, this year it was JUST perfect and she looked like a beautiful princess. 

We had dinner, watched the senior members of The Family Museum Dance Company put on a little productions with several dance numbers and then Maddox danced the night away with the princesses.  

Maddox seemed to always work her way into the crowd to be standing between two princesses.  She idolizes them so!

Maddox and one of her dance classmates, Inika. 

Maddox and another of her dance classmates, and neighbor :), Priya. 

The weather has certainly been warming up here and there. This day it was still a bit chilly but the sun was shining and with coats and hats made for a great day for Friendship park. The kids were happy to get their sillies out on a Sunday afternoon. 

Kennon continues to be my player. The kid loves to play and play with trinkets and toys and most often he plays independently. We spend some afternoons during the week just hanging at home….usually I catch up on work/house details and he plays plays and plays until Maddox gets off the bus then things shift a bit and we usually all read books together or work on their Awana verses or Maddox's homework. 

Maddox enjoyed her first Valentine's Day party at school the Thursday before Valentine's weekend. She decorated her bag at school and brought home lots of goodies from her buddies. 

This particular school party I decided to bring Kennon for the fun. Mrs. Gaspelin, the other room parents, and Maddox were sure to include him in the fun. He even got to sit at Maddox's table and enjoy a party treat with the rest of her classmates. 

Who can make the highest stack of conversation hearts in 30 seconds!?

Straight away after the party we headed to the museum for Maddox's weekly ballet class.  She continues to love ballet and moves across the stage with grace. We are getting geared up for her recital on June 4th. 

Valentine's Day weekend our buddies, the Stegemann's, came down from the great north to visit their ol' stomping' ground.  Unfortunately old man winter didn't provide us with much warm, southern weather but we didn't let the cold get us down.  We ventured out for Kennon's basketball game, then to Chipotle for lunch and then to the John Deere Pavillion for everyone to get their sillies out on the tractors. 

Charlie and Kennon. Charlie's birthday is actually the same as Maddox's, September 16th. He's just a few months younger than Kennon and will turn 5 in September. What a cutie. 

'Whoa….who is driving the combine??'….Keep her in the middle of the bean field Kennon! Thank you to the Stegemann family for making the long trip to Iowa. The kids played well together all weekend and we sure enjoyed your company. 

The John Deere Pavillion had revamped it's children's area since the last time we were there. They now have several more interactive stations. Kennon loved this log mover simulator.  

On Valentine's day I decided to get my 'cake on' and made some yummy chocolate fudge cupcakes from scratch with chocolate cream cheese frosting and strawberry whipped cream filling.  I even drug out the piping bags and tips and got a little fancy. A yummy special treat for Valentine's Day. 

I'm thankful to have such a nice workout room to have to do the occasional long run on our treadmill. I stay entertained with the TV on the wall and the little people have plenty of room to drag in various toys/puzzles to entertain themselves.  This day it was 9 miles! Eric and I are planning to do another half marathon this Spring…in fact I think we are both officially signed up now. 

From outdoor sunny weather with no snow to snow covered hills…we took advantage of a warm day off of school Presidents' Day and got in some sledding. We drove over to Duck Creek park in Davenport and got in some big hills! It was super fun although the kids tired quickly pulling their sleds up the steep hill.  

So crazy to think the picture above was taken on Monday and then this picture was taken on either Thursday or Friday of the SAME WEEK!  Warm enough to be out in just a vest and sweatshirt. Time to practice those hoops. Thank you to the Kubalsky's for always being willing to share their basketball hoop as we do not have one on our driveway. 

Last Saturday I took Maddox for a special event.  We went to a  performance by the Quad City Ballet. It was so amazing and she and I both enjoyed it immensely.  The performers were so talented. It was a modern ballet called Love Stories and included about 5 dances separated midway by an intermission. The costumes were very basic but the music upbeat and modern. Maddox was able to recognize some of the techniques/moves she has learned over the last two years in her ballet class. I hope to take her to the next performance of the Quad City Ballet in April. 

Kennon continues to be interested in cleaning up trash. He quite often spies trash alongside the road and is insistent on picking it up. Last Monday with the warm temps we grabbed a sack and his grabber and headed down 53rd street to collect trash. This matched up well with his Easter countdown calendar  as he was to 'Care for God's Creation' that particular day to earn the sticker for his chart.

