Brendan's Christmas concert

Ok- I have resigned myself to understand that my blogging days are kind of on hiatus, but I do want to share pictures from the lives of the boys and their events. Tonight was Brendan's Christmas concert, and on the cuteness scale, it was pretty high!

Here are a few pictures of the highlights:

Brendan found me in the crowd!

Looking for Santa. . .


This song used the lyrics, "Santa, You're the man!"

Halloween at our house

Aren't the boys scary? We had an exceptional year this year for Halloween!

It started with the annual slaughter of the pumpkins; we had a great time carving, and as usual, Chris had to do the bulk of the work. . .

Today, the boys went trick or treating. Betweeb us, I thought Brendan had the best outfit. He was a Men in Black agent. Super fun! This was another example the awesome effects of our trip this summer!

We trick or treated around town with a big group of friends. Each boy had at least one friend from their grade, and the adults had a fun group, too! We even had a few "adult treats" to make our night more interesting!
This house was so cool-- They decorated their porch to look like a pirate ship and the kids got candy through the cannon. Fun!
Evan got so tired from all the walking and from the weight of his loot that he made Chris carry the candy the last hour of the night, and then he would dash back to put the candy in his bag!

We had a great night-- I am sure that sore tummies will ensue!

Evan Playing Up

I have stated many times that Evan is years of maturity beyong his age; as a product of being the youngest boy he always seem to see things and do things that many other kids his age don't do. Athletically, this has always been good for him, so this year I decided to put him in a soccer league with kids ahead of him in school years. He is playing with 1st and 2nd graders instead of his kindergarten pals. (Technically, because he is six, he should play with them anyways.)

My concern about doing this was that my petite man may feel overwhelmed with the older and bigger kids.

Not a chance.

In each of his games, he has scored a goal. (Ok- One they didn't count, but his mom knows that the goal went over the line when he kicked it!) He is out there with all of the older -- and yes bigger-- kids.

He is not intimidated at all! Actually, he plays tenaciously this year, attacking the ball and trying to help and pass to his teammates. Maybe he is actually learning something from watching his brothers play!So, am I glad I played Evs up this year? Absolutely!

First Day of School

I always loved the first day of school as a little girl -- even as a teenager. There is something so optimistic about "starting new" each year. New teachers, new classes, new friends. So, as no surprise, as a teacher, I still enjoy this feeling. But one of the aspects of the first day that I don't enjoy is that I am unable to take part in my boys' first days of school.

On their first day, I am off to school getting ready to greet other people's children and make their start to the year great. At our home daddy gets the honors!

This year was especially unique.

First, Evan started kindergarten. In some regards this seems long overdue; I debated forever whether to send him last year as a young five, and now here he is a mature six and more than ready to go. He shed no tears, hesitated not even a little. Evan enthusiastically embraced the first days -- and the ones that have followed. He is ready.

Brendan is now a fourth grader- the big man on campus in his building. He has the same teacher that Andrew had last year as a fourth grader, so we are feeling comfortable with his class this year. He is feeling great as well about the year.

Finally, Andrew started middle school this week. His first day was a two hour orientation, then he and Chris went golfing the rest of the day. (Rough way to start the school year!) The next day was his first day on his own and he did great. He did have a little scare on his walk home. For the first time he is walking home by himself, and it is a long walk, so he was pretty nervous. After a quick trip to Target, we remedied that with a new bike, and yesterday was much more successful for him.

My first week was also great. It appears that I am going to have some fun classes this semester, and I am ready to dive in.

New starts, new students, new teachers, new school year. Check!

Universal: Rides, Thrills, and Tears

Once we toured Harry Potter the first night, we had the rest of the week to explore Universal. There are two separate parks: Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. Because we had a parkhopper pass, we were able to divide our time between the parks.

While I took numerous pictures and have so many great memories, here were a few that stood out to me:

1. Men in Black was my boys' favorite Universal ride. I literally dragged Evan on it while he cried and screamed, and then he loved it. They got to shoot aliens with laser guns, and the score accumulated. It was literally like living in a video game. Once we got them on the ride, I think they rode it at least 4-5 times. Fun!


