My thoughts on.... Losing

Cooper's team is on a losing streak.  They had their very first hockey tournament this past weekend and we lost all 4 games.  All four games.  It was at this point that we started to think back to when we last won a game...  It turned out it was the first week of December.  We hadn't won a game in 2 months.

This is a first for our family.  For 3 years, Grady has been on a winning team.  Last season I remember when we hit a 10 game winning streak and the whole team got Slurpee's for their win.  The coach had a deal with them that if they won 15 games in a row he'd wear a suit on the bench.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Being on the losing side has a taught me a few things.

The parents care more than the kids.  It was the parents talking in the stands about wanting to win a game.  It was the parents that realized that it had been a long time since our last win.  It was the parents that were disappointed after each game that we lost.  The kids hustled out of the dressing room asking if they could go to the pool.

The loss is easily forgotten.  For my kids at least.  While they may be sad on the ice and in the dressing room, by the time they hop in the van all they care about is what is for dinner!

The kids play their hardest no matter what the score.  Cooper played great this weekend.  We are quickly realizing that Mr. Coop is a defense man.  He doesn't care about the final score, all he cares about is protecting the net, whether the game is close or not.

They won't remember the score, they will remember the fun.  This weekend we spent in Golden, staying at a hotel with all the other families.  Swimming, running loose around the hotel, playing vids, playing mini sticks and hiding out from the parents in various rooms.  The kids won't remember what the score was but they will remember who did the best canon ball into the pool!

I use my bell more on a losing team.  When we are on a winning team I choose only to use my cow bell on the first goal or two and then I put it away.  I don't like to be that obnoxious parent that doesn't take the other teams feelings into account.  On Cooper's team I ring that bell for every single goal.  Those kids deserve it.  They work so hard for everyone of them!  I ring it on saves, on goals, and at the end. We are that team.

Our coaches are superb. Win or lose, our coaches support the team.  They are encouraging and positive, win or lose.  From the spectator benches I can see the coaches giving each player pep talks, high fiving them after a good shift and pouring water into their mouths when the players are thirsty.  It is clear that these coaches develop bonds with the kids and vice versa.  I've had more than one of he coaches tell me how much Cooper has improved this season or to email me after a practice and tell me how hard 'Coopman' is working.

First penalty!

Winning is extra sweet.  Last night after a 2 month losing streak we won a game.  You better believe that I was ringing my bell in full force.  We were being crazy hockey moms and it was much deserved.  We were joking that we felt we needed to go over and tell them we weren't crazy, just super excited to finally win a game!  It was smiles all around after a well deserved win.

It's hard to score.  When you are a first year player and you play on team that doesn't win all that much, it is really hard to score.  We have a handful of second year players that score 90% of our goals which is great, but part of the fun of the sport when you are young is scoring the goals.  Since Cooper is turning into a defenceman, he rarely plays forward which means even fewer opportunities to score.  Now that he is getting so much praise for guarding the net he isn't as eager to play forward or score the goals.  He is more into stopping them and I must say he does it well!

In the end, yes, it is nice to win, nobody likes to lose, but not winning doesn't make our season any less exciting.  Cooper has made some excellent friends, ones I hope that he gets to play with in the years to come.  We have a great group of parents and coaches and I will be just as sad to see this season end as I am every season, even the winning ones.

five on friday: out of town tournaments

In preparation for 3 out of town hockey tournaments that we will be leaving town for I thought it would be a good idea to document the top 5 items that you don't want to leave at home.

{one} Flip flops.  We only forgot our flip flops once and never again.  We had to wear our winter boots to the pool.  Wet feet and winter boots just don't belong.  We now wear our winter boots out and about and pack our flip flops for the hotel.

{two} Solo Cups.  I may even upgrade this to travel mug after our latest fail with solo cups.  Alcohol is not allowed at the pool.  But, in most hotels if you conceal it they turn a blind eye. Not at the last hotel.  The only way you could get away with drinking wine in the pool area was in a travel mug.  So my Yeti mug is coming along on our trip.  Coffee by day and wine by night!

{three} Cereal and milk.  Even the cheapest hotels have a mini fridge to put the milk in and it makes a great snack, day or night.  My kids love cereal, and so do I really, so it is the perfect food to have on hand when they are hungry and they want to eat right now.  It saves you having to buy that junk in the vending machine that is unhealthy and overpriced.

