Last Christmas and Basketball

We finally were able to get together with Barb, Matt's mom. She drove down for the day and we and had a terrific time.

It was Connor's first basketball practice. They have it at the school I teach. At this age they just meet for an hour and practice skills and drills. Matt is coaching, so Connor thinks it's pretty cool. Matt does a really great job with them. I know he's missing his 7th grade basketball that he used to coach, but it sure is nice being able to have him around a little more. Nana, Jacob and Nolan, and I sat and watched the practice. I also showed Barb around my school.
After practice we went to eat at Costa's downtown. We haven't been there in awhile and I love their food. Nana and Connor put together his plane Lego set from Grandpa and Grandma and then we all tried to chime in.


We were able to visit and then we opened presents. The boys were spoiled again with clothes, Connor a sports night light and his own checker/chess game (that also has 10 other games to play), Jacob and Nolan got flashlights and tape measures - they are OBSESSED with these two items, and some really fun art supplies. Like I said, it was a wonderful day.

Birthday Party and State Basketball Tournament

Friday night for Jacob's birthday we had Grandpa and Grandma and Grandpa Skala and Uncle Steve over for supper. Matt, Kristin, and Kelsey also stopped by, plus Jacob got a phone call from Uncle Natey and Nana. Lucky guy. Jacob gets so excited when he sees a police car while we're driving, and decided that's what kind of cake he wanted me to make. Our good friend Lon, who is a sheriff, was able to come over and let Jacob (and Connor) check out his car. They thought it was pretty cool. Jacob got to open presents and we had cake and ice cream. He gets to have two more celebrations the next two weekends also. Birthdays are the best!

Last sleep before birthday.

 

 

Saturday morning, bright and early we left for Matt's state basketball tournament in the cities. His team played three games on Saturday, losing their first one by a half court shot at the buzzer. It was a heart breaker. They won their next two games and we stayed at a hotel. Natey was able to hang out with us for awhile in the afternoon. The boys had a blast swimming and the families had a potluck for supper. This group of boys and their families are amazing, besides the boys being very talented, polite, hardworking....the families are so supportive, dedicated, and welcoming. Everyone was so good to us, especially to Connor, Jacob, and Nolan. The team loved playing with them, and their younger siblings who were always there watching were a great help playing with Connor, Jacob, and Nolan. Connor sat on the bench with daddy and the team and the boys included him in everything. They rubbed Connor's husky's head for good luck, they gave him knucks all the time, and they all wore Connor's tattoos again for the last game. On Sunday they won their first two, and lost their last one, placing 4th in the second from the top bracket. They did awesome! Matt is a great coach and I enjoy watching him interact with the boys. I can't wait for him to coach our boys in their different activities. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend. I really need to learn how to take better pictures in a gym. If anyone has some suggestions, mine never turn out. 

Valentine's weekend

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's weekend. I did with my true loves...Matt, Connor, Jacob, and Nolan.

Connor had a party at school on Thursday, and the boys had a party at Mary's on Friday. She is so good to them. Friday night Matt and I participated in a neighborhood progressive dinner (well the early stages of it - we cut out early because we haven't been home much and had so much to do, plus we had planned on showing my parents our pictures from Germany). We have a great neighborhood.


Matt had a basketball tournament this weekend in White Bear Lake. We started Saturday morning with swimming lessons and had to leave early from them to head out. Matt's team won their first game.
The boys and I went to visit my cousin, Sarah, and her family to play. Sarah and Jon have two boys, Brandon and Ryan. Five boys in one house.....they played really well together. It was good to catch up with Sarah. Matt's team won their second game and we met up at the hotel. The boys could hardly get their swimming trunks on they were so excited to go swimming. The pool had a 90 ft. water slide that the boys had a blast going down. Boy, did we have our hands full. Matt and I took turns with Jacob and Nolan jumping in the pool and swimming to the other side. They would have jumped in without us watching, they are so brave, too brave. Connor goes to preschool with one of the player's brother, so they had fun playing together. One of the mom's took some great pictures (thank goodness) because I was a little busy in the pool!
Today Matt's team won the championship game. The team played great all weekend. The boys really had fun, and Connor loves sitting on the bench with the team. In fact, he shared his tattoos with the team and all of the players put a tattoo on their bicep. Connor was pretty sure the team won because of his tattoos!

Big news in the Ginskey house....Nolan now has a big boy bed. He's pretty pumped! So far the first night went great....we'll keep you posted.

