Another Hockey Season Has Come To A Close

Today's practice was Buddy's last of the season.  To be honest with you, I didn't get to many of his practices this year as at this point the focus is on skating and learning the skills and not game playing.  Daddy often talks about how well Braden does though, how fast he can skate, and how he has mastered many of the skills...and since Daddy doesn't brag about the kids nearly to the extent that I do...that's saying something.

We're going to get Braden signed up for a skills clinic this Summer to get him some more ice time and hopefully one day down the road this medal around his neck will be the reward for him and his Packer teammates winning the state hockey tournament!

They're Growing Up!

Hard to believe...but this handsome boy will be turning 8 years old just 1 week from today...

And even more hard to believe...my Baby Girl is turning 3 exactly 1 month from today!

Kids Say The Darndest Things

As she often is, Adeline was along for the ride tonight when I picked Buddy up from religion class.  In her hurry to be "Big" like her Brother, she told him when he got in the van that, "I want to go there someday!"  Braden told her that she WILL go there someday and to tide her over until that time comes he painted her a real clear picture of what she can expect by telling her, "It's just like church.....but worse!"

Perhaps It Is Time To Retire This Pair

Snow Day!

(Also known as "Send the kids outside to play in the fresh snow so Mama can clean the house day")

Being homebound for the day also provides us with the rare opportunity to watch both The Price Is Right AND Let's Make A Deal  in the same day.  Does life get any better than this???

In Nets For The Irish ~ Daniel Kay

Tonight we took a family trip to The Pond in Rosemount to watch cousin Daniel play hockey.  He made some good saves but unfortunately his team came up one goal shy.

David is the announcer for Daniel's games and he slipped a few funny comments in here and there.  At one point he announced the fan row of the game to be Adeline McLaughlin, Careline McLaughlin, and Pat McLaughlin and that they should head to the concession stand for their free bag of popcorn.  Too funny!  He even had Daniel's teammate cracking up in the photo below when he announced the reason why he found himself in the penalty box.

McLaughlin Originals

For the past 5 weeks the big kids have stayed after school for one hour every Thursday to participate in an afterschool drawing class.  Each week they came home with a beautiful new creation.  I love their different artistic styles, as they drew these photos freehand by simply looking at a projected photo.  The way they chose to color the photos also made them uniquely their own.

Here's a sample of their awesome work.  Careline's is the first one and Buddy's the second in each of the three samples.  They both did a mighty fine job if you ask me.

These last two are my very favorite pieces.  The objective when creating this piece was to create proper proportions, use the art element of line to show action, and have fun!  By golly, I think they accomplished all three (and with colorful style to boot!)

And I just have to smile whenever I look at Buddy's attempt.  You can tell by the way her severely receding hair line and scarf are blowing in the breeze that it's a very very windy day she chose to head outside and get some exercise!