Kennon and I making a creation in the Think Shop at the museum. The Think Shop is loaded with all sort of building materials and random trinkets, glue guns, hammers, nails, saws and most any sort of building tool that you could think of…most of which I'm not strong enough or coordinated enough to use. I usually try to steer Kennon to the 'glue gun' section..which he is thankfully quite happy to do:)  He knows he can use the real tools when he goes in with Daddy. He always comes out with some unique creation. The Think Shop certainly stimulates independent creativity. 

The was at Kennon's game on Saturday.  I think he made a few baskets this game and had an assist or two.  At last Saturday's game he was on fire! He made 5 baskets, was dribbling all over the place, passing to his teammates, and keeping his hands up on defense….  His coach joked with us about there being an article in the Quad City Times about his performance on Sunday morning.. Hah!!  But, the best part was that Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean got to see his great game.  They were able to come over for the game and then afterwards we got pancakes at IHOP! It was a great morning. I inadvertently forgot to get a picture of the kids with Grandpa and Grandma. Check out the videos below. 

At this point in the year I'm looking forward to our Florida trip. Everything is basically planned out and I am just itching to get my toes in the white, warm, sand of Siesta Key ( which continues to win 'Best Beach' awards!)  The most exciting part is that we are keeping our short day trip to the Magic Kingdom a surprise for Maddox and Kennon! They have recently been asking repeatedly to go to Disney as several of their friends are going over Spring Break or have been recently.  I can hardly keep my mouth shut. I can't wait to see their expressions when we tell them.  Not long after we get home from Florida Eric and I will be hopping a plane to Sonoma Valley California to celebrate our 10 year anniversary trip, a few months early. Lots of fun on the calendar but not before we make it through some medical stuff.  Maddox is slated to get her tonsils out on March 11th ( the Friday before she starts spring break). I'm not 100% sure she really needs them as she doesn't exhibit the normal set of symptoms that require getting them out so I'm taking her to get second opinion this coming Thursday. We'll see what this ENT has to say.  Kennon is slated to have ear surgery THIS Friday.  He still has the hole in his left ear drum where his tube fell out and then the hole unfortunately did NOT close up. This is not an elective surgery and something that needs to be fixed.  I was planning to actually do both surgeries the same day but found out that Kennon cannot fly to Florida having the surgery so close to the date of our departure so we moved the surgery up for now.  This is a more extensive surgery than putting the tubes IN and will be closer to an hour and he'll have more medication to keep him asleep. Hoping all the surgeries go well.  

We met with Kennon's preschool teacher a couple of weeks back. She says he is doing brilliantly in school and is ready for Kindergarten but Eric and I have decided to hold him back.  The extra year will allow him to mature in his behavior/emotional status and certainly won't hurt him.  We have been witness to Kennon's famous crappie flop on the floor when he throws a fit! UGH. We meet with Mrs. Gaspelin on Tuesday for Maddox's conference. She is really gaining in her reading strength and spent the majority of the evening reading to Kennon. So precious. Kennon was even patient and kind enough to sit through both Purplicious and Pinkalicious. 

I'm knee deep in audits for work right now and Mike just hired yet another PT that I'll start to train the week of March 8th.  Eric is actually in Chicago tonight meeting with some of his study group members (one from New Orleans and the other from the Twin Cities).  They are working on writing a book about the emerging affluent (folks that are relatively young yet extremely successful, and the things they must work through). Work for Eric continues to be busy, but good. On Sunday nights we are now hosting our small group from church.  We are studying the book of James which has been quite good. Starting our work week off in the Word certainly gets us going in the right direction. We are thankful for the connections and relationships we've made at church.  

Shoot it!

 Happy kid when he has a ball in his hands. 

With the sort of warmer weather today we brought out a springy dress Maddox had gotten from Aunt Brooke. She was happy to wear it to school today with her fancy rainbow necklace. She requested double ponytails today for her hair. So cute. 

Kennon passing to his teammate Weston ( who happens to be in his preschool class!). Weston put it up and in.  He is tall coordinated kid. 

Kennon getting the pass from his teammate and then sinkin' it :) Way to go Kennon 

Basketball, Trampoline Park, Our Final Christmas

Maddox had early out from school yesterday so we got some extra play time at the museum. She and I met Kennon there after his Literacy School and then the two played and played. Happy kiddos with snacks in hand. 

