Men's Hockey Night, 2015

Here are just a few shots from last Friday's Men's Hockey Night.  You know, perhaps the one and only of the season?

Front row:  Randy Gerke and Ben (the "short guys").
Back row:  Steven Hatch, Marcus, Dan Hatch, and Jesse Cook.

A super night - they all loved, loved, loved it!

A Catch-All

Sometimes when I'm lazy and I just want to get my pictures posted, I bunch them all together in one post.  Like now:

 December is . . . Done.  Love the month, even though it is super crazy, busy, and stressful!  It's also delightful and magical.

 On New Year's Day we break down our houses and eat them.  More or less.  Yes, I realize Ben is cut out slightly.  But he was pretty goofy in the other pictures, so I'm sure he's happy with this one.  :)

 The best part according to Ben, Emmy, and Emily:  dipping the house in milk.  YUM.

 Jonas' frosting mustache.

 Today we were able to get out on the ice!  Yippeee!  It was super fun - except the part where my kids just constantly complained about one another.  Christmas break is a little too much for them as well it seems . . . :)

The skating gang.  Lucy has gotten much better - not skating, per se, but she would just hold on and go around and around the perimeter of the rink.  On her own.  Which is big.  It meant I didn't have to hold and push her around the entire time.  Awesome.  After the girls headed back in, the 2 boys played me in hockey.  I beat them - 10 to 9.  Nice game!  I truly love getting out there with the fam.

And tonite Ben is having Men's Hockey Night.  Due to the warm and crummy weather, it might be the one and only of the season.  Let's say it ain't so!  It makes him oh-so-happy.

So that's that.

Goodbye 2014

Another good year - full of many ups and downs and curves and whines.  But, overall, definitely another good year.  Happy New Year's!

New Dos for the New Year

What was scheduled for trims, turned in to cuts.  Cute cuts, I might add:

This is probably Jonas' first "real" haircut.  Sure, Ben and I have buzzed his hair and what, but this was a legitimate cut.  I should have gotten a shot of the back of his hair - it's all short and cut!  Crazy.  So it's short on the side and a little long in the middle.  He "roughed" it up a bit when we got home.  Super cute, I think.  (Before his cut, his "sideburns" were nearing ear-lobe-length.  Not cool.)

 When I told Emmy she was going to get her hair trimmed she really didn't want to.  She wanted to keep her hair long.  But we got on Pinterest, she saw a style, and even after I told her it was going to make her hair short, she still wanted it.  So this is Emmy's first hairstyle cut (she's only had one other cut in her entire life.  Her hair is super slow at growing!).

 The pictures do not do justice to how adorable she is!  But they're close.  :)

 Jonas thought she (or at least her hair) looked like a teenager's hairstyle.

Emmy wanted me to get a back-shot.  So cute.

She loves it!  Yay.  Miles got his super-long sideburns trimmed, as well as a bit on the neck.  That was all we wanted.

Yay for new dos.

Stop-action movies by Miles

"Clay" (one of his firsts)

"Building a snowman"

"Clay war" (Miles' longest and, I think, favorite)

"Yuck!"

"Emmy and the Blob"

"Magical food making"

I think he's having fun!

Christmas Day

The kids got us up when we said they could:  6:30.  Apparently they had been up (at least the boys) since 5:30.  I'm glad they waited like we said . . . :)

It was a fun day for sure!  We are all blessed and lucky.

Now on to the pictures:

 Santa brought Emmy a little teaching/school set-up - complete with an old-time desk, school supplies, stamps, etc.  Oh and some funky "teacher glasses."  She loved it.

 Lucy got what she asked for - a dollhouse.  She played and played and played with it.  So cute.

 Jonas got this ice hockey game.  He thought it was for Ben . . .  Let's just say they both love it!

 Santa didn't forget Wilson and brought him a tasty treat.

 Ms. Emmy in her funky glasses.  :)

 Miles got this animation set from Santa - to make stop-motion movies.  Once he makes some decent ones (opposed to the sort of ridiculous ones with obnoxious sound-effects - made by him - that he made yesterday, I'll hopefully post some good home videos).

 Just another cute one of Lucy playing with her doll house.

 The boys having fun!  These two are definitely better than Miles and I.  It took forever for me to score ONE point - which ended the game of Mom vs. Miles, since neither of us had scored.  Jonas and Ben played a good while with a good many of points scored.

 Santa brought legos for all the kids in their stockings.  Always a hit.

Even Lucy had fun building her little set.

 Oh and Santa didn't even forget the gerbils and got them a little ball to run around in.  Awesome.  Kind of.

 The boys' big gift from us was a Kindle Fire tablet for each of them.  This is a huge thing for us.  I could write and write all about it and our opposition to much of the digital technology, but I'll save that for another time.  The boys were lucky to get a whole 3 hours in the day and then one more hour at night on their tablet.  During Christmas break (and after they do their 20 minutes of reading and 20 minutes of Khan academy) they will get an hour a day.  Then when school starts back up, it will be back to normal:  30 minutes of computer time on Saturdays.  I'll let you know if they go through withdrawals.

