All I Want for Easter

...is my two front teeth!

The boys and I were on a bike ride yesterday when suddenly Matt stops. I thought, "Oh boy, here we go. Matt's going to say it's too windy for him to bike." Instead, when I catch up to him, he's holding his bloody mouth and one of his front teeth is hanging by a thread. It had been loose for a while and with just a slight pull, it came out!

Shortly after we got home, Matt was showing Brian his mouth. The other front tooth, which also had been loose for a while, was looking pretty scraggly, and I asked Matt if I could pull that one, too. He said yes, and a twist and a turn later, out it came.

Two teeth in one day!

Boys at the Ballpark

Brian here! If you know me at all, you know that I have been waiting a long time for the opening of Target Field. It's actually been close to 10 years. The Twins have been lobbying for a new stadium for about that long and a few years ago, I found out that it was actually going to be built. The Twins set up a webcam before the groundbreaking so that a stadium geek like me could go on their website daily and follow the construction progress. Today was the public open house and for only $2 a person, I could take the boys and walk around and experience an outdoor MLB ballpark once again. (I went to Met stadium when I was very little, but don't remember anything about it.) It was everything I hoped for. Green grass, great sight lines to watch, (Gophers vs. La Tech exhibition game too) and an amazing big scoreboard with HD were a few of my favorites. But the best thing was the smell of freshly grilled hot dogs and brats that I could smell everywhere, including the minute I got out of the car two blocks away. I just never got to experience that with the Twins playing inside a dome. Actually the greatest thing, was just sitting beside my three boys under the flag while listening to the National Anthem in the great outdoors. Now that was priceless! Here are the pics from an awesome day at Target Field.
















My brothers John, Robert, and Richard along with myself even have our names engraved on the glass Tradition Wall right in front of the main gate. (Gate 34) Thanks to Robert who plunked down some good $$$ for that, we have our names permanently at the ballpark.

If you want to see the names better, click on the picture to enlarge.

We're Proud!

Adam wrote his name for the very first time the other day!

He was SO proud of himself.



I love it.

DI

Ben's Destination Imagination tournament was today. I'm one of the team managers, so we've both been engrossed with DI stuff since November. Before I give you the results of the tournament, let me tell you a little bit about DI.

*I was skeptical of Ben participating..just didn't know anything about it. I couldn't have been more wrong. He LOVES it!

*There are teams in all 50 states and worldwide

*The focus is on KID-CENTERED creative problem solving, teamwork, thinking on your feet, etc... Only the kids can come up with their solutions. Team managers can guide them, but we're not suppose to give outright answers or ideas to them. This can be tough when you're watching them work on something that you just know is going to flop!

*Kids who participate in DI are often very independent-minded, strong-willed, strong personality kids. Putting 6 of them together in one room can be difficult at times.

*Of the 6 challenges to choose from, Ben's team chose one that required them to build a structure using only newspaper and glue. It had to weigh less than 75 grams, be between 7-9 inches tall, and hold as much weight as possible. In addition to the structure, they had to find an international news article and present a skit about their article, and incorporate their newspaper structure into the skit.

*Ben's team found a news article about some British brothers who started their own ice-cream truck business in Dubai. Fun, interesting article.

*Ben played the part of one of the British brothers and even spoke with a British accent

*The team's newspaper structure held 110 pounds today!




*The team earned a 1st place ribbon and is advancing to the state tournament in a month! I'm excited for the team, but was ready to put the glue bottles away. I guess not quite yet...

We Love Our Neighbors!

When we first moved into our house 7 years ago, we had one set of neighbors that really kept to themselves, but were at least civil to us. That is until we put in a basketball hoop, and then they let us have it. They called us every name in the book, screamed at how we had lowered the value of their landscaping, and from that day on, they never spoke to us. They even went so far as to purposely set up a boom box outside anytime they saw we were outside and blast their music. We were overjoyed when a For Sale sign went up in their yard a year and a half ago. The market of course was slowing down at that time, and we had no idea if the house would sell, but we prayed for some nice neighbors to move in.

God answered our prayers and gave us GREAT neighbors! We've had dinner at each other's houses. We've watched each other's kids. We play in each other's yards. We borrow things. They fix things we break. (We can't return that favor since we're not very handy.) We've exchanged Christmas gifts. We mow and snowblow for each other. We have dance parties together.

Yes, a dance party. They gave us a call last Friday night and asked if we wanted to hang out. Their sweet family of 3 came over, and their little girl and Adam played while the rest of us laughed and danced our hearts out to "Just Dance", a Wii game they had just gotten. We had so much fun. We danced, laughed and played well past all of the kids' bedtimes. That sure beats what the boys use to say about the neighbors who lived there, "Mom, are those the people who don't like us?"

Ben's Big Week

Ben had quite a week. The Science Fair was held on Thursday, and he was excited, but also a little nervous. The cheese finally grew some mold once he started over and placed each slice in individual bags. A couple of weekends ago we spent time typing up the final report and putting the display board together. I admit that I helped in organizing the board and with some of the typing, but the words and overall ideas were all his.

He spent the last couple of nights practicing his oral presentation that would be judged. On Thursday morning I walked him in to school with display board, samples of moldy cheese, and a card table all in tow.

At the end of the school day, he was thrilled to share with us that he had earned a FIRST PLACE RIBBON! He was so excited, and this just further fuels his fire to want to be a scientist when he grows up. He says he wants to work with chemicals and find a cure for cancer. I think he could do it, too!

The next step will take place in a month at an all day regional tournament (and I do mean ALL DAY) about an hour and a half away from home. Participants who advance from that level move on to the state tournament, and eventually the national competition. We may not advance past the regional tournament, but somehow I'm sensing that we have many more years of science fair ahead of us!





Ben's other exciting news happened today when he received a certificate stating that he had been chosen as his school's "Student of Honor". He wasn't really sure why he was given the award, but was excited about it nonetheless.



We're proud of Ben's fantastic school achievements!