Razor 360-zip Rider

Thank goodness for the beautiful winter weather this year in MN - the boys couldn't wait to get outside and try out their new "Razor 360-zip Rider" from Grandpa Bob. We had never seen these before we moved but the coaster wheels on the back provide the kids hours of fun swinging 360s.

Merry Christmas 2011 - in pictures

Logan's 8th Birthday Party

Carter: Christmas Concert (Pre-School)

Gingerbread Houses: 1 & 2

Last night we had our HOA holiday party at the lodge. The theme was tree decorating and gingerbread house making. We gave the kids full reign and their beautiful design is on the right - 2 weeks ago Grandma closer and Logan had a sleepover and created the masterpiece on the left....just a little contrast :-)

The holiday party was tons of fun. The kids had the most fun playing football in the dark after they were done with their gingerbread houses - what else would you expect from a dozen or so boys between the ages of 4-10.

Random Thanksgiving Pictures

Carter - 1st Week of Hockey

Our little boy is growing up! He started Mite Prep hockey this AM. I guess in MN if you don't start hockey when you are 4 you quickly fall behind. He is on the young side as most of the kids are 5 - but he did pretty well. All that matters is he didn't get frustrated and had fun - even though he spent about 50% of the time on the ice. He also thinks the equipment is pretty cool as well.

I think he is just excited to finally be old enough to play on a sports team. After tagging along with Logan for 4 years and watching he has been asking to play on a team - tot soccer just didn't cut it.

Shawn decided to be an Assistant Coach - now he just needs to get "certified" before January 1. I think if there was a full-time job coaching little kids sports - that payed the bills - Shawn would sign up ASAP!

Logan - 2nd Grade Choir Concert

Unfortunately the pictures of the actual concert did not turn out to well - but he looks pretty cute getting ready for the BIG night. It is fun to watch their programs get longer and longer. In Kindergarten the concert was basically nursery rhymes, now they are singing actual songs with several verses by memory. This spring they add instruments.

Random Halloween Pictures

Logan was Harry Potter.
Carter was a Power Ranger, Superman, and a scary Goblin....the joys of being a younger child and having the opportunity to raid the costume closet. Have to love those hand-me-downs.

Halloween Pictures: Carter Preschool & Daycare

Carter dressed up as Spiderman for the annual daycare party. In preschool each class made their own costumes - Carter's class was puppies.

Halloween 2011 - wow!

The holiday is officially over, but the candy ("loot") will last for months.

The best way to describe Halloween in our new neighborhood was a scene from the movies. The HOA has guidelines on trick-or-treating. Example - start at 5:30pm and stop at 8pm, if the lights are out that means the family is not home or they have run out of candy, etc. Run out of candy???? Yes it can happen with over 200 little people.

5:30pm- the street was quiet, no signs of any little goblins or ghosts. 6pm - CHAOS BEGINS! Imagine about 200 little divas, Harry Potters, witches, Marios, etc congregating across the neighborhood with their Dad's driving golf carts in tow - and the random trailer filled with warm blankets, hot "adult beverages" and music. There were bonfires in driveways and lots of fellowship. The kids had a blast and Carter crashed after trying to keep up with Logan and his friends. It is great to live in a neighborhood where the families intentionally join up and the kids form "teams" of trick-or-treaters.

It was a long day as Carter had his daycare Halloween party in the AM and Logan had his school party in the PM. We will post pictures when Shawn returns from SF.

Logan skating

Skating Videos

Carter went skating for the second time last weekend. He struggled more than the first week. . He still enjoyed himself but relied on the walker a little more.

Hockey Pictures

Anothering boring text blog - pictures will be coming soon Grandma and Grandpa!

So we had Logan's school conference last night. I think we were both a little nervous since we have had some issues with "being too social" the last couple of weeks - that is the PC way to say Logan talks to much. Not surprising there are no concerns about his social skills.

In short - we have a bi-polar child when it comes to academics. Let's start with the positives. Logan is a "rockstar" in math - SERIOUSLY! He scored in 99th percentile for math in the MAPS testing. As a result he is being put in "number crunchers" - an accelerated program so he can be challenged more. On the other extreme - he scored in the mid 50th percentile for reading/literacy/comprehension. As a result is qualifies for Title 1 assistance - not really special education but 1:1 attention funded by the state. Try explaining those 2 extremes to a 7-year old.

I think we were a little surprised as his reading has really picked up and he scored well on his "words per minute." Now he needs to get up-to-speed with comprehension and spelling.

We have a hockey player.....

