Goodbye Winter

Goodbye Winter!  A few weeks ago, we enjoyed some of our favorite winter activities.  We went skiing again at Christie Mountain with our cousins.  After 6 hours of skiing, we mastered a few new tricks including riding up on a t-bar instead of a chairlift or tow rope and we decided that catching air in the snowboard park was the coolest thing ever.  The snowboarders were getting a huge kick of the "little dudes" on the jumps.

We look forward to many years ahead on the slopes; our parents are just thrilled for our love for downhill skiing.

My school doesn't have spring break, they have a winter break (dumb, I know).  Thankfully, Mommy had a short week of teaching and Daddy took off a day as well, so we did something fun everyday... Paddington movie, library, children's museum, lunch date, rollerskating rink, and lots of playtime.

We had a lot of fun at the Children's Museum. Since we are in school most days, it is a place we don't get to as often.  They remodeled a year or so ago, and now have an interactive farming exhibit.  Cooper and I are amazed with the realistic milking station.  Mom was a little embarrassed by our obsession with Bessie.

 I thought this bench was the coolest ever.  Daddy should build one of these for our house.  It is made from old waterskis, downhill skis, and cross country skis.  Awesome!

 Cooper the Builder

 The body slide is silly- it farts and burps as you go through it.  As I went down the slide, I told Mom, "This is embarrassing"... she is not sure if that was because she took a lot of pictures that day or because I landed in the toilet afterwards.

 Waterworks.  We were soaking wet thanks to our exploration.

Cooper is one of those kids who makes lots of noises and silly expressions when he is deep in play.  Mommy loves his amazement and wonder.

Our other fun stop at the museum was the shadow room.  You basically make silly poses while a bulb flashes brightly and freezes your motions.  Mommy gave Cooper a kiss (ah, sweet) above, but mostly we danced and jumped around.

Hockey Update- We were pleasantly surprised and excited to be invited to Menomonie's Jamboree.  We were only planning on the one tournament in Chippewa, but we ended up being able to have another full Saturday of games.  We were very excited to put our fundamentals/practice skills into game situations.

Cooper and I were on the same team because they mixed the Mighty Mites to create a varied group of skaters.  Mommy was thrilled to be able to watch one game at a time :)  

 This picture above makes her smile.  It will probably be High School when we both play together again on the same team.  We were sitting together on the pads before the games began.

 Games- we played 3 games, all had three, 10 minute periods, so we had lots of hockey!  We played Menomonie teams and Altoona teams.  Cooper was aggressive, always going hard to the puck.  He scored 4 goals in the tournament that day.

I am number 12 above and Cooper is number 5 (falling on the ice above and handling the puck below).  I ended up with 8 goals that day in the tournament.  I am a good position player- I am in the right place at the right time to knock them in.  Every time I scored, I looked to the stands for Mommy and raised my stick in the air.  She would jump up, cheer and clap loudly for me.  She hopes I do this forever.

By the end of the tournament, we were doing pillow talk, aka... lying down on the ice, just visiting with others.  Here is Cooper (above) visiting with an Altoona player.  Don't you wish you could hear their conversation?

We received another awesome hockey medal.  I think it is time to get a medal display for our rooms :)

After our tourney, we went to Kid's Hair (hence my green mohawk) for haircuts and we did some serious shopping for upcoming trips.  Mom/Dad had a fun baby shower at a Hibachi restaurant with family that night for baby girl Lindell who will arrive in 2 weeks or less!  All 5 littles were babysat by Lexi- how crazy that our cousin can babysit us now?  What a fun weekend we had!

In daycare news, Cooper's class had one last hurrah in the snow.  It is now all melted thanks to 50 degree temps. We found a few last patches of snow in our yard for the Kitty Cat, but have now put it away (knock on wood).  Hello Spring and John Deere Gator.

Cooper's class had Dr. Seuss day.  They dressed up as their favorite character (minus the blue hair), he wanted to be Thing 2.  I wore a Thing 1 shirt to school that same day and Mom forgot to take our picture together.  Cooper also made a Cat in the Hat mask, which he said he didn't want to wear since he was Thing 2.  Mom questioned his behavior and he said they had the choice.  So, he is the random kid without the mask below (well besides the kid with face paint).  Ugh Cooper, he is one independent kid.

 Mom geeked out on Pinterest ideas for 4K snacks that week in honor of Dr. Seuss.

Mom news... and finally, we share some unfortunate news.  Here is Mommy's soccer team a few weeks ago celebrating yet another championship win.  She has played soccer since she was 3 years old (you can do the math).  She has loved the physical demands, the technique and competition, and the awesome teammates she has played with.  Besides a concussion in high school and a broken hand in college, she has had a healthy soccer career.  On Monday night, she briefly was playing defense (which she majorly dislikes) and collided with her goalie as they both were defending the goal.  She heard a huge "Pop, crackling... Pop" and down she went.  Her teammates carried her off the field.  She knew something was really wrong and she feared the worst.  After a doctor's appointment and MRI, it confirmed what she feared- a torn ACL in her right knee, a transient dislocation (the bones in her knee slide on top of each other, causing the rupture) and she has lots of swelling and fluid.  This means surgery and rehab... adding up to about 9 months of recovery time. So, it is with sadness she says goodbye to the sport she loves and prepares for a major physical and mental battle.  We will post more as the weeks unfold ahead.  At this point, we will enjoy our vacations coming up and will cherish some family/friends time.  Wish her luck!   