Oh boy….it is safe to say when my work load at VNA increases my blog posts decrease.  I have been working close to 10-15 hours per week since probably mid to late December. Which I do realize does not seem like a lot to you full time workers but it is to this mama!! I like to stay around 5-8 hours per week.  I have succeeded in getting 5 physical therapists trained with our new software in the last 6 weeks and have started working out the details of fine tuning the new software. I'm on a committee that's working on trying to find efficiencies within the system. We are talking directly with the software company in Texas to get some forms changed within the new documentation system.  Seems odd to me that we ( VNA) would pay $1 million for this new software and new tablets for everyone yet it is not much more efficient than our old system and in some regards takes the clinicians in the field more time to complete some processes….wait?? what??   It has been quite the process and we are JUST starting down the road of improvements  to make within the software. I suspect it is going to be close to the two year mark before we get everything worked out. 

 The first weekend in January a few of my neighborhood friends and I bundled up to sit outside in line to get our kiddos a spot at Our Savior Preschool next year.   It actually wasn't too cold this year despite all the blankets. They let us inside early, as they have done in past years, which is nice. I got Kennon's acceptance letter this week….he has a spot in the 5 year old morning class next year, 5 days per week. I'm excited for him to have another year of school before we send him off to Kindergarten.  Kennon will attend OSLP unless I can get him into the Pleasant Valley Transition to Kindergarten all day program. He will be assessed for that this May although the likelihood of him getting in is very low as they only take about 12 kiddos per year.  It is a wonderful program and curriculum designed for children who have birth dates between June 1st and September 15th who aren't quite ready for Kindergarten. Kennon certainly fits that description so we are hopeful he'll get in but if not he'll be just as fine in the 5 year old 1/2 day program at Our Savior.  Our FINAL year of preschool is upon us…how can that be! 

 While I was outside in line for preschool, Maddox was enjoying a Theatre camp at Pleasant Valley High School.  Saying she had a  BALL would be an understatement. Maddox really loves to perform ( dance, sing etc) and although she can be a bit timid at times, when she works through her fear she really does a great job.  She got to pick 4 different 'tracks' to participate in that morning each one led by a couple of PV high school theatre students and then they got to perform for us in the black box that afternoon. She did SO WELL!! Eric and I were so proud of her getting up on stage ( in an unfamiliar place) and dancing and doing her thing. Maddox chose make-up/hair, dance, stage performance, and singing I believe as her tracks. She learned how to use emotion on stage, how to interact with other characters on stage, how make-up and hair play a big role along with lighting and most importantly she met some new friends, interacted with 'adults' whom she wasn't familiar with ( IE the high school students and the theater director who is this LOUD sort of large intimidating man) and had a great time. I was fearful when Eric dropped her off that she wouldn't want to stay…but luckily thanks to our great community and neighborhood there were several familiar faces so she hopped right into the mix. 

 Maddox doing the dance for the song 'Tradition' from Fiddler on the Roof. 

 Maddox and Emma, one of her neighborhood friends, dressed as a lion. Maddox actually sits with Emma on the school bus occasionally.   The finale of the camp was a special performance in the black box theatre of Jungle Book directed and performed by the PV Theatre students. It was soooo good.  Maddox and Kennon both loved it. Such GREAT talent!! 

 And the performing continues….. Maddox doing Wii Dance-Abba .  A good post church Saturday night activity in the winter. 

 Maddox dancing to one of the songs from Jungle Book that she learned at the camp.

Not sure how these videos are going to turn out…Maddox is in the orange leggings and purple shoes. She is the youngest out there :)  It was designed for Kindergarten through 6th grade I believe.

 The second week of January, I signed both of the kids up for a little basketball camp at the YMCA. Soccer is 'our thing' for the spring and fall but we didn't really have a winter sport for the kids so we thought we'd expose them to basketball. Kennon LOVED IT!!! and his coordination shined though. Maddox…well didn't LOVE it….but she didn't hate it let's say :)  She struggled to coordinate her strength and technique to actually get the ball up to the hoop and became frustrated that she couldn't make a basket.  I honestly didn't think she'd last as long as she did so I was proud of her for hanging in. She certainly learned enough to play a little in the driveway with Kennon.  Kennon on the other hand said 'sign me up mom!' when I offered to sign him up for the YMCA basketball league. So he is now in the middle of the season and plays games on Saturday. He is actually on a team with several of his classmates from Our Savior as well as the coach and his two sons who are on the team live right in our neighborhood and are part of the circle we run with.  I can see Kennon improving from week to week.  They have their first official game against another team this Saturday so we'll see how that goes. GO WARRIORS!   

