Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Ice fishing season has officially concluded for us this year. Sean was very busy in January/February (hence my absence and unmotivation for blogging, maybe?)

This is his absolute favorite time of year. Though sitting in a shanty on ice with a hole doesn't sound all that fun to me, it is absolutely the best time for him. He participated in 3 tournaments this year (all out of state) and I am proud to announce that I am married to a winner!

The first tournament, he and his partner, Andy, came in 4th place (and also won biggest fish). The second tournament, he took first!!! and the final tournament, he came in 9th (with his old partner Dan as Andy couldn't make it due to a work commitment).

I am so proud of him on how well he did. But, don't get me wrong, it was hard on the family having him gone. For two of the tournaments, he left at 4am on Wednesday and didn't get home until about 9:30pm on Sunday. Made for two little ones missing their daddy, one wife missing her better half, and one 16 year old needing to help more around the house. By the time he came home (and came home safely) we were all ready.

In addition to winning some prize money, he won the cost for his entries into next years tournaments and also qualified for the National Championships in December. I believe they take place in Minnesota. Not sure if he'll be able to go or not, we'll see.

Anyway- some highlights from the events:

I love this image. They knew they had it won!

3 Year Well Visit

Owen finally had his 3 year well visit last night. I picked the babies up from school and dropped Quinlin off with Hunter and rushed Owen to his appointment. He didn't want to go because he didnt want bandaids (aka shots) but he did really well. Stood like a big guy on the scale to get weighed, stood next to the wall to get measured for his height, and walked all proudly into the room thinking his appointment was over.

Height was 37 1/2 inches and weight was 32.6 pounds. Very average for the most part. They also checked his BMI (which I think was at 17) and did his blood pressure. Hilarious that at age 3 they start checking that. He did everything his pediatrician asked him to do and happily walked out with 2 new stickers and the appointment behind him.

After the appointment we were off to the fish store to pick out a new fish for the tank to replace the little fish we lost the first night. We ended up bringing 2 home. If Owen had his way, we would have brought home this "little" guy:

um, yeah...no thanks.

We have Fish!

Now that Owen is healthy again, I can get back to my neglected little blog. On Tuesday night, we ventured out with Sean's sister to dinner and then to the pet store. We stopped at Boston Market for a quick bite and ran into Sean's friend Joe's parents. Joe was a Master Sargent in Special Forces with the Army and was killed Christmas Day, 2005 in Iraq. We hadn't seen his parents since a benefit for him in 2006. It was so nice to see them and visit, to hear stories of their family, to hear that the Army is naming a building after Joe in Ft Bragg, to be able to tell them that Sean's brother names his son after Joe, to tell them that Jen started running marathons because of Joe. It really was a nice visit, minus my crazy kids at Boston Market.

At the pet store looking at the fish

we brought them home and placed the fishtank in the kitchen. The kids love looking at them.

See the colored fish in the top left?

Yeah- the one and only picture of the colored fish. We bought 2 kissing fish, a headlight fish and another one with a really pretty tail. Colored little guy got caught in the filter. We woke up to find him in the morning pulling his own nemo stunt....only not as successful. Fishy heaven.

So crazy story... yesterday I attended a funeral for a local Marine killed in Iraq. Who do I see there? Joe's parents. It was almost fate bringing us together Tuesday night so that I would see them again yesterday.