Two Little Monkeys

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

I know this is a little late. But whatever. We've been busy. We had a really fun New Year's Day. We don't do much for New Year's Eve. The kids were in bed by their normal time, and Hubby and I just played on our respective computers until about two minutes before midnight, when we turned on the TV and watched the ball drop in NYC, gave each other a quick kiss, and then went to bed.

New Year's Day, on the other hand, we had big plans. We took the kids skiing for the first time this season. This is Connor's third year skiing, but Tyler's first. We took him on one mini run on a practice hill last year, but that doesn't really count. This year he got to ride the lift, and ski down a full run. He did awesome. By the end of the day, he was beat, but wanted to go again. And again. he was pretty bummed when the lift closed and we had to leave. Connor did awesome too, and even did a couple of runs without using the harness. I'm so proud of them.

Waiting his turn

Tyler's first time on a lift!

Hi Mommy!!

Waiting his turn to ski.

Making some (assisted) turns.

Christmas

2011-12-28T21:39:00.002-07:00

It's that time of year again. I love Christmas, I really do. I love the cooking and the shopping and the crafts and the music. I just don't have enough time to do everything I'd like to, so I sometimes feel down on the holiday because I start to feel stressed. But if I'm honest with myself, I really do like it.

This year my gift making started in September with a trip to the berry farm. The boys and I picked a ton of raspberries, and a few strawberries. I also bought some fresh Western Slope peaches. The next day I turned them all into jam, and ventured into my first foray into canning. It's surprising how easy it is! I ended up with a ton of raspberry jam, and several smaller jars of strawberry and peach jam. I also, over the next few weeks as my tomatoes ripened, made an amazing bruschetta. OMG, this stuff is so good. Too bad my tomatoes were all so small, or I'd have made a literal ton of it, it's that good. Rounding out the batch, I made some of the Pioneer Woman's Cranberry Pomegranate sauce. Tasty stuff.

Anyway, I made these with the intention of giving them as gifts. I picked up a few small baskets at Jo Ann Fabric, popped a couple of jars into the basket, and voilà, homemade gifts, ready to go.

The kids also did handmade gifts this year. We made cinnamon ornaments. I don't think I took any pictures of them (bad, i know!) but they smell amazing, and look really pretty. After they'd dried for a few days, the kids decorated them with glitter, pipe cleaners and pom-poms. I think we might skip the pom-poms next time, they don't stick so well, and the kids get a little overzealous with them.

We also did homemade gifts for their classmates. We (always) have too many crayons floating around the house, so I got a couple of silicon candy molds, and we broke the crayons down, and made cute little gift crayons to give out. We also included some chocolate kisses and candy canes. The kids in their classes really enjoyed the gifts, though the kids in Tyler's class tried to eat their crayons.

The process was a bit messier than I expected though. If you ever decide to try this, cutting the crayon's wrapper with a knife beats picking the paper off with your fingers by a long way. The knife also made breaking the crayons up a lot easier too.

The kids had their annual holiday party at school. It wasn't the best organized one I've ever been to, but they seemed to have fun. Connor was VERY excited to sing carols.

The kids also got to visit with the Big Guy and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Connor was excited for the opportunity, Tyler just thought he was scary.

I spent a lot of time researching local photographers and photo studios, so that we could get a family portrait done, but after a while I gave up, and ran outside while the kids were playing in the snow to snap a couple of fun pictures of them for our cards. Hubby helped with this session by making faces over my shoulder to get the kids laughing. Couldn't have done it without him. I think the pics came out adorable.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun. The boys got up early, but not too early. They knew that they were allowed to open their stockings, but had to wait until Hubby and I were up for the day to get into anything else. Thanks to this, we got to sleep in until about 7:00, I believe. Not bad for Christmas morning.

Connor got the gift he'd asked for the most, a "real" guitar. Actually, he'd wanted a whole band of instruments (the drums most of all) but Santa decided it would be best if he focused on just one thing at a time. He's loving the new guitar, though we've had a few broken e-strings already. Doesn't ~~help~~ matter that neither of his parent's know how to play.

Tyler's big gift from Santa was a bunch of new wooden train tracks for his Thomas set. He was so THRILLED when he opened that gift, that I knew ~~we'd~~ Santa had picked the right gift for him. The next day Hubby ran out and bought three more boxes of track too, so we're up to our ears in wooden railways. We've come up with some pretty fun routes for the trains.

~~Hubby~~ The kids got me these gorgeous earrings. They are very pretty. I can't wait to wear them.

~~Hubby~~ The kids got Hubby a big Lego set. Sometimes' I'm quite certain he's just an overgrown 12-year-old.

And I'll end with a gratuitous shot of sugar. Don't ask about the elephants, I can't really explain that, except that the kids saw one of our zoo cookie cutters, and insisted on using it. Ah, well. Merry Christmas, hope yours was bright!

Through Tyler's Eyes: Wings Over the Rockies

2011-12-11T21:05:00.001-07:00

Today Hubby took the boys to the Wings Over the Rockies Museum. It's a small local airplane museum. The kids had a great time, and so did Hubby (he loves that kind of stuff. Me, notsomuch.)

Tyler took his kids camera with him, and was a regular little shutterbug. Might be in the genes, no? Here's a few of his better (more recognizable) shots.

A Visit from Nonna

2011-12-08T20:48:00.001-07:00

Hubby's sister, Aunt Nonna, came to visit us Connor and Tyler for Connor's birthday. Last year, Connor has asked her if she could come to his birthday party, but she was unable to. She told him that she would love to come for it this year, however. And when Nonna makes a promise to her boys, she follows though. They're really lucky to have such a loving aunt.

We had a great time visiting with her. Nonna came to swimming lessons with us, and even got in the pool with Tyler and me. Later that day was Connor's party, and she was an absolute lifesaver for me. It was so nice to have the extra set of hands to help out. I hadn't really wanted to have the party at our house, it's very small, and the clean up both before and after is arduous for such a short period of time. But all my other options fell though, and Connor said he'd prefer to have it at home anyway, so we did that.

We lucked out again, and had beautiful weather for the party (not always a given in Colorado in November), so the kids were able to run around in the backyard,

We left the leaves unraked intentionally, so that the kids could run and jump in them.

The next day the kids and I took Nonna to the Zoo. We had a great time. The weather was chilly, so the crowds were minimal, and the animals were...feisty. Let's just say there was quite a lot of love in the air that day!

Little stinker-bug here went into this cave and refused to come out. I had to pull the old, "OK, bye!" maneuver to get him to come out on his own. Stinker.

He's Five!

2011-11-15T14:44:00.001-07:00

Connor turned five last week. FIVE. How is that possible? It feels like it's gone by so quickly. But in the same heartbeat, it feels as though it's always been this way. As though, how could it only be five years? I honestly cannot remember what it was like to not know him. To not love him. To not have him in my life, and see his shining smile every day. His smile is the best smile. It lights up his whole face, and the room. Take a look down there in that picture. How can you not smile at that smile? I'm so proud of him. He's a great kid. Smart, and sweet and thoughtful. He loves puzzles and numbers (like his mama) and loves to ski (like his daddy). He's a great bike rider already. He's sensitive too, which can be both good and bad. He loves to snuggle and be held. But he's also quick to tantrums and whining, which I suppose is pretty on-par for a five-year-old. A five-year-old. I still need to get my brain around that.

On Quantium Mechanics

2011-11-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

In my chemistry class last night, we finally lit upon something that I haven't been exposed to before: quantum mechanics. My mind was blown. I was dumbfounded. My world was rocked. Here's a quick overview from look4chemistry about the basics:

The theory of quantum mechanics explains the behaviour of particles in the atomic and subatomic realms. These particles include photons (particles of light) and electrons. Since the electrons of an atom determine many of its chemical and physical properties, quantum mechanics is foundational to understanding chemistry.

Among these behaviors is that an electron can be in two places at the same time. Another is that there is an area near the nucleus of an atom where the electron is statistically never going to be. Yet, somehow, the electron goes across that gap, called a node. Just...blink... one instant it's in one spot, the next it's in another. It's not fast, it just...pop...changes location. Or it's it both locations. At the same time. I had a hard time sleeping last night while I attempted to get my mind around this idea. It's really no wonder that even Einstein had his doubts about it. And I think I get the premise of Quantum Leap a little more now too.

"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it." Niels Bohr

Now, I realize that I probably sound really silly and naïve to someone who actually knows something about quantum mechanics. In fact, I actually look forward to reading this again down the road, as I learn more, and laughing at myself. I'm just so intrigued. And fascinated. And amazed. I want to know more. I can't wait to learn more. This is what learning, what science, is all about. The quest for knowledge.

Weekend Adventures - The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-25T21:39:00.000-06:00

This weekend the weather was perfect. Cool and crisp in the morning, sunny and warm (but not hot) in the afternoon.

Tyler started antibiotics on Friday, for a minor infection from a cut on his big toe. He's supposed to get 3mL, three times a day. and, being the ever diligent mother I am, I double checked the dosage several times to be sure I had it right. Once confirmed, I poured it out for him. He was so excited to have some medicine of his very own, that he dutifully drank the three spoonfuls I provided him, three times a day. Just after I gave him his dose for Saturday morning, Hubby pointed out to me that the top of the spoon is 10 mL, and NOT 1.0 mL as I had read it! Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.

I had just overdosed my baby on antibiotics!!!!!

I called the pediatrician's office, which usually has a nurse line where you can ask for help. But the nurse line is closed on Saturdays. I frantically called back two or three times, hoping that maybe it just opened a bit later, but no dice. Finally I hit option #1 to make an appointment. I was pretty sure we didn't need to bring him in, but I wanted - needed - ~~someone to talk me off the ledge~~ to ask someone what I should do. I lucked out and got an RN who happened to be working the appointment line that morning. She cautioned me that she wouldn't be able to go into all the standard protocols that she would on a weekday, but agreed to hear what was going on. I explained the situation, and after a pregnant pause, she replied, "I'm going to have to go ask a provider about this one." Did I mention "gulp"?

She came back to explained that Tyler was going to be fine and didn't need to be seen. We weren't to give him any more medicine that day, and resume the correct dose on Sunday. She was very, very sweet, and commented that the doctor was mostly impressed that I'd been able to get Tyler to actually take that much of it. But, like I said, he was happy to have some medicine of his very own.