{four} Wine.  One will not survive the weekend without copious amount of booze.  With sixteen 7 and 8 year old running around you need booze to keep you sane.  I think many people have the impression that hockey trips are boring and parents don't want to go.  It is quite the opposite. I love out of town tournaments.  The kids are happy, there are no responsibilities other then getting your kids to the rink on time, and every one is packing the solo cups and booze mentioned above.  It is a recipe for a good time.

{five}  Electronics.  Phones, ipads, DS, Switch, you name it we bring it.  Because once those rowdy kids get out of the pool and they are tired and cranky this will give them something to do since we are all crammed into tiny little hotel rooms.  Not to mention it will keep them quiet in the car on the way there for 15 minutes increments if you travel with my kids.....

You pack these 5 things and you are set for a fantastic weekend away!  It is even better if you win the tournament.  But at this age they all get medals so win or lose, the kids don't care anyway!

Happy Friday!

House Tour: The Mud room

This week we talk mud rooms.  The mud room was huge selling point for this house since our old house didn't have one at all.  Our front door and our garage door came into the same small cramped hallway with one closet that was overflowing with all our jackets ans shoes.  Now we have a full room to store all our outwear and more!  This photo is taken from the hall looking into the mud room.

The upper cabinets are filled with kitchen appliances that we couldn't squeeze into the pantry.  Another cool thing in the mud room is that the squares below the counter top are swing doors into the recycle bins.  Considering we had a large recycling bin just sitting in the kitchen of old house this is a huge improvement.  We usually keep the water bottles in the garage but the day that I took these photos it was VERY cold and the jugs were freezing so we had to store them indoors.

This photo is taken from the wall opposite the entrance to the house.

For interest sake I decided to show you inside my messy closets.

When we first bought the house both closets were filled with shelving units.  Where did they keep their jackets?  Within the first week that we took possession I was in there taking down the shelves so the closets could be patched and painted.  I love having the other closet for random storage but I equally love the closet that is now filled with outerwear.  In the other closet we keep our hockey jerseys and long underwear, bandaids, batteries, extra paper products and any other misc house hold items you can think of.  We used to store our paper products in the bathtub in our bedroom.  For real.

This photo is taken from the closets looking toward the other wall.  I love all the hooks for the kids jackets so we don't have to make room in the closet for them.  That and they are at the perfect kid height for the kids to hang them up themselves.  But they don't.

And because this is real life... we have this area tucked behind the washer and dryer that is the storage of all things.  Thankfully it is tucked around the corner hidden from most people! 

Finally, here is the entrance to the garage.  The door to the left goes out to a small dog run, you know, in case we ever get a dog.

Now you've seen our 2 main entry ways into the house let's take a step further.  Next up... the living room.

Monday Musings

This weekend was just what we needed.  With hardly any hockey on the schedule we had lots of time to just chill at home. This is rarity during hockey season, and any time really.  What did I fill my time with you ask?

Pretty Little Liars.  Yes, I am late to the game on this one.  And maybe a little old.  I seriously am addicted to this story all about murder involving teenagers. it is right up my alley, a little bit of mystery and a whole lot of Drama.  I just finished the the first season and I have 6 to go.  I love the feeling of knowing that you have so many episodes to go in a show you enjoy!  I am all about binge watching TV.

Baking and cooking.  While watching Pretty Little Liars with my wireless earphones I managed to accomplish a lot in the kitchen.  I started with making a loaf of bread in the bread maker.  The first think I do when I take it out of the machine is to cut off the crust and smother it in butter.  Nothing beats fresh bread and butter!  Next up I made a cake from scratch for a dinner we were going to that night.  Finally, I made a pot of butternut squash and cauliflower soup for lunches this week.  I like to top mine with cheese and bacon.

Reading:  After taking a week or two off reading I am back at it with this book.:

It is about a couple that signs up for a project where they get to live a life a luxury one month and then spend the alternate months in jail.  I'm only 50 pages in but really find it interesting.  Next book for book club is Little Fires Everywhere which I am super pumped to read.

