Kansas Trip

I did have an excellent birthday - thanks to everyone for their well wishes! I've got a few Kansas pictures to share, courtesy of my father. (Dad, note there are a few I'm NOT sharing - you should just delete those!) :)

One of our activities while we were in Kansas was going to Ben's soccer game. We missed Grace's soccer game, but as you can see we were all dressed prepared for the KU football game later that day. In the picture are Nana, Bobo, me and Julie. And if you look carefully, you'll see the back of Grace's very blonde head!




Note Ben was taking his turn at goalie, and he doesn't look thrilled about it. Of course, when I asked Corey if I should sign him up for soccer this fall, he turned his face and said no way, he didn't like soccer. He's clearly on a hockey mission!







One of my favorite things to do in Kansas City is eat! I took care of the BBQ need right away with a trip to Jack Stack. The next night we went to Garozzo's - my favorite Italian restaurant - a pre-birthday celebration. Here is adorable Bobo smiling - such a good eater. A rare moment of stillness for him, by the way.

One of my other favorite activities is shopping. Of course, it's always better with someone else, and even better still if they're buying! Thanks, Mom, for the great clothes for my birthday! Pictured at left, Mom couldn't resist the cute denim jacket, though it will have to be 32 degrees outside before she'll wear hers. (Yes, it's short-sleeved.) My office is so cold I've already been wearing mine!




Dad commented, when he sent the pictures, that Brody always looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. I think this picture personifies that - he's always got a private joke he's giggling about!

And while I have shopping and Brody shares my love for eating, Brody really enjoys a bath. And it was evident that Brody enjoyed his solo baths (no Corey) as well as the size and activities in Nana's bath. In fact, the turtle in his hand in this picture went to bed with him that night.











Hope I didn't miss anything! Thanks for a great birthday!

"Happy birthday to Mama"

Well, I'd have to say Carrie had a pretty great birthday/weekend/week! Corey helped me make her breakfast in bed this morning, they made cupcakes together and then we went to Corey's Coyotes hockey class. Carrie got to go shopping this afternoon, we went out for dinner tonight and then had cupcakes and spumoni.

When we sang "Happy Birthday," Brody either giggled after every line or sang "Mama" every line. We spent lots of time this weekend watching movies we had rented for the FIFTH ("Aristocats" for Brody) or FOURTH ("Speed Racer" for Corey) time!

Here are pictures of Brody singing to "Istin" on the phone for literally about 10 minutes, Brody coloring at dinner and Corey with the birthday girl.

Have a good week!

Hockey hockey hockey

It's still September and 100+ degrees outside, but Corey is still skating. On Saturday and Sunday he participated in a free hour-long clinic at the Gilbert Ice arena and then had his weekly class again tonight.


Here he is skating in his "Coyotes Kids First" jersey and all his equipment.




Here he is listening to one of the coaches. They did a bunch of different things (skating with and without the puck, sliding on the ice ... even skating backward).


Carrie and Brody got back EARLY this morning (Corey and I got to the airport at 6:30 and they were taxiing)! Everybody was happy to see everyone, but we're all tired. Carrie and Brody were in bed when Corey and I got home from hockey at 7:30. We took two cars to the arena because Carrie got to go watch since Corey got a green light today, but her and Brody still were able to sneak out early. Before leaving, Brody helped "encourage" Corey from the bench and found the best seat in the house!

Here is a video of Corey skating this weekend (I'll leave it up to Carrie to provide the update from the Kansas trip) ... enjoy!

Saturday morning

Corey and I went to the new Phoenix Children's Museum this morning with Hope Kids. It wasn't as cool as the one in Minnesota, but we had fun.

Corey rode a tricycle in a "city" car wash area (see photo), there was some big race tracks for wooden cars, a grocery store for shopping, some arts and crafts, a reading loft (see photo) and a cool area with different things to roll balls of different sizes through (see photo).

Up next ... Coyotes First Kids hockey clinic!

Monday night hockey

Corey had his first Hockey 2 lesson tonight (not exactly a practice, but definite more hockey activities than Hockey Tot 1 and 2) and loved it! It was at the new Gilbert ice rink which is a few blocks away rather than 20 minutes away ... which we loved! Brody also enjoyed watching "Yaya skating." Corey definitely was the smallest one out there and one of the youngest, but he had fun and the instructors were impressed. Next weekend he has a Coyotes hockey class on Saturday and Sunday, and another lesson on Monday. He seemed pretty excited when he went to bed ... with his stick. Yes, he's sleeping with his hockey stick.

