A Night Out

Last night, we went to our friend's annual Christmas party.

Cristina is a wonderful party host! As we walked in, there were "rules" clearly posted explaining where our coats go, smoking areas and restroom locations.

She and her husband Bill (the guy who took control of our kitchen during Bryaden's birthday party if you were here for that) go ALL OUT. They had 3 large baskets full of door prizes and game gifts, raffle tickets, and even a 50/50 to benefit their friends who are recovering from a severe auto accident. We played a ton of games, and had a ton of food. I made buffalo chicken dip served with club crackers, wheat thins and celery. I also brought our fondue pot and make a chocolate fondue served with oreo's, marshmellows, pretzels and clementines.

It was SO nice to get out with friends, and have adult conversations!

More door prize ticket pulling

Bryan had some drinks.

And some more. lol

Please Tell Me

that this is normal "BOY" behavior/play.

Yes, that's Barbie. With a empty roll of tape around her mouth, craft pipe cleaners around her arms and waist, scotch tape around her legs, and more pipe cleaners bounding her ankles!

Not that I even LIKE Barbie. In fact, I wouldn't even have Barbie's in my house, but this isn't an ordinary Barbie. She's a scuba/snorkel Barbie. The kids ADORE her. Is it because they LOVE snorkel/scuba stuff and she comes with the cool flippers, tank and snorkel accessories? Or do they adore her because of her ability to magically change from swimsuit to bikini when she's submerged in water? I don't know. But I do know this is a bit disturbing in a freaky serial killer S&M way.

I'll keep you posted on our Barbie Bondage situation.

Hockey Travels

We had our first away hockey game this past weekend. In Erie, Pa. During Winter. Enough said. Ugghh. The drive up wasn't too bad. We had a dusting of snow here at home when we left. As we got about 1/2 way there, near Grove City, there was snow on the ground. Then suddenly, BAM! About 18 inches or so. The roads weren't great when we arrived, but not bad either.

This picture doesn't even come close to showing how much snow there was, but you can see the snow pile in front of the parked cars- and the bushed by this mail box are BUSHES, not ground cover.

The boys were excited to take a bath in the hotel (we only have a shower stall at home)

Some of our team came to the Otter's game. Most of our team didn't come the day before, and some weren't able to the games on Sunday because of the bad road conditions. But, we had enough players- besides, we had the goalie!

That's Bryan, and yes, those are hockey puck ear muffs, and no, he wasn't drinking.

It was "donate a bear" Salvation Army night. They collected over 1,000 bears!

The Patton boys

They lost both games. We didn't find out until we were there that the team we played was the hand-picked "all-star" team! They travel to Canada and other cities in the US to compete. Doh! Poor Brayden was upset because he felt all the pressure as the goalie. He did wonderful though! He blocked a TON of great shots. Bryan got some video footage, so hopefully you'll see some clips soon. Rylan did great too, getting the puck several times and shooting it out of their zone.

The drive home was rough in parts. We got in the path of a snowstorm and had to drive about 20mph part of the way, but got home safely last night.

Oh, and a side note:
PLEASE reconcider your decision to bring a COW BELL to sporting events. The ringing does nothing to help your team win. Its just plain irritating and makes people want to shove it down your throat....or somewhere else. Thanks.

There's been a lot happening

So I haven't updated as much lately. Short version:

My aunt Sue had a hip replacement, she's doing pretty well, and while she has some down-time I get to see her more ;)

My uncle is in the IUC, and I am very worried about him.

My mom is now in the hopsital as well, awaiting more tests.

Me, Bryan and the kids are well. Got back into the swing of school today. Bryan finished some pannleing in our bedroom, and painted as well.

Good Thanksgiving. Nice and relaxed. I did have a nicey nice post including a Thankful list, but after this weekend, it sort of went out the window. Kinda late now anyway.

Brayden begins Goalie Clinic tomorow. I hope he likes it, I'll be at work so Bryan will be taking him.

We have plans to go to Erie this weekend for the boy's hockey games. I'm hesitant making final plans until I see how my hospital bound relatives are doing.

That's about it. :)

Snow Fun!

The kid's big Christmas gift this year was supposed to be snow boards. Well, Brayden is SO helpful with helping Bryan load things into the trunk of his car that the "discovery" was made.

We decided to let them use the snowboards. Brayden did GREAT, Rylan wasn't so sure, so he used the sled.

Our Day in the Spotlight

Today we participated in a commercial shoot! It was for a GREAT local place, Hot Shots. We were there yesterday for a home school group meeting, and were invited back today to help shoot a promotional commercial! It will air on networks such as Lifetime, Sprout, Nickelodeon, Spike, MTV and that's all I can remember ;) We had a great time. They treated us well, and were *totally* relaxed- no rehearsal, scripts, etc. The kids just played, and they filmed, NO pressure!

This was the shoot of the mock skating lesson both boys were in. Camera crew to the right.

Here is the mock birthday party. The kids could not grasp the concept of the fake gifts. At least the pizza was real. Unfortunately, so was the Pepsi, but Bryan caught that in time!

Bray is on the left, our fellow home school friend is in the middle, and Ry on the right.

More filming- In the background is a cafe, I was in a part of that filming.

This place has a HUGE indoor play structure. They filmed kids using the slides.

