merry christmas!

The boys were all cleaned up and looking spiffy in their new sweaters, so I tried to get them to settle down and give me one good picture while we were at my mom and dad's house. Of course, they were too amped up to cooperate, so I give you three different pictures, which you can cobble together in your mind to (maybe) make one in which all three boys aren't scowling, looking away on purpose, or smiling in a way that is wild-eyed and terrifying. And hey, there's always next year!

a snowmound celebration

Mike's older brother was in town this week, so we celebrated Christmas with Barb and Kevin a little bit early. It was really nice for us (and, I imagine, *very* nice for Barb!) that we could all spend some time together. We had a delicious brunch and opened gifts, and I got my baby fix by spending some quality time with my nephew Richie ... then the kids started getting a little restless, so despite the fact that none of us was really prepared with the proper gear, Erin and I took them outside to play in the snow. We tried to make a snowman, but we just couldn't get the ball rolling (har har), so what we ended up with was more like a ... snowmound. Barb popped out to give us some pistachios for eyes, a carrot nose, and a green bean smile, and Liam gave up his beloved Santa/reindeer hat for a little while. Voila! Right after they let us take their picture, the kids suddenly realized they were cold and wet, so inside we went. (On the way in, Liam started a snow fight with Erin and ended up with his glasses full of snow.) Barb threw Lucy's pants in the dryer, and we gave the boys their spare set of clothes (ever since the horror of St. Patrick's Day 2007, I never go to Naperville without a spare outfit for all of us!), and then it was time to head home.

second place, by a hair

Last weekend, Liam had his season-ending basketball tournament. It's been a good season, with him switching back and forth between the A and B teams (which is a pretty fluid distinction) and honing his skills the whole time. There are five elementary schools in our town, so the first round had two games, and rounds two and three had one game each. Liam's team won the first game handily, then had to play (arguably) the best team in town, our local Catholic school, in the bye round. Amazingly, our team won 16-10, and then it was on to the finals, which didn't disappoint. Our kids were pretty tired, given that this was their third basketball game of the day (and it was only early afternoon!), and the other team had a definite advantage because they played in the first round, then got to sit out the second round, so they were well rested. Still, it went right down to the wire. My sister Bethany was at work, so I was sending her text updates that went a little something like this:

Liam just scored again! Up 14-13. A nail biter!
Down 15-14, 1:20 left.
Up 16-15, 1:09 left.
Tied at 16, 0:22.4 left!!!!!!
Kid hurt, still tied, 0:09.6 left.
WE'RE IN A 2:00 OVERTIME.
0:08.9 left, down 18-16.
And that's the game.

Liam played so hard and so well. He got 10 points over the course of the day, plus a ton of rebounds and great defensive plays. We were so proud of him ... but his disappointment at coming in second just about broke our hearts. There was just nothing we could say to make him understand that getting as far as he did was a major accomplishment that he should be proud of.

Which brings us to yesterday. During school this week, the kids who signed up did the first round of a basketball shoot-out. Liam made the cut for the second round, which was yesterday. And of all the kids in fourth grade at all the schools in the whole town ... he came in second. By one shot. And he was heartbroken. He is the alternate for the district contest at the end of the month, and he did so well, but that doesn't matter to him because he didn't win the trophy. Poor kid. We wish we knew the right words to make it better, but for now, we just keep telling him how great it was for him to get that far, and how proud we are of him.

snow day

Just in time to start their Thanksgiving break a day early, school was canceled today after we got about five inches of snow. It's the first real snowfall of the year, so we made sure to take advantage of a little outdoor time.

carving time

Every year, the boys seem to forget that carving pumpkins is kind of gross. And then they remember, and there is a chorus of disgusted squeals that lasts about 10 minutes until they finally get engrossed in the task. Then it's mostly quiet concentration, punctuated by an occasional "eeewwww" when they get to a particularly mushy/stringy part. This year, we got a pretty interesting variety of pumpkins, and we saved the seeds to try to grow some of our own next year. We have done this before, but the critters usually manage to gnaw off the vines before the pumpkins get big enough to carve. But hope -- and hopefully, pumpkin seeds -- springs eternal, so we'll see. In the meantime, we'll have these frightful visages to gaze upon for the next couple of weeks...

pumpkin patch

We hit a new pumpkin patch this year: Dinges Farms, which is in Michigan, not too far from Barb and Kevin's cottage. They met us there, and the boys had fun exploring the area with their grandparents. The place really went all out with the activities! There was a huge corn maze, creative spiders and UFOs and other creatures everywhere, hayrides, dirt track racing, and a great selection of funky gourds (and pumpkins, of course). We'll definitely have this place on our list for a return engagement next year!

raking time already

I can't believe it's fall already! It's still warm, but the leaves are coming down, and the boys are still at the age where they like to do helpful things like rake up big piles of leaves (most of which they either jump in and scatter, or leave too far away from the road for the town leaf truck to reach, but oh well) so we're taking advantage of it while we can.

enchanted gardening

Have I mentioned that my sister Loni is engaged? Next year, she will get both a husband and a step-daughter, which means we get a new niece. Lilly is a sweet girl, but she can totally hold her own with the boys, which is why it seemed like a good idea to have her come spend the night and then take a little adventure to Linton's Enchanted Gardens with us yesterday. Max ran into some trouble behaving Friday night/yesterday morning, so he didn't come with us, but Liam, Henry, Lilly, and I met up with my brother J, who lives near Linton's, for a morning of fun.

So really, Linton's is a garden center where people buy all their plants and supplies, but it is set up with extensive grounds that have winding paths that lead around this kind of fairy land, with miniature houses and trains and barns sort of strewn all over the place. The place was all decked out for Halloween, so we had a great time following all the paths and checking out skeletons riding bikes, mowing lawns, and just sitting in a rocking chair having a "jaw." We made our way to the petting zoo, where we fed a some animals, then to a pond, where we fed some creepy giant fish (these guys have creeped me out before).

Back inside the garden center, in honor of Halloween, there were lots of fun activities. J opted us out (by which I mean he begged us not to make him do it!) of building our own scarecrow, but the kids happily went through a super-hot hay maze and came out all sweaty and ready for some pumpkin bowling. And afterward, just in case they had any energy left to work out (they did), we headed to a nearby fast-food emporium with built-in playground for lunch. A short but sweet visit for the boys with Uncle J, and a good way for them to get to know their future cousin a little bit better.

more from the weekend

Here are a few more pics from this weekend's Morton Arboretum, Brookfield Zoo, and apple-picking adventure.