Eleven.

Dear Morgan,

 

 

 

Eleven years ago today, I got to meet you for the first time and hold you in my arms.

 

I didn't know if you were a boy or girl until after you made your first screams, which were music to my ears.  It seemed like there were about 35 people there in my hospital room who all shouted at once, "It's a girl!!"

 

Dad and I didn't decide on a name for you if you were going to be a girl until that very day.  I had been trying to convince him what a great name Morgan was for a few months.  He finally agreed to it when we were in the elevator on our way up to the sixth floor in the hospital.  He knows now that mama usually gets her way.

 

Your big big brother was so excited to meet you and have someone to play with.  He used to say "Hiiiiiii Moooooh-giiiie!" and kiss your little forehead.

 

You are the very definition of a "girly-girl" and I wouldn't want it any other way.

 

Your little laugh is still contageous, and I don't think you realize how I love to hear it to this very day.

 

Your curls went away after a few haircuts, but don't worry.  You are on track to have them come back in about 7th or 8th grade, just like mine did.  You will hate them and your hair will never do what you want.  Don't stress out about it.  Do the best you can.

 

You hit a rough patch in preschool when Andy had to go off to kindergarden and wasn't by your side any more.  I love how close you two are, and when you cuddle with him on the couch to watch re-runs of The Office, it makes me feel happy.

 

You were off to kindergarden yourself before I knew it, and by then you had gained your independence, and took elementary school by the horns!

 

You are so very smart, and have a million friends who love you!

 

I love watching you grow, and learn new things, and improve on the things you already know how to do.  You are becoming such an amazing dancer, I can't wait to watch you perform.  I still tear up every time.  I'm sure this year will be no different.

 

I love that you have so many of the same interests that I do, and we can shop, sew, knit, scrapbook, etc, together any time.

 

You are getting so mature, and I absolutely love the person you have become.

 

You don't understand how happy it made me today when I told you that you could do anything you wanted on your birthday, and you chose to have a "Mommy Morgie" shopping day.  FIVE hours at the mall today girl.  We KILLED it!  (and you owe me)

 

Your awesomeness makes you shine, Morgan.  I am so lucky God picked you when he was deciding which daughter to send to me.  I cherish you every single day, and I thank you for being you!

 

I love you more, Morgie Pie!!  Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

 

 

 

Love you to pieces,

 

XOXOX

 

Mama

Transition...

Now that the regular hockey season is over, we have transitioned into the next season that sweeps over our family.

Morgan started dancing when she was 3 or 4.  I can't remember it was so long ago.  The only prerequisite was that she be potty trained.  Talk about a motivator! 

She and her friend Cassie have been in classes together every year since.  I think it was her second year of dance when she decided that she needed to be glued to my leg, and she would cry every single week when it was time for her to go into the classroom, and me to go to the waiting room.  Even with Cassie by her side.  I felt like the worst parent in the world because clearly she didn't want to be there.  I'm sure I was judged plenty by all of the other parents.  Her teacher was so understanding though, and wouldn't give up on her.  She was so patient, and gave Morgan the room she needed to feel comfortable in there again.

And now, she's at the studio 4 nights a week, and wouldn't have it any other way.  It sometimes makes it interesting to manage the dance and hockey schedules together, but somehow we've done just fine.  Thank goodness for carpools!

Morgan comes alive when she's performing.  The little girl that didn't want to go to class for one hour per week has been busting her tail the last few months to prepare a SOLO to compete in just a few short weeks, in addition to her five other group numbers she's performing, and assisting in one class of "itty bitties".  I couldn't be more proud of her.

I love Instagram.  It sure does cool things with my photos. :)

This is Cassie, who is also preparing a solo for the upcoming competition season.  Thank goodness the girls are doing two different styles of dance so they won't have to compete against each other!  Cassie is full of grace and beauty and I absolutely love watching her dance.

So I prepare you to be flooded with not just hockey posts anymore, but dance posts since performance and competition season is just around the corner.  Because who doesn't love coming here and reading about me gushing over my kids???  ;)

XOXOX

NH

Just one reason I can't get enough of her.

This morning shortly after I sat down at my desk and began to dig into emails and orders, my phone began going crazy with texts.  Usually if this happens at 7:30 AM, it means one of the kids have forgotten something for school.  I glanced over at my phone and saw they were all from Morgan, and still coming in.

