The End (of the year)

Cael got invited to go with a friend to the Army vs. Marines basketball game. The other boys were so upset they weren't invited I had to promise to take them there as well. Our first seats were pretty high up and the kids kept running up and around the very top. I thought they were going to trip and fall and it just wasn't going to be any fun at all if that happened. So we moved after Cael and his friend (and his dad) found us and brought us to seats closer to the court and out of dangerous zone.

 These seats were much better for the second half of the game. Army had a good lead and it was fun to watch them hold on and win! I also got to explain most of the elements to the sport. In the picture above you can see where we were the first time. Way up to the top and in the middle! Of course a worker had to come and tell my children not to be running up there!

And this is how you spend New Years night at home with the kids! Playing computer games and letting the children observe--- they do love it, especially when they have candy to snack on.

**I didn't take any pictures, but NEW YEARS day we had 13 children in our house. We had agreed to watch the Elgan's children (6) plus the Tonelli children (3) plus my own (4) = 13. Ben was on-call for the hospital and so we needed to stay close for the day anyway. While they were all here I thought I would put away our Christmas decorations at the same time. It was a mess! But I got it all done, packed the tree away that I threaten to throw away every year, and Ben even got a call to admit a patient! So there I was with 13 kids all by myself for about 3 hours. With that many children there was always someone who was hungry, bored, or grumpy. I was pretty exhausted by the time dinner rolled around, and pretty confident that 13 children all under the age of 9 were still alive when their parents came back is an accomplishment in itself!