The Basketball Maniacs!

We had a GREAT, laid-back, relaxing weekend - I'm bumming that it's over. Friday I picked the kids up from school, took them out for cookies at Eileen's which they thought was a huge treat (they have THE BEST frosted sugar cookies in the world), and then I them to Borders to pick out one of their favorite "chapter books." (More on that below). Then we met Mark and had dinner at the Olive Garden, and then headed home for an evening of Monopoly. Now, when we start a game of Monopoly, it goes on for HOURS, so we usually have to spread it out over a few days. :)

On Saturday, we got up, went for coffee, ran some errands, and then watched the boys' basketball game - it is amazing to both Mark and I how EXCITED they get for basketball. They absolutely love it. We love watching it, it's so entertaining - Noah is much more reserved and Jack is a wild man - he's got drive and determination all over his face, and is very aggressive. I'm constantly concerned that I'm going to end up apologizing to some mother because Jack took out their kid . . . . Anyway, we love going to watch, it's hilarious. Then we headed home and the kids played MORE basketball in the driveway with Mark for most of the afternoon - it was 50 here. Last night, we got a babysitter and Mark and I went out with some friends for a long dinner, which was really nice.

Today we went to church, came home and the boys played MORE basketball in the driveway with Mark (can you tell they have a new obsession?) and afterwards the kids and I read a couple of their favorite books while Mark went and had an awesome tennis match.

This evening instead of our traditional Sunday "pizza and movie night" we had "pizza and Monopoly" night - a continuation of our Friday night game. Let me tell you, these kids are crazy about this game, and it's SO FUNNY playing with them - they are just a riot. Our new nickname for Jack is Alex P. Keaton - he's hardcore and is darn serious about his money - he can cite the rent amounts for us without even looking at the property cards. At one point he was cleaning out his coffers to buy houses, and when I told him he should hang onto a few bucks, he said "Mom, you gotta spend money to make money." I about fell off my chair. Can you tell his Dad is in the brokerage industry? :) Noah, on the other hand, is Mr. Nice Guy - he's willing to trade you whatever property you might need (and even throw in a few extra bucks for you in case you need it!) - even if it means hurting himself in the process (obviously we don't take advantage of him). Noah has also perfected the puppy-dog eyes when he's low on funds - and it's not an act. It's really stinkin' cute. I was laughing so hard, it was so fun. We ended the evening with Noah landing on Jack's Illinois Ave. with 3 houses on it ("that'll be $750" says Jack) - but Jack being the loving brother let him off at $100 - - mainly because he didn't want the game to end. :) So we carefully saved the game, and will pick it up again later this week . . . stay tuned!

The other new "favorite" the boys have are what they call "chapter books" - longer books with chapters (and no pictures) that I read to them, and they just listen. Jack's teacher started them on the Boxcar Children books - read #1 for them in class and Jack was HOOKED. We read #1 at home to get Noah caught up, and now we're on #2. We read a little each day and they are just enthralled, which is so interesting to me because these books were written back in the 1940's. Whatever, all that matters to me is that they are totally into reading - I love that. They both have just taken off with their own reading - they are at an end-of-1st grade level - only halfway through kindergarten - so we're pretty excited about that. Anyway, at Border's on Friday they picked out two of "The Puppy Place" books - more chapter books - and we started "Pugsley" today, about a misbehaving pug puppy. It's pretty funny, and Jack and Noah were laughing so hard at this book, I could hardly continue because I was laughing so hard at them. They were literally rolling on the couch - so this should be a good series too!

Now we are set for the QUIETEST, least busy week we have had in MONTHS - I'm so happy about it I could do a little dance. No doctor appointments, no MOPS, no sorority, no Awana, no meetings - nothing but school. What an awesome feeling! Maybe I'll get some heavy-duty cleaning done - as in cleaning out closets, drawers, etc., getting ready for the spring garage sale. I do need to get some work done on the church women's retreat that I'm coordinating, but that's kinda fun work anyway.

Friday, Grandma 'Rayne and Grandpa Paul from Willmar (Mark's parents) are coming for the weekend - YEAH! We've been trying to get them out here for months, so we're pretty excited they are able to make it. Speaking of, I have to mention this - in my last update, I posted a picture of my newest Valentine heart from Mark, and mentioned this was his Dad's tradition as well - - well, GET THIS - we found out that Mark's Dad bought his Mom THE EXACT SAME HEART AS MARK GOT ME. They didn't consult each other - they just figured this out today. Amazing, huh?

We're also anxiously awaiting the birth of our new nephew - any day now - ? My sister in Cedar Rapids, IA is about to pop - that baby boy weighs 8.5 pounds already, so we're hoping he makes his debut soon!!

Last thing to show you - about 45 minutes after tucking the boys in bed tonight, I thought I'd sneak in their rooms and get some cute sleeping pictures of them - here's what I got:

My sweet baby Noah, snuggled up with his puppy Max . . . (Tugs is in there too, just can't see him . . . .)

