February....already?!

So, here we are. February already. When, exactly did that happen? (Like 2 days ago, Bek.) If this is how fast this year is going to fly by then I am in T R O U B L E!

I didn't post for a few days, feeling horribly inadequate after reading my cousin's absolutely hysterical blog. Then, just when I think I might be able to be marginally clever...the internet goes out.

So, now that I have this wonderful relationship with Lee, our local hillbilly internet provider tech, I am back up and running. I am seriously considering having him over for dinner. *laugh* (well maybe not yet, but....) Goodness knows I've talked to him more in the last few days than my own husband...

How shall I do this? Go back and start from the beginning or go backwards starting now? Decisions...
I'll go back and see how I do from there.

Friday night was church ball. Need I say more? It was, as usual, frustrating and exasperating and really gets your blood pumping. (and that was just for me!)
Since our wards combined we now have more boys than you can shake 3 or 4 sticks at and necessitated another youth team. A & B. Or older and younger. Big and little. The A team is 16+, B team 12 - 15. Tadhg falls under the Team B heading. The B team had 2, back-to-back games on Friday night to get them caught up. Fridays are mountain area ski school, so most of the team had also spent the whole day skiing at Badger. We rushed down as soon as the ski bus showed up and then those boys ran and ran and ran some more. Their coach,(what a slave driver!) Curtis kept telling them to keep their hands up. Our boys were, like a full foot or more shorter than the first team. The second game /team wasn't much better, but the boys really kicked it up and had the game in the bag.....but for the officiating. Let's just say they were robbed in the last 30 seconds of the game and lost. [Long, horrible back story that I will not force you to listen to :)! ]
Meanwhile, I am sitting there on the stage, watching these boys play their hearts out, trying to get a little of the action on video. Brock (you knew he'd factor in here didn't you?) is trying very hard not to die of boredom. He's imagined up several games... all of which require my attention and the, more than occasional, whack on the arm (camera jiggles and jerks) to get me back on track. At one point he was rolling and wiggling across the stage and I thought, "If he did this at home....my floors would be clean." Completely random thought there.
Burgers and fries and Fanta at Rally's did a pretty good job of soothing the disappointment. In 3 years....when they "have grown a foot or two" (sing it!) and have gelled together as a team, they'll dominate. That's what we tell them.

Saturday...we finally got to have our family ski day. We'd planned it for a few weeks now, but what with one thing and another... and no snow! we had to wait. I always get nervous before we ski. I worry about everything, car wrecks on the icy roads, lost mittens... but the biggie, "Will I bite it really bad on the slopes today?" is in the forefront of my mind. It is always nice to get to the end of the day, still in one piece, the kids, with rosy cheeks, too tired to tease each other, and realize all was truly right in the world.
Brock made his skiing debut this weekend. We figured last year he'd rather spend the day with Gramma and Pop-pop than sit in the cold and snow. I was worried (again with the worrying!) that he'd get frustrated too easily, and sure enough after falling several times and having his skis pop off as he tried to figure out the tow rope on the turtle run. It came to tears rather quickly, so I did what any self respecting mom would do (right?), I signed him up for a 2 hour lesson. He won't cry for a perfect stranger. We peeked in after each run. No more tears. He did this really cute thing with his arms. They said to make a pizza shape with his skis... but he was having a hard time getting his feet apart and knees together so he'd stick his elbows in the air, like a puppet on a string or the scarecrow from wizard of oz with his wrists and hands dangling... It was like his arms and legs were connected and couldn't move independently.... knees together, elbows UP.


Caden decided he wanted to try snowboarding this year. While I was working with Brock, the big boys went to Bruin to try out the boards. After about the same amount of time and the same frustration level...Caden got a 2 hour lesson too. This is when the serious worrying sets in...(about me eating a face-ful of snow?..yes) and will my babies be okay without me....? thus the peeking after every run!


I have to say I had a really good time. I loved watching Tadhg snowboard. He makes it look sooooo easy. To have that carefree confidence! Beautiful. It was also nice to realize that I could keep up (and NOT fall down!) He wanted to progress to Eagle, but I convinced him that the "old folks" needed to work our way up, gain some confidence (and courage) before we tried out something steeper.

I tried getting some pictures of him "catching air"... I guess I missed the really great one.