KC CoEd Classic 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8NV-AFyBpI&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&feature=c4-overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J48uQDndGw&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&feature=c4-overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY8UiBzhMAQ&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&feature=c4-overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzpZy_PzKbI&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&feature=c4-overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybQvA_9Tu2A&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&feature=c4-overview
Another successful meet for Ben this past weekend.  All of his performances looked very strong and he just had the fumble on his rings landing.  He said there was something wrong with the mat positioning, but no idea what it was.  He said a lot of the boys had problems with the landing.  It's a pity because I thought his routine was really strong.
It is funny that Ben is now the tallest on the team after being the shortest for so long.  Some of that is the fact that most of the other level 6 boys are younger than him, but even so.....

Ben's final positions were floor-3, pommel-1, rings-7, vault-3, pbars-1, high bar-3.  

Ben came first overall, out of 15 boys in his age category.  He is improving with each meet this year and all the other parents kept commenting on how good he was and asking me why he hadn't been on the sanctioned team before!!!  All the boys did very well, and the team won first place.  It was worth the drive!!!

Living in a sanitarium

Ben has never fully recovered since he had his pneumonia at the beginning of the year.  His cough got worse again in the middle of the week and he ended up with a fever that kept him home on Wednesday.  He turned up with pink eye on Friday and I had to pick him up from school early.  He is now using eye drops to clear it up.  Maggie had a fever last night and now has pink eye this morning.  Let's hope there's enough drops in the bottle to treat both of them....

Meet Me in St Louis 2013

Even though this isn't Ben's first meet of the season, it feels like it for me since I missed Champaign in December.  I took Ben out to the earlier session because we wanted to watch his old unsanctioned team.  We had time to run up to see some of the awards, but Ben had to leave right after they started because his session was starting.  

Ben was competing with 3 other boys in his age category and level.  He came second overall.

The level 6 team won first place.

Ben with his medals and trophy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htar8vKkxmQ&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&feature=c4-overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0sZkqI3KA8&feature=c4-overview&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khS2dWU0Ovc&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&feature=c4-overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onR5BE1LsYI&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&feature=c4-overview

Ben's level 6 team with Travis and Danny

End of Winter vacation

The Winter vacation FINALLY came to an end.  The kids were supposed to go back to school on Tuesday, with a teacher training day on Monday.  Well, after the snow storm on Sunday and the major freeze on Monday, training was canceled on Monday and school canceled on Tuesday.  I suspect that the teacher training day will be sprung on us at a later date!!!!
Sam and Ben did a really good job of clearing off the driveways on Monday, it was so cold outside that I only lasted for about 5 minutes before my hands were way too cold.

Sam cleared off his car and the driveway and Ben had a go at digging Caroline's car out from next door!!!!

The roads were cleared off pretty well on Tuesday, so we drove to the store to get some bird seed.  There are huge piles of snow everywhere you look

I took Ben and Maggie to SkyZone for a while so that they could get rid of some energy and to get them out of the house for a while.  Ben loves it because he can do some of his gymnastics moves there!!!!

Coldest temperatures in 18 years

Sometimes you don't want the weather forecast to be wrong.  In this case, the forecast was that the high would be -2 today.  It is so cold today.  When we got up this morning, the window above the front door cracked diagonally.  It made quite a noise and was very scary (mostly because all I could think about was how cold it would be if the whole thing fell in)

All our windows are covered in condensation because of the temperature difference.  It's not going to get any better for quite a while....

Winter storm 2014

We had a huge snow storm come through on Saturday night and Sunday.  Well, it was supposed to start on Saturday night, but didn't actually get here until Sunday morning.  When it came, it dumped a foot of snow on St. Louis-easily the most we have had in a very long time, probably as long as we have had the kids.  I spent much of the day worrying about the birds as they were out in the terrible weather at the feeders.  We have now exhausted our supply of both thistle seed and sunflower seed and desperately need more.

I went outside with the kids for a short while, but it was so cold, especially when your face got wet with the snow and the wind blew on it.  It was a good opportunity to get a few photos though (taken with my new iPhone which obviously takes way better photos than my old one!!)

Our old Christmas tree is waiting to be recycled and is now covered in snow

Caroline came outside too (yes, we are all crazy) and they wandered around the back yard trying to find the deepest snow

Then Ben had to throw himself down on it!!!

Maggie is always very, very happy in the snow

Caroline took some pictures of us in the snow....

Ben and Maggie went from throwing themselves from one snow pile into another!!!!

Ben picked up this enormous pile of frozen snow!!!!

No matter the weather, they always find something to make them happy!!!!