Meeting Sioux Hockey Players!

Declan and Isaac had the pleasure of meeting Ryan Duncan #16 (left) and T.J. Oshie #7 (right) in our suite in January. Our suite attendant is friends with Duncan and asked him to come meet the kids because these 2 players are the kids favorite players. He was more than willing to do this and so was Oshie. They came to the suite after the game to meet the kids. I wasn't there that weekend, I was on a scrapbooking retreat, but I have heard alot about it. Our suite attendant was kind enough to also take pictures for us and I got them today from her. I guess Isaac was pretty nervous at first and hid behind Jeff, but he came around and talked to the guys. They are very nice guys and we appreciated what they did for us. Jeff had them sign our guest book and then they brought that page home so I can put it in the kids' scrapbooks. They also had the guys sign our wall. Oshie will most likely go pro next year and we don't know about Duncan. These guys are a couple of the leading scorers on the team and really good hockey players.
Thank you so much, Lacey for doing this for us and Duncan and Oshie for giving the kids an experience of a lifetime! Declan even got to play hockey with Oshie and blocked several of his shots. Declan was very proud of his goalie abilities. This was definitely an experience they will never forget!

Big Birthday Boy!

Isaac turned 5 years old today. We measured him on his growth chart and he has grown 3 inches since his last birthday. Where does the time go? We had his family party tonight and he had a great time. He told me last night, he was too excited for his birthday to sleep. It is so neat when your kids are old enough to understand a whole day is all about them. I just love how much they take in and understand at this age.

He had a Power Rangers themed birthday and we will use the same decorations for his kid birthday next Monday. Here is Isaac doing his power ranger stance under the banner and a hanging power ranger.
Here is the cake I baked, Jeff and the kids decorated, with the mask Jeff drew with frosting. You can sort of see the plastic power rangers on the cake, too. He was so proud of his cake because he helped decorate it and make it. I usually order their cakes every year, but they are becoming interested in helping make their own.
Here is Isaac with one of the power ranger toys he got tonight. Our house is swarming with Power Rangers, now! Thank you everyone for everything! He loves all of his toys. I asked him tonight what his favorite present was and he said, "Everything!" I guess that says it all.

Declan lost his 2nd Tooth

In the midst of the entire family being sick for the past 2 weeks and with Declan having strep throat at the time of this picture, he lost his second tooth. He has been working at this one more than his 1st one, but he still didn't want to just pull it out. His face color isn't so good in this picture because he was running a fever, but it sure cheered him up a bit that night.



He went straight up stairs and got his tooth fairy pillow I made him and put the tooth in the pocket. He didn't want to misplace the tooth and miss the tooth fairy. He got a gold dollar coin from the tooth fairy again this time. He was so exicted and his 2 coins are in a special place.

Snow Wall

We went outside with the intentions of making a snowman. Well, the snow we have is not packable in the least. So, we thought we would make a snow fort with shovels. It just ended up being a snow wall. We had a good time anyway and the kids made the best out of having fun on the snow wall.
Declan sliding down on his knees.
Isaac trying to pack some more snow on the wall.

This picture was Jeff's idea to take them on top of the wall with the sunset in the background. It looks pretty neat.
We eneded up having a snowball fight with all 4 of us and here is me, the kids, and Juno taking a break. We were all fighting colds and getting a bit out of breath in the cold air. It was a fun family evening!

Having Fun Taking Pictures

Declan and Isaac are pretending to sleep for me in the chair. I don't know why they wanted to have their picture taken like this, but it was cute.
Then we did a nice smile!
I was gone running some errands and Jeff took this picture of Isaac.
And then this one of Declan.

More Sioux Hockey!

We had another weekend of Sioux hockey in Grand Forks a week ago. We had two families of our friends up there and had a great time. We all stayed at the same motel so the kids could swim together all day Saturday. The kids were exhausted by the time the games were over and slept very well. Here is Declan after he scored a goal.
This area where Isaac is sitting under the cabinets is the goal. The kids use these little wooden hockey sticks and foam pucks to have their own little game in the suite. Yes, we have to remind them often to keep the pucks on the floor to protect breakables, but they do a great job. I am not so sure when Ralph designed the place he knew the opening for the garbage can and hot food tray would be used for kid hockey games. We never have the hot food tray things and the garbage gets moved out of the way almost as soon as we walk in the room.

Here are all the kids that were in our suite over the weekend. They all know each other and have played many times. Plus, Declan (second from left), Mason (green Sioux jersey), and Nycole (green stripes) were all in preschool together for 2 years. Declan and Nycole are also in the same 1st grade class this year.
I had to take a picture of the circle after the team won on Saturday. They only do this on the circle when they win both games of the weekend, which is called a "Sweep". This is the first weekend all season they have swept and it was exciting.
You gotta have a picture of your family every once in a while at Sioux hockey. The boys are holding their new pucks for the year. These are actually the official game pucks the players use, too. I buy them a new Sioux puck every year and they look forward to them so they can put them on their new puck holders a good friend made for us.

Selling Chick!

It was time to sell Chick, Isaac's steer. Here is Grandpa Denny, Isaac, and Chick to the side the day before he was taken to the sale barn. If you remember from the post when Chick was a calf, Isaac gets to watch him grow up and then go with Grandma and Grandpa to the sale barn for him to be sold. Then Isaac gets a check for whatever the steer sold for. Obviously, most of it went into his savings account, but he got some spending money
Isaac and Chick, black one.
Declan, Isaac, and Chick right behind them. We weren't able to get pictures of Chick selling at the sale barn this time. The sale barn was having a huge cattle sale and Chick didn't sell until we had to leave for Isaac to play in his game. It was a crappy deal because the kids waited all day to see him sell. Isaac handled it really well and I will just tell the story in his scrapbook.