#4 . . .

 Loves Hockey!

This guy has been playing solid since last August, said he wants to play the Spring league again which starts as soon as this Sept-March season ends, and when he learned that his "hopefully" high school team might be involved in a summer league, or at least do summer work outs, he was all over those ideas!  He LOVES hockey!  I can not honestly remember a time that I said he has practice or a game and he moaned about not wanting to go, blows my mind.

And lest you think he's "just" a hockey jock...last night...since he's first chair in his band's percussion section...he and one other percussionist from his band were asked to play with his school's orchestra on the same stage that world-renown musicians have graced over the 100+ years it's existed in our town.  Got all that? I'm way too wordy...anyhoo...he got to play timpani (the four metal kettle drum type things) and his friend played the triangle...(-:...well, Ben pulled the wrong piece of music out at "go" time and played the entire piece by memory.  After which, the conductor approached him and thanked him for such a fine performance and that she never had to correct him once over the course of rehearsals. He played the thing by memory!!

Finally, today...when little bro was talking about his two best friends from school, Ben walked by and I asked him who his best friend was..."Oh," he said, "Hmmm," he though, "Well, So and So and So and So and So and So and Him and Him and Such and Such...I mean, I have a lot of great friends, hard to choose." 

OK, fine...PLUS...He keeps getting A's in Algebra...and we'll just keep the English grade to ourselves!! (-;

Winter Fun Comes in All Shapes & Sizes . . .

Shape #1: Driveway Sledding

And this is just a third of this particular driveway that we frequent once each winter.  We're usually up here with three or four other families, I think that's about half the kids right there. That's our Liv waving in the purple on the right.

Tricky this year being around -10 and trying to be sure everyone kept their faces covered.

And, down they go again!

This is just about the last third of the driveway as one approaches the house we stay in at the top of the hill and we typically spend the first 3-5 hours of arrival time trying to get all the cars up the hill or unstuck from one bank or another. Often we give up and leave the cars parked in various positions throughout the hill.  This year though, we got a little smarter. One family ditched their mini van and borrowed an all-wheel drive, we squished everyone in our all-wheel drive last year and learned that worked, one family just parked at the bottom of the hill and asked us to shuttle them and one mini van parked near the top overnight to make a morning ascent. Only took us about four years to figure this out!

Shape #2: Dune Sledding

It warmed up to about 11 degrees and the wind died down one day so we gave Sleeping Bear a try.  Unfortunately, I think the gale force winds we'd been experiencing blew all the snow off the dune, we've never had this much sand exposed before.  Only the littles enjoyed sledding down the bottom half of the dune, the others hiked a bit and some of us sat in the car fairly soon after arrival.  That gal up above was one of the people that sat in the car...THANK GOODNESS...what is UP with that ridiculous get up??? Oh my gosh, I need to pull together some matching winter gear one of these days!

These two gals could be heard saying, "We caught air time!!" after one of their mini jumps. They definitely had the most fun sledding this year and where out there far longer than Harrison and William.

Check this link to see last year's snow-covered dune!

And this for the year before!

Well, Looks like we're doing a retrospective...Check here!

2nd year, tried skiing I guess!

1st year, no dunes but a great driveway pic!

Shape #3: Puzzle Making & Crashing Hard

1,000 piece puzzles are a constant go to for some of the folks on our get away. 

And the ends of the nights come fast and hard near the end of our stay. For moms and kids alike. Not much visiting out of me on our last night together. Pretty sure I was out by 9:30p.m. with this sweet duo.

Shape #4: Concert Making

Technically, this photo should be at the top since it happened before the other winter fun, but it was merely a few hours earlier so we'll run with it. Yes, I performed "Elijah" with this illustrious group of musicians until 10:30p.m. Saturday night and then Sunday morning at 7:30a.m. the pedal was on the medal heading up with Ben to meet everyone else for all the aforementioned winter fun.  So, yeah...I fell asleep at 9:30p.m one night....Mmm, hmmm!

The "Good Eye" award is waiting for the first person to spot me!

(-:

I'll try to remember to post the answer soon...

I.Know.Everything. !!! . . .

Scene: Mom & Livia with their fast food

Livia: "Mom, why are these called chicken nuggets?"

Mom: "Well...they're made from chicken and shaped like nuggets I guess."

Livia...without missing a beat..."You know EVERYTHING!"

(-;

P.S., let's just not discuss what exactly chicken nuggets are made of, ok...moving on...

