Who Stole The Cookie Dough From The Mixing Bowl???

Tyler Stole The Cookie Dough From The Mixing Bowl!!

Get out the Advil - Daddy's Going to be Sore Tonight!!

The annual Alumni Hockey Game... Where grown men try to relive their high school hockey days.

Many thanks to the committee who helps put this fun show on each Christmas. All proceeds go towards a scholarship for a graduating high school hockey player. The evening is full of fun with raffles for some super cool prizes and the honoring of a community member who has given back so much of their time towards the Ely youth - not necessarily hockey related.


The best part of the night is watching all of the "old guys" try to strut their stuff out on the ice again. Their brains tell them that they can still play like they did back in high school, but their bodies don't quite cooperate. They all come out playing hard and surprisingly fast for the first couple minutes and then they begin to slow down. By the end of the game I think my kids could skate circles around most of them. And the next morning - they are all begging their wives and girlfriends for the advil bottle complaining about all of their aches and pains from the previous night.

It's a fun night of past memories of high school and meeting up with old friends that you may only see this one night each year.

Congratulations Ely Hockey - you are still going strong!!

Before the game the boys and I got together for some skating with an old friend and her boys who were visiting from Florida.

It was so nice to see her and her family again and we now have plans for sliding and other fun stuff this coming week.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas...

I love Christmas. We had 2 fun filled days, but I am glad it's over too.

We spent Christmas Eve at our house with meme, papa and uncle Bobby after church. Nick and Eric got to help carry baby Jesus to the manger during mass and did a great job. I did not get to see much of the church service since Tyler feel asleep on my lap immediately after we arrived at church. You see, we found his missing keke (blanket) right before we left for church and he promptly stuck his thumb in his mouth, grabbed his favorite spot on he keke in the other hand and passed out cold. I think he was so relieved to have his keke back. I know I was relieved - it has been a long couple of weeks without the keke - sleepless nights and crying ourselves to sleep over the loss of the beloved blanket. (My little Linus!!)

The boys woke up around 7am Christmas day and we dug into the presents.



Everyone was happy with what Santa brought them. We spent the rest of the day at meme and papa's playing on the little snowmobile and the sleds. Came home and all three boys crashed into a Christmas induced coma.

Hope your Christmas was a wonderful one!!

Not Me Monday!!

I love not me Mondays. What better way to clear your conscious for the next week. Join in the fun if you want by clicking on the Not Me Monday link below.



Here we go...

This past week I did not throw our Christmas Tree out of the house because EVERY SINGLE NEEDLE on it had fallen off. We watered it, but apparently we got a dud Christmas tree. I did not take the entire bare naked tree lights and all and toss it in the snow in complete frustration.

With the passing of our tree I most certainly did not cave in and use an artificial one even though I hate artificial trees. Where is the spirit in that.

I was not just as excited as my boys about school being cancelled on Monday due to a snow storm and then later in the day I did not wish that school was in fact in session. I love having my boys home with me and they would never get on my nerves on a cold snowy day when we were stuck inside.

Both Kurt and I did not pray that school would be cancelled again due to the extreme cold temperatures on Tuesday so that he could cancel his high school hockey game because he was missing some key players for said game. We would never wish for something like that.

I did not hide some Christmas presents in a garbage bag and forget that they were sitting on the kitchen floor. And when Nick asked what was in the bag I did not tell him that it was dirty diapers and other garbage and ask him to bring it to the shed. To only later have to go out there in the dark to retrieve said bag.

And lastly,, I did not type this list last night and have it post itself today because I knew that I would be super busy with daycare kids today. I am not the organized!!

So there you go. My not me list for the week. Have a great week everyone.

Christmas pictures coming soon.

Miracles do happen...

An entire night to myself with a mall, target and a good friend for company??

Yes, it actually happened!!

Thursday night I got to go Christmas shopping with a friend in Virginia WITHOUT kids. I love my kids dearly, but trying to shop with them is difficult and considering that I hadn't even started my Christmas shopping until last night I did not need any tag alongs.

Usually I am done with my shopping by December 1st. This year I started the shopping and finished the shopping all within a four hour shopping spree. The entire Target parking lot was packed and I think all of those people were in the toy department!! It was crazy and a tad stressful. I had a list, I stuck to the list and didn't get caught up in all the buy this and buy that gimmicks out there.

