RIP Bird

We lost our bird to old age December 26th. Ron was with him as he flapped his wings one last time. Rest in peace little bird. Thanks for letting us be your friends at the end.

Merry Christmas from our chaos to yours

Happy Holidays from the Burkovich Family

Snippets of our life in 2009: Ron and Kim celebrated their 20^th wedding anniversary. Ron turned 50. Kyle completed his first year of high school. The puppies turned 4. Kyle got his braces off (too late to make pictures for the Christmas card.) Ron continued playing golf and regularly breaking 80. Kim continued managing Kyle’s hockey team, and enjoying nearly every minute of it. Kyle’s Mustang Bantam A team managed to win SIX tournaments last season (that has to be some sort of record) bringing their total as a group to 13 tournaments over 3 seasons. Snoopy lost weight and gained it all back. Joe remained skinny and a bundle of energy. Snoopy still loves mom’s lap more than any other place to rest. Joe doesn’t rest. Kyle went to summer school to improve his grade in 9^th grade math. Kim did a lot of knitting but is still working on finishing her first sweater. Ron redid the entire front yard (it’s quite beautiful and gives the house so much character.) He also felt inspired to buy a sledgehammer and tear out some of the cool decking by the pool, replacing it with hand-laid pavers. Kyle spent the summer sleeping when he could and skateboarding when he wasn’t sleeping. And making the occasional trips to the ice rink to be sure he could still skate (and mom could cool off.) Ron and Kim took the boat out on Saguaro Lake and had to be towed back in when a water hose burst, flooding the engine compartment. Ron, Kim & Kyle (and two of Kyle’s friends) went up to Heber-Overgaard for a fishing weekend. Turned out it was a very cold weekend, very windy and the fish wouldn’t bite (Ron caught one and Kim caught one.) But we watched the Penguins beat the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals (go Pens!) Hockey season began again in August. Kyle’s hockey team won another regional Silver Stick tourney, garnering them an invitation to the finals in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada in January 2010 (look it up on a map. It’s sure to be a cold trip!) Kim can’t wait to go back to Toronto and finally go up to the glass observation deck of the CN Tower. Kyle’s not so sure. Ron has most of January off for vacation but not the week we go to Canada. Kyle is now a sophomore in high school and looking forward to getting his driving permit in February (eek.) Ron gave Kyle his Toyota pickup which was a great excuse for him to come home in a shiny red Nissan 350Z. Kim is still driving her Pilot. The puppies don’t care which car they get in as long as they get to go somewhere. We put our Christmas tree up two weeks prior to Thanksgiving, but still (as of press date) hadn’t hung any ornaments on it. And with that tidbit, we hope that all of you had an eventful and happy filled year as we have. May your family be blessed with a wonderful 2010.

Love, Ron, Kim, Kyle, Snoopy & Joe

(and the bird who doesn’t talk)

ps – we like the roller coaster

(more than the merry-go-round)

Mustangs Midget Minor Regional Silver Stick Champions

December. Eek.

So, after a visit to Popcorn Served Daily, my friend Lisa's amazingly funny and fun-to-read blog, I realized that I hadn't visited my own blog in weeks. Okay, let's be honest, months. Lisa regularly posts incredible little life tidbits (love the latest on Waterford Crystal and Tamale making.) Why can't I get in the habit of posting regular little tidbits as well? For those of you loyal readers, do not fret. Probably not going to happen in this lifetime. You will still be treated to my random acts of blogness.

December. When did Christmas come so quickly? Our tree is up. Has been since the week prior to Thanksgiving. However, it is bare. Thankfully it is a pre-lit tree. There is one, sad little Starbucks cup ornament hanging on it. The outside of the house is pretty though!

