Sunday, January 27, 2013

Take Two

I don't get very many pictures of Andrew these days.  And when I do, he usually is wearing a uniform for a sport.  He had two basketball games yesterday in Indianola and before he left, I asked to snap a picture or two of him.   
Picture #2-he always make goofy faces/smiles when I ask to take his photo. He REALLY doesn't like me to take his picture. 

BREAK OUT

Olivia's dance company asked in Dec. for dancers to perform at the Iowa Energy Basketball game.  Olivia loves to dance hip hop and quickly said yes to dance.  For the past 3 weekends, she has been going to class to work on the routine of the song Break Out.  She learned the moves by the first weekend and has been dancing around the house.  I think I even know the routine from seeing her practice it so much.   

Friday night was the big performance.  The kids danced before the game.  She did wonderful on her routine and not shy at all to move and grove in front of the crowd.  From looking at the audience, there doesn't seem to be a lot there.  I think many were still in line getting their $1.00 hotdogs.

We decided to leave after halftime to get something to eat.  It was nice to have quality time with only Olivia tonight.  Thanks to Gramma Mary, she watched the others so we could go with Olivia.  It was fun hanging with her and her friend for the evening. Having alone time with each of the kids doesn't happen very often, so moments like this are cherished.   








Olivia's friend from school and the neighborhood joined us at the Energy game.

The halftime entertainment were the stunt group Acrodunk.  The kids have seen them at their school last year performing but still thought it was cool.  Phil and I had only seen them on the show American's Got Talent a few summers back.  The acrodunk's show was pretty awesome, just like Olivia's dance.  Phil video taped it so hopefully he'll get it uploaded on the computer to show ya.




Plant Cell Project

Olivia has been studying cells this past quarter.  She's had several labs and experiments with some dissecting too.  This week, she had to make some representation of either an animal or plant cell.  She wanted to make a cake of a plant cell.  Here is her final product, minus the labels.  She put those on at school.   After receiving an A+, Olivia was able to take the cake to lunch and share with her friends.  All was devoured and an empty pan returned home.



My Girls

Clare absolutely LOVES to read and Ruth LOVES books being read to her. 
Ruth is always hanging with her big sis.
Clare takes our picture after church a few weeks back.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Happy New Year

 To ring in the New Year, the family took a little trip to Iowa City.  We made plans to see our old friends from college.  It had been a few years since we had been together and more than 3 years since we've had all of our kids together.  First we met at a local bowling alley.  Kristi and her family only stayed for a short time since they had a Hawk basketball game to get too.  Adina brought her three girls to bowl while her husband was working on New Years Eve. 
The guys
 
Ruth insisted on bringing her princess gown.  She was getting moody with no nap so the putting the gown on to bowl seemed to do the trick.




Ruth cracks me up bowling in her gown. 

Then it was time to go the campus to walk around.  What else to do on this cold last December day??  We walked through the campus mall and then to McBride Hall, which is one of the lecture halls. 

Next, our next stop down memory lane was riding the Cambus.  The kids had fun trying to stand while the bus was moving.  We were a little loud on the bus and a lot of laughs too.  It was a good thing the bus was pretty much to ourselves.


Little Monkey

Had to take Phil's picture by yellow sign.


Here we are out for dinner.   Adina recommended a restaurant for us, so it was a good thing we made 5:00 reservations before the night got busy.  We had our own section of the restaurant for most of our time there.  It was perfect for the kids and large screen TV for the guys to watch some football.


Kristi and Adina had plans already for New Years but Colette's and my family snagged a hotel room for the night for our own New Years celebration.


Some pool action for the kids...and myself.



It is WAY past the kids' bedtime watching New Year's Rockin' Eve.