Cedar Rapids Hockey Tournament

So, I promised a full recap of our Cedar Rapids weekend. WARNING - this is LONG.

A few months ago Reid tried out for a "select" hockey team and did not make the team (we had already told him ahead of time that he would not but he wanted to try so we let him).  After tryouts there were enough boys interested that didn't make the team to form a second team and play down a division on a few weekends to get some tournament experience.  So, they played last weekend in Cedar Rapids, IA, they are playing a few games in Arkansas in a couple of weeks and they will play in Omaha, NE on March 1 - 3.

Anyway, Grandma Cella offered to watch Ross (I'm not sure a 5 hour drive would be as much 'fun' with him along) and the rest of us headed up to Cedar Rapids on Friday.  The boys were thrilled that I had excused them out of school an hour early and we were on the road by 3:00.  We made good time and were in our hotel shortly after 8:00.  It took the boys a while to wind down but we were asleep by 10ish.  I got up on Saturday and hit the hotel gym - 8 miles... on a treadmill... but so thankful to have my run in for the weekend and not have to worry about it.

Excited to be here and ready to play!

Reid played two games on Saturday.  He played fairly well in the first game and he played the best I've ever seen him play in the second.  He was hustling and really trying.  The team ended up losing both games and Reid left the second one very mad and grouchy (maybe he does have some competitiveness in him after all).

Ryan did a good job staying entertained during the games but he was more than happy to get to go swimming at the hotel when they were over.  Reid (still grouchy) passed on the pool and went to the room to watch tv with Russ.

This guy did just fine as long as he was eating (chocolate mouth from the 2nd of his donuts.  He has become a bottomless pit.  He ate his way through the entire weekend!

First one in the hotel pool... he had a blast!

After swimming and dinner we went to a USHL hockey game.  The Cedar Rapids Rough Riders were playing Sioux Falls.  We saw a former Stover player and the boys had fun.  We left at the beginning of the third period, though, as Reid was getting tired and it was getting late.

Russ caught this sweet hat for Ryan that he LOVED :)

The whole team really got into the Gangnam style dance when they played the song

Sunday brought two more games and two wins for Reid's team.  The tournament had 4 teams and the team they played in the morning hadn't won yet either.  So, winning that game seeded Reid's team as #3 playing the same team again.  The second win gave them 3rd place in the tournament and a trophy and medals.  Reid was more than thrilled!

5-2 win for the 3rd place title

THAT'S a happy boy!

The drive home seemed to go pretty fast and we were again home just shortly after 8:00.  Aunt Courtney had been in town for the weekend so she had brought Ross back to our house so we didn't even have to go pick him up the next morning - awesome!

Russ drove to Des Moines and then I took the straight shot down I-35 home.

 
[This blog post has been brought to you by my brand new Mac computer.  I'm "new" to Mac and learning as I go but I'm pretty certain 'she' and I are going to have a great relationship!  I'm excited to be able to sit down and do a thing here or there without getting my laptop out.  I'm thrilled to be getting back into my scrapbooking habit and hopefully staying a bit more current and playing some catch up]

Just a quick update

I'm trying to post more regularly so I thought I'd put a few updates out here.

* We went to Cedar Rapids, IA for the weekend.  Great trip, great experience.  Full recap coming this week after I can steal the hubby's phone as the majority of our photos he took.  Here's a sneak peek - parenting at it's finest:

I can't even look at this without cracking up.  So many possible captions!  In actuality, they were having a lot of fun.  I can't remember what started the teasing but they were playing and getting each other so I grabbed my camera right as Russ put Ryan in a headlock.  His face is just priceless.  LOVE this picture!

* For those of you on the edge of your seats... I bought my Mac computer.  I have seriously wanted one for the last three years and I'm beyond giddy that it's on the way.  FedEx tracking says that it will be here THIS Thursday.  LOTS of scrapbook catch up to do and it's going to make it so much easier!


* In case I haven't seen you in person, you don't read my daily mile updates or somehow you've been spared my complaining... I am SICK of the cold.  We've been running through this weather and I am just done with putting on 2-3 layers to go run 4 miles.  DONE.  It's actually making the dreadmill treadmill more appealing   That and Courtney and Catherine finally convinced me to watch Scandal and I love it.  I broke up with a ton of shows last year and I REALLY didn't want to get hooked on another.  I love not being tied to the tv.  So, I decided I can only watch Scandal if I'm on the treadmill.  It helped on Saturday.  While we were in Cedar Rapids I managed to run 8 miles on the hotel treadmill in their itty bitty fitness center that had the thermostat stuck on 84 degrees.  Is it really too much to ask for a nice 65 degree day with no wind?

