Hockey For A Day!

All last weekend Spencer seemed a bit worn out. He started getting that croup sounding cough and started running a low grade temp on Sunday night. We had been exposed to strep so Ryan stayed home with him on Monday to bring him in to the clinic. We were told it was just a bad cough and to ride it out. The difference between staying home with mom vs dad. When you are sick dad will still take you out for lunch to your new favorite spot even if it is 15+ min away. 

Spencer's hands were cold while eating lunch!

Zoey LOVES to be warm.

Easton hasn't worn diapers for a really long time and we haven't used his changing table in awhile. So we made the final step and converted his changing table into a dresser. Even though we haven't used it in forever it was still kind of sad.

How can one little boy make such big messes? Nolan loves to take everything out, dump and or throw things everywhere. Thankfully he also likes to help clean up.

Ryan took Spencer with to run some errands. He tried on a Wild Hockey helmet.

Grandma made really cute valentines for the boys to give to their friends at school. She offered and I was willing to cross that off of my list of things I needed to do. Spencer worked very hard on writing his name on the back of each one. Ok maybe I helped with a few.

It makes me laugh at how different they all are. Also notice the backward and upside down "e."

We celebrated Valentines day a day early. I was home with the boys that day so we had extra time to do fun things. We made cards for their teachers and Ryan.

We also made fun treats. Heart shaped jello and cookies.

They waited patiently all day for their valentines.

The boys wore their cute v-day shirts to school the next day.

Valentines day is a lot like Halloween with all the treats they brought home. While I was in Eau Claire on Thursday night, the boys had a McDonald's Valentine's dinner.

Days like that can really tire a little boy out.

I love the art projects the boys made us at school.

I brought Zoey to Madison for radiation on Friday. Since Grandma and I had hit all the malls the last time we were there. I decided it would be fun to run downtown. It was chilly but nice to be back outside. I also met Grandma Nancy for lunch at her work. Update on Zoey is still really unknown. The tumor stayed about the same from the visit before. That's good news since it had been growing pretty quickly. We will talk next week if we want to add another medication. I'm just not so sure how far I want to push things when in the end it's not going to cure her. All of it just seems really up in the air right now as far as time.

Grandpa John and Grandma Julie came up to visit this weekend. They brought Ryan a bunch of hockey books.  Can't say I'm overly excited for Ryan to start coaching but I better start preparing myself to be the wife of a hockey coach.

I have always said and I think a lot of people agree that Easton looks just like JB. Grandma Julie brought us this picture and I think this confirms it. It's a picture from 1990 of Ryan and JB. If that isn't a little Easton.

They had "Try Hockey For A Day" program at the rink on Saturday. It was the first time Easton got to go out and skate like a true hockey player. He was so excited and couldn't wait for his turn. He did great! He was probably the littlest one out there. It was fun watching on the side and listening to other parents comment on how well Easton did and how little he was. He didn't even need the skating trainer.

 The Hudson boys and girls varsity hockey teams were on the ice to help all the kids.

This girl helped Easton out a lot. She took him all over the ice. I think he was in love. Her brother won the Stanley Cup last year with the LA Kings.

Spencer skated with the older boys for awhile and they played mini games.

Spencer was a great big brother and helped Easton out on the ice.

Later that night we met friends out for what was going to be 1 drink. Well that was the plan at least.

There is a reason why I don't go out very often. It's hard to recover the next day!

Spencer went to Liam's birthday party this weekend. It was a cowboy themed. He had a great time and wishes he could have stayed there all day.

Before Grandpa John and Grandma Julie left today we took the boys to the pond. Grandpa John wanted to run drills with Spencer. The ice was slick as they just flooded it the night before. Nolan had a hard time walking around. He insisted on holding his stick and wanted to hit the puck around.

Even I got brave and for the first time since I was little (even though Ryan got me skates years ago and by years ago I mean almost 10!) I tempted ice skating. At first I didn't have a clue what to do and after a bit it all came back. I wont be qualifying for the Olympics anytime soon but it will be fun to be able to skate with the boys.

 Grandpa John and his boys!

Zoey, Hockey, & Sledding

Zoey Update!

We brought her on Monday to UW Madison. We didn't get the best of news but I didn't think at this point there wasn't a lot of hope. Zoey has a tumor growing on the side of her face. I knew in my mind it would only continue to grow bigger and removing it would be impossible. They said she has a rare form of cancer. Basically with regular tumors/cancer when it starts to spread it grows like crazy and there isn't a lot you can do. Zoey's form when it starts to spread is very slow growing. The reason why they thought the spots on her lungs maybe weren't cancer (we found out Monday they are). Unfortunately for Zoey the mass on her face is going to be what causes her trouble. It will get to a point where it's just too big and become so painful for her. We decided to try radiation to slow the growth and maybe even shrink the size of the tumor. Hopefully this will give her more time before it gets too bad. The side effects from the radiation are minimal. There are no real good options at this point so we feel this is best.

Our week was pretty random, so random pictures are what you get!

The  boys had theme week at school. I love theme week because they are so excited to get up and get dressed in the morning. One of the mornings was "What do you want to be when you grow up?" We have a Packer player, Twins player and the CEO of Target!

Grandma Nancy sent valentines day cards. The boys love the new Target gift cards. Thank you for sending them!

Most kids dip their grilled cheese in their soup. Not Easton....

Spencer had a big day on Wednesday. He counted all the way to 100 by himself for his teachers at school. I also registered him for kindergarten. I'm still in denial that he will be in school next year. I'm just not ready. He however keeps telling me he is.

Easton doesn't like to hang out in pjs. The moment he gets up he's picking out what he wants to wear. That's great but he makes a mess of his drawers looking for things. 

 Easton kept himself entertained by throwing his hat in the air at Spencer's hockey practice. One of the throws, it never came back down!

Ryan's old favorite and new favorite coming together at the NFL Honor's Award show last week. Ryan thinks the healing process is officially underway with Brett and the Packers.

Nolan LOVES balls and loves to throw them. He's got a great arm!

Hockey has come to an end. Spencer skated for the last time on Saturday. Auntie, Finley, Hadley, Grandma and Grandpa all came to watch. We lost Nolan for a good 5 minutes in the rink. We think he snuck around and was hiding on the team bench. Thankfully a friend of ours found him. Spencer wasn't feeling the best and he kept saying his hands were cold. The first hour of practice they did evaluations to see how much they've improved. The second hour Ryan got to skate with him for a bit and they gave out medals to all of the kids.

Taking a rest.

 He sure is proud of his Hockey medal!

Everyone came back to our house to play, have lunch and eat cupcakes. Finley was sad he missed out on Easton's party so they brought cupcakes to celebrate.

 This is Nolan's goal celebration. He yells out "goal!" when he does it.

The neighbors had a sledding party on Saturday. I thought it would be a great idea to take pictures of all the kids.

Only I freaked out when I remembered I left the camera outside over night and all morning! It's been freezing rain here today! Thankfully I took my time drying it out with the hair dryer and it seems to be working again! I have it fully exposed to make sure it's all dry. My heart broke when I saw my camera covered in snow.

So It's been a year since I started running and taking control of my weight. It's hard to stay motivated at times. When I look back on these old pictures though I can finally see the changes in myself. This is what keeps me going! Ryan saw the picture of me in the green sweater and couldn't believe it!!