Opening them up, this is what I found:

Sorry they are sideways.  I can't figure out how to turn them.

This girl is a treasure, I tell ya!  Go ahead and be jealous, I won't mind.  ;)

XOXOX

NH

I blinked, and it's over.

Just as quickly as it started, it's over.  I can't believe it.  It seems like yesterday that we had 40+ games ahead of us on the schedule, and now there are none. 

Playoffs began last weekend for us.  We won our first game, but lost our second.  It really was a very close game.  We were losing 2-1 with 2 minutes left in the game and they pulled Andy to gain another skater.  The other team ended up scoring 2 empty net goals in those last two minutes of the game.

I can't say enough good things about this year.  If you could dream of a perfect hockey team for your child to be on, this was it.

Our record wasn't great.  I don't even know what it was to be honest.  But it really didn't matter.

This is where he loves to be.  I think he'd sleep here if we let him.

Our coaches had the perfect amount of authority over these kids, and they all respected their coaches so much!

My attempt at a panoramic photo of the team at our party last night.  The table isn't really broken in the middle.  Neither is Eric's face in the top left.  Sorry Eric.  I need a little practice on my panoramic photos.

This is Tyler.  He is the big brother to the princess I made the hat for.  He's moving back to Canada very soon, so I got a jersey for him and had the whole team sign it.  I believe the first thing he said when he opened his gift was, "oh jeeze mom, are you crying???"  Tyler, get used to it.  Moms like us cry over things like this.

Old friendships solidified, and new ones created.

Memories that will last forever.

Prayers never hurt.  Every player put their heart into every game they played.

This is where he loves to be.

There!  That panoramic is a little better!

I hope you keep doing this for a long, long time buddy.  I'm very proud of you and the whole team.  I'm so sad this year is over, but new things are just around the corner!

XOXOX

NH

I made a hat.

There is something so cool about verigated yarn.  One color can be so boring to knit with.

Verigated yarn gives you the coolest, unexpected blips of color, and you never know where exactly they will end up.

Cables and verigated yarn?  Shut up.

So, I made a hat with cables and verigated yarn, and then I got to give it to this princess who is moving to Canada in two weeks.

I'm so sad they are moving!  Princess's brother is on Andy's hockey team, so we've gotten to know them very well.

Princess's mom asked me how much she owed me for making this hat, and I told her I didn't want any money for it.  That's not why I made this hat.  What I got instead of money for payment was worth 10,000 times any amount of money.  I mean, come on.  "I lack you"???  This melted my heart.

See all those numbers up there?  That's how much she loves me.

And she loves me enough to make me a card with a rainbow to let me know how much!  In addition to this perfectly awesome card, I got a pocketful of Valentine chocolate candies, and even better, a hug.  Goodness me.  It's been a while since I've had little arms that size around my neck.  I'd make 100 hats for another little armed hug.

And so little princess, you are welcome.  I love you that much too, plus 1.  I am going to miss you so so much!

XOXOX

NH

Knitting class?

I have been knitting more and more everywhere I go.  It's become quite an addiction of mine.  I suppose there are worse addictions out there, right?  Sometimes I wish my addiction was cleaning my house.  Or doing laundry.  Or cooking.  No such luck. 

Lately I've been seen knitting at the hockey rink, the dentist office waiting room, and the dance studio.  I knit my way through the baseball season last summer at the field, and I often knit at my desk at work on my lunch break.

The most common comment I hear when I'm knitting in public is, "oh Nance!  What are you making NOW?"  and then, "Oh my gosh, I'd love to have one.  Will you make me one?"

Now, don't get me wrong, it's very flattering when someone asks me to make something for them.  It means they truly like what I do, and would even wear it themselves!  I love making gifts for people, and watching them open them with delight.  And I love seeing a picture on a friend's blog of a hat that I made them a year ago in every-day use.  There is no better compliment someone could give me than to tell me that something I made them is in use.  LOVE that!

Other comments that I often hear are, "I can't believe you made that." or "How the heck do you do that?" or "I wish I knew how to knit."

So, my question for you is this:

If I were to offer a Knitting 101 class for a small fee, would anyone local be interested in taking it?  I'm certainly not a pro, but  I would love to help anyone get this addiction off the ground.  The infinity scarves are so popular right now, maybe it would be a good first project?  Just think of all of the home-made Christmas presents you could make next year!  We are talking SUPER basic here, for the wet-behind-the-ears beginner.

