street hockey

Yesterday, Ethan could not get enough hockey. Jason took him over to the park, and they played hockey on the water park pavement. Lucky for them, it won't have water until the end of May. While they were playing, a few kids were watching, and asked to join. By the end of it, they had a full fledged game going on. Jason had to make a trip back to the house for more sticks so everyone could play. One of the kids there actually plays hockey with Ethan. They had so much fun, and even after dinner, Ethan wanted to go back. That little puck was truly the best $10 ever spent on anything. Looks like we will be going back for more.

Success.

Well, sort of. Today, after spending 3 hours looking at the sports stores for a roller hockey puck, we found one. As soon as we stepped out of the car, Ethan had to try it out. Even Jason agrees that it is, in fact, the best $10 we ever spent. It even warrants it's very own blog post (later).  :)

After lunch, we headed to our second home, the ice rink. We decided to take advantage of the public skate time today, to get Elliott in his skates and on the ice. He was so excited. He sat totally still while Jason laced his skates, and didn't even fight his helmet.

He walked well on the way to the ice, but once his feet slipped from under him, things went downhill. He isn't big enough yet to understand how to use gliders to help him, and the more he slipped, the madder he got. Eventually, Jason just drug him around the rink one time, and then he quit.

Ethan was a big show off though, and he wore Jason out. He had to show his dad everything he has mastered this season. The most fun and impressive is throwing snow with his stop. You can only be a true hockey player once you can do this.

Yes, he was a happy kid! It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Ethan already has big plans to play street hockey tomorrow, and if the weather holds up, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't spend anytime at all inside.

Hope you had a great weekend.

spring break begins

First, a quick story. On Wednesday, we had our parent teacher conference with Ethan's teacher. His report card was great, and so was her review of the last two quarters. He is very smart, and a really good student. Takes after his mom I guess.  :)  Well, last week, I knew these conferences were coming and normally that would mean that there is either no school or 1/2 days. I checked the school calender about 5 times to make sure I wasn't looking at it wrong, but it said nothing about either of these, so I assumed it was a normal schedule. That is, however, until I got a call from the teacher that it was in fact a 1/2 day and they had been out for 20 minutes and Ethan was still at school. I rushed to get him, almost in tears the whole way there. My poor little guy, stuck at the school, not knowing who, if anyone, was picking him up. I didn't feel so bad when I got there and every teacher and office person was on the phone trying to get a hold of parents for the 20ish kids who were still at the school. Yeah, lack of planning I guess. Oh well.

It is nice to have him home early, and I have been working on a lot of jewelry. I have some bright colored pieces for summer (on the right). Erica asked me to make her some bracelets using magnetic beads to see if they help her arm. They turned out pretty cute, and her wrists are small enough that I have a lot of beads left over, so I will probably be making more. Hopefully, she will have enough different ones that she can wear them with everything.

Jaymee planned to take Dereck out for his birthday tonight, and asked if I could keep Raigan for a while. No problem, I said. Then I remembered that Ethan has hockey on Friday night, and Jason had to work. Still, they both walk, and listen for the most part, so I took on the task. After getting them both out of the suburban (Ethan helped), we started walking into the rink. I said, Raigan hold hands please, and she grabbed Elliott's hand and off they went for the door. It was ADORABLE to say the least. They were so good, and kept each other entertained for the hour we spent there, and in the car they were both in a trance watching the DVD player (thanks Grandma and Papa). It was not hard at all.

After taking Raigan home, we came home, put Elliott to bed and now Ethan is in bed.

Today started Ethan's spring break, so we are going to try to get some extra ice time in, and get Elliott on the ice. Pictures to come, I'm sure!  :) 

Have a great weekend.

When the weather is nice.....

.....we spend our time across the street at the park. Jason took the boys over while I cooked dinner the other night. He took some video of them, and then made this.

They love being outside, and especially at the park. Elliott throws a huge fit and cries all the way back home. Someday he will learn that the park will be there later.

Just wanted to check in with everyone, and let you know we are still alive, just not as busy.