2. Seuss Landing was a little more tame. For my boys who are (euphemism alert!) tentative about thrill rides, this was a welcome stop. And, Evan, who is merely five, loved the rides in this area.

This is the CaroSuessel. .. Clever.

This was a "thrilling" train ride that explored all the areas of Suessland. This ride was probably our longest and most uncomfortable wait of the whole trip, but Evan, was pumped, so I suppose it was worth it!

3. Jaws is one of the few rides that I remember from when I visited Universal many years ago. Again, I felt like the mean mom forcing my children on the ride-- Andrew actually never got on. He was too worried. Poor Ev, I just kept telling him that it was a boat ride, and nothing to be worried about. Then, the big scary shark jumped out at him a bunch of times. Oops! He was still too mad at me to get in the picture.

4. One of Andrew's favorite rides in Universal was the Shrek 4D show. I love those types of shows where you get splashed on when someone sneezes and you feel wind by your feet when spiders are supposed to creep by. This ride actually had seats that moved to simulate Shrek running. Super fun show!

5. This final picture was taken outside of the Poseidon's Rage ride. We walked into this completely blind, honestly having no idea what was going to happen. It turned out to be a show of sorts where a tour guide pretended we were trapped in a cave and had to reach out to Poseidon to help us get out. All I can say is that when the doors finally opened for us to leave, the kids sprinted out. They were all a bit scared.

Then, we took these awesome family pictures. My favorite part is my super cool fan hanging off my belt- It was so hot that day that I didn't want it to get too far away from me!

Our Journey

Our journey through the wizarding world began the night we arrived after a thunderstorm. We trooped the boys in, ignoring the lightning flashing over our heads and scurried to Harry Potter land.

After hearing horror stories of a two and a half hour wait to ride the main ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden journey, we immediately went to the castle and saw a mere 45 minute wait for it. We stowed our belongings (no carry on purses or bags were allowed) and got in line. In truth the line itself was an entertaining ride itself. We saw talking pictures that a camera could not adequately capture; they actually looked like portraits. We saw the Sorting Hat, spouting warnings to the riders. Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all made appearances and spoke to the crowd. Ron even made it snow over our heads.

When we got to the ride itself, we had no idea what to expect. You get on the ride and your feet are dangling. What follows is a 3-4 minute ride that whirls you around on the experiences that Harry had at Hogwarts: Quidditch, Death Eaters, Aragog, Tri Wizard Tournament, and so much more. You are tossed on your back, spit on by spiders, made queasy from the flying. We ended up riding more than once, which is good because I shut my eyes for part of the first time. . .

The first night we were also able to make a special trip to Ollivander's to get a wand. Groups of 20 or so are ushered into Ollivander's where Ollivander selects a boy from the crowd. In our group he chose Andrew! Then, the scene in the movie where Harry gets his wand was reenacted with Andrew.

Finally, the wand chose Andrew! Can you see the bright light on his face?

Hogsmeade at night was a truly magical experience in itself with all the lights blaring through the town. It was my favorite time there.

The next day we went back to Harry Potter and imbibed some butterbeer. (Some grown ups even chose the Hogsmeade brew which is made there and only sold there- no where else in the world!)

We ended up in the Hogshead as the wait to get into the Three Broomsticks took a considerable amount of time.

The hogs head on the wall periodically spoke! We could get our butterbeers either frozen or normal. The first day we all tried frozen and loved them. Brendan proclaimed them "life-changing!" We did try the normal type on a later date and savored the creamy butterscotch, cream soda like taste.

We also tried the Pumpkin Juice mentioned in the stories. I thought it tasted alot like apple juice with an additional pumkin-esque flavor.
This is the site where we drank our butterbeers both days. We had a great view of the castle.

We shopped at Honeydukes (chocolate frog shown below) and Zonko's. The boys all bought at least one wand from Ollivander's; Andrew even bought a quaffle to play with at home.
Harry Potter land was everything I had hoped for.

Andrew wishes there would have been a Quidditch pitch, but I do think the the land gave everyone just a little piece of magic.

