In which hockey has become everyone's main focus

It's Tuesday and I'm trying with all of my might to keep the good vibes from the weekend still flowin'. We had an epic, relaxing, awesome beyond awesome couple of days, and I just want to maintain that care free attitude around here! We did a few awesome things:

The four of us took Carter to hockey on Saturday, after which we went to lunch and decided to get him some more gear for this super love of his. Down to Hockey Monkey we went, where I stayed in the car because Kota fell asleep. Chad totally went nuts and got him his very own pair of skates, a legit helmet, a full wooden stick and this massive hockey bag! Yes! We may have gone a bit overboard, but hey. What can ya do? It's precious and a ton of fun. It reminded me of when I went bananas over Kota's first Mommy and Me ballet class.

On Sunday we were excited to break in all of his legitimate Ducks gear, so we went to family free skate at the rink. Kota, Chad and I rented skates and we strapped on Carter's NHL-bound new digs. We took one step onto the ice and Carter proclaimed, "MOM! I NEED TO BE OLDER TO WEAR THESE! I CAN'T SKATE ON THESE! I WANT MY OLD SKATES!" meaning the rented ones. Crap. Thankfully Chad took over Carter and I just handled Kota, but neither one of them really wanted to hang with me, they both just wanted to be with Dad because "he's stronger." Whatever, meanies!

After several go-arounds assisted by Chadly, Carter took a really bad fall to the behind, which prompted an immediate conversation between Chad and I. "It's okay, he just needs those butt protector, shorts things." We are ridiculous. So to fuel his now dislike of his new gear, we'll just go get him more new gear. Anyway, we really are going to do that because he is seriously obsessed with hockey - I've never seen him so turned on by something. There were older boys there during free skate with full gear on except for chest protectors, and all they were doing was sprinting then falling on purpose then sliding down the whole thing, which Carter loved (while sitting down because he was now mad at us for forcing the new skates situation).

Anyway, Chad and I both left the rink feeling a bit pooped and slightly defeated, but it's all good because it doesn't seem to have phased Carts. He immediately went right back to discussing hockey teams and moves with Chad and yesterday the two of them went into some sort of full on competition of who can score 5 goals first in the front yard. It's all good in the hood!

And to further chronicle our insane obsession with the "new" family area, here are more pics of us in the room which we never leave now. But hey! Good news. After realizing that we spent WAY too much time watching television due to our new found comfort, I've declared a new goal (I wish I could say "rule," but I don't want to put that word out there to the kids in case I have a weak moment and decide to turn the TV on for a few moments of distraction). I've severely cut TV time. I haven't turned it on once until Carter plays his video games, and those are only allowed while Kota is sleeping. At night, we just read books and then it's bed. It's been incredibly nice and has lasted a week and a half at this point. On both Saturday and Sunday we watched a movie in the morning, but after that it was all active time. The jump in activities and brain-usage is so apparent in both kids, but especially Carter. We are really watching that child blossom! What a gosh darn blessing.