Max was mad at me

He rarely gets mad, which makes him so cute when he's stomping around, indignant.



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The Holy Spirit

Have you ever seen the Holy Spirit? For Catholics, the Holy Spirit is equally as important as God the Father and Jesus the Son, but much more difficult to put into words. Represented by a dove, the Holy Spirit is what gives us faith. It's what comes when we're baptized. And what you feel when you know God is near.

And to me, the Holy Spirit is this kid. He's not perfect but man is he awesome. I look at him and smile. And in his First Communion suit he is also so handsome and proud.. 

 He completes our family in ways incomprehensible. So different from the other three. The lover and the peacemaker and the physical one and the one that wears his heart on his sleeve but hides the hurt from everyone.

 His proud smile. He took his First Communion very seriously, and wanted to learn all about it, and was very proud to know what the tabernacle was.

 Max with Fr. Nate.

 Wait... what? Yup, that's Max.

These boys will have equal influence on the other... for good and for bad!

Love you Max! I'm so very proud of you!!

Thanks, Coach

This picture could have been a part of my HOF post, but it truly deserves its own. This is Ted Heimstead. He was my basketball coach and my mentor and my friend and my biggest critic and my biggest fan. With him I laughed so hard and I cried so hard and I was a kid and I grew up. He taught me life lessons that were invaluable to me that sound so cliche but are so ridiculously important like leadership and perseverance and mind over matter. He put the fear of God in me so much that I didn't dare have any alcohol in high school and just in case I better not do it in college either. He made me guard my sister when I was a freshman and she was a senior, just to see how we'd react, and he made me go against her in a free throw contest. He told me to picture everyone around me naked when shooting free throws. He was first to tell me I was going to be ok when I twisted my ankle so bad before state volleyball tournament but also the first to yell at me because what the hell was I doing playing a pickup game in the gym during lunch before the state tournament? This picture here is invaluable to me and just looking at it brings tears to my eyes. Ted, I hope you know the impact you had on me. I know I've said the words, but they aren't empty or casual. They're the words of the person I am today... and I'm pretty proud of that person. Thank you for helping me be me!

HOF Weekend

So, I was inducted to the Hall of Fame at my high school. The school only has about 250 people total (60 in my graduating class), but ultimately they chose one person from each sport in the history of the school to be inducted and I was chosen for volleyball. I'm pretty proud of it. 

To kick off the day, I played in an alumni volleyball tournament with these girls. These girls (women... can we possibly be women??) are amazing. They were my team 20 years ago and are my team now. We came in second, but only to the team that graduated last year. From high school. Seriously. And we beat them once, and came back from a 13 point deficit and only lost by 2. I think it should count as a win anyway. We could walk the next day... win in my book!

 My Hall of Fame plaque. That's my high school graduation picture. It's a little scary.

 I wrote my own bio. :)

 After the volleyball tourney and a short gathering, but before the big induction reception, we saw the sights of Elk Mound. Abby and Nolan came with me, along with my mom, and we saw... The Mound! Yes, THE Mound of Elk Mound.

 I told them stories of how we cleaned it as a social studies project in high school and people got poison ivy for graduation, and how we had to run ladders up it for track. Run is such a loose word!

Then we drove by the old house. Yeah, not extremely taken care of. But I know the blueprint by heart!

 From there I had the great idea to go to Hoffman Hills, a hiking spot near where the reception that night would be. And not only go, but hike! And hike to the TOP! It was a gorgeous day, and the kids were all about it. I thought mom and I might die.

I also realized something else. I'm not at all afraid of heights for me. But I'm terrified of heights for my kids. I thought my heart was going to leap from my chest on some of these pictures.

 And then there's Nolan. You got the preview from his birthday. Not quite sure what possessed him here.

 I have to say... my hometown, and having my kids there was a lot of fun. It took a bit of retrospection, but I really had great friends, and a great life growing up there.

New vs. old

We got the chance to stay at my Aunt Judy and Uncle Al's house, and they have this cool light. It goes out when you hang up the receiver on the phone, and comes on when you take the receiver off. Nolan couldn't figure out how anyone made a call on it. And then put his phone down right next to it. Pretty sure Nana would've had the same question about his phone too!

Wisconsin vs WHO???

Basketball season, and particular March Madness, is FUN in our house. We all have brackets, we all watch games, we all get in on the fun. It doesn't matter if you're Nolan who knows every stat or Ava who watches for the cheerleaders, it's a good time had by all. Until...

WISCONSIN vs DUKE

 Dave wrote the game off. He stopped watching mid game.

I was a die hard until the end.

But ultimately I died. Hard. And the Badgers came to a halt, but had an amazingly fun season. On Wisconsin!