Living that Backyard Dream

The final weekend of January had simply beautiful weather. On Sunday, all our hockey commitments were over by lunch time. Dec's buddy A was on goalie rotation for the week, so we invited A over to practice on the rink that afternoon. A's sister Lo came too in order to hang out with the girls. And because that was not enough people, the girls went and invited the 2- and 4-year-old neighbors as well. 

Quinn joined the boys on the ice for a while until the cuteness of the neighbor kids was too much! Meanwhile, Andrew and Dec were living their best life on the ice. Both Mike and A's dad were out playing with them. A's dad is a pilot, so he's missed the last few times we've had their family over to skate. Super fun to have him join!

When the boys were done skating, they joined the girls and littles on the sledding hill. It was extremely fast and one area was also glare ice. As he examined the icy hill and the ice rink, Mike decided to test out a dare from one of his coaching buddies. When the other Coach Mike was over on MLK day, he dared Mike to sled down the backyard hill and onto the rink. So Mike and A's dad Dan built a ramp (after a few failed runs) and once the ramp was packed down, it was on! The kids (and Mike) had so much fun. And I can happily report that no children (or adults) were harmed. Real truth: I was concerned. 

As we are on week 400 of a very cold and windy February, I'm even more grateful for the wonderful outside time we had with friends. We are a winter family - but need to be able to get out and enjoy the winter. Days like this one are what make winter our favorite!

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! 

So ... January ...

I was chatting with Bugs a few nights ago and she said, "mom, I don't know why, but I just feel 'off.'" I told her, "yep, that's called mid-winter." It's cold, it's gloomy, the snow is currently deadly ice pack, and while our schedule is busy, it's also monotonous. Such is February in Minnesota. We still love winter - but these are the hardest weeks to love it. We have big plans this weekend that will hopefully shake things up and put us all back 'on' our game.

But before we got to the February slump, we had to power through January. Not going to lie - it started with a bang. As I wrote the week's schedule on our whiteboard before Winter Break was even over, we all just took a deep breath. It was intense. If I had to describe our January, I would say it was a crap-ton of hockey, lots of play practice, with a side of distance learning (round 3) thrown in for good measure. Rinse. Repeat. Except the distance learning part. We just did that for a week and a half. Meanwhile, I was trying to get up to speed at my new job. 

If you are wondering why the blog has been so behind, see previous paragraph. So to summarize a pretty uneventful month, here are three things about each kid as we kick off 2022.

This girls is in her first official play! She had to audition and everything (everyone gets a part - but it was her first audition experience). Rehearsals are every Saturday morning and she loves it! At the end of March, Fiona will debut in Lady Pirates of the Caribbean. Her character is super sassy and we cannot wait to watch her perform.

Fiona was a champ at distance learning. Third time was a charm for her. She was delighted with her new purple desk chair and I was delighted with the deep cleaning of her room that we did in order to prepare it as a learning environment. She did a great job participating in class and staying focused.

While running the homeschool (the kids will tell you that my new job has a lot of meetings), Mike was looking for new music to play. He put on a Pink playlist and it was love at first note for Fiona. She is constantly asking for Pink radio and So What! is now her very favorite song. Related: I played the Hairspray soundtrack for her and she was indifferent. I have now played it enough times that she loves it ... and Declan knows almost all the lyrics. I knew it would grow on them!

Round three of distance learning was not a charm for Quinn. Girlfriend needs to be IN school! She gets her work done so quickly that she has too much downtime and not enough challenges. This equals a bored Quinn and everyone who lives here will tell you that a bored Quinn is not a good thing. Thank goodness for Mike keeping her entertained. This often meant her throwing on street hockey goalie gear in the living room and Mike throwing balls at her ... but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!

Quinn invited a friend from her hockey team over on MLK day (no school) to skate on the rink. Reese brought her little sister who plays with Dec and they had the best afternoon in the backyard - both on the rink and on the sledding hill! Mike and I were grateful because this was just the beginning of the distance learning run and we were already close to killing each other. Thankfully, distance learning for elementary school ended earlier than expected and we were so ready to put them back on that bus!

Q is not our reader - but her friend Maddy is. There is a reading competition in 4th grade and Q completed the top level ... because she wanted to keep up with Maddy. I'll take it. Reading is never going to be her go-to like it is for Fiona and Declan. But the fact that she's found success and some books that she really enjoyed has made a big difference. I do see her more willingly picking up a book when she has downtime. 

Declan completed his turn in goal mid-January. He was really excited to try it out during practice and did fine in the game they played. It was actually the closest game they've played so far (less because of his goal-tending skills and more because they were just evenly matched teams). But once the game was over, he decided maybe the goalie gig was not for him. Thank goodness!

Distance learning started out rough for D and there were tears by mid-morning (and perhaps a swig of fireball by teacher dad). But - he pulled it together and did a really good job. Once we got past day 1, he did much better. We were really proud of how he stayed on top of his schedule and his work. It helps that his best buddy is in his class and is also a great student. They loved comparing notes once class was done and they could meet outside to play [until it got crazy cold. Because that's what you need when everyone is trapped at home together].

