Hockey...just call us one big family.

So it is no secret that we are a hockey family. Mark and I have always been fans of hockey, but it wasn't until our town had a hockey teams of our own to cheer for that we started to understand what "Hockey Family" really means. (FYI: I have no idea if other sports have similar "families" so I can't honestly say this only happens with hockey.) But over the past few years, we have been lucky to find our own little spot with our new "family."

The hockey teams in our town have players from all over, which means most of the players are hours away from their real families. Yes, sometimes that's great, being hours away from your parents. Other times...you just want home. So we have opened our house to give them a "family like" place to come to just to be around family. Because I would love it if a nice family would open their home to my kids when they venture off years from now. (I am done using quotes around family...because we love our hockey boys like they ARE family.)

Here is a picture from Thanksgiving last year, during No-Shave November, Mo-vember (whatever you want to call it) that is why the cute one has a mustache! Our original hockey boy spent the day with us and as you can see, fit in perfectly with our crazy family.

 We do our best to do non-hockey things with our boys, so every year we get to bowl with our hockey team. Our new hockey boy this year, is really good with the kids...both Megan and Joey love seeing him. It is going to be fun the next few years as they really get to know each other. (Side Note: Megan and Joey loved our original hockey boy too...but he left us. Luckily, we still hear his name everyday, when Joey plays hockey around the house.)

Nope, Megan and Joey don't like our hockey boy at all. It was so hard to get a picture of them together :)

 As if the hockey boys weren't nice enough, they even take time after their practice to talk with the young 8U hockey players. Seriously...I can't say enough nice things about all of the hockey players we have met along the way. Don't get me wrong, on the ice, they might be tough and "verbal" but off the ice, they are as nice as can be. That is why our kids and their friends, love our local hockey players.

 A couple of the boys came over the other night just to be "home" for a bit. Grace, Zeke, Megan and Joey, made sure that hockey boy 1 and hockey boy 2, knew what it's like to have younger siblings. Not sure if the hockey boys were playing hide and seek because they wanted to play or if they were trying to escape the constant screeching noise that the kids were making. Either way, it was a fun evening and I can't wait to see how our crazy hockey family grows over the years.

So when we say that we are a hockey family, for us, it is so much more than just being a hockey fan. (Yes, if you're thinking I left out names...I did that for a reason.)

This is Halloween, this is Halloween

 Somewhere along the way, Megan and Grandma discussed making a Halloween centerpiece. One afternoon, Megan and Grandma built this cool little thing.

 This year Megan wanted to be a witch...thanks to awesome cousins, we already had a costume. Thanks to an awesome Grandma, Megan had a cool purple hat, stripe socks and a super cool cape! Joey still fit into his fireman costume from last year so he was a fireman again! (It is such a realistic costume he HAD to wear it again.)

 Megan got to wear her costume to school, but after she got home, I added her witch make-up! It looked great for the picture....it didn't last very long once trick or treating started (more on that later)

 Look at this handsome guy. I got 1 blurry picture and 1 picture from a friend last year, so this year I knew I had to get pictures of his costume.

 After dinner at our friend's house (Thank you Barber family) the troop was off to do some T or T'ing! Well the troop minus Joey...he was at the AC hockey game because it is now a tradition that he watches the guys warm up (future post coming soon) I think this group of kids has gone T or T'ing together for years...so much fun!

I just want to record to reflect the sacrifices we make for our children...it was cold...and windy! But honestly, if you were dressed properly, it wasn't bad. We are all from Michigan, we know about cold Halloweens! We do it for our kids, because our parents did it for us...none of the parents in this group took the sissy way out either, we ALL walked with our kids mocking the parents doing the "car crawl" through the neighborhood. (Seriously sissy parents, suck it up, put on a coat and enjoy the few years you have that your kids actually WANT to spend Halloween with you.) It was a fun night...but I am glad it is a "once a year" thing!

A rare cousin visit

 Last weekend, our nephew Ace was "near" by (he brought his Mom too!) They were visiting Aunt Danielle's family in South Bend. Knowing that we had no plans to go to San Francisco anytime soon, we opted for a quick road trip visit. When we got there we had dinner at Danielle's mom's house. Grandma-Great was so happy, excited, filled with love so have ALL of her Great-grandchildren together.

We were staying at a hotel with a pool, so most of the cousin time was spent swimming! Here is Aunt Danielle being squished by children.

 Megan was being super sweet to Joey...or she was excited that she could touch the bottom of the whole pool and didn't need a life jacket (she knows how to swim...but she can't float...so that is an interesting combo.)

 The next day, we were back in the pool. Ace was warming up to us and it was just a fun time had by all.

 Megan having fun with Grandma and Grandpa.

