Noah's First Basketball Game

 Third grade is when kids get to start playing Biddy Basketball at our school. It's organized through the Rec Commission and is designed to be a place where kids learn the basics, play games and have fun. Noah is LOVING basketball and can't seem to get enough of it. Our good friend Pat is his coach and Noah's doing his best to eat up all the instruction he can.
Saturday was his first game and our first chance to sit in the stands and watch him play. We had a great time watching him and his teammates out on the court!
First off, they warmed up - stretching, dribbling, layups, passing and shooting.

 Game time! Noah's number 7 and got to be the one to jump for the ball at tip-off. I was way more nervous for him than I'd like to admit.

 He got the tip!

 They played Haven, and thankfully the teams were very evenly matched. There were moments when some kids were completely confused about what to do. But for the most part, the majority of kids knew what to do to keep the game moving.

 Noah surprised us with his assertiveness on the court. A couple of times he dribbled all the way from one end to the other and made a layup! He made a whole bunch of baskets - nearly all layups, just one free throw.

 He seemed to really enjoy himself and that's the important part. We want him to have fun and to learn. Winning is a bonus, but it sure does help in the fun department.

 Pat did a great job of rotating boys in and out, coaching them on and off the court and encouraging them the whole time.

There were a couple of times when Noah hung on to the ball and dribbled all around while teammates shouted to him to pass them the ball. We talked with him after the game about passing the ball and being a team player.

 In the end, the game was tied with just a few seconds left in the game. Noah ended up with the ball and scored the winning two points with a layup!

 It was an incredibly exciting game for Noah's team!

 Each boy on the team did a great job, each one showing their strengths and personalities. I'd been hesitant to bring this new activity to our life (filling up the calendar with practices and games) but after seeing them play I'm convinced it's worth the hassle.

Dear Santa

Each December Ben and I spend a considerable amount of time thinking about what gifts to buy our boys for Christmas. Each December the boys spend an equal or greater amount of time telling us they want each toy they see advertised. This year, they've discovered Amazon Wish Lists and they keep adding items to their wish lists in the hopes that we pay attention to them. :-) 

I saw this Christmas list idea on Pinterest one day and decided to print it off and see if the boys would cooperate to fill it out. We encouraged them to give it some thought and it spurred interesting conversation about what they "need." 

 It cracks me up the way Levi spelled "nothing" on the "I'll Read" line. And speaking of Levi, a few weeks ago Ben found Levi shopping on Amazon. He had a shopping cart filled with an electric guitar, a drum set, a keyboard and bench (pretty much everything you need to be a one-man band) and Levi's only question was, "How do I make this ship?"  He had done some good shopping and picked out nice instruments that he was excited to play, he just needed to know how to make them show up on our front porch.

Ahh...Christmas time is nearly here! The excitement is building at our house - now to get all the gifts wrapped that have actually been showing up on our front porch before the boys find them!

Epp Thanksgiving

My energy has shifted toward Christmas and I nearly forgot I had these photos from our Epp Thanksgiving gathering! Unfortunately, I snapped very, very few photos that day - probably because there was lots of commotion and I was more interested in visiting with family than snapping pictures. 

My Aunt Patricia led the kids in a craft - an activity she started doing each Thanksgiving several years ago - and it's now become a tradition. She helped each kid make an ornament showing off their group photo from last Easter. 

 It was a crowded table, but none of the kids seemed to notice let alone mind.

 The younger kids worked hard at following the directions while the older kids breezed through. It's always fun to listen to the kids as they work together.

 And then the older boys headed outside (to brave the cold north wind that was whipping around) to play some football and the younger kids found the dress-up clothes! I LOVE the look Delaney is giving - pure diva. :-)

We ate a wonderful meal together, visited, relaxed and watched football. It was great to be together - we see each other often at church and around the community but it's not too often that we actually get time together to visit and laugh.

Twinkies

No, not the cream filled yellow snack cakes - me and my sister!

Check this out - on Saturday morning we nearly outdid ourselves in the twin department. My sister graciously agreed to sing at our annual women's Christmas brunch at church. We both laughed when we saw each other because we were dressed so similarly. 

 It's been a long time since we took a picture together! Isn't she beautiful?!

Schrag Thanksgiving

Last week we put our house to the test and hosted Ben's entire family for Thanksgiving! The house passed with flying colors and we had a wonderful time.

Tim and Sue came early in the week and got to attend Grandparent's Day in Noah's classroom. 

Aunt Sara arrived next and she got to enjoy/endure a lot of quality time with Noah and Levi.

Sara dubbed Levi "Sticky Paws" years ago and the name stuck and it's strikingly accurate. :-)

We played several rounds of Quarkel,

some games were enjoyed, others ended in tears...

Our Thanksgiving dinner was good - really good. We cooked and baked collectively and the results were yummy.

We enjoyed a long walk out in the country - and even Mr. Otto came along to enjoy the adventure (a far cry from his usual Chicago adventures!).

We found animal parts!

So gross and so cool, all at the same time!

The boys had a wonderful time with each of their aunts and uncles. We're all together only once (maybe twice) a year, so we do our best to soak it all up.

Levi had a fantastic time tossing popcorn for Josh to catch in his mouth - it's great to see and hear Levi laugh really hard.

Friday we hosted Tim's sister's family, all together we were 18 plus a baby! We feasted on rice & beans and salad - another fantastic meal!

Here we all are! Levi's wearing Sue's glasses...just because...? :-)

They are such rascals, sometimes.

The boys, Lia and I all learned to play Farkel. There were some seriously intense games - in this one Sara and Levi teamed up, Sara as the "brains" Levi as the "luck."

And it worked! They ended the game with an enthusiastic victory dance and lots of laughter.

Saturday morning was fence building morning.

And Saturday afternoon, since it was incredibly nice outside, was Christmas tree cutting time! We took Sue along to help us out and we found just the right tree. Noah gave sawing a try, but soon turned the saw over to me.

And then we worked together to haul the tree to the barn.

After the tree got a good shake to get rid of loose needles we headed for home!

We did so many fun things, had so many good laughs together and ate so much good food! The time flew by and now it's hard to believe that a whole week has gone by already. We were happy to host and it is not lost on us that everyone else spent significant resources to travel to our farm, that's humbling and we appreciate it.

Food & Fence for the Ladies

Call us crazy, but we started growing some food for our chickens. Sprouts and meal worms to be exact. I forgot to snap a photo of the worms, but we currently have a big rubber container in our sun room with worms crawling around in it. 

I have to admit, the sprouts are more eye catching than the worms. 

 We purchased a set of trays designed for growing sprouts and after soaking the seeds for a few hours, then spreading them out in the trays and watering them regularly,

 we ended up with a clump of yummy sprouts. These are exactly the kind of sprouts humans eat too, so if we want to add them to a salad or sandwich we certainly could.

 The Ladies were very curious, but tentative at first.

 Then they figured it out and dug in! We're hoping to get a good rotation going on the spouts so that every few days during the winter we have some fresh greens to feed them. It's kind of crazy, because they'd be fine simply eating feed like they did last winter. But we're enjoying growing the food and watching the chickens enjoy it.

 And speaking of the chickens - while Ben's family was here for Thanksgiving we started putting up a fence around our future garden to keep the Ladies OUT. :-)

 Without too much trouble, Tim, Ben and Andy got all the post holes dug (the skid steer hole digger attachment sure made quick work of that!)

 and then set the posts in concrete.

 Levi and I hung around for moral support...

 and once the concrete has cured more we'll attach the fencing to the posts and call it good!

Now to start planning out this new garden space!