The hour long car ride was actually fun with adult conversation rather than the normal fighting and threats of dropping kids off of the side of the road if you don't stop hitting your brother conversations that usually fill the car on shopping trips.

It's truly amazing what a little time away from your kids can do. I love my boys more than I can say, but a mommy's time out once in awhile is very refreshing. I am now ready to face our crazy life of hockey schedules, temper tantrams and life with 3 boys again. And, J & I are thinking of making this outing a monthly event so another mommy's time out is on the horizon.

So, on to the next dilema - can I clone myself before Saturday?? Not quite sure how I am supposed to be in Proctor for the highschool game with the cheerleaders at 3pm, Ely with Eric and Ty's popsicle game at 12pm and Mesabi East with Nick's mite game at 10am and 3pm? Any suggestions?? (Dad if you are reading this - I will be calling you for some grandpa help - want to watch a hockey game????)

"A mother of boys is busy from son up until son down"
How true.....

Dear Santa

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles and who knows when I'll find any more free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a refriderator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with three kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dogs.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room tempeature without it being served in a styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It would clear my conscience immensely. It would also be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Your always,
MOM...

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

14 INCHES!!!

We go from freezing weather to a winter snowstorm!!

As the snow feel yesterday the boys got more and more excited. At about 7pm last night the call came in - SCHOOL IS CANCELLED!! The boys were cheering and jumping around. (I have to admit I was excited too) I was just as excited as they were that school was cancelled?! I love snow days.

The plan this morning - shovel ourselves out, build a snowman, and the most exciting part - A SNOW FORT. Yes, the boys fort obsession has now been tranferred to snow forts. Kurt plowed that night and we have a HUGE snow pile in the front yard for the boys to play on.

We already have plans for the neighborhood pals to come over and start construction on the new fort. Just waiting for it to warm up a bit since it is now freezing again!! -9 without the windchill.
You just gotta love winter in northern minnesota.

Pictures of the snow to come tonight!!

SNOW SNOW SNOW

The boys woke up this morning to about 5 inches on new snow. Talk about exciting!! Nick was outside at 6:45am this morning shoveling!! He shoveled the neighbors sidewalk first then did ours. The kid loves to shovel snow almost as much as his dad likes to plow snow. Oh well, at least I didn't have to go out and do it.

The boot gremlins have hit our house again. Since there is finally a pretty good amount of snow on the ground I decided I had better dig out my winter boots. Well, I found 2 boots, but they don't match. I found the left boot of two different pairs but can't find the right boot to match either of them!! AUGGHHHHHH!! So I prayed to St. Anthony to help me find my missing boot (tony tony somethings lost). Hopefully they will pop up soon.

After school the boys are heading up to the fort to make sure that it has held up in the snow. And speaking of the fort - they both asked for a tarp for Christmas!! A brown one not a bright blue one so that it hides the fort. Now that is something I did not expect to see on a 7 & 8 year olds christmas list!!

Tyler and I get a lazy day at home today with no daycare kids. It's nice to have some down time every now and then. And Tyler is eating up the fact that he has momma all to himself for a whole day.

Off to cuddle and watch Mickey Mouse's Once Upon a Christmas with Ty.

Thank Heaven for Little Boys...

Eric turned 7 yesterday. It always seems like time goes by so fast. When they are first born you are hardly waiting for them to grow up and walk, talk and all of those other firsts - then pretty soon you are wishing that they wouldn't grow up so fast.

Eric's Birthday always brings me back to thoughts and memories of his first month. I remember being so terrified when the doctor said to us that he was flying Eric to Children's hospital. I can remember going home to pack and throwing things in a suitcase not even sure what I packed. The 4 hour drive the Minneapolis seemed to take forever. I can remember the smells and sounds of the NICU and the waiting room and watching them wheel my baby away for surgery and feeling totally helpless.

My mom always told me that God does not give you anything that you can't handle. She certainly was right. Even though I would not wish a sick baby on anyone I am so glad that we got to experience that exact thing. I know we can handle anything that comes our way.

And now, seven years later we have a healthy, active little man who seems to have a very old caring soul. Last night as we were laying in bed, Eric asked me again to tell him the story about the hospital. After I finished the story he looked at me and said that he was my miracle. Who knew a little boy could be so wise.

Happy Birthday Eric, my little miracle man!!

Gophers, Trains and Escalators

What an odd combination for a title?!?!

