Valentine's Day!

Do you remember how exciting Valentine's Day was when you were a kid?! Parties and candy and cards? I was lucky enough this Valentine's Day to go up to Cody's class and help with the party. Part of the festivities was a judging of the valentines boxes. Each kid made a "special" box with a slit in the top for their valentines to go into. After the judging, some of the mom volunteers tallied up the votes to see who won the prizes. Miraculously, there were just enough prizes and certificates that each student received one! (Teachers are so smart!) Cody won for most unique box!

Most kids put some candy in with their Valentines. So, they were having a party, doing crafts and eating sweets - a terrific day for the 2nd grade!! This picture is Cody (aka Gene Simmons) after he had some green sugary treat! Lovely!!

I got to go up to Matthew's 5th grade class as well for a bit. But, was not allowed (per my very cool 11 year old son) to take pictures there. I didn't notice any "special" valentines in his pile of cards and candy. I'm not sure he's noticed girls much yet... too busy with basketball!! That is just fine with his parents!!

Anyways, we made ice cream (studying liquids to solids in science... clever teacher) and played Valentines trivia. All in all - a great day!

Charlie's 15 years old!

When I asked Charlie what he would like to do for his 15th birthday, he said he would like to take a few friends skiing. So, last Friday I went to our condo at Crystal Mtn with three 15 year old boys. We spent the night. Jeff had to stay home and run the other two boys to their basketball games... I would say he got the better draw!!

Charlie and friends stayed up late and ate junk food and drank pop (a rare indulgence that we don't usually allow Charlie). I thought they were old enough to make their own decisions, so I let them be and went to sleep about midnight. At about 7:30 AM Saturday morning, Charlie announced that they were hungry, could we start breakfast? It turns out that those crazy boys, amped up on sugar, etc had stayed up most of the night! Sounds exhausting to me! But, they are young and crazy. After breakfast, they sledded then decided to give snowboarding a try. One friend had done it before, Charlie and Ben had not. So, I think that they spent a lot of time falling, but they had a ball. They weren't out there long enough for me to get any pictures... I was waiting for them to get better at it, then was going to take videos for you all. But, they were in and asking for more food before I had time!

After snow boarding, they decided to go swimming! Where do they get the energy?! By about 3:30, they were all dozing off on the couch (see the picture). So, I made some quick dinner and packed it up and we went home. I think it was a whirlwind crazy trip, but Charlie and friends had a great time! I think Charlie was in bed asleep by 9:00 that night!

So, happy birthday to Charlie!!

Family Fun Night!

Now, I don't want you to get too impressed.. this is something new we are trying out and it's the first time we've done it. But, Jeff and the two older boys have now joined my gym, thinking that they would like to go work out. And, here is the result... not great pictures, but you get the idea.

First there is Charlie and Jeff playing racquetball. Jeff is getting him back for giving his mom such a beating... but, Charlie's learning quick! He seems to really like to play. And, what a great sport for him to improve his speed and agility! He does not have a PE class this semester at school. He is lifting weights with the football team after school a couple days a week. But, it is good for him to get some cardio exercise also... and, believe me, Jeff had him running!

I took this picture through the glass, so you might not be able to see it very well. But, at the same time as the big racquetball game, Matthew was playing basketball in the gym with the DeBoers and a bunch of older guys... just an "open gym" time. He's the one on the "skins" team in the middle of the picture with his hands up, guarding the 20-something guy. He was able to hold his own with the older boys pretty well. I was impressed. But, he was pretty tired afterwards!

Since all my boys were entertained, I got a few quiet minutes with my Ipod on the treadmill. It was kind of fun to have the whole family up there, even though we were all doing our own thing.

And, then, there is sweet Cody... always going with the flow. He is evidently too young to be on the equipment. And, had no desire to join either of his brothers in their activities. So, he sat in this comfy chair where he could see everyone. He played "Cut the Rope" (his favorite Iphone application) on my phone and was happy as a clam! I made him join me when I went to stretch out... and we had a pretty good laugh together then.

And, of course... since we all had worked out so hard, we stopped at DQ on the way home and got a round of Blizzards for everyone! A perfect quality family evenging at the Vail household!

Our crazy but fun lives...

I have been recently inspired to revive my two year old family blog. We have so much going on in our lives daily.. I will do my best to update you on the best of it when I can...

Yesterday was a day of basketball, basketball, basketball. We started the day with Cody's game. He has improved greatly this season thanks to great coaching and time with his brothers out on the sport court. His dad has him on a "point system" for motivation (a point for a rebound and for a steal, points for a basket, etc). And, if he gets the right amount of pre-determined points (yesterday it was 6), then he gets to pick a treat at Dairy Queen. We were so happy yesterday in the first half of the game.. a basket, several rebounds. He was playing like a champ! He came off at half time and flashed up six fingers to Jeff, indicating that he had been keeping track himself and knew that he had reached his goal. He said, "I want a blizzard!" But, we soon realized the short-coming in our system when he came out in the second half with much less enthusiasm and played a pretty mediocre quarter. Of course, he had reached his goal, he was getting his blizzard... time for a reconsideration of the system! Nonetheless, we were very proud of him, he did very well.

Then, Matthew's team had two games in the afternoon. They played well against the Arlington Bulls at 1:30 and won by about 32 points. At 4:10 they played in Shoreline and by the beginning of the 4th quarter they were about 50 points ahead. So, the coach saw the opportunity to "mix it up" a little bit. He put Matthew at guard, a rare opportunity to handle the ball a lot more since he is usually the guy blocking people out and making the tough shots from under the basket. You should've seen the smile on his face when he made a 3-point shot! He's usually so serious out there and he was smiling ear-to-ear! I wish I'd had my camera! What fun!

We were lucky enough to get the DeBoer twins with us last night. So we seized to opportunity to go out and do something fun. Mom was able to get us some last minute tickets to the Seattle University vs Portland game at Key Arena. Yes, me and six boys (including Jeff)! What a hoot! We had a great time despite the fact that my alma mater lost. It was a good game.

At a commercial break during the game, they announced that they were doing "ice cream and cake" for kids 12 and under down on the floor. So, needless to say Cody, Matthew, Trygve and Karl jumped at the chance, thinking they were going to get some treats! Charlie was bummed, but took it like a man - since he was pretty sure that at 6 foot + tall he probably wouldn't pass for 12. The boys were surprised when they got down there and found out that the "ice cream and cake" was a dance that they had to do when on the floor. I couldn't get the video I took to work, so had to post to Youtube. Go to the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PDdy594DtY

Whew!! all that blogging and that's just one day! I will try to get better at pictures....

I do have to add one more thing that is a BIG source of pride for me as a parent. Charlie got his first semester of high school grades back last week. He got straight A's except one small A- in his art class (go figure)! But, he worked VERY hard to get those grades up with very little parental interjection. So, we are very proud of his achievement. And, I also want to point out that in a couple months, my "baby" will be starting drivers education with his new drivers permit! Where did the time go? And, if any of you retired grandparents want to test your patience out - feel free to come up and help us get him some of the required hours behind the wheel!

Charlie has joined my gym with me and he has been brave enough to get up one morning a week at 5:30 with me and go into the gym. We play racquetball together. And, after he got good enough to whoop on his old mom, I was able to talk my good friend Ken into giving him a "schooling" in some real racquetball!! Ken's my retired friend who has the luxury to spend lots of time hanging out in the gym. Charlie was surprised to be beaten by a retired guy.. and he says "Mom, I don't think he was even trying!" That'll show him not to beat his mom again!