Hockey

This February 9th-12th, Bob and a team of his buddies competed in the USA Hockey Pond Hockey Championship on Dollar Lake in Eagle River, Wisconsin. As you can see from the aerial photograph below, they have 24 rinks and were running games almost constantly through each day. This three-day tournament was a 4 on 4 round robin event and each team played three round robin games within their division. It was a HUGE event and the guys had a great time competing.


The guys didn't win their division this year, but there is always next year, right?!

Team X-Large
(Bob, Rich, Steve, Harry, Brian)

The team in action

Bob's dad came along for support and I love this picture because it shows how absolutely freezing it was. This man lived many-a-frigid winters in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan and he was even cold. Thanks Grandpa for all these photos!

As Bob prepared for his trip, he pulled out his old equipment and bought some new. The kids loved trying out the hockey gear around the house. Here's a little video I captured of Cora, our aspiring hockey star. Thanks to Sarah Palin, I hope, however, never to be called a Hockey Mom.

Little Maria

I think it is fair to say that Cora's personality is really blooming lately. She is definitely a girl who knows what she likes and wants. It takes about 1.5 seconds for her to lock-in on what she wants to play with when she walks into a room. If she isn't getting what she is asking for, she doesn't elevate her voice from a level 1 to a level 2. Level 1, instead, becomes level 10. I guess she figures why not cut to the chase.

In these situations we playfully call her "Little Maria." Maria is her sassy, great-grandmother whose name blesses the middle of Cora's name. Maria never beats around the bush and likes to be heard. I think we were right on when we named her. When her Great-Grandma heard her name, Cora Maria, she said something like, "Hmm, Cora. Cora? What kind of name is that, Cora? ...I think I'll call her Little Maria."


Favorite demands: I want book! I want snack! I want apple juice! I want ba-ba (milk)!

New obsession: Babies. She likes to point out loudly at church (over and over) the baby (Jesus) in the stained glass windows. She also likes to point out any other babies in attendance of Mass that week too. Her boisterous nature often gets her pulled out for a bit, but ever-so-slowly I think her church etiquette is improving. She charms everyone around us with smiles and waves so they seem to tolerate her pretty well when she gets a little disruptive.

Other favorite: Elmo is gaining ground for Cora. She seems to spot him everywhere. Stuffed animals at daycare, balloons at the grocery store, images on food packaging, list goes on...

Running

One of the best things about our house (at least in the hearts and minds of young children) is that our simple floor plan allows for the circulation between spaces to form a loop. Some residential architects layout plans with this intent, because as the video below illustrates, it is human nature for kids to chase and run it circles. It causes sheer delight in the younger set...and some parents as well.

Best Seat in the House

Cora always seems to find the best seat in the house, whether it is the two gap on the couch between Mommy and Daddy or a Lego crate that is a tinge too small. No matter. The coziest spots are always the most snug. That spot between your side and your arm...you know, under your armpit...that's a great place to squeeze into. Ask Cora, she knows all those great spots.


You don't always get to capture the sibling love, but it is developing more and more every day (along with fighting too,) but you have to cherish it when you have it. I almost melt when I get Cora out of her crib from nap time and she hears Reed playing downstairs and exclaims, "I want Ree-Ree!" Her love for her Ree-Ree is definitely growing but some days she could definitely do without his shenanigans. On certain days, I can relate.

Really, he wasn't trying to choke her...this time.

Pinewood Derby

The Pinewood Derby is something of a Cub Scout/Boy Scout tradition. Although Reed is obvious not old enough to join the ranks of the Scouts, he did get the opportunity to participate in his first Pinewood Derby on January 21st.

Reed's cousin, Mason, is a Cub Scout and Uncle Brian is one of the leaders of his Pack. Mason got to race his car in competition with all the other Scouts. However, when all the official racing was over, there was an open division for friends and relatives. Reed was ecstatic to be able to race a car.

Battle of the cousins:
Reed (look at that concentration) vs. Porter vs. Mason

Grandpa did an excellent job making all the cars for the boys. Top notch, Grandpa! Excellent designs and beautiful artistry!

Left to Right: Mason (Lego car), Porter (Cheese car), Reed (Red racer)

Reed's car

Mason's car

Porter's car
(He won a 2nd place trophy for the design)

Reed had a great time and was delighted with his participation ribbon. This was slightly dampened when Porter won his "trophy pot" and Reed didn't get one. I have a feeling that Reed's quest for his own "trophy pot" is going to continue into many future endeavors.

Introducing Baby #3

This ultrasound picture is almost a month old but I thought I'd go ahead and publish the very first photo of our little baby. No, we didn't find out if it's a baby boy or girl. There is something nice about the surprise.


Reed is set that he is having a baby brother, actually he wants two baby brothers, but we have informed him that isn't going to be happening. He has named the baby, Singo Fork. If, by chance, that mysterious second brother comes along, he will just be Singo. There is no contemplation in his mind that this may be another sister.

