Basketball

What could Cotter possibly be saying to warrant such serious expressions?

Callahan's newest experiment

When Grandma Lori gave Callahan this science kit for Christmas I didn't think too much about it. We have had these before w/o success. How can you grow something besides a plant from a seed in a package...right?

Well, Callahan can and did....it started out as a tiny moving white speck after sitting in the sun for a few days. Actually in the beginning nothing happened for a week, then we moved it to a more sunny location.  This little creature grew to the pictures below.

 Brine is a salt solution—usually a saturated salt solution. And we have all seen a shrimp or two, even if only in cocktail sauce. Brine shrimp might therefore sound like some kind of pickled seafood delicacy, but that's not the case. Brine shrimp, also called fairy shrimp and sea monkeys in some contexts, are tiny but important organisms found in salt ponds and saline lakes. copied from Fossweb

We feed it a little seed each day. When it eats, it flips on its back and holds the little seed with its pitchers...kinda cool. I haven't gotten a photo of it, but I will try.

From head to tail end it is about an inch long

some more Ski photos

 Callahan

 Tim in center

 Karrick wanted to play photographer

 TJ

 Callahan

Karrick painted the 3 headed dog the Might Titan from "Age of Mythology" his computer game....When you have older brothers you do not play age appropriate games. On the upside the kid knows his mythology

Wisconsin part 2

I dropped my 3 guys off skiing and Karrick and I went bowling. After picking up the guys we hit the hot-tub and pool for some  family down time

   This was the worlds hottest hot-tub...holy smokes

I don't bowl, never have been good at it, never have broken 100 in my life. Karrick and I bowled 5 games, by the last game I was on fire (broke 100 on 3rd game)
As you can see up top I got 5...yes, 5 strikes in a row. I didn't know you get a another turn on the last frame until the owner told me. I had already changed my shoes and started to pack up. I put back on my bowling shoes and took my last shot. The spell was broken...had I known, I wonder if I wood have got a 6th strike

 I think the ball weighed more than Karrick, he just dropped the ball down the lane

 I gave Karrick 3 bucks to get some chips at the bar, 15 minutes later (Karrick entices anyone he talks to into long conversations) I was watching from the lanes and I see the lady hand Karrick Laffy Taffy's. She leans down to hear Karrick and I see her laugh. She walks away and comes back with more Laffy Taffy.

Karrick comes back to me with these.

 I ask "What happened?"

"umm, I asked for $3 of Laffy Taffy and the lady only gave me 7"

"Huh" I ask?

"The big sign says 3 for a $1, so I told her she needs to get me 2 more"

Whats kinda funny is this kid is still struggling to learn to read...getting much better, but geez louise he can multiply in record time...2 secs went by before he sat her straight

He'll tell anyone he meets" I can't read so well, but I am a math prodigy"

As you can tell we had the place to ourselves. Karrick is doing the "Oh Yeah" dance

Annual Wisconsin ski trip day 1 and 2

We were able to sneak away for 5 nights. Callahan and karrick had  Friday and Monday off...TJ had Mon-Tue off. We were able to have TJ take his last 2 final exams scheduled for Friday on Wed and Thur. I was stunned at how accommodating TJ's teachers were. We called the other 2 boys in "skiing" on Tuesday to their schools. We headed way up to Wausau Wisconsin to Granite Peak, Rib Mountain. We left Thur around 5pm...weather was awful driving.

We arrived around 10pm ish and had just enough to hit the pool that closed at 11pm. The best thing we did was get 2 adjoining rooms, suites were sold out for Saturday night which would have been more trouble than it was worth to keep switching rooms. My stud of a husband got our rooms for $59 a night with his smooth talking.

The next day we went into town to rent Tim and TJ skies, cheaper than at the ski mountain. Callahan owns his own skies and boots. I must say my TJ was freaking adorable trying on ski-wear...1/4 inch more and he can finally start modeling again. Liliy's signed him at 5' 9 and have been waiting patiently until he reaches 5' 11. He does not look 14...at all...he's not even 14 1/2 yet....just sayin

He has the moves down

Mint Cafe for lunch...good cheeseburgers

Must be just like "the brothers" at $19 for glasses and $30 for the hat

Callahan above and below....we drew the line at the pink glasses

Brand spankin new Holiday inn and suites in Rothschild WI...all the nicer hotels by the ski resort were booked. This turned out to be a beautiful hotel.Lobby was stunning with big leather furniture, fireplaces...yes plural and flat screens. Flat screen in the marble bathroom in our rooms too! Only problem is there was nothing for miles so we had to drive to fast food pl;aces to eat...Aarrgh

I honestly felt like crap by the time we had left...all I wanted was a fruit salad

We had th hotel pretty much to ourselves on Thur,Fri, Mon Tue. Sat and Sun it filled up. Much to TJ's delight a teenage competitive dance team stayed on our floor Saturday and Sunday

a present from TJ

My TJ finished his 1st semester of high school. He had 4 finals today and 3 tomorrow. Today after work we drove to Glenbard East and picked up his wood shop project. He had to make...ALL BY HIMSELF this end table. The wood shop studio is pretty darn impressive; a warehouse size classroom with industrial size machines and tools. TJ took the class to fulfill one of the required electives and ended up really enjoying the class. It didn't hurt that one of his football coach's was the teacher.

Why do we have a weight lifting mat in the living room? It's a cushion for the constant pounding from Xbox Kinect sports

there is beauty at 5:30 am

 Driving TJ to baseball at 5:30 am the snow was coming down hard. It really was pretty and while the world was asleep Lombard was stunning in it's soft glow