Fabulous February

 

Aiden, Luke, and Finn cheering for Liam in his last tournament.  They finished second but had a very successful weekend of hockey!

Second place for Liam's Bantam B1 team

Aiden's band concert with his buddy, Ellis.  Aiden plays the saxophone.

Jack Weigel and Aiden after one of Liam's games in the district tournament.  Liam and Jack are on the same team.

Liam's team skated with the Minnesota Special Hockey team

The four first year kids on Luke's team.  They are nearly two years younger than many of the second year Bantam kids.

Finn's team finished in 3rd place in a President's Day tournament

Luke was able to watch one of Liam's tournament games where Liam scored the game winning goal in a shootout!!  Liam's move was the exact same thing he has practiced a thousand times against Luke on the backyard rink.

We all enjoyed the game winning goal!!

More Band concert Boys!

Luke's team in their final district game where they honored the second year players who will be moving up to high school hockey next year.

Luke and his goalie partner, Zach.

Finn's Islanders team after their Olympics!

It has been a busy February for us with lots of hockey, a few hockey tournaments, and a band concert for Aiden.  All three of the older boys finished their final district games and are currently playing in their district tournaments.  Each of them is hoping to advance to the Regional tournament and eventually to State in late March, if they do well.  

Aiden had his first band concert recently. He began playing the saxophone during COVID and has not been able to have a band concert due to various restrictions on numbers of people at gatherings and such.  It was fun to see him play his instrument since he rarely practices at home and yet seems to know what he's doing!

The last few weeks of the hockey season seem to fly by once the new year begins.  We are wrapping up a fun season and hoping for some success in our final tournaments on the Road to State!  Whatever the outcome, the boys have grown a lot this year and have really enjoyed their teams.  

Lastly, I have to post the cute memory that popped up in my Shutterfly memories.  This is a picture of John with Luke and Liam 12 years ago when he used to take the boys up to the park at night to WATCH hockey practices.  They would get grumpy at night and this was the best thing we could do to pass the time.  They loved loved watching hockey even at the age of two!

Jumping into January 2022

 

Finn and John at lunch on their trip to Cincy for Zach's wedding

Aiden's 12th birthday on January 2.  John was on his way home from a hockey tournament with Luke

Luke and Liam's 14th birthday!  They requested cheesecake.

One of the wedding highlights for Finn...a donut buffet.

Aiden taking a face off for his team (#14)

Finn at Zach and Cayla's rehearsal dinner

Finn had so much fun with his cousins at the wedding

Pond Hockey with Finn's team

Aiden's ice cream cookie sandwiches for his birthday

Our January consisted of three hockey tournaments (one for each of the older boys), three birthdays (January 2 for Aiden & January 11th for Luke/Liam), a trip to Cincinnati for John and Finn for Zach's wedding, and lots of regular hockey practices and district games.  We had a two week period of homeschool to let the COVID numbers go down a bit, but thankfully we are back in person at school now.

John and Finn enjoyed a quick trip to Cincinnati for Zach's wedding.  Finn really enjoyed getting to see all of his cousins, aunts/uncles, and grandparents.  He had a great time as an only child for a weekend and definitely did not mind missing some hockey at home.  

We are finishing up the regular season of hockey for the older boys and will be heading into the district tournaments pretty soon.  The goal is always to make it to regions and state tournaments, but we will take things one step at a time.  

We hope all is well and you are enjoying enjoying a good start to 2022!  

Christmas 2021

Sledding on a very cold and snowy day during break

Finn and his cool flannel shirt/jacket from Grandpa Morse along with pants from Grandpa and Grandma Carrithers, sweatshirt from the Weigels, shoes from Mimi!

Gingerbread Houses (Luke and Finn on the right; Liam and Aiden on the left)

Lincoln Log building when we visited Santa at Cabela's

Luke got the opportunity to help at a House goalie clinic with his goalie partner.  Both of them have younger brothers (Josh and Finn) who also have some interest in being goalies.

Liam's reverse retro Connor McDavid jersey

Snowy day for sledding

Christmas Eve church service

Luke's new Carey Price jersey

Goalie training with the House goalies.  Luke and his goalie partner led the goalie clinic

First skate on Christmas Eve!

 In a very competitive house, its a big deal when you win a game of Spoons!!

Liam had a HAT TRICK!

Our visit with Santa...slightly blurry picture of a picture they gave us.

Aiden's St. Pat's Auston Matthews Jersey

 

We had a nice Christmas break and enjoyed being off of school and having a break from hockey for a few days.  The boys received some amazing gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers, Grandpa Morse and Jane, and Mimi as well.  We didn't take a lot of pictures of them opening their gifts, but we did get a picture of their jerseys.  Each of the boys got a fun jersey for skating on the outdoor rink.  Along with some clothing and hockey gear, Luke got some iPods, Liam got some hand weights for the basement and a massage gun, Aiden got some lacrosse gear, and Finn some hockey cards, legos, and a pastel wax type coloring set.  We enjoyed a very nice day with no agenda or schedule and John prepared a nice steak dinner on the grill.  We made twice baked potatoes and the Carrithers cranberry apple jello salad. 

Shortly after Christmas, Aiden started a hockey tournament and Luke and John left for a tournament up in Roseau (near the Canadian border where the temps were -25).  It was a busy and fun couple of days celebrating Christmas.  We hope you had a wonderful holiday with family and friends!

Late November/Early December

Liam's team in Bemidji with Paul Bunyan and the Blue Ox

Liam and Friends

Liam and his good friend, Luke

Luke's team in Duluth

Finn and his buddies at the State Football Championship where Maple Grove played for the first time in history and finished as runner up.

Finn and his buddy, Josh, at Bentleyville light display in Duluth

Aiden and his buddy, Anders, after their first place win!

Finn enjoyed some swimming in Duluth

Aiden's hockey team before a game

Finn and Lucy at Thanksgiving at the Weigel's house

Finn and I at Bentleyville in Duluth

I have a couple fun action shots from Luke's game

Flying puck that he redirected with his stick.

Liam made a few trips to the penalty box!

Diving save in OT!!  We ended up winning and advanced to the chip!

John And Finn in their Islanders gear.  Finn is on the Islanders team in house hockey this season.  

It's been a busy month of hockey for us, but we are happy to be playing and happy to have fans in the stands to watch!  Luke, Finn, and I made a trip to Duluth in early December while John went to Bemidji with Liam.  Both of the boys had great tournaments and played some very competitive hockey.  Aiden stayed home with our neighbors who also have a son on his hockey team.  We are very thankful for their willingness to help when our travel tournaments coincide.  

Finn has been asking to do at least one of the travel tournaments this year.  Last year, we only sent one parent and many of our tournaments were cancelled.  This year, Finn made the trip to Duluth and enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool, hanging out with Luke's teammates, and visiting the Christmas light display called Bentleyville.  We stayed in a hotel in downtown Duluth so the proximity was perfect for walking to restaurants and access to the rinks where we played.  

I am still working on the Christmas cards for this year, Christmas shopping, etc... in between hockey games and tournaments.  The boys are counting down the days until we fill the backyard rink.  It's getting colder each week so it should happy pretty soon.  

Happy Holidays!