I Love This PLace

Growing up so far in the country, hours from the nearest major city, I never realized how many aspects of a big city we missed out on. Truth is, big cities are cool. (Yes, big fancy word- I know!) They are. They have events that you can't have when you live in a town without a stop light. Madison is absolutely one of those "cool" places. (Pun intended.)

The latest cool adventure that I have been on in Madison is to go the 40th Annual Christmas Lecture given by a UW Madison professor. He plans these each Christmas, and the tickets are absolutely free! The lectures are always taped and played on our local PBS channel as well.
I took a friend of mine this year with her two kids, and we were excited to go and get good seats, so we got there early. Very early. We beat out all other spectators and were the first by the door.
We had over an hour of time to kill, and with three antsy children had to get creative by sending them on an adventure with Gina to explore the building. That helped.
When we first walked on, the bright "Science is fun" sign catches your eye immediately, putting the kids into an even more excited stupor.
The lecture itself is full of fun experiments with colorful liquids, explosions, and goopy goop that runs everywhere. It lasts for almost an hour and a half, and the kids never get distracted because of all the fun experiments he runs.

I suppose their attentiveness could also be attributed to the visitors that come as well. The UW Badger Band had a section of their brass this year playing at various points during the show. Santa Claus even came to the show to drop off some items for an experiment. Evan's eyes lit up at the sight of this man who he hopes is bringing him lots of toys! But even Santa can't rival Ev's favorite person of the day: Bucky Badger! Bucky sat in the row in front of us, and Evan watched his every move. (Yes, Bucky is wearing Safety glasses. It is a chemistry lab and you need to be safe!)

At the end of the show, he immediately ran over and was the first to pose for a picture with Bucky.
We had an awesome day, and it just reinforces how much I love this cool place we live.

We are so lucky

This Thanksgiving came and went rapidly as always, without much time for pensive reflection on gratitude, yet as a I looked at the few pictures I took last weekend, I realized that we are all so very lucky.

We are lucky to have two families (Chris' and mine) that are so thrilled and excited to welcome us into their homes whenever we want. We bring noise, fighting, pickiness, and laughter, life, and love.

We are lucky to have the world's cutest nieces. I'm serious. Look at these little ones.

Samantha was so open to playing with the boys this year. She was in chasing mode and was always at least half a lap behind when they ran around the house.
She even gleefully posed for these pictures for her Aunt Jen. I couldn't even get Evan to glance at me long enough to snap the shot. Bummer!
McCamey is like a whole new person from the last time that I saw her. My last image of McCamey was of her knowing how to sit by herself. Now, she is a full-fledged walker with a whole head of hair and cute little ponytails.
We are also so lucky to have the world's sweetest nephews.

Noah enthusiastically adored McCamey and continued giving her little kisses to show her his affection.
We also celebrated my nephew Matthew's 10th birthday. (Unfortunately, I caught him with his eyes shot and didn't get another shot!)
I have always known that I was lucky as well for having such an awesome family. My favorite part about going home is the conversation I have with my siblings. We talk about everything from politics to Facebook to old memories to kid stories. I treasure those moments when we are all together.

We are so lucky.

Need a little Christmas?

I have so many priceless memories of Christmas programs as a child. I remember overly elaborate school plays where we all dressed as toy dolls or tin soldiers and stood on our tiny stage singing Christmas carols; thunderous applause from proud parents greeted us for our efforts. I remember church programs that were equally elaborate and organized, directed by my mom. Some of my favorite roles were playing Michael, an angel(-- yes, Michael a boy. Thanks mom!) or a star in the sky. Regardless of the memory, a warm holiday spirit always encompasses me when I think of them.

Similarly, last night at the boys' Christmas concert, I felt the same way. I watched my elf- Brendan-- and my tin soldier- Andrew as they participated in this year's program entitled "Santa's Playlist." The premise was that Santa's records all got broken, so the elves, tin soldiers, and reindeer offer to share songs from their playlist to help him build his MP3 player. Cute twist on a new technology.

