Palm Sunday and Easter 2019

Finn (red shirt in center) enjoyed singing in church for Palm Sunday

All four of the boys are up there actually, but Finn was perhaps the most excited about singing!

Palm Sunday 

Dying Easter Eggs

More Eggs!

Lots of good ones

Very pretty Colors

Eggs and more Eggs!

Easter Baskets

Finn and his Easter Basket

Easter Sunday church

We have had a busy two weeks as spring sports are in full swing.  Our AAA hockey season started right after spring break and its been a busy couple of weeks.  Thankfully, the season is relatively short.  All three boys have two tournaments each over the next 4 weeks and then we will be finished until August.  Still lots of hockey, but it will go fast.

We had a beautiful Easter weekend!  The weather was thankfully so nice here with warmer temps.  We finally got to wear shorts and play outside without jackets or coats.  It was lovely.  The boys enjoyed lots of basketball games, nerf wars, egg hunts, and street hockey.  We spent many hours outside enjoying the warm temps.  We are all excited about the upcoming summer and spending more time at the pool, golf course, and park!  We hope you and your family had a Happy Easter as well.  

Spring Sports

We fluctuate between basketball and street hockey in the driveway.  The boys are loving the basketball hoop from Mimi last Christmas.

Liam shooting hoops

Snow in April....it happens every year.  Let's just get it over with already!

Liam is practicing his throws

Luke trying to learn how to catch, shoot, and pass

Luke

Typical Luke

Liam

The snow has melted for the most part in Minnesota (even though we actually have a potential snow storm in the forecast this week).  It is wet and mushy outside, but we are still gearing up for spring sports!  Luke and Liam are going to try lacrosse for the first time this spring.  They had tryouts this week and really enjoyed it.  This is a new sport for all of us so we have A LOT to learn.  Luke and Liam both enjoyed tryouts and said they learned quite a bit about the game in the process (quite a difference from hockey tryouts when there is typically a lot more on the line!).  We purchased all the gear they needed and should find out their team this week.

Aiden is doing soccer this spring.  He has a group of hockey buddies that he will be playing with and thankfully the schedule is planned around all the spring hockey practices and tournaments so he should be able to make most of it.  His practices will begin this week with games starting in May so I don't have pictures yet.  Aiden was quite good at soccer last summer and even held his own against kids that were Luke and Liam's age so it will be fun to watch him this spring in a more competitive league.

We have all enjoyed the longer days and some time outside.  It has still been chilly, but we have had a few warm days here and there which makes us all look forward to summer!

Spring Break 2019

Aiden and his buddies on the jumbotron at the Timberwolves game.

Aiden was invited to a Timberwolves game with one of his  buddies and they sat in a suite!

SkyZone with all the Boys!

Aiden had "Haak" shaved on the back of his head to honor the 5 year old brother of a good friend of his who is battling kidney cancer.  The boy is named "Haakon" (He is in the picture above from the Timberwolves game)

Playing in the sprinklers at the pool

Fun night with some neighborhood friends

Arm wrestling 

Ice cream treat at the Yogurt Lab

We had a fun Spring Break and did lots of fun things with friends including the indoor trampoline park (SkyZone), a movie with friends, swimming with friends, lunch out, an evening with friends watching the March Madness games, Timberwolves game for Aiden, etc....It was a busy week, but we also enjoyed some down time without any sports or practices at night.  We had dinners at home and we were able to relax.  The boys played lots of basketball games on the driveway as the nights are getting slightly warmer and it is light for a longer period of time.  We are happy to see the snow melting and the boys are already counting down the days until the golf course opens!

Finn and Kindergarten

Liam really loves dogs

Aiden enjoyed the dogs as well

Finn loved the bigger dog in his lap

Finn (March 2015)

Finn (March 2019)

We watched a neighbors dogs last weekend and the boys really enjoyed them.  No, I am not in the market for a pet at this time, but we will see how it goes in the future.  The boys LOVED playing with the dogs, particularly Liam.

Finn attended a kindergarten open house at the elementary school where his brothers attend.  He is so excited to begin kindergarten in September.  Due to his late summer birthday, we decided to have him start kindergarten in the fall rather than be the youngest in his class in first grade.  He has been doing kindergarten work at Montessori this year and is more than ready to move into Basswood.  The Montessori program has really prepared him for next year at the elementary school.  He has grown so much this year in his writing, counting, and even a little reading.  He is finally showing a bit more interest in learning and a little less of a concern over socializing.