Cora sends kisses to the baby through my belly button. If the baby is brought up and my stomach is available, she likes to shove her finger in my belly button. While she is interested in most things that interest Reed, she is also pretty infatuated with baby dolls right now. She seems like she'll be a natural big sister, but we may have to be careful about how much she tries to help.

The Spring semester of the academic year has begun today and we are pretty much counting down the end of the semester and the birth of the newest baby simultaneously. I will likely be singing another tune in 16 weeks, but as of now, I don't want this baby to come a day sooner than my due date on May 10. I would like to celebrate Reed's 4th birthday (May 2) and have Bob give all his final exams. We'll see what I actually say those last few weeks when I am waddling around with two kids in tow.

A Very Playmobil Christmas

Again, I find myself WAY behind on the blog. I normally wouldn't let such an important topic as Christmas go this long without a post. There are a variety of reasons (excuses) for that ranging from not having many photos, not successful rounding up pictures from others who did take pictures to just being tired and busy.

Better late than never I say. Here goes...

Christmas Eve we had a nice relaxing day around the house and decided (a little too late) to attend 4 pm Christmas Eve Mass. It was the children's service and we got there about 5-10 minutes early. We should have seen it coming from the lack of parking, but we opened the church doors to a packed vestibules. It was only packed because there was not a seat left in the house and no standing room left in the church. We hummed and hawed a bit but decided to leave even though we had met Bob's Dad there. He stayed, but with the two squirmy kids and a pregnant mommy standing in an overcrowded, overheated vestibules (narthex, if you want to be more specific) it didn't seem practical. Plus, I like to enjoy my Christmas service.

So we were all dressed up with nowhere to go. The next Mass was at 5:30 and we knew now that we needed to get there early. With an hour to blow, we decided that dinner was probably a good option. Where did we go? You guessed it...the golden arches. After a gourmet feast, we headed back to church to find...just as many cars?! Hmm, maybe the last service was going on still. And it was. We had to wait in the overstuffed lobby and pray to find a seat for the next mass. In the end, we had our pick of seats and it felt a little closer to a normal week's attendance. There were just a tons of visitors for the kid's service. While it would have been nice to attend that one, we would never have gotten McDonalds on Christmas Eve.

We came home from church started a fire and put the kids to bed and enjoyed a relaxing evening. I was pretty excited because I had a feeling that Santa was going to be bringing Reed just what he had been talking about for months...okay at least one month, prior to Christmas. The Playmobil Great Dragon Castle!
Christmas morning Reed was pretty pleased to open the gift, although he kept his cool. Actually, he was certain he was getting it. He told Santa that's what he wanted. He doesn't know yet that some years as much as he wants to Santa just can't come through. But this year, he DID!


We had a relaxing morning of eating cinnamon rolls, assembling the castle and knights, and having battles...red knights vs. green knights. Note: the red knights ALWAYS win. Reed is the red team, usually with Daddy. Cora and I are crushed in moments.

Loving his dragon castle

Loving to eat Christmas cookies

And playing in Reed's big box

After our fun morning at home, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Mihelich's house for the family Christmas. Everything was lovely as usual. Here are a few pictures sent to me by Grandpa.

It always starts out calmly.
(There's my baby bump for those of you that may not have seen it yet.)

And it gets a little crazier with each newly opened present.

The look of a boy who loves his new presents.

The next morning, we took to the roads early to hit the Reed Farm by lunchtime. We had a smooth trip and made good time. The extended Reed Family Christmas is always a riot and we had a great time as always. Reed really enjoyed playing with his cousins. We didn't get a picture of the two Reeds together this year. Next time.

We got back to my parents' house that night and after putting the kids to bed, I promptly went to work planning a little getaway to St. Louis for Bob and me. My parents agreed to watch the kids for two days. Hooray! I went on Priceline.com and booked two nights at a 4-star downtown hotel for less than one night would have been booking traditionally. Double Hooray!

We had a great time. We did a lot of touristy sightseeing stuff and architectural dork stuff. We went up in the Arch, we walked around downtown going in a lot of buildings, we went to the Art Museum, we checked out Washington University campus and got a tour through Nathan's labs and Clean Room. We ate out with Nathan and Casey in the Central West End. We had a night out in historic downtown St. Charles, MO. We went to the new casino and Bob won some money at the craps table. We slept in (until 8am)! On the way home, we stopped by to visit my Grandma Maher. I can't thank my parents enough for probably the last trip and extended alone time that Bob and I probably will have until some time after the new baby comes.

Checking out an architectural icon--The Wainwright Building Designed by Adler and Sullivan, considered to be the precursor to the modern skyscraper. Got to love that gorgeous Sullivanesque detailing. I have no idea why I have such a befuddled look on my face besides the fact that we couldn't figure out how to get inside.

Friday morning we had the family Christmas with my siblings and parents. The cousins exchanged presents and the adults had a grab bag. I loved the theme this year of "As Seen On TV" products. I love my new Yoshi Knife. I feel like I can finally cut things like all those people on TV now.

Merry Christmas to you all and best wishes for this New Year. My biggest wish for this new year is to see the happy, healthy arrival of our lovely baby #3. Our 2012 is certain to be crazy but memorable.