Tonight is the Mustang Midget team sleepover at the ice rink. I'll never understand the reason for calling it a sleepover, as they don't sleep. They eat (10 large pizzas on order, 2 pans of brownies in the oven, and countless snacks coming from other parents.) They play a little hockey. They suit up in all their hockey gear and play football on ice. Mostly they have fun. And take home a few memories for the future. This year, they will be cold. Better them than me.

Kyle will not be attending for the full sleepover this season. He has some odd virus that has caused his spleen to enlarge. Not mono. Some other weird thing. He is out of physical activities for a few weeks to make sure he doesn't rupture said spleen. For some reason we need those things.

School ends this week, and I'm sure parents everywhere are rejoicing. Yay. Kids home for at least two weeks. Yay. The good news is that we don't have to fight over homework. And they can be very useful for carrying in groceries and taking out the trash (which is his job anyway, yet he needs to be constantly reminded. Hmm.)

My knitting is far far behind for the holiday season. Those of you expecting dishcloths for gifts, as always, might see them closer to Valentine's Day this year. Sorry! My experiment with cables (Bella hat and mittens) is taking longer than expected, and as I've seen on the Weather Network, there will be snow in Newmarket when we are there in January (more to follow on that one!)

Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. About an hour north of Toronto. Small town. 7 ice rinks. Hosting the Silver Stick Midget Minor Finals this January. The finals that the boys managed to get an invite to by winning the Dallas Silver Stick regional tourney in October.

Two regionals in 3 seasons is quite an accomplishment. Two regionals at two different levels (Bantam B and Midget Minor A.) Can't wait to see Newmarket. I think it's going to be a bit chilly there this year. And hopefully SNOW!!

Merry Christmas Kyle. Santa is bringing you round trip tickets to Toronto Canada and a stay at the Markham Hilton for Christmas this year! WooHoo!

Snoopy and Joe put in their request for Greenies. Lots of them. Hope Santa Paws comes through.

Kim put in her request for a new bread machine. The last one died (after 10 years) while making a loaf of French bread. Was a bummer, but a shiny new Zojirushi will be under my tree this year (thanks to Sur La Table for having it in stock and to BB&B for not having the Cuisinart one in stock.)

Ron wants socks. He got a shiny red Nissan 350Z this year, so I think socks are in order. Don't you?

And with that I'm putting this edition of Chaos to bed. After all , the title says it all.

The best way to combat evil is to do good.
The best way to fight fear is to be strong.
The best way to ease loneliness is to love.
The best way to grow is to change.
Fight for your life. Tell your stories.
Send your signals to the world.
~Jon Katz

Jon Katz published this on his blog (blog.bedlamfarm.com) this morning and it really hit home for me. Thought I'd share.

Been a crazy few months. I look back that I last posted in August and wonder where September went. Oh.... school, hockey, life. Passes by too quickly sometimes.

Kyle... back in school, and struggling, but only because he doesn't give his best effort. But thankfully overall he's a good kid. He has a new group of school friends this year. He's going to football games and hanging out with them outside school which is nice. Ron and I went to a football game a few weeks back. It had been since high school that I'd been to a high school football game. Was very fun.

Hockey, going well. A big change from previous seasons where we could do it all and win it all. The kids are going to have to work harder and learn to live with some losses this year, but that's not a bad thing. Went 2-2 in the Labor Day tourney. Went 2-2 in the IceBreaker Tourney. Off to Dallas next weekend for the Silver Stick tourney. Kyle still loves playing, I still love managing.

Dogs... Ron drained the pool and they both seem devastated by the loss of their giant water dish. We're running again in the mornings (thank you Mother Nature for finally turning down the thermostat!) They love their morning runs. There is a Border Collie we see occasionally, Zach, who loves to play with them. We also have two Australian Shepherds we see fairly frequently. They do love the play time.

Snoopy is not feeling 100% right now. He has a vet visit tomorrow to check things out. Needs his 6 month Valley Fever titer test and maybe a round of blood work just to be sure things are in order.

Joe is Joe. Absolutely freaking nuts and thankful that the monsoon was rather mild this year.

