Merry Christmas 2019!

Christmas Eve Service

Luke was excited about his Binnington jersey for skating on the rink outside.  Binnington is a goalie for the St. Louis Blues

Aiden liked his Kevin Durant jersey

Finn got some warm chopper gloves for the rink

And he loved his Star Wars socks from Zach and Cayla

Santa sent the boys a picture after he delivered the gifts 

Aiden got some new basketball shoes!

New sweatshirt for Liam with the hockey program he will do this spring/summer

Liam's main gift...his AirPods!

So excited to go downstairs on Christmas morning

We had a very nice Christmas and wish each of you a Merry Christmas as well.  We enjoyed a day of staying home, opening gifts, and playing with our new toys, trying on new clothes, and hooking up various toys/games.  It was a very nice and relaxing day that we all enjoyed quite a bit.  The weather has been warmer than normal over the last few days and we have enjoyed the break, but the ice rink isn't doing too well.  We are anxiously awaiting some cooler temps so we can skate again soon.

Merry Christmas to our families and friends!  We are thankful for each of you and wish you a very happy holiday season and a wonderful 2020.  

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

We made gingerbread houses at home.  Luke and Finn were partners.

Finn also made gingerbread houses at school and I went in to help.

First time on the ice!  Its gotten a little warmer over the last few days (mid 30's) so we will have to wait awhile on skating, but the rink is getting close to being completely frozen.

Luke won Player of the Game at his tournament last weekend

Fun hockey moms on Luke's team

Luke's team won 3rd place at the Lumberjack tournament last weekend.

Flashback...Ran across this earlier in the week and thought it was hilarious

Finished Gingerbread houses

Finn and I at school making his gingerbread house

Liam and Aiden were partners

Finn and his buddy, Haakyn

We have had a fun and busy couple of weeks leading up to Christmas next week.  Finn enjoyed decorating gingerbread houses both at school and at work.  I was able to go to school and help him decorate (or eat as much candy as possible!).

We also decorated gingerbread houses with his brothers at home.  Finn and Luke were partners while Liam and Aiden worked together.  Let's just say that Finn is not everyone's favorite partner, but Luke is very patient and always volunteers to work with Finn.

Luke's team was in another tournament last weekend.  His team faced some very good competition and managed to finish in third place which wasn't bad considering they had a very hard tournament the weekend before and finished in first place.  Luke played well in the tournament and had one game where we finished in a tie 1-1, but Luke got the Player of the Game award.  It was a tough game where he made several very good saves at the end to keep us in the game.

Our backyard ice rink is very close to being 100% functional.  John filled the rink last weekend and it took several days for it to begin freezing.  Thankfully, we had some really cold temps with no snow and a lot of freezing took place before the temps started to rise a bit over the last 24 hours.

The boys are excited for Christmas!  School finished for them today and they are counting the days until Christmas.  We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  Enjoy your time with family and friends.

Duluth Tournament and other news

Luke's PWAA team won first place at the Spirit of Duluth Tournament beating 16 other very competitive teams

Liam's team made sandwiches at The Sandwich project for community service

Bentlyville Light exhibit in Duluth

Sibling and Player skate with Liam's team

Aiden broke a stick!

Finn is captain of his hockey team this week

Luke with the first place trophy from Duluth

Door sign for Luke

Luke and some teammates in Duluth 

We had another busy weekend of hockey.  It seems like things likely won't slow down a lot until the travel season ends in March sometime.....Luke had a travel tournament up in Duluth so he and John headed up on Thursday evening due to his 7:00 am game the following morning!  The rest of us stayed home because everyone else had activities as well.  Liam's team completed a service project, had a scrimmage, a game, and two practices.  Aiden and Finn both had practices and a birthday party.  We were all very happy to be home with no where to go on Sunday evening after a very busy weekend.  Luke's team ended up winning the tournament in Duluth and played some of their best hockey all year.

Finn is counting the days until Christmas.  He wakes up every morning to look for our elf, Cowboy, that Luke and Liam named when they were around 2 years old.  Thankfully, Luke and Liam are like "Santa's helpers" this year and have taken over the Elf duties so I like Cowboy a little more this year than I have in previous years.  Haha!

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving and Hockey

Luke did not have a tournament over Thanksgiving, but this is a picture of him in net right before Thanksgiving in a game.  His team doesn't usually have orange jerseys, but these were for a throwback jersey night.

Luke in net

Liam's team won second place in their Thanksgiving tournament

Making cookies (Aiden and I were at his game)

John (post Thanksgiving meal)

Hannah (post Thanksgiving)

Finn and his drumstick

Aiden and his drumstick

Yummy!

Aiden had a tournament over Thanksgiving as well.  This is Aiden on a face-off.  He played Center.  

Aiden (in Black)

We had a nice Thanksgiving and enjoyed a little time off of school and work.  We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Weigel's house as we have done for the last couple years.  The Weigel's are good friends and Finn's godparents that live down the street from us.  We got together with some of their family and enjoyed a very nice meal and a relaxing day.

The rest of the weekend was primarily spent at the hockey rink.  Both Aiden and Liam were in a tournament, but thankfully they played at the same rink.  We had 8 games in 2.5 days so we were quite busy.  We had snow, ice, sleet, and rain on one of the days so we ended up staying at the rink for most of the day rather than going back and forth.  It was a long day, but thankfully both teams played well and the boys enjoyed it.

This was Aiden's first travel tournament.  He played center for most of the games and got his "Playmaker" patch which means he had three assists in one game.  He loved it and cannot wait for the next tournament!

Liam's team has come a long way in a month.  They had a bit of a rough start and lost a couple games, but have improved a lot in a few weeks.  They ended up finishing second in the PeeWee B1 division and lost in the championship to a Canadian team 1-2.  It was a close game that was very competitive and fun to watch.

It has changed from fall to winter overnight here.  We are excited for Christmas break and and hoping to have the ice rink up and running pretty soon.