A New Era

We are taking a short hiatus from the blog catch up quest (is it insurmountable? we choose not to think about it too hard!) to deliver some timely (relatively speaking) content. 

Two weeks ago, we wrapped up the 2021-22 school year and ended a golden era in the Vanneste household. Fiona is now a middle schooler! Take a minute to let that sink in. My tiny baby who was born yesterday will be in middle school this fall. And with that transition, we cease to be a one school family. Next year, there were be two wildly different schedules. Like Fiona's bus will pick up about 90 minutes before Q and D's bus ... and she will be home from school before 3pm. How will that work? That's a problem for September!

The next time the three of them will be in the same school will be when Dec starts high school and Fiona is a senior. We will not take a minute to let that sink in. In fact, that topic will be dead to us! A senior. I can't even!

Back to this school year ... we ended on a high note. The kids were all very ready for summer break but all three had great years. 

Fiona had the best 5th grade teacher who pushed her and kept building the math confidence that was lost in the Great Distance Learning Adventure. It was so awesome to have her proudly produce math tests from her bag, anxious to show us her success! Reading continues to be her passion and we just got a letter that she will be in both Accelerated Reading and Accelerated Language Arts in sixth grade. She's super excited.

Quinn had the same teacher that F had in 4th grade ... and quite honestly all Vs and Mrs. M hope she goes for the three-peat when Mr. D hits 4th grade. She is awesome. So awesome that she inspired Quinn to be an avid reader (in school) this year. Let's repeat: Quinn Willingly Read 10 Books On Her Own Time. Now granted, it was a bit of a competition (and we know that motivates a girl!), her bestie was all in, and there was a party as a reward at the end. But still. Quinn did it. Happily. She had a great year and cannot wait for 5th grade. 

Declan lived his very best life in 2nd grade. All is buddies were in his class. He had Mr. P (same amazing teacher as Q had in 2nd) who is the best. Mr. P both embraced D's silly side and saw everything he is capable of (he's smart. just ask him. also, he's not humble ... ). When we went to D's spring conference, he showed us the worksheet that Dec and his buddy AB were working on together and it was easily 4th grade level math. The boys didn't fully comprehend it on the first pass, but Mr. P was helping them through it because he knew they could get it. He also opened the "secret" library for Dec and he has ripped his way through the entire Harry Potter series (book 7 was finished today). 

The school year ended with a "clap out" for the graduating 5th graders and Q and D were excited to celebrate their sister's transition. We are thankful for an awesome year for all and the return [mostly] of a normal school year!

Bonus Post: Big Camera Shots

I dusted off the big camera for the hockey jamboree weekend (first time since the last jamboree, in case anyone besides Mike was wondering). Since we've covered in depth the events of the weekend, I'll just share a handful of my favorite pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

13 Games in 4 Days: Part 3

Ready to bring this weekend to a close? So was Grandpa!

Mike, Grandpa, and Declan headed off the rink bright and early for Dec's game against the M3 girls team. Little dude was pretty excited. There is, perhaps, a feisty little redhead on the girls team whose name makes Dec's face turn red every single time we say it. We definitely don't use that knowledge for evil. Probably. Ish. 

While they pointed the car toward the rink, I pointed mine toward Maddy's house to pick up Quinn from the "sleep"over. She told me that they fell asleep sometime after 2am. I was there to pick her up at 8:30. Oooof.

I got her home, had her splash some cold water on her face, checked on Fiona (still sleeping!), and we headed to the rink to catch the end of Dec's game. I found myself cheering for Dec - and the girls' team. Mike said that he accidentally did the same. Even though he was on the boys bench as their coach. Oops. Dec's team won and, as you can see, he had a pretty fun time!

Meanwhile, Q was trying to pump herself up for the game against the other boys' team. There is no way to sugar coat it. Her team should have won. Easily. They didn't. It wasn't terribly close. I think the lopsided loss from the night before was still in the girls heads - and their goalie was severely sleep deprived and not on her game! Q didn't play badly - just definitely not as well as she normally would.

[The real question is ... are her eyes slits because she's got her game face on? or because that's how wide she can open them after no sleep?]

