Our winter so far

Just when I thought life couldn't get much busier, the Spanish teacher at our Catholic school broke her heel and has to take off about 3 months of work. Of course, I was happy to step in and cover for her classes 2 afternoons a week. It really has been a joy to teach the kids there, and our boys love having Mom for teacher (luckily!!) I never thought I would want to teach elementary, but the students at St. Ed's are all so eager to learn that my 2 hours with them fly by. 

On top of that Sam has been wrestling with both Varsity and Junior Varsity, which means a lot of meets. We go as much as we are able, but it's definitely a challenge to make it with the younger kids. It seems I always end up having to take Olivia to the bathroom or something right when Sam is up to wrestle. A few weeks ago, I was 10 minutes late for a tournament in Wabasso due to the challenge of getting the 3 youngest kids all packed up and ready in time, plus a dense fog on the drive. Of course, he wrestled almost immediately and I missed his first match.

Last night, we made sure to get to his meet on time in case he wrestled right away, which meant we had to bring the 3 youngest because Elena's robotics practice overlapped with his tournament and she wasn't home yet. After and hour and a half of waiting, I decided to bring the kids home so Elena could watch them and I could watch Sam without being distracted. In the 20 minutes I was gone, there were 2 successive 1st-period pins, which pushed Sam's match up and I missed it. To make matters worse, Seth went to get a drink at the same time and he only caught the tail end. I stayed awhile longer, but he didn't have a second match so in the end I sat 3 hours in the gym and didn't even get to see Sam wrestle. I have a long way to go in figuring this Wrestling Mom thing out. 

So once again, I'm behind on updating this thing. Highlights of the last couple of months have been Christmas and Charlie's birthday. Both went well. We made all the celebrations and Charlie had 8 friends over to celebrate his 10th birthday. I was a little nervous to have so many boys over, but they had a great time playing in the snow, doing a scavenger hunt and playing Telestrations together. 

Making Christmas cookies! The kids can really do a good job with helping now. Sam didn't help decorate, but he helped a lot with eating them!

One of the favorite gifts was a set of bubble guns. This was Frank's gift, but he was very good about sharing.  Our floor was a little sticky over Christmas!

Oh yeah! And I dug a maze in our yard. We had an evening warm enough that I didn't even need a coat, and the snow was perfect  (although heavy!) My body regretted it the next few days, but it was fun. Of course it's covered in snow again by now. 

I'll leave you with a couple of recent quotes:

Mom: Adios, amigos!  

Frank: Mom, did you even know that amigos means friends?

Mom:Yes. You know I teach Spanish for a living, right?

Charlie: I don't get it...Charlie Tuna. It's like he's selling his own kind....and he's happy about it!

Wizard of Oz!

Our high school put on The Wizard of Oz for their musical this year. Elena was a very animated crow, a poppy and a citizen of Oz. Charlie was a munchkin (in the lollipop guild). Every time I watched the show, Olivia was sitting on my lap so between her squirming and my poor quality phone camera, all the pictures I took turned out blurry. I do have a shot of Charlie in the lollipop guild.

Sam helped with sets and stage-crew this year. The set builder was very impressed with his ability to create and build sets. His favorite part was building a bed that would spin for the tornado. 
Here is Sam testing out the initial construction of the bed. 

These pictures are once again thanks to Reba, a local mom who takes lots of pictures and is kind enough to share them with the world, which comes in handy for moms like me who are usually holding a toddler and can't manage a good picture. A few are from the receiving line after the show.

Here's a link to the entire show:

Anyone need deer meat?

Seth and Craig headed out to Colorado this fall (after about 10 years of banking preference points) to hunt for mule deer. They had a great time and took in some spectacular views. Seth got a deer a few days in, Craig wasn't so lucky, but collectively the family has gotten plenty of deer this year.

They were roughing it in a very nice tent they very fortunately borrowed from a friend - they never would have made it in a regular tent. They had a few problems with mice creeping in and nearly getting stuck in the muddy roads, but otherwise managed ok during their 9 days away. There was no cell reception and no gas stations nearby so as they headed out, they had to make sure not to go so far they would run out of gas on the return.

The trip home was coming down a mountain on icy roads. A car and semi crashed in front of them, and as they slowed down, a car behind them lost control and ended up sideswiping Craig's car and hitting the semi in front of them. Fortunately Craig's car was still drivable and they made it home safely.

Because Seth was gone for deer opener here, Sam went out hunting with Jim. He got a young buck (Grandpa mistook it for a doe). This is the only picture I have of Sam hunting this fall - no picture of the deer. I believe between all the guys they got 8 deer!