When we attended the open house, he was adamant about finding out who his teacher will be even though I explained several times that he won't find out his teacher until right before school begins in September.  He found our neighbor who teaches kindergarten at the school and asked her to be his teacher next year.  She, of course, explained that she isn't really the one who makes those decisions, but Finn could talk to the principal.  And, of course, we made our way to the principal so that Finn could ask him as well about his teacher for next year!  He really has no fear whatsoever!  

End of the Season 2018-19

Luke (in middle) right after his team won the championship

Luke and his buddy Adam (middle) with goalie partner Kaden

Luke with the championship trophy

Luke's team finished #1 in the regular season District 3 and won the District 3 tournament as well

Liam's team (Liam on right in white) played for third place in his tournament

Liam's team at their end of the year party

Aiden's final jamboree in house hockey.  All of the hockey moms make posters for their players

The Vegas Knights (Aiden's team) beat the Jets 3-2

Aiden with his poster for the Jamboree

Luke receiving his end of the season award at the banquet

Two of Aiden and Finn's favorite girls: Ime and Rachel at Liam's team party

Luke and all the trophies that his team won this year.  They won first or second at all their tournaments.  

Luke's Squirt A White team

We finished our 2018-19 hockey season last weekend and we were all sad to see the season end.  Luke's team won both the regular season district as well as the district tournament.  They had a very successful season finishing with a third place ranking in the state of Minnesota.  In the final season banquet, the coach honored each player with a puck that described them.  Luke's puck was "Passion" because as the coach said he has a true passion for the game of hockey.  His coach commented on how Luke never missed a practice or game, never complained about people hitting him in the net one after another, and he was the first to turn in his off ice training log each week.   Luke has an undeniable passion for hockey.  He will go to practice and skate for two hours then come home and ask to go out in the backyard and skate.  Luke never seems to get enough hockey.

Liam's team had their end of season banquet on Friday evening at Dave and Buster's.  This is a true perfect analogy of the difference between Liam's team and Luke's.  Luke's team had a banquet at a public country club while Liam's team played video games and had a blast at Dave and Buster's.  Both were teams of awesome families and kids, but quite different for sure.  Liam's coach commented on how Liam was his top centerman and how he won the face-offs and was all over the ice playing both defense and offense.  Liam won a "Hat Trick" patch for the three goals he scored in one of our regular season games and the coach recognized his ability to grind in front of the net and score numerous goals.  Liam had an amazing season scoring 28 total goals.  He grew in confidence and in love for the game of hockey.  He was a leader and a positive example to many of the first year squirts on his team.

Aiden finished his final season of house hockey as a Supermite on the Vegas Knights team.  He had a fun season with several good friends and learned a lot about hockey.  He is more than ready to begin squirts as he was longing for more excitement and competition by the end of the season.  His favorite position is defense but he's not afraid to rush the puck and take a shot if given the opportunity.  It was a great season for Aiden and well and we are excited to see what next year brings for him.

And now...its time for a quick break before our AAA spring season of hockey begins!  

Nearing the end of our hockey season....

Liam is trying to reach 30 goals this season (he's at 27 now).  He has a mom on his team that takes amazing pictures at every game.

Finn and his buddy Silas along with Aiden and his buddy, Anders

Just an example of the magnitude of snow we have here with more to come this weekend.  

Liam and Luke's teams had a rare practice together last week.  It sure was nice!

Aiden before practice last weekend

This weekend is our final weekend of our regular season association hockey.  Luke and Liam are currently in the district tournament.  Liam's team will play in the semi finals tomorrow evening and Luke's team won last night and will play in the district championship on Saturday evening.

This is Aiden's final season of house hockey, next year he will be a first year Squirt (Luke and Liam are currently second year Squirts) and he will begin travel hockey.  Thinking about having three kids in travel hockey at the same time is overwhelming so I am not going to think about it just yet....
Aiden will play in his final jamboree this Sunday.  His nickname for the announcers this year is "Mr. Awesome" Aiden Carrithers!  We have his jamboree poster ready to go and he's excited to play his friend and our neighbor's team (the Jets).

It should be a fun weekend of hockey.  We are looking forward to a few weeks off before spring hockey begins!