* I started a journal/notebook with Reid last night.  Yes, I saw the idea on pinterest but I thought it would be fun.  I wrote him a note and told him he could write back whenever and we'll just leave it on each other's beds.  He immediately wrote in it last night and loved the idea.  Sweet kid!

Translation: Thank you for getting this notebook. I don't really know what to write but thanks for commenting my effort and I love you too.  Reid + Mom

* Oh, and those looking for an update on those other projects (linen closet, pantry, the dreaded basement storage room)... yeah, those haven't started.  I said MONTHS and it will probably take MONTHS to get them all done.  But they are in my head.  I have been planning ahead and getting more organized with meals. We have an entire week of meals planned this week and I made my grocery list from it and the hubs went grocery shopping off of it and saved us a TON of money.  I tend to buy more here and there- he sticks to the list.  (Except for the full size candy bars that he continues to give our kids!)  Anyway, I have the ENTIRE month of February meals planned out already!  It's going to be SOOO much easier.  It's a trial but I think it's going to work!

Making Progress

Remember this catastrophe:

I bought an armoire off of Craigslist this weekend.  Russ, Ross and I went to pick it up yesterday and then our neighbor helped Russ carry it in.  That thing is SOLID wood and HEAVY.. .well, that's what the guys said.  I didn't lift a finger :)  It had been stored in a garage so I spent quite a bit of time cleaning it up.  The doors didn't shut just right so Russ got out his drill and fixed that for me and now I have this:

The short little black thing to the left of the armoire will go away when I get a desk with a drawer

If you look real close, there is still a rubber maid under the armoire too, that's a project in the works that hopefully will be able to be removed in the very near future as well.

Still a few things to clean up, etc.  And I still need to get a proper desk and my mac computer but my space is coming along.. progress baby!  I'm very happy with the armoire and I'm very motivated to get some of my scrapbooking caught up!

Reid

(I really don't have a lot of recent pictures of Reid... I'm going to have my camera all in his face this weekend! This was his school picture this fall - pretty cute kid)


To save myself re-writing this... I posted this on facebook yesterday:

I admit I was the grey minivan holding up the drop off line this morning. Reid was SOOO excited to take a project to Qwest today but as he stood up to get out of the car the contents of his box fell through the other end of the box. There were like 12 sacks of little parts (luckily none of those were open). Typically I rush them out of the car knowing that holding up the drop off line is a huge 'no, no' in our rush, rush world. On the verge of tears he started picking them all up and shoving them in the box frustrated. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the fourth car pulling up behind us and said "Take your time Reid, you're fine, there's only a car or two behind us." He relaxed, got his things and got on to school. Hopefully every car behind us was able to experience some patience too... but if not, my apologies that getting my son's day started in a relaxed pace was more important to me than making sure you didn't have to sit for a minute. Just a reminder that you never know what's going on in that car that's taking "too" long. [p.s. - I hate drop off too but the boys didn't want to walk to the bus in the rain and I gave in]

He was definitely on my mind a lot of the day yesterday.  Then as I was driving home from work I got an e-mail in my inbox from his teacher.  At first all I saw was the subject line of "Reid" and that it was from her. I admit, I thought the worst.  Reid certainly struggles with completing assignments on time so I figured this was another follow up on delayed work, etc.  I also feared that he might have gotten in trouble with playing with his project (it's a toy) when he wasn't supposed to.  I had already called his gifted teacher that day to confirm Reid's story that the "toy*" was approved to come to school.  This is the e-mail I received from his teacher:


Hi Carmen, I just wanted to let you know how helpful Reid was today. We got a new student in our class and Reid helped him in the lunch room, invited him to play at recess, and just took him under his wing. It was so nice to see. He was so patient and kind, I just thought you should know!
Thanks,
Sara


I was telling Reid at home how proud I was of him.  He said, "It wasn't anything big, I just wanted to make a friend."  Break this momma's heart!!  Reid struggles to make friends.  He's a bright little boy with different interests than a lot of kids his age but he still just wants to be friends with everyone.  Such a sweet boy!! Reid has been grounded all week and it was supposed to end on Friday night so I "lifted" the grounding last night which definitely made his day.  (And Ryan's because Ryan was excited that he could again watch Reid play Xbox)

* Reid's "toy" that he took to school was a Smithsonian science kit where you actually build a 4 cylinder motor.  He told me that his Qwest teacher told him that he could bring it in but I still called the teacher to verify his story.  He was telling me the truth and he took it in and they are building it in class.