So, knowing that I didn't need to have my baby's stomach pumped (but that we would have to load him up on yogurt and probiotics to minimize any other antibiotic 'side-effects') we headed out to the pumpkin patch we've been visiting every year since Connor was a baby. It's about 45 minutes east of us, and a nice little place. They have a corn maze and farm animals, hay rides and a barrel train. Plus all the typical farm equipment, which is a little boy's heaven. The owner of the farm also has his own pumpkin air cannon. They supplied the pumpkins for the Colorado Punkin Chunkin contest, for which Hubby and his best friend have a trebuchet (that story should have been in the Weekend Adventures from a few weeks ago!)

The owner invited the guys to bring their machine out to the pumpkin patch and throw a few pumpkins for the crowd. All went well until one misfired and went backwards. It's always a little scary to see a pumpkin go flying toward a crowd. I'm not the religious sort, but I started praying in that moment that no one would get hurt. Thankfully, no one was. It missed the large building and all the people eating lunch outside of it.

Aside from that mishap, we had a really good time. The boys spent a lot of time on the toy tractors that were scattered around the grounds. There was a remote controlled car club there doing a tractor pull type of thing. They hooked the tractor Connor was riding up to their sled, and had Connor pull it down their track. He was so excited, and declared that the most fun he had that day. Connor wore his Halloween costume, and was thrilled whenever anyone greeted him with a, "hello, Bumblebee!" (from Transformers). The boys and I also got well and truly lost in the corn maze. We did manage to find the middle, but we were all getting hot and tired after that, so we snuck out through one of the corn rows and called it a day. Shhhh, don't tell anyone we cheated, OK?

Through Tyler's Eyes - The Zoo

2011-10-15T22:47:00.000-06:00

After swimming class this morning, Connor and Tyler asked me if we could go tot he zoo. Swimming is pretty early in the morning, so we had plenty of time to go. And since we haven't been there in a while, and had nothing else planned (ignoring the massive piles of laundry), I said sure.

Tyler asked if he could bring along the kids' Vtech Kidzoom (no, I didn't get paid to mention the brand) camera, again, I said sure. He was so excited to "take piktrures da am-ma-mals". So, I thought I'd share a few of the better ones. Or at least the ones that don't make me dizzy.

Zebras

The back half of a giraffe

And the front half

A peacock! Over there, on the right.

Sea lions

Coi pond

Horseshoe crab

Mudskippers

Tyler's feet

Sting ray

Weekend Adventures - Thomas the Tank Engine

2011-09-29T16:09:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, it's not Monday. So sue me. :P This past weekend we had a great time visiting with my mom (from here on known as Nana) who came into town for the weekend. It was so wonderful to see her. It's been too long. The kids were excited to have her here. I picked her up at the airport, then we picked the kids up at school together. Connor saw her and ran across the room, full-bore, and leaped into her arms for a hug. No, he's not a snuggler or anything.

On Saturday morning we hit the road for a secret adventure. We didn't tell the boys, but we were going to see Thomas the Tank Engine, in real life. Tyler is a big Thomas fan, and Connor still likes it somewhat too. We told the boys to try and guess where we were going. Connor figured it out as we drove past the entrance to the train museum.

We had to park about a mile down the road, and then catch a big bus back up to the museum. We had tickets to ride on Thomas at 10:45, and we arrived at 10:09. We figured we'd make it just in time. We had to go through all the usual pre-adventure routines of putting on sunscreen and hats (Nana got the boys matching Day Out with Thomas conductor hats!). By the time we'd done all that, and walked to the bus line, it was 10:35!

I started to worry that we wouldn't make our train. I started to worry that we wouldn't be able to take the kids on a train ride if we missed ours. The thought made me almost cry. It broke my heart to think that my boys might have to face that disappointment...all because I got us there late! But...BUT, thankfully, the folks working there, almost all of them volunteers at the museum, were so nice. And we weren't the only ones who arrived late and missed our train. They said not to worry, they'd make sure we got on, and changed our tickets to stand-by tickets for the next train. And if there wasn't room on that one, the one after it. And, as it turned out, the folks taking tickets as we boarded weren't exactly checking that we had tickets for the right train anyway. So it all worked out.

After riding the train, we decided to explore the museum grounds, where Connor gave me the biggest scare of my life. They have a big outdoor model train exhibit, and several acres of real live old trains to explore. You can climb into some of them, and just look into others. As we were walking around the front end of a steam engine (I think), to look at the model trains, I was distracted by Tyler, and Nana and I both lost sight of Connor in the big crowds.

It happened so suddenly, so fast. One second he was right there with us, the next...gone. I tried not to panic, and had Nana hold Tyler while I started darting around, yelling Connor's name in increasing volume, and increasing panic. Finally I spotted him on the far side of the model train set area. I shouted his name and ran to get him. He seemed a little puzzled that I was so upset. And it wasn't until I had him back in my arms that I realized just how panicked I'd been. I held him so close to me, and fought back the tears.

Then, we had a loooooong talk about always staying nearby, and not walking off. And we made sure that we held hands anytime we were in a big crowd - which we usually do anyway, but I made more of a point of it after that little incident.

That didn't stop Connor from disappearing again as we climbed down from another train. He'd run ahead to climb the next set of stairs to look inside the next train, and we couldn't see him when we emerged from the first train. We had another long talk, and this time I think it sunk in a little better, because he didn't wander off again. Instead he started pointing out to me that he was right beside me. <3

It was a long and tiring day - but fun. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's little one is a Thomas fan.

Another visitor

2011-09-20T11:59:00.003-06:00

I've posted before here and here about some unusual visitors we've had in our yard. This is a new one though. I haven't been able to look up much good information about this little guy (girl?) Apparently there are about 30 varieties of leaf bugs, and all are members of the Phasmida family of insects. Walking sticks are as well. They eat laves, so I'm not sure I want to welcome this critter into my garden, but it sure is neat to look at.

And later that day...

2011-09-17T11:56:00.001-06:00

We discovered the other thing that happens when you wash a "surface wash only" stuffed toy. The stuffing clogs your washing machine and floods the basement.

Poor Little Wolfy

2011-09-16T15:33:00.001-06:00

If you've ever wondered what would happen if you washed a stuffed animal labeled "surface wash only" in the washing machine...now you know.

Weekend Adventures - Berry Picking

2011-09-12T16:16:00.000-06:00

I've decided to try and do a weekly post each Monday about our adventures over the weekend. Maybe this will help motivate me to keep up with blogging. Maybe at some point I'll even turn this into a link-up (because I'd love to see what others are up to, and get some more ideas for my little clan).

This past weekend the boys and I went berry picking at a local farm. They grow mostly berries - strawberries and raspberries - but they also grow a variety of veggies, herbs and flowers as well. They only let you pick your own for certain select items (such as the berries) but they harvest and sell the other items in their barn-converted-to-a-store every day. I honestly wish this farm were a little closer to home, because I'd go every week.

We had a ton of fun picking the berries. Granted I did most of the work, but that's OK. The boys ate a good deal more than I should have allowed them, but... I think that's OK too. It felt good to get out in the field and work with the plants. There's something very soothing to me about working in a garden. I always feel so Zen'd out after working like that. I guess it's a good part of the reason why I consider myself an earth-centered pagan, albeit a non-practicing one.

When we first arrived, we met this goat near the parking lot. It was amazingly friendly. It came over and stuck its silly head through the wire fence and begged to be scratched. I've been to plenty of petting zoos, and while most of the animals will tolerate being pet, this was the first goat I'd even met that actually wanted it. It was very sweet and very friendly. There were a number of other animals on the farm too, a great big pot-bellied pig whom we met while she was lying under the table where they handed out the berry picking baskets, several chickens and roosters running around the barnyard, and a turkey. Apparently there were also a handful of barn cats wandering around too, though we didn't see any of them.

We (I) worked for several hours filling basket after basket of fresh fruit. We were only allowed two containers of strawberries, because they don't have a high yield this year, but we could pick as many raspberries as we wanted. That was fine with me, since I adore raspberries.

We started in the strawberry field, which was a short tractor ride(!) away. The field was pretty picked over and finding good fruit was hard. About halfway done I looked over at Tyler who was making a face. "Are you pooping?" I asked. He nodded. Ugh. He's been in underwear for weeks now, but simply will.not.poop on the toilet. Instead he'll do it in his underwear in the middle of a strawberry field a tractor's ride(!) away from the nearest bathroom. I made the executive decision to finish filling the strawberry baskets up. The tractor wasn't back yet anyway. When we returned to the barn, I made Tyler ride the tractor standing up, which he - of course - thought was a treat. Sigh. Anyway, I got him cleaned up (and decided to just toss the yucky underwear) and we hit the raspberries bushes.

I'd forgotten that raspberry bushes are thorny, and I was very glad that I'd remembered to bring my gardening gloves with me. It made picking so much less painful. The poor kiddos were pretty bored and tired by the time I was done filling the baskets. I tried to entice Connor into picking and filling the baskets with me, but he and Tyler decided that ~~fighting over~~ playing with the wagon I brought was more appealing. After all was said and done, we came home with two quarts of strawberries, and eight pints of raspberries. Plus peaches, zucchini bread, shallots (for a bruschetta recipe), and some fresh picked green beans from the store. Yum. Seriously, I'd go here all the time if it were closer.

I made jam out of all the fruit on Sunday, which was my first experience canning. I loved it. Hubby took the boys with him on an adventure of their own, allowing me time and space to figure the whole canning thing out. Now that I've done a few batches of jam, I feel comfortable letting the boys help me with the next batches. I bought some fresh western slope peaches at the farm (not grown there, but imported from Western Colorado, an area known for amazing peaches) and I think we'll make those into jam sometime this week.

Rembering

2011-09-11T13:00:00.002-06:00

"Blubbering in the baking aisle at the grocery store when they asked for a moment of silence in remembrance of the attacks of 10 years ago today, left me with the realization that the pain is still very close to the surface, the anger, the hurt, and the confusion. It feels like yesterday.

Be kind to each other, please. Even if you disagree, please, just be kind."

The above is my Facebook status from a few minutes ago. I'd thought long and hard about doing a 9/11 post on this blog. About what to say, and how to say it. I'm not a writer by nature. Some people write blogs because they have something to say. I do a blog to share photos of the kids with our extended family. So I'm still unsure of what to say here, except that I seem to have a burning desire to say something.