Win or lose, these girls are great teammates to each other! They shook off the morning loss much better than the night before (perhaps it was needed to kick them back into gear ...) and were ready to finish the season strong!

Mike and I (and many of the other parents on the team) have said that we wish/hope we can keep these girls together for their entire youth career. They are the real deal for talent - but better than that, they are the real deal as teammates and friends. Plus holy smokes, they are a bunch of characters!

Hockey moms can get a bit of a reputation for being intense. But if I have to be part of a group of hockey moms, Q's team moms are my people. They are fun, they are funny, they are fierce for their girls, and they are family. I think the moms were as sad as the girls that the season was ending!

After the morning games, Gpa decide that his butt had had enough of bleacher seats and that 10 games was his limit. The kids were all so glad that he game to watch - and I was incredibly thankful for company in the stands. When I'm shuffling people around and making sure the next player is in the locker room getting ready, I feel like I miss a lot of the game. It was great to know that the kids had a fan in the stands, even when I wasn't there! 

We had a couple hours break before the final two games of the season. Fiona begrudgingly agreed to attend the season finales. Until then, we had a pretty low key break so a couple of girls could rest. While they were crabby, I feel like the long game fell in my favor. Neither is terribly interested in having or attending a sleepover anytime soon! 

Then late afternoon, we loaded up for one more batch of games. First up was Declan with this last mixed teams game. It was a really close game and his team won. Super fun to watch! After the game, all the boys got their trophies. Poor Dec. Mike was the one handing out the trophies, so he held D's super high and made him jump for it. Mike said D was laughing the whole time.

Dec is working hard to up his game over the summer, so he can make the M4 team next season. He has a great shot at it, but we know he'll have fun wherever he plays.

Right after Dec's game was Q's last game as a Mite. She's moving up next season to the 10U team (equivalent to a Squirt) and is more than ready for it. It was a mixed teams game for Q too, and she played out as a skater. She was on a team with her friend Nolan (who plays for one of the boys team) and they made a dominant pair. She set him up for several goals and they clearly had so much fun playing together - even though neither of them would admit it after the game. Nor would they pose for a picture together. Ha! 

That's a wrap on hockey season ... for about 48 hours when off-season hockey started.

13 Games in 4 Days: Part 2

Ready for games 6-9? Let's go!

The super fans brought their A game on Saturday! I had sweetened the deal for Bugs by getting her a new Shako quarter zip for the occasion. She accepted my bribe and [mostly] happily headed to the rink first thing Saturday morning with me. She wanted to come to see both D and Q get their names announced before the first games. 

We watched D's first game, caught Q's announcement, and then I left Gpa in charge of Declan while I ran Fiona home. She had play practice all afternoon, so I wanted her to have a few minutes of downtime and a chance to get lunch before practice. She made sure to fist bump Q through the glass before we left - and shoot her dad a dirty look. Just for the fun of it.

Both Q and D's levels have three teams, so the first and fourth games of the jamboree were "mixed teams" games. The coaches had divided the three teams into pretty evenly matched two teams. That meant that the boys and girls were playing on the same teams. And teammates were playing against each other. They were exciting games to watch. And according to Mike, a lot of work to ref. 

I got back in time to catch the end of Q's game. Meanwhile, Declan had been happily hanging out with some buddies. They were working hard on their pictures for the coloring contest and he had eyed up the hockey gear garage sale for just the right jersey. We ended up spending something like $5 for an old school Shako jersey that is so big he'll probably never grow into it. But he loves it and that's what matters. [I did manage to talk him out of the XXL goalie cut option that had a "better number"]

After Q's game, Gpa looked looked at me and said "now what?" I think he incorrectly believed we could leave. I told him that we had 30 minutes to Dec's next game. The look on his face was pretty priceless. It was a combination of shock, exhaustion, and frozen solid Gpa. He obviously had missed that morning's briefing on the day's schedule.

While I helped D get ready for his game, Q was checking out the Chuck-A-Puck situation. One of her teammate's moms bought pucks for all the girls on the team (with their numbers). Mike bought Dec a puck too and asked Q to chuck it for him. Q also got prime line position, which I like to think I helped with since I solved the Great Sock Tape Crisis that had popped up in the girls locker room before their first game. A couple of the girls have very strong opinions about the tape they use on their hockey socks and no one had the right tape in their bags. I snagged some from the boys locker room to avert the crisis. Before Game 2, the coaches showed up with five rolls of sock tape!