NEXT STORY: IT NEVER HURTS TO ASK

See those sweet skates?  Yeah, those Bauer so and such, this and that, a line made especially for defensemen...ringing in at around $350!!! Well, here's the story.  Over the summer we frequent the local Play it Again Sports tent sale for hockey gear.  This summer we scored a pair of Bauer skates for 60% off and Ben LOVED the skates.  We were clued in to how they were even especially made for defense players (say what?  blade and a boot right?), which Ben is so...score.  Well, just about six months after that purchase one or two of the eyelets on the skate broke when he was tying his skates.  Well, I didn't think sweet skates should break within six months, whether we got them in a tent sale or not.  Before our sweet sale, they were a pretty penny after all. So, I decided now was the perfect time for, "It never hurts to ask" to be put into action.  Called the shop, explained the situation and were offered a direct swap for the same skate, which Bauer didn't make anymore so they gave us the next model up...Um...YES! Picked them up at 4:56p.m. tonight, all heated and shaped to his foot with a 24 hour no skating requirement to let them set.  Perfect, next skate is 5:00p.m. tomorrow!

Wasn't that fascinating?

Ha!

And...it's concert week around here this week.  I'm performing Elijah tomorrow night and have had four rehearsals this week, in addition to my regular work, and kids events...oh my goodness...YOU SHOULD SEE THIS HOUSE!!! Yikes!

Notes . . .

Even in today's high-fallootin' iGadgety day and age, I am a big fan of the hand written note.

Big Fan.

I hang them everywhere that I think the intended note reader will see it.

So, Friday, I was out teaching until 5p.m. and we had five families coming over at 7p.m. that evening.  I figured the note below, with $$ signs and everything, hung in the middle of the kitchen would be very noticeable and motivating to all the kids home before me.

Turns out I figured wrong.

And, when a mom arrives home at 5:00p.m. with five families due to arrive at 7:00p.m. and no one has taken her up on and part of her eloquently written note...well, hmmm...

Yeah...didn't take too long after my arrival!

These two really did a bang up job once we were all properly motivated.

(-;

Turns out other members of my family are also fans of the hand written note.

One of them requested I purchase some peppers with a little spice and I said there was no way I'd remember that, but to write me a note and tape it to the cupboard.  I guess I didn't specify what to write the note on, so I suppose, using a tissue was perfectly fine!

Rub-a-dub-dub . . .

Two kids in a tub!

You know...I love bubble bath pictures.

Don't you?

I wish I had the time and energy to scroll back for some links, cause I know I have some dandies from days of yore...but alas...11:52p.m. on a day that literally started with the alarm at 7:00a.m. and now I'm finally back in bed.  Good day, but a long one!

So, this series of bubble bath pics, Liv was in no mood, didn't want any part of it.  That meant that William would naturally react as if pictures were the best thing ever and lets take a 100 pic photo shoot series please...you say up, I'll say down is their state quite often these days.

I was just standing above them, holding my iphone over the tub, pretty cool perspective I think.

Sign o' the times though...this started out as Liv's bath and William could hardly stand it seeing all these bubbles blowing up when we turned the jets on, boy he wanted to get in there but boy could you see the wheels turing in his head..."There is NO WAY I'm stripping down in front of these ladies." (my big 1/2 way through 3rd grader!)...I could see it all over him, want to get in, but I think I'm too old for a bath with the little sis.

I couldn't stand it, so I gave him the slightest urging that it was a-ok, and that was all it took.

Likely their last bubble bath together!

And to top it off, Livia questioned why I was having her sit on my lap at this afternoon's hockey game.  Uh, say what???  Because you're my little sweetie pie, honey bunch, that's why!!  You're not too big for sitting on my lap are you, I ask?  "Um, yeah" she says...

Break a mother's heart why don't ya! )-:

Snow Day! . . .

Finally, some snow! . . .

Although, Benny does not seem amused!

The courtyard has been his playground still throughout our relatively mild winter.  I even kept a pile of leaves in there from the Fall for him and everything (that's what I'm telling myself about leaving the pile of leaves in there, haha, seriously though, I wanted to see if he'd burrow in them when it got cold.  He doesn't...but it is his favorite spot to relieve himself...that will be fun to clean up this Spring...anyhoo...)

So, late this afternoon, after about maybe 7-8 inches had fallen, I thought I'd let him check it out.

It really wasn't his favorite thing ever.

Although, he did find some leaves in the opposite corner to munch on for a bit, and he knew to stick along the edges where the gutters prevented the snow from being as deep as in the middle...such a smart bunny...(-:...he hung out outside for probably 10 minutes max.

And that was that.

No. Thank. You.

Also, first real snow day because of snow for the year tomorrow too.  I've turned the page to being really (mostly) glad for snow days now, way fewer obligations and running around this way! Funny all the different life chapters.