Ashley praying the Hail Mary

I know she doesn't understand what she's saying but I was impressed at how well she did this on her own.  I guess she does listen to me at bedtime. :)

Geez; another month off.

It's been a month.  I come on the blog and leave, wanting to write but never knowing what to write.  I just need to do one of those crazy 30 day daily posting deals and see if I can get back into it.  For now, I think I'll just do a life update Happy/Crappy style.

Happy - Austin continues to do well with hockey.  He's had a four or five games recently.  At the one game they "orchestrated" a penalty shot because he was barely able to get to a puck as most of the kids have gotten pretty good and honestly though he's better the other kids are moons ahead of him.  Well today he had a game and they simply had him cherry pick and he got two goals and I think they were legit but after hearing about the convo Austin had with the goalie I don't know.  One dude is awesome and just did all the work and Austin banged them home. He was pretty proud.  He said later that the goalie told him, "stay right here and when the puck comes shoot."  Oh well, we'll take it.

Happy - Tommy's hockey team continues to win in the Little Caesar's playoffs and are going back to the Joe Louis Arena for the finals on March 13th.

Crappy - Tommy's hockey coach from the last four years is leaving the team after this year.  This may be Tommy's last month as a member of the Blizzard as we look at where he wants to go from here.  We're exploring making the leap to AAA. Time will tell if he's ready for the long travel and good enough to make a AAA team.  This week will tell a lot as he could be playing out of town three times this week. 

Happy - Tommy turned 11 on February 4th.

Happy - Tommy and his buddy Kyler cantered the Psalm at mass for Catholic Schools Week and Ash Wednesday.  They did a beautiful job and I heard so many compliments about them.

Crappy - Tommy does not like singing.  :(  He's says it's nerve wracking and some kids say singing isn't cool.  Pray he can continue to live above the influence and would rather please his mom and teachers versus his friends for a little while longer.

Happy - Jeff & Shannon's bridal shower; what a lovely event. 

Happy - Another Memorable $100 Dinner Dance for school.  Fun, fun even if we didn't win any money.

Happy - My dear friend Amy turned 40.  Her hubby threw her a little surprise party at the Olive Garden and then some coworkers and I destroyed decorated her room for her.  She loved it and so did her students.

Crappy - A lot of people I know have friends/family who have died recently.  Last week in particular was really bad. 

Happy - Tommy's basketball team got 2nd place in their school league.

Happy - I went to private confession for the first time in many, many years.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Heck it was good for me.  Very therapeutic.

Happy - Tommy got Bishop's Honor Roll in the 2nd Marking period which is a perfect 4.0.  He is the only student in the school who has been perfect all year so far.

Crappy - Austin continues to seriously struggle in school and I am really getting complacent about helping him.  Some days I just don't think I have the strength and thankfully Joe is usually there to pick up the slack.  But I'm working on it (see about trip to confession).

Happy - Austin's potty scene is getting better.

Happy - Ashley is doing great in dance class; i.e. she doesn't cry when we go anymore and dances all the time at home.  I got to watch her at a midterm "recital" and I just LOVED it!

Happy - Ashley continues to overachieve in Honeybees.  She's making those little babies look really bad.

Crappy - Ashley is getting kicked out of Honeybees. :(  Time to move on to Tumblebees.  No more Mom and Me gymnastics class I've got to stay on the sidelines.    I know she's ready.  Me, I's be thinking "where me baby go?"  She'll be three in a couple weeks.

Happy - Our spring vacation plans are really taking shape and I see it coming quickly.  We leave for Florida for a Non-Disney vacation on March 30th.  We are doing one character dinner at Chef Mickey's and I bet we ride the monorail around too.  Nothing like torturing ourselves.  Honestly though I've been dying to see the Harry Potter park at Universal so hopefully it lives up to the hype.  We're also spending a day with our Detroit Tiger's in Lakeland.  Yeah!  They're winning it all this year; I'm calling it. 

Happy - Tommy & I mastered mini-jumps on the ski hill at Apple Mountain.  Who said this old dog couldn't learn a  new trick?