Here is my elf watching the people doing speaking parts. Hilariously, by the end of the night, Brendan's elf hat had unbeknownst to him shifted so that the ear served more as a unicorn horn in the center of his head. (I forgot to snap a picture of that delight!)

Andrew is a tin soldier dressed in red and black. Unfortunately, he stood close to where the director was, so most of my pictures are impaired from the back of his teacher blocking the view. I took a number of little videos on my camera, but I think I deleted them accidentally. This is the remaining video for me to share. (It is just of Brendan- don't tell Andrew!) I have the whole concert on film to show family over Christmas break.


We had a great night and feel full of holiday spirit.

A Favorite Fall Tradition

Many fall traditions make me smile: jumping in the leaves, trick or treating around the neighborhood with the boys, and eating chili dogs on Halloween. Yet, the one event I look forward to every fall does not involve any of those things. It is the annual trip to the corn maze with my mom and dad.

Mom and dad visited about a month ago. (I know I am slow on getting updates. ..) We filled one cold, fall afternoon with many activities including the corn maze. First, we raced mom and dad to one town to watch Brendan play soccer, then we immediately followed this with a 30 minute trek to watch Andrew play football. After the football game, we decided to go to the Corn Maze. For the past three years, we have journeyed to the same maze: Treinen's Farm. They are reputed to have the largest corn maze in Wisconsin. And we love it.

The maze was crowded, but we still managed to have a great time. The basic concept of this maze is that you look for a series of mailboxes in order. When you find a mailbox, you find a piece of the maze that you paste on your map that guides you to the next clue/ mailbox.

With our master maze finders, we never struggle with the basic finding of the mailbox.

We always challenge ourselves with one of the mazes fun traditions-- the hole punches. They hide eight hole punches hidden on metal poles scattered throughout the entire maze. Most of the time these hole punches are much off "the beaten path" and therefore have to be scoured for. This is where our group's fun really begins. If you look carefully in the picture below, you can see the metal pole we have to look for.
This year, we added the challenge of also "finding Grandpa." Grandpa got left behind in the second puzzle piece of the maze. He looked down to study his map, and the boys went running on the paths they wanted to pursue. The adults quickly followed out of fear of losing the little guys, so when Grandpa looked up, we were gone. And, we didn't find him for at least 45 minutes. We tried cell phones, but it is hard to get a signal buried in a corn maze.
Eventually, we found grandpa meandering down the path. (Much to Brendan's relief. He had been fretting over grandpa's disappearance, thinking that we would never find him.)
For our maze navigating and hole punch finding prowess, we were all rewarded with a proud Maze Master certificate! (Yes, Brendan is crossing his eyes in the below picture. I can't ever get him to be serious for a picture. )
On our way out of the farm, we stopped and let the boys each shoot pumpkins from a slingshot into the pond. Andrew and Brendan are both still sporting uniforms-- if you were wondering why they had an affinity for purple. . .


If you can believe it, we even had enough energy to follow all of this with a trip out to eat for dinner and a round of "boo"ing our neighbors before we collapsed.

Another amazing fall tradition. Can't wait for next year!

The Power Ranger, The Clone Trooper, and The Skeleton Man

What do the above people have in common?

No, not the start to a bad joke. Not the desire to force and destroy evil on the world. Not even the similarity of a three person name. (Ok, so they actually do have the prior things in common, but that isn't the most important.)

Their most important similarity is that my boys all chose them for Halloween costumes this year. For the past three years, I have easily escaped the purchase of new Halloween costumes. Essentially, Andrew and Brendan had to always decide which football jersey to wear, and then we would don helmets and pants. And Evan would just look in his dress up box and find an outfit of his favorite superhero. Then, we'd be off for the night.

But, this year the boys wanted to buy something new. They were tired of the same outfits. So, I tromped off to Target with the boys and each chose a scary guy to dress up as for the holiday.


Halloween was chilly this year; we had spent the day at a football game freezing! But the wind died down, and the evening was calm and cool. This year, Evan was a joy to watch! His enthusiasm for Halloween surpassed everyone. He ran gleefully from house to house with no concern for anything else but candy. He could be heard chiming, "Trick or Treat" as soon as the door opened. Then, he would respond with "Thank you and Have a nice Halloween" after each piece of candy was dropped into his bag.

