Spring Break 2016 and Easter

Aiden as goalie for the first time

Finn really wants to be a part of it

Luke and Aiden as goalies 

Getting ready to dye our eggs

Here we go!

Luke and Liam

Finn loved it!

Aiden was able to participate this year thanks to our special gloves

Finished product

Hockey on the driveway with our buddy, Xavier

Indoor play place with friends.  The boys are all dressed in bright neon yellow

Ready to hunt for eggs way too early in the morning

Sorting out our loot

Aiden and Finn before church.  Just to keep it real...shortly after this lovely picture was taken, Finn bit Aiden after Aiden kept taking his Buzz Lightyear toy.

Daddy and Finn.  Aiden wore this same outfit when he was close to Finn's age and I was actually pregnant with Finn.

Finn at church

Best of the worst trying to get the boys to look at the camera

He is Risen!  Easter Sunday 2016

It has been a busy week here with lots of fun activities.  So much so that the boys were less than excited about starting back to school today.  I am not sure I had the same sentiments.  Although the week was super fun and it is nice to spend extra time with Luke and Liam, I am pretty sure I need a break from our spring break.  

Despite the popularity of leaving town over spring break, we stayed home over spring break.  I am amazed at how many people go on really big trips over spring break.  Like Mexico, the Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Arizona, Colorado, California, even Europe!?  The boys didn't mind being home at all and we found plenty of things to do.  We went swimming at the community center one day since we really have done that since over the summer months.  The waterslide and climbing wall were open and that's a big bonus for the big boys.  Finn loved loved the water so I feel like this summer will be fun for him.

We went to two open gyms at the fitness center so I could get in a work out, but additionally the boys have been asking to go and play floor hockey in the gym.  Aiden has, in fact, been asking to do this since he turned six in January because you have to be six to play with the bigger kids in the gym.

We went to see the movie Zootopia and we had dinner with our best friends at one of our favorite places one evening.  The movie was a lot of fun as we had 16 close friends there to share in the fun!

We also went to an indoor play area with huge slides and things to climb and expend lots of energy.  This was a good idea since we actually had snow on one off our "spring" break days off.  Lastly, the boys played in a pick up hockey game with several teammates and friends from school one afternoon.  They have not been on the ice a whole lot after our season ended so this was on their list of things to do over spring break.  It was a special treat for Luke and Aiden because they got to be goalies.  

Lastly, even though the weather was not all that "spring-like", the boys played a lot of hockey in their rollerblades on the driveway with neighbors.  They met a good friend named Xavier that has been coming over the play hockey quite a bit with the boys.  

After our egg dying fiasco last year, we tried something different this year.  Aiden has an egg allergy and cannot handle eggs at all.  He will become very itchy and uncomfortable so we have to be cautious when he is around eggs.  If you read the blog, you might remember that we tried to dye some fake eggs that were sold at a local store and it was a total disaster.  They didn't hold the dye at all and the boys were pretty disappointed.   This year, however, I purchased some plastic gloves and taped them to Aiden's arms and we used real eggs.  Everyone really loved it, especially Finn who missed out on doing eggs last year.  We were still very cautious and had Aiden take a bath afterwards, but thankfully all turned out well.  

Happy Easter!!  

Big 10 Hockey Championship

BIG 10 Hockey Championship game with MN vs. Michigan

State of hockey with our Bakken buddies

Left to right:  Aiden, Charlie, Luke, Liam, Jack, and Andy

BIG 10 Championship game outside Xcel Center in St. Paul

Finn with his roller skates, hockey pads, stick, and bike helmet

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

This is spring break week for us so we have lots of fun things planned.  John just returned from a trip to Japan on Saturday and we were very happy to have him home.  Talk about a long way from home... He was going to bed when we were getting ready for school and vice versa.