Ron... in training this weekend. Last time in the 737. This time next year he should be flying the Airbus. I think he's looking forward to the change.

Me... Life goes on as it always does. Running the dogs, doing the laundry, driving to hockey. The mom life doesn't change much.

Did I mention?

It's hockey season. So far, 3 games played. 1-1-1. Beat Peoria U16A/AA, tied Team AZ Bantam AAA, lost to CAHA U16AA. All 3 good games. The kids are playing well together and seem to have bonded quite well, considering all the new kids this year. We have several 1993s who returned after a year of high school hockey too.

Not much planned for this season yet. Labor Day tourney here. Ice Breaker tourney here in Sept as well. Silver Stick in Dallas in October. Silver Stick will determine the rest of our season's plans.

Kyle seems to be liking it. He has a new linemate - Jared. They seem to like playing together (at least Kyle says they do) and seem to play well together. It's a change since last season he finished out the season playing with Steven, Eric & Josh. But so far so good. Kyle had a beautiful goal in the game against Peoria last Thursday and had some stellar shifts last night against CAHA.

Again, it's the start of the season. More to come!

thankfully.....

school starts tomorrow. Summer has actually been pretty fun, and though we had the hottest July on record, June was nice and last night we sat out on the Swansons front patio all evening. So we can't complain about the weather this year. Not much anyway.

Hockey is back in almost full swing. Two practices a week. Tournament in a month. Lots of emails, lots of paperwork.

Ron has most of August off - vacation!

Kyle is NOT looking forward to schoolwork, but he is looking forward to seeing his friends tomorrow. I think even for kids, it's nice when the routine gets back to normal.

I am looking forward to cooler weather, running outside with my dogs, and wearing jeans. Okay, maybe I'm two months premature on all of those. It still is August here, and the a/c usually doesn't go off for good until October. But a girl can wish.

What kind of blogger am I?

May 9th? Last post was May 9th? Ugh. Gotta get on it.

Summer has arrived here in Gilbert, after a LOVELY June, we're getting the June temps now. Guess that means the monsoon will arrive sometime in August, and likely we'll have the a/c on well into October this year. Gotta pay for that wonderful June weather.

We did a maiden voyage with the boat back in June. Got about halfway back on the lake when we blew a main water hose.

Some really nice people towed us back to the dock. Had to hand load the boat back onto the trailer and head down to the marine repair we use. Ordered a new hose. All is well now.

Took the boat out on 7/5 to Roosevelt Lake with the Swansons. It was such fun. Tied the boats together and floated in the water for hours.

Captain Ron at the helm of the Burkovich boat

The look you get when you try to take too many pictures of your teenager.

These were my adorable 4th of July toes that were ruined once I went waterskiing.

This was the other teenage boy on the trip, the birthday boy, Steven.

We skiied, wakeboarded, tubed, swam, ate, drank and had a really great time. Unfortunately Roosevelt is 90 minutes away, up several steep passes that Ron's truck didn't enjoy. Otherwise I could see myself there EVERY week. My sunburned shoulders might disagree.

In other belated news....

Kyle ended up with a B in math during summer school. It was a long 4 weeks for him, but he did well, and mom is proud. He never whined once.

Snoopy and Joe are thoroughly enjoying that Ron took down all the fencing in the backyard, so now they can swim whenever they please. Mom is not enjoying all the water on the floors all the time. Fair warning - watch your step when you visit.

Ron has been enjoying lots of time off (actually called "reserve" days.)

So far a good summer had by all.

Saturday, May, already.

School ends in just about 2 more school weeks. Summer is here (we're now over 100 every day.) Going to be too hot to run daily soon enough. Dogs are swimming every day again.

We had our nice two weeks off from hockey, but have tryouts starting the 15th. Midgets. I don't know when Kyle grew up and became a midget. That's the final step in youth hockey. Become a midget and when you're done with that, you're done.

