Birthday Parties

We headed to the cities after Grace's basketball game to celebrate our niece Carmen's 11th birthday, and our nephew Aiden's 4th birthday. We also celebrated Ross's dad Chuck's 70th birthday! Always a fun time with family.

Abbie, Carmen and Grace

All 9 Lendt grandchildren. Not an easy task getting them to all look at the camera!

Grandpa Lendt opening his gift from the family. We made a scrapbook of pictures with him and the grandchildren and each of the grandchildren filled out a "my grandpa" remembering fun things about him!

Friday night sushi!

Yup, we had sushi for supper. Well the kids had spaghetti with a side of sushi! They all loved it.

Ice cream and volleyball

Ross and I play on a co-ed volleyball league. Ross had to work tonight so it was just me playing. The kids came along to watch. I though I could get them to sit through majority of the game if they got some ice cream, didn't work as planned. The ice cream lasted maybe for 1/2 the first game, then they were all over the place. Grace got a hold of my phone and decided to take video and pictures.

Lunch and run!

Ross had the day off and decided he and William would come have lunch with me at work! I love it when they are able to do this! Makes my day!

After work, Ross and I decided to get in a quick run while William rode his bike. It is suppose to get cold again, so we probably won't get to do this for a while again! Ross looks a little worn out. He reminded me that this is the first time he has run since the "accident"!

Volleyball tournament

Almost every year now for the last 5 years our women's volleyball team has played in a tournament up in Chippewa Falls. We do pretty well I think! We took 2nd place this year despite some injuries! April ended up spraining her ankle during the 2nd pool play game. We had to play one game with 5 players, then another girl was able to join us. It is always fun to play and Ross and the kids even came up and watched. Well, Ross watched and Grace did towards the end, the boys played basketball in the next gym! Afterwards, we head out for some lunch! One of my favorite weekends with the girls!

Basketball and Pizza!

Charlie again had an 8:30 basketball game. He was pretty quiet for the first half of his game, then ended up being guarded by a pretty active boy and picked up his pace and aggressiveness. He is funny to watch play, he can be aggressive at home, but on the court, he just lets the other players get the ball if they want. He doesn't go for jump balls, doesn't try to steal to much and doesn't try to block a shot, he just lets the player have a chance, then rebounds the miss and sprints to the other end! He is also a left handed dribbler and goes down the court on the right side which makes it easy for the other player to take the ball. He said he will remember eventually to go down the other side to protect the ball.

Grace played at 12:45. She is really loving basketball and is really aggressive. Her team really plays well together. They are fun to watch!

After the kids games, we headed to Immanuel to watch the Varsity boys play! We headed out for pizza afterwards with the Sydow family!

basketball, baby and friends

Ross and I thought it would be a good night to go and watch an Immanuel girls basketball game tonight. Grace is at a birthday party sleepover, so it was just the boys. They don't really care to much to watch the game. William had a good time playing with baby Aaron. Sometimes I think he smothers him, but Aaron never seems to mind. William really likes him.

Charlie spend most of the first half either asking for food, or coloring. I guess Ross and I were crazy to think you go to a basketball game to WATCH basketball!

It was a great game to watch. The girls won, and the school celebrated Coach Sydow's 100th win he received two games ago! Coach Sydow is retiring after this year. I think his current record is 103-84 in 8 years! Not too shabby I'd say!

We ran into some friends at the game as well, had to take a picture of that!

Another lost tooth!

This actually happened yesterday, but I didn't get to take a picture of it because I was playing volleyball. Charlie's bottom right tooth was hardly loose. It took me a while before I could feel it was even wiggly. William changed that for Charlie. Apparently Charlie thought it was a good idea to put William blanket in his mouth, and so William got upset and yanked it out. Well, by doing that, he caused Charlies' tooth to be come super loose and bleed. This didn't bother Charlie, he was excited. So while I am playing volleyball, I heard a child yell out..."Mom, my tooth fell out!" Yep, Charlie was determined to get that tooth out! So, Charlie has now lost three teeth in three months! Yikes!

And, another night of basketball practice for Grace! She is really liking basketball!

Volleyball

I had volleyball again tonight. The kids had to come with since we played at 7:30 and Ross didn't land till 8. I had asked Grace to hold on to my phone in case Ross called. Later I found these pictures on them. She figured out she doesn't need to know the pass code to take pictures on my phone!

Lunch date with a friend

The long winters make for long days in the house and since William doesn't go to school full days and our sitters come to our house, he has been getting a little bored. He can only play so many games in a day, everyday! I thought since I had the day off we could grab lunch with a friend and he could get some time playing with a friend. We met April and her son Sawyer at the mall and the kids played around for quite a while. William enjoyed the time with Sawyer. Afterwards, we did a little browsing and I realized I needed to take a picture! So, we did so on one of the benches. Sawyer wasn't to excited to take his picture with me, but he did!

Do you want to build a snowman?

I got home from work today just in time for Ross to leave for work. He had a later flight. Just as I walked in the house, William asked me if I wanted to help him build a snowman. Now, I don't like to be cold, so I tend to not like going outside much in the winter, but he asked so politely, I couldn't say no. So, we got all bundled up and headed outside only to realize the snow was not sticky enough to build a snowman! So, William settled for sledding down the front yard for 20 min.