SPRING!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this weather! It's so beautiful, it was over 70 degrees yesterday. GORGEOUS! I took the boys for a bike ride, and then we all went over to the park. Elliott's new favorite thing is the park. He loves the slides, and does not want any help, because he believes he is big enough to do it all himself. It's so fun to watch him growing up.

With all this spring weather, I have decided to spring clean my jewelry. Now, when I say this, I am not "cleaning" it, I am cleaning it out. I have way too much, and a ton of ideas that need to be put together, but I don't have room to keep it all. So here all the SPRING SALE ITEMS. They are listed at 30-50% off. Here are a few.

Magic City Meltdown

It all started on Friday morning, a panicked call from another mom that she couldn't make it to pick up a donation of food for the tournament. So Jason and I got ready, put Elliott in the car, and picked up the food. We spent the afternoon getting ready for the long weekend. At 4:00, Ethan and I headed to the rink. We finished up last minute stuff, then it was GAME TIME! Ethan's team played in the first game against the Bozeman Ice Dogs. Billings won 2-1, but it was a nail biter. As you know from my earlier post, the games were broadcast live. Jason helped out in the birds nest, filming, so we didn't get any pictures. After the game, I sent Jason and the boys home to get to bed. I stayed and kept score until almost 10pm, and we had to be back at the rink on Saturday morning at 6:15. YIKES! I know. Surprisingly enough, we did make it on time and the boys were in good moods. Ethan played against the Gillette Wild, and the score ended in favor of Billings, 6-1. Whew, 2 down, 2 to go. Ethan and I stayed at the rink and helped with the rest of the morning games, then we came home at 11 and met Joe and Tyler for lunch before going back to the rink. Ethan's next game was at 3pm vs the Miles City Generals. Ethan got to play goalie for this game, and only let in one shot (there weren't many more than that though). The score ended up 15-1, Billings. The whole team decided to "dog pile" on Ethan (the goalie) at the end of that game. I thought my poor little guy was a goner. :) He LOVED every second of it. Ethan and I stayed at the rink, and Jason took Elliott home. Ethan and I headed home about 8:00. Luckily, Ethan's team played in the Championship game at 11:45 on Sunday. They played against the Wyoming Young Guns, who were also undefeated for the whole tournament. It was one of the most exciting games I have ever witnessed. Our boys played amazing! And because she is the best, Jaymee brought Raigan to come watch. She not only brought snacks, she brought her camera. I'm not sure she was ready to see the insane hockey mom in me come out in full force, but she caught on and she and Raigan joined right in.

So here he is, #5. He skated so well this game. I couldn't be more proud.

Let's hope this interrupted a play.  :)

He's so cute!

I couldn't believe my eyes, MY son had a chance at a breakaway on an empty net! I almost had a heart attack! Don't believe me? Ask Jaymee.

You guessed it. DOG PILE! 7-4 BILLINGS! They won the championship! Undefeated for the WHOLE SEASON! GO JR BULLS!

Getting his medal.

The whole team.

He's so proud!

And while Jaymee was taking pictures, Jason got some Raigan time. Love this pic.

Yes, it was a lot of work, and we spent a lot of time at the rink, but what an amazing weekend. It was so much fun, and especially watching our kids play so awesome. The Billings 1/2 ice team took 6th, the other full ice team took 3rd and the teal team took 1st. Huge thank you to my husband for taking on the job of Mr. Mom for the weekend, and to all who came to watch and cheered from home. It's nice to know Ethan has so much support.

Happy Monday.

100th post

I have WAY more exciting news than the "100th Post" to our blog, but I thought that it needed it's own special post. I love being able to tell you about our family. Even if we don't have the most exciting life, it's our's and we love it. If you are a new reader, go back and read some of the older posts. It's fun to see where we have been, and to watch where we are going. A year ago today, I had this......

Today, I have a *STAR* hockey player and the most awesome 16 month old ever. More on that tomorrow. I'm exhausted from this tournament, and need to get some sleep.

Tournament time!

