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.
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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.