End of 2013

Well, here we are ending another year and getting ready to begin a new one.  This has been a fun, crazy, hectic year for the Harrison family.  We've done a lot of running around because of Aidan's hockey.  We've loved it and know that we're going to be stepping it up each year from here on out.  The good news is that Aidan absolutely loves it.  He can't get enough of it. . .

We had a lovely and wonderful Christmas with family.  I feel a little hazy on some things because we were so crazy during December.  But, it all came together nicely.

On the 23rd, I took Aidan and one of his hockey buddies to see the new Hobbit movie.  Oh my.  So not like the first one!  This one was definitely PG13.  Aidan got so scared about half way through we had to leave early.  I was sad about that because he had love the first one so much! 

So, I took the two boys with me to Wegman's to do our final Christmas dinner shopping.  Once inside and working on getting what I needed, I suddenly realized I was at the grocery store on one of the busiest shopping days with two 7 year old boys!!!  What was I thinking???

We survived. . .barely.

On Christmas Eve, I took Aidan to a Stick and Shoot at the Ice House.  He had fun, of course.  But, then we came home where I scrambled around finishing up the remainder of everything I needed to do to get ready for Christmas.  It all got done, of course!  And Aidan and I were still able to have some quiet Mommy and Aidan time, too!

Although Pat had to work the 3-11 shift, he was able to come home for dinner and he also came back for the traditional reading of Twas the Night before Christmas, hanging of the stockings and putting out of the goodies for Santa.  After the Baby Jesus was brought out, it was off to bed.

 

Every year, Aidan has slept in on Christmas morning.  To the point where Pat and I have asked each other if we should go and wake him up!  Not this year!  6:45. . .Aidan was up and ready to find out what was under the tree!!  I had barely had enough time to brew some coffee and get a fire going!

But we were ready. . .

As you can see, the big gift this year was a new bike!!!  Which Aidan loves. . .

But, he got a new stick, too.  Of course.

And I gave the boys a new Duck Dynasty video. . .which they also loved!!

 

And, as you can see, the hockey gear was not confined to the stick!!

 

Family arrived later in the day and all was chaos and fun. . .we had some great company, good food and then we retired to the Man Cave to pretend we were still awake.  : )

We had a day off on the 26th and then we headed out for Aidan's three day hockey tournament.  It was called the Crabtown Showdown and was so much fun!!!  The boys won games 1 and 2 and did really well in the Olympics portion of the tournament.  Then game 3 they lost. . .the team they played, played down a division.  It wasn't a blow out and the boys could have probably played better.  But, they were tired and sluggish.  Lesson learned for this mama is to make sure Aidan gets plenty of rest and better food to eat on a more regular basis!! 

The kids were all given these goofy Crab hats after the Olympic portion of the tournament.  So much fun was had with these hats!! 

The amazing part was that game 3 was played at the Brigade Sports Center at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.  How cool!!!  These boys played the Verizon Center on Saturday and the very next Saturday they played at the Naval Academy!!!

Game 4 ended in a tie and was an exciting game as it went back and forth the entire time. 

We finally headed home and are now just hanging out for a couple more days.  Thank goodness!!  Aidan and I go back to work and school on the 2nd and Pat heads back to work the evening before. 

And so, we end 2013 with a little rest coming our way.  Yeah!!!  But, not for long. . .hockey games are booked for both days this coming weekend. . .and I have projects planned to start up soon.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that your New Year will be bright, healthy and good to you.

Happy New Year!!

Never a Dull Moment!

Oh my goodness!!  We have not stopped this entire week!!  And now I'm hoping for a quiet day. . .hope. . .hope. . .hope. . .

What have we been up to, you ask?  Well, in addition to the last week of school and work before break, finishing up shopping for Christmas, wrapping, shipping, laundry and constantly tidying up, we have also had our nights filled with hockey and more hockey!

Sunday, Aidan had practice for his travel team followed by his House League team game, which they won.  Monday was his usual lesson with Coach Troy.  Tuesday was a free day, relatively speaking!  I used it to wrap gifts, catch up on laundry and do some ironing. . .

Wednesday we headed back to the Ice House for a surprise visit from a Caps player!  So much fun!  The kids did stations and a scrimmage with Casey Wellman (#48).  He was so good with the boys, too.  He laughed and played with the boys the whole time.  Really nice. 

 

And then, afterward, he signed autographs for the boys.  That was cute, too.  Aidan brought his hat that has several Caps signatures on it and Casey took one look and said, "Wow!  You have a lot of signatures here.  Wow!  You have his signature?  and his?  and his?"  And then he signed the hat, too.  But, the cute thing was that he was in awe of the signatures that his was joining!    : )

 

Thursday, we were back at the Ice House for a game.  Our A1 boys played our A2 boys for a league sponsored game.  Aidan's team won, 15-2.  And Aidan scored and made some really good plays.  He has some work to do, though.  It seems like he has lost some of what he had gained over the summer.  But, it will come back, I'm sure.  The important thing is, he's having a lot of fun!

