Make Way For Ducklings...

Or also titled - try to catch one very cold duck...

So this afternoon I happened to walk by the window and notice a duck (yes I said a duck) sitting in the middle of our very busy street.

A guy in a car had given up trying to catch it and drove away. So I called the vet thinking they would help out. I was told that the duck wouldn't survive in the winter conditions on it's own and that I should catch it and bring it in to them. And how do I catch it????

Feeling bad for the duck I put on my shoes and stepped out side to see what I could do. By this time another neighbor was slowing sneaking up on the duck and got within about 2 feet before the duck flew away (it could only fly about 10 yards) So, I get the bright idea to throw a blanket over it to catch it.

Now picture this if you can (and try hard not to laugh at me)...

My neighbor and I are in the middle of Central avenue, sneaking up from opposite sides on a duck. Cars are stopped on either side of us. The neighbor has his hands out in a monster type pose and I have a lightning mcqeen blanket held out ready to throw. Tyler is standing on the corner cheering us on. After about 20 minutes we gave up.

Kurt was on his way home for lunch so I called him and asked him to bring a net home from work if they had one. (I truly think that my husband has decided that I have lost my mind now) Kurt pulls up into the yard (without a net I might add) and finds me trying to coax a duck out from underneath a pontoon boat with bread in one hand and the blanket in the other. He scared the duck who flys out from under the boat and I took a flying leap to try to capture it. All I got was a head full of snow and did my husband help me up?? No, he just laughed...

So needless to say I never did capture the duck to bring the vet. I hope he is warm and happy somewhere, but I sure feel bad that I couldn't help him out. But, at least I gave my neighbors and the cars driving buy a good laugh today.

You Know You're A Minnesota Hockey Mom When...

• You count the days until the temperature hits 32 degrees so you can flood your backyard to create your very own rink
• You paint blue lines in your backyard
• You think the Excel Energy Center is the Taj Mahal of hockey
• You think the Battle Hymn of the Republic was written specifically for Gopher home series sweeps
• Your kids grow up wanting to wear the "M"
• Your kids have destroyed your basement/garage/doors/windows with all those hours of indoor/outdoor hockey at home
• You spend more hours in hockey rinks than you do in your own home
• You cheer a lengthy cycling of the puck
• You cheer a successful penalty kill
• You sarcastically cheer when a ref you swear is out to get your team finally calls a penalty in your team's favor
• You discipline your kids with "minors," "majors" and "misconducts."
• You know where the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame resides
• You know where the world's largest hockey stick resides
• You refuse to say "shutout" until the final horn goes off
• You throw your hat onto the ice after a player on your favorite team scores his/her third goal
• You think there are three periods in basketball
• You may dislike Norm Coleman for a lot of things, but you'll always love him for bringing the NHL back to Minnesota
• You teach your kids the signals for all penalties before you teach them the alphabet
• You use a puck as a paperweight
• You don't even notice the smell of a hockey locker room anymore
• You keep your skates and stick in your car...just in case
• You enjoy the "Mighty Ducks" movies and beem with pride when you recognize locations on the screen
• You can point out all the inaccuracies of the otherwise excellent movie "Miracle"
• Your kids grow their hair so it comes out the sides of their helmet
• You fit your kids for skates the moment they start walking
• You think hockey homework is just as important as school homework
• You consider the state high school tournament days as holidays
• You know the name of the person who sharpens your kids skates
• Your kids play hockey year round
• You take the parents vs. kids games really seriously
• You scout your town's Squirts to see what your high school team will be like in five years or so
• You have searched piles of snow for an errant puck at your local outdoor rink
• You think there's no temperature too cold to lay hockey outside
• Your kids consider the Hanson Brothers major celebrities
• You can instinctively drive to any town's hockey arena
• You specifically shop for boots that can withstand the temperature at the coldest ice arena in the state
• You think the Zamboni is mankind's greatest invention
• You can walk or job on a freshly resurfaced sheet of ice without losing balance at all
• You bought a minivan or SUV for the sole reason that it can hold all your kids' hockey equipment
• You know the arena in the state that serves the best hot chocolate
• You don't find it the least bit ironic that your favorite sport when it's cold outside is played where it's cold inside.

Santa is in my shower...

It's December and Tyler is in full Christmas mode. And that's an understatement!! Tyler has been begging to decorate for Christmas and since we didn't have a tree yet (usually I have it up the weekend after Thanksgiving, but somehow this year time has gotten away from me) I gave him two sets of lights and told him to go decorate his room. He left the living room with the lights and the outdoor plastic Santa that meme gave him.