Emmy also got a karaoke machine.  Totally cute.  If Ben lets me, I'll post a video.  (He's fine in it, really it's me and my horrible voice that should scare me away from posting it . . . But I figure if anyone knows me, they already know I can't sing so who cares . . . )

The 6 inches of predicted snow never came.  Boohoo.  But that did mean Ben was able to get out on a nice bike ride and I had a warm and sunny run.  (Luckily we are getting snow today!!!)  We had a good day just playing and hanging out at home.  I'm not sure if anyone whined or cried the whole day?  Poor Lucy tried falling asleep at the dinner table, but we wouldn't let her.  :)

Anyways, another wonderful Christmas.  Indeed we are blessed.  Mostly by our faith, family, and friends.

Our Christmas Eve

Well after Ben finished flooding the rink and I finished up Emmy's gift, we headed out for some sledding.  Since we've had only a skiff of snow this season, we went all the way up to the Grand Mesa.  And there was plenty of snow up there for us to all enjoy.  It was a fun Christmas eve afternoon!

 You can't quite tell what was happening here, but Miles was gliding through the path of snow on his sled - rowing with his arms.  The powder was probably 2  1/2 feet deep.  Snow fun.

 This looks pretty funny - with me in the front.  But Lucy hated the snow splashing all over her face so I convinced her to sled again, with me in front.  :)

 These two sure do love sledding!

 She had a few fun runs, but really just enjoyed being in the snow and not necessarily sledding.

 This girl is fearless - she was the first to try the big jump.  Some other sledders even commented about how brave she was!

 Jonas tried it a few times - only after he watched Emmy several times.  At one point he said, "It's pretty scary, huh?!"  To which Emmy replied, "No."  :)

Another one of Emmy on the big jump - backwards.  It looks like she is just comfortably sitting in the air.

 Ben and Jonas got some air, too!

Wheeee, the kids got a little ride in the parking lot to the bathroom.

A fun outing!

We got home, finished up dinner (while the kids picked up the house), ate our yummy Swedish meatball dinner, the kids opened their homemade sibling gifts, got on their new PJs, we ate our Christmas porridge (rice pudding) and the almond was in Ben's bowl.  Lucky guy.  We read Luke 2 and then sent the kids up to bed!  It was a good day and evening.

The kids in their Christmas PJs.  It's been years since I've made them, so I was up for it this year.  :)  I was pleased with their pants and nightgowns.  The kids love them and so that makes it all worth it.

Sleep-Out

Last night the kids slept under the tree.  (Ben and I slept on the hide-a-bed right "next door.")  It was fun (kind of . . . ).  :)

Now today is Christmas Eve and the kids are super bored, just want to eat, just want to open up gifts (their sibling gifts, which they open tonight), etc., etc.

Ben finished up the last of the ice-rink and is now flooding it!  We're super excited about the cold temps that are here and hope they stick around for a bit.  :)  I've been finishing up Lucy's gift for Emmy . . . who know it would take me all morning.  (She did help with what she could. . . )

I think Miles said something like, "Is today going to feel as long as it always does?"

Probably!

Ben Summits The Hill

Well, since 40 is "Over the hill," I guess 39 makes you at the apex?

His birthday was on Saturday and I had moments where I wondered if he would have rather worked all day than been at home all day with some cranky people (myself included, I guess . . .).  But I tried to do a few things to make the day a little special for him . . .

Like I made him cardamom-cinnamon rolls for breakfast (I left on my run as they were in the oven :).  I encouraged him to get out and exercise.  And . . . maybe that was all?!

We didn't do a special birthday dinner/dessert because we went to his work party that evening.  I think Ben actually enjoyed it.  We watched one of his favorite Christmas movies that night - A Christmas Carol (the Jim Carrey one).

Here are the very few pictures I got:

I'm cheating with these first 2 pictures - they were the night before Ben's birthday.  So we'll call it Ben's Birthday Eve.  A garden place in town did a "Garden of Lights" this year - with horse-drawn sleigh rides, hot cocoa, story-telling in a tepee, craft kits, etc.

 It was fun.  But of course the kids didn't listen and get hats and coats and so they were a bit cold (Some got a hat, but no real coat.  Some got a coat, but no hat.  Etc.).  Here they were warming up by the fire.  We met up with our good friends there - Patty and her son Ivan (Jonas' best-friend).  Ivan is on the left.  A bunch of crazies.  :)

 The only good picture I got of the birthday boy!  Here we are decorating gingerbread houses, of course.  A tradition for Ben's birthday.

 Oh I love looking at our fun houses.  Oh, and check out our elf Eljin on the framed picture.  :)

Happy Birthday Ben.

A few random pics

These are the skis Jonas made for our elf, Eljin.  The kids were all super excited to see him wearing them on Monday!

Lego ornament #1 made by Miles.

Lego ornament #2 made by Miles.  Love them both!

WOW!  Eljin was super tricky today!  This kids were so amazed and had no idea how he was doing it.  :)  Our elf is pretty awesome.