Like father, like son

Remember the movie The Cutting Edge? It is a romantic comedy where a figure skater is paired with a former hockey player for Olympic figure skating? (Yes, I'm sure I totally dated myself with this start to my post.) Anyway, Mike and I both like very different types of movies, and when we first started dating, this was one of the few that we both enjoyed. The ending of this movie, though, drove my husband crazy.

What? You don't remember The Cutting Edge? Allow me to summarize: these skaters are trying to win the gold medal and, of course, they can't stand each other for most of the movie. The final scene takes place at the Olympics, where they complete an amazing routine and then confess their love for each other.

And then the movie ends.

This is the part that annoyed my husband. He wanted to know whether or not they won the gold. You know...true love, blah, blah, blah...but did they win????

So fast forward a decade or so...to a UNO hockey game in Omaha.

During intermission, there are usually activities where people come down from the crowd to compete for various prizes. On this particular night, they blindfolded a woman and told her that if she could make a goal from a certain spot on the ice, she'd win a gift certificate. Her first shot misses...so they move her in closer for her second attempt. After she misses that one as well, they tell her she can remove her blindfold for the final try. She pulls it off and surprise! Her boyfriend is on the ice in front of her, down on one knee. He proposes. She accepts. They kiss. The crowd goes wild, and the couple walks off the ice to applause.

G clapped right along with everyone else as the couple exited the ice. Then he leaned over to his grandpa and asked "Isn't she going to go back and take her last shot to win the prize?"

A Special Dancing Day

Life is finally returning to normal after our move to Omaha, which means that there are more boxes unpacked than packed and we are starting to get back into our routine. Routine means sports practice, scout meetings, homework, movie nights, and, of course, Special Days.

The Special Day tradition started a few years ago when we realized that we tended to do everything as group (all 3 kids with both parents.) I wanted to find a way to have some one-to-one time with each child. We started adding Special Days to the calendar, and Mike and I took turns taking one child out for a special activity.

This time it was K's turn. My daughter adores dancing, and she tells me on a regular basis how much she misses her ballet class. She still practices her ballet positions while she is standing in front of the bathroom mirror to brush her teeth. I couldn't wait to surprise her with tickets to see the Omaha Theater Ballet's performance called "Confetti." We got all ready to go, and she was grinning from ear to ear.

We had a blast, although I discovered that we have very different taste and liked completely different parts of the program. I loved The Diner, which had everyone performing to different songs about food. K liked it enough, but she was primarily interested in whether the ketchup and mustard containers on the tables of the set contained actual ketchup and mustard. I couldn't answer this question, and she seemed greatly troubled by that. Her favorite parts of the concert were the more traditional performances. She absolutely adored “Paquita" and couldn't stop talking about it, loving the classical costumes and all the spins.

Well, technically, I think her favorite might have been the huge sugar cookie that I bought her at the concession during intermission....but “Paquita" was a very close second.

Up next: Washington D.C.

We're headed to the White House! OK, technically, we are not headed to the White House. However the kids made Christmas ornaments that are headed to Washington D.C. to be displayed on Nebraska's tree as part of the Christmas Pageant of Peace at the White House.

You didn't know there was a Christmas Pageant of Peace at the White House? Come one! Don't you keep up with current events and important happenings at our nation's capital?

OK, I didn't know there was a Christmas Pageant of Peace either.

Despite my holiday pageant ignorance, the kids did get to make Christmas ornaments for the tree because our local Children's Museum sponsored a special event to do just that. They each got to decorate a tiny little hand ornament.

K covered every inch of her ornament with glitter. I don't think she even touched any of the other provided ornament decorating materials...I knew once she saw the glitter, she'd be all about the glitter. The staff teased her about it, trying to get her to use paint or markers. She stared at them briefly, decided they were clearly out of their mind, and then put her head back down so she could concentrate on adding more glitter, resulting in a very sparkly ornament.


The kids finished their ornaments, proudly posed for a picture, and then sent them on their way to the White House.

Veterans Day Parade

Veterans Day is one of G's favorite holidays. This is partially due to the fact that this holiday also happens to fall on his birthday. The fact that his favorite uncle is in the army doesn't hurt either. Last year, he could barely contain his excitement when there was a Veterans Day celebration at his elementary school on his birthday AND Uncle Jason attended.

