Hockey classes

Aaron has been taking hockey classes the past 3 Saturdays with Connor out in Skokie. Kate saw an advertisement for it somewhere and wondered if we'd want to join them. It was pretty cheap (like $15-20 and then $3 to rent skates) and the boys sounded excited about it, so we decided to try it out. The classes were 30 minutes, so it was just enough time for them to get out there and try to get the hang of skating, without getting really discouraged or cold!

Aaron loved it! It was hilarious, especially the first week, because it was the first time he had ever been in ice skates. He looked like a baby giraffe who was trying to stand up for the first time! Absolutely precious.

That first week, he was tenacious and just tried to keep standing up, even though as soon as he got up he would try to move and pretty much fall down right away. After a few minutes, the coach had the 3 and 4 year olds hold onto the net and be pulled/push it around the ice. This was really helpful and Aaron started to get the hang on balancing on his skates. They also had some chairs on the ice, so they could use them to assist in standing up.

The second week, Aaron didn't take a nap before going and was obviously very tired. He still worked hard and was starting to get better at balancing on his skates, but he was exhausted by the end! The coaches had them on the net again and Aaron was able to skate along much better than the first week and even skate a little on his own. (Getting up after he falls down is the most difficult, as well as picking up the stick after he drops it.) They got the sticks and pucks out, which was thrilling for Aaron. If there is a stick and/or puck involved, he doesn't care if he's on his feet or not. He'll try to hit the puck with is stick while he's sitting on the ice, if he has to! The stick actually helped him skate a little better, as it made him keep his knees bent and his weight forward

This past week was the final week and Aaron really made a lot of improvement from the first week to the last. He can balance on his skates pretty well and "marches" around on the ice. He's enamored with the stick and puck and gets a little distracted from skating if there is a puck around!


Aaron & Connor all geared up and ready to give hockey a shot!



Standing with the chair during the first week


Being pulled on the net by the coach during the first week


This is Aaron on the second week of hockey


The rest of the pictures are from the final week of hockey
























Definitely distracted by the pucks- just sitting amongst them trying to hit them with his stick!



Connor wasn't so sure about hockey. The first week he went on the ice for a few minutes, had to miss the second week because he was sick, and got all suited up the final week and never made it onto the ice. He really liked cheering for Aaron though. What a good buddy!



Maggie is hanging out with Kate, cheering for her brother. She liked going along and watching, but really wanted to get on the ice too! Maybe in a year or two!



After class we would go over to the second rink where the bigger kids were playing and watch them. Aaron is excited for when he can skate and play hockey like those big kids!

Aaron's family pictures- age 3 1/2

Little artists

Aaron & Maggie love to color, paint, and do all kinds of arts and crafts. Aaron is starting to draw real pictures, especially family pictures where each of us has a circle face with eyes and a smile and then long arms and legs. He also is coloring inside the lines now! I will be sharing some of his work soon!

Maggie loves to color and will make circles and scribbles. She gets into our craft closet almost every night when she gets home from school and asks for "colors".

Here are some pictures of our little artists!


Look at how well he stayed inside the lines! We didn't really ever talk about this, he just announced to me one day that you should try to stay inside the lines. The funny thing is that I don't think that he really learned it at school either, as they rarely do "coloring" but more creating, by using different processes to create art or just taking blank paper and drawing. Funny how they just seem to learn things without really being taught!



Here they are sporting their paint smocks!


Painting birdhouses



So proud of the finished products!

Morning play time

On the weekends, Tim and I take turns getting a little extra rest in the mornings. On Saturday, Tim sleeps in and I get up with the kids and vice versa on Sunday.

In lazy Saturday fashion, we leave our pajamas on and head downstairs for some breakfast. Maggie starts asking for food almost immediately after getting out of bed. She usually wakes up telling us that she has pooped (says, "poop" and points to her diaper). About three quarters of the time she has actually pooped, the rest of the time, she just knows that it will get us out of bed! As soon as that is taken care of (or maybe even while that is being taken care of), she is generally telling us "hungy" or "num num", to let us know that she'd like to eat! On our way down stairs she starts saying "seal" for cereal or "ba" for bar (because a many mornings on the way to school they get some sort of fruit bar or Cliff bar or something).

After we finish breakfast, it's right downstairs to play with the toys that they kids hardly get to play with during the busy week! Every time it's a new adventure, but on this particular day we pretended we were animals by putting on the masks and then we decorated cupcakes. I don't love that I have to leave my children every day, but is sure does make me appreciate these early Saturday mornings! :)

Fall leaves at the zoo

The kids loved running through all of the leaves at the zoo. Maggie laughs at the funny face that Aaron is making!

Pumpkins

The kids had a fun time decorating the pumpkins that they picked out at the pumpkin patch in Fort Dodge. They used the push parts and made faces on both sides of the pumpkin!

Happy 1/2 birthday to Aaron!

Aaron has a lot of friends who have turned 4 in the past several months. Because of this, he was been really into birthdays. In a recent conversation between Aaron and I, I mentioned that Aaron would be having a half birthday in November and that maybe we could celebrate with half of a birthday cake.

Yesterday was the big half birthday and we celebrated with half of a red velvet cake, prepared by the Mama. Tanya even came over to help us celebrate and brought Aaron half of a birthday card with half stickers!

Aaron is now even MORE excited to celebrate his whole birthday in May!


We forgot to take a picture before we cut the cake, but here is Aaron with what was left of his half birthday cake!



Maggie enjoyed it too! (And doesn't seem to keep her eyes open for any pictures lately!)

Maggie's hair

Maggie's hair is getting much longer and is still very curly. In the mornings, it is a MESS! It looks like she rubs her head around on her bed all night long. This is what it looked like one recent morning!




Her hair is so long now that you can pull all of it back into one ponytail! It is a short little bunch of curls and looks really funny from the front, like she doesn't have any hair!