Ice Skating

We just completed the fourth ice skating lesson and Hagen is SO comfortable now. He skates (well, marches - it's not really skating yet) by himself and can get up by himself from falling, too. He told me he will skate faster than me and Daddy and I believe him! We're going to continue lessons with Sam starting this weekend.

The last two public skating sessions were on the arena ice at the Event Center and it was really fun. Hagen can point out our seats. Mom and Dad came up to see Hagen skate and Dad joined us on the ice. The last time they saw him attempt to skate he was screaming so this was a nice change. :-)

Our friend Brian came with us to the public skating.

Winter fun

These are pictures from one of Hagen's workbooks that he likes. He traced the letters to spell the color words and I took pictures because, of course, I was really proud of him. :-)

Here are pictures from the big snowfall we had a couple of weeks ago. It was SO pretty and really deep (well, for Texas). Hagen and I went out and played and our neighbors behind us came out to play with us. Hagen wanted to ride his motorcycle in the snow and actually sort of got stuck. We had a great time!

Hagen started ice skating lessons 3 weeks ago with Sam. The first lesson went as I expected; he cried for pretty much the whole thing. Needless to say I didn't really take any pictures. He calmed down toward the end when the coach (her name is Abby and she was really sweet and patient with Hagen) brought him a bucket with toys and let him throw them on the ice. He started out in a toddler class and they suggested he would be better off one-on-one to get him comfortable, so basically he is getting 3 private lessons...with an Ice Angel. I'll take pictures on the last class to post. He's doing MUCH better and seems to be enjoying it now so we are really glad. He has even moved by himself (I don't really say he's skated because they're not actually skating yet - just marching) and has gotten up by himself after falling a couple of times. He doesn't get upset when he falls but sometimes he still needs a hand getting up. It's fun for me, too, because I get to be on the ice with him and skate. After lessons we go to lunch with the Conners and come back for public skating after lunch. I love it! And Hagen seems to love it now, too, which is awesome.

The first picture is Hagen with Abby at the first lesson, and the next two pictures are courtesy of Emily from the second lesson.

Last weekend there was an event for Americans season ticket holders and we went for a little bit. It was a picnic at the apartments where a lot of the players live - across the street from the arena. Hagen was still wearing his snow pants from skating lessons. We met a few of the players including Bruce Graham - he's the one Hagen always pretends to be when we play hockey at home. Hagen also got to meet another Ice Angel and he offered her his potato chips. :-)

The guys had a water balloon tossing contest with some older kids and it was fun to watch.

I promise Hagen loves Mocha...I think...

A few times lately Mocha has left messes of one kind or another somewhere in the house. The other day Hagen sort of scolded her and asked her why she was doing that after I cleaned up a mess. Here is a summary of the end of our conversation:

Me: Honey, I think Mocha is just getting a little older and maybe having some trouble.
Hagen: We should get a new cat.