Halloween Week

I'm trying to get caught up on some things and it just seems like I don't have enough time!  But, it should be better this coming weekend.  We only have House League game and practice and one practice for the Selects hockey team.  That means we can get caught up on yard work, closet clean outs, family time, etc. . .yeah!

Speaking of cleaning out closets, I had taken all of the pants out of my closet and had started to sort them, in the guest room, while Pat was away on his hunting trip.  I hadn't actually gotten very far, but wasn't worried--they were in the guest room and I could shut the door--until Pat called and said his buddy and his son were probably going to stay the night on the way home to their house down in Louisa County.  PANIC!!!  But I powered through and got it done.  Now that 1/4 of my closet looks spectacular.  Hopefully, I can do the rest soon and before that 1/4 goes to heck again! 

Aidan's football season ended a week ago yesterday.  His team had another practice and then a big Jamboree on Saturday.  But, since he had a hockey game at the same time on Saturday, I opted to end his season a bit early.  He didn't seem to mind.  The Monday night game was a make up for when it rained a couple weeks ago.  Nice concept.  However, these were 6 and 7 year old little boys who started a game at 7:00 at night.  On a school night.  They started well, but by half time, half of the boys had hit a wall. . .bedtime had come and they were not there!  Poor little guys.  Aidan hung in there, but I could really see he was exhausted.  The game didn't actually end until after 8:00.  By the time I got him home, showered, snacked and into bed, it was 9:00.  An hour after his bed time.  Much too late for my little man.  But, it's over now.  We can focus on hockey now.

Our weather has turned absolutely beautiful lately.  Cool and crisp.  Perfect Fall weather!  Love it.  Time for a fire. . .maybe this weekend.

Last Saturday we had a nice little party on our pipestem.  Hot dogs and sides and a lot of socializing and kids playing in their Halloween costumes.  We even brought out the fire pits and did s'mores.  Everyone really enjoyed themselves.  I think next time we will do a pot luck out there. 

Speaking of Halloween. . .Aidan has a great costume again.  He picked it out last July.  I'm not telling what it is, but it is kind of related to last years. . .guesses???  I'll reveal it after the big night!!

And back to hockey:  So, Aidan's team has now split into two definite teams, A1 and A2.  Aidan made the A1 team.  This is a huge accomplishment and I'm very proud of him.  He's been working very hard.  On Saturday's game against Reston (which they won huge!!) Aidan had a couple of things he needed to correct and improve on.  His coach talked to him about it and so did Pat and I, explaining ways he could make it better.  During his house league game on Sunday morning, I saw him do some of those changes and then during the Sunday afternoon game against Frederick (which they also won huge!!) the rest of the changes were made, plus some!!  I was very excited for him and how he played.  And proud of how he responded!  For a 7 year old little boy to respond that way is really amazing.  He and his line are really playing well together.  Can't wait to see how they continue to improve over this season.

Aidan's team is under the Xtreme shield, so they will be listed on the Xtreme website.  Can't wait to show him that!  Xtreme is part of the CBHL, which is part of the USAHL.  CBHL stands for Chesapeake Bay Hockey League.  However, I have heard parents jokingly call it the Capital Beltway Hockey League.  After our trip to Bowie last weekend, I can see why!  Around and around and around the Beltway we go. . .

Aidan in his new uniform.  Look at that kid from Frederick he was up against!!  Fully a head taller!!  Aidan said he was "as tall as you, mama!"  : )  And yet, my Aidan outskated him! 

It was grouse Pat was hunting and I still don't know what to do with that. . .

Our porch is supposed to be completed this week.  Finally.

Mom got good news at the Oncologist yesterday, but was told that if it comes back again, she cannot have any more treatment.  So, we'll pray it doesn't come back!!

But, my sister Amy is not doing well.  Her Lupus has progressed and she has been getting terrible headaches because of it.  Hopefully, she got some news at her doctor appointment that will help with this.

That's it for now.  Hopefully, I'll have more pictures to share next time.  Have a great week!

Happy Halloween!!

Strange things

Pat has been gone all week hunting in Maine.  He sent pictures of what they had hunted.  Unfortunately, I'm unable to tell you what it is!  I really am not at all sure what it is!  As our rule is that we eat, or at least try, everything Pat brings home from his hunting expeditions, I'm a little more than just a little bit nervous about this one!