Charlie got this spider-man snuggie for his birthday from a class mate. I didn't think it was going to be a huge hit, but he wears it EVERY SINGLE night to bed! Can't lay down without it!

Go Sehawks!!!!

Yup! You heard that right! Cheering against the Packers. We were invited to the neighbors house to watch the game. On the walk over to their house, my pager went off, and I had to head into work for a quick case! Yes, quick..I was home in a hour and half. When I arrived, I found William playing barbies with Hadley!! I guess she can get him to play anything with her!

It was a close game. I made a couple cheers when Seattle did well, and Ross quickly nudged me in the back. He didn't want to upset the Packer fans too much. There were some sad faces when we left! Us, we were quite pleased! Go Sehawks! Looking forward to the Superbowl!

Basketball and more basketball

Today both kids had basketball games. Charlie was first at 8:30. I think that may be too early for him to play, because he looked as if he didn't know how to play and that he was sleeping through the whole game!

We headed home after and had some friends over for lunch! Every time the neighbors are over, the kids ALWAYS ask if they can stay for lunch or supper! It doesn't always happen, but it did today and the kids loved it!

Next up at 2, Grace's first basketball game. Her games was pretty fun to watch. She did really well and made a lot of baskets. She was pretty scrappy under the hoop too and got a lot of rebounds! Must take after her mother;)

William was bugging me most of the game to take a picture, so here is what we took!

Gym time!

I headed to the gym after work today. We are very fortunate to have a small gym at my work that we can go to for a very small monthly fee. And, it is right across the street from my department! It was completely empty when I got there. Nothing better than a gym all to yourself!

View from our breakroom!

One of the girls I work with is in Jamaica for vacation. Everyday she is posting these amazing pictures of how warm and sunny it is there and all the beautiful views she is taking in. Needless to say, we are all quite jealous of her. So we decided to take a picture of our "view" during our lunch break! And, in case you ever wondered what I wear to work(because I know you all are) here it is! Nice thing is, I never have to worry about what my hair looks like!

Volleyball

Wednesday nights, I play in a women's volleyball league. This was the first time back to the court since the "accident"(not sure what else to call it, but it makes it seem serious this way). I have been feeling great all week with little to no pain. I had assumed my injury was pretty healed. Well, I was wrong. First play of the game was to me to go up and hit it, and with the first two steps, I felt instant pain. Not a 10/10 pain, but enough that I felt I shouldn't push it to much. I played pretty mellow, which as most people know, that is not my forte. I was pretty sore at the end of the three games, and Ross did remind me I probably shouldn't of played. Oh, well. I wouldn't of known it was going to hurt unless I tried it!

Day off and date with my little man!

I ended up getting the day off. Very grateful for that since I put in 6 hrs of overtime on Monday. I am unable to take William to school much because of work, so when I get a chance to try to get a day off, I always prefer Tuesdays or Thursdays so I can take him to school. It just so happened Ross and I both had off today, which was great! We took William to school, then headed to the gym for a great workout, then after we took William out for lunch. The kids have chore charts and when they do something extra that was not asked of them and not one of their chores, they get to pick from a stick, and it has a special treat on it, William got a date with mom! Dad tagged along for today's date. William at first said it no, but then changed his mind! Days off sure go by quickly!

was not ok, but then agreed to it.

Oops...

Today was quite a busy day. Ross and I both worked, and I ended up staying at work till 9pm, and then got called back in at midnight for another case and didn't get home til 3 am. So, I did not get a picture taken today. Enjoy a day off!~

Sunday Fun day!

Since I started this new Mon-Fri job, I have come to realize that weekends go by really fast! Monday morning always seems to come way to quickly, and I look back and wonder what I did all weekend. During the week, I make a mental list of all the things I should get done this coming weekend, then by Sunday night, I realize I didn't get much done I had hoped to! Oh well. I did manage to FINALLY get my Christmas decorations down. My goal was do get it done last weekend, but there was no way that was going to happen. However, I did slowly get the tree decorations off. I asked Ross to take the tree outside....this is what I got.

Yup, that is our lit Christmas tree outside on our back porch! Maybe I should of clarified better when I said to take it outside! William helped me tonight take down the nativity set and get it all put away! Kept him quite busy for about 30 min! I need more pieces so it takes him longer!

As the weekend comes to close and another work week starts, I remind my self to embrace each day and enjoy my family! “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” – Matthew 6:33

Basketball and Birthday Party!

We started our day with Charlie's first basketball game at the YMCA! He has been looking forward to this day for sooo long! He did really well. Make a few baskets, and a couple steals! He was pretty worn out when he got home. I guess he didn't realize how much running went along with playing basketball!

Since Charlie's birthday is pretty close to Christmas and weekends get busy, we decided to wait till after the Holidays to have his friend birthday party! Today was the day! He has had a countdown to this day since his birthday! We had 12 7-8 year old boys, plus William at our house for 3 hrs. Conversations with boys are much different than with girls as is play time! Charlie wanted to be able to go sledding with his friends so decided to have a Sledding theme party! Thank goodness Ross was home to help with these energetic boys!

A little close up of the cake. I was told about this baker in Menomonie from my neighbor Heather. She makes amazing cakes. The sledders are made out of cookies! The detail is just amazing!~