Happy - My hockey is still going well.  I even had a tin league hat trick a few weeks ago.  Two goals in one game.  Boo Yah!

Crappy - Our cleaning lady is going to be gone for a whole month.  Don't plan on visiting until April!!! I'm only half kidding.

Well I suppose I've rambled long enough and thankfully as always the happy's definitely outweigh the crappy's.  Thanks for reading those of you that are still with me. 

Austin and the UMDM Rockets!

Austin is still playing hockey and doing quite well with it I should add.  He is coming right along and has improved dramatically since we started back up in October.  Next weekend he'll play in his first special hockey tournament.  There are five teams coming in for it and we're looking forward to seeing him play in some real games.  I'm sure he'll be a nervous wreck.  Joe will tell you that the team is really starting to look like a team.  They'll be doing line matching for sure which is good because the spectrum of our team is so huge.  We have some really good players that can skate well and shoot well and some that are still really struggling just to stand up out there.  That is Austin's biggest struggle is he needs help getting back up when he falls down or gets bumped over.  I'm sure a coach will be there to assist him.  Joe believes he is getting really close to being able to get up on his own. 

Bless Joe's heart because when we haven't had to be somewhere else because of Tommy's hockey he has taken Austin down.  I so appreciate not having to leave the house at 7:00 so he can be on the ice at 9:00.  I have to give Joe kudos; Austin too.  He sent me this video today and I was so impressed, Tommy even gave it an "oh my gosh" when he saw it.  So proud!  We're excited for next weekend.  We'll be down in Frasier and Livonia - rinks we're already familiar with thanks to Tommy.  Who's the travel hockey player now? 

A Pet Peeve Revisited

I wrote about the National Anthem back in July you can read it HERE if you've forgotten what I had to say back then. Well once again I'm back touting my love of our National Anthem and just how crazy it makes me when people disrespect our anthem.  I find that the best spectators are at the Saginaw Spirit games.  If you have a good singer (and they often have a regular performer) then the crowd will sing along proudly with both the Canadian and American National Anthems.  No one tries to get to their seats, they simply stop where they are at and show respect to the countries not to mention the folks performing.  The Red Wings games are also very nicely done for now, until the whole lets scream the word RED when "rocket's red glare" craze finds it's way here.  See the Washington Capitals if you want more on that.  Or Dallas for their screaming of "whose broad stripes and bright STARS!" 

I won't dwell on and on about people driving me crazy during our anthem because it simply will not do any good.  But what does make me feel better is this clip from Slap Shot.  What a classic hockey movie; be warned that they drop the F-bomb in this clip.  And I loathe the very overused and pretty much desensitized F word but I thought it was pretty funny during this part of the movie.  And for the record my kids will not be watching this movie anytime soon; they can stick with The Mighty Ducks series.

And the Oscar goes to...

Thomas Andrew - Oh my dear boy whose life is full of drama.  Joe and I always joke after basketball games that we're glad we can't see his face on the ice during hockey games because I'm sure he plays with as much if not more emotion in hockey than he does in basketball.  He'll scowl during botched shots, roll his eyes, stare in disbelief with his arms wide apart, I think sometimes he even growls.  It's embarrassing.  On the flip side Tommy will also say to us he's glad he can't hear us in hockey because we're "embarrassing."  ;)  *snickers* He has turned to me on the basketball court and actually conversed with me during a game "MOM, I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!"  I know I'm not supposed to but it's hard not to coach from the stands.  I'm working on it.

Yesterday Tommy had two games and he found himself in foul trouble early on in both games.  They had won the first game pretty solidly but the 2nd game they were behind pretty much from the start but kept it close.  At one point before halftime he was boxed in tight and is pivoting trying to protect the ball and he couldn't get rid of it and his opponent was all over him and finally Tommy stiff arms him getting called for his 3rd.  Off the court in tears he goes and he was still sulking on the bench all through halftime when we finally pulled him over to talk him through it.  He played with less emotion in the 2nd half but did finally foul out with about 2 minutes to go in the game.  The team only lost by 4 and I'm proud to say Tommy did not cry when he fouled out.  

