If you've never driven 3 hours in unfamiliar territory in freezing rain so bad that the defrost can't keep the ice from melting and you almost can't see a thing, and you run out of windshield washer fluid, and you then drive 5 hours in a near blizzard trying to get your 1992 Honda through the snow drifts, at night, against oncoming semi's creating a complete white-out and this after 2 days of making sure your boys are swimming the right events at the right time and hoping the other half of your family is having fun in a town 3 hours away from home watching 3 basketball games back to back and then driving back home in the middle of the night when it's 5 below zero - well, then, you just haven't lived!
Yes, this was our weekend. We split up - I took the little boys to the All Star Swim meet in Lawrence Kansas, and Gary took India and another parent to Mitchell, SD to watch Noah play basketball. The boys were so excited to be able to swim in such a prestigious meet and it was a great experience. There were over 750 kids swimming all the way from Colorado to Missouri. A few of these kids are some of the best swimmers in the nation. Super cool and we had a really fun time, except for the driving part. Meanwhile, back in South Dakota, our basketball teams lost all three games, so that wasn't as much fun.
But, they did have Noah's famous French toast and India's famous falafas, and watched 'Salt' - twice, and we had pizza at Whole Foods and watched 'Good Luck, Charlie' on the Disney channel. Oh, and an episode of 'The Suite Life on Deck' and 'Cupcake Wars'. We're so into good quality educational television viewing. Guess that's what happens when you don't have a TV at home and then you suddenly have access to one. Yep, you only watch the really good stuff . . .
Oh, did I forget to mention that Ezra competed in another Mathcounts competition last week and got second to the top 8th grader in the region? That was fun to watch. Those two went head to head, getting tossed these wack-a-doodle hard math problems and were all tied up til Ezra's nemesis, Jacob M. got two answers right in a row. But Ezra did win the coveted Mathcounts Cow by answering another wack-a-doodle hard question before anyone else even raised his hand. He named his first Cow - Newton (given to him by the head guy - because he thought Ez deserved it by beating every other person in an earlier meet) and this cow he named Isaac. Funny kid.
So, to recap - drove out of town to watch 12 basketball games
- drove 18 hours to KS to watch 2 days of swimming
- fought the cold and the snow and the drifts and the ice for a total of 24 hours
- two dentist appointments
- one eye appointment
- one math competition
- ALL IN ONE WEEK
And that, my friends, is how we get the 'busy' in Busy Brood. :)
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Sweet 16 . . .
Yes, my oldest son, Noah just hit the big one. Wow! As all parents say, "Where has the time gone?"
From this little straight as a string blond-haired boy that couldn't sit still, making us all laugh with his antics and funny sayings - to this taller, brown and curly-headed young man that now loves to sit still unless he's on a basketball court or biking or doing something crazy with his brothers. We've traded booties with size 11 court shoes, and training wheels with braces. He went from hating to write to loving to blog. It's cool to look back and see how he's grown. And I can't wait to see what he'll become!
So - Happy Birthday, to my son Noah. Hope he has a super great day today.
God willing, he'll play really well in his basketball game tonight and they'll win. That would be a great present!
From this little straight as a string blond-haired boy that couldn't sit still, making us all laugh with his antics and funny sayings - to this taller, brown and curly-headed young man that now loves to sit still unless he's on a basketball court or biking or doing something crazy with his brothers. We've traded booties with size 11 court shoes, and training wheels with braces. He went from hating to write to loving to blog. It's cool to look back and see how he's grown. And I can't wait to see what he'll become!
So - Happy Birthday, to my son Noah. Hope he has a super great day today.
God willing, he'll play really well in his basketball game tonight and they'll win. That would be a great present!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Chlorine overdose . . .
Another weekend at the pool. Now that Ez is in the older group, the boys swim in different sessions, which
makes for a looonnng couple days. But, it is so fun to watch! The difference between the older kids' session and the younger one - is like the difference between watching golf and soccer. When the younger kids swim, it's complete pandemonium. The noise level is through the roof. Parents yelling at the top of their lungs, screaming their children's names and waving their hands - as if that will make them swim harder, which it probably won't simply because they really can't hear a thing when their heads are under water. Then you go to the older kids' session and it's quiet and calm, parents sitting there all ho-hum and hushed - no use to get all riled up you know - as if they've been here done this and it doesn't make any sense to go all world cup soccer crazy. Yes, watching those little 6 year old's swim is cute, but with the older group it's just so much more peaceful. And that's nice.
