November 6, 1991……….our first child (Jordyn Rae) was born.  A cold and snowy day (remember the Halloween blizzard of ‘91??) and she was born by C-section and came into this world a beautiful baby with lots of black hair.  She has truly been a joy which is why it is so hard to think of not getting to see her everyday.  She will be a senior in the Fall and thus we are in the “college mode” of doing various college tours and trying to decide where she would like to spend the next 4-6 years of her life.

Thanks to her Human Anatomy class she is currently interested in doing Physical Therapy.  She will need to get an undergrad degree in either pre-physical therapy, exercise science, or kineseology.  Each school is different in what degree she would need to pursue.

So far we have looked at LaCrosse, UMD in Duluth, and St. Cloud.  We will also be looking at the University of Minnesota which has long been her first choice but she wants to see the school campus just to be sure.  Of the other three she really likes Duluth but also likes St. Cloud.  The latter school is about 7 grand a year less as Duluth is a part of the U of M system.  She liked LaCrosse but it is currently last on her list.   She is really looking to live in the big city and LaCrosse while very nice is not as big as she would like.

Next will come the application process and attempting to apply for some scholarhips.  What it really boils down to is my baby girl is leaving the nest soon.  A year from now I will be helping her pick out things for her dorm room.  I’m sooooooo not ready for this.  I know she will do great and will blossom into a the phenominal young woman I already have started to see emerge.  She will be fine….me, I’m not so sure!!!!!

Today is the last day of school for Jordyn and Zach and of course they couldn’t be more excited.  They are looking forward to sleeping in late, hanging out with friends, no homework, and carefree days.  I on the other hand always have very mixed feelings when this time of year rolls around.

On one hand I will be happy to not have to constantly ask the questions “do you have any homework tonight”, “how many tests do you have this week”, and “did you get all your homework done”.  Now keep in mind that these questions are usually asked of Zach…repeatedly in fact.  He is the one who while very laid back, is also very low key about school and the importance of getting work done on time.  He pulls decent grades but if he actually tried and put forth some effort could most likely be a straight A student.  He is very book smart but just lacks the drive.  Jordyn on the other hand works hard for every grade she gets.  She’s not a straight A student either, but she really puts forth a lot of effort.  She does not have to be reminded to get her homework done, she knows what needs to be done and just does it.  Funny how there can be such a big difference in two kids raised in the same family….maybe it’s just the difference between boys and girls????

However, the flip side is that I also cringe when summer rolls around.  It will be days filled with wild boys at my house who pretty much eat everything in sight…my grocery bill will go up significantly!!!!  The girl drama always seems to be an issue no matter what time of year it is but I’m sure there will be plenty of that too this summer.  I will leave for work with my house in tact and not have any idea what  I will come home to.  There will be days of hearing “i’m bored, what can I do” and I will be asked to be the social planner.  This again usually comes more from Zach.  He is the one who ALWAYS needs to have someone to do something with, he does not like spending any time alone.  Jordyn also loves to hang with friends but at the same time is perfectly ok with a little “alone” time.  

All in all I for one am usually happy when summer is coming to an end the next school year is right around the corner.  Although all too soon I won’t have this issue to worry about .    Jordyn will be a senior next year and I for one am not in any way ready for her to go just yet.  I can’t imagine not getting to see her every day.  We are extremely close and it makes me very sad to think about her leaving.  Once she graduates we will only get three short years with Zach before he will be going off to school.  So I guess for now I will take the messy house and wild boys driving me crazy, cause all too soon it will all be gone and the house will be way too quiet.

At least one wing of the surgery center here in town has to of been paid for by the Paters checking account by now.  Between all the MRI’s and CAT scans that Zach had to have done during the diagnosis phase of his arthritis, Jordyn’s cyst she had removed last year, and NOW the surgery Jordyn just had last week to repair two torn tendons in her left ankle.  Yep, you read it right…she had surgery again, and on the same ankle as last year!!!!