A while later I got up to go to the bathroom and found this (I really wish my camera had been charged so that you could have had a visual of this)

My bathroom was completely decorated. Strings of lights were wrapped around the faucet, toilet, toilet paper holder, and up over the shower curtain rod.

Behind the green frog shower curtain was a bright glow. Yes - Santa was in the bathtub in all of his Christmas splendor!!

After quite some coaxing Tyler agreed with me that the bathtub was not a place for a light up Santa to stay for the holiday season. The Santa and lights were untangled from the bathroom and brought upstairs to the bedroom and our bathroom is once again free for use.

Catch Up...

I finally found the usb cord for my camera!! So now it's catch up time with pictures. Hang on for a fast ride through the life of the Mattila's The Fall edition...







Isn't it amazing how fast the boys have aged since the last pictures you saw of them in August??

The first day of school...

This picture was taken just seconds before Eric's meltdown of not wanting to go to school and stay with me all day. Thankfully this phase only lasted 2 weeks and he is now loving school. Although it was the longest 2 weeks of my life and I think I earned a few gray hairs from it.

The boys just got their first report cards of the year and are doing well. Both teachers say how polite, kind and respectful they are to other kids in the class and honestly that means more to me than any learning grade ever could. I am so glad that we are raising boys who can act like gentleman.

And then there's Ty. He was so excited for the first day of school. He was ready with his backpack on an hour before it was time to go. Ty loves his teachers and and school friends. If only he could go every day rather than just 2 days a week.

The Great Duck Hunt...

Uncle Bobby took Nick out for Youth Waterfowl Hunting Day. Nick shot his first duck and was so excited.

Hunting with dad...

On the trail of the mighty partridge

The Doo Duck...

Papa shot this duck and had to bring it home for Eric because it has the same hairdoo that Eric does.

The Pumpkin Patch...

I love fall. The smell in the air, the hayrides, pumpkins, the changing colors of the leaves.

Meme and I took the boys to a local pumpkin patch that had everything you could imagine - a haunted hay ride, a corn maze, petting zoo, a barn slide and of course pumpkins.

Nick being the brave first born and testing the slide out for his brothers.
Eric bracing for the bump at the end of the tunnel.
Ty - pure joy...

My strong boys...

Happy Birthday Ty Ty...

My baby turned 5!! Here he is pictured with this rainbow cake that I made for his family party. Thanks for the recipe idea mckmama!!
Since Ty's birthday is October 29th we decided to have his kid party on Halloween. Everyone dressed up for the party and we had tons of fun.

The loose tooth...

Ty lost his first tooth in October. And then lost a second one a week later.

He was very excited for the event until his brothers told him that if he didn't let them pull it out he would swallow it while he was sleeping and the tooth fairy would have to cut it out of his stomach!!

Needless to say Ty slept sitting upright on the couch for 3 nights until the tooth fell out on it's own.

Football - Remembering & Honoring...

What an eventful football season...

Lots of life lessons learned this fall for the coaches and players. I was so proud of Kurt, John and their team for the compassion and strength they showed following the accident. The players put the girls' first initials on their helmets and had a moment of prayer before their first game following the accident.



On a happier note: Flag football
He is Eric (in the red) in the huddle deciding what next play will be. The boys had alot of fun being able to play under the lights during half-time of a real football game.

All Caught Up...

So there you go. You are now all caught up via pictures of everything Mattila that has happened in the last couple of months...

Still no pictures...

I keep putting off posting because I wanted to add pictures. But, I still can't find my cable that connects my camera to the computer and of course none of the other computer to equipment cords that we have will work as a substitute.

So I guess I will give you a quick update with out pictures.

~Football is done. The team ended up not going to the funeral, but they did have stickers with the girls' initials on their helmets and had a moment of prayer before the game. They all seem to be dealing well and moving on. They did get on a bus again for the first time last week for their playoff game. Kurt said it was kind of quiet for awhile, but then everyone seemed to get back in the groove of bus travel.

~Hockey has started!! I'm not quite sure how I feel about this yet. My kitchen has 3 hockey bags on the floor. I spent the morning searching for a long lost hockey skate. My mom bought these sport scent balls that I am hoping will cut down on hockey odors in the bags. You wouldn't think that three little boys could create such a stink!! The cheerleaders have been busy cleaning up an old locker room. Thanks mom for helping me paint it!! Tonight we are going to add the finishing touches to it. Since we have extra lockers in there I am going to put the boys equipment there to free up some space in our house. Or I should say that I am putting Eric and Ty's equipment in there since Nick is too cool to share with the cheerleaders and has his own locker in the Varsity locker room with the big guys.