Dec's team played the other boy's team and did a great job! Super fun game to watch. After that, I turned Quinn over to Gpa (who finally got to leave the rink ... for a while) so I could rush home. Fiona was there waiting for me - so she could jump in my car to get to play practice on time. Poor Gpa was so confused when I passed him and Quinn as they headed toward our house.

While F was at practice, Quinn and Dec spent their downtime playing street hockey. As one does. Mike and I spent it smoking some pork steaks on the Traeger for dinner.

I picked up Fiona from practice and we ate a quick dinner so we could head back to the rink for Q's second game of the day. Her team was playing the top boy's team - and Q was in net. It was a very one-sided score (not in our favor), but Quinn actually played awesome. She probably had 50+ shots on net and made some really great saves. The girls had been hoping to make it a closer game, so they were a bit disappointed. 

However, both the girls AND the mom's brought their beast mode. We made it fun (eye black for all) and they know that they win and lose as a team. The coaches did a great job reminding them that there were more games to play tomorrow. 

[One of my co-workers saw Q and my eye black photo on instagram and teased me about being a committed hockey mom. I don't know what she is talking about. It seems totally understated ...]

After the game, we hurried home so Q could shower and then I dropped her and Fiona off at Q's friend's Maddy's birthday party/sleepover (which they had scheduled to best meet Q's insane weekend schedule). It was a Harry Potter themed party and they were so excited. It was also their first official sleepover.

Sort of.

At midnight, I got a text that Fiona wanted to come home because the girls would not go to sleep. One of my favorite things about Fiona is that she loves her sleep. And she was not having their shenanigans. So I elbowed Mike and off he went down the road to retrieve her. I was so proud of her to make that choice and own it. Q decided to stay. More on that decision in the next post. 

13 Games in 4 Days: Part 1

Buckle Up! It's Jamboree Weekend. This is not for the faint of heart. Grab your coffee. Numb your butt (seriously, think about sitting in the bleachers for this many games). Apply your eye black. It. Is. Go. Time.

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You know it is power-packed when you need to 1) write out the hour x hour schedule and 2) color code it so you know which child goes where when. Then 3) cross-examine for overlaps in drop off/pick up/shuffle. Finally 4) be thankful Gpa V came because clearly you need another person with a driver's license!

We kicked off The Weekend of Hockey on Thursday night (otherwise known as St. Patrick's Day) by heading to Mike's game. He plays with three other Shako coaches, so representatives from all their families also showed up. We had 9 (out of 10) kids represented and three wives. I was in charge of the tagalong Moon child, which was super easy because A loves Fiona and happily hung out with her. The Ps were there and Dec lived his best life running around with the boys, while Hannah teamed up with Fiona and A and lived hers. Quinn rotated between groups, depending on who looked like they were having more fun!

The big boys won, probably thanks to some of the coaching from the stands. Cooper took advantage and impersonated Brad's "spectator" coaching perfectly. My favorite was when Brad hit the crossbar and Coop yelled "you gotta hit the net." The mite coach contingent couldn't stop laughing when N ran behind their bench and yelled "move your feet." As you can see by the smiles (taken right before C handed out green frosting cookies to all), they had the best time!

Gpa V arrived Friday afternoon, looked at my schedule list, and [probably] contemplated hightailing it back home where it was safe. Instead he joined us for an early pizza dinner and it was off to the rink for the M3 Mite Olympics. This was Dec's level - and they did an hour of various drills and games. It was super fun to watch and sounded like it was a lot of fun (and lots of work for the coaches). My favorites were dodgeball and the relay races. 

