Our Deepest Fear is Not That we Are Inadequate. Our Deepest Fear is That we Are Powerful Beyond Measure.

We found this video this spring when someone posted it on Facebook. It came at the perfect time for all of us. I think this video speaks to anyone and everyone. It is so powerful. Jake has memorized pieces of it, and says it to himself during tough games. I am posting it on my blog so that we don't lose it. Enjoy, its amazing...

Love

Jodi

As time goes by....

As time goes by, it's very interesting to look back to see how things unfold...

I had my children while I was still quite young - before anyone even really used a digital camera (if I had a scanner, I would scan some pics...). As I sit here, reading my friends & sisters blog about their babies, I smile to remember the times.

My girlfriend Trish has a blog and one of her posts is about how there is 4 new babies right on her block, that her new baby gets to grow up with. I didn't know anyone who had a baby when I had my first...but it sure looks like fun.

My sister, talks on her blog about first teeth, and first foods. This will be Sloan's first hallowe'en (and she has the most adorable baby costume for him). I'm thinking my Jake is soon going to be too old to go out trick or treating.

I flipped from Denise's blog, and Justice playing in the mud, to Trish's blog, to Julie's blog - then back to mine. My kids are big now. 10 years ago, I would've told you I would keep having babies because I enjoy "little" kids so much more than "big" kids. Funny how time changes everything. I wouldn't go back, I've had those years, and smile at the memories, but I am very proud of who my children are becoming (most of the time).

Every age is a challenge and a reward. Every new step is as special as the last. Now, as my kids don't require so much constant supervision, my new challenge is figuring out how to cut the strings... how much to give... how much to hover... Now I have to grow, and find small ways to let go, without letting go...

Thank goodness I still have time, and they are not all grown up yet. And thank goodness I spread them out enough. Many times when Drew gets to the stage that Jake was at 6 years ago, I'm thankful it will be the last time we'll have to do it (diapers, potty training, messy eating etc). Guess that's natures way of helping you let go...

They are so big, and yet still so little. As the time has gone by, its been very interesting...

Lacrosse

Lacrosse was a good time this year. We opted out of spring hockey to go back to box lacrosse. In the end Jake still played some spring hockey with the '99s as they were short kids (which was way fun because the 99's started hit hockey this year).

Jake was a novice this year and Kolt was a tyke. The tyke put through a bunch of rule changes, like no hitting, no real game play, no score keeping etc. Bummer for Kolt.

Luckily, Jake's novice team was always short players as well, so Kolt got to play up with Jake's team quite a bit. That was awesome! It's great to have your kids on the same team! And to watch them play together and look for each other - that's really cool! And Kolt fit right in there. He scored some goals, and made some really big hits. And could out run many of the older kids...

Anyway, the whirlwind lacrosse season came and went without me taking 1 picture! Bad mom! But we did at the very last minute put Jake in the Canada Day tournament. We had never been before, but man it was awesome! The teams were really competitive (one from California!), and the tournament was by far the best run tournament I have ever been to. Activites running ALL day long...awesome. They had professional photographers there, and these were the shots I bought of Jake.

He was MVP the first game. And played awesome in the next 2 as well. He really hit it off with the coach, who said he's watched Jake play lots, and it was an honor to finally get to coach him. Then the coach got ahold of me later, and told me he loves the way Jake plays the game. That kid makes his mom soo proud! What a great kid! Somehow he just knows how to make people fall in love with him. What a great quality.

Love,

Jodi

Calaway Park

Finally we snuck off to Calaway park for a few hours. Thanks to Denise forcing me out of the house. This summer has been so hard. We have been so busy, and the weather has been so crappy, it's been easy to put off doing the fun things, and just keep on keeping on waiting for the sun to shine...



Here is a pic of Justice on the Merry go Round. That kid smiles pretty much all the time :)

And here is Drew on her horse

Drew is a thrill seeker! I'll tell ya, she wants to do "no hands" on every ride. This one wasn't that scary, but we did one that had me holding her the whole time, while she screamed with her hands in the air - that kid is funny!! And a whole lot braver than I am...

Brian showed up briefly while we were there, and he got the boys on this next ride. Then he laughed like crazy knowing Jake would be so scared. It tipped over backwards while spinning around in a circle. Jake did better than we thought. The trip to Disney Land did him good. There is nothing at Calaway Park too daunting for him now!

Here they are coming off the log ride. This is the pic Denise snapped, but the next one I bought from Calaway. You just can't leave a pic with those faces to be thrown away. It's priceless!

This pic emulated Kolt perfectly. He's totally an adrenaline junkie! And the other two have the best faces as well.

We got rained out, and they shut down the rides due to a lightening storm. We were absolutely soaked by the time we left. But all was well, we were doing 2nds of the rides that were favorites by then anyways :)

Love,
Jodi

Mothers Day

At preschool there is always a nice mothers day tea. They make us mommy's feel so special and loved. They have the kids make us gifts, and then do a little concert and present their gifts. After that they serve us tea and snacks. It is very sweet, and have enjoyed it everytime :)



Here is a picture of Drew in the line up waiting to bring me my gift... Isn't she beautiful?

This is a pic Jake took of the both of us after we got home. I'm holding the card she made me...

For my mom this year, Julie organized a photo shoot. Julie and I took our kids for some pictures. They turned out sooo nice. It was such a great idea. Here are the shots...

Love,

Jodi

Welcome to the Family Sloan

He's here! He's here! Reg and Julie had their baby! Sloan Ronald Hanson. Born April 26, 2010 weighing in at 9lbs 2 oz. He's a chunker! But he is sooo precious!