As for the meet, Ez improved his times, and that's what matters. He's in a tough spot being at the lowest end of his age group and the qualifying times are a lot quicker. Judah, on the other hand, is at the top of his age group and he's smoking. He's make it to state in 5 events now and by a fair margin and this weekend he got 4th place overall in his age group. And this comes from a guy who declares he hates to swim! Yet - both of them were up bright and early at 4:30 am for practice. That's dedication. Or insanity. Or both.
And on the basketball front, another one of Noah's games got postponed due to weather. When the snow falls, and just stays there, it's not too bad, but when there's even a slight breeze, the roads drift, and the visibility is zero. And there is never a slight breeze here. Our version of a slight breeze is about 15 miles an hour, so, windy is downright dangerous. And it's always windy here, thus the treacherous driving conditions. They've already postponed so many games, they might still be playing basketball into May! This week alone, they have to play four games - well, at least that's the plan. It is snowing again as I type, so who knows.
And are you as sick and tired of reading about our weather woes as I am blogging about them? I bet. Well,
I say - enough already!!!! So, from this day on - I declare a ban on snow for the rest of the winter!
No more snow! No more snow! Say it with me now - NO MORE SNOW!!
Thanks. I feel much better now.
makes for a looonnng couple days. But, it is so fun to watch! The difference between the older kids' session and the younger one - is like the difference between watching golf and soccer. When the younger kids swim, it's complete pandemonium. The noise level is through the roof. Parents yelling at the top of their lungs, screaming their children's names and waving their hands - as if that will make them swim harder, which it probably won't simply because they really can't hear a thing when their heads are under water. Then you go to the older kids' session and it's quiet and calm, parents sitting there all ho-hum and hushed - no use to get all riled up you know - as if they've been here done this and it doesn't make any sense to go all world cup soccer crazy. Yes, watching those little 6 year old's swim is cute, but with the older group it's just so much more peaceful. And that's nice.
As for the meet, Ez improved his times, and that's what matters. He's in a tough spot being at the lowest end of his age group and the qualifying times are a lot quicker. Judah, on the other hand, is at the top of his age group and he's smoking. He's make it to state in 5 events now and by a fair margin and this weekend he got 4th place overall in his age group. And this comes from a guy who declares he hates to swim! Yet - both of them were up bright and early at 4:30 am for practice. That's dedication. Or insanity. Or both.
And on the basketball front, another one of Noah's games got postponed due to weather. When the snow falls, and just stays there, it's not too bad, but when there's even a slight breeze, the roads drift, and the visibility is zero. And there is never a slight breeze here. Our version of a slight breeze is about 15 miles an hour, so, windy is downright dangerous. And it's always windy here, thus the treacherous driving conditions. They've already postponed so many games, they might still be playing basketball into May! This week alone, they have to play four games - well, at least that's the plan. It is snowing again as I type, so who knows.
And are you as sick and tired of reading about our weather woes as I am blogging about them? I bet. Well,
I say - enough already!!!! So, from this day on - I declare a ban on snow for the rest of the winter!
No more snow! No more snow! Say it with me now - NO MORE SNOW!!
Thanks. I feel much better now.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
You know it's been a bad blizzard when . . .
We usually get a couple good (bad?) blizzards a winter, but there are some that are doozies. We have been stuck at home for 5 days now and we're going just a wee bit stir crazy. For those who have never experienced it - here are the signs.
YOU KNOW IT'S BEEN A BAD BLIZZARD WHEN:
- All the roads are closed - in the entire state
- Even the home schoolers take a snow day - or two
- The drifts are higher than the my six foot tall husband - really
- When you shovel the sidewalk and the cats walk on it, they look like they are little rats in a deep tunnel-like maze with the walls made of snow
- All sporting events get postponed - in the entire state
- You now know what the astronauts felt like when landing on the moon
- There is no mail delivery and no newspaper delivery - for days
- You can almost sled off the garage - and yes, it's been tried
- Doing the laundry is fun, just because it's something to do (ok, maybe that's going a bit far)
- You can barely see the weather vane in the middle of the yard
- Your non-reading husband starts the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - and then quotes from it
- The only way to get to town would be on snowshoes (or a snowmobile) - if it was running. . .
