Monday, June 3, 2013

March Recap

Round four of my monthly recap posts. I'm closing in on the finish line! So in March, we watched A LOT of basketball. Here's a photo of the family at a Game Watch I organized for IU.


Every year, the boys' school focuses on learning the culture and traditions from different parts of the world. This year was the Middle East and just before spring break, they celebrated with their "Expressions from Middle East" program. This is a photo of their guests lecturers. Nicklas is just to the left (if you can't tell, he's sticking his tongue out at me); he played his cello with the group at the school performance.

Seeger's class watched.... (Not a great picture but he's in the green shirt.)

I mentioned basketball and those that know my family, know my husband is ALL ABOUT March Madness. It's holiday in our world (Merry Madness everyone!); its comes before Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. He spends more time thinking, planning, prepping, and shopping for March Madness than any other holiday. Each year, he and his friends gather in front of four tv's so that they can watch every single minute of every single game in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. We take basketball seriously in Indiana, yo.

This year's celebration was held in our friend Marty's garage. 

I joined the group at some point during the festivities and I got to hang out with Lindsey and baby Reed who had recently celebrated his first birthday. I love giving baby presents!

In March is SNOWED AGAIN! I can't believe all the snow we received this year. Last year, Bloomington didn't get more than an inch of snow and this year, I know we had more than 25 inches.

By the end of the month, I was ready for the snow to be done. I like snow but I wanted my spring.

Spring for Nicklas means inquiry project time. His chosen topic was on the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He spent weeks researching, reading, and interviewing sources. Then came his 10 page paper and presentation. I have to say, he knocked the project out of the park. He scored a 3.5 on the paper and a 4 on the presentation. (His school has really strange grading; students are supposed to get a 3.0 on everything so the fact that he scored above that speaks volumes toward the work and effort he put forth.)


March also included spring break but I'm saving that for another post.

Friday, May 31, 2013

February Recap

In February, Seeger stayed home from school two days because he was sick...


The Kubatski family got together at Bub's Burgers in Carmel...



Seeger got in to the swing of things with his drum playing. We love Arianna, his drum teacher!

Nicklas also missed school due to illness...

It snowed a few times!

We had more burgers, this time at Five Guys. 

My grandmother passed away. It was sad but it was also time for her to go. The boys enjoyed swimming at the hotel. 

They looked so handsome...



 (This is from the restaurant the family gathered at after the viewing on the first day.)

And the day of the funeral with my mom. (I told you the boys looked handsome!)

January Recap

I'm on a roll with posts! (I realize it's only my second "real" post in a long time but we celebrate the little things around here.)

So in January, I got a new sewing machine. It's seriously the highlight of my year. I LOVE it! It was surprise birthday present from the Polack. He's wanted me to have a new machine for years and I've wanted a new machine but I haven't been able to justify the cost. He convinced that my quilting passion is too significant to skimp when getting a new machine so I took the plunge with a Janome 7700. (Plus, I think he was tired of me complaining about my Kenmore. She's served me well for the past 12 years but it was time to move on.) I love my new machine - I call her Rory.


Nicklas had a strings concert. This is the annual event with all four orchestras - from beginning strings to continuing strings (Nick's group) to middle school strings to high school strings. Luckily I knew where Nicklas would be sitting so I was able to take some great photos of him. 












Tuesday, May 28, 2013

December 2012 Recap



So I know I'm way behind in my blogging and I want to get back on the wagon. But I also feel like I can't write any new posts until I catch up on old posts. My near daily blogging turned in to every week or so and then every month so and here it is May and I'm just getting around to writing about December. It's been a busy semester and a busy spring and work has been overwhelming but now that it's summer and things have calmed down on campus, hopefully I can do some catch up and get back on track.

We'll see.

Or maybe I'll abandon the blog.

We'll see.

ANYWAY, here is a quick recap of December... We decorated some Christmas tees and included an IU tree in to the mix.


Seeger finished his decorating his ornaments.