Dec is a dream partner for half of the relay race - because he has great balance and weighs nothing. When his partner T was pulling, they handily beat everyone! However, T is much bigger than Dec and when it was D's turn to be the puller, they weren't quite so fast. I'll give the boy credit - he hung in there and was much closer to the front than expected. [Photo tip: D is #12 in the red jersey/black helmet pulling red jersey/white helmet]

After D's game was the event we had been the most excited about. All the girls moving up to 10U next year were playing the coaches. Plus one very special guest. A fair amount of the boys coaches had not signed up to play in the girls game (I have thoughts about this, but will leave it at that), so they were a bit low on grown up players. I played a very winning hand and asked Uncle Brad if he would come play - for Quinn. We all know he can't say no to that. She wasn't sure if he was coming, so when I had her pop her head out in the hallway, the smile was epic!

The game was so much fun to watch. The goalie for the girls was their goalie coach and the coach's goalie was one of the dads. It was hilarious to watch and the girls were just beaming. As you know, Quinn doesn't care for emotion - but she was visibly thrilled to be out on the ice with both Mike and Brad. It was such a special game for these girls - to celebrate the end of their Mite/8U career.

After the game, Quinn hung out with her teammates, Mike played in the boys vs coaches game (as did the majority of the girls coaches. just saying), and I ran home to snag a piece of equipment that Quinn forgot. I missed most of the boys v coaches game, but sounds like it was high energy and a lot of fun.

If you are counting and think I missed a few Vs, you are right. While all that was happening, the bookends were invited to head home with our neighbors to make a very long night slightly less long. Instead of sitting at the rink for over four hours, they got to head home with the Bs for a 2nd dinner floor picnic and movie. Thank goodness for great friends and a village to raise the children.

Meanwhile, I met Gpa and Q back at the rink for the final event of the evening - the M4 Olympics. Basically the same as what Dec's group did, just for the next level up. Quinn was tired from the game, but had a fun time competing with her teammates. I think their favorite event was "longest slide" and I noticed that they all took a couple extra beats to get up. Quick power nap, maybe? [photo clue: red jersey, orange stick]

And with that, we were home around 9:30. We ran the hockey players through a quick shower rinse and hustled them off to bed. Five games down. Eight more to go ...

Dec's Out of Town Jamboree

Dec had been anxiously awaiting his own out of town hockey jamboree and was super excited when the first weekend of March arrived. We were thrilled because it was just a day long jamboree and would not require either the full weekend or a hotel room.

Mike and Dec headed south to Le Sueur around 8am. D was nervous, tired, and not quite onboard with the early departure. We loaded a giant tote of snack bags into Mike's car and he knew that his buddy A's mom was bringing donuts for after the first game ... so he was moderately placated. 

Around 8:45, Fiona and I headed to her play practice and Quinn walked over to a neighbor's house.I had volunteered to help paint sets for Fiona's play while she was in rehearsal, but I needed a landing spot for Q. So she went to a neighbor's and entertained their 5 and 3 year old - and I was thrilled she was supervised. Win win! 

Then a sweet mom on her hockey team picked her up for hockey practice because I was still elbow deep in set paint. It truly takes a village - especially when you are out-numbered and need to get three people to three different activities. 

Set painting was a lot of fun and F was thrilled that I was helping out. My friend Aaron and I ended up on the marbling team - and spent the morning creating marbled pillars. They turned out well and we were quite proud of ourselves! We were also extremely tired. Marbling giant pillars is a lot of work!

While I was painting, my phone buzzed with a text from Mike. It was a picture of Dec, wearing the Hardest Worker hardhat from the first game. Apparently somewhere between the "not into it" of the departure and game time, the boy got into it! He played goalie for the first game and made some good in-game adjustments to keep the score close. Based on the picture, I'm not sure if he was more excited about the honor or the donut (I lie. It was the donut. Clearly). 

After set painting, F's rehearsal, and Q's practice, the girls and I got a few things done at home and then got ready to head south to catch D's final game of the day. We also picked up A's sister, so I had two giggly girls in the back seat (Lo and Fiona) and a happy Q in the front with me. It was a pretty quick 45 minute trip down Hwy 169 and we were ready to cheer on the boys.

In a super fun twist, Dec's team ended up playing the team of one of Mike's high school friends. Eric's son plays and E coaches in Bloomington and we'd been hoping for a match up against them all year - but no such luck (our other M3 team had played them). Until we both ended up at a tournament! Both Eric's wife and I insisted on a post-game father-son photo op!