The Mattila boys were split up this past weekend.

Nick got to go with Daddy and the high school hockey team to their games in the cities and then to a GOPHER'S hockey game. You would have thought the child had won the lottery he was so excited. Ever since the game we are on overload with hockey. Nick says that he is going to go to school at the U of M and play for the gophers.
I told him that in order to play hockey for the gophers you have to work really hard in school to get good grades. What a motivation to work at school - maybe we should have taken him to a game sooner!!

So with gopher mania in our house now we are considering a weekend trip to Minneapolis again sometime in February to watch a game as a family and stay at the waterpark at the Minneapolis Depot hotel. If you ever go to stay in Minneapolis I highly recommend this hotel. The waterpark is geared more towards smaller kids and not as hyper as the other parks.

Now on to the trains. Once the two older Mattila men left for hockey, my mom and I packed up Eric and Ty and took off for Duluth to spend time with Aunt Betsy and Grandma. The highlight of the trip was the Polar Express. Fitgers and the Duluth Depot did a great job at bringing this story to life with a real train ride, story and visit with Santa at the end. I would highly recommend this holiday activity!! Eric was chosen at the end of the story to sit in the real train and ring the bell to signal the passengers to get back on the train. He was so excited.

But, the real highlight for the weekend for Eric and Ty??? Ride up and down and up and down again on the escalators!! I wonder if you can get one installed in your home???

So that is our weekend of gophers, trains & holiday magic. Can't wait until next year to do it all over again.

Cool Contest

Check out this link



What a great prize with money going to great causes.

Not Me Monday

Here we are again. The beginning of another week and Not Me Monday!!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. Please check out McMama's site by clicking on the Not Me Monday link.



This past week...

I did not finally give in and let Nick win. I did not allow him to go with Daddy and the highschool hockey team to their games in the cities this weekend and to a gopher game on Saturday night. I would never let my child push and push and whine and whine until I finally said yes, you can go. Giving in like that is not what I would do.

I was not feeling like a kid again as I sat with my mom and 2 little boys listening to the polar express book. I did not secretly wish that I could get a bell at the end of the story like all the kids did when we were done.

I did not feel rather sad that eventually my kids will not believe in Santa anymore. I did not wish that the magic would last forever.

Kurt and I did not have a conversation this past week thinking about how quickly the boys are growing up and that we are 1/2 way done with raising Nick before he is done with school and moving on to college. Why does 8 years old have to seem so old!!

I did not go shopping this weekend and have to hide gifts from my kids in the shopping cart. I did not wrap up some toys in a store ad so that Eric would not see it. I did not repeatedly frantically signal my mom to take the boys somewhere so that I could hide something in my cart.

I did not wait for the last minute to get Eric's birthday card invites out to friends and family. I did not have to hand deliver said cards rather than mailing them because I was behind schedule.


And finally, I did not give Eric one of his birthday gifts early because I knew that it would occupy him in the car on the way to Duluth.

Glad that is all off of my chest. Have a good week everyone.

superman/floods/cheerleading

Late yesterday afternoon confirms why I am going to have grey hair SOON!!

I previously told you about my brilliant idea to let the boys flood their own skating rink. Well note to self - when allowing your 8 & 6 year old to do this always check to make sure they shut the water off!! The boys came home from school yesterday with 2 friends in tow and wanted to flood the rink again. Once they were done they put everything away themselves and started a game of hockey in the kitchen. I never thought to check to see if everything had been put away correctly - BIG MISTAKE!! So about an hour into the kitchen hockey game I hear (or rather not hear) all 4 boys get VERY quiet and the basement door opening. Then a collective gasp. Not really wanting to look to see what was wrong at this point I took a deep breath and peaked down the basement stairs. 2 INCHES OF WATER COVERED THE ENTIRE BASEMENT FLOOR! The boys forgot to shut off the water for the hose. Needless to say - the friends went home and I spent some time drying out a basement.

Ahhhh - the joys of mothers with boys.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Superman to the rescue!! Or alternately titled superman learns to cheer.



I took the boys to cheerleading practice with me last night and Eric insisted on wearing his superman costume there. You pick your battles and this was not one that I chose to fight. So the mighty superman stood out on the ice and cheered his heart out with the girls.


