If you asked the kids what they miss the most about the old house, the shoe-in answer would be: the pond. Indeed, many memories centered around the pond in our back yard, especially in wintertime. And while our new back yard is superior in size to our old one, it does lack a pond.

As we prepared to enter our first pondless winter, Jim’s wheels began turning; he researched the possibility of building an ice rink in the back yard. His first assessment was that the slope of the yard–while not significant to the eye–was too great for it to work. But with my get-it-done husband, where there’s a will, there’s a way. So off to the hardware store he went.

He and the kids got to work putting the boards up.

Apparently, there’s a guy in Itasca who sells tarps made specifically for backyard ice rinks. The day Jim picked ours up, there was a line of minivans waiting to pick up their own tarps.

Then the filling of the rink began.

Despite my protests, the decision was made to let the hoses work overnight. Two hoses pouring water into the homemade ice rink through the night…unattended. You know where I’m going with this, right? I got up at 3 a.m. only to find that the boards broke under the weight of the water (recall the significant slope) and the backyard flooded with 2.5 feet of water. But Jim was undeterred. He built up the back boards and started again.

The hoses started up again, going all day, and again all night. The next day was Christmas Eve. We were on our way home from church that morning when we got a text from the next-door neighbor that the rink broke and there’s a flood. This time, the flood was in the neighbor’s back yard. Thankfully, they were gracious about it.

Time to give up on the idea of a backyard ice rink? Not a chance. Rather, Jim made it a bit smaller so that the slope was not as much of an issue.

As it turned out, the third time was a charm. After filling it for a third time, the boards held together. The boys went out to give it a try.

The next day, Ruth joined the fun in the subzero temperatures.

Meanwhile, the ice crew has been keeping the ice divot- and bump-free with an iron

and zamboni-mop.

Thankfully, according to the forecast, the ice will remain frozen for several days to come.

Merry Christmas from the Johanik family! Jesus said,

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. -John 10:10

What a wonderful reason to celebrate! We began our day by lighting the final candle of the advent wreath: the Christ candle.

Jeremy and the dog were the first ones up in the morning.

Molly waited patiently for her stocking.

The kids opened up Laser Tag; it did not take long before they formed teams and commenced a battle.

While the boys ran around the house hiding and shooting, Molly and I bundled up and went for a Christmas morning jog.

We enjoyed having the Johanik family over Christmas Eve (apparently I was too busy getting food on the table to take pictures). Little Grace continues to make us laugh with her witty remarks. Then on Christmas Day, rather than convening at my parents’ place, we broke from tradition (a key word around here among a certain 8 year-old girl) and gathered here.

My mom brought all the food here and took over the kitchen. When it was time for dessert, she found herself surrounded by grandkids!

Last weekend we visited Mom and Dad for brunch. The kids brought their skates so they could take advantage of skating the ribbon at Maggie Daley Park.

They had a great time skating, and we adults had a great time watching. It took Ruth a while to get her skating legs, so I walked the perimeter outside the ice while she skated holding onto the rail. After lapping her over and over, her brothers began to feel compassion for her. Jake took her hand, told her to keep her skates straight, and he pulled her along the loop.

Then Derek took a turn encouraging and coaching her.

This day only drove Jim further toward his decision to build a rink in our back yard. More on that coming soon!

There was fresh snow on the prairie path Tuesday morning, which revealed all the activity that took place after the snow fell. The rabbit prints were easy to identify. There was a set of paw prints alongside footprints, signifying another person had been out walking their dog before us. I also spotted unaccompanied larger paw prints, which had me on high alert for coyotes.

After a while, I became curious what Molly’s and my prints looked like. It made me chuckle, so I took a picture.

She’s a shuffler! Since Tuesday, the snow hardened, and every morning after that I see Molly’s shuffling paw prints encased in the icy snow along the entire loop of our usual run. They call out, “Molly was here!”

Last weekend, twenty schools gathered for a wrestling tournament, hosted by the Plano High School Reapers. You gotta love the rural school mascots!

The WA team competed Friday night and fought hard through three rounds. It was a double elimination tournament, so the guys had to win at least two of their three matches Friday night in order to have a chance to wrestle the following day. Derek ended up winning two and losing one match, and was the only one from the team to advance to Saturday. His faithful teammate/friend came along to support him.

Jim and I assumed that the Saturday portion of the tournament would move quickly since there were just a portion of the wrestlers left after Friday’s elimination. With this assumption, the three younger kids came along to cheer for their brother.

As the hours ticked by, however, we realized we were quite wrong about the length of the tournament. It ended up going until 4:00. These kids are troupers, though. No complaining, despite spending their Saturday sitting on wooden bleachers.

It helped that the team had snacks for the day. Ruth periodically would walk across the gym to grab a Gatorade or yogurt from the cooler. We laughed at how confidently she walked among the muscly wrestlers. It’s what life with four big brothers will do to you.

Because of Derek’s one loss Friday night, he was wrestling for third place. In order to earn third, he had to win all three Saturday matches. The first two were early in the day, done by 10:30am. Then the long wait until the championship round:  a five hour wait. Finally, he took to the mat and…

eighteen seconds later the match was finished.

He took third place

and also won the tournament award for most pins in the least amount of time.

I found this sign propped up after Ruth finished mopping the floor.

After two close encounters with coyotes on the prairie path, I decided Molly and I could use some extra insurance.

Thankfully, I haven’t had to use it, but it does bring some comfort knowing we have a defense.

After dropping Jake off at the airport the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we stopped by Costco to pick up a Christmas tree. Yes, you can buy your Christmas tree at Costco. As Ruth has asked me in the past, is there anything Costco doesn’t sell?

When we returned home, Derek leapt up into the attic to retrieve Christmas decorations. We affectionately named him Attic Man, our superhero.

With Handel’s Messiah playing in the background, the decorating began. First, Ruth and Molly inspected the garland.

Then the ceremonial first ornament was placed on the tree: football santa. This was Jim’s ornament from childhood.

Speaking of childhood ornaments, “Jimmy 1977” unfortunately did not survive the move to the new house. Alas, when we opened the ornament box, it was in pieces.  So we took a picture of it, then laid it to rest.

The final task was setting up the village and train under the tree.

I love this season!

What has this girl laughing during math?

This worksheet, which was appropriately altered to reflect a truth about our family:

Derek leads the way in milk consumption here. No osteoporosis in this household.

Ruth just completed a class at the Naperville Humane Society. When I signed her up for it, I was under the impression that she was going to learn how to care for animals.

However, each week, when she got into the car after class, I’d ask her what she learned that day. Her weekly reply was, “Nothing, but we got to play with the puppies and kittens.”

I do wonder if she learned a few things and just didn’t realize it because she was having so much fun. Either way, it was a great experience for her.