Since we had three cars between our family and A's family, it was quite the car jockeying by the kids for the drive home. I got Lo and Fiona, the B's got A and Dec, and Mike and Quinn went together. It was terribly rainy weather, but at least it was warm enough to not be ice. Dec was exhausted, but thrilled with a very fun tournament day.

[Fewer details because I wasn't there - but they had several hours between games 2 and 3, so went to a bowling alley in a nearby town. Dec and his teammates lived their best lives in the arcade. Mike's friend Eric and some of his team also showed up, so they got to hang out and catch up too. I was told I didn't want to ask how many additional donuts/treats Dec ate during the day. I followed that advice. Sounds like it was everything an out-of-town hockey day should be!]

Saber Flag Bearer

On February 12, Declan had the honor of being the flag bearer at the second to last boys high school game. We've known for months, so marked it on the calendar and didn't think much about it. Then as it got closer, he started to get nervous. Thankfully, it was an afternoon game so his nerves didn't have to build all day long. It was also Mite Appreciation Day ... so the stands were full with lots of his teammates. Not sure if that helped or hurt the nerves!

When they handed Dec the flag, we saw the disadvantage of being on the shorter side of life. The "pole" (hockey stick) was aggressively tall. He was definitely practicing his maneuvering ahead of time. Dec also enjoyed meeting the HS coach and fist-bumping the team as they came off the ice from pre-game warmups.

When it was time to do his thing, there was a bit of a situation getting that giant flag out the door. He accidentally got it hooked on the boards and when someone tried to help, it threw him off balance. Let's just say that his entrance was a bit awkward [see video] - but he laughed it off and did an awesome job once the flag joined him on the ice!

He got to fist bump the team one more time, but chose not to stay out on the ice with the team for the national anthem. That was a lot of center of attention time for the little dude!

We stayed through the first period and hung out with some of the kids' teammates. Then Q and D participated in the Mite recognition between periods. They proudly wore their jerseys and waved to the crowd. Then we needed to head out because Q was subbing in for a game with the boys team in New Prague and Auntie was on her way to our house!

A Tournament, A Sleepover, and A Quest

In case you are wondering what happened to the blog, your girl over here thought it was a good idea to volunteer to do the school yearbook. In a not surprising turn of events, it has been a lot of work ... and overtook the allotted blog time. I'm currently loudly stating to members of the V household that I'm not doing the yearbook next year ... exactly zero people are buying it. So be prepared for a similar blog backlog in about a year from now.

Anyhoo ... back to the first weekend in February when we had Quinn's first out-of-town hockey tournament, Fiona's first sleepover, and Declan and I took an epic quest. It truly marked the end of our routinely busy, but mostly uneventful January. February started off like a lion, ended like a lion, and roared in the middle. Buckle up - here we go!

Saturday morning, Mike and Quinn headed to New Ulm for their Mite Jamboree. Her team had pulled a later game that afternoon, but the 8am game Sunday morning. Because of the distance, that meant hotel stay for the whole team. She was so excited (Auntie claims much of the pre-departure discussion was around car snacks). She was less excited that she had to run upstairs to repack her bag bag three times. Seems we needed her to bring more than swimsuits and pajamas.

Her team did not run into strong competition in the girls bracket and ended up outscoring their opponents somewhere around 100-3 in the three games. Q played goal in the first game and was deeply offended by half ice, small nets, and only a handful of shoots. She played out for the rest of tournament, scored a couple times, and had a lot of fun. She also loved her time with dad, all the pool adventures with her team, and the independence they all got. I do think she missed me though - because she climbed into my lap as soon as they got home (almost dinner time on Sunday - because they had the first and last games of the day) and was ready to fight any sibling who wanted my attention. 

Meanwhile, after I picked Fiona up from play practice and fed her lunch, it was time to drop her off at her friend J's birthday party. She was beyond excited! They were heading to the Mall of America to go mini-golfing. She tells me there was also a stop at the Shake Shack, which may be one of her new favorite places. Then they went back to J's house for girl time, dinner, and a movie. They watched Legally Blonde and F's mind.was.blown. She loved it so much - and I was pleased with her very good taste in both friends and movies. 

