This Week in School

Joshua learned about money and counting with coins and a c3p0 bank.

All the kids enjoyed taking apart old appliances and "tinkering" with old appliances and real tools.

Sofia Sisters

We don't particularly try to buy matching outfits for the girls, but recently when Meghan was at Costco with them, they both really wanted these Sofia the First nightgowns.  They needed another set of nightwear anyway, so Meghan bought them.  They get to choose their own sleepwear each night, and tonight they both happened to choose their "Sofia jammies", so here the two girls are modeling their sleepwear.

Discovery Center Day

 Also last week, we went to the Discovery Center in Topeka. The kids were really excited about the giant connect four. They didn't really understand what I told them about the game, but they thought it was really cool anyway.

Then the girls wanted to paint. Joshua was like, "Is this the boring center? No, then I'm not painting." So he put on a puppet show during that time.

All the kids also really enjoyed the car area and the vet area, though Joshua in particular liked the car.

It also wasn't super cold, so we were able to go outside for awhile once the sun had been out a bit. We liked the natural playground (though they took out some of the more fun/dangerous stuff), the bikes, and especially the music garden. It was a fun day and we were glad to go.

Morning at Kaw

Last week we stayed with Ron and Peg, who graciously hosted us while our hardwoods were being added to and refinished. Because I didn't have all my usual errands and cleaning to do, we were able to go out more than usual. One morning we went to our church to play. During their normal business hours, they have open gym and open play set for anyone who wants to come. Sometimes moms' groups meet here, but the morning we went was really quiet.

We didn't bring our bikes this time since I didn't want to deal with the garage as there was flooring equipment being stored in it, but otherwise we had a great time and got to burn off some of that energy.

More Champions!

Well, I'd say it's been a pretty good sports year for me.  In November, the Royals did the unthinkable and won the World Series.  That was amazing, because they hadn't won it since before I knew baseball existed, and with the Cubs being my other team, they haven't won it in 108 years.  So that was just a bit before my time.  In other sports, I've been more fortunate.  Since I realize sports existed in about 1988, my favorite pro soccer team (Sporting Kansas City, formerly the Kansas City Wizards) has won the MLS Cup twice, my favorite pro football team (the Denver Broncos) has won the Super Bowl twice (thank you, Elway!), my favorite hockey team (the Penguins) has won the Stanley Cup three times (thank you, Lemieux and Crosby!), and my favorite pro basketball team has won the NBA Championship six times (thank you, MJ!).  So I'd say I've experienced way more championships than the average sports fan would get for their favorite teams.

That said, today I had a chance to add to that list, with the Broncos playing the Panthers in Super Bowl 50.  Two years ago the Broncos juggernaut offense was stuffed by the Seahawks dominant defense, so I had to watch my team lose.  This year the Broncos had the stellar defense, and they were up against Cam Newton's powerful Carolina offense.  But... there was one small thing working in Denver's favor: Peyton Manning.  For as amazing as Peyton was two years ago, last year he slowed down before being injured toward the end of the season.  This season he started off healthy, but played poorly culminating in a disastrous performance in Week 10 against the Chiefs.  It turns out he was injured and sat at most of the rest of the season while his foot healed, while Brock Osweiler held down the fort, and the team continued to win.  But in Week 17, Manning was healed but didn't start. The Broncos and Osweiler were struggling in the game, and Head Coach Gary Kubiak made the decision to bring in Manning, to the ecstatic cheers of the entire stadium (and fans like me at home), and Manning led them to a comeback win.  After the game, Kubiak announced that Manning would start for the Broncos in the playoffs.

The postseason march started with a win over the injury-riddled Steelers, which set up an epic matchup between Manning and Brady, in what everyone assumed would be the final of their many battles, for the right to go to the Super Bowl.  The Broncos, playing in Denver, edged the Pats 20-18 to punch their ticket to Santa Clara.

That brought us to today.  As is usually the case, the kids can't stay up until the end, but they watched some of it with me before they went to bed, as you can see here.  Also notable about our setup today was that our refrigerator had failed this week and needed to be fixed, so it was moved off the new hardwood floors, leaving it in an odd spot, but one that made it easy for me to get drinks out of it!  But the game itself went as I expected and hoped it would, with Peyton doing just enough on offense, and the defense doing what they do best in flummoxing opposing offenses, and Cam and the boys couldn't do much, leaving my Denver Broncos as Super Bowl 50 Champions!  It was a storybook finish for the season and almost certainly for Peyton Manning's career, as he will likely retire after the season, having broken the all-time passing yards and passing touchdown records along the way.

It's a glorious day any time your team wins a championship, and today is no different.  But pairing it with the Royals recent title makes it all the sweeter.  I'm one happy guy today!

Turning the Dining Room into a Dining Room

Our lower floor had two squares of carpet, one for the dining room and one for the living room. When we moved in this house, we never planned to use the dining room as a dining room, for two reasons. One, we needed a playroom. The kitchen had a nook or some sort of space that was perfectly fine for a table, so we knew we could use that as a place to eat, which would then free up the dining room to be a much-needed playroom. But the other reason we didn't want to have it as our main eating area was because it was carpeted. And with three little kids, you're going to get food and drink on the floor, so that didn't work for us.

 Recently, though, we decided we wanted and somewhat needed a bigger eating area, so we could at least host another couple for dinner. We also needed a new dining room set, because ours was old and beaten up, and also because we were down to only five chairs, as the others had tipped over (usually due to Joshua) and broken. Also, our playroom isn't getting used as much as it once did, because the kids are bigger and doing different things in different areas of the house.  And in fact, we have mostly been using it as our school and craft room, as we bought a used craft table and a few chairs and a rug to go in the center of the room.  The kids do crafts there, but Meghan also uses it when she does schoolwork with the kids.  But that table can easily be moved over to the old eating area.

 Adding all of this up, we decided it was time to get a new, bigger dining room set, and also to replace the carpet in the dining room with wood, and then have that as our main dining room.  As part of that, we also had the rest of the main floor wood refinished as well.  We did that this week, and here you can see first the final night of the kids at the craft/school table, and then the before, after, and during (which is interesting to show how they make it seamless with the existing wood).  I see now that I failed to take an after picture that was from a similar angle as the before picture, but whatever.  You get the idea.  We think it looks great, and it will be more functional for us at this point in our lives.

Picnic in the Park

 It is supposed to get colder after today. So while it was not exactly warm and sunny, we decided to go the park and have a picnic after school because it was pretty mild. Hannah says, she loves that I didn't really have time to pack a lunch so she got lunchables.

The kids enjoyed the monkey bars, though they were a bit out of practice. Both Joshua and Clara couldn't make it as far as they used to, but everyone still enjoyed playing.

Hannah is really too big for a baby swing now, though she also has no real interest in self-propelling either. She still loves these kind of swings even though she really barely fits. She is okay with big-girl swings too, as long as someone is pushing her.

We had a fun afternoon of fresh air and climbing.