With Logan we swore that we would not encourage hockey - who needs to encourage their kid in a sport that gets them up at 6am for ice time, travels all over the state for tournaments starting at 8 years old, and bleeds the wallet like a deep wound.

Then you have a second child. A child who has grown up playing soccer with his brothers 2nd grade team, playing flag football with neighbor kids 2x his size, playing/hitting a baseball farther than Logan sometimes, etc. Carter has spent more time on Logan's roller blades than he has - so Shawn asked the question a couple weeks ago: Carter do you want to play hockey? "YES!"

Skip the ice skating lessons...let's throw on the full gear and jump right in. One problem....Carter has really never skated. All registered, we figure we have 4 weeks to teach him to skate. So Shawn and Carter went to open skating today and just like a second child, after one spin around the rink using the "ice table thingy" he let go and off he went. He almost made it around the entire rink without falling. He was a little, sweaty mess after 60 minutes of skating and the journey begins.

How many people does it take to turn on a light switch?

Apparently at least 7 in our house!
For the past week or so we have been trying to figure out how to turn the outside outlets on in our new house. We have (4) outside outlets. After putting up the Halloween decorations we noticed the box by our front door was not working. We asked one of our neighbors who mentioned that there is a switch inside the front closet to turn it on - is that obvious? Well we found the switch...but still no power! After talking with a contractor who came over to bid out some work on our house he mentioned that there must be a GFI outlet somewhere in the house that was tripped - all the fuses in the box were "live." Finally our other neighbor mentioned they had a GFI in their basement that was linked to their outside outlets. Hmmm. After searching about half a dozen GFI outlets Shawn finally found the magic outlet that was tripped - in the basement behind our steps. I think builders need to get a little more obvious - like maybe next to the outlet swtich in the front closet!

Finally we think we have now figured out all the odd funtions of our new home - and we now have power for our Halloween decorations!!! The boys are happy.

Carter - Rollerblades

Carter was enjoying the amazing 80 degree day today learning to rollerblade. After a couple spills, we thought it would be good to practice just wearing all the equipment on the grass. Two pictures below: (1) serious and (1) happy.

Logan Fall Football

Logan enjoyed his last season of flag football - next year come the pads and concussions. The highlight of the year was the second to last game when Logan was quarterback. He threw a beautiful 15 yard spiral to one of his good friends who caught it in the end zone for a touchdown. Two miracles: a perfect spiral and his friend caught it! Sometimes all the stars align!

3 Busy Weeks in the Mayfield Adobe

We know - those darn Mayfields are not keeping up on their blog. This is my pet peeve as well for those blogs I follow regularly - but I think we actually have a pretty good excuse. Life has just been a wee busy around here the past 3.5 weeks. Really! Everyone says that - but here is a quick summary of some of our highlights.

1. Moved into our new home on September 3. We love the space, yard, association lodge/pools/running trails. There are boys the same age as Logan and Carter next door and they have become best friends already - not to mention the 50+ other elementary kids. We are pretty much settled - still learning some of the new appliances (i.e the Accelerator - basically a 3 in 1 microwave, oven and convection oven) and HOA rules (i.e. the "ditch policy"). Seriously - the ditch is a hot topic around here. Shawn got a John Deere rider for our new yard and has officially been labeled by his co-workers as a "hick."
2. Our renters are FABULOUS - knock on wood. They are even fixing stuff in our house (i.e. installing a new door handle, pressure washing the patio, etc.). Maybe they will stay and buy it.
2. Boys started school. Below are some pictures from Carter's preschool. The first day he was a little anxious but now he loves it. Logan likes 2nd grade - we are having some problems with his talking and not listening. In all honesty - I think he just couldn't here...which leads to #3.
3. On Friday Logan got tubes for the 3rd time. We should have done it before school but with moving life was just too crazy. The last month has been really challenging as he could not here a thing - everything was "what, what, what." You could be within 5 feet and he would not understand what you said. The surgeon called it "glue ear" b/c it was so blocked. Immediately out of surgery he was like a new child - the TV was so quiet Sara and I could barely here it.
4. Sports, sports, sports. Logan is playing soccer every Monday and Wednesday with games on Saturdays. He is also playing football on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays. Shawn is coaching soccer again - they are playing on the bigger field with a host of new rules so it has been an adjustment. Logan wants to do basketball this winter and Carter will be playing floor hockey - both boys are also excited for snow and skiing.

Picture of Logan before surgery - he was very apprehensive about the anesthetic. Shawn had to hold him down until the gas kicked in.