I remember the events of 9/11/2001 like it was yesterday. I was 24 years old, working on an internal helpdesk, resetting people's passwords and whatnot. Hubby and I had been dating for a couple of months, and worked together. I had purchased my first ever new-ish car from a dealership a few weeks earlier, a 2000 Jeep Wrangler, and it actually had a CD player in it! A first for me. When the first plane hit, I was driving to work, blasting Blues Traveler on my shiny new CD deck. I first heard the news when I walked into our cubicle area, and someone said that a plane had hit the World Trace Center. I assumed, like most people at that time, that it was a small place. A traffic plane, or personal jet or something. Big news, but certainly not the horror it turned out to be.

I logged onto my computer, and started trying to access various news sites to find out what was going on. Most of them were so overwhelmed with traffic that they were inaccessible. One person on our team had managed to get onto one news site, and reported that a second place had just crashed into the other tower. There were also unconfirmed reports of a third plane hitting the Pentagon, but we didn't know for sure. My heart sank as I began to realize that there was no way that this was an accident.

We had a couple of TVs in our area, used for monitoring various IT systems, and we asked to change one of them to a news program. We were denied until after the first tower fell. Once that happened, the TV was switched. A pretty large crowd gathered in our area, as we had the only TVs. I remember how surreal it was to continue to take phone calls while this was going on, resetting passwords so that CSRs could log in and begin their shifts. It seemed so wrong to have business continue as usual. It was a giant elephant in the room on all of those calls.

After watching in horror the smoke billowing from the remaining tower, I watched live as the second tower collapsed. I remember standing there in shock, hands over my mouth, saying "No! No no no no!" All I could think of were how many people were probably still inside. All those people. I have family who are NYC police officers, were they OK? What the hell was going on!?

Somewhere along the way we got confirmation of the plane that hit the Pentagon, as well as Flight 93 that went down in Pennsylvania. I knew what had happened on that plane long before any news reports came out. I heard that it crashed in a field, and I just knew that the people on board had acted to stop the terrorists. I remember feeling a rising sense of pride and gratefulness, knowing that they had done that. Good. Good job. Well done. Rest in Peace.

The workday continued, business as usual, which just felt so wrong to me at the time. I guess it still does, but it also makes sense. We were a TV provider, and people were using their TVs to watch the events unfold live. We did our part to ensure that people were able to do that. So, while I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide and cry, I know now that management's decision at the time was the right one.

I remember getting home that afternoon. I walked into my apartment, dropped my bags on the floor, grabbed both my cats and sat on the floor, hugging them and crying. It was the first time that I'd been able to cry that day. After a bit, I went over to Hubby's place, and we watched the news together. We touched the whole time. Not holding hands or snuggling, just foot-to-foot, or leg-to-leg. It seemed we both needed that physical human contact. I know I did.

I remember watching President Bush's speech that night, and feeling very proud of him. It was a good speech, it gave me hope. I shocked Hubby when I - peace-loving, hippie-girl - told him that I'd gladly pull the trigger myself if I happened upon Osama Bin Ladin. A name I hadn't ever heard before that day. Such was my rage and hatred of the man who had been the mastermind of this horror.

When I got back to my apartment, I logged onto my computer to check in with a few online friends. I finally got in touch with one friend whom I was most concerned about. He had lived in Manhattan until recently, when he had moved to Long Island. But he hadn't checked in all day, and I was worried about him.

I was able to chat online with him that evening, and it turned out that he had been there when the planes hit. He was on the ground outside the twin towers. He sprained his ankle running from falling debris. He was one of the only people who were treated at the nearby hospital. He told me about how eerie it was. The docs and nurses all scrambled to be there to provide triage support to injured victims, but there were so few of those that the medical personnel were left standing around. So many people had died.

He told how his parents had had to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to come get him, and then push him back across it in a wheelchair.

I stayed up late that night, chatting with friends online. I couldn't sleep. I was afraid to sleep. I just knew that the nightmares would start if I did. In the days the followed, I had shocking and frightening waking fantasies, where I was convinced that if I opened my front door, there would be armed terrorists waiting to capture me. I fought my way through those, and eventually they stopped occurring. I also stayed at Hubby's house for the rest of the week, at his insistence when he found out that I'd hardly slept on Tuesday night. I slept better the rest of the week with him beside me.

In the 10 years that have passed since that day, a lot has happened in my life and in our world. I got married, had two kids, bought a house and two more cars from car dealerships. Online news sites have upped their bandwidth, and also now carry streaming videos live. There are sites like twitter and Facebook where updates move even faster than news sites can keep up with. I still work with the same TV provider, though not for them anymore. I received one degree, and have started work on another. But still, even with all these changes, 10 years doesn't feel like that long ago. I don't know that it will ever feel like "that long ago". It was one of those changing moments, defining for our country.

I opted not to go to any remembrance events today. That moment of silence in the baking aisle at the grocery store was enough to show me that I'm not ready for that. Not yet. Maybe in another 10 years, though somehow I don't think this pain will ever retreat from just below the surface. It was too huge.

Some people have compared it to Pearl Harbor, but I think that's apples and oranges.   Pearl Harbor was horrific, but it was an attack on a military base during a time of war. Granted we weren't yet involved in that war, but it was a wartime nonetheless. It happened in a time when news stories didn't travel at near-realtime. No one was able to watch the attack unfold as it happened except for those man and women who were actually there. The rest of the nation learned about it later, in the evening news, or maybe the next morning.

The events of Sept. 11, 2001 played out live, for all the nation - all the world - to view as it happened. We all experienced it. Together. At the same time. It was real. Not some doomsday movie. Real people were hurt and killed. Real people were real heroes. And I, for one, will never forget.

Ten on Ten - Sept 2011

2011-09-10T23:05:00.001-06:00

My last ten on ten was waaaaay back in May. I've tried to do it once or twice, and got sidetracked mid-way through the day...but not today. So I'm bring it back, for this month at least. I'll make another attempt next month as well.

For those who don't know, or don't remember, ten on ten is a photo challenge to take a photograph once an hour for 10 hours on the 10th of each month. So, here are mine this month.

ETA: Hmmm, guess I got a little carried away this time... I have 11 shots! LOL

7:00 a.m.

8:00 a.m.

9:00 a.m

10:00 a.m.

11:00 a.m.

12:00 p.m.

1:00 p.m.

2:00 p.m.

3:00 p.m.

4:00 p.m

5:00 p.m

Check out other awesome ten-on-ten photos by following the link below!

Tyler at Two-and-a-Half

2011-09-09T11:46:00.001-06:00

Tyler turned two-and-a-half at the end of July. Clearly I'm a little behind on updating this blog, but I didn't want to not do this post. He's changed so much over the last six months, it's just astounding. Here's a little about this amazing guy's changing, or really, emerging, personality.

He LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine. He loves trains and cars and trucks and buses of all kinds. He is 100% boy. He has two best friends at daycare, Cole (whom he insists is really named Cole-y) and Zachary. The three of them are peas in a pod - ALL boy. Tyler is the oldest, but also the smallest...by a long shot. He's tiny, but he doesn't let that slow him down. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's not even aware that he's little, which is just fine by me.

He is one of the most stubborn people I have ever met. If he doesn't want to do something, there is nothing on this earth that will make him do it. Threats of timeouts or other punishments don't phase him in the slightest. Offering ~~bribes~~ rewards doesn't help either. He has a mind of his own. It'll be a good thing as he gets older, but man, it makes getting dressed in the morning an ordeal if it's not his idea. He is Mr. Independence.

He is one of the most thoughtful and funny people I've ever met. He has a great sense of humor, and he seems to understand jokes that are far above his age. One of his favorite games to play with me, is to eat me. He'll mimic taking a bike of me, and then very emphatically chew. He'll tell me that he ate me all up, and that I was yummy. He loves to help out by clearing his dishes after dinner, throwing trash away, and putting his clothes in the hamper. He's a natural cheerleader. He yells, "Yay, Mommy!!!!" when I do something that he's been working on, like going potty. LOL

He has remarkable gross motor skills. He can ride a balance bike like no one's business. And that's not just me being a proud mama. At a recent bike race, they had an arena set up where kids could ride balance bikes around an obstacle course. Complete strangers were stopping and commenting on his abilities. Some were even taking photos and videos of him. He really is good. I think that, if he were a bit taller, he'd be riding a pedal bike with no training wheels already. But for now, his legs don't reach the pedals on even a tiny 12-inch bike.

He's whip-smart. He picks up on the nuances of a game by observing, and joins right in. He loves to sing and dance, and is always making up his own songs. They're mostly unintelligible, but it's still really cute. He learns new songs by just listening to them once or twice. He's still a water-baby and loves to swim. His favorite stuffed animals are his puppy pillow pet, and a stuffed tiger that I won in Reno when I was 19 and on a road trip. It's his Tiger now. He plays with a couple of other stuffed animals once in a while, but he tends to prefer cars, trucks and trains for toys over stuffed friends.

He's an awesome kid, and he's been so much fun getting to know over the last two and a half years. I can't wait to see what the future brings for him.

Changing Seasons

2011-09-06T12:26:00.000-06:00

It's been a bit cooler here, and there's a definite hint of autumn in the air. I love fall, it's by far my favorite season. I love the colors, the harvests, the festivals. I love back-to-school, and pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks. I love wearing jeans and sweaters and jackets. I love the first snowfall. I love fall running, and crunching leaves under my feet. I'm so happy fall is nearly here.

We had a fairly uneventful Labor Day weekend. If you'll recall, I had planned to run a marathon on Labor Day. It would have been my first. Unfortunately, I had a fall (the meet-the-pavement-quickly variety, not the hot-chocolate-and-hay-rides variety) while out for a scheduled 18-miler when we were in Boise. I was, thankfully, only about a mile from my MIL's house, and Hubby had insisted on joining me for such a long run in an unfamiliar town. MIL is a nurse, so she was able to help clean up the large bloody wound on my knee, and she had an ankle brace and ice pack handy for the sprained ankle.

It was the sprained ankle that ended my marathon training. It's been almost two months, and it's still not 100% better. I wasn't able to run on it for several weeks, and by the time that I could do some short, very easy jogs, it was too late to catch up on my training in time for the race. :-(

I'm bummed. But I didn't let it all go to waste. I had paid for the race after all, so on Sunday morning I herded the kids up, and we drove down to Colorado Springs to pick up my race packet. I figured I should at least go get my free tee-shirt and whatever swag they provided. Colorado Springs is about an hour-and-a-half drive from Denver. So as to not waste such a long drive, I took the kids to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for the day as well.