 He also lost some more teeth.

I made lots (and lots and lots) of candy with my mother in law and I also used Grandma Sally's Christmas Cut-Out Cook recipe for some sugar cookies. They were quiet yummy. 



We watched some IU basketball.

And hosted the Kubatski family for Cajun Christmas. That's the Polack kissing a crawfish. His menu of etouffe and hushpuppies was outstanding.


Of course we made our usual stop at the Lake for Christmas Eve (baby Quinn is getting SO BIG) and the North family celebrated at Spiece. 

Knowing that our children don't need much in the material item department, we opted to forego many presents this year and instead Santa planned a trip to St. Louis for us. It was fun - cold - but fun. We visited the arch, ate at the Landing, and did lots of swimming at the hotel. Our stop at the City Museum was thrwarted by the flu bug that got a hold of the Polack so our trip was cut a day short. Now we have an excuse to go back to visit.

 







We came home from St. Louis to nearly 15 inches of snow in Bloomington. It was fabulous.


It didn't stop us from watching more basketball. Cousin Ben joined us for this particular game.



Christmas isn't complete without a package of Norwegian chocolate from the Retterholts!


Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Best and Worst

Seeger's worst - doesn't know the solution for getting rid of water bugs
Natalie's worst - not seeing Jill Bolte Taylor tonight
Nick's worst - too much inquiry homework to go to Jill Bolte Taylor
Mike's worst - Redwings game doesn't start until 10:30
Seeger's best - no math homework
Natalie's best - getting caught up on personal matters
Nick's best - good weather outside and looking forward to a bike ride
Mike's best - as been very productive today

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Best and Worst

Seeger's worst - it was so cold today when he went outside to sing What a Wonderful World for Earth Day
Nick's worst - it was cold at lunch
Mike's worst - headache
Natalie's worst - cried at work
Seeger's best - meatloaf
Nick's best - field trip and no work at school
Mike's best - hearing that Seeger's best is meatloaf
Natalie's best - raised some money for Jill's House

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Best and Worst

Seeger's worst - by the time we got back from running errands, it was 5pm
Nick's worst - by the time mom and dad woke up, it was already 10
Natalie's worst - haven't gotten everything done that she wanted to this weekend
Mike's worst - feeling sore and out of shape
Seeger's best - its warming up
Nick's best - baseball practice
Natalie's best - got a lot done this weekend
Mike's best - got a lot done but still had time for fun this weekend

Monday, March 18, 2013

Friday, March 15, 2013

Best and Worst

Seeger's best - pool
Cherry's best - IU won and she got to lay in the sun
Nick's best - IU won
Natalie's best - pool and warm weather
Seeger's worst - Nicklas got mad at him for something he didn't hear
Cherry's worst - party is over; last day of vacation
Nick's worst - last day in Florida
Natalie's worst - last day in Florida

Monday, February 18, 2013

Best and Worst

Mike's worst - had to get up early on his day off
Seeger's worst - cant do all his homework, like his Lucky Listener
Natalie's worst - have to cut fingernails and toenails tonight
(Seeger says "oh!oh! That's mine also.)
Nick's worst - hands hurt after gym class
Mike's best - breakfast with Seeger
Seeger's best - will be taking a bath tonight
Natalie's best - everyone made me laugh at dinner
Nick's best - possible UNO playing tonight

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Best and Worst

Seeger's worst - grouchy today and the way to the car when dad was telling at him for not turning in homework
Nick's worst - movie went a bit overboard so he didn't have as much time for recess
Natalie's worst - very tired and emotionally drained
Mike's worst - getting to work late
Seeger's best - party at school
Nick's best - eating pizza and watching the Last Unicorn
Natalie's best - being home with my family and Uno night
Mike's best - Natalie is back home

