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!

Late October/Early November 2021

 

Luke with player of the game necklace and hat from his hockey team

Very tired trick or treaters

Trip to the Pumpkin patch with friends.  Luke had a hockey tournament

John and Luke met up with Aunt Jennifer and Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers in Chicago for a hockey tournement

Aiden and his buddies trick or treating

Pumpkin patch with Finn

John and his parents

Finn and his loot!

Finn and his buddy Silas trick or treating

Finn and Silas

Luke with a nice save

John, Finn, Aiden and his buddy at the Haunted House

Finn's new Hockey team this year...The Islanders

Carving pumpkins

The finished products

SuperMite Islanders 2021-22

Since I have not posted in awhile, I am just posting lots of fun pictures from the end of October and early November.  

All four boys are off and running with their hockey seasons.  Finn was the last one to start in late October and he is a SuperMite Islander this year.  He is in his last two years of House hockey.  He is excited to be on a team with several friends and coaches he played with last year.

Luke has already had two tournaments for hockey and is quite busy but loving his team and the challenge of playing with kids quite a bit older than he is.  Liam and Aiden are also having great seasons and their teams are doing very well so far this season.  They are fortunate to be with some very good friends and families we love spending the winter with!

Finn was the only person who went trick or treating with me this year.  Aiden went out with friends and Luke and Liam went to a party with their buddies.  John was busy getting the older boys to and from hockey practices on Halloween.  Aiden and Finn loved the haunted houses this year with John.  They went to two in our area and even Finn thought they were awesome.  Luke and Liam went to the second one and Liam said, much like me, that he really doesn't care much for haunted houses!

We have had a beautiful fall in Minnesota and have enjoyed lots of time outside without the colder temps we normally have at this time of year.  I have a feeling this will soon change, but its been nice for the added weeks of warmer than normal weather!

Hockey Season has Arrived!

 

Finn and his buddy at the school Fun Run

Finn and Haakon

Hot and Sweaty after running so hard!

Half of my confirmation class at church.  Luke and three others not pictured.

Hockey season has begun for us....hence the reason I have not blogged in a long time and the reason I have no decent pictures to share!  I can assure you we are enjoying ourselves and the boys are in heaven to be playing another season of hockey with their friends.

Luke and Liam are both Bantams this year which means there is checking and the kids are much bigger, stronger, and faster.  Since we are first year Bantams, many of the kids are 2 years old than Luke and Liam and some are even learning to drive which is a crazy thought to me although it is just around the corner for us.  Luke made the highest team as a goalie and is very excited to be playing for one of the most respected coaches in our area.  He is also excited to be with the same goalie partner that he had in his first year of PeeWees as they are quite compatible and enjoyed working together.  

Liam made a Bantam B1 team which is about where we thought he would land and a good spot for him to grow (not only in hockey, but hopefully in height/size as well!).  He has several very good friends on his team and we are on a team with the Weigel's son (Finn's godparents) which is the third time this has happened for us and it is always a fun year with them. 

Aiden also moved up a level this year to PeeWees and is playing on a PeeWee B1 team.  He is in a great spot on a team that historically does very well each year.  His two coaches have sons that are some of Aiden's closest friends so we are very pleased with his team as well.  All in all, tryouts went very well for us and despite the stressful 2-3 weeks, we are very thankful for the outcome!

We don't have Finn's team yet because they don't go through tryouts for House teams, but we should find out his coach and teammates in the next week or so.  

We are looking at around 150 games this season!  Just regular district games and not including scrimmages and not including Finn's games which start after Christmas.  We have at least 5 travel tournaments and 8 local tournaments.  It will be a busy season to say the least.