Skating

Andrew and Nathan have been enjoying the rink in the backyard. Not sure how it will hold up over the next few days though!
Throughout the Christmas break there has been free public skating at the local rinks. Bob has been taking the boys. Nathan has really improved! He can whip around the rink now. And yesterday Andrew's hockey practice was a "family" practice (since they had already played 2 games during the day) so Nathan put on hockey equipment for the first time and went for a skate. He did really well. He said he wants to play hockey next year! And we thought we were busy this year?!

Andrew had a hockey tournament from the 26th to the 29th. It was exciting hockey! The games were so close with the semi finals and the finals going to overtime...but Andrew's team came out with the win! Pretty exciting for those 7 year olds...they had slushies to celebrate.

Christmas!

Here are some pictures from Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had the grandparents over for dinner, on Christmas day we went to Uncle Mike and Aunt Sheryl's, on Boxing day we had our friends and neighbours over, and then on the 27th we went to Uncle Kirk and Aunt Jackie's! It was busy but lots of fun. Andrew and Nathan were so disappointed when it was all over...there was so much excitement coming up to the 25th and then it was done! It went by too quickly.

What have we been up to lately? Same as usual...hockey and more hockey!
Bob has worked very hard to get a skating rink going in our backyard...unfortunately our backyard is sloped which has been a huge challenge. But so far, after some extra work and learning as we go, the rink is coming along. Andrew and Nathan got to skate on a small area of the rink the other day.
We went to the Generals game on Sunday...good game!
I think we're almost ready for Christmas. I'm still shopping! The kids are very excited! Andrew wants me to set up a video camera and have it run all night long so that he can see when Santa comes. I told him I'd think about it.

Wow, I haven't updated in awhile!
We have been keeping busy with Andrew's hockey. He's usually on the ice Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Nathan is still taking skating lessons on Mondays...he has really improved! Maybe he'll start hockey next year?! Oh boy.

We were away for a hockey tournament this past weekend. The boys had alot of fun at the hotel. We rented the banquet hall at the hotel on Friday afternoon so the kids could have somewhere to run around other than up and down the hallway. They sure do have alot of energy...they were up at 5:00 in the morning, played two games of hockey, went swimming, then had a mini-sticks tournament in the banquet hall, ran around for a few more hours and then still wanted to stay up late. A few adults napped during the day but there was no way the kids were going to nap!

We have our Christmas decorations up! I wonder what Santa will bring the kids this year? They emailed Santa and got a response already...pretty exciting!

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Busy weekend!
Friday night Andrew had a game in Newmarket. They won! Saturday Nathan went to a birthday party while Andrew had another hockey game (they won again!). Then we went over to Gary and Jackie's to celebrate Jacob's 4th birthday! He really loves Batman...just like Gary did (and still does).
Sunday I went to Tanya's bridal shower and Bob and the kids went to the ACC to watch the Legend's hockey game. Andrew's whole hockey team went...sounds like they had a good time.

Halloween

The kids had fun tonight. It was cold though! We came home to have a hot chocolate break and then went back out. Grammie and Grandpa came over to give out the candies for us.

Emily is 2!

Saturday Nathan and I went to celebrate Emily's 2nd birthday! Andrew had a hockey game so he couldn't make it to the party. The kids put their costumes on...Batman Vs. the Vampire! Not sure who won. We had a good time. Nathan didn't want to go home but Bob and I were going out to a hockey fundraiser that night.
We'll see the family next weekend to celebrate Jacob's birthday!

Nathan's Party

Nathan had his birthday party yesterday! I was worried that it might have to be cancelled because when I picked him up from school on Friday, the playcare staff said Nathan didn't feel well and he had a nap on the mat. I brought him home and he started to cry. He had a slight fever. Gave him some Tylenol, he hardly ate any dinner and then slept on the couch for an hour. He got up, still didn't feel well so I put him to bed.

But yesterday he woke up early, was in a good mood and no fever! Whew. 8 of his friends from school came over. We decorated halloween cookies, ate pizza, cake and played Wii. It was fun!

Andrew is at a birthday party today, and then he has hockey practice right after. He had a game Friday (lost 7-0),a practice yesterday and another practice today. Lots of ice time this weekend.

Nathan's Birthday

Today is Nathan's 6th Birthday! Andrew had hockey practice from 5:00 until 6:00 and then we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner. Some of his friends from school will be coming over on Saturday for a couple of hours to celebrate!

Nathan started skating lessons on Monday. Bob said he did really well...he fell down alot but never got frustrated.

Andrew is busy with hockey. They had 4 exhibition games and lost all of them. Now that the season has officially started, they have won 2 games and lost 1. Andrew has started to play forward...we'll see how he does. He's having a bit of trouble remembering to stay in his position. He tends to float around the ice, but so do some of his team mates.

Knitting

Saturday night was girls night. My friends and I went to an Irish pub for dinner, then went knitting!! Yes, knitting. A friend of a friend owns a knitting/coffee shop in the trendy part of town so we went to check it out. We had a 3 hour knitting lesson where we learned how to Knit and Purl and chatted over a couple bottles of wine! It was alot of fun. I have to admit that I'm kind of hooked on this knitting thing...I bought some wool and my goal is to knit myself a scarf by Christmas.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We went to the trailer this weekend. We celebrated Thanksgiving with friends up there on Saturday and then we closed up the trailer for the season on Sunday. We had a nice turkey dinner at our next door neighbours, Roger and Stephanie...they have a park model trailer which has much more room than a regular trailer.

After we closed the trailer on Sunday, we headed over to Joan and Mike's for another turkey dinner! It was good. Ate too much.

Today I did a ton of laundry! But it was kind of a lazy day...we are all tired from the weekend. Got together with the neighbours for a couple of hours and ate leftovers for dinner.

Took a day off tomorrow.

Mama's birthday

We helped celebrated Mama's 93rd birthday! It was nice to all get together. We all got to meet the newest addition to the family...baby Melia. She's really cute. Lucus seems to be adjusting just fine!

Bob couldn't make it to the birthday party...he was in Florida with 4 of his friends for a golf weekend. I kept busy with the kids. Andrew had hockey practice, then I went to Andrew's hockey team's pub night, Nathan went to his friend's birthday party, we went shopping for halloween costumes, etc.

School has started and the kids are loving it! Andrew was really looking forward to the start of school...he missed his friends.
Andrew is in Grade 2 and Nathan is in Grade 1...both of them are in school full time! They only go to daycare from 3:15 to 5:00 everyday.

Nathan had a T-ball trophy day. They just went to collect another trophy, they didn't have to play which he was very happy about.

Andrew has started hockey. The season hasn't started yet but they have been practicing 2 or 3 times a week and have had 2 exhibition games so far (they lost both, but they were good games). Last week Andrew got to take home the wrestling belt. Each week they choose one player who was the hardest worker at the practices..they get to keep it for a few days.