 Learning some basketball basics at camp.  ( despite her not really loving the game of basketball I thought she looked adorable… :)  all decked out in pink/purple!)  Go Maddox!

 Shoot it Maddox…!!  For those of you that are wondering…hey….she has on tie shoes?!! Maddox learned to tie shoes over Christmas break ( I think I forgot to post that on my last post).  Learning to tie shoes meant she got to pick out a brand new pair of tie shoes…and she got to put her name on the ever important 'list!' at school.  Everyone in her class that learns to tie shoes gets to write their name on a special paper near Mrs. Gaspelin's desk. She actually figured it out quickly and was very proud of herself.  Although I do find she will still most often pick the velcro shoes to wear to school. She hasn't quite figured out how to get them really TIGHT so they tend to come undone during the school day.  For awhile she was commissioning some of her classmates who DO know how to tie shoes to tie them back up again when they'd come undone. Mrs. Gaspelin assured me that would work itself out ( meaning they'd soon be saying..uh…I don't want to tie your shoes AGAIN Maddox!) and it did.  She learned to double tie them and has been doing fairly well.

I thought this was the best shot of Kennon… I love how I happened to capture him mid-air.

I'm not sure if he is trying out for a broadway play, dancing around with jazz hands, or doing some defense. Either way…so dang cute!  He's in the blue shirt.

I love Mondays and Wednesday because after school we don't have ANY activities!  Tuesday and Thursdays are Awana and Ballet which sort of muddy up the afternoon/evening routine although both very valuable activities the kids both enjoy. Maddox often shares with us the activities she is working on at school and she has homework of some sort  every night…reading or math. This night it was a bit of geometry. She was excited to teach Kennon some of the names of the shapes. 

We geared up for Carter's Ninja birthday party the weekend of January 16th only to learn that we couldn't go to Madison because Carter came down ill that Saturday morning.  Maddox was SUPER sad as she was all dressed up with her yellow Belle dress ready for the party. But, we quickly turned her frown upside down when we decided to hit the road  still and drive up to Cedar Rapids to the Trampoline Park!! So so so fun! Eric and I jumped too. What a great fun family activity and what great exercise.  They are actually opening one of these in the Quad Cities in March and I'm hoping to book Kennon's birthday party there.   That reminds me, I haven't contacted them yet….I'll add that to my every lasting 'to-do' list :) 

Mostly all smiles…all day…until we hit the wall about 4:15….so we quick grabbed a pizza and headed home.  

This foam pit was in the 'kids' area which really didn't have an age restriction on it but was designed for little guys.  So fun to run and jump into this pit of foam!

Eric trying to 'walk the plank'!! I thought this was super cool…and super hard!! I made it like 2 steps before down into the pit I fell. 

Kennon running and jumping off the trampoline into one of the ball pits. 

They even had a couple of hoops where you could run up the ramp and then launch the ball up into the hoop. Kennon LOVED it and made several baskets. 

You were free  to 'walk the plank' however way you felt was easiest to get across :) GREAT body workout. 

The aftermath of making Valentine's on MLK day. The kids each cut out, glued, addressed and signed their cards all by themselves. 

Despite a few cold cold days we've had some really warm winter weather. Anytime it is over 30 we try to get outside and over 40 we hop on the bikes! Bikes… in January!! What?? OH yeah!

These pictures are from Kennon's official first practice with his team…his coach is over on the right in the white….Coach Tate who played basketball and is quite qualified to run the team.

Last Wednesday the 27th was a very special day! Ironically Kennon got to bring his Show and Tell item and Maddox got to celebrate her 100 days at school. Both kids were super excited that morning and Maddox even more excited to show me all her goodies and her 100 SNACKS when she returned from her big day!!  She even yelled out to Kennon ( who was outside playing because it was one of those warm days) 'you can have 10 of my snacks and I'll still have 90!  Hah…love it.  She had a ball. Kennon brought a bulldozer as his show n tell item but was already excited to tell me yesterday 'mom the show and tell bag is going around again!'. ….meaning he'll get to have the bag again here in a couple more weeks.  I'm very thankful of their love of school. 