On Saturday evening, our best friends invited us to the BIG 10 championship hockey game where Minnesota played Michigan.  Thankfully, I was able to find a babysitter for Finn so the boys, myself, and John went to the game.  The Bakkens had an entire box of seats at the Xcel center where the MN WILD also play.  This was actually my first college hockey game!  I have seen obviously been to many of the boys games and a few high school games for nephews; however, this was my first college hockey game.  They don't play a lot of hockey in Arkansas!

We are looking forward to a fun spring break even if the weather in MN isn't supposed to be all that spring-like.  Snow is predicted for Wednesday and Thursday.

Jamboree Weekend Fun

Luke and Liam receiving their Teamwork awards at the end of season party

Checking out the awards

Indoor Knee hockey after everyone is feeling a bit better

The "Great Teamwork" awards for Liam and Luke for the 2015-16 Penguin Hockey Season

Daddy as the Mystery Reader at school-not hockey related, but I forgot to post this one last week.

Tigers locker room before the big jamboree game.  Aiden is down on far left (second from the end)

Aiden with his poster and an excited Finn after the game 

My good friend, Kortney, and I with posters.  Kortney's son, Keaton, plays hockey and goes to school with Aiden.

Luke and Liam with their posters before the game

Team Pizza Party

We finished a long hockey season over the weekend.  We began hockey practices in early November and played in the final games over the weekend.  It was a very fun year and the boys learned a lot, but I think we are all ready for a break!  John spent every weekend coaching both boy's teams and often left early in the morning and spent most of the day on the ice with maybe a short break in between games and/or practice.  Finn and I spent many hours taking or picking up the big boys and shuffling them around to various practices and games.  

For this season, Aiden was #7 and played for the Tigers while Liam and Luke (#8 and #9) played for the Penguins.  During their last weekend of hockey, the association sponsors a jamboree where all the teams play each other and they have an announcer with a tunnel, lights and smoke, etc...If you read the blog periodically, you may remember Luke and Liam participating in the jamboree last year.  Each child picks a name that they want to use when they are announced.  This year Aiden was "Aiden the All-Star Carrithers."  Luke and Liam picked a joint name of "Luke The Thunder and Lightning Liam Carrithers."  The Moms make posters to hang at the games with the nicknames on them.

Liam is thankfully doing much better and was able to play in his jamboree game.  He ended up missing an entire week of school from his bout with the flu and high fevers.  He was wiped out by the end of the week and very lethargic.  Thankfully, his brothers only had 24 hour flu cases and we had one sick day with everyone home at the same time!  The doctor put us all on tamiflu and we survived, thankfully.  Thank you to many for your thoughts and prayers, it was a rough week for sure.  

Tubing and the Flu

Aiden and the Tiger from his hockey team

Luke and his hockey buddy, Cody

Finn 

Penguin Hockey team

Gage and Liam

Playing on the hill

We had a fun weekend of warmer than average temps again.  Luke and Liam got to go tubing with their hockey team and the rest of us enjoyed tagging along.  Finn loves to tube now and talked about it all day long.  It was a nice day to be out tubing since the temps were quite warm.  The snow wasn't the best, but the boys still had fun.  This will definitely be our last time to go tubing for the season as the temps this week are also warmer than average, but I am not complaining!

Our fun day of tubing happened the day before Liam became quite sick.  On Sunday, he woke up complaining that his legs were hurting and he didn't feel good.  He started running a fever and we figured out how to rearrange our plans for the day so that Liam could stay home and rest.  During the day, we gave him Tylenol and lots of fluids, but the fever kept going up (his fever reached 107 at one point) rather than down.  By the afternoon, he was lethargic and not responding when I asked him questions.  I called John at hockey and told him something was wrong and Liam needed to get checked out.  He tested positive for the flu and is taking tamiflu and was told to rest for at least 48 hours.  Overall, it was a scary experience but he's doing a little better.  He is still battling the fever quite a bit.  We are praying that he recovers quickly and is back to normal soon.  Meanwhile, the rest of us are also hoping that we stay healthy.  We all had the flu shot back in October, so time will tell.