REAL Life

So... you know how everyone's life always looks so sweet and perfect on facebook, instagram, pinterest, etc?  Well, of course most people only post the 'good' pictures.  I, too, have been guilty of moving a pile of papers to the side of my island or a bunch of dirty dishes from the countertops to get a picture that gives the illusion that my house is clean and I have my act together.

And in many instances I do... but I'm here to tell you that I have SEVERAL trouble areas in my house and I'm going to start tackling them.  Usually when I do a 'bigger' project I look back a of and wish I would have taken a before picture.  So... consider these my horrible, before pictures of some areas that I am going to tackle SOON (or sometime in the next 3-4 months).

1.  My linen closet.  This has been a disaster for YEARS, literally.  I have many, many things in here that I need to donate or trash.  Once I de-clutter this disaster than it should be easier to organize.  Those piles outside the closet, those are from laundry today and I just haven't 'crammed' them in there yet.

BEFORE - I can't wait for time to create the AFTER

2.  My office/scrapbooking area.  Last year I had the grand idea to redo our office into a dual workspace area.  I still REALLY would love to do this but it's not in the budget this year.  I don't think Russ was overly excited at the prospect of sharing his sanctuary with me anyway so I'm going to table the idea and fix up my area so that I can enjoy it.  [Sidenote - I can't relax in cluttered areas.  My work desk is completely clean.  If I want to run on my treadmill I have to make our bed and put away visible laundry first.  Issues?  Yes, I know]  Anyway, our sitting area of our master is my space and it's a cluttered mess with a lousy card table for a desk.  I don't have my own computer (my other sob story) besides my work laptop and I just have no functioning area.  I'm going to fix that!

BEFORE - see the crap along the wall... my scrapbooking stuff.  See all the storage possibilities in my ever so functional card table and comfortable chair... UGH... A plan in progress SOON!

This is MY work desk.  I know because that's my clock and that's my mouse pad that says 'Runner Girl' so it's personalized.  I think I go minimal at work so when they tell me to get a box, it won't take me long.  Plus I sit across from the worst hoarder ever.  Apparently she "likes" pens and pencils and started collecting them when everyone was getting let go... it's not even funny.

3.  Our pantry.  My main plan here is that I'm going to put some overflow and lesser used items (that Blizzard Maker.. yeah, I'd rather take them to Dairy Queen) down to the basement in storage once I get it set up.  Yes, technically my storage room is the BIGGEST project ever and will impact some of these projects but I didn't want to go down there and get a before picture.  I'll try and do that before I start that project.  The one I'm NOT looking forward to.  In the meantime, the pantry in it's current state:

I know where everything is... I swear :)

Stay tuned... but don't hold your breath... These are not projects real conducive to entertaining three busy little boys... but I WILL get them done eventually!

Instagram fun

I'm having a lot of fun with Instagram lately.  It takes regular boring pictures and makes them look so much better with filters.  I'm thinking there are going to be a lot more Instagram pictures in my Project Life album in 2013 if I ever get time to scrapbook again.

Here's a few I have posted lately:

Ross at Sam's Club.  I had to wake him up from a very short nap (late in the day) so I could go and so he would sleep that night.  I don't think he was ready to be up yet.

Chores! The boys have unloaded the dishwasher for a while but now they are learning how to load it as well - exciting times!! Now if I could get them to do it without being asked or reminded :)

Ice Cream - old picture from when I had strep throat but I like the Instagram  look of it.

I made pumpkin bread with chocolate chips this weekend - very BAD decision.

I think I used too many chocolate chips but it was soooo good!

2013 goals

Totally jumping on the blogger bandwagon but I really want to have documentation of my goals for 2013.

Four PR's -That's right.  I'm shooting to PR a 5K, 10K, half marathon and full marathon.  I'm hoping to get the 5K and the half marathon done in the spring and the 10K and marathon this fall.  I'm sure I'll mention the times I need, etc many times throughout the year but this is just a place for me to document my goals so I can come back 12/31/2013 and see if I met them.

1300 miles - I ran 1056 miles in 2012.  I'm shooting for 1300 in 2013 (get it?).  I think it's pretty doable barring any catastrophes or injuries.

Weight - I was staying in the mid 160s for the majority of last year.  I managed to eat myself into the 170s over Christmas break.  This year I WILL see a 5... 159 or less - and hopefully quite a bit less, but I'll take 159 and I am going to make it happen this year.

Savings - We have a savings goal.  Just a reminder that we have one and to double check if we meet it next year.

That's it, not too much to stress about.  I tend to set goals here and there anyway so they will come.

I have several projects that I'm going to be doing in the house in the next three months - organizational things but I'll post pics when I get to them.