Thursday, November 29, 2012

A birthday and Thanksgiving week

Monday morning, Andrea came over to save my whole day. Long story short, she's my hero. And these two........ bestest friends. 
Monday was actually Ethan's birthday, but he's been getting gifts for over a month. He didn't have an actual party, but he was ok with that this year. We have been really busy, Jason is gone, etc. So he was happy with cupcakes. 
Brought to his class and we hung out for a while. 
And the best part of his day? Grandma, Papa and Dominik came to visit for the week! 
We ate at his choice of restaurants, and he got cheesecake. WHAT?!?! What happened to chocolate cake? 
And Aunt Let sent presents for both boys. :)  
Boxing gloves! 
Both boys had school Tuesday, but after Elliott got out, we got to hang out with everyone until Ethan got out. 
Then there was swimming! 
They all had so much fun. 
Papa made them a water toy. A water bottle with a little water in it to throw around and fight for. 
These two always pick up right where they left off, even if it's been over a year since they were together. 
Then we went to pizza. The boys got their own table and picked the biggest table in the place so they could all sit really close together. 
Thanksgiving day was gorgeous! The boys played with the neighborhood kids. 
Dominik plays football, so he was in heaven. 
It was fun to see them enjoying the day. 
My Dad fried the turkey. 
Sooooooo good. 
And Mom and I made the sides and pie! Mmmmm pie.  
Papa brought up his wood burning stuff with him. Grandma transferred their pictures for them. Ethan showed off his skills, and Dominik made his first piece. They both did great. Elliott was resting, so Papa made him one too.  
Look at the concentration. 
Ethan made a name plaque. 
Then, look who joined the party! Eli is back! 
He had a letter for the boys. 
Unfortunately his handwriting isn't that great. :) 
Eli wasted no time getting into stuff. We woke up to this on Friday. 
After we spent the day in Great Falls, seeing family and shopping, the boys got to do some more swimming. 
We headed home and got ready to snowboard on Saturday. 
Grandma and Papa headed home early Saturday morning. Eli wanted to go with us. 
The day was beautiful and perfect for snowboarding. 
It was sunny, not windy, and just plain awesome. Look at those smiles. They couldn't wait to get going. 
Our friends were able to come up with us, and their boys snowboarded with Ethan. He did lose track of them for a while though and took about 3 runs all on his own. He's getting so big, it scares me a little. But I think that face says it all. Big smile, rosy cheeks and pure joy. 
I love watching Ethan be so comfortable. He was up and down the hill all day and even when I was sure he'd be exhausted, he did not want to leave.
Elliott took some convincing to get him going, but after his first little trip down about 1/4 of the learning hill, he was hooked. He killed it too. This video makes me laugh. Doesn't every 4 year old start jumping his snowboard on his very first day out? He told me "I like to cuz it makes me go faster!"
I knew Elliott was tired, but before he passed out, he decided he should color a picture on the door of my car. I'm still not happy about it, but how do you stay mad at this kid? 
We are still counting down the days until Jason gets home. 14 to be exact, and we can't wait!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

hockey trip #1

While hockey practices started a while ago, our first travel games were last weekend in Glasgow, MT. Not exactly an exciting place to go, but the hockey was good. :) 

Friday morning, I packed everything up and got us ready to go. Ethan is a "Squirt" this year, and they get really awesome jerseys. He also got to pick his number.
Arctic Circle was our dinner stop along the way. The boys loved the saddle chairs. 
Then, by the time we got to the hotel, it was bed time. Somehow, I lost a bet a I didn't know I made and ended up sharing my bed with Elliott and Ethan got his own.  
Saturday morning was game #1.  
This is always my favorite part. Can you spot the maroon helmet? 
Ethan had some great plays, and he owned that blue line. He's an awesome defender. 
He's still pretty much the smallest kid on the ice, but he makes up for it. 
I just love watching him play. The way his brain and feet work together amazes me. 
And I love the celebrations when they score. 
I was the "momarazzi" and I had a sidekick. ;) 
This was the best idea I've ever had. We bought some milk, fruit and cereal for Sunday morning since we had an early game. It made it so much easier on everyone. 
Ethan had a couple breakaways, but couldn't get it in the net. 
I did so much yelling, I had a sore throat and my voice was kind of horse for a while.
Yeah, I'm "that" mom. 
They ended up winning zero of the 4 games, but they played their butts off. I'm not going to say "it doesn't matter if you win or lose" because we all know that is BS, but I was pretty proud of our kids. They learned a lot, and worked hard. 
No hockey this weekend or next, but I'm looking forward to Idaho Falls in a couple weeks.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

dumped on

Jason has left us for some training in Alabama. Just in time, might I add, to miss this. They are calling this storm Brutus, and even though I wasn't aware that we name snowstorms, I like to call it that. 

The day it started, this was the view in my car. Notice there is NO mountain range. None. It stayed this way for 2 days. 
The first day we had at least 6 inches of snow, and my big helpers were happy to get to work. 
The next morning, this was on the TV. Luckily, besides school, we had no plans to go anywhere or do anything. 
We just stayed in where it was warm and enjoyed the view. 
I took this picture while Andrea and I did some crafting. 
A couple hours later, I took this one. It was coming down and piling up so fast. 
Even with the snow, the weather was perfect. No wind, and it was above zero, so in Montana, that's considered beautiful weather. I wanted to take some pictures for Jason, and I asked the boys to stand in the snow. The next few pictures are what I got from them. 

They LOVED it. 
Their feet in the air is my favorite. Pure bliss. 
And they couldn't resist throwing some too. 
Nothing but smiles. Lots of smiles and laughs. And then of course rosy cheeks.
We ended up with almost 14" at our house. Jason's car is still covered, but the weather has been so nice this week, that the roads are all cleared up.
Good thing too, because we are leaving for Ethan's first travel hockey games of the season this weekend. I cannot wait!