It was a sleepover party, but due to a few things we had going on, Fiona and I decided together that she wouldn't spend the night. However, I didn't come pick her up until 10pm and she felt very old to get to stay out and up that late. [Truth: both she and Quinn were tired Sunday night!] Best of all, I let her take my old phone* with her and she was able to take some pictures of her and her friends, which made her day even better!

While the girls were doing their things, Dec and I were enjoying a Mommy/Decky day. We had decided to go on a hunt for a dragon squishmallow (the softest stuffed animals ever!). We ended up having to drive to Eden Prairie, which officially made it a quest in our minds. We also were shocked by the massive size of the acquired squishmallow - we clearly did not look at the dimensions. But D was delighted, which made my day too!

We finished our evening with a movie (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), Chinese take-out, way too many gummy snakes, and watching Olympic snowboarding. D wasn't too sure about going to bed before Bugs got home, but he was tired enough to not fight it too much. 

It was the first of probably many weekends of divide and conquer kid activities in completely different locations. It was strange to be separated and we were very excited to sit down for dinner together Sunday night and share stories from the weekend. Everyone's favorite part - the dismay at the size of D's squishmallow!

*Remember three years ago when I drowned my phone on Spring Break? Apparently iPhones dry out in that amount of time. We recently found it in a box (yes, still unpacking!) and Mike and Quinn decided to see if they could get it to work. I told them in no uncertain terms that it was dead and about 36 hours later, they proudly showed me that I was completely wrong. Everything was still on it - so crazy! Mike reset the phone, attached it to his email, and voila! - a phone that can be used on WiFi to text me. Very limited capabilities, but it has served its purpose quite well when we are going all the directions! 

Hardest Worker

All of the time on the backyard rink in January paid off for Declan during a Sunday game late in the month. The pieces came together and he played an amazing game. His passes were on point, his positioning was great, and he skated really hard (which isn't always the case). 

On top of all that, Dec had a beautiful assist. D got the puck and broke down the ice. He deked the defense and then dropped a pass backwards to his buddy Andrew, who took the shot and scored. Thankfully A's dad caught it on video! Mike credits that play 100% to the hours the boys spend out on our rink just playing around. Dec knew right where Andrew would be and they scored because of it.

On top of just playing a really good game, Declan was also awarded the team hard hat for being the hardest worker of the game. When the boys earn the hard hat, they get to add their name and number to it and bring it home until the next game. From the moment I told Dec about the hard hat at the beginning of the season, he has been focused on getting that it. He.Was.So.Proud. The hard hat 100% made an appearance Monday morning during virtual school! 

First Piano Recital

The kids got home from school on Friday, December 17, buzzing with energy. That night was their first piano recital! The first recital ever for both Quinn and Declan. And the first in-person recital for Fiona. Up to this point, her other recitals have been virtual. They were very excited and quite nervous. I think they were equal parts sad that their cheering section was pretty small and thankful that their cheering section was pretty small. 

After a quick dinner, we got down to the business of hair (the girls) and working ourselves up to putting on the pre-agreed-upon non-athletic pair of pants (Dec). About halfway through curling all Quinn's hair (which was like 25 minutes into curling), I was seriously worried we were going to run out of time before I finished with her head! I still had Buggy's head to deal with after hers. Yikes! But I somehow managed to get through all of Q's hair and put some beachy waves in Bugs' hair. I also got big time mom points for having found her a black velvet jumper earlier in the day. She rocked it and loved it!

All three kids did a really great job and felt quite proud of themselves. Not one of them remembered to bow after they played. They just awkwardly stared at the audience and then hustled back to their seats. So funny! Pretty good showing for the first official in-front-of-an-audience recital for all!

Hunting Weekend Hiking

The end of October flew by between our fall break and Halloween. Then just a few days after Halloween, Mike headed north for five days to meet up with his dad for hunting opener. His departure also aligned with a ramp up in the hockey schedule - 10 straight days of one (or both) Q and D having hockey commitments. 