I haven't been to the CMZ in about 10 years, so I didn't really know what to expect. But it was fun, and I was pleasantly surprised, and impressed that the kids were both able to walk the whole thing on their own. As the name of the place indicates, it's on the side of a mountain, so there were a lot of hills to climb. But the boys both did great.

The zoo is most famous for their large giraffe herd, as well as for fact that you can get up close to them all day.

Connor was excited to feed the giraffes their crackers

They were pretty eager to receive them

Tyler was a little nervous about it, so he just set his crackers on the fence and let the giraffes take them from there. LOL

One cool thing about the CMZ, is that there are play structures all over the zoo for the kids, as well as a big playground at about the halfway point.

And they have PONY RIDES!!!!!!!

Tyler seems to have a thing for tortoises. He watched this guy walk all the way across his pen, and stopped to talk to him before moving on to the next animal. Apparently they had a petting zoo at school one day over the summer, and Tyler spent his time in there following a tortoise around too. Cute kid.

And of course, it's not a trip to the zoo without ice cream.

Staredown.

End of Summer Recap - Part IV

2011-09-01T09:56:00.000-06:00

Our road-trip destination was Eugene, OR. A quiet little town in OR where the University of Oregon is located. It's also where they filmed the movie Animal House.

While we were there, the kids got lots of love from both their west-coast aunt (WCA) and their Gramps. Gramps is a real character. He's getting on in years and doesn't get around as well as he once did, but he doesn't let that slow him down. Much. The first day we were there, he broke out this little charmer.

And then all the boys rode around the complex together.

The kids spent most of our visit doing this, just riding their bikes around the townhouse complex. And that suited them just fine.

Both kids got really good at watching for cars, and moving out of the way when they came.

We did make it over to a fun little park nearby too.

And the coolest thing of all, was that WCA had some little birdies literally right outside her window. They were less than 2 weeks old when we visited, and so ugly they were cute.

I missed out on a lot of the action during this visit because I got sick. But that's a post for next time.

End of Summer Recap - Part III

2011-08-26T10:25:00.000-06:00

Road Trip!

After Boise, we drove across Oregon to the quaint little town of Eugene to visit Gramps and the kids' west-coast aunt. The drive was long and rather dull. I thought the scenery was pretty though.

The kids enjoyed watching a movie. For about 30 minutes anyway. This was the first time we've let them use the DVD player in the car.

We also made a pit stop at a friend's house along the way. The kids enjoyed the break from the car.

And - as is usually the case - they both fell asleep less than five minutes before arriving at our final destination!

More to come...

End of Summer Recap - Part II

2011-08-20T22:29:00.000-06:00

It's been a busy summer, so I'm trying to do a couple of posts to bring my readers (yes, you, mom) up to speed on our doings.

Back in July we took a trip to Idaho and Oregon to visit family. Hubby drove to Boise while the boys and I flew. We'll never do that again. Flying by myself with the two kids was...~~challenging~~ ~~exhausting~~ ~~stupid~~ ~~insane~~ challenging. I got to the airport early for our flight, thinking that would give the kids some time to run around a bit before they had to be strapped into airplane seats. But we got there too early, and the flight was delayed, which resulted in two very, very, very bored and overtired kids. Every other child in the terminal was sitting quietly and waiting patiently. But mine were running around like crazy people, or being held solidly by me while they flailed and yelled and kicked and... oy vey. OK, I'm not going to rehash the whole thing. It was bad enough the first time, I don't need to relive it. It's enough to say that I will not be doing that solo again until they are much, much older. Like maybe 35 and 37.

Warning, lots of pictures ahead.

The trip was a lot of fun. We visited Hubby's mom and step-dad, and the kids got to help Grammy dye some yarn. She's going to make some hats out of it for them. I can't wait to see how they turn out. I was really surprised at how easy this process was, and at how nice the colors came out. We used Kool-Aid for the colors! How cool is that!?

We also took a trip to Zoo Boise, which is small, but a really nice little zoo. They had a really neat butterfly encounter exhibit too.

Connor was fascinated with this snake. He spent a good 20 minutes petting it, and listening to its handlers.

Tyler made a new friend too

The butterflies really liked Connor's Elmo hat.

While in Boise we also made a trip to a place called the Peregrine Fund, which houses a large number of birds of prey. Grammy and Grandpa are pretty involved in the facility.

And Hubby and Grandpa took the Connor to the Warhawk Air Museum while Grammy stayed home with Tyler.

End of Summer Recap, Part I

2011-08-19T13:29:00.000-06:00

Man, this summer has flown by. I have to admit that I'm kind of glad that it's almost over. I'm not a big "summer person". I prefer the cooler days of autumn, the jeans and sweaters, hot chocolate and colorful leaves. I also love back-to-school time. I'm a geek at heart, and I always have been. All my life I've looked forward to back-to-school, even when I was a rebellious teenager and wouldn't admit it openly.

Next week marks the start of the fall semester of my pursuit of a chemistry degree. I'm taking Chemistry I, Calculus II and a criminal justice class (online). It's a lot, 11 credits. I hope that I haven't bitten off more than I can chew this time around. I'm known for doing that. While I was working on my journalism degree, I once took 21 credit hours while working full-time on a graveyard shift AND shooting for the school paper. I nearly killed myself that semester, catching naps between classes as I could, and relishing my days off when I could sleep for more than 3-4 hours at a time. I got 'walking peunomia' that semester, I believe in part to my workload. I had to NC (no credit) one class, but I got A's in all the others except one (survey of English literature, I think), in which I got a C. Not bad for overdoing it. But it's not something I want to repeat. So, I'm really hoping that this workload will be manageable.

Next week also marks and even bigger milestone: Connor's first day of Kindergarten! Technically he's not old enough for kindie. In Colorado a child has to be five before Oct 1 to enroll in Kindergarten, but that rule doesn't apply to private schools. They offer private kindie at his current preschool, and since he'd already completed their pre-K program, we decided that it would be best to go ahead and enroll him in their Kindergarten program next. He'll move on to public elementary Kindergarten next year when he's eligible. Still, this marks a pretty big milestone. I think he's excited, though I don't know that he really knows what to expect. He spent the summer with all the kids who will be in his kindie class, and with the teachers he'll have. So the transistion won't be as dramtic as next year's will be.

Yet another big piece of news is that Tyler has decided that he's ready to wear underwear! He announced to me earlier this week that, "my ready wear Thomas underwear, Mommy!" So off to Target we went to get some new Thomas the Tank Engine underwear for him. Today marks day three, and the results have been mixed, but consistant with other kids his age. I think he's doing OK. He resists sitting on the potty on a schedule, but hasn't quite made the cognitave leap to tell us that he needs to go before he has an accident. So, needless to say, Hubby and I have been doing a lot of laundry this week. Here's hoping that it'll click for him in the next day or so.

Wow, time flies

2011-08-02T23:39:00.000-06:00

Has it really been more than a month since I last posted? Man, does time ever fly. I just have no time to post. But I wanted to toss up a couple recent fun photos, and let my dedicated reader (yes, you mom) know that this blog is still alive and well. I'd like to tell a fun story about each of them, but, well, it's tired and I'm late. Or something like that.

On nerves of steel

2011-07-01T13:09:00.002-06:00

I think it takes nerves of steel to raise boys, I really do. Or maybe just to raise mine. They're daredevils, and get banged up a lot. So I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise that I had to take Connor to the ER for his first actual injury. He fell on the playground at his preschool, and banged his forehead into a metal bar, cutting himself pretty badly just below his hairline. Thankfully he didn't seem to have gotten a concussion, and he did so well for the six stitches he needed to put him back together. He was very calm and brave the whole time we were in the ER (it helps that it's a Children's Hospital, I think), and was excited to show off his owie to his friends at school the next day. Boys.

Here he is, as we were leaving the hospital. It looks much better now. We'll go back to the hospital tomorrow to have the stitches removed.

In other exciting (and somewhat related) news, Connor can now ride his pedal bike! Just days after posting about how much I love those balance bikes, Hubby decided to take the training wheels off Connor's pedal bike and have him try it. He just needed the tiniest of assistance to get going, and then he was off to the races! He can get himself gong just fine now, he's an old pro.

We also got to have some fun on the balance bikes at Hubby's latest bike race. Here they are riding on the kid-sized bike tracks.

Punk Rock Baby

2011-06-23T11:47:00.000-06:00

So, yesterday we did this. What do you think? I think he looks adorable. I was bummed that we had to shave it off. So was he, actually. He got this look of, "wait, why are you doing that?" However, big brother Connor had gone first, and we didn't think to give him a mohawk. If one gets one and the other doesn't, well, it's Bad News. We'll do it for keeps next time, pinkie promise!

Abundance (A garden update)

2011-06-20T14:55:00.000-06:00

With the warmer weather, our garden has really taken off (finally!). I love looking out the back window and seeing all this beautiful growth!

We have green beans, spinach, butter-leaf lettuce, snap peas and shelling peas in this photo alone! Connor and I harvested some lettuce and snap peas for a salad with dinner the other night. Yum! We could (should?) probably start picking some of the spinach as well. We don't have any peas yet, but they're growing like mad, and we finally got a couple of flowers, so I'm hopeful for a harvest soon.

The carrots look good too, though I'm still unsure of when to start harvesting them. Connor "accidentally" pulled one the other day, and it was nothing more than a clear root, so I don't think these are quite ready yet. Figuring it all out is part of the adventure.

The broccoli is still growing well too, though still no florets. We also planted some acorn squash, which has sprouted, and some pumpkins, which have not.

The tomatoes are growing like mad as well, especially this one. We have a few flowers on these guys too, so I might have some tomatoes to pick in a few weeks.

The herbs are coming along nicely as well. I have cliantro and basil. I kind of wish the basil would come up a bit faster so that I can pick it and the spinach together to make some pesto.

And finally, I added some color to the garden with some pretty flowers!

June Update

2011-06-18T20:44:00.001-06:00

Time has been flying by. I just haven't had enough of it to post lately, so I'm going to do a nice little recap of the last few weeks.

There was a "flocking" at the kids' preschool.

Taekwondo practice. Which, by the way, Connor has decided he wants to take a break from these for the summer. Which is really just as well, since we have swimming lessons on the same night right now, and I think trying to juggle both would make me crazy.

We had some fun with science!

And happy pink toes.