Friday was Aidan's normal House League practice.  But, because there are no games this weekend and the boys will now be off until the beginning of January for the House League, the coaches set up two scrimmages on the ice and split the teams up to just play and have fun.  And they did have a lot of fun!  I could hear them chattering and laughing the entire time!  So cute!!

 

Daddy didn't make this one, though.  He joined several friends and went out to Winchester to pay his respects to a friend of ours who passed last week.  It was quite sudden.  He and his wife went to bed Friday night and when she woke up in the morning, he was gone.  They think it was either a heart attack or an aneurysm.  He was 49. 

 

And that has caused Pat and I to think again about getting our will done.  I can't believe we have put it off for so long!

 

The funeral was yesterday.  But, we didn't go to that.  Aidan had one more big hockey day for the week. . .

 

His two travel teams played a scrimmage at the Verizon Center!!!!  So cool!!!!  The coach split and mixed the teams up (it's supposed to be a fun day. . .see above score. . .that would not make it fun for a group of boys. . .)  So, Aidan was on the Red team and the boys were all announced as they came on the ice.  Then, Aidan made the first goal. . .So cool to hear the announcer say, Score for the Red Team. . .#5. . .Aidan. . .Harrison!!!  : )  Mama was proud. . .

 

And Slapshot was there, too!!

 

After the scrimmage, we went to Carmine's for a team dinner and gift exchange.  The boys were given numbers and then they went up to the table where the gifts were to pick one.  Aidan's is a Tshirt that has a hockey stick on it and says "Fear the Stick".  He loves it!!

 

After dinner, we went back to Verizon Center for the Caps game where we sat in the nosebleeds. . .still very fun, though!  But, Aidan scored huge as a friend of his had an extra ticket down low--4 rows off the ice!!  He was down there front and center watching his favorite boys play his favorite game.  So fun!!!

 

And now, I need to get to work power wrapping and preparing my grocery list for our Christmas dinner. . .yikes!!!!  I'm sooooo behind!  : )  But it will all get done. . .

 

Merry Christmas, y'all!!

Happy Happy Anniversary!!

In a week filled with building excitement and snow days and cold weather and hot cocoa and visits with Santa. . ..

We'll just finish it up with our Anniversary, okay?

27 years. . .Happy Anniversary honey!  I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Love you,
Stacy

A Free Day

We were hardly home at all this weekend.  And all because of hockey.  It was fun, though!

Friday night was Aidan's House League practice. He was goalie this weekend, so he was practicing on his goalie moves. 

Saturday, Aidan had a CBHL game with his Select team.  They went up against our rivals, Reston.  But, a big surprise before the game. . .the shell and warm up suit came!!!  The boys were so excited!!

 

Pretty cool!!!  And then, they all came out and lined up waiting to go out on the ice. . .and then Reston came out.  Look at these boys stare the Reston team down!!!

 

They won the game 15-3.  And for those who don't know, the CBHL rules indicate it is up to the teams and the Ref to stop a game if one team goes up by 10 or more points.  The second half, our boys used as a practice to work on the Offensive Zone Box and Breakouts. 

Sunday we were expecting snow for most of the day.  We knew our House League game would happen but we weren't sure about the CBHL game in the afternoon.  It started snowing as we left our house for the Ice House and apparently continued to snow all during that game, which our Forest Green team won. . .yeah!!!

We had a couple of hours to kill, so we went to breakfast and then went to torment Grandma and Grandpa with our over exuberance.  : )  Meanwhile, Aidan was completely and totally goofy in his warm up suit, Santa hat and funny glasses!!  : )

 

We headed back to the Ice House for our afternoon game while it continued to snow.  Our opponent, Chevy Chase, Maryland showed up, but the A2 opponent-NOVA did not.  I don't know if that is a forfeit or if they reschedule.  Anyway, our A1's played another great game and won 16-3 (see comment on rules above).  Again, they worked on practicing some moves during the second half.  Here below, you can see Aidan's line setting up the Offensive Zone Box. . .Aidan is the closest one to us.  They scored three goals during this shift!



After that game, we headed home to shovel and have some chili, which I smartly set up in the crock pot before we left in the morning.  The snow had changed to sleet and Aidan was still able to play some with the neighbors before dinner.  It wasn't until later that it changed to freezing rain. . .

 

We got the word late in the afternoon that schools would be closed today and then I found out this morning my work would be closed for the day.  So, we get a FREE DAY!! 