~Ty had his 5th birthday this past week and got to have his first "kid party". Since we had his party on Halloween all of the kids came dressed in costumes. It was a fun, sugar induced day.

~The boys scored lots of candy trick or treating this year. We filled 5 ice cream buckets. Thankfully the majority of it is going to the hunting shack on Friday.

~Kurt is leaving this coming Friday for a week at the hunting shack. I am looking forward to it. While he is gone this year my plan is to switch our bedroom with the toy room, wall paper the new bedroom, paint the kitchen and who knows what other rooms I will be inspired to do while he is away.

Hopefully I will find my computer cord this week and will be able to post pictures of all the updates.

Prayers needed...

I am asking anyone who reads my blog that knows us or doesn't to please pray for the Ely football team and coaches and the families of the girls who were in the accident with them on Friday evening.

We have been getting tons of calls and emails from people reaching out to Kurt and his team. It is truly amazing the amount of support that comes from people in a small town and even total strangers.

Just to update you a little, Kurt and his team are doing fine physically (other than some bruised ribs and soreness) and are beginning to deal with the emotional wounds that come with this. The team is planning on attending the funeral for Emma on Thursday.

I was very impressed with the way our school handled this. Ely school staff are the best. Quick thinking, compassion for those involved and very professional. Thanks EHS staff!!

On a side note I just have to say how extremely proud I am of my husband. I've always known what an amazing person he is, but the way he selflessly helped to save the girls in the car and the time and effort he has taken to help his team through this ordeal truly leaves me speechless. Not everyone has that kind of strength and courage and I am so glad to have him in my life.

Thank you to those of you who have called, emailed, texted or talked with us on the street voicing your concern for Kurt and his team. Keep the prayers coming for the girls recovery and for our boys to have peace of mind.

Love is...

Being the parent of three young children, love has taken on a whole new dimension.

• Love is scaring away monsters in the middle of the night, then again at 1:00am, 2:00am, 3:00am...
• Love is putting peanut butter on anything as long as they'll eat it!!
• Love is knowing how to disguise vegetables 30 different ways.
• Love is reading the same bedtime story for the 999th time.
• Love is a hug around the knees.
• Love is watching Mr. Rogers instead of All My Children.
• Love is cutting off the crusts.
• Love is a refrigerator covered with creative works of art.
• Love is standing in line for 2 hours for Dora The Explorer Live tickets.
• Love is grinning and bearing the dirtiest of diapers.
• Love is trading in your little red sports car for a mini van.
• Love is the magic kiss that heals all "owies".
• Love is a cuddly kid in a blanket sleeper.
• Love is the first kick, first smile, first laugh, first step, first anything.
• Love is your child pointing to a picture of Cindy Crawford and saying "mama".
• Love is a 2am feeding.
• Love is having your child fall asleep on your lap and just staying there holding him rather than putting him to bed.
• Love is "shoveling" the mud out of the bathtub after a hard day of play.
• Love is a macaroni necklace.
• Love is wearing the macaroni necklace to church with pride.
• Love is a peanut butter kiss, a syrup kiss, a chocolate kiss, any kind of kiss.
• Love is when Bert and Ernie replace Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson as your most admired men.
• Love is not worrying about those few extra pounds cuz they just make you more cuddly.
• Love is knowing how to get out amoxicillin stains.
• Love is a bouquet of dandelions.
• Love is the smell of a baby's neck.
• Love is saying "no" at the right times when it's easier to say "yes".
• Love is saying "yes" at the right times when it's easier to say "no".
• Love is being able to produce a pacifier or an animal cracker at a moment's notice.
• Love is forsaking an uninterrupted night of sleep, meals without spills, and getting anywhere on time.
• Love is interpreting your child's babbling.
• Love is the patience to "let him do it himself!"

Love is what makes it all worthwhile.

Long winded update - no pictures...

So life kind of got away from me for the last month or so. While I have not posted about the happenings in our house - there has been alot going on. So sit back, relax, take out those reading glasses and enjoy this month long update.

~At the moment our house is living and breathing football. Everywhere you look there is something related to football. Kurt's team won their first game this past Friday. And I have to say, I am so proud of them - not for winning the game but for the sportsmanship that they showed the other team. They could have run away with the score, but chose not to. Even the crowd in the stands was cheering the visiting team on. After losing his first 3 games by alot I am very impressed with the way he coached his boys on Friday. A great lesson learned by all!!

