Hockey Star!

It's almost the end of hockey season and interest is flagging all round! Even Murray has almost had his fill of ice times and running back & forth to rinks. This weekend the girls had a few games and by last evening, Honey had had enough. She did NOT want to go. But when she heard Grammie & Grandad were coming to watch, she decided she'd lace up and hit the ice after all.

Good thing she did! At the end of the game, the coach awarded her a mini stick for "Player of the Game". We're not sure what she did that caught his eye but it certainly perked her right up and was the highlight of her year. She's not sure she'll sign up again in the fall but was certainly riding high on this last night. After he gave it to her they all headed for the dressing room and she just sat and stared at the stick in awe and almost looked a little teary eyed. They had a great game, won 8-5! It was their first win in MONTHS!

When we got home, she had some celebratory ice cream on our new "special day" plate that I painted at on our recent visit to Pottery Palace. She was quite pleased to be the first to use it, especially since she hadn't eaten her supper and never made it to the dessert round!

Baby Checkers!

January and February are the slow season in photography so I find myself with some enjoyable downtime but I needed to take pictures of something!!! So I set up my natural light "studio" in the living room and grabbed our boy the new guy for some shots! and voila! A newborn session!

He's grown again already since I took these and is doing quite well with training! Accidents are getting fewer and farther between and he sleeps for longer stretches at night. hooray! and it is so cute how he follows me around all the time, just like a, well, puppy!

Moving Up in the World of Irish Dance

The long awaited day has passed! We are in HARD SHOES!!!!! No longer are we softshoeing around with the soft smooth sound of leather against floor. No! We are clacking, banging and stomping to our heart's content! Sweetie decided not  to continue with Irish Dance after Christmas and I thought this development might make  her question her decision but she didn't bat an eye. So far the only thing she misses about dancing is the sucker the teacher gives them after class. Much cheaper to bring some of her Halloween candy (yes, STILL!) with us instead of paying of lessons she doesn't want! She's loving her gymnastics though so that's good!

Lovey & Honey were over the moon to get to Hard Shoe though and can't get enough of it. The first part of class was still softshoes so they had to put those on first and it just about killed them! At the halfway point they came flying out for the changeover and the excitement was crazy! Then the teachers asked them to come back in and STAND STILL. bahahahahhaaa! Good luck with that. Teachers, here's a tip for your next group: buy some earplugs, let them in on that first day, shut the door with you just outside it. Let them bang it out until they deafen themselves, sayyyyy 5-10 minute til they get it all out of their systems, THEN go in and try to teach them something. :)

 

Welcome Home Checkers!!!

Finally the day came! Time to pick up our baby!!! It was a long drive, filled with waaaaaay too many are-we-there-yets and how-much-longers!!! Murray was so exasperated he was mentally planning a new app called "Are We There Yet?" but then figured it probably already exists (it does). We drove as far as his parents' place Friday night and the girls, who were already wound for sound, took it up a notch when Nancy showed them their brand new bunk beds!!! You'd think they'd never seen any before, but they've slept in them many times at my parents. Ha ha!!!

It was quite a wild evening and I wasn't sure they'd EVER get settled down, never mind fall asleep! To top it all off, an equally excited little boy met us at the door and stayed for a sleepover! Mr Bojangles was happy to see his girls!

The next morning it didn't take any prompting or nagging to get breakfast done or jobs completed. They were on a mission and we hit the road by 9am! We couldn't wait to get in the door to see him again!!! It felt like a long time to complete his paperwork, figure out his kennel name, pay up and get back on the road again.

So here are a few pictures from  his first week!

 Meeting Uncle Louis!

!

 Checking out his new yard.

 Getting an afterschool cuddle

 

Crashing out after playing hard! (so hard that his sense of smell failed him!) Actually, we find him here quite often! As soon as he comes in from outside, he makes a beeline for the gear bags. If those aren't accessible, he goes to plan B: sleeping in the front closet in the girls' bookbags!

Road Trip!

We had an "away" game tonight! It turned out this rink was near Acorn's house and her mom had said she was interested in seeing them play sometime, so we invited her along for the ride!