Andrew and Brendan were excited but absolutely much more focused on the candy than the joy. I can't believe how quickly enthusiasm wanes. But, they all had fun.

And the results. . .


. . .Our dentist weeping in his sleep at the thought of the impending cavities!

Want to Watch a Puppet Show?

. . . is what my adorable, five year old asked me on Monday? His enthusiastic demeanor could only allow one response: Of Course!

He placed his brand new paper bag owl puppet, freshly made from a day in preschool, on his hand and proceeded to duck behind the counter and begin reciting random dialogue.

What made all of this even cuter was that Evan has been losing his voice, altering even his normal voice for the character.

About two minutes into the performance, I couldn't resist taping him, and I surreptitiously grabbed the camera and caught this precious film.


Thirty seconds of puppet show? Priceless.

A Great Season

One of the many events that has quickly come and passed this fall in the life of our family holds importance for Andrew: his final game as a 4th grade football player.

Over the course of this season, Andrew began to take on many roles for his team, varying from kicker, to center, to defensive tackle. All of these roles Andrew enthusiastically embraced. Unfortunately, the season wasn't a roaring success for the boys.

Andrew's team won one game in the middle of the season, but they continued to get beaten by much bigger boys. For the final game, their team had much discussion about the enormity of the players they were about to face from Pecatonica. Two of the linesman were purportedly over 160 pounds. In 4th grade. Seriously. So, they went into the last game a little cautious.

At the game, we could see that the size discussion was correct. Look at this picture with Andrew walking and notice the size of the guy in the background. He's a 4th grader!
But on this day, similar to David and Goliath, size didn't matter. The boys played hard and won their second and final game. Here is Andrew lining up on defense. (He has the 4 on his shirt- he was number 54.)
After the game, the team celebrated with the standard Gatorade-on-coaches-head celebration-- much to what I assume was the coach's displeasure as it was freezing cold that day. Then, the team also concluded their season by awarded spirit awards to each of the boys.
Andrew received the Mr. Positive Award for his consistent positive attitude and willingness to do whatever his coaches said he should. This attitude was obvious when in the final two games, Andrew played almost every snap of the games because he was playing both offense and defense, filling in for missing kids.

It was a fun season full of learning of all sorts. I am proud of Andrew's tenacity and commitment to doing his best. What a great fall for him!

The Next Will Shakespeare?

Since Andrew was a toddler, I have known he was unique. I have known that he was mathematically gifted when he started making change for a dollar at age four. I have known that he is cranky when tired-- I mean, really cranky when tired. I have also known that he is a passionate reader. But, until about two weeks ago, I never knew he had a creative side.

I don't mean to openly stereotype him as a linear thinker without much creative thought, but truly, that is what he has shown to us. So, it was a huge surprise when he started talking about a project that his reading group at school was working on. They were going to write a play for a novel they had just read AND Andrew was going to write it.

My first reaction? WHAT? Andrew write a play?

But then I watched him diligently construct the play, avoiding playing video games or watching his favorite show. Then, he henpecked the paper on the computer, working tirelessly and missing my nightly reading and asking me to wake him up early to finish it.

Curiosity got the best of me, and I glanced at what he had written. He wrote four pages about the book, labeling characters and inserting a narrator when the action didn't have words. How impressed I was of him! As an English teacher, I haven't seen the English flair in the boys that I have, so I was thrilled to see this side of him.

A few days later, Andrew was working on his own book report that he needs to do once a month, and again, he decided to write a play about his book capturing the main event of the book. He merely needed to prove to his teacher that he had read the book, and he thought this concept would best prove that to her.

Really? Two plays in a week or two?

I am so proud of his initiative and budding creativity. Who knows? Maybe Shakespeare and Marlowe need to move over. Here comes Andrew Doucette!

Toot! Toot!

I am not one to toot my own horn. I don't like to do that because so many other people work hard and deserve recognition. We are all busy. We all work hard. We all deserve a hand every now and again.

