The Cheese Party

Monday, January 30, 2012

He Shoots and Scores!

On Saturday Sam had a hockey game at the Rostraver Ice Gardens. This is the ice rink where my parents met, my grandmother and mother worked, and half of my extended family, myself included, learned to skate. It would have been so perfect for him to score his first goal on that ice. His play has really improved in the past few weeks, and he's been getting lots of shots on goal, but none have made it past the goalie. I was up in the bleachers, on my feet every time he had a shift.

He had plenty of chances, but sadly, none went in. Afterwards, the two of us had lunch with my Uncle Rick and cousin Max and then skated together during the public session.

That's him in the red jacket. Notice how I only see the back of him! When I think back to last year, I can't believe how far he's come. I honestly couldn't keep up with him most of the time. I have a feeling that, as he gets older, I'm going to be seeing more and more of the back of him. I hope he remembers to turn around and smile for his mommy every now and then.

On Sunday he had another game. This time dad took him and I stayed home with the little guys, since game time coincided with nap time. Guess what he came home with?

His first goal!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Compare and Contrast

Sam, February 10, 2007

Fred, January 27, 2012

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Twenty Years Gone

In twenty years time, my children will be grown, some may be married and I may even be a grandmother. Every year, this day makes my heart ache for my friend Rena, but this year, I can't stop thinking about her mother. A mother who never got to see her child grow into a woman. I can't imagine the pain she must suffer every single day. Even though I sit here with tears in my eyes, I can look across the room at my baby boy. I can hold him and feel comfort. My sadness has a cure. I will never, ever take that for granted. Because of her.

Twenty years ago, today, and twenty years from now, I hold you in my heart.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Hockey Mom to the EXTREME!

As I've mention before, hockey consumes a large portion of our lives. I knew this was going to happen when I signed the kids up, so I'm not particularly perturbed about it. Do I like having to lug all four kids (half of whom are sick) to the rink right after school for Sam's game? No, thank you very much, but it's not the end of the world. And since he has hockey four days a week, if he misses one here and there I don't lose any sleep over it.

What makes it bearable is how much they seem to love it. Sam is a madman out there, and while Lucy has been slower to come around, she's been having a much better time lately. She's made a big jump in her skating ability recently, and she can probably skate backwards better than Sam can. Not falling down so often makes her much happier out on the ice.

But I think the biggest reason she's liking hockey more and more these days is because of this one coach out there. Oh, and did I mention that this coach also happens to be her mother? As in ME? Yes, according to Lucy I am the best mom hockey coach ever! Never mind the fact that I'm really just an on ice volunteer mostly tasked with pleasant job of herding the kids and administering sips of water and/or hugs when someone is crying.

(Funny side note: somehow in the above sentence I accidentally typed 'hits' instead of 'hugs' which, while appropriate for hockey in general is not so appropriate for hockey with four and five year old kids!)

Now, with everything else going on in my life, you'd think that maybe I'd pass on being a hockey 'coach', but let me let you in on a little secret. I love it! I love being on the ice. I love helping the kids learn to hold their hockey stick. I love that some of the kids (besides Lucy) really seem to like me, too! At the end of each practice we play a little game of tag, and one kid makes it his goal in life to freeze me. A little boy who just started after the new year came up to me on Monday night to show me how he wasn't crying, because last week I had to sit with him on the bench for ten minutes while he wept. There are more than a few little girls out there, too, and they are awesome. When we're running drills, two girls are always my go-to kids to demonstrate because they've already mastered them.

So even though I probably look half a fool out there in my dad's too big helmet, I'm going to keep on 'coaching' Lucy's mini-mite team. We're both having a blast, and at the very least, I stay a lot warmer skating around then I do parking my butt in the bleachers!