All-Star Game

Polar Bear and Winger played great in the All-Star Game for the Squirt AA tournament this weekend! Four out of the eight goals were scored by Polar Bear -- he made it look so easy! Even Gr. Judy and Gr. Gerald were impressed -- and they barely understand hockey. They treated the twins to bed and breakfast for this Midwest Finals weekend.

Other great news: Alan Smith of the Minnesota Mavericks showed up at the rink and recruited them to play on his Squirt AAA team this summer. Only two other players from our league were offered spots on his team. They are looking forward to fast-paced tournaments up north which will challenge their competitive spirits.

100th Day of School

We celebrated our 100th Day of School with my famous banana cake. The twins made a list of the things we have in quantities of 100. (One year we discovered that Captain has more than 100 socks!) Nothing too surprising on the list since we have done it for many years in a row. We have 100s of Legos, books, marbles, toys, sea shells from Florida vacations, etc. Happy Schooling!

St. Thomas Aquinas

Today, for the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, I wanted to post one of my favorite quotes from his writings:

"Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath, and a glass of wine."

Now which one should I choose first?

Popcorn Bowl

Winger is so thrilled to make popcorn in the basement microwave. (what a treat!) Plus he has a cardboard bowl from the movie theater that he can re-use! (another treat!) He wanted to make some today when the twins had a friend over to play video games after school.

Mother Teresa Movie

While the kids were snowboarding, I stayed in the lodge for 9 hours and did my own thing. This included watching the "Mother Teresa" movie with Olivia Hussey. She did an excellent job portraying the saint of Calcutta! It was easy to watch, and I recommend it for kids. Her passion to respect the poorest of the poor is so evident, yet her humility in pursuing this dream is astonishing. This film was produced by Lux Vide, as an Italian TV special in 2003 in honor of her beatification.

Snowboarding

We took a field trip to Snow Creek today. All four of my kids went snowboarding with their friends, despite the cold temps and the snow-makers blasting right into their faces. Meggar skied with Rach, Dorito took Adam, and the twins invited Todd and Taylor. We were fortunate enough to win a 3-visit pass from the West Ski Club annual drawing, and it's great to use it for friends like this! Here's a photo of the board Meggar got for Christmas from Santa.

Weekend Hockey

It started with a Topeka Roadrunners game on Friday night. They scored 5 goals (exciting!) so we were treated to FREE pizza at Cici's Buffet. The twins asked Dawson to come home with us - and they spent their time Saturday playing knee hockey, air hockey, and garage hockey.
Their team had the weekend off, but the Saints Bantam team had 4 games! They went on the ice without a warm-up, because I forgot the roster and registration documents. Luckily, Dorito helped them come back, and he scored 2 goals this weekend.