Zak's 15th Birthday

Zak turned 15 on January 13th...my little boy is definitely a young man now.



We had a very busy night on Zak's birthday but it was a very fun night!  I picked up Lauren, his girlfriend, on my way home from work.  I got a text from Chad on my way...hurry up, he's chomping at the bit to open gifts. I had stacked them up on the kitchen table before I left for work.

As soon as Lauren and I walked through the door he started tearing into them.

Among several other things, we got Zak snowboarding apparel.  Unfortunately, we haven't had any snow for him to go out and give it a try, yet.

 I think his favorite gift was the one from Lauren's parents...2 huge boxes of Skittles!

After gifts, we had cake.  Zak is not a traditional cake lover so I got him a cheesecake sampler.

Then we met the Millers for dinner at PF Chang's.

And Zak and Lauren shared dessert on the house!

After dinner we then had to speed off to his PJPII game and he scored a birthday goal!

The Mystery of the Lost Retainers

Who knew that these two little pieces of plastic and metal could cause so much drama?

Last Thursday night our house went into an uproar at 10pm.  Let me give some background first: every night I remind Zak before I go to bed to "brush your teeth, put in your retainers, take out your contacts, wash your face, and use your acne cream."  Zak's common response is "I know" or "Okay" as if he has never forgotten any of these things.

So, last Wednesday I did my usual reminder, got the usual response, and asked him, "I don't remember the last time I saw you wear your retainers, do you." "Just a couple days ago, Mom."  Well, then Thursday night I went to bed early so Chad did the nightly reminders and got from Zak, "I can't find my retainers."  Chad asked, "When was the last time you wore them."  "Last night."  "So you've you lost them since this morning, case and all?"  This whole time I am laying in bed listening to this thinking, "this is not going to turn out well."  As Chad and Zak are searching the typical places, the last time Zak remembers wearing them keeps getting bumped back further and further..."maybe a couple days ago," "maybe a couple weeks ago," "I honestly don't remember the last time."  After 30 minutes of Chad and Zak searching, I decided that maybe they just needed some female eyes to look so I got up and searched for 30 minutes.  NOTHING!!!

Finally, I thought maybe they were left at the Millers' the night he stayed over when Chad and I went to NYC, which was in October.  I texted her and we all went to bed.  Friday morning Tami texted me back and no, they had not seen them anywhere around their house.  The thought that the retainers just seemed to have disappeared into thin air was ridiculous, so finding them nagged at me all day and night Friday and again Saturday morning.  Everywhere I walked around the house, I was constantly on the lookout for the little black container.

Saturday morning while waking Zak for hockey, I once again was down on my knees looking under his bed, dresser, desk, nightstand...and all of a sudden I happened to notice that one of the power plugs pinned between his nightstand leg and the powerstrip had a latch on it.  OMG, I had found them.  I hollered, at the top of my lungs, at 7:00am, "I FOUND THEM!!!"

I Think the New Dog Bed is a Hit!

I recently removed Bella's pen from our bedroom leaving only one dog bed in there.  I had an old twin comforter that we had been using, but I just didn't like the unfinished look of it.  So Monday night while browsing Target with my BFF during hockey practice, I came across a faux fur throw that was clearanced out and decided I would stitch that around the comforter.  The result looks great!

 

After I took the pic of the finished product, I went and cleaned up the scraps and put away the tools.  When I turned back around, the bed was already in use!

Bella

A bit later after I had finished doing a couple other things around the kitchen, it was once again being given a test drive!

Abby

My Lucky Day

Last Christmas Chad and Zak got me my Pandora bracelet and my first 4 charms.  Since then, between my birthday, Mother's Day, our anniversary, and a few I've bought for myself, my bracelet has become almost full.  It is my most prized possession as each and every charm has a special meaning to me.

Christmas Eve I noticed that one of the 2 clips was missing.  I was really upset, the only saving grace being that it was one that I had purchased for myself so the sentimental value was not as high as most.

And then, this Thursday, as I was digging through my purse looking for a pen...there was the clip!!!

PHEW!!! Lucky me!

I am a Hockey Mom

Wash the jerseys

Find the shin guards

Sharpen the skates

Drive to practice

Freeze at the rink

Smell the gear

Wipe the tears

Give the hugs

Cheer the team

Feel the pride

Christine

So a while back I posted about the car swap Chad and I went through and how I was fortunate enough to inherit his Acura TL...a fun little sporty luxury car.  Well, since taking over "ownership" of the car, I have begun calling it Christine.  Remember the Stephen King novel about the car that fell in love with her owner and started killing all women that got in the car?

I swear this car has a vendetta against me...I am constantly hitting my head, pinching my fingers, or dropping and losing things in it.  Truly...she's Christine reincarnate!!!