Nick playing hockey during cheer practice


Tyler playing with the pom poms

Sorry the pictures aren't that great. I took them with my cell phone.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Like father like son's - otherwise titled "monkey see monkey do"

Kurt has been flooding the skating rinks at the rec center and the park everynight since last Friday (yes our temps are below freezing again!!). I let Nick and Eric go with him a couple of nights and the boys thought it was very exciting to spray the fire hose on the rink.

So in the spirit of "rink flooding", Nick and Eric shoveled all of the little amount of snow we have in our yard, the neighbors yard and the street to make a border for an ice rink on our front lawn. They were so excited to do this that I couldn't say no even though the rink itself is only about 6x8 ft. So yesterday after school they dragged the garden hose out of a basement window and poured their first layer onto the rink. Then last night before bed they begged to go out and do it again. If anyone drove by my house last night around 8:30 you would have seen 2 boys dressed in there pj's, winter coats and rubber boots flooding the rink again.

Hmmm - maybe this at home skating rink will cut down on the number of hours that I have to spend at the hockey rink?!?!?

One can only hope.

Not Me Monday

This past week I most certainly did not do the following...

On Saturday I did not spend 8 hours at the arena because my hockey obsessed boys had practice and then wanted to skate open hockey after that and then skate open skating after that!! I did not calmly sit in the arena with a book and allow this.

At open skating I did not secretly laugh and think Nick was absolutely adorable when I caught him holding hands with a fellow classmate (a girl) while helping her skate.

I am not jumping for joy that finally all of the blaze orange clothing can be put away in our house because deer hunting is finally over with. I do not secretly curse every time I step over some hunting article that the men in my house leave all over during hunting season.

After finishing cheerleading practice with 6 teenage girls I did not praise God that he blessed me with all boys. I also did not think to myself that I never acted like these girls at that age. I did not actually think that we would get much accomplished practice wise with 6 teenage girls when there were guys around. Silly me to think that practice is more imporatant than boys!!

And finally, I did not allow Eric to haul home GIGANTIC cardboard boxes from the recycling center yesterday so that he could make a huge box city in our living room. Our entire living room was not taken over by boxes of various shapes and sizes and then I did not give him an entire roll of duct tape to stick all the boxes together. I did not allow him to sleep in said box city last night either. It was a school night and I would never do that!!

Happy Monday everyone!!

I love mud and mud loves me!!

Have you ever noticed how boys are attracted to mud? Somehow Tyler's face was spared in this mud fight. Some might shake their heads at my muddy little man - my opinion - the dirtier they are the more fun they had and childhood is all about having fun!! So lets get muddy!!

The mighty hunters.

Eric, their best buddy Kyle, Nick, Tyler & Raven the dog.

The Little Rascals

"The Tree Fort" - Make sure when ever you are saying those three words to say them with total reverence and a starry eyed expression on your face!!

The older boys new adventure and what an adventure it is. Kurt was telling the boys about a tree fort that he made with his friends when he was young and one day showed them the spot where one lonely board still hung from the tree. Well, this information started an obession with Nick and Eric.

So now the two of them along with the other neighborhood kids go up to the tree fort almost on a daily basis to build their secret hideout. It is so funny to watch my boys come home from school with 3-4 other friends in tow. The come barrelling into the house claiming to be starving. And being the good "June Cleaver" mother (ha ha ha) I send them on their way with a bag already packed with drinks and an afterschool snack. I was told the other day by one of the boys that I rock - His actual state was "Nick's mom, you rock" because you know that I don't have a real name I am just Nick's mom, Eric's mom or Ty's mom. I learned early in on the fort building is tough work and an abundance of snacks are needed to keep the builders energy up. Even though there are some days when it seems so overwhelming to have all these boys stomping in and out of the house I am so glad that the boys and their friends enjoy spending time here. One of the goals of our family is to have a house where the kids and their friends feel comfortable hanging out at. I had that growing up and want the same thing for me kids.

So anyway back to the fort - after exhausting all of the wood scraps that we have here and at the neighbors house the boys called Uncle Bobby and begged him for any scrap wood he may have from work. Needless to say Uncle Bobby is now the hero of the fort!! A huge pile of scrap wood up for grabs. With the truck loaded with wood - the boys now take the wagon and haul wood up to the fort with their bikes. Try to imagine - one boy peddling the bike, another standing on the bike's back pegs, and one or two other boys running along side a wagon connected to the bike by about 20feet of rope trying to keep a huge pile of wood from falling off. The entire wood hauling process is hilarious to watch.