I picked all the girls up afterschool and they were bubbling and giggly before we even got outside the school. I'd packed sandwiches for supper but gave them the option of adding on some KFC popcorn chicken to round it out, OR to go for doughnuts after they ate their meal. Duh. First time mom??? TIE VOTE. we had to do both!  Everyone was quite upset as you can imagine! They had to eat their fruit & vegetables first though!

The trip went well and Murray's map memorization skills got us to the rink AN HOUR early! (got some Rick in him I think...) The kids played outside for awhile and then Honey & Lovey had to go suit up. We came inside for the start of the game but it wasn't long before the opposition took the lead. I asked Acorn if the game was as exciting as she'd expected and she said it was. Then she said it wasn't, it was MORE exciting than she'd expected. (Murray thought her standards might have been a bit low LOL) She seemed to have a good time and Sweetie was glad to have someone there to run around with when she got bored. They did a few laps of the arena to scope things out as the game went on.

Honey was working hard out there and it wasn't long before her cheeks were flaming red from all the hustling to and fro. She is all over the action and keeps up with the others pretty well now.

Lovey has a distinctive stride that even I, the worst hockey mom on the planet, can pick out a mile away. She has a sortof, la la la out for an evening stroll kind of gliding side to side saunter. You can almost hear her humming merrily on her way. She was very observant... of her fans and made sure to swing by, smile & wave frequently. I'm sure her coach understands why she can't be following that puck action all the time, it's not often your BFF comes to your game right???

Everyone had a great time and dropped off to sleep quickly when we finally got home to bed! (although Honey insisted on finishing up one last bit of homework she had before turning in!)

With Checkers coming soon, we've been working on getting things picked up, sorted out and uncluttered (well, somewhat!). This meant the tree had to come down today and is now outdoors waiting for the next bonfire! Whew! Tomorrow's project will be cleaning up the remaining needles!

Countdown of all countdowns!

The big weekend is almost here!!! We are going to pick up our new puppy on Saturday! I don't know who's the most excited (me??? hard to tell!)

The breeder sent us a Christmas picture, as if she didn't have him sold already??? So excited to bring Checkers home on Saturday!!!

The girls have been trying to be more responsible with their toys and I also have to get back in the habit or remembering not to leave things accessible! They've diligently gone through their rooms and culled the herd a bit and there's been a lot of recycling, garbaging and tidying! I'm sure we'll learn a few more lessons the hard way but hopefully not too many!

Here's his Christmas photo, brace yourself, he's pretty darn cute!

Christmas Chaos

The kids woke up on their own this year! We'd told them they could get up at 7 and at 6:53, I heard a distinctively loud whisper of "only SEVEN more minutes guys!!!" We quickly came down to browse our stockings and then went back up for a quick bite of breakfast. They are really quite good about it. I'm not sure my mum had as easy a time getting Dale & I to eat on Christmas morning! (but other than that I was pretty much a perfect kid! and as the writer of the blog, what I say GOES!)

Present opening gets faster every year it seems and it was a full time job managing the garbage, making sure nothing important was going in the discard pile, ensure everyone was opening their own presents and that nothing was getting lost in the mayhem!

They were quite pleased with everything and like their father, used anything they could immediately! Lovey had her pearls on in no time and you can see Sweetie sporting her new earmuffs! Once they had made it through their piles, Murray and I could relax and open ours. As a kid, this must have been what Mum & Dad were doing but I thought they were opening presents the whole time I was and was always amazed that they STILL had MORE to open after Dale & I finished! I thought they were quite spoiled actually! LOL Ahhh hindsight, you sneaky devil!

With presents out of the way, it was time for the most decadent breakfast of the year! Homemade Belgian waffles topped with strawberries, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. We talk about this for weeks before it happens! I prep everything except the whip cream the night before. Murray whips that up as I cook the waffles. It is so incredibly delicious, it's a bit sad we have to wait a whole year to have it again! But it's soooo rich that once a year is about all a body could really bear! I love this tradition and that the girls already identify it as a Christmas highlight each year.

I hope your Christmas was as merry and bright as ours!