They met a new friend. He looks to be about 3, but WOW can he skate AND play hockey!

The air dates will be posted on the Hot Shots web site, so stay tuned!

Rylan's boo-boo

Nothing too bad- not like the golf club incident this past summer!

Here's the good patient being silly

And Brayden just because he's so darned cute getting ready for bed.
Rylan's boo-boo.
He cut a small round patch of skin off on a floor vent. I wrapped it up hoping he could skate today at hockey, but he couldn't.

It looks a bit icky. I soaked his foot in very warm sea salt water and applied tea tree oil. I took off the bandages tonight to air out and dry. Tomorrow, we have a home school group meeting at an indoor skate park and I hope he can participate.

Thanksgiving crafts

We participated in a co-op for fall and winter crafts, and got a ton of exciting crafts to do! Here's one that wasn't a part of the co-op , so expect more pictures from those shortly ;)

Today we learned about the first shelters the Pilgrims built, eventually making log homes. The kids wanted to include their Native American friends into the scenes.

He looks Fitting...

as a hockey player.
Brayden lost one of his front teeth last week- FINALLY.

We went to visit Grandma today after hockey practice. And I have no idea WHY this is all underlined. I can't fix it. ???

Tomorrow we have an appointment with bath fitter to get an estimate on getting a bath tub. We are very exited. We only have a shower stall, and we miss a tub dearly!

Fun With Fimo

Bryan and I made the kids FIMO clay spoons and forks a few years ago- one hockey, one multi-sport and 2 designs. Over the years, they have gotten damaged, and they both covet the hockey spoon. It's a daily rush to get to the infamous "hockey spoon" first, so tonight, Bryan and I solved that problem, hopefully.

Here are our spoon creations:

Skull and cross bones, hockey (2) and karate man

Video clip of the kid's hockey

Bryan made this last night, Brayden is the goalie, #18 and Rylan is #10

Today's Art Project

So I am REALLY NOT a "crafty" person. Lucky for my kids, I found an awesome kid's art blog. We tried out the snowman glue picture and it was GREAT! We may add some white glitter to the snow tomorrow. I think I'll use glitter/glue as bargaining power to get the kids to finish school tomorrow on time -without whining.

Some School Projects

We are really excited about our ant farm

A HUGE thanks to Aunt Maria for allowing us to use her Amazon gift card to get this as well as some books on our wish list.

Our harvester ants arrived 2 weeks ago, and they have been BUSY!

Our current unit studies are ANTS, THANKSGIVING and EGYPT. The boys have been learning all about Thanksgiving and working hard on their "packets". A few things in their packets are: coloring pages of turkeys, cornucopias, pilgrims, Native Americans, etc. Some spelling words, mazes, life cycles of pumpkins. Also some trivia about Thanksgiving and pumpkins.

Learning about ants is fun, well- for Rylan and I at least, we are the "bug people" of the family. We've done a few crafts with ant subject, too!

Their tunnels are so intricate and amazing.

Their ant crafts

As part of our study of Egypt, we made a model of the Nile River. Its a cake pan, soil and grass seed, lined with an aluminum foil river. They flood it weekly to help the grass grow. Today they cut the grass back.

The Sphinx was found in their archaeological dig

I found a template online for making a cardboard pyramid, so maybe we'll get to that this week?

Hockey Season

This is another reason for the delay in updating our blog.
Ice hockey season is underway, and we have not just one child on a competitive travel league, but TWO. At least they are on the same team! They both play for Allegheny Badgers , the mini-mite division. The mini-mite division is a 5 and 6 year old age group. Rylan is only 4, but he's been skating since he was 1, and taking ice hockey lessons since he was 3. He also had played dec hockey since he was 2. Since he has been so determined to learn and practice, we decided to sign him up for the team as well. I was a little nervous about the age gap, but he's fitting in quite well. Being friends with the biggest, most experienced kid on the team is a plus, too! :) Add his protective brother to the mix, he's just fine.

Brayden has decided to be a goalie. He has always seemed to lean toward defensive positions in hockey, even in dec hockey, so it wasn't a big surprise. Plus, he loves to dress the part. More hockey equipment= more fun for him. He has not yet had any "official" goalie training. Just back yard and basement practice. There should be goalie clinics coming up in December, and we'll be sure to sign him up. I was recently told by a fellow hockey mom friend that goalies are permitted a FREE 3 hour admission to "stick time". This is sort of like an open skate, but with open hockey practice. It sounds like a good deal, but I don't know about big kids, teens or adults shooting pucks at my 6 year old. I guess he'd get lots of practice though, right?

We had our first game on Saturday. Because there aren't many mini-mite division teams, we played a mite team- a division up. We lost. It was good for them to learn formations, off sides calls, etc. Brayden was goalie the entire time, out of 29 shots on goal, he allowed 9. Not bad for his first time. Luckily, he wasn't upset by it. He had a great time. Rylan did well, too. He played good defense. He helped his goalie brother out by blocking some shots.

Bryan caught a couple of good blocks by Brayden and I will post a video clip of it soon!

Suiting up for a practice. It takes about 20-30 min to get both boys suited.

Rylan, very excited for his first game!

Practicing his hockey fight skills

Rylan, number "10"

Brayden, number "18" like cousin Ryan
Have you ever seen the Hanson brothers in "Slap Shot"??