Conor's Leprechaun Trap

In years past, the kids have made leprechaun traps at school and creativity always abounds with this project.

This year, St. Patrick's Day fell on a Sunday, so there was no need to make a trap ... that is to everyone except Conor. Our boy insisted on trying his hand at catching a leprechaun. He was bound and determined to build a trap at home and catch himself a genuine leprechaun.

Unfortunately for everyone except Conor, he chose to dig through the recycling bin for cardboard boxes and, because we were all still asleep, the house alarm was still on .... and (I'm guessing you're seeing where I'm going with this) the recycling bin is on the other side of a door that has a house alarm sensor. YUP!! As soon as he opened the door, the house alarm went off in full-blown alarm mode. WAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAH!!! (Annika slept through it ... Eric and I didn't.)

Once our hearts returned to a more normal rate and we caught our breath, I knew I was up. SO, Conor and I got to work on his trap. I did the x-acto knife work for him to preserve his cute little fingers and avoid any trips to the ER... yeah, that's the kind of mom I am. :)

Conor decided to lure his leprechaun to the top of this trap with the promise of a party.

PAR-TAY!

The leprechaun had two party entrance options - a LEGO staircase and a popsicle stick ladder. (We are nothing if not accommodating.) When the leprechaun got to the top of the trap and stepped on the white welcome (correction ... "welcom") mat, the hole below the mat would cause the leprechaun to fall and become snared in the lower (inner) cardboard box. At least, that was Conor's hope.

It appears that our house's leprechaun had watched some MacGyver episodes and figured out a way to climb out of the trap using some tape and a piece of gold ribbon. (We are still trying to figure out if the leprechaun escaped on his/her own or if there is a Leprechaun Freedom Force (LFF) that rescues all trapped leprechauns. Either way.... this leprechaun left behind 4 pennies for Conor's efforts... so Conor is seeing it as a win, even though the leprechaun got away.

Conor and his leprechaun party trap

Conor's Basketball Season

On Sunday, Conor and his fellow teammates wrapped up their 3rd grade (debut) basketball season, and what a season it was!

The boys have practiced every Tuesday and Thursday (5-6 PM) for weeks to learn a bit about shooting, defending, and plays. These boys have never played on a basketball team before, so everything they learned was brand new. That's the beauty of CYO sports ... they give kids a chance to learn a sport before winning/losing becomes a factor. The kids play for a few years before score is kept. At this age, the refs also take on the role of educator/pseudo-coach during the games to help the kids learn and understand the sports. Love it!

  

The funniest moment was during their first game. The whistle blew and LITERALLY, not a single boy on the court moved.... on either team. No one was 100% sure what to do and just stood there. After a second, the coaches and ref offered a little guidance. From then on, it was smoother sailing. (Full disclosure: There were still plenty of comedic moments, but hey! They're little kids!! Coordination and follow-through aren't exactly their defining characteristics at this point in life!)

This past Sunday was the boys' fourth (and final) game of the season. It was such fun to see their abilities develop and confidence grow over the season. They had a much better understanding of how to run their screen play (yes, play .... again, they are 3rd graders ... learning multiple screen plays would have probably made their minds explode and bodies combust), pass effectively, and try to out-maneuver defending players. Sure, there were still many instances of traveling, double dribbling, and waaay off-target passes, but we just see that as part of the learning process. This game also included some strong offense (Eric taught Conor how he could use his backside to keep a defending player from stealing the ball as he dribbled toward the basket ... and he did it!!!), some knee-sacrificing moves toward recovering the ball when it went rogue, team communication, and some impressive rebounds.

 The boys enjoyed their season so much that they opted to practice this week, even though they are done with their games. A special shout out to their coaches for taking the time to work with the boys and showing what patience can achieve!

 Here's a quick video of Conor making one of his three (four?) baskets during this week's game. (#ProudMama)

Annika's Arm Saga Continues

On Tuesday, I picked up Annika from school and we headed to Children's Hospital with the hope she'd have her cast removed and she'd start the "brace" phase of her recovery process. Let's just say things don't always work out as we hope they will...