She wishes there was some grand story about how she was slammin some girl into the boards, or trying to save someone from somehting, but the true story is:  she was at a friends and they were playing catch with a tennis ball..she jumped up to catch it and came down and just landed wrong.  She both heard and felt a “pop”.   The Dr. did say that she had probably done some damage to them prior to this event with the tennis ball…but that was the final ”straw”.   After an xray and a MRI the doctor said she had one tendon that was split in half and one that was almost completely torn from the bone.  We could of tried to cast it for 6 weeks and hope that it would heal itself…but there were no guarentee’s.  Knowing the recovery time was going to be long we decided to just go ahead with surgery to repair it and let the healing start sooner rather than later. 

She had her surgery last Monday and the Dr. said it was a good thing we went with that as our option.  When he got in there the one that looked like it was still slightly attached….was completely torn away from the bone ( I know, ouch right??)…and it would of never healed on it’s own.  So, she will get a cast put on tomorrow and will need to leave it on for 6 weeks and then will need to do PT for an additional 6 weeks.  So, do the math….that’s 3 months.  She also has to wait an additional month to go back to hockey.

So…….we will have a long summer ahead of us.  No wakeboarding, water skiing, rollerblading, running, and worst of all…..no hockey camps.  She is very disappointed but knows that at least she has time to heal which is much better than this happening right before the season starts.  For those that don’t know, Jordyn was named captain for the girls varsiety team next year so she is keeping her “eye on the prize” with that being as healthy and strong as possible for the hockey season.

Even though Spring seems to be taking it’s sweet old time getting to Wisconsin….we are getting little tastes of it here and there.  It is during this time of year that I get a little anxious to change things up a bit.  Everyone who knows me well can attest to how much I like to change things….a good example of this would be how many different homes we have lived in over the years.  In our almost 20 years of marriage we have lived in 5 different rental places and 5 differenty houses in 4 communities in 3 states!!!!!  That is an average of one move every two years, yeah  I know you’re all jealous of my math skills, ha!!!

I am not ready to move anytime soon.  When we moved to Eau Claire we finally decided to build so we could get all the things we wanted in our home, and we pretty much have what we want.  No, this time the change is not a move for once.  Even though I no longer feel the need to pack up and start over in new surroundings, I am getting the itch to redecorate just a little.  We’ve been here almost 3 years so some of the paint colors are in need of a little “lift”. 

I will start with Zach’s room.  Right now it is done in MN Gopher colors which are burgandy and gold.  He is wanting something a little more “his style” so he went with black ( i know, don’t freak) and lime green.  I am not one to shy away from color (Jordyn’s room has a different color on each wall: bright blue, orange, hot pink, and lime greem),  and my theory is, it is just paint…we can always change it later.    So I’m going to do each wall half black half lime green…the walls opposite of each other will have the same colors top/bottom and the walls adjacent will have the colors swithed. 

Of course I like to do things like this when Pater is out of town so I don’t have to hear him grouch about what I’m doing )  This way he just comes home and it’s all done.  So……………let the painting begin.  I will try to take/post pics once I’m all done.

Most of you know that we are a hockey family and have been for the past 12 years.  Jordyn started playing in Kdg. and was hooked from the very beginning….as was I.  Hockey by far has to be one of the longer sports seasons as it starts in November and doesn’t end until late Feburary or early March, depending on how far your team gets in the play offs. 

Ever since Minnesota brought back the NHL team ( MN Wild) we have talked about taking her to a game.  Let’s face it…..I wanted to go just as much as she did.  Well way back when tickets were hard to come by as MN had been without a team for a few years (not sure what the hell they were thinking when they got rid of the Stars) and once they brought it back to the state EVERYONE and their brother wanted a ticket.  In addition the  price of a ticket was more than we could afford at the time.  Then……we moved to IL and thought we would get to a Blackhawks game, and that never happened.  We’ve now been back “up north” for going on three years and we still talked often about getting to a game.  Well, we finally did it…..we decided to take a part of our tax refund and buy tickets to a Wild game.  We had to wait to go to a game that was after Jordyn’s hockey season was over.  We ended up getting tickets to the Wild vs. Stars (MN old team) game this past Tuesday night.  Zach had no desire to go so we he spent the night with a friend and we took one of Jordyns friends and teamates. 