Because Quinn and Dec had back-to-back practices both Saturday and Sunday, I knew that would mean Fiona had a lot of solo time. So I promised her that we would do something fun after hockey each day. Then we were blessed with the most wonderful weather for the weekend - so a couple hiking adventures were on the docket. 

Saturday, Bugs showed off her maturity as I left her in charge of feeding Declan lunch while I ran Quinn to practice. She did a great job (although there were comments about his Moral Compass behavior when I ran back to grab him for his own practice) and then had a second lunch to keep Quinn company when I traded hockey players. By the time everyone was home from the rink, they all needed a mid-afternoon snack. 

Finally, we were ready to bust Bugs out of the house. We decided to go down to O'Dowd Lake and look for our turtle friends. We struck out on the turtles, but found a great beach full of rocks. The kids spent an hour throwing rocks and floating sticks and leaves in the water. I'm not sure the folks at the fishing pier around the corner appreciated all our rock throwing ... but it was so much fun. We also couldn't believe how low the lake was - and instead of navigating across the rocks to the island, we simply walked across. No wet feet or anything! Perhaps that is why we couldn't find any turtles!

Because it was also Daylight Saving Time that weekend, hockey was earlier and we were able to start Sunday's hike earlier as well. We went to Spring Lake park and decided to follow the trail all the way down to the lake. It was about a 2 mile road trip route. There were plenty of stops along the way to climb trees, balance on fallen trunks, find walking sticks, and other such off-roading activities. I occasionally wondered if we would ever actually make it to the lake.

We did - but found that the rock throwing set up there was not as good as the day before. That said, there were a lot better skipping rocks and Dec showed off his skills. He even had one skipper that probably had seven skips! I lined the kids up to take a picture and commented on the sunset. Then I realized the sun was setting! The time change meant the the sun was going down around 5 pm. Yikes! We had not factored that into our plan. 

So I hustled everyone back toward the trail and tried to limit the off-roading slightly on the walk back. We didn't limit it completely - because my favorite part of the whole thing was all the giggling while we walked. We really did have the best time together! However, I was almost positive that I was going to have to pick our way back to the car in the pitch black if the snails pace continued.

[We also had the most random grocery experience over the weekend. I ordered our groceries to be delivered on Saturday evening. I got a notification on my phone that they were being shopped and that they were on the way. Then I got a survey about my experience. Except no groceries had arrived. I even sent the kids out on a scavenger hunt to see if they could find them. I reported the missing delivery and they rescheduled it for that night. It never came and I eventually rescheduled for Sunday morning. Then they unscheduled my reschedule. So I had to reschedule again, making the delivery very inconvenient with the hockey schedule. But eventually we got our food! And Q was at hockey with three minutes to spare ... until she decided to play goalie. But that's a story for a different post.]

Back to School

We are almost to the finish line of the first full week of school - plus two days last week. The house is so quiet during the day and I love it. We are all so tired by 8pm and I love that less. We're slowly but surely building back our school routine muscles. 

Not only are we figuring out a new bus stop dynamic and a new house morning routine (fact: they all have their own rooms and we no longer listen to a fight every day about getting into the one bedroom for a pair of socks. It's bliss), but the school also completely shifted their schedule. They don't start until 9:00, which means the bus picks up at 8:45 and doesn't drop off until 4pm. We, unfortunately, have quite a bit of money in our flex childcare account, so are doing a hybrid schedule of after school care and bus. When our money is used up, I suspect we will be done with after care. It feels unnecessary to pay almost $40 per day for an hour or less of care. Especially since we'll be done next school year anyway.

Why, you ask? Because this is the last year they are all in the same school until Fiona is a high school senior. Let that one sink in. It hurts a little! [The middle school is also on a wildly different time schedule than the elementary school and it will be a hot mess next year. But we are just going to pack that one away to deal with later ...]

So far, reports from school are quite positive. We'd never had a repeat teacher before and this year, we have two. Dec is in Mr. P's second grade class. Q loved Mr. P and was so disappointed when covid canceled the end of her year with him - and more specifically, track and field day. We are all hopeful (including Mr. P) that this is the year a small V helps bring that tug of war championship back to his class. [Random fact: both girls are still pictured in the Tug of War Championship display case from the last track and field day. When Fiona was in 2nd grade and Q was in 1st!]