Some outdoor artwork

And a new shed

Hubby's birthday came and went. We made him a "ninja cake" at Connor's request.

Connor graduated from pre-kindergarten!! This really should have been a post all its own, but I've fallen too far behind. Needless to say, it was adorable, and I was a very proud mommy. No tears yet He'll be doing this next year when he finishes kindergarten at the same school, and again the year after that, when he finishes kindergarten at public school. Gotta love the fall birthday.

Goofen' with his besties after the ceremonies.

And finally, we know it's summer when we starting hitting the ski area for bike races instead of skiing. Hubby's first race was last weekend, he's number 532.

The boys spent the time having their own biking adventure in some of the spring runoff. They were both soaked and happy. Also, I want to make a comment about how much I love these balance bikes. The boys are amazing on them. I had people stopping me all day to comment on how well they both rode them, even little Tyler.

Annual drowning PSA

2011-05-28T20:59:00.001-06:00

I posted this post last summer after finding a very informative article about the Instinctive Drowning Response. It doesn't look anything like what the movies or TV show. It's silent, and it can be deadly, even when your child in within arm's reach. Every parent should read it, and pass it on.

How does your garden grow?

2011-05-27T21:23:00.000-06:00

How does your garden grow? Mine grows slowly apparently. I keep seeing friends' blog posts and facebook updates about all the wonderful foods they're already getting from their gardens, and I feel a little jealous. I have some growth already, but no veggies yet. But then, I have to remind myself, these folks live further south than me, and at a lower altitude. And it's been a very cold spring here so far. So, I'll just have to be patient and keep up the work on the garden. I'll have some results soon. I hope.

Here's the main garden. This is at about six weeks of growth. Told you it was coming along slowly.

Here are the baby carrots. These are actual baby carrots. They grow really small, unlike the kind you get in the store, which are regular carrots that have been cut down to baby size. Not sure how to tell when these are ready. Any tips?

And these are the shelling peas and sugar snap peas. Both seem to be coming up pretty nicely, especially the shelling peas. They've really taken to the trellis that Connor and I set up. The sugar snap peas are a bush bean, so I shouldn't need a guide for them. I hope.

I also have butter leaf lettuce, spinach and some broccoli in the main garden, but they aren't really photo worthy yet.

Aside from the main garden, I also planted some cilantro in a container. It's starting to peek out a little bit. Next to the cilantro I've added four tomato plants. Now, I don't actually like tomatoes, so it really does seem kind of silly to have four tomato plants, but hear me out. These are roma tomatoes, the best kind for canning and making sauce and paste. I do like those things, so I'm hoping for a good haul, and I'll gave canning these a try this fall. Wish me luck!

"Sick" day

2011-05-24T22:37:00.001-06:00

Connor's been home sick with me this week. He's not really "sick", he has pinkeye. He's feeling fine, but he's not allowed at school thanks to his eye gunk. I've been working from home, and on Monday I got wrapped up in work and accidentally let Connor surf on his laptop for pretty much the whole day. Yeah, totally not my top parenting moment. I vowed to be better on Tuesday, so I thought up some fun activities for us to do, where I could still get some work done as well.

We started out playing with Lego's (while I kept my Blackberry nearby), watched a bit of Star Wars and then moved on to making some really yummy treats. I got the recipe out of this month's Parenting Early Years magazine (on my nook, of course!)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 3/4 cup puffed rice cereal

In a small sauce pan, combine the honey and brown sugar. Mix until slightly boiling and sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and mix in peanut butter. Stir until well blended. Mix in rice cereal and stir until well coated. Set aside until cool enough to handle (about 5 minutes), then scoop out spoonfuls and shape into balls. I put mine into mini muffin cups. Let cool and ~~inhale~~ enjoy!

It was very easy, and Connor was able to help with every step. Start to finish only took about 20-30 minutes. I accidentally made a double batch, and ended up with about 35 total treats. Both kids loved them. Not Hubby though. He's a weirdo who doesn't like peanut butter. Yeah, I know, but I love him anyway.

After making these goodies, I decided to give making a non-Newtonian fluid a try. It's basically a substance that has properties of both a solid and a liquid. I've seen it on Mythbusters, as well as on a friend's blog, and I've been wanting to try it. I figured today would be a good time to give it a go. You just mix water and cornstarch in a roughly 1:2 mixture. It was a little messy, and took some trial and error, but I finally got the consistency about right, and Connor and I had fun smashing it up into a ball, only to open our hand and have it turn back into a puddle. So cool! This Geek Mom was in heaven.

Later, Connor had some fun drawing pictures of snails. Don't know why snails, that's just what he chose to draw.

Connor at four-and-a-half

2011-05-14T19:04:00.001-06:00

This past Monday Connor turned four-and-a-half. It's really amazing to me how quickly the time has gone by. But it's also amazing to me how hard it is to remember a time without him in my life. He's sweet, and kind, and thoughtful and helpful, and I'm so happy I get to be his mom.

Connor...

...still loves his Lamby. I'm guessing he'll be bringing it with him when he goes off to college.

...is learning to read, and can read some simple sight-word sentences.

...can do simple addition and subtraction.

...is doing awesome at Taekwondo!

...has several BFFs, whom he loves dearly: Jackson, Ray, RJ and Ari.

...loves Star Wars and Lego's, and really loves Star Wars Lego's.

...has a great imagination and loves to tell funny stories about times in the past that never actually happened.

...likes fart and burp jokes. He is a preschool boy, after all.

...loves avocado, spinach, broccoli.and hummus.

...is an awesome big brother, and enjoys helping Tyler do things.

...loves dinosaurs, and can name at least 20 of them (with correct pronunciation!)

...is becoming a really awesome skier!

...loves to make up silly songs.

...has several favorite TV shows, Backyardigans, Go, Diego, Go! and Dinosaur Train.

...isn't sure what he wants to be when he grows up.

...is a Mama's Boy, and a snuggle-bug.

...likes to play games and watch YouTube videos on the computer.

...is a terrific kid!

365 Project - Weeks 11, 12 & 13

2011-05-14T14:11:00.000-06:00

Yee-ouch. So much for getting back on top of things! Anyway, here are the spattering of daily photos I managed to capture in the last three weeks.

Ten on Ten - May 2011

2011-05-11T15:21:00.000-06:00

I know I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy being an employed-full-time-mom, plus a part-time-student. Oh, and I've started training for a marathon. So, blogging has fallen behind. However, last night was my last final of the semester, so I'm going to have a little more personal bandwidth to play with. I did manage to get some shots for yesterday's Ten on Ten project. I was hope with a pseudo-sick Tyler (pinkeye that ended up being not-pinkeye) so I had a little bit more interesting subject matter than my office walls.

8:00-ish - The kids love to help take out the trash. I hope this continues for the next, oh, 16 years or so. Also, it was PJ-day at their school.

9:00-ish - Tyler at the doctor's office, just after she told us that what I thought was pinkeye, was just a cold "moving into his eye". Gross.

10:00-ish - Tyler watching for the trash truck. He loves big trucks, but the ones on our block tend to scare him. Poor kiddo.

11:00-ish - My work station for the day. Much nicer than the no-windows I have with my new desk in my office.

12:00-ish - Lunchtime. Love those sweet pudgy hands!

1:00-ish - Took the cats into the yard while Tyler napped.

3:00-ish - I missed an hour there, and dashed outside to snap a couple of images so that I could finish up the day's project. Maybe I should wash this table next time before I photograph it...

4:00-ish - Just woke Tyler up from his nap. Sleepy boy must have been sicker than I thought.

5:00-ish - Arriving on campus for last day of class!!! Yay for summer break!

Hope you enjoyed my ten! Check out other awesome ten-on-ten photos by following the link below!

Hoppy Easter

2011-04-25T15:02:00.002-06:00

We had a nice Easter weekend. We don't celebrate the religous aspects of Easter, just the chocolate and bunnies part, so we had a nice mellow day at home Sunday, letting the boys find the hidden eggs. Then they spent the day either begging for more candy, or re-hiding the (plastic) eggs. In Tyler's case, he spent a good part of the morning throwing a fit because I wouldn't let him eat nothing but jelly beans all day. I'm such a mean mom, dontchathink?

We colored eggs on Saturday, which went remarkably well. The boys were both very tidy, and I didn't have any messes to clean up.

The eggs came out great too!

Easter morning, the boys with their booty.

Think Tyler likes chocolate a little bit?

Here's mommy's treat, deviled eggs. This was the first time I've ever made them, and OMG, they are (or, ahem, were) so YUM. I just added two spoonfuls of mayo, 1/4 tsp of ground mustard, and some salt and pepper to the yolks of six eggs. Then I dashed some paprika on top. Did I mention YUM?

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

365 Project - Week 9 and 10

2011-04-25T11:19:00.002-06:00

I fell a little behind on this project, so I'm going to combine the last two weeks together now. Back on track this week, ok? :)

Never Forget

2011-04-20T10:06:00.002-06:00

Ski Bums

2011-04-18T11:19:00.001-06:00

We went on a family ski trip yesterday. Connor started skiing last year, and has been up a couple of times with Hubby this year. But this was the first time up for me and Tyler this year, for downhill skiing anyway.

Connor is doing awesome, and is quickly learning to ski without the harness that we use to help guide him. Yesterday he did a couple of (very beginner) tree runs with no help at all from Hubby! I'm very proud of him, and how his love of skiing is growing. I wish I could ski that well, actually.

Tyler got his first taste of skiing yesterday as well. He also seems to have a knack for it. He only did two easy "runs" with Hubby holding him on the practice hill, but I was honestly impressed with how well he was able to skate-ski after they reached the bottom.

We also had some fun playing around in the food court while Hubby skied by himself.

Fresh Food

2011-04-14T14:46:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again! Yay! Time to start on the garden. I have high hopes this year. Last year our crops were pretty dismal. Partly because I tried some new things without really researching them first, and partly because I planted a lot of things that my family won't eat. So this year I'm hoping to do better. I'm trying a few new things again, but hopefully they'll be better received by the boys in my life (you too Hubby!)

I started earlier this year than in the past. I found this awesome blog Front Range Food Gardener that has all kinds of great tips for gardening in Colorado. There is also a link to front range gardening information provided by CSU that has been especially helpful. I learned that there are several crops that can be started as early as mid-March! I didn't get going that soon, but I did get all the early season stuff into the ground last weekend. I'm doing peas, sugar snap peas, butter-leaf lettuce, spinach, broccoli (although this is my third attempt with this, and I don't have high hopes) and (real) baby carrots. I'm also doing a couple of herbs in containers this year too. I can't wait!