Exercise.  In between a 4 hour session at the outdoor rink and the above activities I manged to squeeze in a Lagree class and a run and walk on the treadmill.  The weather was beautiful but I am so hooked on my new show that I chose to run inside.  What ever keeps you motivated... right??

I know I won't have a free weekend like this for some time which made me appreciate it even more!  I hope your weekend was as relaxing as mine!

five on friday

{one}  Cooper's team had a short run in the EMHW tournament.  They lost their first game in a shoot out and then lost the second game 8-4 after the game was so close going into the 3rd.  Cooper game out of the dressing room after the second game and looked at me and said 'I can't believe me lost'.  Not in a sad way, just in a factual, flabbergasted way.  #betterlucknextyear

{two} Grady's team face the top team of the league in game to after an 8-0 victory in game 1.  They've played this team 2 times and lost both times.  This team has not lost a single game this season, until Monday.  Our team came out strong and we beat them 3-1 with the last goal on an open net.  We celebrated like we had just won the tournament.  Then we lost in a shoot out the very next day.

{three} Because we are out of the tournament we have Saturday free. I repeat, we have no plans on Saturday. Nothing, Zilch, Nada.  What does one do with a full Saturday with no hockey on the weekend?  I plan to do a Lagree class and James plans to build the hockey net the kids got for Christmas and to finally get the bindings put on his new skis.

{four}  I have Monday off for the first time in 2018.  When you aren't used to working 5 days a week it is long.  You know what is also long? My list of things to do.  I am celebrating my day off with lunch with a friend and a massage after I take Grady to the dentist for the second time this month to have another cavity filled.

{five}  Is anyone else happy that TV is back in full force this week!  This is Us, Scandal, and Grey's Anatomy is all new this week!  That is really going to cut into my Pretty Little Liars screen time. It is my newest Netflix obsession.  The best feeling is finding a show you like on Netflix and knowing you have 6 seasons to watch before the series ends... Score!

House Tour: The Main Entry

Hello! Welcome to our home!  

This series is long overdue.  We moved into our house the last weekend in May, so we have been living in our house for 8 months and I have yet to give you a tour, #badhostess.  In my defense, the first month we were in the house it was still somewhat of a construction zone while we redid the railings.  Then, we had to wait for all our furniture to arrive and the last piece arrived the last week in December.  So if you look at it that way, it's only been a few weeks....

We had been in our old house for 13 years and decided we didn't really want to bring any of our old stuff with us.  On our main level, we literally brought our kitchen table and the blue shelf you see in photos below.  That is it.  The rest we bought just before or after we moved.  And by 'we' I mean 'I'.  While you may think that house shopping is fun, it was stressful for someone that prefers to shop for clothes.  I am happy the major purchases are done.    Now hurry along and come in!

This is the entry way from the upstairs landing, the white door is the main entrance into our house.  The living room is off to the right.

This is a photo of from standing in the living room looking into the house.  The kitchen is down the hall on the left and the office and mud room are off to the right.

This is the blue shelving unit we brought from the old house.  I am a fan of all shades of blue and we went with teal in the entrance.  Looking at the picture I realize I should have taken the time to straighten the vase, but this is more likely what it would like if you came to visit!

For the first few months after we moved in, these stairs were always a discussion point when someone came to visit for the first time.  We have granite stairs.  Apparently one of the old owners did a barter deal when someone couldn't pay a bill and instead gave them granite stairs.  Personally, I love them.  They look so elegant and before you ask, they are not slippery.  Or dangerous.  People assume they are dangerous when they are no more slippery then hardwood.  One of my friends suggested that I put a sign up that said 'Before you ask, no one has fallen on the stairs'.  I seriously considered it for while...

Let me give you a better look at the railings that almost got installed with the wrong wood. The job that took double the time it was supposed to and one that had us sleeping in the basement for 5 nights.  At the time, I was starting to regret our decision.  We couldn't squeeze it in before we moved in since our buyers needed possession a week earlier than I wanted to give it up.  Living through the reno was worse than I expected, especially when they took double the time and had grouchy and rude workers.  Now looking at my railing I am glad we did it.  I know if we waited it would never have gotten done.  I would have gotten used to the old one.  I think it showcases the stairs and makes the entry more modern.

