Ella ages...

Ella's friends came over to celebrate her birthday and another successful year.  She willingly supported Grace at a tournament in Madtown.  The tourney was great and Grace rebounds like an animal...the hotel was just described as an adventure.

Spring in our steps...

 
 Spring is here and the weather has been cooperating.  It is time for Spring concerts.  Merrick had a drum solo and Ella is in charge of tuning up the whole band.  It has been fun watching them progress.  Ella and Grace headed to TR for a color run with Amy and Hazel spent a day at work with me.  Merrick's soccer team is playing around the area but it seems this will be his last season with the club as he plans on playing for the school team in the fall.

Let them eat cake...

 

April is already drawing to an end, birthday month around here, and we are staying busy enough for only monthly updates it seems.  The dogs have adjusted to each other and Hazel is fitting in with her new pack.  The are exhausted from all the festivities but find time to rest.  Sophia's made the high school team and is the captain.  That doesn't mean the weather is any nicer with many games played in sub 40 weather, if they get played an not cancelled from the rain.  Grace's new team is taking shape and has had its first tournament already and is getting ready for others through out the state.  The weather is warming a bit and there are plenty of games of PIG being played on the driveway court.  The school year is coming to an end and we are looking forward to some more outdoor adventures.

March Madness

 
 

The snow came in full.  We headed north to Iron Mountain and Ski Brule.  We had a blast in the later winter early spring sunshine.  The ski conditions were perfect although the wind blew in late in the afternoon as we were heading home.  No injuries to report and we did our darndest, with every kid hitting a black diamond and plenty of time spent on the narrow, tree swerving terrain runs.  Merrick had his snow board and the rest of us were on skis.  Hazel showed up and became part of the family.  Just in time for have a path snow blown through the early spring snow for her little legs.  Soccer is going in full force for Merrick and Sophia is playing indoors with tryouts starting soon.  Ella had both a piano festival (less than excited) and a clarinet competition (couldn't be more excited).  She did awesome and had a blast.  Amy and her are off to Disney World for a week with the Marching band, so it is busy around here like normal.  Grace is coming to the end of the her basketball season and will have about 3 weeks off before the summer league starts up.

Ground hogs day again, and again....

 
 

 
 

Ground hogs day brings up the movie of the same day over and over.  With out a post since early December it seems to be fitting and a cautionary tale at the same time.  Each day seems to repeat as we rush about in the routine, but in looking back each day has had plenty of splendid and unique moments.  December found us making the rounds we hit TR and EC for a gathering of clans with laughs and more laughs.   The year ended with cookies to be frosted, gingerbread houses to be made and presents to be opened.  Grace tried her hand this year at making the spaghetti noodles for Christmas Eve dinner, always a highly anticipated tradition and the year began with a party of pizza and slime and what sounded like the shrieks of a hundred girls.  Grace is playing Basketball most every weekend and doing really well both individually and as a team.  She has become a rebounding monster and a great team player.  Sophia is playing indoor soccer with the high school team and the extra touches on the ball are helping her see the game as a whole and be more anticipatory.  Merrick too is playing in indoor soccer in the evenings and making some great shots that really echo off the boards.  Ella has added extra band practices at night in preparation to marching in Disney World over spring break and playing her heart out for the pep band during the basketball games.  She is still playing the piano and has a competition coming up at the end of the month.   We just came out of the autumnally predicted polar vortex with temperatures in the negative twenties.  The arctic blast followed on the heels of big snow storm that cancelled school on Monday and then left the cold to take out two more days during the week.  It was our first real snow of the year having spent most of the winter looking at brown grass. We spent time at home playing a new board game, Catan, and doing a big puzzle next to the heat of the fireplace.  It was a pretty relaxing way to spend a few days...other than the missing piece that we are sure was Oliver's attempt to get into the action.  We even fired up the camp stoves to make some smores.  Sophia drove, yup drove, Amy to the store to get smores supplies and then we brought a little taste of summer indoors. We have got some outdoor time mixed into the weather and rush, Grace, Amy and I took Oliver for a woods run in Baird's creek and walked the snowy hills in balmy conditions. He gets so excited and tries to help but mostly just jumps on our legs.  Grace had him playing in the backyard during the snow storm, but he really just wants to run off with her hat.  The kids and I did do spend some time on the ice, skating in the shadow of Lambeau.  We played tag until I was scolded by the attendants for going to fast and after several hours and muscle weary legs we headed over to the ice sculptures that were on display.  Obviously it should be a no touching scenario but the temptations of the clarity and smoothness of the ice was too much temptation for everyone involved.  Somewhere in the mix of days Grace won her classes Geo-Bee, a geography competition and then was put on stage to win a $50,000 scholarship opportunity.  She did really well and maybe it is parental bias or maybe it is honest objective analysis but I think many of her questions were way harder than what those other kids had to answer.

The beat goes on...

 

December moves to a faster beat.  The lights are hung on the outside of the house and the inside is decorated too.  The Christmas tree was picked out in a rainy winter storm but has added a warmth to the house with is scent and centerpiece of the holidays.  St Nick has come and went and the Herbie is still here.  He hides each night but has become less destructive and less creative over the years.  Ella, Merrick and Grace all had holiday band concerts and it was well attended by all the Grandmas. It was wonderful to see so much support for the kids that everyone would travel so far.  Ella was selected to tune the band before the concert and Merrick had a bass drum solo or maybe it was a duet.  Grace was blasting the brass of her trumpet and they all sounded just wonderful.   Grace is still rippin' up the court on basketball with tournaments most ever Saturday.  Christmas break is two weeks away the beats of December accelerando as we rush headlong into the New Year. Coda.