Firsts

This has been a week of firsts. Without any further waiting, here they are:

First Summer Dress, with First Dolly in hand (dolly's name is Fira, with butterfly wings and purple hair...umm, she's updside down). This dolly means a lot, because its the first toy she has ever picked out for herself . Also, in swimming lessons (which she is doing really well in) she piped up that she was a butterfly in the water (Regarde maman, je suis un papillon!).

Our Zorro, after his first visit to the groomers.
He positively shines and his fur is all fluffed up... boy, did he need a bath!

First ponytail! Yup, and its a good size one too!!!

Miss K all smiles with her first ponytail.
Nope, I didn't hurt her at all while pulling and tugging everything in.

Tristan waiting for his first big game as a goalie (he's the one on the left). I love this shot... it makes me want to go and get it blown up - the colours, and the various stages of readiness of all the kids.
Boys being boys.

There he is... first game as goalie. It was rough one, but he loved every second of it. They lost (16-3), but this team has the best team spirit. After the second game (which they lost also, but Tristan held the score in the third period 3-3 with two amazing saves, that got the director of the program's attention... he came and talked to me and Tristan after the game, to encourage him and give him some pointers), the kids were all so happy with Tristan's work that they all swarmed him and jumped him. Tristan came out from the swirl of kids and sticks and mitts with the biggest grin on his face. Could he have found his spot?

Postscript:
Forgot to mention that Tristan is playing in a league of high performers. So for those in the know, he is playing against up to 9 year olds who played Novice A, AA, and AAA's! I would like to mention that Tristan just finished MAGH-2 (level below Novice), and he is 6! For those not in the know, next season, he has to try out for Novice and usually his age and experience means he will be in Novice B or C. Double and triple letters are considered Elite levels, btw.

Before and after

Gotcha day, Nov 5 2007

New best friends with Zorro, Dec 1 2007

Today (April 2008)...
so when did you grow up so much? And look how long your hair is now!

Spring Hockey Season

Silly us... no really, silly us... sign up our eldest son for spring hockey season so that he can be with his friends and continue to play hockey some more. Now, he doesn't want to play forward or defense... no, of course not... he wants to play in goals this time. Now, he started playing goalie last summer in a camp for goalies. By the end of the week, he was completely burnt out and didn't ask after that to be a goalie. We thought he was cured. But no, he isn't.

So the last piece of equipment he needed was a goalie helmet (he played with a player's helmet last year, which worked just fine) because this is the real deal: he will be playing with kids aged 7-9 year olds so he needs his head properly protected. Now price is no object when we talk about protecting the head of my dear son... but really now, HOLY COW is it expensive! We go out to the local store to buy his helmet: choices range from black or white (cheapest, at $180... before taxes) to painted Superheroes (most expensive, at $260). Then we see this beauty, priced in the middle... and the rest is history:

Tristan's first goalie helmet

Side view (its a painted goalie)

I think he would sleep with the helmet, if we let him...

The boys enjoying the start of the play-offs together... the testosterone, popcorn smell in the air was very strong... I left the room very quickly after taking the picture, so as to not damped the male bonding :o)

His first game is on Sunday, with the Blue Jackets of St-Hubert. His style is a butterfly goalie (a la Patrick Roy) and I am hoping that the kids won't pick up too fast that they can get the puck in high on him. Keep your fingers crossed that he doesn't get beat up to bad by the damn puck, and has a good time! At least his helmet will scare the pucks away (at least that is what everyone said at the store as he walked out with his helmet in his hands).

Oh... and this is not the end of it. He only wants to go to hockey camp in the summer - currently, he has three weeks of hockey camp (two with Canlan and one with the McGill Redmen, my alma mater!). We had to do all sorts of convincing to get him to agree to 1 week of circus camp and one partial week of "Plein Air" camp (learning how to camp outdoors, along with a 1-day kayaking trip!). Boy, this is a rough crowd... there is more to life than hockey, you know... no really, its true (blasphemy to be saying these words right now considering we are in the midst of hockey play offs and we live in a hockey town!).

I've been tagged!

So here goes...

5 all time favorites:
1 first time my kids smiled at me... can still remember first time for each one!
2 St Lucia
3 Skiing in Whistler, B.C.
4 Figure Skating
5 My DH playing guitar and singing any Police/Sting/Fictionplane song just for me

5 favorite movies
1 Star Wars V: Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
2 Blade Runner
3 Lord of the Rings, all of them
4 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (how could you not love it, with a title like that?)
5 When Harry met Sally

Baby names you love (but aren't planning on using):
5 girl names: Evangeline*, Trinity, Yasmine, Kasia, Jacqueline
(*if we go for #5, then Evangeline will be her name!... don't worry, we are faaaaarrrrrrr from any decision on this)

5 boy names: Alexandre, Christopher Robin, Max, Jack, Wolfgang

5 songs you could listen to over and over:
1 Somewhere out there (Our Lady Peace)
2 Drops of Jupiter (Train)
3 Killing in the name (Rage Against the Machine... yaaaaaaaa!)
4 Call me when your sober (Evanescence)
5 Go your own way (Fleetwood Mac... I was weened on it, me thinks!)

5 people who influenced your life in a positive way:
1 Mr. Hunt (high school math teacher)
2 My children
3 My parents
4 my boss from '97-2001
5 Lance Armstrong

5 items that stay in your purse all the time:
1 wallet
2 breath freshener/gum (habit left over from my quitting smoking days, about 9 yrs ago!)
3 lip balm
4 my security pass, even though I am off work right now!
5 kleenex (come on... I've got 4 kids, one is bound to have a runny nose!)

5 moments you knew things changed forever:
1 Jacob's birth
2 September 5 2003
3 When I left home to go to University
4 August 9th 2003: the night that I was made to feel alive again that gave me courage to face Sept 5 03
5 Grandfather and Uncle passing, and Dad losing his "new" job... in the space of a few months

5 obsessions you have right now:
1 Series of Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon (on 4 of 6)... aye, d'ye ken a big Scot in a kilt... who can resist?!
2 99% Dark Chocolate with my decaf coffee
3 Working Out/Losing Weight (down 18 lbs and 14 inches!)
4 Summer Vacation (going to NB hopefully!) and Hockey Camps for boys
5 Straightening my hair every 5 days

5 places you would really like to go:
1 Egypt
2 Away without the kids, to sleep as long as I possibly can!
3 Galapagos Islands
4 Russia
5 Africa

5 people you'd like to see do their tops 5's:
1 My mom
2 Colette
3 Dawn
4 Doris
5 DH

Survey says...

Pics of the kids:

Hockey in the street... the great Canadian past time...

Oh no... Kaitlynn is playing hockey now too! Looks like I will have 4 kids in hockey now!!!!

Bright light, bright light... ummm, that would be the Sun, my son.

Jacob and Zorro, best friends

Kaitlynn and her tutu, 1.

Kaitlynn and her tutu and her mini-hockey stick (we don't stand a chance)

Down 18 lbs in 3 months, 5.5 lbs lost this month. Now, I would think that this flu had something to do with it, but I will take the numbers any day.