Way to go Packers!

Oh...what to say?  I don't have much to say, I guess, other than

THE GREEN BAY PACKERS ARE SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS!!!! 

I was so stressed out during that darn game.  I was screaming, yelling, stomping, cheering, jumping...you name it, I did it.  I was hoarse by the end of the night but I didn't care.  The Pack was on top again.  Oh what a day! 

Until next year, Football.

C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N

Alayna came home from school on Tuesday so excited that she was jumping out of her skin.  She could barely take off her snow boots, hat, mittens and coat fast enough to tell me what she was so excited about.

"MOM!!  We had the 4th grade spelling bee today and not only am I my class champion, but I'm the champion of the whole 4th grade!!!!"  She was a little excited, but so were we.  Last year, she was 2nd and so bummed, because she knew how to spell the last word correctly, just got ahead of herself and there's no going back to correct.  This year, she made sure to take her time.  I was so proud of her that she remembered to think it through, especially since I didn't even know it was time for the spelling bee (she kinda forgot to bring the study sheet home over the weekend)  She doesn't get to go on to competition at district until next year, in 5th grade, but it's still awesome.

I remember when I was in the spelling bee.  It was down to myself and my friend Sarah.  I got the word "diarrhea" and missed the second R.  She got the word "pneumonia" and spelled it correctly, so she won.  I was so frustrated because I knew her word.  But you know what?  I don't think I've ever misspelled either of those words ever again!

Great job, Alayna!  We're so proud of you!

Super Bowl Baby!!

As you know, I am a HUGE Packers fan.  I love football in general, but the Packers have always been my favorite team.  We all have our shirts and hats and Mikayla even has a pair of Packer socks.  And now, they're going to the Super Bowl!!

My favorite player ever for the Packers was Gilbert Brown.  He was a big beast of a guy who would pretend to be a "Gravedigger" when he'd make an important tackle or sacked the QB.  He's been retired for several years now, but he still does appearances for the team.  I had my jersey Brown jersey on, cheering for the team, when BJ Raji intercepted the ball and then ran it back for a touchdown.  He did a little dance afterwards and let me tell you...he moved up a little closer to Gilbert in my heart.  I love the big guys when it comes to football and Raji's little dance reminded me of Gilbert so much!

So what will you be doing on Feb 6th?  I'll be cheering on MY PACKERS in the SUPER BOWL!!!!!

Basketball--Part 2

Saturday was the start of Alayna's second round of basketball for the year.  Earlier, she played in "tournaments" with 3 games and 30 minutes of play but no score or fouls called.  It was simply to get them some experience and confidence with playing and handling the ball.  This past Saturday, however, was the start of real play--called fouls, scores, etc.  All the girls were so excited!

The tournament was about 45 minutes away, so we were there bright and early for a 10 am game.  Their first game ended up with a loss 14-18 (if I remember correctly), their second game was a win 20-4 (I think) and their last game was a loss 14-18 again.  All in all, it was a good showing for their first time!  They ended up third, and everyone got a ribbon.  They were pretty excited.  We now have basketball again for the next several Saturdays, but it's okay.  We like to watch and cheer the team on, and Alayna loves to play.  She's really doing a great job and has improved greatly!

Yesterday, a handful of the girls from the 4th and 5th grade teams went to a basketball clinic at a University about 2 hrs away.  They were able to do drills and stations with the coaches and players for the women's basketball team, plus got a signed t-shirt and poster.  Alayna came home so tired but with all sorts of stories of things she did and learned.  Yay for basketball!

Swim Lessons

Today is Day #2 of swimming lessons for Mikayla and Lilly.  They both are so excited and can't wait.  Since we live in the middle of nowhere, there weren't any lessons within 30 miles that were held in the winter.  After some talk (for several years) there are now finally lessons available at the area motel!  Every Monday the girls go for the next 7 weeks.  I am just as excited as they are.

I'll be sure to get some pics tonight (I missed last week--their first lesson--because of a migraine.  It killed me to not be there!)  I guess Lilly did awesome last week, and Mikayla did very well...as long as she stayed in the pool.  She apparently would do what was asked, then run to make sure my mom (who took them b/c Andy was working) saw everything she did.  We're going to work on that tonight.

Double-Digits!!

Alayna is now in the Double-Digit age club. It's crazy to think that Andy and I have been parents for 10 years now! I remember taking her home from the hospital and being so worried about everything. I remember just watching her sleep and not wanting to put her down. I remember how everything she did just enchanted us. She taught us how to be parents and I think she did a pretty good job.

Happy Birthday, Mikayla!

Mikayla celebrated her fourth birthday last week. It's so strange to say that she's now 4. When they are still 3, it's easy to pretend that they are still a baby or at the very least, a toddler. But at 4, they seem so much older. There's a certain "aura" about 4 that means the 4-year-old is now big and mature and old.

Mikayla could hardly wait for Christmas because she knew her birthday was right after it. Every day she'd ask, "Is it my birfday yet?!" When it finally was, the first thing she said in the morning was, "Good morning Mommy, aren't you going to say Happy Birfday Mikayla?" She makes us laugh so hard every day!