But, I was so tickled yesterday to receive this honor that I wanted to share.

Our school does a quarterly recognition of staff members where fellow colleagues nominate deserving staff members for recognition. For this first semester, I was chosen as the recipient. Below is listed the email I received. I just wanted to share!




1st Quarter Staff Recognition Award Winners
Jennifer Doucette – Language Arts Teacher, High School




"Jen Doucette is an outstanding teacher. She provides her students with an exceptional education, filled with innovative and creative opportunities to learn. Jen is driven to seek and present new and exciting ways for her students to be engaged in learning. She is surrounded by students, regardless of her location, be it the classroom, hallway, English office or the Cafeteria. This is due to her complete dedication to her students, past and present. Her students are aware of her sincere concern for their personal and academic success. Jen epitomizes joy. Students, parents and staff alike are drawn to her luminous spirit. Jen Doucette is a remarkable woman who serves her students, staff and school district with steadfast pride in a job she loves."

I May Be Small, but I'm the Boss

When Evan turned five this year, mom got him a Tshirt that reads "I May Be Small, But I'm the Boss!" Ev is so proud of that shirt. Unfortunately it is clear at this point that Evan is short. (Now, we don't remind him he is short- We hate to start a complex this young.)

But, he is short. No Questions.

But, he is also absolutely the boss.

So, I have delighted this year watching my "short boss" begin his athletic career. For now, he chose soccer to play. He tenaciously attacked each game, showing promise when he scored the first goal in his first game!



Then, he continued displaying this tenacity with his awesome defensive skills.



Since we don't get to see you all often enough, we loaded a few more videos of our tough little dude kicking butt! Enjoy!

Toughness

One of the many places I have found myself disappearing to lately is the boys' athletic events. Brendan is involved in two sports this fall: Flag Football and Soccer. What I have enjoyed watching and learning is that Brendan is tough. Real tough.

He didn't want to sign up for soccer last summer. Chris and I all but forced the poor guy to play because we thought he would enjoy it. He hated going to practice at first, and then. .. Something clicked.

As I watch him play, I marvel at how tough he can be. Brendan knows his job (mostly) and does it well. He hustles down the field, controls the ball, and outruns most other players.

Brendan played in the snow last Saturday-- yes, the snow! And he didn't complain much to us about it. The biggest whiners that day were the parents who were sitting under layers of blankets on the sidelines.

While he doesn't get a goal every game, he is always a big playmaker, making awesome defensive blocks or great passes.

I am so proud of his hustle out there. Three more games to go in the season.

Blog Neglect

The last time I waited two weeks to post a blog, my computer was broken.

This time? My excuse is not as strong.

My problem? Just life. Fun, busy, crazy, life.

I am back to work and in the full throes of a bazillion essays and homework assignments, nightly waiting to be graded. The boys are in full tilt right now. Andrew has football three nights a week, and he has games on Saturday. Brendan has flag football, and soccer two times a week. Evan has soccer. I am coaching cheerleading for the high school football team, and we practice three days a week plus games.

GASP! In sum? We are gasping for breath at all times. I am loving every minute-- ok, maybe not every minute-- but I am enjoying the crazy lifestyle, but the blog is paying the price.

Be patient. I promise to return when possible.

Rain in the forecast this weekend. Maybe I will try and get caught up. In the meantime, just know that we are busy and doing awesome!

I Thought It Would Be Scarier. . .

I thought it would be scarier. The thought of it has made me nervous for months.

Andrew, my baby, putting on pads and a helmet for practice seemed just a warm up for this grown up sport that I was hoping would never come. Football, and the apparent violence that accompanies it, was something that I couldn't even begin to comprehend my big/ little man playing.

But the funny thing is that on Saturday, for Andrew's first game, it wasn't scary. At all.

I can admit to actually getting a little teary. As I sat waiting for the game to start, another mom brought around a program listing the names of the players and the game date. When I saw my baby Andrew's name on the list, my eyes flooded with tears. I was grateful for the sunglasses blocking my emotional breakdown.