 Umm...you know how taking pictures of small children is hard? Try taking a picture of small children in water...impossible! This was the best picture I got of G&G with their 3 grandchildren.

 Ace (green vest) and Joey are playing together in the water while Grandma-great soaks it all up.

 I think watching the kids wait for the elevator then take turns pushes the buttons was adorable! Ace (age 2) Joey (age 3) Megan (age 7) This was the rare time that Megan was the oldest cousin in the group.

 I can not tell you how much I love this!!! Megan and Grandma-great walked through the whole mall like this.

 Because we needed to check out of the hotel, we found a mall with a food court and a play area. I think the license plate sums up this picture.

 Ha! Walking through the book store Ace got a Peppa Pig book and was told he could read it on the plane (on the way home) He found a loophole...he grab his book and took off to sit in the play plane!

 Saying good bye :(

Grandma-great, Grandma, Joey and Ace...poor Megan was in tears because she was sick and just couldn't sit for a picture. (She truly was sick and it come on quick...maybe she was feeling guilty for missing school!?!)

So while it was a short visit, it was a lot of fun seeing part of the California crew. Ace is just as cute as he looks....and I think Grandma-great couldn't have asked for a better weekend :)

These kids are kind of fun!

 Okay, let's be honest for a second...raising well rounded kids is not an easy job. Forget about all of the "tough" stuff that comes with having kids, sometimes for me, the hardest part of parenting is always wondering if I have done "enough." But all of those thoughts disappear during the following moments, where our kids are just being kids. They do some really cool things and nothing is better than seeing them happy, seeing them figure things out on their own.

Megan was SO proud when she was able to build this for Joey. Joey waited all day for Megan to get home from school to act her to build this for him. Joey was happy she did it, Megan was happy she was able to do it and I was happy that they were both excited to play together.

Joey rocking the latest "Bus Stop" fashion! Such a funny kid, he loves his rain boots and his super cool fireman rain coat...but add in an umbrella...this is one happy kid!



It was APS Homecoming week and all of the school took part in Spirit Week. I LOVE that Megan is super excited to be apart of it all (being proud of your school says a lot IMHO) Here she is dressed for Hawaiian Day.

Another day, each elementary school is assigned a color for the kids to wear, Alexander had yellow, not a problem! Megan has a ton of Adrian College stuff to wear. She went for her Jr. Bulldog shirt, with glittery hockey sticks! (Side Note: Umm, she looks WAY too mature in this picture...she might be homeschooled in a few years!)

 What can I say, she is always trying to test her limits to see what she can figure out next.

 



I just had to take picture of Joey's new pj's...why? I don't know, because he looked cute and because he was so proud of having pj's with monsters on them.

So now that Megan is older and can read, Family Game Nights has become more common. Of course they are fun, but they are also a great break from electronics, household worries and any other stress that always seems to linger. So far we have played lots of Uno.

Lots of Parcheesi.

 And lots of rounds of Head Bandz! (Joey is currently in a phase where he likes to be without a shirt.)

 My kids are crazy when I try to record them!

Nothing like getting your butt kicked by a 7 year old. Yep, out of all of the games we play, all or the rounds we play, I have won a whopping ZERO times! Megan and Mark are about 50/50 when it comes to winning...and they LOVE to rub it in that I haven't won...haven't even come close to winning.

Our kids are also very, very sweet...Joey is so happy when Megan gets home from school. They both have the sweetest conversations during our walk home from the bus stop...If I could pause time, these would be the moments to pause...I never want these moments to end.

Our cute little playhouse (conclusion)

 So here she is, our cute little playhouse finally refinished! I think it turned out well and the kids (young and old) agree!

 

When the topic was first brought up about relocating the playhouse to our house, the #1 rule that we had to follow was, we needed to put it in a spot where they "kids" could play Eenie Aye Over. Mark and his sisters, spent hours playing this game, so we had to allow the tradition to carry on...so of course, we made sure that could happen.

The above video is how Mark remembered playing it...after a discussion with his sisters, they never really told him the "official" rules...hmm, maybe his sisters weren't so nice to their little brother 30+ years ago.

 

 This past weekend, all of Mark's sisters were in town, Tracie and Julie had to come see the playhouse. The best way to describe how they acted when they got to our house...they were like a kid on Christmas morning! They never even stepped foot into our real house, they just went straight to the playhouse! I couldn't even get a good picture of this, because they just kept moving around looking at it. So I think they are happy to see it redone and in a place where new memories will be made,

 Mark's Aunt Alice, makes beautiful quilts and "quilt like" things. (Every child in the family receives a special quilt when they are born. They become very special blankets.) I don't know how she got this done so quickly, but this weekend she gave this to us. It will be hung on our wall...as soon as Mark and I come to an agreement on where to hang it.