Kurt and his team also started flag football for the elementary kids on Saturdays. They had over 60 kids show up to play!! Nick and Eric are both playing. Nick of course is throwing himself 110% into football. He even created a playbook to use during recess at school when the kids play ball then.

All three boys started school 3 weeks ago. Tyler LOVES school. He is ready and not patiently waiting to go at least an hour before it's time for his day to start. The other two boys had a rough start to the year, but have found their grove and are adjusting to school life again. They both had a hard time adjusting to days without mom (who knew I was so much fun to be around?!?!)

Nick went with Uncle Bobby for the youth waterfowl hunting day and shot his first duck. He actually got three. His first duck was a wood duck and we are having it mounted to commemorate the occasion. Uncle Bobby was picking Nick up at 5:30am for the hunting trip. Nick woke me up at 4:25am asking if it was time to get ready to go!!

Eric had an exciting night at the local ducks unlimited banquet with Papa and Uncle Bobby. He won himself a lifetime hunting and fishing license!! Along with the license he also won a bunch of other stuff too. He is definitely our lucky one (last year he won a gun).

I am on count down to the week that Kurt is leaving for the deer hunting shack. Yes, I know that it is over a month away yet, but I am super excited for the house projects I am doing while he is away. I already have the paint for the boys room. Once he is gone I am going to cut a closet out of the boys room, paint their room in a hockey theme, move our bedroom downstairs and turn our upstairs bedroom into a new toy room for the boys. Shhhh don't tell him!!

Today Fall finally arrived in Ely. Last week the weather was perfect and in the upper 70's. Today it is cold, windy, rainy and only 43degrees. Oh well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later.

Well, that's it for now. I will try to get the pictures of the boys first day of school off of my camera soon to post here.

Who can argue with that logic...

Eric - "Mom, since it's the last Tuesday of summer vacation before school starts can we have
pizza for breakfast?"

Now - you tell me how I can argue with that logic?!

Raspberry Jelly...

Is it wrong that Ty ate nothing but homemade raspberry jelly sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner today??

According to Ty, "All my belly wants to eat is meme's jelly on bread. Maybe tomorrow it will like your food again mom. But, maybe not. I want to eat your food, but my tummy says no."

Well, who can argue with that logic?!?!

Water fountains....

"Look mom, I'm a statue and a fountain!!"

Eric and Ty learned the finer art of the human fountain statue on our latest beach day.

Sure am hoping that the 90 degree weather would come back again for a few days!!

And so it begins...

As of Monday of this week I am officially a high school coaching widow.

Football practice started on Monday and will run through the fall and surprise, surprise will run right into Hockey practice. (there is a week break in between the two sports, but that week Kurt is taking off from work to live at the hunting shack to take a break.)

So the new schedule around the house (for the next two weeks at least) is to have dinner ready at 5 so when Kurt gets done with work he can come home, shovel food into his mouth, kiss all of us quickly and get to the football field.
Then, in two weeks time the schedule will switch again with practices ending at 6 rather than beginning at 6. So dinner time will be pushed back to the later time again.
This will remain our schedule (unless it's a game night and game nights in our house mean Subway nights. Don't quite know how that ritual started, but Kurt says it's good luck and we are sticking with it!) until the week he is gone hunting. I LOVE HUNTING WEEK!! It's a week where me and the boys can have mac and cheese and pb&j sandwiches for every meal if we want to!!
Then Hockey starts, not just for Kurt but for all three boys who will be in three different levels with three different practice times. And, at this point in the year the whole "sitting at the table family meal" goes right out the window. All I have to say is thank goodness for crockpots!!

So that is a look into how our Fall is shaping up. I will be back later tonight with pictures of Nick's 9th Birthday party. (can you believe my baby is 9?? - I can't)

Canon Ball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Smore Pizza...

ok, ok - I know I watch way too much food network tv. But, I do get some great recipes from it including this one that never had a chance to hit the table and was eaten directly off the pizza stone by the boys.

Roll out your favorite pizza crust. Bake as directed for 1/2 the amount of time you are supposed to. Remove from oven and sprinkle mini marshmallows and 1 large Hershey's chocolate bar broken into pieces on the pizza. Bake for remaining time.

Sprinkle with crushed graham cracker crumbs.

Enjoy.