 

Good thing too as this is what I saw when I looked out the window this morning. . .and that is on top of the four inches of snow.  Snow is fine.  Ice is not. 

 

 

 

And so, I leave you with a have a great day and stay safe out there!  Especially if you are dealing with any of this crazy crazy weather!!

Visits from St. Nick

Yes, there are several little visits from the Big Guy during the course of our season leading up to Christmas.  Sometimes we see him and sometimes we don't.  But the main theme is the all consuming anticipation of his big visit coming on Christmas Eve. 

Every year I try very hard to weave the true meaning of Christmas into all of our activities.  I just hope some of that takes.  As a small child still, Aidan does still focus on the commercial part of Santa Claus. . .and I let him.  As long as he remembers that there is a deeper more important reason for Christmas.  He is fascinated with our Nativity and the baby Jesus (who is not yet out) and with a Matryoshka doll that our former priest gave him (another feel good story).  It has Mary and the baby Jesus on it.  So, that makes me happy.

Anyway, here is what we have been up to during this first week of Advent.  It's all fun and, well okay, a little stressful for Mama, but still fun times.

Sunday, as you'll remember, was the first Sunday of Advent.  Our elf, Steopa, arrived from the Russian side of the North Pole.  He has decided to move around a bit this year (yikes, Daddy!) but has otherwise NOT been watching or doing anything spectacular.  Call us grumpy old folks, but really.  That Elf on the Shelf thing where he watches your every move is a bit creepy.  And a bit old style Communist Russian, if you ask me.

Anyway, Steopa arrived with a filled Advent calendar with goodies (treats and mouth guards and little Lego hockey guys.) And a Lego Advent Calendar that creates a little Winter Wonderland Lego village.  Pretty cool stuff and Aidan was trilled!!  He loves the little daily activities like this.

Steopa brought an Elf note from Santa that reminded Aidan to always say his prayers.  : )

 

That afternoon, in between all of the other activities we had going on, we got our tree up and then I spent the next two evening getting the lights on.  Aidan got worried that the lights were hot (I wrap them a little around me while doing the tree to keep them straight) and he kept coming over to hug me to make sure I was okay!  : )

 

Funny child!!

We planned on doing the ornaments several times during the week, but things just kept getting in the way so we didn't actually get to it until Friday after hockey practice. . .but first, there was another visit from St. Nick. . .

Our town does some really cool things.  One is that our local Volunteer Fire Department decks out the main Engine with lights, gets Santa, Frosty and Rudolph together and then drives around all of the neighborhoods waving at the children who come to see what all the commotion is.  They used to be able to do our whole town in one night around the 23rd (twenty years ago!). . .now they do a neighborhood or two each night, nearly every night during December.  It is something the kids look forward to.

This year, our neighborhood was on Thursday, December 5.  Kind of appropriate that it was the night before St. Nicholas Day!  And I'm soooo glad we didn't have a hockey game, which we originally did!!!

Anyway, it was very traumatic getting Aidan to focus on finishing his homework, eating dinner and getting his shower.  He kept thinking he was going to miss everything.  Knowing what the schedule was, I kept reassuring him that he wouldn't miss a thing and that I would never let that happen (Mama didn't want to miss it either!).  Trust me!! 

Finally, all of the little things were done and we began the wait. . .outside with the other neighbor kids who were also bouncing off the walls. . .

And finally. . .



Could it be????

YES!!!!  Here he comes!!!!

And this year, for unknown reasons, the truck turned around and came back by!!!

 

It took a bit to get Aidan settled down after this visit from St. Nick, but he eventually did and went off to bed for a good night sleep.

 

And then, after his hockey practice and dinner on Friday, we came home and finished up our tree.  It is very beautiful as always.  And really, that look on Maggies face is not indicative of Aidan squeezing her in the neck to hold her in place.  Really.

 

And below is a little close up of the tree. . .This is about 3 1/2 feet up from the ground.  Can you tell whose ornaments these are?  And who might have put them all there??  I am not moving a blessed one because I just LOVE that we have a tree with a bunch of ornaments at 3 1/2 feet off the ground!! 

 

And so, we still have three more visits to go. . .One we will go see him at the Mall--on Tuesday the 10th which Aidan does not know anything about; Two will be our Town Christmas Parade on the 14th--Aidan probably does know about this one and thank goodness we don't have a game!!!; and then Three, well, Christmas Eve, of course!!

 

We'll make it. . .I think. . .

 

And finally, we finally have our CBHL schedule!!!  We have a game today and one tomorrow (in addition to our House League game).  And then I think there is one on the 19th and then we have the scrimmage at Verizon Center.  Then we have our tournament the weekend after Christmas.  So, our December is now pretty much booked up!!!  And January is looking pretty hectic too. . .But, it will all be fun!!

 

Happy Advent, y'all!!