It was a great game and we had great seats.  I was able to find us tickets that were just slightly off center ice and only 8 rows from the glass.  I was able to get some awesome pictures and if I can figure out how to post pics on this blog I will try to do that.  The Wild were not slated to win I don’t think as they had not beaten the Stars yet this year.  Well, there’s always a first!!!  Final score:  3-1 win for the Wild )

The only negative the entire night:  NO FIGHTS….not one.  I had my camera ready just waiting for someone to drop their stick and gloves and not one single fight.  What’s a hockey game without a little violence?????  Oh well, next time.  We are thinking that once we no longer are attending girls highschool hockey and we have more time, we may get season tickets!!

GO WILD!!

It has been awhile since my last post so I’ll do my best to catch you up on the happenings in our little corner of the world.  As I type the weatherman is talking about the possibility of snow tomorrow morning and the high is going to be 37………ok, what the hell???  It is going to be APRIL!!!  Why do I live here………….and better yet, how many more years til I can retire and head south for the winter?

We had a little taste of what it would be like to be in a warmer climate during the winter when we visited my mom and step dad in AZ over spring break.  It was a great week and the weather was fabulous.  It was in the 90’s every day we were there with bright blue skys and total sunshine.  They winter in Yuma from Oct.-April every year and they just love it!!!  Yuma is close to the boarder so we went to Mexico for a day which was a lot of fun.  Little bit of an eye opener for the kids )  We also went out to the sand dunes, toured an old territorial prison, and spent a little time each day laying by the pool, soaking up the sun.   One of their neighbors also took Pater out in a souped up Volkswagon bug and they went climbing in the mountains..he had a great time.  We had a great time and only wished we could of stayed longer.  I’m now counting the years until I can do the same and get out of this frozen tundra for the witners.

Once back to WI we dropped right back into our crazy life.  Jordyn is playing on a spring hockey league out of the Cities which will go until the first weekend in May.  No practices, just games on the weekends.  She was also named captain for her hockey team for the 09/10 season.  Their coach wants the girls doing off-season training all summer so her duties actually have already started.  We will be hosting a grill out/tye dye fun/bon fire night at our house sometime later this spring to get things started.  She is very excited and feels very honored to be chosen by the coach for this position.  She also just got hired at Old Navy today.  She loves the people she works with at Outback, but the 2.33/hr. plus tip share just wasn’t consistent enough for a girl who is trying to save money to take with her to college.  She is taking her ACT exam this Saturday…..nothing like a little bit of stress for one kid.

Zach has started tennis and we will have to see how that goes.  He has never really played before other than for fun so it will be interesting to see how he does once the ‘real” matches start.  He is also waiting to hear back on a skateboarding camp that him and  a friend applied for.  It is a camp that is very expensive but they have a work program that kids can apply for.  If they are accepted they will spend part of their day washing dishes, mopping floors, etc…..and for that they get about 550.00 off of their fee.  Both Zach and his buddy Anders want to do this camp but they’ve both been told they can only go if they are able to get the work scholarship…otherwise it is just way too expensive.  He should know by next week and is keeping his fingers crossed that either they both get it or they both don’t.  They just don’t want one to get it and the other one not to.  He has a new girlfriend, Ally.  She is a very nice girl and we all really like her.  I think Zach is very “smitten” with her….:o)

Pater and I are both still busy with our jobs but that’s good.  In today’s economy we are both extremely thankful we have jobs and best of all, they are jobs we both really enjoy.