But, that was it. I was fine.

I watched them warm up as a group.

(Andrew is sitting in the middle: number 54.) I watched Andrew get a chance to be the kicker. He was able to take part in the punting and kick offs. He did great!

I watched Andrew play center. (He is snapping the ball in the picture below.)

I watched the team huddle up like big guys, making decisions about their plays.

I saw our name on the back of a jersey, looking more like a grown up guy than a little boy.
Despite all of these things, I was fine. Totally fine. Despite the boys losing on the final play, I was fine.

It wasn't scary. I realized that much scarier things will present themselves in the next few years. This was not one of them.

Three birthdays, Fifteen boys, One party

With my crazy schedule last year, I put off many things: dusting (still working on that), cleaning my closet, getting a new haircut. But let's not forget one very important thing I procrastinated on: giving the boys birthday parties.

Oops.

I mean, I'm a normal mom, right? Busy. Working. Trying to keep it together, but not planning birthday parties? In today's world, that seems to fall right under child abuse. Yet, here I was, in mid- August realizing that I never gave Andrew or Brendan a party, and Evan's birthday was quickly approaching.

My solution to avoiding Child Services for forgetting parties? I did a three- for - one. All boys were able to invite five friends to come over for a mega-birthday party.

And, it worked! It worked well.

We had play-doh and fun hands on activities for Ev and his pals.

We had baseball where all kids played.

We had football.

We had food. And more food.

And a football cake~!

And 15 rowdy, fun-loving, competitive, active, wild boys.


It was a blast. Truly, the day made me consider placing my mommy status on the line again this year. I may just be too busy for parties in March and June. . .

Mom, What's a disco stick?

Driving in the car last week, I was listening to the radio and Lady Gaga was singing her "Disco stick" song. (If you have never heard it, this is the link for you to listen.) Brendan sincerely and inquisitively looked at me and said, "Mom, what's a disco stick?"

Hmmm. . . I stalled desperately trying not to actually state what a disco stick was.

I stated, "Well, Brendan, I think a disco stick is something she just has fun with." Ok, I know this is a totally lame answer, but I was struggling. Pop music has always presented less than stellar ways to embarrass parents, and I was stuck.

So, Brendan asks, "Then Mom, why does she want to ride the disco stick?"

Mentally, the brakes shriek. WHAT?? Yikes. My lame answer was meant to pacify you, not incite more questions. I wasn't thinking about the absolute horrible insinuations in the lyrics.

"Umm.. . Brendan, I don't know. I think she is just weird."

That seemed to stall him. He could understand that maybe she was just slightly off kilter and talked about crazy things. Not necessarily a great strategy, but it worked.

But I realized that this will happen increasingly as they get older. They want to know and understand what is happening in the world around them, and Lady Gaga forced the issue for me a little earlier than I would have liked.

Music helps set my mood, but maybe for now, I'll just leave the radio off.

First Day

Growing up, the first day of school meant waking up when it was still dark to get ready to be the first kids on the bus. It meant chatting briefly with mom, still in her robe, and dad, smelling of aftershave and wearing his suit, over a quick breakfast. But most of all, the first day of school meant taking the annual back-to-school picture in front of our kitchen door.

Why the kitchen door? I don't know. Mom chose that spot sometime during our youth, so every picture I can remember has us standing there in front of the door.

In my home I think I have found my own version of the kitchen door: the steps. We have this great staircase that leads to our upper floor where the kids play, wrestle, and slide down. It makes the best place for a back-to-school picture.

I took a picture first of just the two school aged boys:

Then, I worked all three guys-- (Yes, they are all wearing Brewers' shirts. Totally unplanned. I found that humorous.)

The obligatory silly face picture.

Tuesday was the boys' first day of school. Andrew started fourth grade and he has a teacher whom he completely enjoys. Brendan started third grade and also seems to be having a good time in his class. Evan is still in preschool; I finally made the decision to wait and send him to kindergarten next year. He has been ecstatic with going back to preschool, so I feel good about my decision.

This year proved to be another successful traditional back to school. Only at least 13 more!