All this to say, he's almost 11 years old, I know the real stormy days are coming.  But these little blips of emotional craziness while I laugh at them a bit, they also scare me.  So the drama.

Happy New Year!

It's that time of year again. The Top 11 Events of 2011! I'd have to rank 2011 a 9 out of 10 stars.  Nothing outrageous happened but it was a great year with more ups than downs that is for sure.  I guess it was a pretty typical year. We continue to be blessed with a nice home with wonderful neighbors, good jobs, good friends, our health (minus some Aus issues), and a great life. 

11.  Ashley's extracurriculars - She's still doing great in Honeybees but also started taking jazz and ballet. She's in the big girl room at school now and is definitely not a baby anymore. 

10 - Austin made his altar serving debut. I was so proud of him and Tommy was so great helping him out not to mention our wonderful priest Fr. Tipton making him feel comfortable.  I still get nervous when he's up there.

9. Cedar Point & Michigan's Adventure - We bought season passes this year and spent many days in Sandusky, OH and Muskegon, MI riding such thrills as the Millennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster and that corny tilt-a-whirl.  We also soaked up some sun in the water parks there.  I can't wait to go back!

8.  Reese Rocket Baseball - Tommy & Austin both played Little League and did well.  Tommy played for the 10U travel team and were 1st place champs in 3 of the 4 tournaments they entered.  Tommy had some struggles at the plate initially but finished the season well.  Austin did great not ever needing the tee.  Next year will be interesting when they start counting outs, keeping score, and he faces live pitching from the players.

7.  Tommy started playing the trumpet.  He's following in his parent's footsteps. :) Jury is still out on how it's going.  Some days he loves it other days he wishes he could quit.  After spending $700 on a trumpet I'm hoping he sticks it out for a few years.  Spoiled beast, Joe's hand me down cornet just wasn't cutting it. 

6.  Austin's hockey - After a slow start he is doing pretty good with his little team in Ann Arbor.  These kids (and some young adults) all have some sort of difficulty be it CP like Austin, or Down's Syndrome, many are on the autism spectrum it's just a mixed bag.  I can't thank the good people that have given Austin and those other kids this wonderful opportunity to play the sport we love so much.

5. Jeff & Shannon got engaged - And I'm so excited I get to be a bridesmaid! The big day is April 28th I can't wait and I wish them many, many years of wedded bliss. 

4.  Dad's 60th birthday party - He knew that our little family was going to the Tiger game with him to celebrate but he didn't know that 25 more of his friends and family would also be joining him.  I think he was very surprised and it wasn't too over the top for the shy guy.

3.  Joe's job switch- He made the jump to Dow Chemical in August and seems to be happy he made the move. 

2.  Tommy's hockey - Yup, it still ranks pretty high up there but only because this year the Bay County Blizzard won the MAHA State Title.  That's right a State Title, granted it took some luck as they started out 1-1-1 in pool play but somehow they came out on top.  Tommy's hockey also took us to Chicago for a AAA tourney which was fun. 

1.  Austin's 1st Communion and Confirmation ~ My little boy is growing up.  We had a fabulous event with Bishop Cistone celebrating his Confirmation and Tommy got to altar serve.  Then the following week we had Fr. Bill give Austin his 1st Holy Communion.  We had a nice party at the house with over 60 people visiting.

Honorable Mention

Katie & Adam's wedding
St. Elizabeth Golf Outing - Team JoDa & KeMi took home the toilet paper.  We so suck at golf.
Theresa K's 40th birthday party - So awesome, especially when we toilet papered their house with the above TP winnings.
Grandpa Moon died :(
Austin started SE basketball & Tommy played another Bball season
K of C Bingo
$100 Dinner Dance
My hockey! I still love it.
Very happy holidays.
No Disney vacation - Unbelievable!
We said goodbye to Fr. Bill & hello to Fr. Prentice
Numerous parties (I need a vacation after this Christmas vacation)