Quinn has Fiona's 4th grade teacher from last year and will do very well in her class. We told Mrs. M at Meet the Teacher to definitely not expect them to be the same person. Or to have the same personality. Mrs. M loved Fiona and is delighted to have another V in her class. Mike and I feel fairly prepared to handle 4th grade!

Fiona has a brand new (to the school) teacher. She seems just lovely and F really likes her. I am told almost daily that 5th grade is exhausting. She is excited that they are doing a classroom swap with another teacher for science and social studies, so will all get a taste of what switching teachers will be like next year in middle school. 

Masks are currently required on the bus and at school. No one has uttered a word of complaint. They are delighted to be back with their friends. They enjoy the new bus and all the friends on it (although I hear there is a lot of noise and energy!). We are all hopeful for a great school year. Mike and I are going to enjoy every minute we have left of same location and same schedule!

First day of 5th Grade

First day of 4th Grade

First day of 2nd Grade

House Update: Kids' Bedrooms

I suspect we will never get to the point of calling the new house "done." [We lived in the old one for almost 15 years and it was never done ... Mike and I are tinkerers and will always find something to work on.] Honestly, we are really not even closing in on "fully unpacked" yet ... but there are a few zones that look pretty good. First up are the kids' rooms. We made it our top priority to get their rooms feeling like home. I think you'll agree they are looking good!

Quinn's Room

Right when you walk in Quinn's door, she has her desk and her play kitchen. Q delights in organizing the bins in her desk and is super proud of the pink memo board hanging above it. The pink star was a craft she made at drama camp this summer. The kitchen is probably her favorite part though. She loves setting up restaurants and bakeries and McDonald's drive thrus.

Her bed is in the corner, with her quilt from Gma. The nightstand is one of Mike and my old ones and the frame above her bed was my sister's when she was Q's age. The two-tone pink curtains (and curtain hooks) are also new. Currently the nightstand houses an animal hospital ...

Q's closet is a walk-in that is not optimized in the current shelving arrangement (story of several closets in this house), but it will work for now. She has one of the old dressers from their room and is waiting [mostly] patiently for me to scrape those letters off the drawers. We still owe her a mirror for above the dresser ... it's on "the list." Q staked claim to the pink hooks from the old playroom and has put her favorite things on it ... see: robe, unicorn onesie, Shakopee baseball hat from Uncle Brad, glitter unicorn bag. 

As you can see, Q's room is sunny and happy and one hundred percent her!

Declan's Room

This is the view from Dec's doorway. He has his loft bed, with the desk and bookcase tucked underneath it. Also found underneath his bed are several pairs of slippers, a lot of beyblades, and his animal hospital. He has the other dresser from their old room, as well as the dresser that goes under his bed. We opted to keep it out to give him a "fort" space - and to have a place to put his fish tank.

Dec wanted the geometric mustard curtains that were in Quinn's old room. They actually look really great with his room color. We also put the toy shelf from the playroom in there and it is filled with hot wheels, dinosaurs, and so many nerf guns and bullets. 

Ron, Harry, and Hermione live on top of D's second dresser. At least once a day, you can find multiple Vs in Dec's room, just hanging together and watching the fish play tag. We hung both shelves from their old bedroom and they hold D's trophies, medals, and sports memorabilia - including my old collector plate from the 1991 World Series and the baseball Gpa brought him from spring training. 

Fiona's Room

Fiona has requested to keep her room mostly private, and I have promised to honor her wishes. She and I compromised on a peek from the hallway so you can see how wonderfully delightful her room is. 

The main thing she wanted in her own room was a window seat. You can see just a peek of it under her window ... I was able to find the perfect size bench online. The seat cushion is a pretty boring beige color, but I've promised we can spice it up with some colorful pillows. She also has my old dresser, her great great grandma's rocking chair, and an old desk from our neighbors (we need to get her a new desk. It's on the list.). There is also so much Barbie stuff in there!

Fiona's room is not usually this clean ... in fact, it's usually a hurricane. We've compromised on the fact that if she can confine her hurricane to her room, I will keep my eye twitch to myself when I walk into it. And will only make her clean it up once in a while.