- But you would have no reason to go to town because everything's closed - even Friday night Bingo at the Catholic church
- You go out to feed the cats and you come back with frost on your lashes and an icicle hanging from your nose - literally
- You almost could get lost going out to the garage to feed the cats because you can't see a thing in front of you
- It has to be a weekend - cause we all know that blizzards only happen on the weekends - never on a weekday - ever
- You can barely make out the trees in your front yard
- 'White out' takes on a whole new meaning
- You watch 5 episodes of Psych, 2 Cary Grant movies, play 6 hands of the Golf game and 4 games of Clue, learn all the words to Beckah Shae's song 'Life', you almost start to like rap because you listen to Lecrae over and over and over (ad nauseam), and break out the yo yo's - just to pass the time
- You eat every kinds of food and drink known to man including cereal, sandwiches, hot apple cider, hot chocolate, buckets and buckets and buckets of popcorn, bags of chips, pounds of nut mix, baby carrots and massive amounts of fruit - all - day - long
- You look online for pictures of the beaches in Bali and sigh
- You look out the window in the morning and you can't see out because the snow is piled half way up on the window sill
- You look up at the ceiling and yell 'WHY' to all your ancestors who settled here
- Your energetic boys go outside to play and come back inside in 20 minutes half frozen
- You wonder if this isn't the end times - you know - when 'the sun and the moon shall be darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shinning' cause you haven't seen any of them for days - and days - and days
- The sidewalk you shoveled the day before has been completely covered over with snow and has drifted in higher than it was before you shoveled the first time
- You wear the same clothes every - single - day (I know!)
- You have to dig and dig to find the wood pile
- You get on each other's nerves by day two
- You can not wait for Monday
YOU KNOW IT'S BEEN A BAD BLIZZARD WHEN:
- All the roads are closed - in the entire state
- Even the home schoolers take a snow day - or two
- The drifts are higher than the my six foot tall husband - really
- When you shovel the sidewalk and the cats walk on it, they look like they are little rats in a deep tunnel-like maze with the walls made of snow
- All sporting events get postponed - in the entire state
- You now know what the astronauts felt like when landing on the moon
- There is no mail delivery and no newspaper delivery - for days
- You can almost sled off the garage - and yes, it's been tried
- Doing the laundry is fun, just because it's something to do (ok, maybe that's going a bit far)
- You can barely see the weather vane in the middle of the yard
- Your non-reading husband starts the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - and then quotes from it
- The only way to get to town would be on snowshoes (or a snowmobile) - if it was running. . .
- But you would have no reason to go to town because everything's closed - even Friday night Bingo at the Catholic church
- You go out to feed the cats and you come back with frost on your lashes and an icicle hanging from your nose - literally
- You almost could get lost going out to the garage to feed the cats because you can't see a thing in front of you
- It has to be a weekend - cause we all know that blizzards only happen on the weekends - never on a weekday - ever
- You can barely make out the trees in your front yard
- 'White out' takes on a whole new meaning
- You watch 5 episodes of Psych, 2 Cary Grant movies, play 6 hands of the Golf game and 4 games of Clue, learn all the words to Beckah Shae's song 'Life', you almost start to like rap because you listen to Lecrae over and over and over (ad nauseam), and break out the yo yo's - just to pass the time
- You eat every kinds of food and drink known to man including cereal, sandwiches, hot apple cider, hot chocolate, buckets and buckets and buckets of popcorn, bags of chips, pounds of nut mix, baby carrots and massive amounts of fruit - all - day - long
- You look online for pictures of the beaches in Bali and sigh
- You look out the window in the morning and you can't see out because the snow is piled half way up on the window sill
- You look up at the ceiling and yell 'WHY' to all your ancestors who settled here
- Your energetic boys go outside to play and come back inside in 20 minutes half frozen
- You wonder if this isn't the end times - you know - when 'the sun and the moon shall be darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shinning' cause you haven't seen any of them for days - and days - and days
- The sidewalk you shoveled the day before has been completely covered over with snow and has drifted in higher than it was before you shoveled the first time
- You wear the same clothes every - single - day (I know!)
- You have to dig and dig to find the wood pile
- You get on each other's nerves by day two
- You can not wait for Monday
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