You'll be happy to know that I'm still taking a lot of pictures.  I'm just not sharing them so much.  They just aren't all that interesting to anyone other than me and Jon, I'm guessing.  However, as I like to give positive reinforcement where appropriate, here's a surprise update.

Ellie's team has won a team trophy at almost every meet.  Last month they held contests, and the winners got to pick a team trophy to keep.  Ellie did the hollow hold for 6 some minutes, and came in third.  (Third!  After 6 minutes!  *insert hurling noise here*).

Conor's team won at state again this year.  They played some pretty fun games.  Also, this is a pretty small trophy in Conor's collection.

What could be more fun than this guy at Costco?

Vault

So I'm already bored with blogging again. I'll give you this video, but after that, I'm thinking you can just come visit and look at our photo albums!

February 2, 2012

Someday garbage bag tossing will be an Olympic sport, and you can all say you knew him when. The most challenging part is getting some hang time on the ceiling.

January 31, 2012

This was the picture Jon emailed to me, with the subject: January?

January 26, 2012

Dodgeball: Conor v. Rowan

January 25, 2012

Ellie's been making bookmarks for all of her friends

January 24, 2012

You might think Conor is reading out loud. You'd be wrong. They're just sharing it.

January 23, 2012

Ellie has gymnastics on Mondays and Thursdays. Thanks to carpooling, I bring home on Mondays, and that's it!

January 21, 2012 pt 2

Another tournament win for Conor's team! This one was the "Eastern Iowa State Championship". The trophy is in a place of honor. But I think the best part for Conor may have been swimming at the hotel pool until 10:00 the night before.

January 21, 2012

What do you do when you have a 4 year old who really wants to play on a team like his big brother? Take him to the 4 year old program at the Y. He loves it. He's the smallest one, but he doesn't know that. The best part about is that at the end of the hour, they all line up and run around the edge of the court, giving high fives to the crowd. Just like they used to do at the UNI games...

January 20, 2012

Jon and Conor went to Cedar Rapids on Friday for a basketball tournament, so the rest of us got take out from Chili's.

January 19, 2012

A little worse for the wear, but still around. And still very much loved. And maybe not something any of you should mention.

January 18, 2012

Snow!

January 16, 2012

No school Monday, so we went to DQ for blizzards.

January 14 and 15, 2012

This weekend we split up. Ellie and I went to Minnesota for a meet, and the boys stayed home for a tournament. It was a pretty successful weekend for everyone. Conor's team took first place. The final game was played at Lincoln High School, and the teams were introduced over the loudspeaker. They did play by play of the game too, although Conor tells me it was just when someone made a basket.

Ellie and I rode up on Saturday with two of her gymnastics friends and their moms. We went to the Mall of America and swam at the hotel. Her meet was Sunday. There were 5 teams in all. One team was from Canada, and had driven 8 hours to get there. When the girls all line up at the beginning of the meet, they asked us to face the flag for the playing of both national anthems. After several attempts at playing the Canadian anthem, their coach finally said "That's okay, we'll sing it". And they did. About 20 girls, ages 8-16, plus 3 coaches, sang the whole thing. I'm pretty sure our team would never be able to do that. And yeah, I cried a bit. I unabashedly admit it.

The Silver team took 2nd place overall. E did pretty well, placing in beam and floor. She fell off the beam once (as did everyone) but stuck a beautiful cartwheel.

January 13, 2012

Sometimes I do such a good job picking out library books no one talks during after school snack. (Except Rowan. He pretty much always talks).

January 12, 2012

The first meet of the season. 3rd on vault, tied for 4th on floor, and 5th overall!

January 11, 2012

Sometimes I am the cool mom. For dinner I had to hollow out a loaf of french bread. I know, I know, I should have made bread crumbs, but as I was tossing it into the trash, I stopped. I then offered it up for bread balls, on the condition that dinner must be eaten as well. Very, very happy kids.

January 10, 2012

I don't think anyone will be suprised to hear that I'm tired of the recorder. Is this how band will be? Because I'm rethinking the whole "you have to play an instrument" thing.

January 9, 2012

Mondays are storytime days, so that's when we pick out new books. In this case, new graphic novels. For Rowan, of course.

January 8, 2012

The Heat won another tournament. This time the championship game was against another Ankeny team, and there were several players Conor goes to school with. Just a little competitive.

January 7, 2012

This is 1/2 of why this Christmas was "the best Christmas ever". The other half? Madden 12.

January 6, 2012

I could live where January is always like this.

January 5, 2012

The funny part is, he's actually appropriately dressed for the weather!

January 4, 2012

If you lined our kids up and asked "who do you think will need stitches?" I would have skipped over the preemies and gone straight for Rowan. Fortunately, glue worked, so I'd still be wrong. I don't know who was more relieved, me or the urgent care nurse. (No more playing "fishy" in the downstairs bathroom).

January 3, 2012

You want to play a game of Madden 12 on the wii? Ten pushups and ten situps. He's so used to it now, I don't even have to remind him. Usually...

January 2, 2012

Ellie had a practice meet Monday. Her coach wants everyone's hair in a clean bun (but no bobby pins) or curly ponytails. Have you ever tried a bun with no bobby pins? (And stick straight fine hair?) Good luck. I am happy to say that the curls lasted for the whole meet.

January 1, 2012

This is the book we finished today. I read, and everyone else listens. It's very possibly Rowan's favorite time of day. Not that he really likes the books - he likes that Jon plays with him while trying to keep him quiet. But if you ask Rowan, he'll tell you that while he doesn't care about the books he does "like the whole family together". Ellie loves it, and will gladly drop what she's doing to listen. Conor likes it too, but always groans a bit before sprawling on the floor. He's usually the first to make a comment or have a question while I'm reading.

PS - Happy New Year!