Future waterskippers

Nick was gone all afternoon the other day working on a project with Kyle. I got a call from Nick to come up to Kyle's house and check out what they did. I thought they were working on bikes, but when I got there this is the project that I saw...

They stripped Kyle's kitty cat snowmobile and made it into their own watercross sled. Now do these guys take after their dads or what?? They took the seat off (because wet seats add more weight you know), tied a buoy to it (in case they sunk in deep water and needed a retriever to find it) and duct taped all the vents closed (so water didn't get in the engine or the exhaust).

Then they asked if they could take it to the lake and skip it. So me being the awesome mom that I am did this with my van...

Bet you didn't think that I could load a waterskipping sled in the back of the van did you???

After stopping off for helmets, goggles, life jackets and gas mixed 50:1 (yes, I truly knew what that meant) we headed for the lake to try to skip. After lots of revving of the engine, tweaking the track and checking that all was running well the sled was ready to hit the water.

Nick's run - notice how he had to rev it one last time before he went.

Kyle's turn - he made it farther than anyone else. Way to go Kyle!!

Eric takes his turn with Ty cheering him on.

Then in true snowmobile fanatic fashion when it was all over you must tip the sled over and drain the carbs. (I know what that one means too!!)

Even though the guys didn't make it far enough to try their hand at turning the sled on the water they had fun and I was very impressed by their ingenuity.

berries, berries, berries

Ely is surrounded by berries right now. There are blueberries and raspberries everywhere!! And, they are SO GOOD.

I decided to take the boys berry picking with me. Not that I really thought that they would help fill the berry bucket. My real reason for taking them was I knew they would make so much noise that I wouldn't have to worry about any bears coming near us. (You remember my bear fear right??)

The boys seem to be diligently picking in the raspberry patch in this picture. But, for every berry they put in the bucket they ate 20. If all there berries that were picked were put in the bucket rather than someones belly we would probably have had an entire ice cream pail full. Luckily we picked enough to have fresh berries on our cereal the next morning as well as a few more to snack on.

Our picking expedition reminded me of one of my favorite books when I was little - "Blueberries for Sal". If you have never read it I highly recommend you getting it. The boys and I read it again after our berry picking trip. Ty was then very disappointed that he didn't meet a bear like Sal did in the book. I for one am very glad we didn't meet any.

Please mom - Can I eat just one more?!?!

Things that make you go HMMMMM....

Eric and I just finished making our new creation ~Everything but the kitchen sink casserole~ We named it that because we made it with just about a little bit of everything "but the kitchen sink".

While we were making our amazing dish I pulled out our secret spice ingredient that I put in just about everything I make. I sprinkled a touch of the spice in and told Eric I was adding the secret ingredient to which he replied, "Oh is that the little something extra that when you take a bite it makes you go HMMMMMM what's in there?"

I think the boy watches way too much Rachael Ray with me!!

To Die For Strawberry Pie...

Meme and the boys went to pick strawberries last week and since we have strawberries coming out of our ears today Eric and I decided to make a pie.

A former teacher gave me a recipe for this pie and we tried it out today.
All I can say is YUM-O!!

If you love strawberries you have got to try this out.

Crust:
Mix 1 cup flour, 1 stick butter and 2 Tablespoons sugar. Press into a pie pan and bake for 15-20minutes at 350.

Fill cooked crust with fresh berries.

In a sauce pan mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 4 tablespoons strawberry jello and 3 tablespoons cornstarch. Bring to a boil and cook until thick and clear.

Pour mixture of the top of the berries. Refrigerate until set.

You can also use this recipe to make a raspberry pie too just change the jello flavor.

Enjoy!!

Sorry Mom...

We are on vacation this week and the weather is FREEZING. So, it doesn't surprise me that we have had some cranky moments in the past couple of days. We have never really had summer yet!!

But, tonight the crankiness and fighting reached an all time high. After repeatedly telling the boys to stop, find your happy heart, be nice, etc - I had had enough and sent them upstairs to their room.

They sent Ty down to apologize and when that didn't work in getting them out of their punishment they resorted to a very inventive way of getting my attention...

The boys had been painting earlier in the day and I hadn't put away the paints yet. So, I was sitting on the couch in the living room when I hear this loud clunk on the awning over the picture window. Then out of the sky drops a paper with the words "Sorry mom we love you" painted in yellow poster paint dangling from a jump rope. It bounces around in front of the window for a few moments before being hoisted back up into the boys bedroom.

Now, I ask you - HOW CAN YOU STAY MAD AT SUCH CREATIVE BOYS?!?!