Last weekend we went to a KU watch party on Friday night (they played the fight song and Brody loved the clapping), we went over to the Canadians' house on Saturday night (always a good time!), and Corey and I went to the Dbacks game on Sunday.

Carrie and Brody are going to Kansas this weekend so Corey and I will enjoy our guys/hockey/football weekend!

Walking with Dinosaurs

Carrie got us tickets in the Honeywell suite at the US Air Center for this dinosaur thing tonight. We thought it was kind of cool and the boys loved it! Brody kept saying, "More dinosaurs." Corey also had fun. He even knew some of their names ... although the T-Rex kind of caught him off guard with how loud it was.

Basically there was a professor who walked around and talked about the different periods and types of dinosaurs. There were some with people inside of them and the bigger ones were animatronic and remote controlled. It was a fun time!

Swimming and skating

Nothing like Phoenix, where you can swim in the morning and then skate in the afternoon!

At left, notice Corey's hockey hair. It has been matted down and made even crazier by wearing a helmet while he skated. Now, he was the only boy at the rink in helmet and hockey gloves, but if he noticed, he never said. He skated like he was the coolest guy on the rink.

(Check out his crash in the video below.)

Here is Corey in all his gear. He and I had a few races (I usually won, but there were a few close ones.) He's actually quite a good skater (as long as he's going forward.) As soon as he would turn around, he'd crash. And, in fact, he crashed many, many times. He noticed some of the other kids doing it on purpose, so I think he enjoyed it. He nearly always slid to the finish in our "races."

After much ado, we procured a pair of used skates off Craig's List, and I think he'll do much better having a consistent skate every time he skates. With all the equipment we have, he is set! (And we got the skates at a small fraction of what they cost originally - well worth the scuffs!)

How cute is Bobo? I couldn't resist the $3 find at the grocery store (summer closeout time!)

Our attempt at a group photo is simply miserable, but there you are.

Saturday

First, the Corey behavior update: Corey managed a week with just one yellow day (for talking, -- not for hitting, spitting or otherwise being a hooligan.) And you know me, I can respect talking (though he did get FOUR warnings, I'm told). So Corey and Rob celebrated the improvement with an afternoon at the movies. They saw the Clone Wars. I'm sure it was riveting, and I'll get some convoluted plot summary from Corey, but likely not until he's delaying bedtime.

Above is a photo from movie night last weekend (we all were cuddling with our friends). Corey and Rob also went to their first ASU football game last week (Corey said his favorite part was the pregame show, left).


I spent most of the week in bed, actually, because I came down with the flu or a horrible cold or whatever. NyQuil and Sudafed later, I'm doing much better. Poor Brody has the same thing, but he of course powers through it better than I do!

Brody is taking on full sentences with a vengeance. I asked him if he was stinky the other day (as I took him into school), and he said, "Daddy changed diaper already!" very clearly. As it turns out, Daddy HAD changed his diaper already, but that had been at least an hour earlier, and it needed changing once again! He has kept up his potty success at home, though he requires a diaper between tries. He's definitely further along than Corey was at a year older, so I'm not complaining.

Tomorrow Corey and I are going to spend the afternoon ice skating. We went to sign him up for Mini-Mites at the new ice rink, and they said he needed more lessons before they'd allow him to be on a team. The instructor will evaluate him during lessons, but except for his actual skating ability, I think they'll find he knows more about hockey, puck handling, etc. than most 5 year olds. (Thus tomorrow is the first of two skating practice sessions so he can prove he belongs on the team.) What we'd really like to know is how they field an entire team of 4-to-6 year olds that have all gone through at least four classes at the rink. Not only must they start much earlier than four, but they must be going to lessons every week all year! I suspect the world of hockey parenting may actually be a cult.

Thanks to both sets of grandparents who bought Entertainment Books for Corey's school this week. If anyone is interested in frozen cookie dough, you just let us know. It's fund-raising time at Finley Farms!

There is your weekend update, friends and family. I hope we'll have pictures and/or stories after our ice skating adventure tomorrow, but other things to look forward to this month: I'm taking a trip to Kansas with Brody later this month (work and fun), Corey has been invited to a birthday party the same weekend, there's at least one baseball game on the schedule and hockey lessons start up. Let the good times roll!

Guess where we are!!!