Notice the touch of teal at the top of the stairs!

I brought this sign of our last name over from the old house.  I bought one for myself and gifted one to my Mom.  It was in our entry in the old house and continues to welcome our guests in our new home.

This is what you see as you walk into our house.

The canvases of the kids when they turned 1 are perfect.  James and I argued about how they would look and I think they were clearly made for this wall for all to see.  James disagreed and even refused to help my hang them until I could show him a photo of pictures hung so low on a wall.  Apparently he had never heard of a gallery wall.... In the end I won and he agreed I was right.  That doesn't happen often!

This is the area above the stairs.  I love the touch of teal.  I don't love the floral arrangements in the vases or that it looks so bare.  These large nooks are hard to fill.

Here is another one of those nooks.  I love the vase in the middle that I scored on discount at Pier 1 and the topiary trees (a new word I learned while decorating) add just the right amount of height.  This nook also catches a lot of things tossed from the landing when the kids think we aren't looking.  Not to mention a tuque that you can see tucked behind the right hand size of the vase in this photo.  It is too much work to drag the ladder in so there it has been sitting for 6 weeks.  #boys

Here is a different angle from the landing upstairs to show the 2 nooks on the front wall and a better photo of our chandelier that came with the house.  

Now that I've showed you what we have done with the place, let me show you what it used to look like.  Can I just say how good a professional photographer can make a house look.  The pictures do not show how orange the walls were.  I would also like to know how they get the pictures so bright.  Mine seem dark in comparison.

And another....

The biggest things we updated in this the entry way (and the whole house!) was to paint it all Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore and to refinish the floor to a richer color with a grey undertone.  In addition, we replaced all the baseboards on the mail level and scraped the ceilings to make them flat, neither of which you can tell in these photos.

When we were looking for homes, I knew as soon as we walked in to a house whether or not it would be a contender.  Oddly enough, we saw this house a year before we actually bought it and I'm not sure why I didn't like it the first time because the second time I loved it.  I love that it is big enough to hold an entire family and their winter boots on the mat.  I love that it has oodles of natural light. I love that the ceilings are 18 feet high.  I just love the way I feel when I come through the front door.

Now that you have been 'in' the house, I'll invite you in to see the rest soon!  But probably not too soon.  Remember how long it took me to get this room posted!

Making Resolutions.... or not

Do you make resolutions? I have, but it's not something I commit to every year. Today I am posting over on TBB all about why I don't make resolutions. Hop over and find out what goals I have set for myself instead.

five on friday

{one}  As my hair gets longer I want to curl it.  I only have one curling wand and while it works great for fancy outings, I am looking for more of a beach wave for day to day wear.  Through my you tube watching it seems that this big 1.5" curling iron is the way to go.

Ironically, I had one of these from over a decade ago, you know, the conair one with the pink wand. Didn't we all have one.  Well, it turns out that curling irons don't last forever as the stupid thing didn't curl my hair at all.  The heating element was shot.  I threw it in the garbage and am on the hunt for a new one.  Any suggestions?

{two}  This weekend kicks off esso minor hockey week for both our kids, a first for Cooper! 

Last year, Grady's team won for his division and it was so exciting, such a proud moment for the team and the parents alike. While I would love to relive that this year, the chances are slim. But I will be out there with my cowbell cheering on our teams. Go wolves!

{three}  I am still loving Amazon.  LOVE.  My most recent purchase was this lighted 7x magnification mirror.

I need to get up close to the mirror to put on my eye makeup and I can't believe I have been using an unlighted mirror for so long.  One morning in and I am sold!

{four}  Anyone else watching the Bachelor this season?

A few random observations.... Arie's is very gray.  The girl with the short hair needs to wear a bra.  Four Laurens? Bumper car trauma?  I don't like watching Arie kiss.

{five} Over the holidays I read 3 books and this was my favorite.  I gave it 5 stars on Good Reads.  If you haven't read it before, I recommend it.  I am the first to admit that I am slow to solve thrillers but I was so surprised by this one I went back and reread a part of the book to see how I missed it.... 

Have a great weekend!

Tasty Tuesday: Salads

I love pizza AND salad.  There is a time and place for both!  Today on the Blended Blog I am talking about my very favorite salad receipes. So hop over there and let me convince you that salads can be almost as good as pizza!