I am truly impressed by their creative way of apologizing to me for their behavior and wonder what they will think of next.

Sleepovers & unknown kids...

So we are heading into our second night at the sleepover house.

The boys wanted a sleep over with Anthony last night and of course I couldn't refuse. So the fun began with a chocolate milk shake that blew the cover off of the blender early in the evening and progressed from there. Kurt woke me up at 12am to tell me that the boys were painting their toe and finger nails. Then we were woke up at 2am with the boys playing hockey in the kitchen. Eric came up at 5am to let me know that the ducks were keeping him up. And, finally the alarm woke us up at 6am to start the day.

I didn't realize that sleepovers took so much energy!! Thank you mom, for putting up with my sleepovers when I was young!!

So Anthony spent the day with us today and on the way in from the lake the boys put on their best "we are so cute that you can't say no to us" faces and begged for Anthony to sleep over again tonight. And, since I can't seem to say no this week - so begins night two of sleepover madness at the Mattila household.

Unknown Kids...
The boys were outside playing laser tag while I was doing the dishes tonight. 4 boys were running in and out of the house through the back and front doors and I wasn't really paying close attention to them. Then, all of a sudden I turned around and saw Nick and Ty run in from the back door through the house and out the front door. Following close behind them - 3 unknown children laughing up a storm. Who are these kids and where did they come from?? I have no clue, but like I have said in previous posts - our house seems to be the neighborhood's central gathering place and at least everyone was having fun. And, on the kids next pass through the house I'll try to catch their names...

Good night and sweet dreams to all...

The Cardboard Boat Regatta...

I have to say that this past Saturday was one of the best days of summer so far.

My mom and Eric decided to enter the cardboard boat regatta sponsored by the local VFW. Well, somehow the little boat project turned into a big boat project and Kurt got involved. So, working each evening on the boat all last week the three boat builders built this...

"THE GENERAL LEE"
(did you really expect anything else from Eric??)

It is made totally out of cardboard, duck tape, packing tape, and paint.

The day of the event came and the boat was put in the water along with the other entry. Kurt and Eric climbed in and The General Lee immediately began to take on water in it's left pontoon. Technically Kurt was supposed the peddle the boat and Eric was supposed to steer, but once they started to take on water and sink plans changed... Those of you who know Kurt know that he will not quit and was not going to be defeated so being the super dad he is he jumped out of the boat and kicked his way to the finish line. (there is no rule against this - it only states you can have an electric/gas powered motor) Nick was standing with me on the shore and ran into the trailer, stripped down and changed into his swim suit and swam out to help. Eric stayed in the boat and enjoyed the ride!!

By this time the other boat couldn't steer very well and they were going in circles and our boat was sinking. It was so funny that I had tears in my eyes.

After a long swim the boys crossed the finish line for 1st place. They also won the "titanic" award.

I have to say that the VFW really put on a great day for the kids. The entire event was catered to the kids. Along with the boat race they had games, smores, hot dog roasting, a pinata, ice cream bars, and so much more. I huge thank you to this organization for hosting another fun family activity in Ely. We can't wait until next year!!

Ty Ty

Found these two pictures of Ty and had to share.

He is always so happy!!

JUMP!!

Tyler's "girl" Jessica and her family invited us to a horse show that they were all participating in on Saturday. The boys had a blast riding the horses and playing with the kids. And, of course Ty got to spend some quality time with Jessica!! Eric, rode all by himself. He did a great job, but kept getting "stuck" and had to have an adult slap the horse on the rump to get it going again.

Ty on Jessica's horse.

Even nick enjoyed this non-motorized type of transportation.

If you are in the Embarrass area on the 2nd Saturday in August or September I highly recommend checking the next horse show out.

A chip off of the old block...

Nick is so much like Kurt it's almost scary. If it has a motor, is sports related or you can jump it off of something Nick is all for it!!

Kurt and the other watercross racers always skip under a local bridge on the 4th of July and then spend the rest of the day playing around on the water at the party. (yes, for those of you who are looking at this picture closely trying to figure it out - IT IS A SNOWMOBILE ON WATER!!)

Nick begged and begged to go for a ride and I finally gave in. Kurt and Nick did 3 laps before landing. Nick was on cloud 9!!

So, I guess I have another watercrosser on my hands. I can predict alot of gray hair on my part from this child as he has no fear and pushes things to the extreme - just like daddy!!

Birth Order Of Children...