It's the moment we have all been waiting for (well all of us hockey moms). Tomorrow starts our 3 day, 12 team, 155 kid, Mite Hockey Tournament. It has been a lot of work to get this all together. I am so lucky to have some of the most awesome hockey moms EVER to work with this season. Most of us plan on living at the rink this weekend, and Jason is Super Dad and is in charge of Elliott. Ethan has a new mouthguard, clean gear, and freshly sharpened skates. Today after school, I took the boys and the suburban to the car wash, then we came home and decorated the windows. Ethan picked what he wanted them to say. Now I guess this makes it official. I am a hockey mom. GO JR. BULLS!

We do have something VERY cool for our tournament this season. The Billings Bulls are letting us use their website to broadcast the games LIVE! We have a parent filming the games for us. I am very excited about it and I hope you all have the chance to log on and catch one of his 4 games.

http://www.billingsbulls.com/ 

Just click on "watch live".

Ethan is on the Billings Teal team, wearing jearsey #5. His games are Friday at 6:00pm, Saturday at 7:00am and 3:00pm and the last one will be determined based on the scores from the other 3. If you do watch, let me know. I'd like to hear how it worked, and Ethan would love to know that you saw.

I will keep you updated as the weekend goes on. It's going to be a very busy, but awesome weekend.

The take over

Can I start by patting myself on the back? Seriously? Two blogs in one day!

Yesterday, Carson came over to play for a while, and Ethan went to the park with his friend from school, so Jason and I took the little kids outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. We do love our new video camera, and Jason has been really enjoying putting together videos, so here is the compilation of the afternoon.

Wonderful weekend of hockey

After watching Ethan's Award Ceremony, we came home and Jason and I loaded the Suburban. Yes, LOADED. I love having so much room. Then we picked up Ethan from school, and hit the road for Sheridan. Again, we had no ice at our rink this weekend, so our team set up a set of games against the Sheridan teams. After dinner, Jason and I asked Joe if he minded staying with the boys while they slept, and we went to see Alice in Wonderland. Because it is Sheridan, the movie was not in 3D. However, we could have went to watch paint dry as far as I was concerned, because I am just grateful for ANY time out, alone, together. Ethan's first game was at 8:00am on Saturday. We couldn't have ordered better weather. It was an absolutely beautiful day to be outside, and watching Ethan play hockey. He played out for 2 full ice games, and they tied the first and won the second, and then he played goalie for one 1/2 ice game. Not only did they WIN, it was Ethan's first SHUT-OUT as goalie! Believe me, he was walking tall, all 44 inches of him. After a long morning of hockey, we went out to celebrate Ethan's shut-out with one of the other families. We went back to Joe's and rested for a little while, and then we went to Chris' parents house and let Ethan and Tyler shoot the BB gun for a little bit before dinner. By bedtime, we were all exhausted. It was such a great weekend, everyone had a fun time.

Gettin' geared up to play goalie.

He even got to borrow a real goalie helmet. He was ready.

Lucky for you, Jason has gotten pretty good at putting movies together, so here are some highlights from Ethan's games.

Reading Olympics

Friday morning, Jason, Elliott and I rode the bikes over to Ethan's school, and waited patiently in the gym with the other families. I think we were walking a little taller with pride than everyone else though. You see, we knew that Ethan read more books than ANY of the other kindergarteners! The goal was to get the students reading more at home, and with the Olympics on TV, they tied the two together for the "Reading Olympics". 12 books earned a bronze medal, 17 for a silver one and 25 for gold. Here's the thing. The sheet we were given to keep a record of the books we read had 27 spots. Ethan had to fill them all in. Just in case that wasn't good enough, the teacher asked after a few days in if anyone would need a second sheet. Ethan brought home the second sheet and was determined to fill it up. But then, before that one was even full, he brought home a 3rd! Ethan was able to read 25 books on his own, and Jason read the rest of the 71 books. Ethan is a great reader, and reads all kinds of books. He even makes it a point to read signs, words on boxes, labels, posters, ads, and everything else that may be legible. I am so proud of him. This was a great way to start our wonderful weekend (more on that later).