I'm sorry...

With the crazy days prior to Christmas, which include Chad's birthday, and then being sick over the entire holiday break, I have not been keeping up with my posts.  I just want to let you know I haven't forgotten about it and I will be back at it tomorrow.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I finished the book last night and my best description of it...peculiar. There is a lot of science fiction/paranormal action in it mixed with some historical fiction. I didn't think it was as good as the reviews I had read made it sound, but it was entertaining and a quick, easy read.

Happy Birthday, Chad

Chad's 43rd birthday was on Saturday, December 10th.  We were going to be busy all afternoon and evening with other previously planned commitments, so we celebrated it in the late morning, kind of as a brunch.  He had not given me many gift ideas, so Zak and I spent an evening browsing around at the mall and put together a hodge-podge of gifts.

 

We had done a good job as he was pleased with all of his gifts.  The highlight of the gift opening was the card Zak got for him.

Zak and I then made him breakfast and we ended the celebration with cake.

We ended the night with a nice, relaxing dinner with Todd and Tami Miller at Olive Garden after the boys' hockey game.

Happy birthday, Chad...hope you enjoyed it!

Kicking off the Holiday Season with...

10 Things About Me-Christmas Version

My blogger buddy Tami did this....

I decided to join the fun....

What is your favorite Christmas movie?

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Gotta love the Griswolds!)

What is your favorite Christmas song?

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Do you have a nativity scene?

No

What is your favorite Christmas animation?

Charlie Brown Christmas (I've always liked all the Peanuts specials.)

What is your favorite childhood Christmas memory?

Our first Christmas together Chad got me a teddy bear that was almost as tall as me, and he was sitting!  That bear was in Zak's nursery room.

What is your most memorable gift?

The Pandora bracelet Chad and Zak got me last year...every charm on it has a special meaning to me.

Do you have any Christmas traditions?

Chad's giant balls in the front yard and our "life-size" Santa (that's actually about 3' tall).  They both have long stories behind them.

Do you have a special Christmas wish this year?

Something sparkly.

If you could have anything for Christmas what would it be?

Enough money to keep me in sparkly stuff for the rest of my life.

If you could spend Christmas anywhere, where would it be?

In a secluded cabin on a snow covered mountain peak with Chad and Zak.

Happy Holidays!!

Taming the Mud Bog

Every time we get a large amount of rain or have a large melt-off, our back yard becomes the mini-Nile during the peak of the event:

After such event, our back yard becomes a mud bog.  Remember, we had a freak snow storm in late October and unusually heavy rainfall in November, so our backyard is currently the muddiest bog we have had yet!

So on to the point of my story...Bella loves to run at full speed back and forth from one end of the yard to the other.  I'm sure you can imagine what she looks like when she comes in after one of these little jaunts during the "mud season."

Well Chad and I had had enough of having to wipe her from belly down every time she came in from outside.  We decided something needed to be done.  After a bit of research on the internet, we went to the local farmer's market and purchased 3 bales of straw and spread it over the muddiest areas of the backyard.

 
Guess what...it really is helping!  She is coming in much less muddy, and even Abby likes it because now she can go down in the yard and not get her little princess feet muddy.  Haha!

The best part is supposedly it breaks down over the winter and the grass should be sprouting right out from underneath. :-)

Car Swap

Chad got a new truck a couple of weeks ago...a 2011 Ford Expedition.

He traded in my Santa Fe for it, so I inherited the 2010 Acura TL...oh darn. :-)

So Sunday I finally officially claimed the Acura as mine by putting my Hockey Mom window sticker on it!

Miss Perigrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I started reading this book last night. It's been a long time since a book sucked me in as soon as I started reading it, to the point I didn't want to put it down...this one has! I'm already 50 pages into it. I'll let you know how it progresses, hopefully it doesn't disappoint.

Son of a ....

At the rink this afternoon I was heading out to the stands from the snack bar. As usual, I was trying to do more than one thing at a time and had my arms full. I pulled on the door handle and tried to then grab the edge of the door, and WHAM!!! smashed my finger in the heavy metal door.

I'm pretty sure I broke it, but I did not want to go to the ER, so we just stopped at CVS and picked up a splint for it.

Hopefully it'll be feeling better soon!

Back in the blog-saddle

So after taking an over 2-year hiatus, I have decided that I am going to get back into blogging.  I have been using Facebook for keeping most of my friends and family up to date on our daily comings and goings, but I think I would like to start using this again...it gives me more room to talk about things (just what you want, right? haha!).  Hope you all keep checking back frequently.

Heather

Back On the Ice

Zak's first game back after his cast was removed was on Saturday, January 24th. It was great to see him out there again!

Off With The Cast!

Zak's cast came off on Monday, January 19th. What a relief that was!