Basketball

We went to breakfast after church this morning and as we're eating Connor puts his hand to his head and says, "Oh... I have a brainburn!". (after he explained it to us all.....the opposite of a brainfreeze I guess because he was eating hot food and it made his head hurt like it does when you're eating something really cold).

Matt's team played really well this weekend. It was fun watching them. My camera battery was fully charged.

Apple Pie and Ice Cream

Matt has a tournament in town this weekend so we went to his games today. It's the first games I've been able to see, so that was nice. Of course I get my camera out and the battery is dead. Tomorrow.

Matt bought apple pie for dessert tonight. Yummy....hot applie pie and ice cream.

Do you think Nolan liked it?

I love these slippers (as does Jacob) that Nana gave Jacob for Christmas. Yes they are a pair!

Don't go daddy....

Nolan and Jacob love the Little Einsteins right now (actually Connor will watch it too). This show has been a part of our lives since Connor was little.

I love going to get Nolan out his crib in the morning. He 99 % if the time has a huge smile on his face. He's so funny because we have to take everything out with him, Elmo, Ooh Ahh Ahh (monkey), puppy, blanket, and sometimes his books, oh and of course his cup if he had one. Then he needs all of it by him while he watches cartoons.

Connor and Jacob trying to keep daddy from leaving for basketball practice. Connor actually got a little teary eyed that Matt had to leave.

Happy Father's Day and Vegas trip

Happy Father's day to all you father's out there. We had a good day. We went to church, went to lunch with my parents and Natey, Matt went golfing with Natey while the boys took a nap, and then Matt and the boys and I went miniature golfing. I was going to just hold Nolan while Matt, Jacob, and Connor golfed, however it was "Fathers golf for free" and "kids 5 and under" golf for free with a paid adult - so we had to pay for me just to get everyone else free! Connor got a hole in one on hole 11 - he was so excited! This picture was taken in the garage. They all look almost angelic-like with the light in the background don't they?- Ha!

Matt thank you for being the father that you are to our boys. You are a wonderful buddy, playmate, teacher, and father to them. I love watching you all wrestle on the floor and play in the yard, I love listening to you during your "teachable moments" with them, and I love the way they get excited when you come home from work and run to you. The boys are truly blessed to have you as their daddy! I can't wait for the years to come.

Happy Father's day to our dads also! Thank you for the great lives we've had.

Our Vegas trip was terrific. I was a little nervous for the beginning because even though I've flown by myself a few times, lately when I've flown it's been with Matt and he is so used to flying it's a breeze and he takes care of most of it. I was also nervous because his phone slipped out of his pocket on Monday night so we had no way of getting in touch with each other when I got to Vegas Wednesday morning (which is funny because we all survived when cell phones weren't around yet!). We were planning on just hooking up sometime in the morning at the hotel. It turned out Matt was waiting in the lobby for me when I got to the hotel. We ate at a great restaurant each night (only because we bought discount tickets). We did Italian, Brazilian style where they came around with skewers of 10 different meats and you can eat as much as you would like, and our favorite - a Steakhouse. We were able to get some sun (it was very hot) and hang out by the pool. Matt got a little too much sun the first day, so the second day I went to the pool while he played some poker. We did a lot of walking along the strip which is fun, but when it's so hot you sweat like crazy! The show "O" was amazing!

The show wasn't until 10:30 and I was in the sun for most of the afternoon, so in between supper and the show I went and took a little nap. You know you're getting old when you're in Vegas and you go take a nap at 8pm so you can stay up for the show! Pretty sad - I'm embarrassed and not sure why I even shared it! We really didn't have much of an agenda the whole time except the show and dinners. It was so relaxing. We even did some shopping for the boys and got to meet the M&M's. The boys love M&Ms so we thought they would get a kick out of it.

Our view from our room was superb - we could see the Belagio fountain show. This is a picture of the view one night.

Matt likes to play blackjack and poker, but I only really do the slots. He was a good sport and did some with me. We had a lot of fun and great luck with this huge Wheel of Fortune game.

It was a blast when we got the big wheel in the middle to spin! We even came back a few dollars ahead (well only counting gambling - we definitely spent money on eating and drinking)! All in all it was a perfect get away, but we were both ready to get home and see the boys! We missed them. Now it's back to reality. It's funny - it's nice to get some time away together, and be able to relax a little but it's always even better coming home to them. It sounded like they had a blast while we were gone. Connor still had a few days of Adventure camp, Jacob went potty on the toilet, Connor loved playing checkers and getting "kinged", Nolan imitates his brothers with everything, they ate like pigs, and lots of other great stories.

Have a great week everyone!