And Jack . . . ummm yeah . . . .

NOT sleeping, as you can see . . . . still contemplating his Monopoly strategies . . . . .

The Bucket List

Last Friday, Jack and Noah went out to stay with Grandma and Grandpa in Spearfish so Mark and I could go out on a "Valentine" date . . . and we had a great night - ate at Red Lobster (yeahh!! I got my favorite, crab legs!) and then went to THE BEST movie - The Bucket List. We love Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, and together they were hilarious. Premise: these two have cancer and a short time left, and come up with a list of things they want to do before they "kick the bucket." Crass term, I know, but the movie certainly makes you think. It was just a great movie - we would highly recommend it!!

Having a crazy week here - I had a church meeting last night, MOPS and tennis today, sorority and Awana tomorrow night, Mark's men's group on Thursday night, and 3 doctor appointments mixed in (1 for Noah, 2 for me). Had Noah in yesterday for a cough - learned he probably has acid reflux, so we're trying a prescription for that for the next 2 weeks to see if he improves. Anyway, I'm already looking forward to THIS WEEKEND so we can have some peaceful family time together! We are trying very hard to be conscious of how involved the boys get - limiting them to two activities, but combine those with mine and Mark's "stuff" and things get hectic around here pretty quick. Once I'm done with MOPS this year, and done planning our church's women's spring retreat, I'm going to do some serious thinking before committing to anything else for a while!

Now for my down time . . .off to watch American Idol!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wow, I can't believe it's already been 10 days since my last update! Not much to report from here, I guess - we spent an entire week trying to get acclimated to our "non-vacation" schedule again . . . for some reason we had a really hard time getting back on mountain time (a two hour difference from FL) . . . Noah and Jack had a rough time going back to school after getting VERY used to being around mom and dad every day :) . . . and I personally came back to several not-very-pleasant "issues". However, we pulled out of the post-vacation blues nicely and are in the full swing of things again!!

Last Saturday the boys started the "Upwards Basketball" program at Open Bible church (huge church here in Rapid that sponsors the program in which 700+ kids participate!) The kindergarten program is great because it's only on Saturdays - 1/2 hour practice, followed by a 1/2 hour game - so not a big time commitment, which makes for happy parents!! Anyway, Jack and Noah LOVED it, it was such a blast seeing how much fun they had. Jack was just a machine, terribly focused and determined (will need to work on taming some aggressiveness!), and Noah was just happy, happy, happy to be out there actually playing basketball. They've been counting days until they get to play again - - although I had Jack home sick from school today, so he's desperately hoping that he's better by Saturday! He's had a fever and cough, but seems to be better tonight.

Jack in action . . . (couldn't get Noah - our camera wasn't cooperating!!)

Jack and Noah (in the middle, in the navy blue) celebrating a score . . . .

We had a fantastic Valentine's Day - I got my yearly "heart" from Mark - each year we've been married, he's given me a different heart (with chocolates), and so this year I got #12. Every year we get all of them out and display them - they are each marked with the year so we can reflect - and it's so cute, the boys even have their favorites now. Here's the past 11 years:

And here's my new one!! The 2008 heart. Looks kinda pink in the picture, but it's RED. Love it!! Mark adopted this tradition from his dad, who has given Mark's mom 38 of these, no joke!!! Those Roisum men definitely have a romantic side!

Anyway, this morning Jack was on a mission - I had to run quick to pick up and deliver a gift to a friend, and on this errand, Jack asked if I would help him out by buying three decorated cookies that he could give to 3 people for Valentine's Day. I thought it was pretty cute, so I went along with it. When we got back home, he headed to his room with the cookies and some Valentines in hand, and came out 1/2 hour later looking pretty pleased with himself. He refused to tell me who they were for, so I just let it go. When it came time to pick up Noah from school, I told him to grab his special Valentine gifts and we could deliver them - but he said no, we didn't need to bring them to school. So at that point I figured they were either for people in our family or friends at church. Well this evening after Mark got home, Jack had us (me, Mark and Noah) sit on the couch and then he very proudly presented US with his 3 decorated cookies, with Valentines to each of us very carefully attached. It was SO sweet, we were amazed.

Anyway, we spent the evening thoroughly enjoying reading our cards, eating the Valentine cupcakes I baked today, naming the boys' new Webkinz from mom and dad, and they also had a good time opening all their Valentines from school.

The kids now have a 4-day weekend - they have Friday and Monday off - so they are headed to Grandma and Grandpa's in Spearfish tomorrow to spend the night and Mommy and Daddy get to GO OUT on a date!! We're very excited. :) Have a great weekend!