Ok, so my sister in law just posted on her blog her three pet peeves.  Sounded like a good thing to blog about but I’m not sure I can stop at just three.  Here are just a few things that bug the you-know-what out of me:

Back Stabbers  I’m am very fortunate to have great friends and neighbors who I feel are really very sincere.  However, in my past I’ve know a few people (women mostly) who are super nice to your face and you just know as soon as you are gone, they talk smack about you….because they were just talking trash to you about someone else..hate that.

Food Chompers  I cannot even begin to tell you how much this drives me crazy, and Jordyn has the same issue with it.  When people eat with their mouth open or chomp down on their food without closing their mouths.  I would also have to add to this, people that talk while they have food in their mouths.  Nobody wants to see that and it makes it next to impossible to understand what the hell you are saying anyways. 

Misuse of cell phones  There have been soooooooooo many times that I’ve been at a conference or in a meeting and someones cell phone starts to go off.  Bad enough they don’t have the common curtosey to turn it off or at least to vibrate, but then often times they are rude enough to stay in the room and talk on it!!!!  Seriously, do people not see that as totally rude?  I would have to include in this, people who talk or text on their phone when they are out to eat with someone…totally rude and people who talk on their phone in the movie theatre.  Our rule at our house is, once meal time has started..the cell phones get put away.

Non hand washers  This was one of Nikkis peeves too…but I have to agree.  When I am in the bathroom and see someone walk out without washing their hands…..YUCK!!!  I was at a car seat check once with two women who were both public health nurses.  Now, keep in mind that during these events we are working closely with families, their childs car seat and sometimes the child, if the parents bring them with.  We were all in the bathroom on a break, and they both walked out without washing their hands…and they work for public health!!!!!

Raw meat in with other groceries  This happens to me all the time, in fact it happened again today.  I have a big thing about raw meat not being in the same bag as anything but other raw meat.  I’m usually pretty good about reminding the bagger to keep it seperate but everytime I forget to ask, they throw it in with other stuff.  Today I thought about it after all the groceries had been bagged but did ask before I left, where she had put my hamburger….guess where it was…..in the bag with the bread.  Ok, so that ’s not even something that can be cooked to kill anything that spread from the raw meat.  Honestly, do they not teach that in baggers school???  Gross.

I could go on and on as I have many, but these are my top pics.  What bugs you?

Jordyn’s hockey team played Friday night in Schofield Wisconsin in the semi finals against the Central WI Storm.  This team was ranked 2nd while we were 8th.   We had to play on their home ice as they were seeded higher than us.  Their rink is olympic size meaning it was 15 feet wider and about 6 feet longer.  May not seem like much but it made a difference.  It was also a very warm rink and for those who may not know why that makes a difference….warmer rink means slower ice. 

Well….our girls started out slow but by the end of the first period we were equal in shots on goal and the score was 0-0.  Second period we score first and I’m sure if you would of been listening many of you could hear us screaming all they way from WI!!!!!  During that same period one of our girls got a penalty and they scored on the power play so end of 2nd period the score is 1-1…seriously, my heart can’t take games likethis!!  3rd period we get another penalty and they score so they are up 2-1.  Then with a minute and 45 seconds left our coach decides to pull our goalie to give us an extra player on the ice.  The whip one almost from the red line and score on an open net and the score is 3-1.  Ten seconds later we get the puck in our zone and score!!!!!!  It is now 2-3……..if only we hadn’t pulled our goalie, it would be tie game at this point. 

Unfortunately there is not enough time to get another in and our girls lose with a final score of 3-2.  They had a great season and to lose to the defending State Champs from last year by only 1 point is pretty phenominal.  So, our season in officially over.  There will be spring hockey that many of the girls will play, including Jordyn.  There will also be camps this summer, dry land, captains practices, etc…  so really the season is over but hockey never ends.

We only lose a few Seniors and will have a solid team of strong players returning next season.  I’m making my prediction now:  Our girls will make it to State in 2010, mark my words!!!!!