Happy Birthday, big 4-year-old Mikayla!

Christmas was here

Christmas was last week, in case you didn't know. We had a crazy busy few days, like normal, but it's always so fun and well worth the lack of sleep and minor temper tantrums that may appear.

It started off with our daycare Christmas party on Thursday. I had all my daycare kids here and we made ornaments, watched "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", had a dance party and played freeze dance (both with Christmas music), baked some cookies for them to take home, had lunch, read a few stories and then opened up presents...all before 2:00 when they were all picked up so I could go to a funeral in the cities. Whew, it was a crazy day (and I didn't even tell you about having to pick up Lilly from school because she threw up. Twice.).

Christmas Eve started out with sleeping in until 8:00!! It felt like a Christmas miracle, I tell you. And everyone was healthy and feeling great! We had a few screaming sessions that resulted in children finally helping clean the house so that it was presentable when our company came around 9:15. Since the house was now clean, we could all be happy the rest of the day...which we honestly were. My parents, Andy's parents and Andy's sister all came over for brunch and the present presentation. Together we prepared eggs, fried potatoes, bacon, sausage and toast. It took about an hour and it was all gone in 4 minutes. Then we opened presents from my parents and the girls didn't catch on that there were only a few presents from one set of grandparents, but not the other. Or that all the presents had a theme...like princesses, Tinkerbell, Mickey Mouse...you see where I'm going here? They finally figured it out when a calendar with a countdown was opened.

We're going to Disney World. Yep, my parents and Andy's parents are taking us all to Disney World--all 11 of us (my 5, my parents, my sister, Andy's parents and Andy's sister) It should be crazy, stressful, and a whole lotta fun!

After presents, we got ready for church and headed out. I managed another Christmas miracle by getting a picture in front of the tree at church with my girls and my 2 close friends' 5 kids all looking at the camera, smiling, and looking great! One picture and they all scattered. It really was a miracle. Then we went to dinner at a family friend's house, where Mikayla chewed her turkey for so long she turned it into paste and gagged herself...all over my shirt. Greatness. Mikayla, of course, was just fine and played hard the rest of the night. After dinner, we went over to Andy's parents' house and opened up some presents there before heading home with 3 very sleepy girls.

Christmas morning was our third and final Christmas miracle--the girls slept in until 8:15! It was crazy to wake up and have the sun up already, especially on Christmas morning when the girls were chomping at the bit the night before and telling us they would be up at 6. We opened presents and then raced to my parents' house for our family gathering with all her siblings and family. Sunday was spent at Andy's cousin's house for that side of the family's gathering.

Very busy, very fun, very crazy. I would post pictures but for some reason, it's not working right now. *sigh*

Cards Schmards

So if you remember my earlier post about our Christmas card fiasco, here's Part 2.

They're still messed up. Yep, I did everything they told me to do and they assured me that the print preview is exactly how it prints. The print preview was perfect, so I printed them and then waited. 13 days. We got them in the mail on Saturday and we gained about 1/2 of a letter on the end of each line. I was so upset because now it's just too late to do new cards. They'll just have to make do. Ugh.

Oh, and my Christmas letter was being printed when my ink ran out. In the middle of Lilly's synopsis. So I need to find a way to e-mail the letter to someone, have them print it, then get them copied and sent all before this weekend.

If you're on my normal card list, don't count on it. You'll probably get them more around New Year's, but that's okay. I'll post it here after I've sent them in the mail. At this point, I'm about to say cards schmards.

Programs

This past Thursday, the girls had their program at the school. Lilly's class was up first and for Kindergartners, they did a great job! Usually, you can't really understand what they are singing but they are so darn cute you don't care. But this year we could understand every word! Lilly was the last person on the top left row.

The program progressed through 1-3 grades, then Alayna's 4th grade class came out to do a little play. Alayna was an elf and had 2 speaking lines. She did a great job saying her lines and dancing across stage.

This Sunday was our Sunday school program at church, despite the snow and cold. My mom wrote the program again this year and did a great job! The kids put on a news broadcast like what would have been seen on that first Christmas. There was a traffic report, saying how busy the roads were because of everyone coming into town for the census and even included funny tidbits like a "camel down on I-95" and a horse that "threw a shoe on the Bethlehem Bypass." We also had a weather report, which stated that the skies were unusually clear and one could see for miles. Then the anchor (Alayna) reported on the census before breaking news came in about a strange, star-like light high in the skies over Bethlehem. The roving reporter (Lilly) was on the scene to investigate. She interviewed several people in the crowd to see if anyone knew what the light was. Then our traffic reporter interviewed a shepherd who said angels appeared to her on the hills! After some further investigation and an interview with a local inn-keeper, reporter Lilly found the newborn Baby Jesus in the hay. It was such a cute program and my mom did a great job writing it! The only thing that would have been better is if our church had a few more kids so that each child didn't have multiple roles. But all in all, it was a great success!!