Hi! We're Back!

Hello!  Thank you for your patience as we have been ridiculously busy this winter season.  I realize it has been since Christmas since our last post and I cannot fathom the idea of filling you in with everything since then.  Instead, I will do quick snapshots of what our lives have been all about these past two months.  I promise we will post more often as we are finally coming up for air with our schedules.  Thanks for checking in, here we go!

Happy New Year!  After a crazy busy Christmas, we welcomed 2016 at our friend's cabin.  We went sledding, snowmobiling and tubing at Christie.  We toasted to a new year and are so thankful for our 2015 blessings.  We are excited for the new year and all it has in store for us!

Ben, Chris, Matt and my brother, Jim, all were fortunate to have received gifted tickets to the Vikings/Packers game at Lambeau Field.  The highlight of this entire football season was the Vikings win against the Pack that night.  My brother is obviously a Vikings fan, we still can't figure out why Matt is.  They had a great "brothers" bonding outing, so that is all that matters...well, that and the fact the Vikings won :)

We celebrated Christmas with my Dad and Sharon in mid-January.  We all gathered around to watch a heartbreaking loss by our favorite team.  It came down to a stupid field goal and we lost, UGH!  Needless to say, I was just excited that Cooper put on a spare jersey from his cousin Jimmy.  Haha, Chris was not impressed.

 Mid-January... Liberty is not going well these days.  Our almost 13 year old golden is almost entirely blind, going deaf and she is dealing with vestibular issues.  She stumbles, falls and is disoriented.  The vet just blames old age, but we think something might be happening (like cancer).  We have had many scary and sad moments watching her and Caden drew this terribly sad photo of our family.  I can't help but think how therapeutic art can be for children.  We will know when it is time for Liberty, she is not in pain, but we are saddened to see her health decline, sigh...

 I turned 29 (wink) on January 16th.  My birthday fell on a weekend, so that was exciting!  We spent the day at hockey and then shared a bday dinner at Fuji.  They took a family picture, had me sign the photo for their celebration wall and of course, sang and banged on some drums for an added embarrassment factor.  It was a perfect celebration, with the boys that I love.

Cooper qualified for the jump rope contest (top 5 boys) and Caden was first alternate.  We went to their school for the jump-off and Cooper ended up taking 4th place!  I think he had 9 jumps in 10 seconds :)  Caden didn't jump as the top 5 boys all were present so hopefully he qualifies next year.  Our little jumping beans!

The boys made the school's monthly newsletter in the photo above.  The school bought new tubes and they love to play together at lunch recess.  I love seeing their pictures from school events!

 Winter fun activities have included snowmen building and plenty of snowmobiling!

 We are SO proud and happy to share that Chris passed his national board exam for the American College of Healthcare Executives.  To become a fellow, you have to be a member of ACHE for 3 years, participate in conferences and professional workshop hours, and then prepare for a 7-8 hour exam.  Chris studied extremely hard and flew to Georgia for a prep course.  He passed with flying colors and is now one of few administrators who holds this certification.  What is it good for you might ask.... Chris inspires to be a CEO of a hospital sometime in the near future.  This will set him apart and will help him reach his goals.  Way to go, Chris!

We had a winter fun weekend with all of Chris' family in Chetek.  It was a gorgeous weekend, so we took advantage of ice skating on the rink Lois made for the kids, ice fishing, snowmobiling and just enjoying our time together.

Caden loves swim team.  We really didn't know what to expect with this sport, but overall, have been pleasantly surprised.  Caden has made huge gains in his swimming.  He has great endurance and can now compete the freestyle, backstroke, and breastroke.  He loves to dive off the blocks and is one of few kids to do so.  He completed his first 50 yard race with a flip turn as well.  He is still "younger" for his age bracket but has been competing well and has earned ribbons this season.

Freestyle Relay (2nd place)

 Breaststroke (5th place)

Not pictured, Backstroke (8th place)

Cooper is a 2nd year mighty mite, but should still be in beginners.  We petitioned the board because this kid has a god-given talent for hockey.  He is SO different from Caden.  Caden is technical, an amazing skater, but not aggressive on the ice at all.  Cooper plays 150% with pure heart and is extremely competitive.  He actually wants to be goalie, so for this tournament they allowed goalies and he jumped at the chance.  The jamboree was at our home rink, they played 3 short games and Cooper couldn't have been more ready or excited.  He played 1 of the 3 games in the net (look how tiny the nets are!!!)  He played the other two games out of the net.  If you were to ask me, I really hope he doesn't want to be a goalie in the near future.  It's too stressful to watch!!!  

