Samantha's Winter Dance - SnowCo

On the same day as Jimmy's 7th birthday ... and his party with friends ... and his basketball practice/game ... Samantha attended her high school Winter Dance referred to as "SnowCo."  It is similar to the Homecoming Dance in the Fall, where the students dress up, usually go to dinner, it is open to all classes and many of them go in groups.  

Samantha's group decided to meet at our house for pictures -- which I loved because I didn't have to travel anywhere on such a busy day -- but it meant that there a few teenagers (and their moms) showing up at our house literally in the middle of hosting Jimmy's party with his friends.  

She chose her dress and shoes online and then I made some modifications to it (not as many as I did to her Homecoming dress!) to make sure that it fit her decently.  It was a very reasonable price and she was thrilled with the whole look.

Those legs, though!

I helped Sam with her hair this time and I think that it turned out just beautiful.

And of course, this girl of ours is never lacking in personality!

The group of 5 ... ready to head out to dinner at Olive Garden and then to the dance.

I am so grateful to one of the moms that graciously took this picture for me.  Just as the group was getting into position to pose for (the 1,092) pictures to be taken, one of the guests at Jimmy's party came up to me with tears streaming down his face and his finger gushing blood all over the place.  It turns out that Jimmy had encouraged the boy to stick his finger in a small pencil sharpen and then TURNED IT!  My boy -- the guest of honor at his party -- certainly made a poor choice.  Luckily, the little boy's finger was not cut too severely and I was able to get it bandaged up without too much extra drama.  Obviously I made Jimmy apologize and the boys went off to play, like nothing had happened!

James Turns 7! (Part 2)

As I mentioned, Jimmy's birthday was a BUSY day but we (somehow) managed to fit everything in.  With his birthday breakfast and family presents taken care of, James changed for basketball and Steve took him to his practice and game.  (At this age, the events are less competitive and it is basically 1.5 hours of lightly-organized chaos with two teams running back and forth on the court attempting baskets while the Varsity Boys Basketball players volunteer each week to be refs.  They are learning how to handle the ball, possibly run a few "drills" and begin working as a team).

Meanwhile, I stayed at home that day to prep for his birthday party with friends.  Jimmy settled on a basketball theme (how appropriate because a lot of our days lately center around practice and games for 3 out of the 4 kids) and invited a handful of friends to celebrate with him.

I chuckled because after he changed from basketball practice, he came upstairs wearing a football sweatshirt for his basketball birthday party.  The boy loves his sports ...

I made his basketball cake and his whole face lit up when he came back home and saw it ... I even added a sparkler candle for him!

Rather than set up in the family room (like I tend to do for most parties at our house), I used the dining room.  It was risky because it would mean a bunch of 7-year-old boys potentially spilling on the carpeting with their pizza, drinks, cake and ice cream, but miraculously, no one had an accident!

The party bag on the left was used to collect candy from the pinata later and those are gumballs shaped to look like basketballs.  Spoiler alert: they looked cool, but the kids later told me that the gumballs weren't that great.

I planned to play some basketball bingo with the kids but they were having so much fun running around that they chose to forego it.  

Celebrating in style:

A basketball pinata (Jimmy's request) set up in the heated garage:

And lots of loot!

Happy 7th Birthday to the boy that completed our family!

James turns 7! (Part 1)

Jimmy's 7th birthday fell on a Saturday this year so we started the celebration the day before by taking in cosmic brownies to his classroom to share with his fellow first-graders.  

The next morning, I woke everyone up so that we could sing 'Happy Birthday" and enjoy our traditional cinnamon rolls together before the day got even busier.  Items on the agenda that day included basketball practice and a game for James, the "SnowCo" Winter High School Dance for Samantha and her friends (with pictures at our house!) and Jimmy's birthday party with friends later in the day.

With so many things on our checklist that day, Jimmy got to open his gifts from us right after breakfast.

He even donned his special birthday hat from school for the event.

Jack picked out a bow and arrow set for him and I am not sure which one of them was more excited about it.

James asked for a special squishmallow (both he and Sophia share a love of them) so Sophia made sure that that particular gift came from her.

And it was fitting that Sam gave her little brother a new Nike bag to be used for basketball now that Jimmy was playing this year.

End of the Week Randoms

Jimmy worked really hard to shovel together some snow (that was on the front lawn!) so that he could make a "jumping pile."

Fresh snow means that it is also time to ride snowmobiles.  It helps to have neighbors that kindly offer to use their machine!

And it wouldn't be a true Michigan winter without at least one snowman!

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Another semester, another extra credit Spanish food project.  This time, Samantha chose 'Spanish Hot Chocolate.'

We made it the night before and then she put it in a crockpot the next morning to take into her 3rd hour class.  It was thicker than what we are used to and has cinnamon, coconut milk and a tad bit of cayenne pepper, but I heard that it was a hit with the teacher and her classmates.