Tyler has his own ideas about raking the garden.

The new kid's shovel that the boys get to ~~fight over~~ share.

Connor, off to work.

All done!

Tyler watering the first of the herb containers.

Moving on up

2011-04-14T11:31:00.000-06:00

There have been big changes at our house. The boys are moving on up...to big-boy beds. Connor now has a twin-sized bunk bed in his room, and Tyler has taken ownership of Connor's old toddler bed. No more cribs at our house. I'm of two minds on this. On one hand, it's nice that they've reached this milestone, and on the other hand, MY BABIES ARE GROWING UP SO FAST!

Connor was beyond exited about his new bed. He kept thanking Hubby and me, telling us what wonderful parents we are. Little ~~suck up~~ sweetie. He's chosen to sleep on the top bunk (mostly). I know, I know, everything and everyone says that we should wait until he's at least 6 years old, but I know my kid. He's OK up there. It's a very secure bed, with railings all the way around, except for where the ladder is. And that's positioned down by his feet. He'd have to actually be trying to fall out of it at night. And trying hard at that.

Eventually we're going to move Tyler into the room with Connor, and turn Tyler's room into a playroom for the both of them (and finally get some of our living room back!) But it'll be a little while, until Tyler is a little more accustomed to sleeping in a big-boy bed.

Here's Connor, the first time we let him up onto the new bed. Just a wee bit excited, wouldn't you say?

And here's Tyler's remade big-boy room. So much more space without the big old crib in there!

365 Project - Week 8

2011-04-11T13:00:00.000-06:00

Here's my week 8 for the 365 Project. I admit, it's been getting harder to stay motivated to do this. But I like looking back on it, so I'm going to try to make it the whole year, every (or most) days.

Ten on ten - April 2011

2011-04-11T09:39:00.000-06:00

I nearly forgot that yesterday was ten on ten day, even though I'd made sure that I had fully charged batteries the night before. Yesterday was a little hectic (I'll post more about that later), so these shots aren't necessarilly hourly. But here's a good rundown of my day. Enjoy!

9:00-ish

10:00-ish

11:00-ish

12:00-ish

1:00-ish

2:00-ish

3:00-ish

4:00-ish

6:00-ish

more 6:00-ish

Want to see more great ten on ten shots? Click the link below!

365 Project - Week 8

2011-04-04T12:12:00.000-06:00

Welcome to week eight of my 365 Project!

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 4

2011-03-29T14:08:00.000-06:00

A day at the park with my babies makes me happy.

365 Project - Week 7

2011-03-28T09:17:00.000-06:00

Another week done!

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 3

2011-03-22T10:37:00.000-06:00

Picnic weather makes me happy. Yay spring!

365 Project - Week 6

2011-03-21T07:00:00.002-06:00

Week 6! Boy, this is going fast! I missed one day this week. Oops.

Tyler and Mommy at the zoo

2011-03-20T22:31:00.001-06:00

Connor and hubby went skiing today. Connor's been doing awesome skiing, and we're both really proud of him. Today they even did a short mogul run! Connor said that the moguls looked like boobs. Yep, he's a boy. Groan. Anyway, Hubby said they had a great day, and that Connor's doing fantastic learning to ski.

While they were up in the mountains on their adventure, Tyler and I headed down to the zoo for an outing of our own. We had a nice time. Not as exciting as mogul runs, but fun nonetheless. We saw the baby orangutan, which was absolutely adorable. I didn't realize it was there until its mother started moving. It was so cute though.

Here's the baby orangutan, on the shoulder of the one on the left. That little ball of orange there is her. Cute!

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 2

2011-03-15T22:01:00.001-06:00

I saw these beauties down on campus this afternoon. Signs of spring make me very, very happy!

365 Project - Week 5

2011-03-14T21:46:00.000-06:00

Here's week 5!

Ten on Ten - March 2011

2011-03-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

Today is March 10th, and that means it's time for ten on ten again. I totally spaced it last month, but I'm back today! It was a work day for me, so while I was at work, I decided this time to focus on small details. Here are my ten photos. Hope you enjoy them.

7:00

8:00

9:00

10:00

11:00

12:00

1:00

2:00

3:00

4:00

A day at the park

2011-03-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I took the boys for a "nature walk" at the local state park. They have a series of trails there that run through a wooded area. It's really pretty, but also right in the middle of the city. The boys had a great time looking for wildlife. We didn't see much, just a hawk flying past, and a duck that Connor scared out of the brush while he was whacking a tree with a stick. Still, it ws a nice change of pace, and it felt good to get out and visit some nature. I was really proud of both kids, they walked the whole way themselves!

And we did finally see some deer on our drive out of the park. There was no traffic, so I was able to stop and grab a quick photo of them.

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 1

2011-03-08T15:14:00.002-07:00

Leigh, over at Leigh vs. Laundry has reset the clock on her old "Happiness Project" project. It's now "52 Weeks of Happiness". Fun stuff. So, here's my happy this week: my new nook color. I love this thing. New books in an instant, at the touch of a finger. Joy!

365 Project - Week 4

2011-03-07T10:29:00.000-07:00

This was a bad week for me, photographically speaking. I'm almost embarased to post this, since I didn't have any photos more often than I did. Still, here we are, week four. Next week will be better, I promise.

A taste of Tyler-speak

2011-03-05T11:26:00.003-07:00

Waag-o: water

Duce: juice

Dere doe?!: where did it go?!

Dere doe!: there we go!

Bii!: big!

Coh-wa: connor

Pup-pee: puppy (his pillow pet)

D'up!:get up!

Weh-eee?!:ready?

Tarrey:sorry

Doh!!!:Go!!!

Tank too: thank you

Peee: please

Mum-eee: mommy

Da-eee: daddy

365 Project - Week 3

2011-02-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

Week three, I hope you enjoy!

Happiness Project: Calc-love

2011-02-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

Call me crazy, but this stuff really does make me happy.

365 Project - Week 2

2011-02-20T22:06:00.000-07:00

Week two. Only six shots this week. I can't believe I didn't lift my camera even once on Thursday!

Girls and Science

2011-02-18T14:30:00.001-07:00

OK, so, I'm a self-proclaimed Geek Mom. I love science, math and photography among other things. I love learning. My favorite show on television is Mythbusters, which frequently celebrates the scientist in all of us. My favorite show as a kid was Mr. Wizard (the newer one, in color, that was on Nickelodeon). I have fond memories of working side-by-side with my dad building model rockets, and of launching those rockets. One of the coolest gifts I got for Christmas one year was my very own microscope. I'm grateful to my parents for never assuming that I wouldn't enjoy something related to science simply because I'm a girl.

But I got so frustrated today. I was at a big box bookstore (which I won't name) during my lunch hour, and I was browsing in the kid's educational section. I was so excited when I saw these. I thought, "Boy, I can't wait until my kids are old enough to get something like this for them! We will have so much fun!"

But then I looked to the other end of the same shelf. Where they had the "science for girls" items. And I about lost my lunch (thankfully I hadn't actually eaten yet). Apparently girls are only supposed to like science if it involves making ourselves smell nice, or have pretty hair and skin. Seriously? I mean, I like a mani/pedi as much as the next girl, and I'd be thrilled to receive a day at the spa as a gift. But, somehow this just seems so insulting to me. It partly makes me glad that i don't have a girl to worry about. But it also makes me sad for my boys. I don't want them to grow up thinking that girls aren't as smart as them, or are anything less than their equal. Or maybe I'm just overthinking this and being a geeksnob.

Star Wars PSA

2011-02-18T11:49:00.002-07:00

I just love this video, and I had to share it.

365 Project - Week 1

2011-02-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a 365 Project since the beginning of the year, but I had no idea that there were so many other bloggers out there also doing them! It's a fun way to track a single moment of each day. I can't wait untilt he end of the year when I can look back on it. Anyway, I've decided to start linking up to Project 365 over at click it up a notch, and share a summary of my week's photos. Hope you enjoy!

Spreading the love, and the icing

2011-02-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Valentines Day, and I made some treats to take into school for Connor and Tyler's class. I'm not a huge Valentine's Day fan, I'll be honest. But I enjoy making the treats for everyone. Getting all those little cards ready is another story altogether.

I made Funfetti cookies. They're made from Funfetti cake mix, but without the water, and one less egg. Or something like that. The recipe is on the side of the box. They were kinda messy to make, but they turned out pretty good.

I also made the normal Funfetti cupcakes. They've been really, really hard to resist all weekend.

This little taste-tester thinks the cookies came out well.

Happiness Project : Flutterby

2011-02-08T21:04:00.001-07:00

I saw this butterfly today while I ate dinner before class. It made my day.

Want to see what makes other folks happy? Click the link below!

Super Bowl Sunday

2011-02-07T09:18:00.001-07:00

This post isn't really about the Super Bowl, except to say that we went to the Children's Museum on Super Bowl Sunday morning, and I watched the first half of the game. I missed the second half entirely because I was getting the kids to bed. It's a good thing I don't care that much about football. Now, if it had been the Avs in the Stanley Cup Finals or something, well, Hubby would have had to put the kids to bed instead.

I decided to take the kids to the Children's Museum. It's been cold and snowy here. Colorado gets a lot of sun. More than 300 days a year. But the last week has only had a few pockets of that sunshine. I'm really missing it. So, I decided we needed to get out of the house and go someplace fun. The Children's Museum is was!

We had fun. The boys both loved the fire truck. I think it was both of their favorite. When we were getting ready to leave, getting coats on and such, Tyler kept making a dash for the truck and climbing back onto it. Silly boy.

The grocery store was another big hit. I chatted with another mom with two little boys about my monkey's ages, and reminisced about our own memories of the museum from when we were kids. The grocery store was a favorite of both of ours.

This is another new exhibit, bubbles! Tyler wasn't quite sure what to do, but enjoyed watching all of the older kids. Connor was pretty into bubble-making though.

Painting was a lot of fun for me to watch. It was nice that we found the room mostly empty for a change. Doesn't Connor's painting look like a dinosaur? He told me it was a "dinosaur hippo".

I really love this shot. The exposure and the focus are out of whack, but Tyler looks so sweet in it.