Camping!

 At the end of September, we took our camper out for one last trip before storing it away for the winter. We had a wonderful time at Camden State Park with the kids. We got in a bit of hiking, but their favorite was playing on the rocks in the river. The water was low enough they could easily get around without getting wet. At one point I asked Seth, "Who do you think will fall in? It's usually Sam but I feel like he's getting old enough that it won't be him this year." But it was him. So he ended up with a wet tennis shoe that day.

They got lots of practice in skipping rocks. To my amazement, all 4 of our older kids can skip rocks and they do it really well. I can't skip a rock to save my life despite their many attempts to teach me. I get the concept, I just can't put it into action.

Halloween

Halloween started with the Saints Day contest at St. Edward's. Sam tied for 1st in his class and got 3rd overall for his St. Sebastian costume (with super authentic tennis shoes and gym shorts). 

   

Charlie and Frank were both St. Francises. Charlie was St. Francis of Assisi and Frank was St. Francis Xavier. It's always so fun seeing the kids in their costumes!

I didn't do too hot at getting actual Halloween pictures this year. Seth was gone on a 9-day hunting trip to Colorado with his brother, Craig over Halloween. That's my excuse anyway, but really I'm just not good about taking pictures. Here's what I got:

Charlie is the Mandalorian (on left), Frank is Bumblebee (with an IronMan mask - close enough), Sam is being abducted by an alien, Olivia is a monster (after saying she wanted to be a cat for weeks leading up to Halloween - and I am pretty sure she wore that same costume last year), and Elena is a guy from the You Spin Me Right Round music video. Noah is the green minecraft guy and Ian is an Among Us character.

The weather was PERFECT for Halloween. I think the high that day was pushing 70 degrees. I took the kids trick-or-treating with a just a sweater and was comfortable all night. It sure beat fighting the wind and bitter cold like previous years. I am pretty sure Sam and his friends hit every house in town. It's nearly Thanksgiving and his candy bag is still way more full than everyone else's - and we've all been sneaking from it plenty.

Frank is 7!

Frank turned 7 last month and celebrated by having a bunch of his friends over. It always amazes me how much children's voices increase in volume when they are excited and in a group! The boys had fun wrestling and running around - we didn't have much success in getting them to do something organized, like football, but they had fun anyway wrestling, shooting nerf guns and screaming.

He got phone calls and visits from all the grandparents, as usual. My parents asked him how it felt to be 7, and he said, "Mmm...well, it's not much different from being 6!" 

Marathon 2022

St. Ed's had their annual marathon this fall. Charlie once again made a video to promote the marathon and ask for pledges. This one had us crying, we were laughing so hard.

And here are a few pictures of the marathon itself!

Quotes from Olivia

I've been busy this past week bringing Olivia in and out of the hospital and clinic with  fever and stomach pains. She seems to be improving slowly. Of course it landed right as Seth was preparing to leave on a week-long hunting trip to Colorado and as we're preparing for Halloween and the Saints Day costume contest at school. But instead of dwelling on our hectic life, here are a few new quotes from Olivia:

"I need my coos-case!" (suitcase)

"I don't want the cheeseball." (That's what she calls the yolk in a hard-boiled egg)

Elena: (referring to their "shared" bedroom) How much of this room is mine?

Olivia: Mmmm....20 bucks.

Elena: And how much of it is yours?

Olivia: The diamond in the rough. 

The other night when the boys were going to sleep, Olivia decided she wanted to sleep in Sam's bed. I figured it wouldn't last long as I went back downstairs. She cuddled by him for a few minutes, then got up and said, "I'm going to go downstairs. I'm going to tell mom you hit me." And then she left. Boy, she's got this youngest child thing down!! (She did come downstairs, but she did not actually tell me Sam hit her.)

Haircut

This morning, I noticed a pile of hair on the kitchen floor. Olivia had said earlier that she didn't like the bangs on her Elsa doll, which accounts for the blonde hair. The rest of the hair, however, looked suspiciously like Olivia's own hair.

So I went looking and found this (no more bangs!)

And this (now featuring bangs!)

Fortunately she cut her own bangs surprisingly well. If it weren't for the big chunk missing on the right side of her head, her haircut would look pretty much normal. I'm not a fan of bangs due to the growing-out process, but this could have been much, much worse. 

For reference, here's how her hair looked before:

 

Boundary Waters Trip

 

This summer Seth and the kids once again went on a Boundary Waters trip. It was Charlie's first time going. Sounds like they had a great time as long as they could keep the mosquitos off of them. I don't have many details other than they all made it back safely! Here are a few pictures!

Homemade Catan Set