In the weeks leading up to the appointment, I cautioned Annika against being 100% sure the cast would be a thing of the past. I really expected it to be done, but you just never know. We gave her really silly reasons why it might not pan out ... UFO lands on the hospital, etc. Boy, am I glad we prepped her for the possibility of the cast being around longer than that appointment because that's exactly what happened. (Much to her chagrin.)

Excited girl

At previous appointments, she had x-rays taken through her cast, which is what I'd expected this time. Nope. We went straight into the cast room and had her cast taken off. Annika was a ball of nerves and excitement leading up to the removal process. She giggled as the saw cut her cast into two pieces, and then became VERY protective of her arm... she was acutely aware of how vulnerable it was and how stiff her elbow felt.

Buh-bye green cast

It tickles!!!

Free arm!

We popped across the hall to the x-ray room and had a couple of images taken of her arm, so a proper evaluation of her progress could take place. We waited awhile for the results to be evaluated ... longer than I had expected. In hindsight, it makes sense because the providers consulted with each other before filling us in on the results. While Annika's healing bones look great in terms of angles and such, the bone growth rate isn't such that the medical team felt comfortable freeing her arm from being in a cast... yet. Because Annika is in the twilight of her childhood growth timeline, her bones are slower to rebuild themselves. (If she was 5 or 6, she'd most likely be out of her cast by now.)

After a few tears, talking through the importance of the long-term goal of a fully-healed arm in the shortest amount of time (aka, not experiencing a setback by taking her arm out of the cast too early and re-injuring it and starting the WHOLE process over), and lots of hugs, and realizing that her new cast would allow her elbow to move freely, Annika was able to move forward and picked out the colors for her new cast: 1/2 green and 1/2 pink to represent a spring flower.

Not the outcome we'd hope for, but things could be a lot worse

To ease the sting of her still-casted arm, we opted for dinner from Dick's. Let's be honest.. a cheeseburger and some greasy fries can't fix her broken arm but they can put a smile on her face! (They also made our dinner planning after an unexpectedly long ... 2 hour ... appointment very easy!)

YUM

After realizing how vulnerable her arm felt in its new cast, Annika almost seemed relieved to have an transitional cast experience. Her elbow is very stiff and she's working on remembering to use it so it can start to loosen up a bit. It's all a process and she's many steps closer to the finish line.... just not quite as far as she'd hoped. We'll return to Children's on Eric's birthday for another check-up; if her bones still hurt when they are touched, she'll stay in the cast longer. If they don't hurt, she'll graduate to the brace. Stay tuned, dear readers!

Anna's Ear Warmer

Recently, my sister (hi, Suzanne!) showed me a picture of an ear warmer that she and my niece (hi, Anna!) saw in a boutique. Suzanne wondered how easy it would be to make something akin to what they saw in the boutique. I identified it as a crochet project (aka faster than a knit project) and popped onto the Internet to hunt for a similar project. I don't know if "hunt" is really a good verb, considering I found one almost immediately.

That said....

I found a pattern (actually, a tutorial), pulled out some yarn from my stash, a crochet hook, and got to work. This project flew together.... crochet + bulky yarn = easy to stick with my "finish what you start" theme for the year. BOOM! I added an Irish knot button as the finishing touch. Voila!

The beauty of this project is not only did I finish a project, but said project also helped me reduce my craft/sewing supplies stash. I had the yarn, crochet hook, and button all on hand. Decluttering + Finished Project = WIN across the board!

Doesn't it look cozy??

Me modeling Anna's ear warmer

"Ooh... what's this??? It's sooo warm!" 

Conor's Dream Treehouse

Conor and I have been reading the book The Dangerous Book for Boys together and have been learning a lot about really random things. Reading this book together has become "our" thing.... we snuggle up and read a couple of sections now and then. It's wonderful to have this 1:1 time to slow down, learn some new things, and just be.

