BB and BB

The first BB
On Saturday Noah's basketball team hosted a tournament in Pine City. The Dragons defeated North Branch, then lost a close one to Esko (2 points), and then were handled by Cambridge. They played off for 5th and 6th place and defeated the Cambridge II team by about 10. It was a LONG day of basketball, but we survived. Only two more tournaments to go.

The second BB
After church on Sunday we headed out for a game of broom ball. It was a blast! However when we first stepped on the ice, the air temperature was below zero. With all the running around, we quickly warmed up. We played for about two hours and boy were we tired! Misha, Noah, and Jake played the entire time. I subbed in and out (I am not as young as I think I am). In fact, I am sore today - took a check into the boards and the broom caught me in the ribs!

5+1=6

Th five Adams family members welcomed Misha Yuta, from Ukraine, to our house this past weekend. Misha will be with us for the rest of the school year. If the three days he has been here, we have enjoyed seeing picctures of his country and family, getting to know him better, and the kids have liked having a 'big brother'. We attended the Grantsburg / Pine City basketball game last night and Misha had the opportunity to meet Deb's parents, Patty and Brody, and watch trent play in the game. We hope he enjoys his stay with us!
Noah had a basketball tournament on Saturday in Spooner, WI. The team played well and went 2-2 on the day to earn 4th place out of the 8 teams. They lost to a very good Duluth team and a team from Eau Clair, WI, but beat a Fredric and Chisago Lakes teams. We host an eight team tournament this weekend, so it will be nice not to have to travel.

Basketball Buddy

Last night Jake got to be a basketball buddy at the Pine City Varsity boy's basketball game. He received a t-shirt, pizza, pop, and Skittles. Jake met with the head coach (the husband of Lydia's daycare provider) and also met with the captains of the team. The guys were great and posed for a picture with Jake! His name and short essay he wrote on what it means to be a good player and student were also in the program for the game.
Our union came to an agreement with the school board on Monday night in regards to our teaching contract. Our old contract expired back in June, and we would be penalized by the State of Minnesota if we did not settle by January 15th. Nothing like cutting it close! The union members will vote on Friday, and the board on Monday night. It has taken a lot of stress off of me. I enjoyed being a negotiator, and learned a lot. But I am sure glad that we do not need to negotiate every year (the process will begin again next February).
Lydia will begin gymnastics next week. She is very excited and has a good friend Ellie in her class. One more thing to put on the calendar! Noah begins his next round of basketball tournaments this Saturday. We will all be cheering on the Dragons!

Happy New Year

Happy 2008! We rang n the New Year with sick kids! Noah was finally feeling better, but then Jake started throwing up! Yikes! He ended up missing two days of school, but made it back to class on Friday. Today, he is back to his normal self - playing Wii, yelling at Lydia, being a jokester, etc. He even wanted to go play in the snow. So we took the cats outside, and I took down the Christmas lights. I hate when May comes around and you can still see Christmas lights up in peoples trees or along roof lines.
The new year also brings about new goals. I really hope that I can do a better job of sticking to a budget. We have a lot of work that needs to be done around the house and yard, so we need to do a better job of saving! I also set a goal of running Grandma's Marathon again in June. I got the treadmill put back together last weekend, and ran a few times this week already. I follow a training plan that is on the GM website. It offiicially starts the training in the middle of February, but I started running this week. Last year I waited until February and it allowed me to finish, but my time was not something to brag about. I will do better this year! And aunt Deb is thinking about coming to MN to run in it too! That would be a lot of fun, and I better train harder so I can keep up with her!!!