Our Lil' Hoopster!

Since the Wildcats aren't hoopin' it up too well lately, I'll just tell you what our lil' hoopster has been up to. Justin has once again been participating in the Eagle Hoops program at our local high school. It's a program for kindergarteners through 3rd graders where the high school coaches and their players teach the kids the basic skills of the game. The kids get to show off their skills at halftime of the home varsity games for about six weeks or so. Tom has worked with the kids for the past two years now and he's been the head man at the halftime performances since the high school coaches are busy in the locker room at that time. Before the varsity games the Eagle Hoopsters line up on the court to slap hands with the Eagle players as the starting line-up is announced. The kids think this is really cool! Then, of course, halftime is a real treat since the kids practice on 8-foot rims and this adjustment is not made for their three-to-five minute halftime exhibition. Lots of ooohs and aaaws from the crowd, if you know what I mean! Today we attended the Pizza Party/Award Presentation for the end of the Hoops season. Justin and his pals received their medals and we stayed for the JV game against the #1 team in the state. Justin got to be the team's waterboy for the game today. He really enjoys that --- you'll be able to tell from the picture below! Anyway, Justin does enjoy playing basketball, so take a look at some of his work!

The Starting Line-Ups

Movin' for the Ball

Justin in Action

Pal Jackson & Justin with their medals

Justin, aka The Waterboy (on the end of the bench)

Winter Wonderland

Well, we've had a bit of a snow/ice storm over the past couple of days. Justin's school has been closed all week and they've already cancelled school for tomorrow as well. My employer even closed our offices downtown for the past two days --- unheard of! We have been able to have some fun, though.

The Winter Wonderland in Our Backyard

Buck --- covered in snow!

Monday we were able to try out the new double snowtube that the boys got for Christmas. After my unsuccessful attempt at using an air pump, Justin got the job of blowing the whole thing up by himself. I guess that made him all the more anxious to try it out in our backyard. Then, of course, it took a good 1/2 hour to get everyone all bundled up to head out the door. Justin gave the tube a test run down the hill and loved it --- "It's lightning fast!" So, then I sent Drew and Justin down together. Drew was not so enamored. Attempt #3 included me. Drew insists on sitting in my lap in the back while Justin takes the front seat. We went down a couple of times like that, but we kept ending up against the fence. So, silly me, I suggested we head over to the other side of the yard and try that hill. We trudge over, get loaded up, and down the hill we go. When we get to the bottom, also against the fence I might add, we are simply sitting on a flat piece of vinyl! All that time to get ready and it lasted for about 10 minutes! UGH! So back to the old, red plastic numbers that my brothers and I used 20-25 years ago!

The Boys on the Inflated Piece of Vinyl

Tuesday, we tried out a recipe for some snow cream. Justin helped make it and he loved it. Drew just wanted to eat it with his fingers. If he couldn't do that, then he didn't want it!

We all scream for snow cream!

Today, we brought the flat piece of vinyl back in the house and put some of the patch stuff on it. Then, Justin once again got the job of blowing it up. I didn't even bother with the dumb air pump this time. Then another 1/2 hour of bundling up and back out the door we went. Tom even made it home from work in time to join in on the sledding fun. Since we had so much more snow today, we weren't scraping across any branches or twigs on the ground. We were back in business with the "lightning fast" snow tube!

Tom & Drew (See the inflated tube behind them?!)

Bust 'Em Up, Buddy!

Justin has become our in-house star bowler!!! Since Santa brought the Wii for Christmas, Justin has bowled not one, but two, near perfect games at 299! Amazing! Tom and I cannot beat him and really, who could?! Since the first of the year, Justin has been bowling at school during gym class as well. Every year they have a school-wide tournament. Well, Justin and his two teammates, Gannon and Chad, won their class tournament and moved on to participate in the school-wide tournament last Friday, the 23rd. I was invited to attend and cheer for his team. They won their first two games to move on to the championship game where they lost to the older 3rd grade team! What a show! Justin is so expressive and just gets into everything he does. I wish I had taken the video camera because he is such a hoot to watch! Take a look at some of these shots of our bowling star!

Justin after 11 strikes and then knocking down 9 pins.

See --- it really says 299!

What form!

Awaiting the other semi-final winners!

Chad, Justin & Gannon

Maybe Not!

Okay, so bedtime with the new bed didn't go so well. After playing up and down and in and out of the big-boy bed a few times, Drew finally fell asleep a little after 9pm. That only lasted until he started coughing around 10:30pm. Then more rounds of up and down, in and out of the bed commenced. I finally gave in at 12:30am this morning and put him and all of his "stuff" in his crib which is just sitting smack in the middle of his room right now. I guess I'm glad I didn't take it apart just yet! We'll try again at naptime, but we may stick with the crib for bedtime, at least for the nights during the work/school week. Wish us luck!

Our Big Boy!

We got a new bed for Baby Drew from my aunt during her move, but we didn't have room to store it until we were ready to make the transition. So, ready or not, here he comes! Justin was not quite 2 years and 3 months when he moved into his big-boy bed so I guess it's not really too soon. Drew is 2 years and 4 months today so this afternoon, after about 30 minutes of playing up and down out of the bed with both Tom and I placing him back into his Scooby-Doo bedding, he finally gave in. Here are a couple of pictures of the transition. It's sad that's it's time for the crib to go, but I guess Baby, oops, I mean Big Boy Drew is ready to move on! Thanks to Aunt Cook for the beautiful bed! We'll take good care of it!

Drew leaving his crib.

Drew, with Ken, asleep in his new big-boy bed!