The location the guys are at looks beautiful, though, from the pictures.  Cold, but beautiful.  It does make me think about possible renting a cabin up there next summer for vacation. . .

There were a couple of things I left off the last post about my trip to my Mom's.  Both are kind of strange:

1)  The first morning I was at Mom's, I was still in bed, awake and reading, but still in bed.  I clearly heard Aidan say "Mama."  It was not distressed.  Just the simple, "Mama."  Like he was standing right next to me and about to say something.  I looked up from my Kindle and then my phone beeped with a text.  It was a picture of Aidan.  I tell you, my heart squeezed in a strange way and I thought to myself about the stories I have always heard about the connection between mother and child.  I am totally a believer in that.  Now.

2)  Do you ever wonder why smoke detector batteries always perish at 1:00 in the morning?  Okay, sometimes it's 2:00 in the morning. . .While at my Mom's, the last night/morning, actually, the smoke detector in the hallway right outside my room decided to have cardiac arrest of the battery.  I was getting up very early anyway for my flight, but really!  I went in search of batteries.  Couldn't find any in Mom's house and decided to disconnect the darn thing--the one in my room was only two feet away from dead detector, so I didn't see a real problem.  I advised my mom of the situation first thing and she had the problem dealt with before I even landed at Dulles. 

Fast forward to this past Saturday night/Sunday morning.  The smoke detector in one of our front guest bedrooms decided to have cardiac arrest. . .Pat was not at home.  I tried to ignore it, but it wouldn't be ignored!  I had to go down to the basement to get a 9volt battery out of our stash--at least I knew where they were!--sneak into Aidan's room for a chair in order to reach said ailing detector and then replaced the battery. . only to have my alarm go off  just a few hours later because Aidan had an early hockey game. 

Sigh. . .


More soon. . . .

Runaway Time Train

I need to get off this speeding train for a while. . .everything is going by too fast! 

Last week, we found out Aidan's hockey team was going to have it's first game while I was gone.  It was in Hagerstown, Maryland.  Yes, this was actually before our team had even practiced!  I had already made up a list of instructions for Pat of Aidan's daily schedule, so this had to be added in for him. 

I left for my Mom's on Friday morning.  It was a very long trip out there with a stop in LA on the way.  No, that's not really on the way to Las Vegas, but it was cheaper than a direct flight.  I did get a direct flight back.  The funny thing about LA was that I was instantly reminded of Russia!  Really!  It was all brown there, people were somewhat rude and it smelled like cigarette smoke.  Bleh!!  I heard last night about the dry ice bombs someone was planting at the Tom Bradley terminal. . .right where I had been. . .so, there you go.  Just like Russia!  Weird.

Anyway, I arrived in Las Vegas a little after 12:30 and was able to spend the rest of Friday with Mom.  On Saturday, I scrubbed her entire house and then went to the grocery store for her to stock up on things she could easily cook.  Sunday was spent doing the car.  The rest of the time, I just visited with my Mom, put lotion on her back and rubbed and massaged her poor swollen legs and feet.  She's not doing too good.  But, my goodness is this lady a fighter!!!  I just really wish she lived closer to at least one of us.

Pat sent me pictures of Aidan and the dogs to show Mom and she loved it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch. . .okay, it's not a ranch, just a house in Leesburg.  It had continued to rain.  And rain.  And rain.  In fact, we got over 7 inches of rain!!  Totally made up for the deficit we had!  Plus a lot. 

Anyway, the rain meant that Aidan's football game was cancelled.  Yippee!!  Mark one thing off the huge list of things Pat needed to do!!!  But, instead of sleeping in, my boys got up and went duck hunting.  In the rain!  And got a duck!!  I think they want to be part of the Duck Call Dynasty clan.  : )



They are just missing beards, ya see????

Not sure what we'll do with these ducks, but I did suggest that we could smoke them.  I thought that sounded pretty good, actually.

Then, later, they headed up to Hagerstown, Maryland for Aidan's hockey game.  They had to be there by 4:00 for the 5:00 game.  So, they left a little early and stopped somewhere to get one of the ducks mounted for Pat's Man Cave.  Okay, so one won't be smoked. . .

The game was apparently great.  Aidan played at Center and scored at least 3 goals.  Some of the boys need some work at staying in their position, but overall, Ashburn did really well.  Like 20-2 really well.  Yes, Ashburn is producing yet another powerhouse team!  It almost gets embarrassing sometimes.  Almost.