TBB Asks: January

1.  No Resolutions!  Stay tuned for my post next week all about why I don't make resolutions.

2.  Love snow, hate cold.  I can't imagine living somewhere that doesn't get snow.  I appreciate the warm weather so much after having suffered through winter.  I feel very fortuante to have 4 distinct seasons here even if I often wish that Winter didn't exist.

3. Montreal.  Or Nashville.  These are my next must go places.  No plans to head there this year but anything can happen... right?

4.  I love getting a new cut.  It is amazing what snipping just a tiny bit of hair off can do for your hair.  It looks and feels better.  But, I'd take a new color as well.

5. I want to do another half marathon.  It takes a lot of time and motivation to stick with the training program but I am worth it!

6.  Work stinks in January.  I have to work 5 days a week and meet tight deadlines.  Working hard right after the holidays is hard when everyone is still off work and school.

7.  January is cold and cold means I drink lots of hot chocolate and baileys.  That is my favorite.

8.  I take my tree down on January 1st at the absolutely latest.  I like to start the new year with clean house.  If we stay home for NYE I leave only the tree up and everything else is gone earlier.

9.  I do not diet.  I try to eat healthy all year round.

10. Right now my garage needs the most organization.  This is a blue job in our house which is why it isn't done.  When we moved we got a 3 car garage and somehow don't have any extra space.....

11.  Pizza is my comfort food all year round.

12.  My January guilty pleasure is the Bachelor.  Trashy TV and wine is the perfect way to start the week.

My month in numbers: December 2017

Another month come and gone.  Dumping another month of pictures here to show you what we have been up to.

16: Silver medals handed out to Grady's tournament after the gold medal match ended in a shoot out.
13: players took shots on net before the game finally ended.  Yes, you read that right.  13!
16: smiling faces despite the lost.  Easily the most exciting game we've played to date.

7:of us went to Jubilations Junior to see Beauty and the Grinch, a Chrismas play on the Grinch
1: unhappy adult (me!) when it was lunch being served and not breakfast at 11am.  I was expecting bacon!
2: year in a row we've seen gone to see a live play with the kids.  Stage West was way better.  Live and learn.

1: Christmas Party attended solo
1: Sick husband who skipped out and opted to stay home with the kids
4: drinks drank.  Way less than usual!
1: slider burger to die for
3: Mini mac and cheese bites were a great side to compliment to the burgers!  How is one supposed to eat, drink and mingle at the same time.  Usually I skip the food and concentrate on the drinks.  Ha!
3: new photo booth pics from the party to post on my bulletin board at work.

120: minutes wasted looking watching you tube videos on how to curl short hair.

30: additional minutes spent researching hairspray and texturing spray

50: spent on product to perfect the hairstyle.  I didn't buy a new dress this year so it was like I was saving money.

45: minutes spent spraying, curling and separating the curls.  I must say all the research was worth while, I think I did my best work.  Not hard since normally me curling my hair is a complete fail.  And to think I wanted to be a hairdresser when I was younger.

9: Speaking of hair.... It had been about 9 years since I colored my hair.  I stopped when I was pregnant with Grady and then realized that I would have to color my hair for decades and that maybe I should wait until I had to color my hair.

36: Grey hairs found mean it was time to start start coloring

38: The age I was when I felt I needed to color my hair.  I am considering my self lucky.  Most woman in my family went grey much earlier so i am calling it a win.

6: Months before I plan to color it again.

300+:  The money I dropped at the salon including product.  Yikes.  Not only was a saving my hair by not coloring over the last decade but also my wallet!

One of these is my head!

4: kids going stir crazy in the house

2: long toboggans for 'boarding'

2: Saucers, my fave

2: Snow Scooters

1: face wash given to younger brother

20: time out on the hill

13: Screams that made you think I had a daughter and not a son

13: Equal screams back from me in my Mom voice

#sleddingfail #butigotgreatpictures

10: days spent dog sitting Cobee the labradoodle
2: walks a day
4: runs in the field out back
3: poops a day!
1: dog that stole my heart.

