Seuss Day

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in March, the kids' school celebrated Dr. Seuss.  It was a fabulous day.  The kids each wanted to dress up as a different character, and the sucker that I am, I obliged.

We had a Cat in the Hat...

...a Lorax...

...a Grinch...

...a Cindy Lou Who...

...and a Sam...

Each class visited the "Cat in the Hat Cafe". After a quick snack, the older kids read to the younger ones.

 It was great to see teachers and even the principal get in on the fun.

It may have been a lot of work, but I'd say the payoff was worth it! (For the record: Eli is playing the Grinch, he's not sulking.)

Hoop Dreams

Saturday was Ty's last basketball game of the season. Some of the family is a little happier than others.  Not everyone enjoyed sitting at the games.

He had a fabulous year on the Ramsey Rebels. They finished the season 17-9-1.

They are a great group of boys and wonderful coaches. The coaches have a great "I don't care about the score" philosophy. They play man-to-man defense and run a motion offense.  They run their butts off. Oh, wait, the kids aren't allowed to say that word, so I guess I shouldn't either.  "They run their rears off." It's wonderful!

To you "non-basketball" people (is there really such a thing?) that's all really cool.  It means they are teaching my boy the basics.  Ty is learning to love the game in it's pure form.  Not the NBA version.  Not the watered down, "everyone should win" version, either.

But what I really truly appreciate the most about this season is how much more Ty loves the to play.  Sure, he knows more. He's gotten better, too. But he WANTS to play.  He shoots in the driveway, watches college hoops, and we've even gone to our neighbor's high school playoff game.

Some of the Ty's games were really fun to watch.  There were games that everything clicked and the ball went in the hoop.  There were games when it really looked like basketball, but we lost anyway.  There were also games that were flat out ugly. 

Yes, that's a final score after 4 six-minute quarters.

Still, this basketball-loving-mom enjoyed every game (even if sometimes I forgot they were 9 yo's playing and I may have gotten a little competitive and riled up.)

So proud of you, Ty!

Next up...baseball!

Did any of the Presidents Bowl?

When there are two people in the family with birthdays in February, Presidents' Day seems to get lost in the shuffle. It becomes a day to catch our breath.  There's never enough fore-thought for it to become much more of anything but a day at home. 

This year, I decided we needed to do something as a family.  Even if it was just something for a few hours during the day. Thankfully, I have a friend equally as crazy, that had the same thought: bowling! Low commitment yet something the gang rarely does, so they would reward us with tons of "cool parents" points. We decided we would attempt to bowl together. 11 of us. Crazy, right?

Still...we thought we would give it a shot.

We had to wait a little while for 2 lanes to open up next to each other, but that's what the Arcade is for, right?

Somehow, we scored a deal with the bowling lady that gave us shoes, a pitcher of soda (which we never did use), two lanes (each for an hour) for as many bowlers as we wanted for $50. SCORE!

Once we got lanes, there was a clear line drawn in the sand.  Eli and Ty joined the Veenemas.  The rest of us Higbys would be a team.  And the competition was on.  At first, it looked like the V+2 lane would run away with the match but we quickly found our rhythm and thanks to a few surprise scores, our lane was definitely the victor. 

Eli's delivery wasn't half bad.  He even managed to put his fingers in the holes of the ball. Granted, he used his left hand for the holes and held the ball with his right palm, but he rolled the ball straight...and with decent speed!

Cole was a little more of a "non-traditional" bowler.  He didn't even use his hands to take the ball off the return. He'd pick up the 6-pound ball with his wrists and stand sideways to chuck the ball down the lane.  He was probably the most thankful for the gutter bumpers since it looked a little more like pinball than bowling during his turn.

When it was Zoe's turn, she would race up to grab a ball and without even pausing to breath, she would head right straight toward the lane and throw the ball without any aim or plan.  It was as if choosing a bowling ball was part of her delivery.

Ty was a pretty typical bowler.  Not great.  Not horrible.  Not consistent. But competent. Doubt he'll get a bowling scholarship for college, but he'll hold his own on a date some day.