I think the best part of the wall hanging is what Aunt Alice put on the back. Mark was less than a month old when the playhouse was originally built, so his sisters always called it, "The Doll House." When it was Mark's turn, he called it, "The Fort." Now we have started to call it, "The Play House." Just another quite story about this sweet little house.

Behind the Scenes of PTO

If you missed my first look into why I am involved with PTO you can read it here For the record, I am sharing this information because it is apart of what I do with/for my family.

 No, no, don't worry, my kids did not hit the toy jackpot! These are some of the prizes I organized for Alexander Elementary School's big Fall fundraiser, a Walk-a-Thon. Students raise money to help support all of the awesome things PTO does throughout the year and as a reward the students got to have a fun "party" afterwards.

 Here is the stuff most people don't realize...my dining room looked like Chucky Cheese threw up all over it and I didn't bother cleaning up the mess for weeks! Yep, I said weeks. I volunteered to handle the prizes and everything that went with that. I worked on things a little bit every day, but by no means did I give up time with my family. I might have lost the use of my dining for a bit, but I wanted things to be organized so the Walk-a-Thon would run smoothly.

There was a little bit of everything crammed into my car. Infatable guitars, tons of other toys, stuff to make slime, 6 boxes of Twinkies, whipped cream, coolers, a ladder and somewhere in there I managed to fit to drive all of this to school. I am a Tetris master when it comes to packing tons of stuff into my car (No children were harmed in the taking of this photo!)

 So during the fun part of the night, our awesome principal volunteered to be taped to the wall!

The kids LOVED the Silly String war area!

 Sadly, not a lot of kids knew about the "goodness" that Twinkies possess. They were leery of the Twinkie eating contest, but soon discovered Twinkies are good...yet maybe too much for tiny tummies...oops!

 It was fun watching the kids trying to beat their friends at eating Twinkies.

 Just incase that wasn't enough sugar...we also had cotton candy!

And last but not least, we had another awesome teacher volunteer to have his students slime him if they raised money for PTO! Needless to say EVERYONE wanted to watch this! Although, he claims it wasn't bad, I had to do the clean up after this...that was not fun! A plunger is a good thing to have on hand when trying to clean up slime using a sink.

Megan, and soon Joey, are very lucky to attend a school filled with great teachers that will do just about anything to make Alexander the best school possible. I love being a part of PTO, we have a great (but small) group of us that work hard to make things fun for all of the students. So here is my shameless plea...if your school has a PTO, go to a meeting. You don't have to volunteer to do anything, but if can help with brainstorming ideas or know of anything that has worked for other schools, any PTO would LOVE to hear it. If your school has a PTO and you have no desire to attend a meeting and can't volunteer or simple just don't want to volunteer (we understand that completely) bring your kids to the events, they will have fun...plus those extra smiles and giggles we hear really make all of our hard work worth it! All of us on Alexander's PTO all said while cleaning up, "did you hear the kids...did you see the kids...Ï think they loved..." and that is why I will continue to be apart of PTO, making kids happy is will always be worth the time I spend working behind the scenes on PTO stuff.
Stepping off my soapbox now, I just have a feeling that most people think PTO is something stiff and boring, it's not, our group is made up of hardworking, sarcastic moms that just want their kids to attend a fun school...and yes. Megan and Joey were there, but I was busy running around everywhere. They were having a blast hanging out with Mark!

Start of 2nd Grade

It goes without saying that the start of the school year is slightly busy. Lots of things start along with wanting to enjoy any and all of the nice weather days possible...updating the blog had to wait.

1st Day of 1st grade 2013

 

 The first day of school is always a big deal!  Megan LOVES school and is always super excited for school to start each year. Of course she has to have her picture taken about 5 million times :) just so we can she how much she grows throughout the year (the answer is "too fast!!!" She always grows too fast!)

She here is Miss. Megan on the first day of 2nd grade. Her teacher is Mrs. Stewart at Alexander Elem. School.

 She HAS to pose by our Maple Pride sign! Adrian Public Schools are doing great things at ALL grade levels, we have a lot to be proud of with our schools!

I wasn't sure how Joey was going to handle Megan going to school this year. Last year he was still too young, but this year, he knows when she is gone. He LOVES walking Megan to the bus and going to get her from the bus after school. During the first week of school, it was interesting, it was almost like he gave himself permission to rest...he slept a lot...not so much anymore though :(

 The bus.

 A month into school so not a lot of weather stuff happening (yet) but they did have 2 back to back fog delays. This pictures was during an "interesting" 3 hour school delay! O & G, Megan's friends needed to come play with us during this delay...they just needed to be outside to get the wiggles out! Waiting until lunch time to start school makes for a lot of extra wiggles.

Here is Megan's "official" school picture, missing tooth and all! So far, we are off to another great year at Alexander!