Easter

We usually stay home and have grandparents come for Easter. However, this year both sets of grandparents were planning to see us the next weekend at the state wrestling tournament, so it was just the five of us.  Every year, we attend an experiential worship Good Friday service at a local church.  Part of the experience is petting a donkey!

 Here was a first and probably a keeper: Lydia and I made hot cross buns.  Yum!

 Reggie and I made banana cream brownies.  Reggie does more sampling than helping.

Brett made his "famous" fruit salad, but I didn't get a picture of it.  He's too independent in the kitchen!

Lydia really wanted to wear an Easter bonnet this year!

She received the entire series of The Chronicles of Narnia in her Easter bag.  Brett got a Bible and Reggie got Who was Jesus? by Ellen Morgan.

 We got five fresh inches of snow on Easter.  That made the backyard egg hunt extra exciting!

not-so spring break

Winter is holding on tight up here in the frozen tundra, so if you wanted to enjoy spring on spring break, you needed a plane ticket.  We stuck close to home, but enjoyed seeing family and made use of our memberships.

We drove down to Des Moines to see family.  My grandma moved to independent living there after my grandpa died last fall, so this was our first visit to see her in her new place.  We stayed at a hotel with a small waterpark, so my cousin and her kids came over to swim.

Our kids have a lot of fun together because they are about the same age!  After we swam, we went over to my uncle and aunt's house for some pizza.

Wednesday was supposed to be the nicest weather day of the week, so we went to the zoo.  So did everyone else who was on spring break.  It is always fun to go in the spring when there are baby farm animals on exhibit!

 The baby chicks are my favorite.

Bryan had a special birthday on Thursday!

On Friday, we went to the Mill City Museum.  It celebrates the history of the flour industry in Minneapolis.

Brett got to go see the Harlem Globetrotters with his Special Olympics team.

Spring break concluded on Easter - pictures in the next post.

Reggie's regional tournament

Reggie's wrestling season has been pretty intense this year. Practice is two nights a week for 1.5 hours.  There is a tournament nearly every weekend with the first one in December.  Tournaments are optional, but what's the point of doing wrestling if you don't go to the tournaments?  Last year, he participated in most of the tournaments held on Saturdays and we passed on most of the tournaments that were held on Sundays - so we could attend church.  This year, we decided we would attend Saturday night services at our church so he could also participate in the Sunday tournaments.  The tournaments bracket kids based on grade, weight, and, if there are enough participants, experience level. Typically, 1st and 2nd graders wrestle together.  Because Reggie is often one of the older kids in second grade, and above the 90th percentile for weight for his age, he has ended up always being in one of the heaviest weight brackets for his age group.  There are a lot more 50 pound 1st-2nd graders than 78 pound 1st-2nd graders!  This has basically worked to his advantage except that sometimes his wrestling brackets have not been a challenge for him.  We are sure that we learn more from losing than winning, so while Reggie is having fun collecting medals and safety pins (he gets one every time he pins a kid), we would have liked him to be more challenged throughout the season.

At one tournament, I saw a little girl wearing a shirt that said "I have no life because my brother wrestles".  I think these two can relate!

The season culminates at the district, regional, and state levels.  At the district level, everyone is allowed to advance to the regional level unless there are more than 200 wrestlers.  There weren't, so it didn't matter that Reggie got 1st in his bracket. At the regional level, wrestlers must place 1st, 2nd or 3rd to advance to the state tournament.  Last year, Reggie placed 4th (of 6).  This year, we were really hoping Reggie would have to work for a place on the podium and not advance to state by default due to not enough wrestlers in his weight bracket.  Of the heaviest five weight brackets for 1st-2nd grade, his bracket was the only one that had more than 3 wrestlers!  By comparison, some brackets had as many as 15-18 kids.  Reggie's bracket had five wrestlers, and he did have to work for his place on top. 

We are very proud of Reggie!  The state tournament will certainly be an adventure!

February Fun

February was a busy month in addition to Brett's science fair.  Lydia is taking swimming on Tuesdays and Brett is in basketball on Wednesdays.  Reggie has wrestling on Mondays and Wednesdays and he participates in tournaments almost every weekend, either on Saturday or Sunday.   Bryan also went on a couple work trips. 

We watched a lot of Olympics!  To celebrate the opening ceremony, we went out to dinner at a Korean restaurant.  I think it was a first for all of us.  Bryan loved it, Reggie and I liked it, and the other two...tried it.  We were also heavy users our science museum membership during Omnifest.  

Lydia and Brett participated in the DogGone reading program at the library and read to this beautiful golden retriever.  They really want a dog.

It has been a very snowy winter. I think we are approaching 50 inches for the year.  The kids go sledding down the hill to the pond almost daily.  We have gone through probably five plastic sleds and the stores aren't selling them anymore.  I finally ordered Brett a metal sled.  We'll see if it lasts!

Papa and MeeMaw came to see Brett's science fair and also watch Reggie wrestle.  It was a fun weekend!