Preparing for the Birth:

• 1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.
• 2nd baby: You don't bother because you remember that last time, breathing didn't do a thing.
• 3rd baby : You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.

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The Layette :

• 1st baby: You pre-wash newborn's clothes, color-coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby's little bureau.
• 2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.
• 3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?

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Worries:

• 1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up the baby
• 2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn.
• 3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.

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Pacifier:

• 1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.
• 2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby's bottle.
• 3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.

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Diapering:

• 1st baby: You change your baby's diapers every hour,whether they need it or not.
• 2nd baby: You change their diaper every two to three hours, if needed.
• 3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.

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Activities:

• 1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics, Baby Swing,Baby Zoo, Baby Movies and Baby Story Hour.
• 2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.
• 3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaners.

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Going Out:

• 1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter,you call home five times.
• 2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached.
• 3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.

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At Home:

• 1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
• 2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
• 3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children

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I found this on another blog I check out often and had to pass it on to you. Pass this on to everyone you know who has children .. . .. or everyone who KNOWS someone who has had children. ...

Deep Thoughts by Ty...

"If you don' t have any kleenix you can use a leaf to get the boogers out of your nose."

Never thought of that one until Ty told me and meme that at the baseball game last night complete with a leaf nose wiping demonstration. Very creative I must say.

We have a budding artist in the family...

Last week Eric participated in the Ely Greenstone Public Art Camp for kids.

The three day camp ended with an art show for family and friends where he got to show off his projects.

It amazes me the amount of talent that is in our small community and how these people donate their time and effort to put on such an amazing camp for kids to explore their artistic side.

Eric's projects for the three days included: a stepping stone, a mask, fish stamp shirt, memory box, flying saucer, clay sculptures, soap stone carvings, and general paintings.

A Boy & His Dog...

Nick & Raven competed in the local Dock Dogs competition a couple of weekends ago.

The two of them took dock dog training classes in the morning and then competed in the afternoon.

Raven jumped 11.4 feet!!

Hey, Hey We're The Monkeys...

If there is a tree to climb you will find at least one of the boys in it.

Nick taking a break and watching the festivities from above.

Eric in his perch.

Ty swinging from the branch.

Two crazy monkeys playing in a tree!!

Life...

Had to share this beautiful powerpoint presentation that I got from a friend via email.


Click here: Life

Lesson for the day...

You CAN pop a bag of microwave popcorn using the auto defrost setting. It will take 17minutes and 46 seconds but comes out perfect.

The Great Duck Escape...

Ok, pretty sure that I didn't mention this, but all of the baby mallard ducks have died. They were eaten by some animal at Papa's house. But, our beloved "aflack" duck named Frankie survived and even has a battle wound on his neck to prove it.

Last week Frankie came to live with us in town for awhile until he is bigger and can defend himself out at Papa's house. The boys built a small pen in the backyard for him to hang out in during the day and at night he sleeps in a tote in our back entryway.

All has been going fine with our Frankie camping out at our house until tonight. Both Kurt and I had meetings so the boys were at a neighbor's house playing with their kids for the evening. (Thanks Jen!!) Well somehow Frankie escaped out of his pen AND out of the fenced in back yard. He was wandering around our neighborhood taking in the sights when our other neighbor, Anna found him and brought him home with her.

Anna fell in love with Frankie and the boys even brought him back for a visit later this evening. We now have an open invitation for Frankie to come over and visit Anna any time and if we ever need a "duck sitter" she's our gal.

Now, our dogs escape and take a tour of the neighborhood occasionally, but who ever heard of a duck doing that!!

And I swear that Frankie is more human than duck. In the couple of days that he has been at our house he has really made himself at home. He comes to me and Ty when we go near the pen, peeping away until we pet him. He loves to be held like a baby and get his belly rubbed. Every morning he peeps loudly until we let him outside for the day and promptly takes his morning bath before eating breakfast.

Hopefully tomorrow I will get some pictures of our escape artist so you can see just how cute our Frankie is.

Nick has left the country...

Meme and Papa invited Nick to come with them on a trip into Canada that started on Saturday. It is so weird around the house without him here. You would think that it would be easier with one less kid, but it's not.

