easter

king pin

Reggie's wrestling season culminated at the regional level where he placed 4th in his weight class of 1st and 2nd graders.  The top 3 moved on to the state level.  They were all 2nd graders and Reggie was the only first year wrestler on the stand.  While it would have been exciting to see Reggie move on, I am quite happy that he will have something to work for next year.

The team hosted an awards banquet (if pizza, chips, candy, and pop in the high school cafeteria qualifies as a "banquet").  Reggie received an award for being in the Top 10 of his team - I think he was 3 or 4.

But what he was most proud of was receiving a plaque for "Most Pins"!  So proud that he believes he should be called King Pin!  Reggie got 13 pins total in all his tournaments.  During one of the practices when the coaches were teaching defensive strategies, I commented to the mom next to me "I hope Reggie is listening, because he is always in for the pin!"  In other words, he hasn't really figured out you can win a match without pinning your opponent - and he could improve on getting himself out of trouble when his opponent has the upper hand!

Reggie worked hard, learned a lot, and had a lot of fun.  We are very proud of him and enjoyed watching him! 

A few weeks off, and then we're on to baseball season!

spring break staycation

This year we spent spring break doing things around home.  We renewed our science museum membership and went twice - because it is omnifest.  We took a tour of the state capitol and went bowling.  Reggie had two wrestling tournaments.  We took a day trip to a waterpark and game center.  We spent St. Patrick's Day at home having some leprechaun fun, I got to have four kids for a couple days as one of my friends needed childcare.  It was a fun week and I'm glad my spring breaks aligned with my kids' again!

winter recap

Since it is the first day of spring, I thought I should post a few highlights from our winter.

 See how excited we are about winter?

 A little boot hockey on the pond in our backyard.

Brett played some basketball.

 My sister built this amazing farmhouse table for me out of red cedar.

Here we are enjoying our first meal around the table.  I expect many years of family gatherings will be around this table.

While my sister was visiting, we did some ice skating.

Reggie tried out wrestling this year.  The club gives out safety pins for every pin in a tournament.  He is working toward quite a collection!

Reggie's cousin also wrestles so it was fun to do a tournament together.

Cousins.  (Nice look, Lydia!)

I painted the kid's bathroom.  Sorry no "before" pictures.  It was chocolate.  I painted everything - the walls, trim, vanity, even the step stool.

A highlight in February is the kids' school carnival.  It is quite the fundraiser.  First parents donate all the prizes, then they buy tickets for their kids to win all the prizes back.  Above, Lydia is getting her "fair hair" done by her teacher.  It is not fun to wash all that goop out!

 Then, Lydia "pie-faced" her teacher!

Brett got "pie-faced" by the gym teacher (his favorite class.)

 February thaw. (yes, that water did flood her boots)

Flashback seven years.

 Brett made us pancakes. Yum!

Lydia passed Level 4 in swimming!  To pass Level 4, she is required to swim 4 different strokes 25 yards independently. She is officially a better swimmer than I am.