Poor Ava was at a disadvantage before she even got there.  The smallest ball we could find was 6 pounds.  Even for a 31 pounder, that's a pretty high percentage of her body mass. She'd lift the ball and it'd look like her knees were about to buckle. She eventually settled on a "put-the-ball-on-the-ground-between-her-legs" approach and then pushed it with all her might toward the pins. She always required my help, so don't expect to see any pictures. Even still...the ball moved so slowly down the lane that there were a few times I wondered if it would make it.

At the end of the night, the "Surprise Bowler" award goes to Cole! Look at these final scores!!! Yes, you're reading them right.  We all used the gutter bumpers and Cole came in 2nd.  He beat 3 parents! Crazy!

So who wants to be my travel companion when I have to sit through Cole's matches on the PBA tour?

Free Time

I've been looking forward to this year for 5 years.  Well, maybe "looking forward" isn't quite accurate. Technically, I didn't think I would ever get to it.  I didn't think we'd survive five years with five kids!

So what am I talking about?  Kindergarten, of course! 

That's right.  The triplets are in Kindergarten.  Not just Kindergarten...FULL DAY Kindergarten. Yup...8:10-2:50 every day. And yes, they've been there since September and I'm just getting around to blogging about it. Which brings me to the actual point of this post: What on earth have I been doing every day?

I get that question a lot now. It's not always in the form of a question.  Sometimes it's more of an accusation..."Wow!  You must love all that 'Free Time'!" Honestly, I doubt that most people mean it as an accusation, but that's how I take it, because, well, I'm me and I take things personally.  I am also my own worst critic and think I should be doing SOMETHING with all the "extra" time in my life.

Of course, that would mean that I'd have to FIND this alleged free time.  I'm not sure where it is.

I had all these visions of my life once all 5 kids were in school all day.  The picture looked amazing: I was super fit, the house was immaculate, my patience was abundant during homework time, dinner was always prepared on time (since it was started during the school day), the laundry was always caught up, I blogged daily, and I worked on my scrapbooks at least once a week.

Then there's reality.

None of these things have happened.

None.

Why not?  What, on earth, am I doing with myself?

Well, I think I've finally got a handle on things.  There IS some extra time in the day.  But guess what?  You don't find it until January, people.  In September, you're frantically trying to get used to the schedule, get supplies, deal with over-tired and over-emotional kids, and you're attempting to grab the last moments of summer.  In October, you're about to get in a groove but then homework, and Halloween hit. In November, you're kicking into Holiday gear...Thanksgiving...Christmas...both home and at school...for five kids.  FIVE!  In December, you're in full on panic mode...baking, wrapping, shopping, budgeting, hiding elves, and dealing with sugared up, hyper kids.

Then January comes. 

And you sit.

And rest.

And it feels good.

And you don't ever want to get up.

So I spent the first few weeks of January in full out veg mode.  I was lazier than lazy.  And it was wonderful.  But now I'm human again. I'm working out regularly.  I have somewhat of a schedule for cleaning the house and doing laundry. The crockpot is getting a workout.  And here I am...blogging.  I'm finding it, people...I'm finding the time!!! 

Chicago

Since it's Zoe's turn with the flu this week and I'm home today (and at least tomorrow) with her, I figured I'd take the hint and blog about her trip to Chicago.  I can't believe it's been almost 4 months since we went.  It was such a fun time.

Like I mentioned in the catchup blog, when I asked Zoe what she wanted for her birthday, she said she wanted to go on an airplane.  There wasn't anywhere specific she requested.  Actually, I'm sure she mentioned Florida and Disney, but since we haven't been as a family yet, she knew pretty quickly that wasn't going to happen.  Shane and I mulled a few options over and figured Chicago would be a great choice.  Perfect flight distance...enough to know you're on a plane...but not so long the flight is boring!  Plus, there's a ton to do in Chi-town...regardless of what the weather is. So, we cashed in some frequent flier miles and hotel points and booked a weekend. 