'100 days Smarter!'

Random Maddox picture :) 

Since Kennon has taken a liking to basketball I decided he needed some new basketball gear and shoes.  If Maddox can look fashionable out on the court so can Kennon :) We went to Kohl's last week and found him some great new tennis shoes that he is certain 'make me run faster mom!'.  We ended up getting him tie shoes as they fit him the best and he is already excited to start learning how to tie. I'm hoping to enlist his big sis Maddox to help with this learning process,  solidifying her confidence with tying her own shoes. 

Last Sunday we celebrated our LAST Christmas for the season. It is hard to get everyone together so we find our Christmas with the Berg side usually gets pushed into January/February. But, I think it works out well! The kids helped me make one last batch of Christmasy type cookies on Saturday night. Oh…and by the way, we have returned to dairy for Kennon and the kid is absolutely fine!!  I think I'm going to quit trying to diagnose his allergies and just let him be. He hasn't had a breathing treatment or allergy pill since late October and is doing well, even on dairy. We'll see what the spring brings.  Not sure what to think of it but the kid is happier than pie to have real pizza and mac-n-cheese again…almost as happy as Uncle Tyler is for him :) 

Since we were all together we thought we'd throw in all the birthdays in January in February… We celebrated Carter's 5th birthday and Aunt Brooke and Aunt Diane who both have birthdays in February.  Carter, Maddox, and Reid with Miss Erika and Papa Dick looking on from the background. I didn't make a 'real' birthday cake but we all enjoyed this jello poke cake  :) 

Well the best pic of the bunch..Cashin, Carter, Maddox, Reid, Kennon….They are all so cute…I love Maddox's look of happiness towards Carter hugging Cashin and Reid's look of yumminess as he eyes  the cake..! 

Despite us pushing the activities right into Cashin's normal nap time that kiddo hug in and only had  a few minutes where he needed the comfort of his paci to get through.  Happened to be at cake/picture time…but then he sort of got this second wind and was back to being his super happy self!!  He managed the stairs to the basement just fine… and kept after the big kids! He is growing up so fast! 

Thanks to the Berg, Gillaspie and Knowles families for taking time out of their busy schedules to come celebrate in the Quad Cities. So thankful we are able to get together! 

I realize these pictures are terrible ( partly bad lighting in the gym…partly shaky hands from a 9 mile run then a big cup of coffee and then jump in the van for the game) but I wanted to show you Kennon's big smile with his new duds on… blue tie shoes and a basketball that is on fire on his shirt. He was so proud of his outfit. 

 Coach Tate is kind enough to let older siblings out on the court to help out with the littler kids. Maddox enjoyed being out there helping and even got to practice her dribbling and shooting a bit….just enough for her to realize she still doesn't really LOVE basketball!  That's just fine Maddox!

I can't remember if he was on defense or offense here but either way I think he looks like he's got the stance :)  This was just a little scrimmage 5:5 with his teammates.  Coach Tate likes to have 10 on a team as it makes player substitutions during games and team scrimmages pretty simple.  Tate has done this once or twice :)

Tonight we had peek weak for Maddox's ballet class. I love peek week, as does Kennon, but Maddox is the biggest fan.  She loves to show us her newest dance techniques. Tonight she got to debut her ballet solo. This year's dance recital is based on the book 'I am a bunny'.  Maddox and her classmates will be dressed as leaves and will be interacting with the Bunny as he wishes to sweep all the leaves away…i.e. off the stage.  I'm  sure it is going to be adorable.  Maddox gets to go out on stage at the beginning of the routine and dance a bit with the bunny as he tries to sweep her away. Then she runs back to get the rest of her leaf friends to join her. She did a brilliant job tonight. I was so proud of her! Dance is definitely 'her thing'.

My dancing princess.

My clay rolling boy!  Today during Maddox's ballet class we went upstairs to enjoy the Open Clay Studio. We usually just hang out and play in the museum but instead decided to try our hand at clay. It was great fun. And for $2.50 we can make a creation to have air dry or put in the kiln to have dried and then we can glaze. So nice to be able to get exposure to some great artsy mediums.