Tough Life Lessons

They say that god only gives you what you can handle and lately he has been testing our patience quite a bit. Almost two weeks ago we had a wind storm that blew off our roof in 9 spots...9 spots. This should not happen to a 3 year old house, but we have come to find out that our builder did not put on the correct shingles for a house on top of the largest hill in all of Watertown. You trust people and think they have your best interest at heart, but come to find out they don't and then you are in for a huge mess. It's been a stressful couple of weeks AND THEN...we got another wind storm even worse yesterday and we added two more spots to the missing roof. We are learning huge life lessons during all of this. We need to ask more questions and to be much more aware of every single decision that we make in life. The good news is that we found a very highly recommended roofer who has been amazing. His company tarped the 9 areas last week and came back today to tarp the newest additions to the shingle graveyard. We can go away now and not stress about the roof leaking into our house. We are currently working with our home owners insurance and hope to move forward with a new roof on the back and sides in the month of May. A roof that can withstand high winds and lower my stress level into the future.  

 Yesterday when this was happening and we were all home I was almost in tears. Watching the shingles fly off and hearing the flapping on the roof just about sent me over the edge.

This too shall pass...

Positivity in our future.

Mohawk Valley Elite Tournament

This weekend we travelled to Utica to watch Seth's bulldog team play against some crazy hard, yet very talented teams from the Utica area.

Seth is absolutely loving making new friends and they have all become close friends so quickly. It's like they have known each other forever.

After the first two games on Saturday we checked into the hotel and headed to the brewery tour at Saranac. The kids have a love/hate relationship with the amount of breweries we visit. The tour was very interesting and we all learned a ton about the company and how beer is made. We particularly learned that beer is stinky during parts of the process. The kids expressions were priceless.

Their reward for the bad smells in the brewery.

Roland talked about wanting to go to this brewery for weeks and I'm so happy we could make his dreams come true.

After some swim time we headed to dinner with three other team families.

We are really enjoying making some new friends. Joining Victory has been a great experience.

Winter Session II Tournament Weekend

This weekend was the last time that Seth will ever play soccer at the Y on a Saturday. He is now done with U12 at the Y and will be U14 next year. Goodness time flies...

 The first game in the tournament was against the Watertown FC 5/6 team. Seth's team won 6-0, but it was great to see all of those boys together on the field.

 Seth had to play against his BFF Cole and you could see their smiles and banter on the field. When we move outdoors in a month they will be on the same team. Yay.

 Their teacher Mrs. V came to watch them play too. She is beyond kind.

 I didn't take any pics of the second game, but Seth's team beat Storm B and advanced to the finals against their rival buddies the Watertown FC 5th grade team.

Seth's team came back for redemption this session. Last session the 5th grade team beat them in the finals and this session they came back and won 3-0. It was a high intensity game. Such an amazing group of boys who have grown so much as players this year and more importantly as friends.

 Watertown FC 6th grade team champions 

 Leah's team is still learning the ropes and weren't too successful this session, but they got out there and hustled each and every game. Plus they were so stinking cute.

Spring has bypassed NNY at this point, but my Gramp gave us some beautiful hyacinths to trick us into thinking it is spring. Thank heavens for small favors.

Easter Weekend

 A great big THANK YOU to Aunt Becky & John Budd for the amazing candy delivery this past week. We love our fun care packages from the YOLO Candy Company and we truly appreciate the thought.

 On Saturday Seth's new team had a little set of  round robin games in the afternoon. They played a team from St. Lawrence County as well as a local team. They won both games, but not without a ton of effort. It was very fun to watch.

 Roland tried his hand at being crafty with Leah on Saturday night. They tried a new technique in coloring Easter eggs. They turned out super pretty.

 Sunday morning the kids went on the hunt for their Easter baskets.

 We had some Snapchat fun.

 We hosted Easter dinner for the first time and it turned out delicious.

 We even turned some of the family members into hiding spots for the egg hunt.

Today marks my grandparents 70th anniversary. It is truly a momentous occasion.