Thanks to the hockey playoffs, my knitting has become prolific! I am working on slippers for Ron (new target completion date - Father's Day,) my wrap cardigan in orange cotton, and a Mustang team color scarf in the hopes that Kyle will make the team next season.

Ron spent his entire vacation working on our front yard. It's quite beautiful. He built a courtyard off our patio, complete with a fire pit. It's a nice place to sit and enjoy the currently comfortable evenings in front of a fire. We planted two new trees - an ornamental plum and a little leaf ash. 5 new potato bushes with pretty purple flowers. He built an amazing walkway to my front door and lined it with blue salvia, which hopefully will tolerate the brutal summers (the garden lady said they would.) My early Mother's Day gift was a lovely fountain. Pictures coming.

Unbelievable

Those Mustang players truly are unbelievable. They finished out their regular season with a league championship. Last weekend they played in a higher level tourney (Bantam Open which is A/AA/AAA.) Would you believe they actually WON? They are an amazing, talented, hard-working group of kids who know how to turn on the heat when they need to. Congrats to every one of them for an incredible, six tourney win season.

Sonoran League Champs 2009

Grand Canyon State Champions

Wow. What else is there to say?

Bantam A Mustangs.

Wins in the 2008-9 season:

Labor Day Tourney
Thanksgiving Tourney
MLK Tourney
President's Day Tourney
and finally, they were the 3rd place seed and WON the Sonoran League/Grand Canyon State Games tourney over the Utah Grizzlies (the number one seed.) Arizona State Champions!!!

It's been one heck of a season. Congrats.

2009 Mark Whyte Memorial Champs

Cardiac Kids strike again

So another hockey weekend has ended. The Mustangs played in the 2009 Mark Whyte Memorial Tournament in Las Vegas. It was a fun weekend. Stayed at the Suncoast Hotel & Casino, which had lots of stuff to keep the kids and parents entertained. The kids bowled, the parents gambled. Everyone hung out in Fridays to watch the Cardinals rock the Eagles. Go Cards!!!

Somewhere in-between all that there were some hockey games played. First game was a 1-0 loss to Colorado Hockey Club. Tough game, one quick goal at the end sealed the deal. Next up was Greeley. The Mustangs made short work of that game, winning 10-3. Kyle even had 2 in that one! Saturday night was a late one, as we had a late start on Sunday. The kids stayed up bowling and hanging out until midnight. The parents, a bit later :-)

Sunday's first game wasn't until 3:15pm, but the Mustangs came out to win, beating the Pasadena Maple Leafs 7-1, Kyle had another goal. Then we had a bit of a wait for the last game at 8:45pm. Would the kids be too tired to make it? Nah. The coach asked them to lay off a bit as we were already guaranteed a spot in the finals with our previous win. Even though the kids played at about half-speed, they still beat Mission Arizona 4-1. Only one to go.

Monday morning came far too early with a game start of 9am. The Colorado Hockey Club came out strong with a 1-0 lead in the first. 2-0 at the end of the second. With 11:30 to go in the final game, we scored, however the goal was waved off because the net was off. I think that turned the tide for our kids. They were mad and scored again 30 seconds later. And again. And again. Now we're up 3-2 in a matter of minutes and they're parents have been silenced. With 1:46 to go Colorado pulled their goalie. Josh K redeemed himself from a previous tourney and actually got the empty net goal this time. Now we're up 4-2. Goalie back in. We score once more to seal the deal with a 5-2 win. Unbelievable.

In the 3 years we've played on this team, plus and minus a few players, we have made it to 10 championship games in tourneys and won them all. Not easily - we've had shootouts and overtimes to survive - but we've won them all. There have been tourneys we haven't gotten there, but it seems if we can get there, the kids can make it happen. You have to give all the credit to the kids and the coaches for persevering.

Way to go Mustangs. That's banner #3 for this season.