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Winter means that it is basketball season!  3 out of the 4 kids are all doing basketball this year, including Jimmy for his first year.

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The boys both entered the Squirrel and Rabbit Hunting competition at the American Legion this year and made out like bandits!  

Black squirrels (they had 4 of them to enter) are worth extra tickets and they came home from the banquet with an air gun, a powerful maglite flashlight, a tent and a knife for prizes.

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The Tooth Fairy paid a visit to James recently and instead of her usual $1 coin that she brings, she left a dollar bill instead.  As you can see, James wasn't pleased about that and wrote a note asking her to make a trade.  

Spoiler alert: she made the switch the following night.

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We had a brief mild spell with the weather and the boys set up next to the campfire spot in our back yard and enjoyed some relaxation time.

Two peas in a pod.

I love how great their relationship is.  Jack is a natural leader and Jimmy is so respectful of him and follows right in his footsteps.

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New Year's Adventure - Traverse City

As we approached the Christmas holiday, I began thinking about what we would get each of the kids for their "main gift."  My excitement stems from picking out all of the little items -- the stocking stuffers and the perfect 'extras' with beautiful wrapping paper and ribbons that I pack away and then slide under and around the tree on Christmas Eve.  The "main gift" is harder to come up with, especially if I am trying to keep things relatively even from a monetary standpoint and among the girls and boys.

This year, I proposed the idea to Steve of gifting the kids more of an "experience."  I would still wrap up something for them to open but it would be a trip centered around the holiday season (not so far out on the calendar that it would be forgotten or not feel as special).  With that in mind, we chose to take the kids up to Traverse City to Great Wolf Lodge to an indoor swimming park that we had never been to before.  We had also hoped to do some snow tubing while we were there, but the weather did not cooperate with us.

We left our house on New Year's Day and headed north, stopping part-way for lunch.  The weather was unseasonably mild so between the Snow Tubing Hill being closed for both New Year's Day and the next day, it still would not have been possible to tube the following day on our way back home.  The kids were ok with that though and were anxious to check into our hotel and go straight to the water park.

Before we checked in though, we walked out to the bay in Traverse City to see the water (again, not frozen!) and take a few pictures.

It was at this point that we realized that Jack DID NOT PACK A COAT ... in January ... in Michigan.

It was a tad overcast and cloudy, but the water was relatively clear and we even saw a few fish swimming around near the surface.  

Once we checked into our room, Jimmy was quick to claim the bottom bunk in the small room that he shared with Jack.

Jack didn't mind one bit and gladly took the top bunk.

Everyone donned their swimsuits and we headed downstairs to the swimming area.  I don't think that the kids understood at first just how much fun it would be.  There were activities for ALL ages ... from little wading pools to water park slides.  Myself?  I enjoyed an adult beverage and watched from the sidelines that night.  

Afterwards, we went back upstairs and decided to quickly order a pizza for pick-up for dinner.  Easy, peasy.  And within 20 minutes of finishing dinner, Jimmy was sound asleep in his bunk!

The next morning, Steve made homemade waffles in our hotel room.  The kids loved it!

After that, we headed back down to the water park (which was less busy first thing in the morning) and let the kids enjoy the water some more before cleaning up and heading out to lunch in downtown Traverse City.

Floating down the Lazy River after shooting down an enclosed slide:

Walking across the "lily pads" to get to the other side (hopefully without falling into the water):

There were several areas where the water poured like a deluge and Steve jumped in at the last minute to 'photo bomb' with the girls:

I was grateful that we waited until now to take the kids to this water park.  All of our kids are fully-capable swimmers at this age and it was a lot easier on me not to worry about them running around on their own inside the park.  There are plenty of lifeguards on duty of course, but there are a TON of kids in there at all times.

One of the places that both Steve and I wanted to take the kids was the Mission Point Lighthouse.  We talked about the history of it while driving there, and while it was not open to do the self-guided toured inside, I feel that we definitely walked away knowing more about it than we did when we first arrived.

Grand Traverse Bay, with open water in January!

It was windy and cold, but the kids loved walking along BOTH the sand AND the snow that day.  (Jack borrowed one of Sam's fleece jackets that day).

Hunting for crab claws along the shore:

Later, we went to lunch in one of the oldest establishments in Traverse City called 'Sleder's Family Tavern' for yet another dose of history and ... lots of taxidermy.  That was followed by more swimming (we got out money's worth) and then a wonderful, authentic Mexican dinner.  I had hoped to take the kids bowling (we seem to do this often when we take them out of town) but the timing didn't work out because most of the bowling alleys were not available for OPEN BOWLING.  After the delightful chips and salsa, the kids didn't mind one bit.

After 3 days and 2 nights out of town, we headed back home because both Sam and Jack had basketball practice later that night.  And, everyone was going back to school the next day.  We weren't gone too long, just long enough to make some special family memories together and to get me thinking about what our plans might be this year for Spring Break.