Sushi Celebration

What's a Mom to do when her birthday boy begs to go to the Asian market so we can have sushi for dinner? Take him, of course! Marshall got the rice going and D-man and I darted off to the market to get fish, some veggies, the marble drink, and Mochi ice cream for dessert. It was a great night with all of us gathered around the kitchen island listening the music, talking (Marshall learned what a fishmonger was), and eating the delicious sushi Marshall and D-man prepared. What a great way to wrap up a wonderful weekend. 

Making the rolls

Loving the sushi

fruits of his labor

Eight is Great!

This weekend was all about being 8. I attended the January birthday celebration at D-man's school on Friday afternoon. It was great to see him with his friends and getting to celebrating with kids he spends so much time with. After basketball on Saturday, D-man and I picked up the doughnuts, the balloons, and snacks for the party. I had a really nice time decorating the dining room for the party with D-man. Because we were going to JungleQuest, D-man chose a jungle theme for the decorations and goody bags.

D-man invited 3 boys to the party and all the kids had a GREAT time at JungleQuest - zip lines, ropes, rock climbing, and just running around being boys. We had Subway for the birthday dinner followed by a doughnuts made into "8s" - all D-man's ideas. I absolutely loved that a table of 8-year-old boys (and T-man) decided to do "cherry and pits" all by themselves during dinner. Apparently, sitting down to dinner with the boys is paying off. :) After opening the gifts, the boys decided to starting putting them together (2 lego sets and a Hot Wheels contraption). D-man stated it was a great day and we were both happy to have such a happy birthday boy.  With every passing year, I'm sure I'll continue wonder where the years go. I just hope as the years pass, all my son's birthdays are happy.

Brothers racing the zip line

Focused on the ropes

Climbing to the top of the rock wall

Doughnut "8s"

A Busy Wolf

About a week ago, the family attended a Cub Scout Pack meeting on Friday night. D-man had completed all of the requirements to earn his Wolf Badge. I'm still getting the hang of things when it comes to "earning" badges, patches, belt loops, etc, etc. But, we do know he completed all the requirements to become a full-fledged Wolf. Yeah D-man!

Getting his wolf badge from the pack leader

Over the past several weeks, our little Wolf has been very busy working with Marshall to get his Pinewood Derby car ready to race on January 27th. While I'm still convinced the Pinewood Derby is a reason for the Dad's to use all their tools, D-man was very into everything and enjoyed working with Marshall on the car - measuring, cutting, sanding, painting, decorating, etc. And D-man even won 3rd place in the Wolf Den and earned his first trophy (whew). He was SO excited to win a trophy - he slept with it on Friday night. We're very proud of all his Cub Scout accomplishments. 

3rd place!

Enjoying all the action at the race

A great day celebrating being 8!

Pinewood Derby Racing

Eiffel Tower Abstract by our Little Guy

8 days before his 8th birthday - the top tooth is finally gone!

Family Movie Night

MLK with MDP

    

Anytime we have time with Marshall's brother, it is a special time for everyone. Fortunately, his most recent visit overlapped with the MLK holiday and the boys and I were home on Monday. We slept in, had pancakes for breakfast, played some basketball, and visited the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  The boys were great and enjoyed showing the museum to Uncle Matt. Even better, Matt was able to stay for three nights and he and Marshall got to enjoy a boys' only night downtown for one of the evenings.
Matt also brought the boys a TinTin book from Belgium. We all learned that the TinTin books were written by a Belgian author and obviously, very popular in Belgium. The book is in French and Matt read some of the book to the boys. We're looking forward to reading the rest of the book with Matt over Skype. Seeing the movie will mean so much more to the boys now. It meant a lot to all of us that we got to have so much time with Matt during his short visit to the States. 

Calvados!

Go Broncos!

Reading

2012 Musings

Has a week+ already passed in 2012? Here are a few statements that sum up 2012 so far.

• As my brother-in-law said, "Christmas doesn't clean itself." Just ask my family room right now.
• My heart was warmed when both boys commented (separately) that it was sad to take down the Christmas tree.
• While I am very excited about my new iPhone, it was oddly librerating to only have a flip phone for a couple of weeks. All I could do was text, talk on the phone, and take bad pictures. In 2012, I'm going to work to be less connected digitally and more connected in person.
• Raising boys who like sushi is going to be expensive (Marshall and I were lucky to get any sushi on Friday night),
• Having our nanny back from Spain is wonderful!
• It better snow in the mountains soon or the two ski passes in this house will not be used this season.
• Basketball season has started for both boys and they are loving it.
• My New Year's resolution for a healthier me is off to a great start.