1: new pair of glasses from Clearly.ca. 
250: for 2 pairs!
0: out of pocket thanks to good benefits.
1: beats head phone in while I 'undid' Christmas
2: movies watched while I packed up.  Dirty Dancing and Vow.  Love them both!
4: hours start to finish.

1: Sideboard delivered 8 weeks earlier than anticipated!
1: photo hung
6: items added to make it less bare.  On the hunt for its permanent decor.

December is always the busies month of the year.  ALWAYS.  There is just something about the holiday season that creates new projects and and adds extra activities to the already full schedule.  I really loved having the new house decorated for Christmas.  Usually I am in a rush to get it down and be rid of the clutter, this year I could have kept it up longer.  The good news is that January and February are tradionally quiet months around here so we have time to recuperate!

Until next month....

Blogiversary!

On December 31st I celebrated my 10 year blogging anniversary.  Let me say that again, I've been blogging and documenting my life on the internet for 10 years.  My blogging debut was to announce my first pregnancy.

When I started the blog on that day it was purely to document my pregnancy since my family was far away.  At that point I didn't read any blogs so I am not sure what my motivation was or how my blog feed now contains 107 blogs that I follow regularly.  That's a story for another day.

I didn't have any intention of blogging forever or even past the baby being born, but somehow I continued and you know what, I enjoyed it.  Grady was a tough baby that needed to be held all the time so I set my goal low at once a month and just when I started to get back into blogging more, bam, I was pregnant again and wanted to document that pregnancy the same way I did my first.

After 3 years of blogging, I found I was actually enjoying it.  I like writing. I like connecting with others.  I have the gift of the gab verbally and apparently that was coming out in written form as well.  Unexpected since I am a numbers gal and an accountant by trade. 

What you may find interesting is that while I don't hide my blog, many of my IRL friends don't know that it exists. I find people have mixed feeling about putting themselves out there for the whole world to see. I've always been an open person by nature.  That is how I connect, by talking and by listening.  I tell you all about me but you better believe that I am going to have 101 questions for you! Too many my Mom tells me.

This is my scrap book.  I love the idea that I can look back and read about our trips, the first days of school, Christmas', and birthdays to name a few.  You'll often hear me say 'let me check' my blog when I want to remember a movie name or the year that something happened.  It is the story of our life and I hope that when the boys are adults, they will show interest in reading about what I had to say about them as kids and to read stories about their childhoods.  Maybe their wives will be interested, or their kids.... But really, I just blog for me.

I often think about being a little old lady in my rocker and reading the blog books about the best years of my life.  I don't care about the page views my blog gets, how many comments I get (but I do like to read them!), or even how many people read at all, because in the end, I blog for myself.  Because I like it.  I like documenting my life. 

I am different person today than I was 10 years ago.  Over the past 10 years, I've become a mom of 2 boys, an aunt to 5 nieces and nephews, I've changed jobs 3 times, I've driven 3 different cars, I'm no longer a newlywed, I've changed decades and am close to turning the big 4-0.  My life has changed and so has the content of my blog. You see more recipes, fashion, and life stuff now that my kids aren't babies anymore and I've been able to rediscover myself.  I often wonder what I will think of the outfits that I've worn and posted pics of.  I am certain that when I am on that rocker I will be shaking my head and wondering what the heck I was thinking when I was 'young'!

If I could go back and tell my 28 year old something, I would tell her that blogging is worth it.  Don't give up.  There have been many a day when I think about packing the whole blog thing in but when you are 38 and you want to remember what your kids looked liked when they were babies. You will have it right at your finger tips.  In only a click you have the last 10 years of your life at our disposal. 

Just the other night as I was writing our post about NYE Grady crawled on the couch beside me and wanted to see the pictures I was looking at.  He asked what I was doing and I told him I was blogging about our night away.  He asked if it was on the internet.  I said yes and asked if that bothered him because he wanted me to prove that my blog was on the internet.  I thought he was concerned about it.  It turns out that he was excited about it and was making sure that I wasn't lying to him.  Our kids live in such a digital world that the prospect of being online excited him.

We spent the next 30 minutes choosing random years and months to see what we were up to at different points of our lives.  He asked to see pictures of me in the hospital when he was born and what he looked like as a baby.  We looked at our vacation pictures and outings to the Flames games. I finally told him it was time to go to bed.  Whether he was procrastinating bed time or not.  I love that he was interested and that this was something we could do together.