I was going to post just one picture, but when you look at them both, it looks like he's smiling a bit in the 2nd one, so I thought I would post 2!


Isn't he awesome? I was there for it all! I would post the video of the birth too if I thought Julie would let me get away with it. Being present for the birth of new life, is the most amazing experience ever!

Love,
Jodi

Welcome Wade Barry Tebb!

Wade Barry Tebb came into the world by cesarean section on March 18, 2010. We met him shortly after, but I forgot my camera :( He is 2 weeks old in these pictures. He is so sweet, and we love him dearly.



Typical Tebb thing to do :)
Love,

Jodi

Jake turned 10...

Jake turned 10 this year... wow! Every year I think, how am I possibly old enough to have a kid that age, and this year I am saying it again...
10 seems really old. Now his age is double digits for the next 90 years. And just look at him in this picture, he looks big. There is no more little boy there...

It's a great age, and yet it's kind of an awkward age. He doesn't want to go everywhere I go anymore, and yet really he isn't quite old enough to just stay home.
To be honest, I don't want him to just stay home. How is that better than coming with me anyway??

We also moved on from the big birthday party with all of the kids this year. He's just a little too old to have a group of kids bring him a bunch of presents and make a circle around him while he opens them... So he was allowed to invite a few good buddies, and we woul take them to do whatever he wanted. So he invited Jaxon, Dedo, and Rhino and of course Kolt. Dedo was out of town, so I had only the 4 boys. We went go carting and played laser tag. Had some Tom's pizza, and then the boys all stayed over for a couple of nights.

Julie was taking a cake decorating class, so she offered to make Jake a cake. This is it below, it was AWESOME! She picked number 12 for the jersey, because that is typically Jake's number when he plays hockey and those are Pittsburgh Penguin colors, his favorite team.

Sure glad Auntie wants to do those things for my kids. Let's face it, trying to tackle that with 3 kids is a recipe for disaster!!

Love,

Jodi

Kolt at Tournament of Champions 2010

Kolt has had a great year playing hockey! He made the Blue side his first year of Novice. But not only did he make the blue side, he evaluated 3rd overall. Which means out of the 180 or so kids that went through evaluations, he had the 3rd highest score, and he did it as a 1st year. Man that kid is talented - he's so lucky...

Anyway, he tries so hard to be perfect all the time, that his brilliance doesn't show up in every game. But by the end of the year, he really was coming on strong. I took 2 clips from the Tournament of Champions in Sylvan Lake this year. The first one he scores a goal. The second one he drives past a kid on the other team, and scores. It's awesome. He's red and wears number 3.

West Edmonton Mall Tournament

Over the family day long weekend, Jake's Atom Tier 1 team played at West Ed in a tournament. It is very neat to play there, although it is a little bit dreadful at the same time. First, if you have ever been to West Ed on a long weekend, you would understand that there is no parking available at all. So if your game happens to be during mall business hours, you can pretty much count on a parking nightmare.
I did finally follow a lady carrying bags out of the mall, in hopes that she had drove a car and was leaving her parking spot... and then rejoiced as she did indeed walk to a car. However, I then had to wait with my signal light on until she packed all of those bags into her car, had a snack, did her lipstick, talked to her girlfriend about what she bought, phoned her husband and or children and possibly had a nap. I then took her spot after she left only to find myself in the mall where there are hordes of people, while dragging 3 kids and a hockey bag. Slightly challenging to say the least.
However, beyond that, it is kinda neat. The crowd watches, and they cheer for goals, and oh & ah over hits, or missed opportunities...
The photographer they had there was the real hi lite for me. He got some outstanding pictures. Here is a sequence he took of Jake after he scored that was just awesome!

At the time, I said I would never want to go back to that tournament. But now that it's over, I'm actually glad we went. It was something different, and the rink wasn't freezing cold at all. Next time, I might have mom keep my other 2 kids though :)

Love,

Jodi

We missed the torch?!?

So with the 2010 Olympics being in Vancouver, there was much hype and excitement in the area. Airdrie had a huge ceremony to celebrate as the torch passed through. We, unfortunately, missed the celebration due to hockey practice etc. :(




However, the next day the torch was going through Cochrane, so cousin Denise googled the torch map, gave me a call and we met in Cochrane.




The kids and I watched as the torch was passed from one runner to another. Jake was especially dissapointed with the lack of celebration in Cochrane...




So we headed off to McDonald's to meet up with Careen and her kids for lunch. Much to our surprise, in walked a Torch!!!!




I don't know how or why, but we did manage to catch some photo's of all of us with the guy who had the torch (I'm sure he was someone significant, but I have no idea who???). It was neat that the kids got to hold it... it seemed to help with the disappointment :)




This is cousin Careen, with her kids Austin and Kyla

And Denise and Justice

I love how sometimes the most ordinary thing can be turned into something really special.

Love,

Jodi

Kolt turns 8...

Kolt wanted a swimming party this year, so we rented the Holiday Inn and had a party. His friend Austin wanted the same, so we decided to have their birthday together since they have so many of the same friends. I think it turned out really good!

Here is the birthday boy with the cake
Here are the two boys together...

Present time!!

Party boy Cash Dedominicis fell asleep. So cute :)

Love,

Jodi

Drew turns 4!

Drew's birthday party was Princess themed this year. We invited some girls from pre school, had them dress up in princess dresses, and Jake and Kolt played games with them. It was fun!
Here's the cake...
Drew and Luka, watching some of the games...

Cake Time!! Jake decided to dress up as a princess too! What a kid...

Love,

Jodi