Delayed

Sigh, the house completion date has been set back...it was going to be finished by March 9...now? Who knows? We had the vandalism, cold wet weather has delayed the concrete pouring, the marble/granite people forgot to submit their order...it was supposed to be installed last week and it just went to production...on the bright side the floors are sanded and we picked a stain color.

Our apartment complex has 60 day notice requirement, we gave that on the 9th. Delayed it a week and now we need to delay it again, let's hope they're in a good mood and willing to delay our departure or we could be homeless...

Last Trip of the Season

Olive Branch, MS. Such a cool name and a cute little rink to go with it...except the Rink has the name Memphis on it...I was a little disappointed to not actually be in Memphis, TN. I did get some good barbecue though so I can't complain. The boys have been playing against the Pee Wees this Season. Pee Wees are 11 and 12 year old players, the Squirts are 9 and 10 year old players. Our boys were about half the size of the Pee Wee boys. They did really well against the older boys (no one has told our tiny players they're small apparently) and won about half their games and they made the older boys really work hard for their wins. It was a great experience for our boys.  However, older boys don't like losing against younger boys so they were really really rough on our kids. This is hard for me to watch but it didn't bother the boys at all. They pushed back literally and figuratively when needed. It is so funny hearing the obnoxious parents yelling at the Ref for not calling a penalty on our kids when they were just fine with their kids pushing around kids half their size. I love watching Matthew play but I really hate the behavior of some parents. They can be extremely obnoxious and it pains me to watch. We should be setting examples for our kids on sportsman like behavior. It is not happening. Poor sportsmanship seems to be the lesson the kids are getting from the parents. I think I need to start watching with my ear buds in and over in a corner by myself so when the brawling starts, I can just slip out the back. The boys have a few more games in our area and then there will be 3 on 3 play, clinics, and camps...hockey never ends.

Almost 13

13! Wow! Has it been 13 years since Miss Hannah made her early arrival and loudly announced her entrance into the world? We had an early celebration at Maggiano's on Sunday since Greg is gone this week.

Tomorrow Miss Hannah will be 13. She has all the makings of a full fledged teenager...cell phone, makeup, sunglasses, attitude and loves sparkle...

Score!

Defensemen do not get a lot of opportunities to score so this was more than exciting for Matthew to take the puck and BOOM, Score!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q6r890bpst4jh0p/Bice%20goal.mp4?dl=0

Right before dropping off to sleep that night, M told me how shocking and sweet it felt to score that goal. (He was in the penalty box when the other team scored so he felt a bit redeemed for giving the Bandits a Power Play. He was also thrilled the other Matthew on the team also scored. The two Matthews were the only 2 who scored any goals. Little M was happy.)

Matthew's coach this year is Chris Luongo. He was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings and played with the Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders as a defenseman. The team has really improved over the last few months under his coaching. I missed most of the Fall travel so this past weekend was my first travel weekend since September (Hannah was feeling a bit neglected so I stayed home with her and took her to lessons and rehearsals for the Winter Program.) It was quite exciting to see how much the team had improved.

Yeah....That was a penalty.

One of the Travel Hockey Dad's has a Go Pro Camera or something like that...it's a little camera he attaches to the glass around the Rink. He said it can do all sorts of neat things if he ever figures it out. I digress...As you saw in the earlier post, last Saturday's game was rather intense...I think M had 3 penalties and here is one of them (follow the link.) M is on the right, he picks up the stick he dropped when and skates to his position for defending the goal...yeah, that was a penalty...perhaps he was a tad miffed for getting knocked down and losing his stick, not sure. On the bright side, the Guy didn't score. One of his teammates' brother announced  "Matthew is going to play in the NHL and he is going to take everyone out. He is the Enforcer!" And one of the Mom's announced on Sunday morning that the Sin Bin was going to be renamed the Matthew Bice Penalty Box. Happily, his last game had ZERO penalties. Phew!

Oh! My little defenseman  scored a goal this weekend. He was thrilled.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mvpljcuzw50o580/Bice%20hit%202.mp4?dl=0

By the way, when he sent the email to me, the subject was "Mean Matthew" and this is hysterical because off the ice, Matthew is the gentlest soul. I often wonder if someone has taken over his body when I watch him play. I think "Who is that?"


You can find more videos of M's games on YouTube, here is the link for one and you can find more in the sidebar:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1tbXlWIbwU

Winter Sky

I walked out to the car to pick M up from school and I was just struck by the beauty of the sky. I wanted to take a picture but I couldn't get a shot without cars and billboards. I decided to paint a word picture to describe the awe of what I was seeing:

God has painted the Winter sky  orange, yellow, dark steel and gray  behind the silhouette of unadorned trees. 