Embarrassing Moments, Bitter Cold, and a "Philosophical Question"

2011-02-04T11:39:00.025-07:00

I fell asleep at work yesterday. Yup. And while that's embarrassing enough, it's how I fell asleep that's really mortifying. I fell asleep face first on my keyboard. Nose down, probably touching the zero key. For realz, yo. I could see the little round oil mark left by my forehead when I looked at the keyboard closely this morning. Maybe I've been burning too many candles lately, ya think?

Most of the country got hit with a huge winter storm this week, and we were not spared. We didn't get much snow, but boy did we ever get hit by the cold. Tuesday's high was -3°F. The high. And it was well below that (think -20°F to -30°F) with the windchill. Bitter. Bone-chilling. Fairbanks, AK was a good 30 degrees warmer than us! The nice part about it though, was that nothing was slippery. The science geek in me finds it amazing, that once snow and ice reach a certain point below zero, they actually get sticky! It "warmed up" to the 20s yesterday, and we got more snow. Because of the "warmer" temperatures, the roads were super slick. But I swear, after -14°, 23° never felt so warm. I took off my hat, gloves and scarf today.

Last night in my Calculus I class, the teacher posed a "philosophical question": Why don't more woman take Calculus classes? There are only three of us in his class of 33 students. While I don't necessarily agree with him that it's a "philosophical question", I do have to wonder about it. I know that for me, there is still a small voice in the back of my head that wonders if I'm smart enough to earn a chemistry degree. And I wonder where that voice came from. That self-doubt. Society puts a lot of pressure on women to look good, to be "hawt". We can be smart, and love science, and be a mom too, but we have to look good doing it. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love cute shoes and I enjoy looking nice/ I'm all for being smart and looking good, but I do wonder if this pressure to look good has somehow stunted our focus on being able to do good, er, well, in science and math. So tell me, why don't more woman take upper level math or science classes? I'm interested in your thoughts.

Happiness Project: Sassy Shoes

2011-02-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

Sassy shoes always make me happy.

Follow the link below to see more happy photos.

Guess Who's Two!

2011-01-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

Tyler's birthday was yesterday! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I swear, he doesn't seem like a two-year-old to me. Maybe it's because he's my "baby". Or maybe it's because he's just so darn tiny. Either way, it's really hard to get my head around the fact that he's a two-year-old, in fact, now. We had an nice party for him. I invited a few of his playmates from school. One of them was the younger brother of one of Connor's best friends, so he got to have a buddy over too, which was nice. The weather was AWESOME for the party too. We were even able to have a lot of it outside, in short sleeves! Unheard of in January! I couldn't have timed it better weather-wise, since we're supposed to have a high of -3F on Tuesday. Burr!

Here are a few shots from the party.

Operation No-Binkie is A Go

2011-01-27T16:41:00.001-07:00

About a week ago, Hubby and I decided, on a whim really, to take Tyler's beloved binkie away. Connor never took to the binkie, but Tyler adored his. He'd walk around with one in his mouth and another two in his hands, one stuck on each pointer finger. He'd carry more too, if we'd let him. We knew we'd have to break him of the habit sooner or later, and we knew the process would be painful, given how much he loved the little plastic things. We had made some half-hearted attempts to wean him down to just using it at night, and for naps, but too often we caved when he was awake and upset. So we decided to just do it cold turkey.

We assumed the first night would be awful, and it wasn't great. Tyler cried for a while, but finally settled himself to sleep. He was up once during the night, just as Hubby and I were settling down to bed, but he slept through the rest of the night without it! And he's been binkie-free ever since. I'm totally floored at how easy the whole thing has been. I thought for sure it would be at least a week of all-night wailing. I had steeled myself to cope with that. But that hasn't been the case at all. I'm so proud of my little guy. Granted he's started nursing a lot more, but since he's my last baby, I'm actually OK with that. I'm not sure I'm ready to give that up yet.

The best part of Tyler no longer taking a binkie, is that he's talking up a storm now. You have to know what it is he's saying, it's standard 2-year-old speak that's nearly incomprehensible. But it's still cute to finally hear him talk. And he's smiling a lot more fully too. He has a great smile, but you could never see it behind that giant green plastic thing he always had in his mouth. He's also gotten a lot more attached to the stuffed animals and the blanket he sleeps with at night, which I'll admit I'm really happy to see. He's gotten particularly attached to a puppy pillow pet that my mom gave him for Christmas. He sleeps with it every night, asking for it by name ("Pup-pee!") and he takes it with him to school each day to sleep with at nap time. It's adorable, the thing is nearly as big as he is! Anyway, I'm super-duper proud of my little Ty-bug.

Chasing a dream

2011-01-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

I've decided to make a change. I love the company I work for, I really do. But I don't love the work I do. At least, not usually. I'm good at it, but it doesn't give me the sense of accomplishment that I would like to get. I mean, in a perfect world, I'd be a stay-at-home-mom to my little monkeys. But this world isn't perfect, and I have to work. So, if I have to work, I want to be doing something that I love. I thought long and hard about becoming a teacher. I even went to a couple of orientation sessions for a graduate program that I liked. But the program was very intense, and there was just no way that I could do it without first quitting my job. And as I mentioned five sentences ago, I have to work.

So I thought longer and harder about what I want to be when I grow up. I've always said, somewhat flippantly, that if I had it to do over again, I'd get into forensic science. It's always fascinated me. The introvert in me loves the idea that I can spend my time working in a lab, running samples and numbers and compiling data... and that that would somehow HELP people. I want to be able to help people. I love science, and I love math. I'm a geek mom, for sure. So I started thinking, well, why not? And I couldn't think of any reasons not to. Especially when I found that my Alma Mater has a chemistry program with an emphasis in criminalistics. I looked at the program, and wasn't totally freaked out at the number of science and math classes required. In fact, I'm excited about them.

So, after discussing the logistics of two small children and a family with Hubby, I registered for my first two classes! I started last week, and it's been great so far. I only have one class that I have to actually go to. The other is completely online, which is so great for a working mom. I'm really excited about this. I'm feeling happier and more driven, and more...complete than I have for a long time. I love learning. And in a career like science, how can I go wrong?

Ten on Ten - Jan 2011

2011-01-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

I'm once again linking up to the Ten on Ten photo challenge. I missed it last month, but I'm at it again this month. It's a fun project. I had to cheat a little and do a couple of shots from the 9:00 hour...I got busy at work and missed a couple of hours there. It happens.

7:00

8:00

9:00

10:00

11:00

12:00

1:00

4:00

2010 - A Year in the Life

2011-01-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

A Christmas/New Year's Recap

2011-01-04T20:45:00.001-07:00

I had all sorts of plans for super cute posts about all the fun things we were doing while on our Christmas holiday. But I was too busy enjoying them to post. The kids' school was closed for the week between Christmas and New Year's, so we had a lot of time together, which was great! I spent a good portion of that time working on things around the house (OMG, it was SUCH a mess after Santa was done with us!) We're also working on finally getting rid of all the baby stuff that Tyler has outgrown. Sniff sniff. It's making me long for another baby, but our family is complete at four.

So, Christmas! We had a great holiday. Santa was very, very, VERY generous this year. I will have to talk to him about making a mad dash to Toys R Us a few days before the big day because he (she) can't remember what-all we already have socked away for the kiddos. It took us about three hours to open everything. It was nuts. Too much. Way too much. But fun.

New handmade hats from Grammy.

Who doesn't love drinking birds!?

Kinderbücher!

Ride 'em cowboy!

Lots and lots of baking

On New Year's Eve the boys and I headed down to the Noon Year's Eve party at the Children's Museum. They were dropping a ball every hour, on the hour, and letting the kids run wild on the bubble wrap! It was freezing that day, so we spent most of the time indoors. The boys were both a little unsure of the bubble wrap.

And largely unimpressed by the ball

The crafts were more fun, though.

As were the playscapes

Hope everyone's holidays were merry and bright and full of laughter and joy!

Does Santa fly to Narnia too?

2010-12-20T21:11:00.002-07:00

This weekend was full of adventures. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating. There was really only one adventure, and it wasn't even really all that exciting. We went to the mall to see Santa. Finally. We hit the local high-end mall, because I like that one better than others in the area. Not that I was able to get any shopping done, of course. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Friday night I planned our outing, checking to see what time Santa opened, and what time the mall opened. Mall: 9:00. Santa: 10:00. I had hoped to get there no later than about 9:30, thinking that if I got there earlier, a) the line wouldn't be too long, and b) the kids wouldn't be so overtired that they freaked out when confronted with a strange old beaded man in a red suit. But, you know the saying about best laid plans and all.

We got in line at 10:35 am. I checked my phone to ensure the time. We were still a minimum of 10 people behind the sign that read, "90 Minute Wait to see Santa". I thought for sure that the sign was just in the wrong place. There was no way that they opened 35 minutes earlier and already had a two-hour wait! But I was wrong. Surprisingly, the time passed fairly quickly. I posted the photo below to my facebook wall, and entertained myself reading the responses from friends. The best was the suggestion of a cocktail waitress walking around, taking orders. I could have gone for that.

Meanwhile I let the kids run wild. OK, not really. They were actually very well behaved. I let them roam around a bit, as long as they stayed nearby. The Santa theme at this mall was a promotion for the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. So there were lots of displays, and TVs, showing snippets of the movie to entertain the kids. There was also a good deal of room for the kids to play in, and all the parents were letting them play. It was like a mall germ pit, without the indoor slides. It worked remarkably well. Near the end of the line, the route snaked through an enclosure that was designed to look like the Ice Palace in the movie. And they had a steady stream of fake snow drifting down from the ceiling in there. The kids went to town playing in it, and I let mine roll around in it. Anything to prevent what I was certain was the inevitable meltdown at having to wait so long. Forgive the quality below, these were taken with my phone.

But thankfully, that meltdown never came. We reached the end of the line, finally. It was our turn with the big guy himself. Before leaving the house that morning, Connor told me that he "would be afraid" of Santa at the mall. I thought (OK, hoped) he'd change his mind when we got there. Yeah... nope. Connor went into full-on Shy Mode, and didn't want to come near Santa. Then Tyler started wailing, sobbing and reaching for me the instant I set him on Santa's lap. I managed to coax Connor over to the picture, but he wouldn't concede a smile. So, we got one of the "classic" Santa shots for posterity's sake. I was laughing when they took this, and I'm still laughing now. It was 12:19 PM when we finished our visit.