So Much Better Than Average

I thought the infographic below was a pretty interesting take on "The Average Man."  It got me thinking about my own husband. He's a great father, a wonderful husband, and a true friend. He makes me laugh, keeps me grounded, knows me better than anyone else, and is a wonderful partner in this journey called "life."  I am one lucky woman to call Marshall my husband. He's so much more than average, he's amazing.

 

Source: http://frugaldad.com

 

Thanks-mas

This is a post I should have written some time ago, but due to a broken camera, a rotten memory, and a crazy holiday season, I'm now just getting to it.

Our holiday season kicked off with a wonderful visit from Marshall's parents for the Thanksgiving weekend. Marshall and I both took the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off which gave us even more time together. The weather was great and allowed us to all spend some time outside and go on walks.We also enjoyed watching football and basketball and having a relaxing long weekend.

Marshall's Mom made a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and we were able to give thanks for so much. Having so much time off also allowed me to get all of the Christmas decorations up. We celebrated Christmas on Sunday (with the new tree all decorated) and the day really got us all in the Christmas spirit. It was wonderful being able to share in the season of giving with Gramma and Gramps. What a wonderful and special visit!

See the full gallery on Posterous

166

See the full gallery on Posterous

166. That was my score today during our bowling outing with the engagement couples to Moe's BBQ on South Broadway. We were so fortunate to meet such great couples as part of our wedding preparations (and even happier that we are all happily married 11 years later).

While Marshall beat me the first game, we all stepped it up a notch for game 2. My result was a 166 and D-man had a 109. Moe's took over an old bowling lane on South Broadway and since we were there last, they have updated the lanes and the scoring system which was great (bumpers for the kids). The food was really great and because we came at 4:30, we beat the rush. It was a fun outing on a beautiful snowy day with some great friends. And if you were wondering, 166 was the high for the group for the outing. I take my bowling very seriously.

Karlen Christmas

Arriving in Pender to catch the end of the Schulte Christmas on the 26th was a great way to kick off our week in Pender. We enjoyed many special things - my sister has a great recap of our trip and shares many of the same highlights as I would have. It was wonderful to have great weather and no one working the entire week. What a special time to be together. 

We also attended three Pender basketball games, D-man tried his first Runza (thanks to Uncle Cam), the kids enjoyed Just Dance and Disney Sings on the Wii, and the 5 older grandkids made homemade ice cream with Pop.

On New Year's Eve, the Peavy family enjoyed dinner with Nana and Pop followed by a trip around town to look at the lights. Marshall and I enjoyed one last fire in the fireplace before heading out to a party to meet Jaima and Cam.  If 2012 is as good to us as 2011, we will consider ourselves lucky.

After returning to Denver, D-man stated he wanted to move to Nebraska and T-man stated he wanted to move in with Nana and Pop. I'd say it was a successful trip.

Ready to open presents

enjoying time with cousins

Dance Party!

Making homemade ice cream with Pop

Cheering on the Pendragons

Ringing in 2012 with Jaima

the twins!

Santa Came!

For a few years now, we have been in Denver for Christmas. I make fish chowder for Christmas Eve dinner, we eat on the good china, and we open a few presents. We then hope and pray that we have been good and that Santa will come to our house. This year, the boys enjoyed tracking Santa cross the globe and deliver billions of presents via Norad. Wrapping all the gifts and preparing for Christmas morning is a great deal of work, but time spent looking at the tree with all the gifts is a powerful reminder to me of how blessed we truly are and how fortunate we are to have such a wonderful

Fortunately, Santa found our house and we all had a great  Christmas morning. D-man said he had been up since 4:45 and just laid by his tree in his room waiting for the rest of us to wake up. We dug into our stockings, ate cinnamon rolls, and opened presents. The boys were in awe and the morning magical. Santa delivered what they wanted -  Buzz Lightyear for T-man and a Nintendo 3DS for D-man as well as many other wonderful gifts.

Before we left for Nebraska, the boys had a few hours to play with their gifts which was great. We had a fast trip to North Platte where we ate pizza (one of two places open on Christmas in North Platte), watched Monday night football, Skyped with the Peavy family, and the boys played with their presents before we all crashed. Boxed wine, pizza, and a hotel room may not seem like Christmas, but we were all together and had a great night celebrating how fortunate we are.

Annual family photo on Christmas Eve

A reminder of our blessings

Santa came!

THE gift of Christmas for D-man

Buzz vs. Robot

Swimming on December 26th

Big Red Disappointment

While it was nice to be home with the boys today and not working, it was not a happy football day for Husker fans. The boys and I tried to represent with our Husker gear and homemade signs, but to no avail. Maybe we should have made the 9-hour drive home today......