The Wrap-Up

Well now I'm posting from home, unfortunately . . . I once heard the saying "Don't be sad it's over, be glad it happened" - I'm trying to focus on that today! Mark and I are staggered at how fast this vacation went - WOW - but boy, did we have fun and the kids have so many great memories, so we are very thankful for this time we had together as a family. Anyway, backing up a little . . . .

Day 6: RELAX!

This was a great refreshing day spent at our resort - the boys got up and played tennis in the morning with Mark - they got to play on CLAY, which evidently is a big deal. I sat in a comfy chair on the side and watched. Then after lunch, we hit the waterpark - and then decided we could have spent the entire week there. Floated down the lazy river a few times, sat in the sun, watched the kids swim, read a book, had a pina colada, it was fantastic.

This was just one small portion of this pool (below) - it went on forever, and there was hardly anyone there - PERFECT!

Which reminds me, here are some photos of our condo (1800 square feet, the boys had their own rooms - like I said, this is the way to do Disney - and much cheaper!)

Here's Jack's room:

And Noah's:

And our balcony:

Day 7: Magic Kingdom, Round 2

On Friday, we decided to head back to Magic Kingdom and hit our favorites there again. The clear favorite at this park was the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - a roller coaster - I think we were on this 5 times. We were so lucky because normally the wait for this one is around 60 minutes or more, and we never waited more than 10.

And here the kids are in front of Mickey Mouse's house. Chasing down the characters was a close 2nd behind the railroad. If you haven't been to Disney in the past 10 years or so, it may come as a surprise to you that you can't just walk up to characters roaming around the parks anymore. They don't "roam" the parks - they have specific locations and you have to get in line to get a picture, etc. We were there on a slow week, so we never had to wait too long, but if it was busy, you could easily waste several hours just trying to get some face time with characters.

Caught Chicken Little on our way out! We made it a short day this time, and headed back to the resort for some pool time.

Day 8: Epcot - Round 2 and Departure Day (which was the longest day EVER)

On our last day, we hit Epcot for the 2nd time to do our favorite rides again there - our flight didn't leave Orlando until 4:45 pm, so we had 1/2 a day to spend there. Here the favorites were Soarin' and Test Track - Soarin' is the most incredible Disney creation yet, I think - and currently the most popular ride between all the parks. You sit in a bench-like contraption, which is then lifted basically "into" an IMAX screen, and they create a flying experience for you. You move along with the movie, and have effects like wind, smells (pine trees, beaches, vineyards) - it's like you are hang-gliding, and it's SO REAL. Just an amazing experience. With Test Track, they put you in a "car" and run you through all the tests GMC performs on it's cars - including taking you up to 65 mph on a very tight loop that knocks the wind out of you, but the kids just love it.

Anyway, we departed there after lunch - headed to the airport, and let me tell you, navigating the security process at the Orlando airport is no picnic. Once we made it through, we felt like we'd been chewed up and spit out. :) Our flights were uneventful, thankfully, but by the time we got home it was 12:00 a.m., which is 2:00 a.m. Florida time, and we felt like walking zombies. Noah zonked out at the Denver airport during our layover - ON THE FLOOR (anyone who knows me well knows how hard this was for me - ICK) - around 8:30 p.m., slept until our 9:45 flight, slept through boarding, slept through the entire flight - take off and landing included; slept in the baggage claim area in Rapid, and the rest of the way home. The poor little dude, he was so exhausted. Our beds never felt so good!

So, here are some more highlights - couldn't get organized enough to get these in date order!

Here we are at Disney Studios with Mater and Lightning McQueen -

At Disney Studios . . . .
Chip and Dale were Jack and Noah's FAVORITES -
This is at a restaurant we ate at (at Disney Studios) - it was a drive-in movie set-up, where you sit in cars to eat, all lined up in front of a big screen, just like an old-fashioned drive-in. SO FUN!
Here we are with the Monsters, Inc. guys -
And Buzz and Woody:
Chip and Dale again - this picture was at the restaurant in Epcot, where they were at our table:

Entrance to Epcot:

More from the Space Center - Mark and boys by a Shuttle replica:

Noah and Jack with the launch pad behind them:
Anne and Jack and Noah beneath an Apollo rocket - big, huh?
So now we're getting back into our home routine, begrudgingly. :) Noah had a rough time going back to school today - cried when I dropped him off, which made me feel awful. I'm glad he loves to be with his family so much, but it's heartbreaking when I have to pry him off me at school. Uggh! Jack, on the other hand, had an opposite experience, and this is a good example of what an amazing teacher he has - - 2 or 3 nights during our vacation, he cried at bedtime because he missed Mrs. Withee, his teacher. This kid is at DISNEY WORLD, having the time of his life, and is missing his teacher. Now, there is no question his exhaustion at the end of the day contributed to his mentality, but we love it that he has such devotion to Mrs. Withee - she's truly an amazing teacher.

Anyway, there's our journey in a nutshell - if you are planning a Disney trip any time soon, give us a call -we can give you lots of tips!!