That's my boy facing left ready for the puck to drop.

Aidan is number 20, if you can keep up with him!

On Sunday, Pat got Aidan up early for his 6:00 am practice--where he got his new Practice Jersey that says Ashburn Xtreme and then didn't want to take it off--and then again on Monday for his 6:00 am lesson.  But, in between, I got this cute little message:

Awww. .. .don't you just love this little guy???? 

I missed him something fierce while I was gone.  And he has been so lovey and huggy since I've been back. 

But, I miss my Mom, too.  Wish she could come and see this precious little guy!!!

Anyway, after I got back, we went straight to the grocery store, then home to unpack and start laundry, then a quick dinner and back to the Ice House for an unexpected practice. . .Aidan was on the ice 4 times this weekend and he didn't even have his House League game or practice!  Whew!!  He was some kind of tired that night and actually asked to go to bed right after we got home from his practice.  Shower and PJ's and the kiddo was sound asleep.

Yesterday found me back to work.  I thought I'd be more tired because I didn't sleep a lot while at Mom's.  But, amazingly, because I didn't, I never really adjusted to Pacific Time so coming back to Eastern Time wasn't difficult at all. 

I had a Parent Teacher conference last evening with Aidan's teacher, which was great.  I thought he was struggling in Math.  But, actually, he is ahead of where he should be!  Half the class is on target and at Level 2.  Aidan is ready to finish Level 3 and move on to Level 4.  So!  There you have it!  And, he is actually ahead of where he should be on Reading, too!  He Meets expectations on all areas tested except two, which he Exceeds expectations.  And he is continuing to make very good choices.  His teacher says Aidan is very smart and is really working hard. 

I'm so proud of my little guy!!

Well, that's about it for now.  Now, we're preparing for Pat's trip to Maine and trying to finish up all the loose ends on our Porch project. . .finally.

Have a great week!

Lotsa Stuff

TRAVEL
All three of us are doing some kind of traveling these days in our own little/big ways.  It will be a little extra crazy around here, though, until the end of this month because of my travel and Pat's travel.  But first, about Aidan's travel. . .

As indicated in my last post, we had been waiting to hear if Aidan would be nominated for the Select Travel Team tryouts.  This was open to the kids in the House League born in 2005 or 2006.  Well, we did find out on Tuesday afternoon that Aidan had been nominated!!!  Tryouts were on Sunday morning at 6:00 am.  Yes, I know I am the mom, but really, I watched Aidan skate and he was truly one of the best out there!  I was very proud of him.  He's come so far. 

Aidan is the closer one.

He had game right after with his House Team, so we were both exhausted by the time we got home.  We had to wait to find out. . .HE MADE IT!!  Woot!  Woot!  He was so excited when I told him.  All he can talk about now I getting his pant shell, stickers for his helmet and the warm up suit. . .Yes, you do actually have to play, Aidan!

My travel will be this weekend.  I'm going to see my mom.  She hasn't been doing very well and needs one of us to come and check on her.  I plan to make sure she has a stocked frig and pantry, clean house and that the Visiting Nurse is doing everything for her that needs to be done.  Although I hate to push her, I will also talk to her about really thinking about moving closer to one of us.  She's so far away we can't help her very easily and she had reached a point where she needs our help.  This is a quick trip.  I leave Friday morning and will be home again Monday afternoon.

Pat  is also preparing to travel.  He leaves on the 19th for a hunting trip to Maine.  I'm not sure exactly what he's hunting, but I'm sure he'll have fun.  He'll be back on the 26th in time for our little Halloween party.

Fair
Waterford had it's annual fair last weekend.  Working in Waterford takes the fun out of going on the weekends, but I usually have free tickets and a parking pass to park at my work.  My company gives us a 2 hour lunch on Fair Friday so I get to see most of it.  I had thought I'd take Aidan this year, but it was really hot this weekend. . .in fact it was 90 on Saturday!  Yikes.  I melted enough at his football game so I decided to wait until next year.

But, this is also the time of year when Halloween is really gearing up.  We have started to decorate the front yard--although things had to be moved to the porch because of the storms that came through yesterday.  We've got our witch, ghost and spider and soon the shrub monster will also go out.

And you get a little sneak peak of our still almost finished porch. . .

