A Bowling Party & Torpedoes Basketball

 Saturday afternoon was pretty busy!  After Aoife's Saturday morning basketball, Declan had a bowling party at Ft. Myer and Aidan had another basketball game.  Since we were up late last night with Emmy's game, Declan was pretty much a mess for the entire day.  He was so excited to go to his friend's party but fell off of a chair while wrestling with said friend about 10 minutes after we got there and nearly knocked out his front teeth.  Seriously so much blood - I was pretty certain that when I looked in his mouth there would be no teeth but they were there.  We will see if they turn gray in the next few months - hopefully not!  After he recovered from the tooth trauma, Declan enjoyed bowling for about 45 minutes.  He started to get a little bored and decided that he was going to move bowling balls from one rack to another.  Seemed like a good idea until he turned around with a bowling ball in his hand, bumped into another kid, slipped (because he was wearing bowling shoes) and fell right into the corner of the bowling ball rack - cheek first.  His eyes were fine - thankful for small miracles BUT there is a giant welt on his cheek.  I decided that it was time to leave the party - it was almost over and there was no way that Declan was going to come back from a second injury in time to enjoy the rest of the bowling.  Sometimes you just have to know when to give up!

Declan LOVING the singing - this is post tooth injury

Having fun bowling - temporarily

Declan disappeared and I found him back in the party room - grabbing a snack

Pre-face injury - moving bowling balls back to the rack

We went over to Aidan's game just in time to watch him play the last few seconds of the first quarter. He played most of the second half so I got a few pictures! The Torpedoes won and played really well together.  I love watching the kids play - it's incredible how quickly they improve!  I also love watching them having fun!

Aidan's Last Baby Tooth

Aidan lost his very last baby tooth tonight!!!!  It seems like just yesterday that he got his first baby tooth. He also told me yesterday that he only has 7 more years until he goes to college. 

Raptors Basketball

 Emmy's team had another game tonight!  Finally getting out of the house after all of the snow was great and even though they lost, the girls had a good time and played well.  We were short some of our players but the ones that were there played really well despite not having had practice in a week and a half!

Aidan Starts Orthodontics

We have made a big step into teenhood today!  Aidan started the first steps of getting braces.  He got some spacers in between his teeth so a palette expander can be installed next week.  He also got a mold made of his mouth - he almost threw up but managed not to!!  Way to go for my weak stomached boy!!!  We decided to go with Virginia Center for Orthodontics in Courthouse.  We visited a couple of orthodontists and I got the best feeling from her.  She is so sweet and has a very hands on approach!!! With four kids, we are in for the long haul.  We'll probably end up being best friends after everything!
This was our first trip out of the house since last Thursday so everyone was a little crazy!!  The other kids ran rampant around the office, getting prizes, dressing up in costumes and keeping an eye out for firetrucks across the street.  I hope we didn't wear out our welcome already - just to make sure, we brought them some cookies.  No matter how annoying we are, they can't totally hate us if we bring cookies!!

Cabin fever is setting in...

 Post blizzard bliss is quickly turning into cabin fever!  The piles of snow are beginning to melt during the day and then freeze at night making it much harder to plow!  We have plenty of food and we never lost power so we are totally fine that way but it's getting a bit boring!!  This morning Declan lost his mind when we couldn't figure out what he meant by wanting the blanket "flat".  When I put it flat on the ground, he shrieked and cried with frustration.  We finally figured out that he wanted to sit on the blanket and have Aoife drag him around!

Blizzard Aftermath

 Today is the first blizzard related snowday - well the first REAL one!  Friday was an anticipatory snowday!  We spent the day playing outside and making a huge mess inside the house!!  Everyone loved playing outside and it was fun to be out there with all of the neighbors!