Watching the boys reminds me so much of the movie the little rascals. But, this is no he man woman haters club oh no - girls are welcome in the fort - three girls inparticular are regular vistors to the establishment. The boys even have a club mascot (raven the black lab) just like petey the dog on the little rascals. Raven tags along on occasion so that she can retrieve any squirrels, ducks, or other birds that the mighty hunters think they will shoot with the sling shot. One of our friends gave us a great idea for ammunition for the sling shots. The thought of rocks flying around was a little terrifying, but Chad came to the rescue and suggested using garbanzo beans from the store. Not as hard as rocks, but great ammunition all the same. Watch out wildlife - the mighty hunters with their beans are coming to get you!!

Since my little "spanky and alfalfa will be home from school soon with the rest of the gang I had better put on my June Cleaver apron and get that snack ready...
We wouldn't want any of them to starve now would we!?!?

Not me Monday!!

I think this is a great idea. What a way to vent about events from the past week without having to "truly admit to them". Thanks Mckmama for the great idea. Please check out Mckmama's blog - just click on the Not me Monday icon below.

So here we go - my first Not Me Monday!!

This week I did not use the excuse that we got to have a week long sleep over in my bed with all three boys since daddy was gone at the hunting shack all week. I did not use this excuse when in all honesty I hate when he is gone and don't sleep well without him at home and used the boys as my substitute protection from the things that go bump in the night.

I truly helped my boys study their spelling words every night this past week. I did not use an excuse two nights since I was tired and just wanted to go to bed. I would never hinder my children's education like that!! (they both got 100% on their tests anyway!! Thank goodness)

I have not put off cleaning the backyard of all of the summer toys in preparation for winter. I am not going to have to dig toys out of the snow again this year because I was too lazy to do it while the weather was still nice enough.

I did not lie to my children and tell them that our house had special anti monster repeltant siding on it because I was too tired of explaining that monsters weren't real only to have them not believe me and ask more monster related questions. Having no other option to end this ridiculously long monster conversation I did not tell them that daddy and I purchased monster proof siding for our house before we had kids so that the monsters would stay far away from our house. Sometimes you have to do whatever works right?!?!

I did not at least 5 times during the week wish that my children and husband were obsessed with any other sport other than hockey. Basketball sounds like to a nice sport doesn't it?!?!

Finally, I did not let our laundry pile up to mountain like heaps while daddy was gone hunting for the week. A grown woman with "monster proof siding" on her house would never be afraid to go down into the dark scary basement without her hubby home. Nope, not me.

Hope you all have a great week. If you feel the need to vent out your Not Me Monday too go mckmama's site and get the link.

You know your're obsessed with hockey when...

Ok, so it's pretty funny when my 8 year old gets excited when he walks by the arena at school and notices that the compressors are finally on and ice is being made for hockey!! Nick came home the other day so excited that there was smoke coming out of the compressor stacks. You would have thought that something major had happened the way he ran into the house yelling about compressors!! And now we finally are going to have ice this weekend which means we don't have to travel to Babbitt to practice anymore. Traveling there for two weeks (even though it's on 20 minutes) has given me a whole new appreciation for the parents of the Babbitt and Tower parents who do this for the kids on a daily basis in order for them to play hockey in Ely. So with hockey season starting our house has once again turned into hockey central. There is no place in our house that you won't find some kind of hockey type article. And of course the hockey stick has been in Nick's hand constantly. But, luckily for our windows and wall decorations - I came up with the bright idea of letting him hit a rolled up pair of socks in the house rather than a ball or puck. After loosing 2 pictures, 1 doorbell and various other things the the hockey puck gods we had to find a safer outlet for Nick's practicing. Eric and Tyler aren't nearly as obsessed with hockey as Nick is, but they definately are still hockey fanatics just the same.

So what is a mom to do in a house of 4 males who live and breath hockey???? Coach the hockey cheerleaders of course!!!!

Did you miss me?

Ok - so yes I know that it has been a long time (years...) since I posted in my blog. I had every intention of posting alot but kind of forgot about it. So, as an early new years resolution and also some inspiration from Mckmama and her blog (check it out at mycharmingkids.net) I am committing myself to making regular updates on my blog.

Stay posted for updated pictures and "stuff" coming shortly.