Academic Achievements
Aidan is doing really great in school.  He loves his class and he is learning so much!  He is reading like a champ and has actually moved into Chapter Books.  He is working really hard on his Math and Social Studies too.  But, what has really amazed me is his behavior.  Last week he came home with this:

He had earned enough stickers on his red feather (you get one sticker for acts of kindness or helping out, etc) and now is working on the next feather.  When you fill your feather, you get this certificate and get to choose something from the prize box.  I'm very proud of my little man.  And he was very proud of himself when he showed me this!  So cute.

Football
Two weeks left.  Thanks be to God!!! 

Hockey
Okay, back to hockey.  Aidan is doing great in his lessons with Coach Troy and really loves them.  He is having a blast on the ice.  He was a bit upset last weekend because the other team shut him down a lot. . .he still scored 5 goals.  I saw the dad/Coach of that team last night at Pictures and he was telling me that the boys all talk about my Aidan and the other Aidan (also made Selects) and how they plan to defend against them.  I was amazed!  Again, I'm his mom and really think he's good, but this was further proof--the boys think Aidan is good!  wow.  He did laugh and tell me he has heard Aidan's team work out and they even do it.  When they play Sharks and Minnows, you hear the boys on Aidan's team all yelling, Get Aidan!  And funny thing, they rarely do.  That Coach is right.  Aidan is quick and he is good!  I knew it.  : )

Weather
The latest heat wave has finally broken.  I'm hoping that's it and we can move on with fall now.  I'm ready!

That's about it.  See you soon!

October Already!

Oh my.  It's October already.  It is actually looking a lot like early October outside, too.  The leaves are beginning to change.  The light has definitely changed: the sun comes up later and goes down earlier.  The nights are cool.  In fact, we've had some pretty cold mornings. . .a couple even in the 30's already.  It will be warmer this week--mid 80's--but that will end and we'll be heading lower, I think. 

Mr. Halloween has picked his costume and is really ready for Halloween.  I'm sure when he gets up this morning, he'll be thinking about the next thing we can do to prepare for the big day.  We have put a few things up outside:  a witch, a scarecrow, a spider. . .we have a web still to put up, although we want to put that in the porch with the spider.  And we have bought a few pumpkins.  Harris Teeters had them for $5.00!  I couldn't pass up that good of a deal!

We have also put a few things up in the house.  Just some little pumpkins and trinkets to had some flavor.  And put out the ceramic Jack-o-Lantern on the Dining Room table that Pat grew up with. 

Next up will be the little gel cling things that Aidan likes to put on the windows.  Maybe we'll do that this weekend. . .

Aidan continues to do really well in school.  I will have my conference with his teacher on the 15th.  So, far, I think he is progressing very well in Second Grade.  I actually think he likes school!  And, we have worked out a system where he does his homework as soon as he gets home, except his reading, then he can play outside until dinner.  Bath after dinner and then he reads to us at the kitchen table.  This leaves bedtime so much less stressful!  And I can then read to him and let him just relax.  Only bad part is that because we like to try to get him to bed at 8:00, it doesn't leave much time for family relax time. . .but it's working.

Aidan is still doing really really well in hockey.  Last weekend his team played a team that has two boys on it that he played Selects with last Spring.  It was a really good game.  Aidan was not assigned to play a particular position--which drives me crazy with this coach!--but he really did some great defense against the one boy who is really good on the other team.  He also had some great assists AND a hat trick.  The score was back and forth the whole game but our boys lost by one in the end.  For some inexplicable reason, Aidan's coach changed his line during the last couple of shifts so he was no longer able to defend against the really good player. . .who did score the winning goal for their team.  Anyway. . .

We're supposed to hear at any time if Aidan's coach has put him in for Select Tryouts for this Fall/Winter.  This coach is very slow and getting information out, so I am left trying to guess if I should leave our schedule clear for this coming weekend or not.  I strongly dislike that.  I can't see a reason why Aidan's name wouldn't be put in, but you never know. 

There wasn't any football last weekend, yeah! 

The porch continues to progress.  I may need to ask Pat to ask our contractor to finish  it up already.  I mean, really.  He began this soooooo long ago!  I was home sick last week and I got a little angry because every time I looked out the window, I saw him working--with his phone stick to his ear!!  Kind of hard to work with one hand, dontcha think???  Anyway, there really isn't a lot left to do so I'm really hoping it will be complete soon.  Really.

That's about it.  Have a great week!