This book is very eclectic. There are sections on fossils, how to play stickball, how to fold paper airplanes, etc. One of the topics we read about last night was how to build the perfect tree house. Mind you, this was a VERY in-depth construction tutorial... pages and pages of specific board lengths, cutting angles, and hardware.

Needless to say, Conor was VERY inspired to build a treehouse after we read this section, and is gung ho about building a treehouse or fort at his grandparent's house .. Watch out, Bestemor and Bestefar! :D

Before going to bed last night, Conor insisted on drawing out the plans for his dream treehouse (see below). It comes complete with a juice/lemonade/smoothie hut, two dog houses (for Bestemor and Bestefar's dogs), a variety of M.C. Escher-esque staircases, and a rooftop deck complete with a pointy decoration thing-a-ma-bob. It is fall in his drawing, so there's only one leaf on the tree, but it is sunny enough for Conor to require sunglasses.

My theme for 2019

I'm not a big "New Year's Resolution" kind of gal. If I want to adopt a new habit or give up a tendency, I'll do it when the time feels right ... not because the calendar says January 1st.

Instead of a resolution for this year, I've decided to give 2019 a theme. Anyone who knows me ... and I mean KNOWS me ... knows that I'm REALLY good at starting projects but not always great at finishing them. (Pretty sure that's how my ADD has manifested itself.) Anywho! To combat that tendency (and to de-clutter the house a bit), I've decided that 2019 is the Year of Finishing Projects.

So far, I've finished knitting a hat that I started last year, a Valentine's Day rag wreath (started and finished in time for Valentine's Day!), and a quilt for our niece that I started (I think) going on 2 years ago.

Valentines Day Rag Wreath
(SOOOO many knots!)

Sent this to Annika's pen pal, Katie, so the girls can have matching hats

Emily's lap quilt

Stay tuned for project updates throughout the year!!

Anna's Masters Recital and Robert's 23rd Birthday Cake

Part 1: Anna's Recital

Our niece Anna is a VERY talented musician and is currently pursuing a masters in choral conducting from UW. Part of that program includes putting together a music recital from top to bottom - picking the theme, the music, working with the vocalists, etc. etc. etc. Well, Anna did all that and had her recital all set for February 7th... as in when snowmageddon 2019 hit. Yup. Lucky her. Ugh! Needless to say, Mother Nature was NOT Anna's best friend when her snowy antics caused Anna's recital to be postponed. Fast forward to last Friday, the recital's new date. As I drove the kids to school, my stomach sank when I saw snowflakes flurrying around. REALLY? Fortunately, the snow only spun around in the air for a bit and didn't disrupt Anna's recital.

Oh what a recital it was!! The theme was "Take Me To The Water" (I think ... or something along those lines). All of the songs she chose tied in with water in some way, including a really neat song traditionally sung by Japanese fishermen, "Bridge Over Troubled Water", and "Let the River Run". The extra treat was hearing Anna sing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with three of her peers; I didn't expect her to sing at all because of her conducting responsibilities. Bonus for Auntie!

Because I'm ... well ... me, I opted to make Anna cookies to celebrate her big evening. Because of the recital's water theme, I chose colors that represented the different colors of blue found in water. I also made a lot of them knowing she'd share with her singers. Fun stuff!

Part 2: Robert's 23rd Birthday
Today, our "little" nephew turns 23. When my sister was pregnant with him (but hadn't told us yet), she asked me, "Do you like being an aunt?" I was hurt.... I thought I'd done something to fail as an aunt and had no clue what it was. When I replied, "YES! Of course I do!" She said, "Oh good, because you're going to be one again."

A few weeks ago, our niece Emily reached out to me and asked if I'd make a surprise birthday cake for Robert's birthday. YUP!!! She had the idea of using the song lyrics from Blink 182's song "What's My Name Again?", which is a favorite of Emily and Robert. Knowing he is a fan of grasshopper pie (aka mint chocolate chip ice cream in a chocolate cookie pie crust), I opted for the same flavor profile. I made chocolate cake and a mint buttercream frosting. Tasty and it freshens your breath. Win!

Happy birthday, Boomer!! We love you and still like you ... even though you're 23!