The sky made me feel the awe of God's power and creation. It's truly captivating. 

MLK Hockey Tournament

Two games down and two to go...last night was a cakewalk...today was a bit tougher.  1-2-3-4. That is 4 on the bench...including mine. 

Divergent

Divergent , Insurgent, and some other ---ergent books are Miss Hannah's favorite books to read. Miss H can talk about this series, characters (especially Four), the music for hours. My eyes tend to glaze over and roll to the back of my head. I tend towards the Classics and Military History. 

Yesterday, a friend of ours was visiting from out of town and I wanted Hannah to come with us to meet him for dinner. She wasn't interested.  I had to use my powers of persuasion "Don't you want to have dinner with an Astronaut?" Pathetic, I know. 

M had hockey last night so as soon as he was suited up and on the ice, we headed over to meet Rex.  Miss H discovered that Rex had seen Divergent (while on a plane) and Miss H was off and running.  She won the "Too Cool for School"  award today at school for discussing Divergent with an Astronaut. I think she is glad she went. 

My Little Speller

My constant struggle with Mr. M is to get him to read...he tends to gravitate to electronics...The School asks for students to read 20-30 minutes every day...he has to hand in the electronics almost daily...Sigh.  Imagine my surprise when he made the Spelling Bee Final for the School. A very proud Mama Moment for yours truly to attend the Finals. Sadly, we spent so much time on the tough words, we didn't study "goblet." My Little Joy will never forget that "goblet" has one B, not two. Love this not so little anymore Guy!

On the Bright Side

Setting the Vandalism aside and forgetting that I was a frozen Popsicle yesterday, My kitchen is shaping up....the granite Guy was measuring yesterday and that is up next now that the cabinets are installed. My Builder and Cabinet Lady were slightly appalled that I wanted the back of the breakfast bar a dark color and not the color of the cabinets...but here is my thinking....I love my kids...a lot...BUT they are pigs. I have a rule "Shoes on outside, shoes OFF inside." However, the rule seems to be the opposite in their blonde heads. "Shoes OFF outside and ON inside." I didn't want to spend my life cleaning the scuff marks off the breakfast bar...and since the trend today is to do the kitchen island or one side of cabinets in a different color...I did this...AND I LOVE it!

The Vandal

Yesterday morning, I planned a really quiet day of doing laundry. First, I needed to drop off the kids to school, run by the house, grab some tea, go to Matthew's Spelling Bee (he made the School Finals) and go workout. Dropped off the kids, grabbed some tea and went to the house. Then my day derailed...the house had been vandalized in Matthew's room. It could have been worse and my detective skills tell me it was the work of a loner with anger issues and access to his parents' beer. (I had suspected the hole in Hannah's wall a few weeks ago was no accident and someone had been hanging out in her room) Anyway, I know it isn't the workers because our Builder fires anyone who smokes or drinks in his houses. I'm not sure why the perpetrator  felt the need to urinate on the flooring since there is a port a potty in the yard.  So, yesterday, I filed a police report and went door to door meeting the neighbors and asking them to call the police if they see anything in the future. I have to praise the local Police Department. I thought they would ask me to stop by and file a report...nope, they dispatched an officer and he was there in 10 minutes...oh, and my neighbors? They're chatty...and it was so cold...I spent 4 hours in 36 degrees with the wind making it fill like 23 degrees and I only had on my gym clothes. Brrrrr.

Tea Time

Tea is quiet and our thirst for tea is never far from our craving for beauty. 

~James Norwood Pratt

I am blessed with the loveliest people who know how to make my birthday delightful.

My New Bike

Whoosh! I can fill the wind in my hair. Greg got me a new bike for my birthday. I've been missing my green Schwinn 10 speed ever since I got married and left California. I'm not sure what happened to it, the last time I saw it, it was in my mom's garage. I loved it. I got it for my 12th birthday and the first time I rode it on Christmas morning I hit some ice and took a spill. Still...there was nothing better than the wind in my hair as I breezed around town. Now, I'm getting my dream bike in my dream color. If I only had a basket, I could be the mean lady in The Wizard of Oz. 

Progress

I stopped by the house today. I was delighted to find the tile installed on the fireplace. The tille installers were actually working today. Poor guys.  I think the installers are behind schedule. Kitchen cabinets were delivered and installation was to begin this week. The painters were early. They were supposed to paint later per our builder. Here is a picture