Our recent relocation landed us near an Air Force Base, and we knew we couldn't miss the Veterans Day Parade. They have a tradition of kicking off the parade each year with a fly-over. The kids thought this was pretty cool. Apparently the type of plane doing the fly-over changes every year, and it isn't announced so everyone is surprised by it. If I knew anything about planes or the air force, I'd be able to tell you what it was...but since I don't, here is a picture:

G's scout troop was in the parade. He marched along quite proudly with his friends:

N & K hung out with me, watching the parade and running after candy that was thrown out to the crowd. (Like we needed more candy...Halloween was only a few weeks ago!)

You know what I learned about attending a Veterans Day parade? You spend a lot of time standing up because there are plenty of American flags being paraded down the street! Not that I minded...it was a beautiful day and a wonderful way to honor those who have served or are currently serving our country. Thank you for all that you do and have done for us!

32 of 52

There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them. ~Vicki Baum






+++ 52 Weeks +++
I'm taking part in the challenge over at Forever in Blue Jeans: 52 Weeks is a year long challenge for YOU to be in a picture once a week for 52 weeks. We are always the ones behind the camera, this is YOUR chance to get out in front and be in the pictures with our family.

Happy Birthday G & K!

This last week has been birthday madness. First there was K's 5th birthday, which we celebrated a few times to accommodate all of the family, then both K & G had birthday parties over the weekend with their friends, and today is G's 8th birthday. Between party planning (ah, the drama! Will definitely fill you in when I do that post), cake making, gift shopping and wrapping, and actual celebrating, I have struggled to get blog posts out lately. I did, however, want to quickly wish my oldest and youngest a very happy birthday.

And so it begins...

A few nights ago, I answered the phone and was surprised to find that the caller wanted to talk to N.

Yep, 5 year old N is getting phone calls.

The conversation lasted less than five minutes and mostly consisted of giggles and "what did you say?" but N was thrilled that one of his friends from his old school had called to talk to him.

Then last night K asked when she could call her friend who moved to Hong Kong. In true K fashion, she was quite dramatic about it...telling me she had to talk to Lydia because it had been so long since she'd seen her that she couldn't even remember what she looked like anymore. (Um, K, considering there is a picture of the two of you on your dresser in your bedroom, I find that really hard to believe...)

I suppose it won't be too long before I need to start researching extra phone lines and family cell plans.

I am not ready for this!

A little too much of a good thing...

Remember last year when I raved about homemade applesauce and how I'd never buy a jar of applesauce again? I still stand by that statement...I am a big fan of this crockpot applesauce recipe.

However, I can also officially say now that we've made it through the piles of apples that we brought home from the orchard and all the apple related treats that came from those piles of apples, I'm OK with taking a break from apples for a while. There was apple crisp, apple oatmeal, apple pie and caramel apples:

But mostly there was lots and lots and lots of applesauce. Luckily G was my apple-peeling-applesauce-making buddy, and he was a big help:

The applesauce is still fabulous, and I especially loved eating it while it was still warm....but it is nice to be finally feeling the freedom that comes from opening my fridge and NOT seeing containers of homemade applesauce.

Trick-or-Treat

Time to go trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood! A neighbor took this photo of us in front of the house - we got lots of compliments on the spooky jack-o-lantern window:

The kids wore several different costumes at all the Halloween events over the last few weeks before finally settling on these - G was a pirate, N was a firefighter, and K was a witch:

We had fun exploring the neighborhood and met lots of new neighbors. The kids loved the houses where the owners really got into it with lots of yard decorations, and they got a big kick out of the house that had the Charlie Brown Halloween show playing/projected on their garage. G & K were bubbling over with energy (or perhaps on sugar highs) and could have kept going, but N was done. He barely made it home...

Trick-or-treating is such hard work!
+++ 52 Weeks +++
I'm taking part in the challenge over at Forever in Blue Jeans: 52 Weeks is a year long challenge for YOU to be in a picture once a week for 52 weeks. We are always the ones behind the camera, this is YOUR chance to get out in front and be in the pictures with our family.

Pumpkin Carving

Sadly there was no pumpkin carving party this year - we just don't know anyone in the neighborhood yet. We hope to be hosting one again next year. For this year, though, that meant we were on our own for pumpkin carving. Three kids, three pumpkins, how hard can it be?


That looks disgusting...and I am most certainly not going to touch the inside of that pumpkin.

I'm not so sure about this.

I can't believe my brother and sister are being such babies about this. It isn't that bad.

Ew!

OK, this is a little messy...


N wanted this to be a Yankee Pumpkin...but we couldn't find his Yankee hat anywhere so he got a Lancers Pumpkin.

K loved her fancy ballerina pumpkin.

G gave his pumpkin ears again this year.