The sweetest part was after the picture though. Connor got over his fear when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas. Connor's first request was "a Star Wars laptop for baby Tyler". I just can't say how proud it makes me that Connor's first request of Santa wasn't for himself, but rather for his brother. What a great kid I have.

Tiny Tiger

2010-12-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

For the last six weeks, Connor has been doing a weekly Taekwondo class at his preschool. He has really seemed to love it. Every Tuesday, he'd come home and tell me all about the class, and show me some of the cool moves he's learning. Obviously at this age, he's not really leaning Taekwondo, but he is learning some important lessons about self discipline, respect and hard work, which is just awesome.

Last night was his graduation from the class. They held it at the do-jahng run by the Taekwondo teachers who came to his preschool. Connor was very excited to show off the skills he's learned. And he did awesome. I was really and truly impressed with how well he paid attention, and how excited, and moreover, how serious, he was about the whole thing. They did a short demonstration so that the parents could see how much the kids had learned, and then they had a certificate ceremony, where each child's name was called and he or she went up to the front and stood before the do-jahng's Master and received their certificate. It was pretty amazing. They are offering free classes for all the kids from our preschool for the rest of the month, so I think I'll take Connor to them. He really does seem to enjoy this, and I'm all for the values it teaches.

He looks so proud, doesn't he? I know I sure am!

Parade of Lights

2010-12-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took the kids downtown to watch the annual Parade of Lights. It's such a cool parade. I remember going to it when I was a kid, and it always seemed so magical. I think the boys both enjoyed it too, and I hope that going gives them some of the same happy holiday memories that I have.

My brother's high school marching band was in the parade as well. We yelled for him, but he didn't hear us. Oh well.

After the parade, we walked up to the City and County building, which always has a beautiful light display.

Recap

2010-12-07T21:42:00.002-07:00

I am behind - woefully, woefully behind - on this blog. I'm going to attempt a recap, but I fear that it will lack a lot of the fun details. We've been super busy these last few weeks. My hard drive failed, and I lost about two month's worth of photos!! :cry: I had my dad (a total computer geek, gotta love him!) look at it and see if he could recover anything off of it, but no such luck. We priced out getting it done professionally..but that was over $2000, so yeah, notgonnahappen. I'm bummed. Most of the photos from those two months I do have on my work laptop, thankfully, but there are some for a year-long project I was working on that are gone now. Boo.

I'm going to have to do this update in a couple of parts, because there's just too much for me to fit into a single post. In fact, I've been trying to write this one since early Monday. So, we'll start with Thanksgiving. We had a lovely time visiting my dad, kid brother and step-mom. The boys had a blast playing at Grandpa's house, and I think my brother enjoyed playing with the kids (seeing as he's just a big kid himself).

Here are some of the yummy dishes I made and took over to my dad's house.

Pumpkin pecan cheesecake. OMG, so GOOD.

Making the spinach,broccoli & rice casserole

The mess afterward! Yuck!

And now on to something cute from the kids. One morning Connor got up bright and early, and decided, all on his own, to take apart one of his 24 piece wooden puzzles, and replace all the puzzle pieces with Legos. Pretty creative, if you ask me. Even better, was that he let Hubby and me sleep in while he did it. Ah, bliss!

Happiness Project - Thankful

2010-11-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Words can't say just how happy Connor's daily sheet made me last night. His teacher asked all the kids what they were thankful for, and then wrote it on their sheet. Can I just say: ::melt::

For more things to make you happy, visit the link below.

Ten Random Thoughts

2010-11-16T15:24:00.001-07:00

I love pumpkin spiced lattes
I wish my neck would stop hurting
I really want to take a vacation to someplace with a beach
I can't wait to go snow shoeing this winter
If you like fluffy sci-fi books, I reccomend the Allie Beckstrom series
I need to find something to knit. And some time to knit.
Some days I want to cut my hands off, they hurt so badly with eczema
I still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up
I wish I knew where a $1 movie theater was
Pumpkin lattes are still awesome

Ten On Ten - November

2010-11-11T11:30:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Nov 10, and that means it was time for Ten on Ten again! Whee! This was a work day for me, and since cube farms aren't all that visually interesting, I decided to focus on patterns and textures for the times when I was at my desk.

8:30 AM

9:30 AM

10:30 AM

11:30 AM

12:30 PM

1:30 PM

2:30 PM

3:30 PM

4:00 PM

5:00 PM

You Caprture: Serene

2010-11-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

Today's You Capture assignment was "serene". It's hard to capture an intangible idea in a photo, but we had a serendipitous snowfall this week, and I have always found snow on the trees to be very serene and beautiful. Our neighborhood looks so quiet and peaceful like this.

Want to see some more photos? Visit the link below!

Happiness Project: My Beautiful Boy

2010-11-09T14:05:00.006-07:00

Happy fourth birthday to my beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy. You make me happier than words can say, Connor. I love you.

Birthday Bash

2010-11-08T12:50:00.001-07:00

This weekend we had Connor's fourth birthday party. His actual birthday is tomorrow, but we had the party on Saturday. Every day he's been asking me if he's still three, or if he's four yet. Not that he excited about it or anything. :whistle:

The party was a total success. Not that fate and Murphy didn't try to throw some monkey wrenches into our plans. Last Wednesday I woke up with a sore throat. I don't remember if I've ever mentioned how susceptible I am to strep throat, but I am. Very. I once got it from a lady who inspected the kids' car seats. She didn't have it, but her daughter had just gotten over it. And no, her daughter wasn't even with her. It's that bad, really. Anyway, I woke up with a telltale sore throat on Wednesday morning. I crossed my fingers and hoped it would pass in a few hours, but by lunchtime it was clear to me that it was strep. The problem is, that even though I know it's strep, the rapid strep tests usually can't pick up on it as early as I can. So when I got to the doctor's office to get checked out, I tested negative. If I couldn't get on antibiotics early enough, we'd have to cancel Connor's party. Thankfully the PA agreed with my assessment, and gave me an Rx for a z-pack. I was so very, very grateful.

Fast forward to Friday morning, the day before the party, and wouldn't you know it, but Connor started complaining of a sore throat. Great. I got him into the pediatrician's office that morning, but - of course - it was too early for a rapid strep test to come back positive. Thankfully (again) this doctor was also willing to go ahead and give us the antibiotics. She said it was in the name of public health, seeing as his birthday party was scheduled for the next day and all. So we both got a minimum of 24 hours on antibiotics in before the 3:00 party Saturday afternoon. Whew!

The party itself was great. Connor is obsessed with Star Wars, so that was our theme. I had big plans to try and make a Death Star piñata for him. But yeah, the realities of being a working mom kicked in and I opted to just get a Darth Vader piñata head at the local party store. Way, way easier. Go mom. We also gave out Darth Vader masks and inflatable, light-up light sabers. The kids had a blast. It was so cute watching them go to town on the Vader piñata. It was a mellow, laid back kind of party, which I thought was a lot of fun.

You Capture: Halloween & Silence

2010-11-04T16:00:00.001-06:00

This week's You Capture Challenge was twofold: Halloween AND Silence. Halloween is a pretty easy capture. It everywhere starting in late August. As an aside: why on Earth are there so many Christmas goodies out already? Decorations I get, mostly, in case people want to stock up early. But the candy, cookies and other goodies? Won't they go bad in the ~~two months~~ 50 days we still have until Christmas?

Anyway, this week's assignment was Halloween, and Silence. I had a much harder time with Silence. I mean how do you convey that idea with an image? Tricky. I don't feel like I did a very good job with it, but it was a fun learning experiment. Certainly a challenge, which I really do enjoy.

Halloween

Silence.

I have to admit, I'm getting really annoyed at Blogger's bug with vertical photos. I'll fix this one once I can figure out why Blogger won't let it orient correctly.

Edited: I finally found a trick that works, it's a bit of a pita though. If you're having the same issue, check here for details on how to work around it.

And if you'd like to see more You Capture images, follow the link below.

Tyler in the Bounce House

2010-11-03T12:39:00.000-06:00

Here are some really bad videos of Tyler having a blast in the bounce house at the preschool Halloween Party! Look for the little Yoda!

Halloween Recap

2010-11-02T12:50:00.001-06:00

We had quite a busy Halloween weekend. It got off to a good start on Friday, when the kids wore their (adorable!) costumes to school. Tyler was Yoda, and Connor was Luke Skywalker.

After school, I picked the kids up, and we went trick-or-treating around my office. They came home with quite the haul of candy. I work with some pretty generous people. We came home and had some dinner. While were at home, Connor found the box of old costumes handed down to us by my SIL. After trying on the lion costume and the giraffe jacket, Connor settled on being an elephant for the Halloween party at their school that evening.

We had fun at the school Halloween party. Tyler enjoying eating carmel off an apple (never did take a bite of the silly apple!) and jumping in the bounce house. Tyler was actually a little madman in the bounce house. He was the smallest child in there - by far. But he was keeping up with no trouble. He'd stand up, hold out his arms for balance, and then jumpupanddownasfastashecould until he fell down again! Then he'd get back up and do it again! That boy is going to give me grey hairs, I'm sure of it!

Saturday morning I took the kids to Boo at the Zoo. We had some trouble parking. And by "trouble" I mean, there was nowhere to park. The lots were all full. The garages were closed. We ended up parking more than a mile away and walking to the zoo. Note to self: If we do Boo at the Zoo again - get there early!!!

Still, we had a good time at the zoo, as always. The kids decided to be lions for the zoo, which I agreed was quite fitting. Tyler was wearing the lion costume that Connor wore for his first Halloween in 2007. I was surprised that it actually fit him, but, well...he's tiny. Whatchagonnado? We got a lot of compliments on the costumes too.

Here's the little lion in front of the real ones. Connor didn't want to be in this picture.

Finally, came Halloween day. Connor was beside himself, probably due to the weekend-long buildup to it. We carved pumpkins, and picked up leaves to put in Halloween bags for the front yard.

Can you find Connor in this picture?

Then finally, the sun set, and we were able to go Trick or Treating!!! GND came over and the kids had a great time going door-to-door. The older two were so very good about their "trick-or-treats" and "thank yous." Even Tyler was very good about the "thank yous". I'm so proud.

It was a super fun weekend, but not one I want to do every weekend. I'm tried again from just typing it all out!

The Happiness Project: Mama-love

2010-11-02T11:32:00.000-06:00

Nothing is sweeter than seeing a mama with her babies.

Want to see more pictures to make you happy? Follow the link below!