I would tell my 28 year old self that you will survive the baby years and that you will in fact get back to the things you like to do, like shop and read.  There will come a time when blogging isn't a chore, it is choice.  I would tell her blogging is worth it.  That she is worth it.

Cheers to blogging and all the good that has and will come out of it! Now let's get back to documenting the next 5 years as well as the last 5!

Ringing in the New Year: Welcome 2018

Happy  New Year!  Today is the day in our house where things start to go back to normal.  The adults are back to work while the kids enjoy one more week off of school.  I wish I was a kid again....

We ended 2017 just like we do every other day with a day full of activities, mostly hockey related!  Cooper's hockey practice on the 31st was a family shinny game.  I sat the game out but I got to be the 'coach' for the kids team and open and close the gate (?) as they came on and off the ice.  Grady started on the kids team but the adult team needed some reinforcement so he was drafted to their team.  Even at 7 years old the kids do a great job of out skating the parents!

After the practice we loaded up the gear for our 1 night away.  From the looks of what we packed we could have been staying for a week!

We drove an hour west to the Delta in Kananaskis where the weather was still a frigid -29.  That doesn't stop us from getting outside.  We geared the kids up for a game a shiny with the dads.

The moms are better off on the sidelines visiting and searching for lost pucks.  Surprisingly my glasses are clear in this pic.  I spent most of the afternoon either wearing foggy glasses or holding them so I could see.

From the rink the kids tobogganed down the groomed run. This was the fastest hill my kids have ever been on, not to mention bumpy.  I did one run but my butt was already sore from Lagree so it did not feel very nice.

We took a break to eat a very mediocre buffet dinner that literally had no meat.  I went to the kids buffet and stole a chicken finger for a little protein to absorb the large quantity of wine I planned to consume later.

If you thought the kids were tired at this point, you thought wrong.  We all changed into our swimsuits and filled up our red solo cups for a trip to the pool.  After sitting in the hot tub on and off for an hour I honestly wasn't sure that I would make it to midnight.  I was drained.

No time to slow down, we only had 30 minutes to change back into our clothes and make it out for the 9pm fireworks, just in case we weren't up to see the ones at midnight.  The kids stopped in their tracks as the fireworks shot across the sky.  One may have thought it was because they were excited, but it turned out that our youngest may have been scared.  More on that to come....

After the fireworks we settled into a common area at the hotel for the rest of the evening with another family that just happened to be there as well.  It was way better than trying to cram 6 adults and 7 kids into a little hotel room  Not to mention that it was quite festive!

The kids literally played mini sticks for 3 hours straight with a few stops for sprite and chips.

Oh and the odd missing ball.  There was a ledge around the ceiling that seemed to catch the mini stick balls.  How many people does it take to find a ball on the ceiling?  5 apparently.  For the record, we didn't actually find it.  By the end of the night we had lost 2 balls.  Both ours.

The adults took over the couches and played a cup flipping game that involved shooters of Vodka #gross.

And don't forget a photo of the moms!

At precisely 11:40 I made everyone stand in front of the tree for group shot.  While I hate the process of dragging 7 kids over to have the picture done.  I am always happy to have it.  We are so fortunate to have become such good friends with the handsome bunch.

Every single one of us was awake for the countdown, including the not even 2 year old!  We started to get our gear on and Cooper insisted that he didn't want to go.  I obviously wanted to ring in 2018 with all 4 members of our family so I convinced him to come out for a bit.  As soon as they started shooting in the air poor Cooper was in tears.  I brought him in and we watched from the window, but not before I snapped this beauty of a shot!

It turns out he was scared that the fireworks were going to fall on him.  So Cooper and I celebrated the new year quietly inside just him and I and that was pretty special to.

We cleaned up our party area and headed up to bed.  I feel grateful for all that 2017 gave me.  It gave me health, happiness, friends, family, travel, books, wine, and more. I feel so thankful that we have friends to ring in the new year with and according to one of them the ones you spend NYE with are the ones you will see most during the year.  And if that is the case, I couldn't be happier with what 2018 brings.

May the new year bring you all that you wish for and more!  Cheers to 2018!