Friday, January 25, 2013

Best and Worst

Bobbie's worst - went off her diet
Tom's worst - bit tongue while chewing down on burger
Seeger's worst - Ben isn't coming to his house
Nick's worst - aren't going to see cousins long enough
Ben's worst - same as Nicklas
Anna's worst - feeling bad
Melissa's worst - felt sick at work and almost had to cancel dinner
Matt's worst - the gut bomb in his stomach after eating 2 lbs of food
Mike's worst - couldn't drag himself out of bed this morning
Natalie's worst - Nicklas was late to school and got a tardy
Bobbie's best - spending time with family and having excuse to go off diet
Tom's best - having whole family together and experiencing a new restaurant and celebrating birthdays
Seeger's best - seeing Ben
Nick's best - coming to Bub's
Nick's best - coming here
Anna's best - being with the whole family
Melissa's best - Red. Cream. Soda.
Matt's best - Dog. Face.
Mike's best - seeing the family
Natalie's best - weekend started with celebration with family

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Best and Worst

Seeger's worst - itchy underwear
Nick's worst - seems like its going to be a long week of homework and studying
Mike's worst - had to get gas
Natalie's worst - because of two hour delay, had to park in the parking garage
Seeger's best - going to take a warm bath tonight
Nick's best - two hour delay
Mike's best - two hour delay
Natalie's best - two hour delay

Monday, January 21, 2013

Best and Worst

Nick's worst - didn't wake up early today
Seeger's worst - going to the mall
Natalie's worst - having to leave the house today
Mike's worst - charcoal wouldn't light
Nick's best - new iPhone
Seeger's best - Nick getting a new phone so they can connect on Minecraft
Natalie's best - quilting with Rory all day
Mike's best - steal on the grill and finding out there is a two hour delay tomorrow

Friday, January 18, 2013

Best and Worst

Cherry's worst - bad accident on interstate so she was delayed and she thinks someone was hurt
Natalie's worst - a software program that needs updated isn't going to be able to do everything needed
Seeger's worst - gym class because Quincy cheated in volleyball
Nick's worst - didn't get as high a grade in etymology as he wanted
Mike's worst - the garage door is stuck
Cherry's best - getting to spend a weekend with her family
Natalie's best - its a three day weekend
Seeger's best - going to a birthday party today
Nick's best - going to a birthday party today
Mike's best - everything went well with professional development presentation and starting a three day weekend

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Halloween 2013


I realized I never posted pictures from Halloween 2013. It was a crazy day for me; I had just returned from my work trip to San Francisco and I had to teach that day. I arrived at IND at 4pm and had to zoom home, grab exams, and rush to class to distribute them to my students. After their exams, I headed to a friends house where the Polack and the boys were. We don't have many houses around us for trick or treating so we were happy to be invited to a neighborhood. Here are the boys with their friends Nik and Sid. (Who are in the same grade as Nicklas and Seeger.)



Some other boys joined the group. The Polack and one of the other dads took the younger boys around the neighborhood. (I arrived when this was happening; I just hung out and drank wine and ate pizza. That was about all I could handle after my crazy day.)


Nicklas and a group of his friends went to another friends neighborhood for trick or treating. It was the first time Nicklas left us and did his own thing. He LOVED it. Me? I'm not quite ready to let go. (Luckily, the mom in that neighborhood took this photo to share!)

Monday, January 7, 2013

Best and Worst

Nick's worst - cant stay up to watch the football game tonight
Seeger's worst - last day of winter break
Natalie's worst - new blender did not work very well
Mike's worst - had to go back to work today
Nick's best - watching the Avenger's today
Seeger's best - being at Ryan's house all day
Natalie's best - going to get to quilt today
Mike's best - seeing a friend tonight

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Best and Worst

Natalie's worst - weekend is almost over
Mike's worst - vacation is over
Nick's worst - woke up late
Seeger's worst - didn't get to play as much Kirby as he wanted
Natalie's best - sewing on new sewing machine
Mike's best - seeing Natalie so happy with her birthday gift
Nick's best - going through his room and cleaning it
Seeger's best - sleepover at Ryan's house