 He falls often because the kid is a work horse out there!

 Face-off

He was excited for the medal!  He gets to compete in one small jamboree next weekend, otherwise, his season is over.  We love watching Coop play hockey!

Mid-February.... Caden wrote all about what being a president would be like.  I love how he used Chris' trips to DC as a reference to historical places and he mentioned he would have lots of paperwork.  To top it off, his teacher had him put on huge glasses and make a serious face for his photo.  Haha, this cracked me up.

Chris and I took the day off after conferences to have a family fun day at MOA.  We went on all the rides, had lunch, and of course, squeezed in a stop at a dealership so Chris could buy a new pick-up truck.  He is one happy guy.  At MOA, we couldn't help but notice that the boys were really only riding the BIG rides (despite this one of the bumper cars).  It makes us a bit sad to think just a few years ago, the mini-rollercoaster was a brave feat.  Our boys are growing up way too fast.

Caden had a quick, morning jamboree in Altoona.  His team is doing so well considering most are first year mites.  Caden likes to play forward and has had a few assists this year.  We are not sure if this will be "his sport" and comparing swimming to hockey, we feel he might be more of a swimmer. Time will tell!

 Pinewood Derby!  Caden's Boy Scout troop hosted their annual derby last week.  Chris nearly needed a trip to the hospital after a DEEP cut thanks to the saw (ugh!)  Thankfully, he carried on and helped Caden complete his car.  Chris did the cutting, Caden did the sanding, both helped with painting and I assisted with decals.  It was a family affair.

In both of his races, he lost to a tie-breaker and was eliminated from moving on in the competition.  Despite this unfortunate result, his troop voted his car for best design.  He was beyond excited for the honor and took home this nifty ribbon.

Swim team had their photos taken last week and I snuck in a quick picture.  We will get the professional one back, but Caden is the front row, 4th kid in from the left (sitting tall).  This shocks me as it doesn't seem the swim team is THIS big, but it is!  There are many great families and we have been lucky to get to know them at the meets and some social gatherings.  Caden swam in the "last chance" meet.  He didn't qualify for state, but improved his times by seconds.  Here he is getting ready for his one last event, the backstroke.

And to round-off February, Caden just completed his first, away tournament in Hudson this weekend. This brings back childhood memories of being dragged to my brother Jim's tournaments around the state of MN.  Some things don't change such as the decorated hotel doors, goody bags (I made these, thanks Pinterest), swimming with the team, pizza party, floor hockey in the hallways, parents hanging out, having a few adult beverages, and just bonding with the team.  We are really lucky to have such a great group of hockey families to spend time with.  We also had some fans, as my brother, Karri, Jimmy and Ava came to cheer Caden on.  He felt so proud.  So, there you have it, our crazy life. Hockey, swimming, Boy Scouts, swim lessons, school, work, accomplishments, family time and many, many memories.  Thanks for sticking with us and we hope to post again soon!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!  This past month has been a blur between traveling, sports, careers, school, etc... We had a wonderful Thanksgiving x 2 because we celebrated with Ben and Erin (Kyra and Bennett), Lois/Grammy, Matt and Jill (Emmett and Whitney).  We attempted a cousins photo, that went over 'well' as you can see....

 We had leftovers at my Mom's and Jamie's, and also had lots of cousins to play with.  The little one by Ava is Samantha's daughter (Jamie's daughter)... The kids are growing up so fast!  My Mom and Jamie continue to live in Africa for his job at Marathon Oil.  His project is complete in the next few months, so they will decide if they stay longer or return to MN.  We are hoping they return back home!

Caden is a very creative writer.  He had to write a story about a turkey who is disguised.  He did this in class.  I just LOVE how he used all caps in his letter, "I CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN!"  Haha, so funny!

The day after Thanksgiving, the girls went Black Friday shopping at MOA and the boys/kids hung out and played.  We returned home with a busy schedule planned.

Our tradition continues... the weekend of Thanksgiving, we always go to Pleasant Valley to see Mr. and Mrs. Claus and cut down our tree.  The boys were so funny this year.  They just marched right up there, sat on their laps and gave them an earful of what they were hoping for this Christmas.  

 Caden asked for a snowboard, snow skis, Netflix, and a basketball hoop.

 Cooper asked for pretty much the same things!

 Oh we so wish we could freeze time right now when everything is still so magical and pure!

 We all looked for that perfect tree....

 At last we found it!  It was a nice, round, Balsam tree.

 Grammy came along so that she could get her tree too!

