Emma's Birthday

We celebrated Emma's birthday today with our family.  My parents, Heather's parents, cousins and great aunt and uncle came for the evening. 

Emma turns 8 on February 1.  We got her a doll house this year.  She also got some other things to go with her doll house as well as some books and other gifts. 

It's crazy watching the years go by so fast.  The kids' birthdays are fun to celebrate. 

We love you Emma!

String of W's

Well the good news is that the Illini are off to a great start in the Big Ten season.  So, in celebration, I posted the current conference standings below.  In reality, the standings will probably not be like this after Illinois' next game.  Illinois is off to a 4-0 start but looking a the standings their first four opponents occupy the last four positions in the standings. 

Illinois barely got by the Nittany Lions last night winning 54-53 and trailed a good portion of the game.  Penn State got off 4 shots in the last minute of the game and missed all four.  Illinois, meanwhiled didn't take any shots that last minute other than a missed free throw. 

It only gets tougher as the next two opponents are ranked in the top 10.  Illinois travels to Mich. State on Saturday and hosts Purdue next Tuesday. 

But at least we can bask in the glory of first place for the moment, even if it will be just this moment.

Big Ten Conference Standings
TEAM	CONF W-L	TOTAL W-L
Illinois	4-0	12-5
#8 Michigan State	3-0	13-3
#16 Wisconsin	3-1	13-3
Minnesota	3-1	12-4
#6 Purdue	2-2	14-2
Michigan	2-2	8-7
Ohio State	2-3	12-5
Northwestern	1-2	12-3
Indiana	1-2	7-8
Penn State	0-4	8-8
Iowa	0-4	6-11

Happy New Year

I know I haven't posted anything for a while so here's your belated "happy new year" post. 

It's been cold.  As I type, I'm forced to sit on my hands for approximately 30 seconds between each word so they are warm enough to type.  Well, maybe it's not quite that bad in the house. 

It's been a fairly uneventful first 10 days of 2010.  There just isn't a whole lot to share. 

The Illini are 3-0 and atop the big ten standings!  Even the might Boilers got beat!  I'm sure it won't last long though because the Illini really aren't all that stellar this season.  They haven't played too stiff of competition yet in the conference. 

I took the boys to see "Planet 51" yesterday.  It was out of this world!  Ha!  Actually, it was ok.  The girls were gone shopping so it was something fun to do to get out of the house.

We tried a new pizza place last night.  There's a new restaurant in Rensselaer called "Slice of Pie."  They have pizza and other Italian dishes.  We had a mushroom and sausage pizza and a ham and pineapple pizza.  Other than being a tad on the greasy side, it was excellent.  Ham and pineapple is probably my favorite.