From the first time I picked up a Harry Potter book, my imagination soared, creating fantastical mental images of what the magical places and objects featured in the stories must look like. Then, as I fell in love with the books, it was impossible not to wish that a place existed where this wondrous magic could actually exist. What IF Hogwarts was real? What IF I could really play Quidditch? What IF we could really use magic?

These thoughts propelled me to organize an incredible vacation around the idea of visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Florida. All year we continued to look at the website hoping for a quick peek to reveal how someone could actually bring this to life. I imagine that JK Rowling must have experienced a strange sensation as she stepped into the park to see her dreams realized in a theme park.

Hogwarts was now real. Hogsmeade with all of its snow-capped glory was real. The butterbeer that made readers salivate was real.

Even I, as I walked into the park, hung back a little from our group and teared up. (Yes, this is a confession from a literary geek. . .) The gigantic form of Hogwarts and the confirmation of how I thought it would look made me look in wonder. Amazing.

The only damper on this experience was that Harry Potter maniacs from all over the world were also reveling in the same experience. Our first night there we went right after/ during a thunderstorm so many, many people were not there. That night we were able to ride the main ride and see many shops in relative comfort without crazy crowds. The very next morning when we entered Universal, we could see that the line to even enter the Harry Potter section stretched through the entire Jurassic Park world --equivalent to maybe 1/2 mile? Navigating Harry Potter world during the day was like evacuating a nightclub on fire. Surging bodies, tremendous heat and no where to move.

Yet even this could not diminish the experience. I was honored to see magic come to life- something I did not believe possible. The visit to Harry Potter world is further confirmation to me of the power of words- this creation came from JK Rowling's mind. She envisioned Harry and the challenging life he would have, created Hogwarts and the wizarding world, and now, the rest of the world is reaping the benefit.

Truly, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a fantastic voyage of imagination turning to reality.

One of Our Favorite Places

When we were new to Wisconsin, I was always asking people about cool, new places to visit with my boys. A few years ago, a neighbor told me about a place called the MacKenzie Center. Essentially, it is a place that takes in orphaned or injured animals to nurture and raise them. The animal displays are in this quaint section of wood. And, the best thing is the price is FREE! It quickly became a family favorite.

So, it had been over two years since we had gone as a group, and we decided to take the trip again a few weeks ago. Brendan took his buddy Ollie and we all headed out for an adventure.

At the start of the trip, Brendan and Ollie joined me on a trek of a the fire tower's steep stairs. Oliver is reveling in our achieving the top!
The boys meandered the paths and checked out the animals. All the guys stopped at one of their favorite stops: measuring their "wing span." I just liked Andrew's silly face, so he made the blog!
After we had looked at all the animals, the boys decided to trek through the woods on an adventure. Having lots of time that day, I let them lead and blindly followed.

This was our first cool find!
We did get a little lost, but thanks to Oliver's great advice of "A right turn is always right," we found our way out.
The climax of our trip always results in the cheesy, antiquated "museums" that are at the end of the paths. I think we looked through all three displays in 15 minutes!
Yet another awesome day this summer!

Another Pitcher

Baseball season wasn't just eventful this year for Evan, Andrew and Brendan also experienced a great season. Their team had more teams than losses, which always makes for a solid year.

Andrew's pitching improved to awesome levels as he consistently struck people out. He also played shortstop a good deal of the time and even impressed his mom with a wicked fast toss to first from time to time.

Brendan had his first year in kid pitch on the same team as Andrew. He expressed similar interest as Andrew in pitching, but we were hesitant to put him in a position to be compared to Andrew. However, he insisted, so we relented. The cool part? He did a great job!

He only pitched a few total innings, but each inning he pitched was over in a few short batters- either due to strikeouts or good fielding by B's support. I also noticed something peculiar. When Brendan pitches, he opens his mouth.
Thinking this was surely a fluke, I waited patiently and took another picture. Still open.
Who knows why?

Regardless of open mouth or superlative shortstop skills, Andrew and Brendan also had an awesome season.