Anyway, it's just a thought I had.  There would most likely be wine involved, and probably some laughing and fun.  Anyone?

XOXOX

NH

I Am a Hockey Mom.

I am a dance mom too, but that will be another post, another day.

I find myself continually wanting to blog about hockey, and then feeling like I shouldn't because I just blogged about hockey last week.

But then I find that I have nothing else to talk about, which is why there have been 3 blog posts this month, and it's already the 25th.  Well, once Christmas has passed, my life is full of work and hockey.  And so, I will write about hockey.

My brother sent me THIS article this morning from the newspaper, written by a local hockey mom.  This could have been written by me, or any of the other 8 million hockey moms that I know.  So, so typical.  Exactly how my life has been for the past nine years.

I remember Andy's first UMD Bulldog hockey game, when he was about 5 months old.  THANK GOD I don't have to haul that diaper bag with me to the games any more!  He graduated from bottles and diapers, to tupperwares full of dried cereal, to a few pieces of candy that would fit in my purse, and ALWAYS having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the third period, right after play started again, and would squirm so bad you thought you'd have a puddle to clean up if you didn't get to the bathroom right now!  Then it was on to soft pretzels, nachos, frozen lemonade and frozen malt cups, and now - well now I don't know what he buys because the moment we step foot into the arena, he asks for money and then is off sitting with friends somewhere and I don't see him until either there are two minutes left in the game, or he runs out of money.

When Andy was 2, we would tell him that his peas were green hockey balls so they were "cool" enough to eat.  He had a lego hockey game that he used to play with for HOURS on end, all by himself.  When he lost too many of the lego players that were like those little green army men, he made due with his set of Bulldog hockey player cards (like baseball cards) and use them as players in his game.  He'd line them up along the sides when they were to be sitting on the bench, or line them up on the two blue lines and sing The National Anthem at the top of his lungs.  I don't know what age he was when he finally realized that the actual last word of that song isn't really "BULLDOGS"!  I probably don't want to know the number of times he has watched the movie Miracle, and also some game at some state tournament that the Hawks played in that we happen to have on DVD.  I really can't understand why someone would want to watch the same hockey game over and over and over.  Um, I think you know how the game is gonna turn out...

The woman who wrote the article above tells us to "embrace the hockey-ness" of it all.  What great advice!  Jump in with both feet and enjoy it!  Morgan has finally gotten to that point.  She has really started watching the games, and caring what the outcome is.  That poor girl has spent more hours in hockey rinks than any girl should have to.  The other day she was invited to a sleepover, and really had to think about if she was going to go or not because it would mean missing one of her brother's games.  The sleepover did win out, but the fact that she had to debate with herself over what she wanted to do was really cool to me.

Last weekend Andy's team played in a local tournament.  I wasn't sure what to expect, because I knew that there were quite a few teams coming to the tournament from the Minneapolis metro area.  It's often hard for us to compete with those associations because they simply have so many more kids playing for them than we do.  The skill level of an A or a B player in their organization may be very different than ours.  I was pleasently surprised when we found ourselves playing in the third place game on Sunday.  Let me tell you, it was one of the most memorable and exciting games of hockey that I've ever watched.  The score was 0-0 at the end of regulation.  #21 on our team scored the winning goal shortly into overtime.  Talk about excitement!  My heart was bursting with pride for that whole team.  The cheering section went crazy, everyone was hugging everyone, and the team looked like they had just won the Stanley Cup.

Hockey is a game of the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows (especially for an old goalie mom like me!) but I think that's why I love being a part of it.  I want so badly for those high moments for my son, and my heart breaks with his every single time a puck crosses his goal line.  I can only hope that he learns something with each one that sneaks past him.  Also, I hope he learned something last night after our loss when I gave him a stern talking to about slamming his Brand. New. Expensive. Goalie stick onto the ice at the final buzzer, and how his response to my stern-ness was very inappropriate.  Ugh.  What are you going to do though?  Support him.  Support the team.  Celebrate the wins, learn from the losses.  Try to deodorize the car.  Put in your volunteer hours at the concession stand.  Count your blessings for all of the friends this game has brought into your life.  Look back at old pictures and realize that this is going to be over far too soon. 

I am embracing all of the hockey-ness, and loving every single second of it.  And so, I will blog about it.

XOXOX

NH