 After our hayride back and some cocoa, we went home, decorated the house inside and out, and were ready for the Christmas season!

 Our Christmas wouldn't be complete without our elf, David.  He arrived on December 1st to make us all laugh and cause some holiday mischief.  He arrived stuck inside of the balloon with the words, "PLEH" written on the inside.  We quickly popped the balloon and welcomed the little rascal back "home."

 David wrote us a friendly reminder that he is ALWAYS watching (this would be our favorite part).

The adventures began.... jam session with Pete the Cat, Cooper's classroom book/journal activity (perfect timing!)

 Cooper has had only one yellow light at school (verbal warning) but he came home with a pink light (warning) because he was loud in the bathrooms and during choice time.  David wrote him a note and was inside of his backpack pocket the next morning.  Cooper was totally freaked out.  He has been on green light or above since then.

 Inside the popcorn popper.

 Hunting in the basement and fishing in the toilet~ can you guess whose idea this was?!?!

 David loves to make messes when he bakes at night!

He made a batch of mini- chocolate chip cookies.  We ate those for breakfast :)

David got into a snowmobile accident.  Thankfully, he had his own stash of Elf on the Shelf band-aids and the ambulance came to fix him up :)

We went to the Chippewa Christmas parade.  It was a perfect/mild night to stand outside!  The boys saw Santa for the second time in a week!

 I don't love to do holiday baking, but since it is a tradition, I just deal with the horrible mess and then the temptation to eat all the goodies.  We had Caden's friend, Trevor over to make cookies with us.

 They mostly ate the dough.  Thankfully, no one came down with food poisoning.

 When all was said and done, we had a HUGE batch of cut-outs, peanut butter balls, fudge, and pretzel wreaths.  Plenty to carry us through the season!

 Caden had his second swim meet last weekend.  Because we had a family Christmas in the Dells, he only swam two events in the morning.  He swam the IM relay (free style was Caden's leg) and then he did the freestyle individual race.

 His IM relay team took 2nd place.  They worked so hard!

 It's hard to see him in these pictures, but he decided for his freestyle start that he was going to dive off the blocks.  He is getting much better with this, so we just said "OK!"  He did it and took 3rd place out of 5 kids in his heat.  He shaved off a few seconds from his time too!

 He was happy to be done with his events as he didn't want to miss seeing his cousins and Santa (for the 3rd time)... he now realizes that Santa has brothers who help him visit children too (eek!)

After the family meal, gift opening and Santa, it was time for the kids to swim their little hearts out!

 Hockey is well underway.  The boys are enjoying playing so far.  Caden's team has had two games so far, they lost the first game and won the second.  They also had to take turns playing goalie, which Caden was indifferent about.  He won't typically play goalie, they just wanted to be sure all had a chance to try it....whew!  I hated watching my brother play goalie... too stressful!

 He looks so little!

I had a good laugh the other day when Cooper told me he was paying solitaire on Chris' phone.  I didn't believe him until he showed me the screen and sure enough, he actually was playing it correctly.  Holy cow!

 And then this happened... Caden apparently found an old stacker from my classroom.  He took it upon himself to Fiskars cut (fancy scissors) labels, labeled the drawers, and then organized supplies inside.  He then gave it to Cooper so that he had his own table supplies in his bedroom.  I thought that was so cute.  Of course, he is a teacher's son :)

We had brunch with Santa at the golf course and Caden decided that this Santa was St. Nick, Santa's brother.  This is getting tricky!

They still humored this "other" Santa and told him all that they hoped for (which amazingly, was still the same list they gave the first Santa).

Caden's Boy Scout Troop had their raingutter regata last night.  Caden won two rounds, but then lost to an older kid.  He GREATLY improved on his blowing skills since last year, ha!

 Soooo close!

 Our little WOLF!

 All kids received a ribbon, he was happy about that!

 Me too wanted to try it out.  

Way to go Buddy!

And finally, one of the major events these past few weeks happened three days ago.  I went back into surgery to have the screw removed from my tibia.  After my ACL surgery, I had two screws inserted because my bone was so soft from the injury.  One screw will dissolve into the bone, but the surgeon advised that I get the other one out as it may cause problems down the road.  I had a nice nap and the screw was out.  I needed to take the week off of work (forced relaxation), which has been good.  I finished wrapping presents and have been able to catch up on emails and such.  Besides not working out for another month, this long nightmare is now officially over!

Pre-surgery, they opened up the long scar that you see and removed the screw which was located underneath.

And here is a $30,000++ procedure/screw just as proof that I had a screw in my leg.  Caden and Cooper just love this little show and tell memento.