Good Times, Scary Times, Loving Times

Good Times!  We kick off this post with some fun pictures from our Mighty Mite Jamboree!  We hosted at our rink and 2 local teams came for the tourney.  It was Cooper's first hockey game and my 2nd tournament.

Our parents gave us a little bribe~ Cooper would get a trophy if he scored, since Daddy's Dad did this for him when he had his first hockey goal.  Cooper accomplished that goal in the first 5 minutes of his first game.  He scored 6 goals in the tournament which also meant he will get a "real" hockey jacket that the big boys wear.  Cooper is #4 in the blue jersey (above scoring).

Cooper was very excited to receive a medal with his teammates after their games.  We played 6, eight minute games with a few breaks in between.  By the end, the littlest kids (Cooper's age) were laying down on the ice :)

 The high school mascot (Cardinals) joined the teams for the medal ceremony, group and individual pictures.

My turn~ I was familiar with how this tournament worked since last year I was able to play in the Jamboree for my first time.  My bribe was if I scored 3 goals in the tournament, I would get a hockey jacket.  I scored my first goal within 5 minutes of my first game too!  I was determined to get that jacket.  I am also #4 in the gray (handling the puck in the picture above).

 Every time I scored, I raised my stick.  To make things more challenging, we had to shoot in the corners (see the tire in the net).  We don't play with goalies at this level, but the tire sure made me work harder.  In the end, Mom thinks I scored 5 goals, Dad says it was 6... just wondering if this is so that my ego isn't bruised in comparison to Cooper's 6 goals?!?!  Either way, I was proud of my playing, I improved so much since last year, and I get my jacket.

In 4K news, Cooper earned his rocket.  This is for kids who can count independently to 100.  He has been practicing (on his terms) and has been close to the goal for several weeks.  He would get stuck at 59 sometimes, so we were all so proud when we saw the happy news and picture.  Way to go Coop!

We also had this picture shared with us.  He is ALL boy, so we think it is pretty cute that he is playing in the doll house with a girl from class :)

Outside play on a "decent" day.  It sure has been cold the past few days!!!

We hit the Mall of America for a playdate and fun with our cousin Jimmy.  We went on rides all day long, including the Pepsi roller coaster twice.  Mom isn't a fan of rides, but lucky for her, we still need a chaperone to ride.  She says we owe her someday.

 A little whiplash

 Swings

Bumper cars (not sure why Cooper wanted to ride with me instead of on his own).  Notice my 10 and 2 technique.  My parents have no worries about me driving in 10 years.

 Ha, our parents are soooo glad that Jim is stuck with riding the kiddie rides and not them anymore!

Scary Times~ I am sure these pictures make you just cringe.  It makes us too.  On Tuesday night, I had Boy Scouts and at the end of our meeting, kids like to play tag and run around.  Daddy told us to stop (along with a few other parents) so I did and was looking at some pictures on the wall.  A few others didn't stop and one of my best friends ran full steam into my mouth with his forehead.  He didn't get hurt, I sure did.  Blood went everywhere, we headed home and immediately put on ice.  Mom returned from her church group and nearly passed out at the sight of my mouth (above picture).  Thankfully, we have a friend and neighbor who is my pediatric dentist, so we got in the next morning for xrays.  What we found out was that I had a root fracture and needed my pointy tooth (incisor) to be extracted.  I was also lucky to not have bitten through my lip (but it was deep) so I am on an antibiotic/rinse for a full month.  The below picture is what my mouth looked like after the extraction.  I will post a picture of my mouth next week as it has healed SO quickly already.  We are putting neosporin on my lip like crazy too.  My dentist doesn't think there will be permanent damage but we will have to keep an eye on this for years to come.  Ugh, wish I could have said this was a super cool hockey injury from a game winning goal...

Loving Times- Happy Valentine's Day!  Our kitchen turned into Pinterest these past few weeks.  Mom has been busy making Valentine's for our classes.  Here are the fun Valentine's for this year.

My class- blow pop, bubbles and sports whistle

Cooper's other Valentine (Kool-Aid/Heart Straws were for his 4K class), the one above was for his daycare class and included gumballs and a Valentine bouncy ball.

 Teacher Gifts

 Mom and Dad treated themselves to a new front loader washer/dryer.  They kept waiting for their other ones to die, they didn't, so they sold them immediately on Craiglist.  They had a date night to shop for new front loaders and now have been happily doing laundry.  Cooper and I love to watch through the windows. The simple things :)

On Valentine's morning (disregard my mismatched boxers/PJ shirt) we had donuts (Donut You Know We Love You) and opened a gift bag with some fun presents.

We received new movies, kid headphones (for plane rides and our portable DVD players), yummy treats, fuzzy coloring page kits, gift cards to DQ, special dollars from our great grandparents, and NO clothes, yay!

 We made Mommy handmade cards with Daddy's help... Cooper's is the one about always finding his lovey (very true) and mine says "You give cuddlez."  She loved these the most!

We were supposed to hit the ski slopes but thanks to -20 windchills, we decided to go rollerskating.  My parents put on the old school 4-wheelers and Cooper/I put on rollerblades.  We skated for 4 hours!

 See how much better my mouth looks already... THANK THE LORD!

 My buddy Trevor

What my parents love... family, friends, our blessings, our good health, my quick recovery and how tough I can be in the toughest circumstances, and many fun times we have together!