Yesterday just before Nick left, Eric went with a friend for the day to Ironworld to see their exhibit on Animal poop. Yes, I said animal poop - you know boys and their interest in disgusting things!! That left me with just Tyler who was very upset that he wasn't going anywhere special. So Ty and I decided to play tourist around Ely. We went to the Wolf Center, but didn't get to see much there. So we decided to hit the Bear Center. We got there just at feeding time and got to see Ted (THE 1000 POUND BEAR) eat his lunch while leaning against the window right where we were standing. Now, if you remember my fishing post where I mentioned how terrified I am of bears you can imagine how fun this was for me. But, I put on a happy face for Ty and made it through our 2 hour long visit at the center. Ty loved it!! After all the attractions Ty was hungry and wanted to eat lunch on the deck of the Grand Ely Lodge so off we headed for a mommy and me lunch. It was a blast to spend the day with just Ty. It happens so rarely to get one on one time with him and he never stopped talking the entire time.

Eric came home later that evening and Kurt decided that we should bike down to Dairy Queen for ice cream. At this point it was 9pm, but what the heck right?? It's summer vacation. So we took off for the other end of town. Ty peddled his bike there and back. His little legs going as fast as they could. Very cute.

So, what's on the agenda for today??
Well since it is another nice day we are headed out to clean a cabin for my brother's business then off to play mini golf and to the beach for a picnic and playtime.

WOOOHOOOO SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE!

deer, 991 & deep thoughts...

I love having those long chats about nothing in particular with my boys. Most of the time these talks happen while they are in the bathtub - but last night I drove to Virginia to go grocery shopping and do a target run and took all three boys with me. A car trip is another time that the boys tend to chat about all of life's mysteries. Last night was no exception. Here is a list of some of the topics covered on last nights car chat:
-why do some people drive so slow
-bigfoot
-how worms dig holes in the ground when they don't have arms
-do baby ducks go to heaven? And, if they do will they be grandma ada's pets?
-why is mom afraid of bears

And the major topic of conversation was: dead deer and calling 911.
We were driving home late last night and came around a corner and there was a dead deer that someone hit laying right in the middle of the road. The car that hit it was gone. So I called 911 to let them know so that the sheriff could come out and move it off the road before there was an accident. This call started a whole new round of questioning about: calling 911, why didn't I get out and move the deer, what would the sheriff do if the deer was still alive but couldn't move, if we hit the deer would we take it home and eat it, did I think the deer is in heaven with the baby ducks, if the deer was with the ducks in heaven would grandma ada keep it as a pet too? - and the list went on and on and on...

I love all these innocent questions and chats we have...

School's out, but the learning never stops...

School ended for the boys last week. I know it's summer vacation, but I still like to keep the boys into some type of school mode so they don't lose what they learned over the summer.

When Nick was in Kindergarten his teacher suggested the Summer Bridge Activities books.

I can't say enough good things about these books!! This year I got one for all three boys. Ty is always wanting to "do homework" with his brothers so he is excited to have his own book this year.

The great thing about the Summer Bridge books is that there is only one worksheet per day for the boys to do. You can do more if you want to, but I only do one a day and then the flashcards that come with the book. There are also extra life lessons in the back that you can do with the kids on different traits and skills. And, if you still want more learning they have a great parent's section on their website with additional resources.

The book is broken up into 3 months (sections). And you can choose to fill out the reward chart for each section if you want to. It's fun for the boys to complete their worksheet and reading book for the day and then check it of on the reward sheet. Once they complete the reward sheet for that section they get a prize that was decided on by me. We keep the prizes simple like lunch with mom without the brothers or things like that.

Check out their website for more info on this learning series!!

http://www.summerbridgeactivies.com/

Happy Summer Vacation!!

A word of advice...

Before calling your husband, get him out of a meeting and make him drive half-way up the trail to the minnow traps because the 3-wheeler stalled - MAKE SURE THAT YOU DIDN'T ACCIDENTALLY HIT THE KILL SWITCH TO OFF!!

Make way for Ducklings...

2 weeks ago Ty said to my dad, "Papa, I really want a baby duck." So what does my dad do? Goes and orders 12 baby ducks from the local feed store.

Last Friday the ducks arrived and Ty went with Papa to pick them up. He was so excited he could hardly stand it.


And I have to say they are extremely cute!!

The ducks are living at meme and papa's house where they can be outside during the day. We have been out to visit them almost every night.

The plan is to let them go once they are old enough so that they can live with the other ducks that hang around the lake.

I had two ducks when I was about Ty's age that I named Timothy and Susie. They followed me around the yard and eventually we let them go. But every year they always came back to visit. Now my boys insist that Timothy and Susie still come to meme and papa's, but I highly doubt that a pair of almost 30 year old ducks are still around.

So, in a few weeks we will let these ducks go and according to Nick NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO SHOOT THEM once duck season comes around.