Dec hosts a random trivia portion of most days. I tend to be on the receiving end of the battery of questions. Trivia ranges everywhere from "mom, who would win in a fight between a bull shark and a hammerhead?" (bull shark) to "mom, can you name some pilots who were in the Battle of Midway?" (I cannot) to "if 1 World Trade Center is the tallest building in the US, what is the second tallest building?" (Sears Tower). We have discussed rogue waves, the fact that the Titanic had four smokestacks but only three worked and one was decorative, and Dwayne Johnson's film repertoire. You literally cannot prepare for Declan trivia ... I never know what he's going to come up with.

On to 2022

Happy New Year! The blog has made it to 2022!

We happily spent New Year's Eve with our NYE people and it was so much fun. While we celebrated last year, it was a more muted, cold, and outside only celebration. This year, it was still mostly outside - but that is because it was just the most perfect winter evening. 

Mike spent a lot of time between our arrival return from up North and NYE evening repairing and reflooding the rink. He also popped up his giant fishhouse to use as a warming shack ... and apparently it lives in our backyard now. It really does make a perfect warming house for all outside activities! And - in the freezing cold, he hung the lights on our patio that I've been dreaming of since we moved in. They look awesome and we all appreciate that he risked frostbite to make the outside perfect for our party. 

Once the Ps arrived, we were outside for over three hours. The kids enjoyed the rink, the sledding hill, the warming house ... and the snacks [I made homemade chex mix and snickers fudge that was very popular with everyone].The adults enjoyed the sledding hill, the fire, and the beverages (and the fudge!). Fiona was not interested in joining the hockey players on the ice, so she and I did a lot of sledding in the early evening. Then Hannah and Quinn joined her and I tapped out. Dec lived his very best life on the rink with Jack and Coop - until the giggles on the hill were too much for the boys! 

Our next door neighbors popped over for a bit to hang around the fire too and we were so happy to have them. Around 10, the kids got cold and we all headed inside. The adults visited upstairs while an epic hide and seek game happened in the basement. Shortly before 11, we all headed out one more time to do our countdown and shoot off confetti cannons. We've learned that when Vannestes are just getting back from a week plus up north, our partying has a limit. So we sent our friends off to another party, we watched the ball drop on Miami (and then turned it off before Miley's wardrobe malfunction), and sent the kids to bed. 

Even though we didn't party until midnight, it was the best way to welcome the new year!

Lots of Snow and Gma's Birthday

During our last two days in Rapids, it snowed. A lot. We estimate that over 20 inches fell between Tuesday and Wednesday. It made for some tricky road conditions on Thursday when we drove home ... but until then, we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Quinn had been begging to go sledding at Murphy Hill since we got arrived, so she, Mike, Dec, and I headed to the hill after lunch on Tuesday while Fiona went on a lunch date with Gma and Auntie. Fiona's plan was smarter. It was COLD and the wind was wicked. It was basically sand-blasting our faces with hard, icy snowflakes, especially when we had to face the wind to go down the hill. The snow was also so deep already that it was hard to cut through it to get any speed on the sled. 

Long walk up the hill short, we made it for about twenty miserable minutes before we called it and headed back to Gma and Gpa's house. 

Later that afternoon, Fiona was back and the wind seemed to have died down. So we grabbed the sleds and tried again at the sledding hill by Liv's house. We had been hoping for sledding company, but unfortunately, a bad cold was working its way through the cousin houses. The flu had also popped up at Auntie Tracey's house. Basically everyone we saw on Christmas Eve and Christmas day was sick. We are both grateful we saw them while they were healthy and we avoided those germs!

It was a much more enjoyable sledding experience. We packed down two trails, added a couple jumps, had tree obstacles, and basically lived our best lives. When we were done, we headed out to my cousin Harry's to walk the Grinch Trail. We were going to meet the cousins out there, but they passed because they still weren't feeling well. But we had the best time. The only disappointment was that Harry had strung a bunch of Christmas lights at the end of the trail and it was too light out when we finished to really appreciate them.

The next day was Grandma's 70th birthday!!!! We had big plans to spoil her rotten. The day started with me making a chocolate peanut butter bundt cake. The middle consisted of making brown sugar ribs and cheesy potatoes at Auntie's. And it ended with very happy, full tummies. Oh, and there were presents, snuggles with Grandma, movie watching, and happy hour (with sparkling juice for the kids) mixed in there too.

After dinner, Gma asked for peace and quiet to read her book - so the rest of us headed back out to the Grinch Trail to walk it at night. It was the perfect evening and Mother Nature was showing off! The new snow was hanging on the trees, the lights were amazing, and it was pure magic!

With visible unhappiness and threats of mutiny from the backseat, we loaded up and headed out Thursday morning. The good news was that Santa had visited while we were gone. So once the car was unloaded, they opened their gifts from Santa and enjoyed their new toys. Mike had to work on Friday, but the kids and I had until through the weekend to get ready to go back to real life.