Sorry I didn’t get to this update sooner but it has been crazy around here.  All I can say about the hockey game our girls played against Chippewa Falls, WI on Tuesday night is……..”wow”, I’m one proud hockey mom.  This was by far and above one of the best games our girls have ever played.  Keep in mind we were seeded below this team and they have ranked higher than us for the past three seasons, AND we have never beat them before.

I will try to recap without typing a book:  end of first period score is 0-0.  In the second period we scored the first goal on a penalty shot…they came back and answered that goal during their power play (for those who don’t know what that means…one of our girls got a penalty so we skated 4 players while they had 5).  Score at the end of second period 1-1…score at the end of third period 1-1.  Overtime..8 minutes sudden death, first goal win.  End of overtime score 1-1.  They clear the ice to give the girls a little break.  2nd overtime, another 8 minutes…score at the end 1-1.  3rd overtime is almost coming to end and with only 1:18 left WE score!!!!!!  I can’t even decribe the feeling that we were having at that very moment.  The girls were all in one big heap pile at the end of the ice and everyone was jumping up and down and screaming.  It was such an intense and exciting game and our girls played hard until the very end….and it was a 3 hr. game.

So……we now go on to play Friday night inSchofield, WI.  We will be playing the defending state champs The Central Wisconsin Storm.  They are a co-op team like us and are comprised of schools around the Wausau and Mosinee area.  The rink we are skating on is in their home territory and is an olympic size rink meaning it is wider than a normal rink and maybe a little longer, i’m not toally sure on that part.  We have not played them yet but I think we can give them a run for their money.  If we win this game………………..WE WILL BE GOING TO STATE!!!!!!! 

I will try to post on Saturday to let you all know how the game went.  No matter what the outcome, our girls have so much to be proud of.  They have had a great season and have been so much fun to watch. 

Stay tuned……………………

For those who know us well, you know that during the winter months hockey pretty much dictates our lives from November through February.  Well……..we are getting close to the end of the season.  Jordyns team (ECA Starts) is a co-op team comprised of three highschools:  Eau Claire Memorial which is Jordyn’s school, Eau Claire North, and Altoona which is a smaller city that is basically connected to Eau Claire.  The teams first year as a highschool team was the year Jordyn was a freshman.  We moved to Eau Claire just in time for the inaugural season ) for this team.  Knowing she was going to be able to play hockey as an actual high school sport actually made the move from Illinois much easier for her as down there all she would of ever played was club hockey.

The team started out a little slow in their first two seasons.  They did ok, but we had a very young and new coach.  We have a new coach this year and boy what a difference he has made for this team.  He is very good at knowing the game, planning strategy, and the biggest plus is he has the respect of every girl on the team.  They have had a great season with 14 wins, 5 losses, and 1 tie.  Many of our wins have been major blow outs with the score being 8-0, 10-0, 7-1 etc…  as well as some very close games.  It has been so much fun to see this team improve over the season and it is sad to see it getting close to the end.

Well, we are now into the playoffs.  We had our first game last Thursday against Marshfield, WI and won 10-0.  Jordyn even scored 2 goals….she doesn’ t get much of a chance for that being a defensive player but she gets a few every now and then.  She scored one slapshot from the blue line and another wrist shot somewhere between the blue line and midway to the net.  So now we move on to our next game which is tomorrow night.  We play Chippewa Falls which is our biggest rival.  They are ranked above us and we have yet to beat them.  However, the last time we played them we tied 4-4 which shows our girls they can do it.  To read the online forums there are predictions both ways….. but either way it is bound to be an exciting and very close game.  Our girls want this win really bad and will hopfully come out strong.  If we win we will move on to play one final game on Saturday.  The winner of that games moves forward to the state tournement the following weekend.

If we lose………..well then our season is over.  Well, at least for a month.  Most of our girls will go on to play in a spring hockey league out of the Twin Cities.  Everyone say a little prayer and let’s all hope that the “stars are aligned” just right for an upset win tomorrow night!!!