Our first speed bump happened when Shane had a last minute business trip that week that would bring him into Newark right about the same time we were leaving.  He was so bummed that he wouldn't get to see his sweetheart off for the weekend.  I assured him I'd be fine and he gentle broke the news to me that it wasn't me he was referring to.  Turns out, he not only got to see us, but eat dinner with us, too!  See, it took us over 3 hours to get from Ramsey to Newark.  Normally, it's a 35 minute trip.  Even with Friday afternoon traffic, we had allowed plenty of time.  Still, we missed our flight. 

 
But our hero was there to save the day.  When Shane landed and heard that we were still sitting on 95, he went straight to the ticket counter and got us booked on the next flight.  By the time we pulled up to the curb, he was there handing us our boarding passes.  The three of us had a quick bite to eat and then Zoe and I went through security and to our gate. 

 

We got into Chicago pretty late but we were thrilled to be there.  Zoe was hysterical on the plane.  "Hyper" doesn't begin to describe her as we boarded and found our seats.  Question after question. "Are we in the air yet?  How about now? Are we flying?"  Ummmm...no Zoe...we are taxiing to the runway.  She loved the take off and landing.  She didn't even mind the turbulence that her mother was secretly freaking out about.  The turning, however, made her grab the armrests with white knuckles.  Zoe was convinced we'd roll right over.

By the time we got into our hotel, Zoe's second wind was kicking in.  She made sure to document the entire room.

Saturday morning we slept in.  Each of us in our own Queen bed.  So cozy.  But there were adventures to be had so we studied our AAA book (Thanks Granddad) and reviewed which places we'd ear-marked before we came.  We pulled out our train map and hit the road.

We quickly mastered the "L".  As a matter of fact, we only got on the wrong train once all weekend.  It wasn't technically the wrong train...it was just going in the wrong direction.  Zoe's first requested stop was...

Yup, the Chicago Public Library!  What can I say?  The girl loves books!

Then it was off to discover the city.  We had a blast. 

But I had a surprise up my sleeve.  See, my parents (Zoe's Grammy and Granddad) happened to be in Chicago that week too!  They were leaving Saturday night, but before they did, we met up for lunch at a local landmark: Portillo's.  Zoe had no idea.

After a fun (and delicious) lunch, we took a double-decker bus tour.  Our first guide was a little boring.  So, we got off at one to check out the big metal bean and buy cheesy matching sweatshirts.  When we got back on, our guide was hysterical.  Even though we had planned on getting off at a few stops, we didn't want to sacrifice the guide, so we rode and rode and laughed and laughed.

Sunday, we decided to start the day at Willis Tower.  What an experience!  We got there right after the tower opened so there was no line.  It took awhile to convince Zoe to step out on the glass.  I tried to convince her to do a handstand, but there was no talking her into it.

After the tower, we headed to the pier...by way of a water taxi. We successfully traveled every way possible: Plane, taxi, foot, train, bus and boat.  Okay, yes, we could have rented a bike and Zoe tried to talk me into renting a Segway by the lake, but can you imagine a 10-year old on a Segway?  I wasn't interested in a Chicago ER trip.  Although...that WAS one of my favorite shows.  I wonder if Noah Wyle would have taken care of us.

 

After a morning at Willis Tower, the carousel seemed like a piece of cake!

A full day in the city and then we headed to the airport.  Our flight was full.  Over-full, actually.  They offered quite a reward if we would fly out Monday.  We considered it.  We considered it seriously.  But ultimately, we decided it would be too hard on Shane and maybe not a smart idea to blow off school.

We had a wonderful time together...just me and my firstborn.  The memories will last a lifetime.

Post-script: In the car on the way home...about 5 minutes outside the airport...Shane said, "I should probably tell you about Eli now, since there's no way to hide it when you see him..." (for future reference...not a great way to start a conversation).  Apparently, Eli fell off the bleachers at Ty's baseball game that day.  Not serious.  Just ugly.