Walk the Line

Sophie is determined to do it. Walk the line, that is. 

We went to pick up big sister from an after school activity the other day. I had a hard time containing Sophie for ten short minutes while we waited for Lil to be finished. It was finally time to go, and Sophie actually held my hand through the school (for a change!). But once we got outside, it was a different story. As soon as we went through the front doors, she took off like a shot, as fast as her little legs would carry her, straight for the parking lot. My heart jumped into my throat as she headed for the asphalt. I knew I'd never catch up with her before she got to the curb, and I've told her a MILLION times not to go out into the street alone. She has a mind of her own, that one! So I watched helplessly as she got closer to the end of the sidewalk and then all of a sudden....she came to a screeching halt, toes literally hanging off the red curb. She knew where the boundary was, and she ran straight for it and didn't even slow down until she got there. And even then she barely stopped in time!

I couldn't help but think this had to be a metaphor for her life. Sophie is my child who likes to push the envelope, all day every day. She generally knows where the boundary lines are, but she likes to walk right up to them, tiptoe along the line, jump back and forth and back and forth, and occasionally take a GIANT leap across. It definitely makes life interesting and sometimes entertaining, but man, she is something else. I don't know what I'm going to do with her sometimes! I just hope we can help her learn to stay on the right side of the line. I have a feeling she is going to spend her life running full speed for the red curbs, landing with toes hanging off, and she's going to take us along for quite a ride as she does it!

It's Official!

Today was a very big day! I registered my baby for kindergarten! She told me a million times yesterday, "I am so excited for tomorrow!" I don't know if filling out paperwork met her expectations for an exciting day, but she was very good. She picked out a dress to wear and even brought her own camera so I could take some pictures for her. She was too cute!

 Here we are at the new admissions office.

 Class of 2024!?!?! That sounds so crazy to me! (I was the class of 1994. I am getting old!!)

Here she is inside the admissions office. She was so well behaved, despite the fact that she told me on the way there that she was "full of wiggles". I was proud of her! 

In a strange twist for the day, I didn't shed a single tear! I was proud of me too! However, Lil shed enough tears for us both this morning. Lil told Sophie she was getting too big and she should stay in preschool forever.  It was so sweet. I then mentioned to Lily that she would be the big sister next year for Sophie instead of the little sister, because her brother is heading to middle school. She looked me in the eye as her little lip started to quiver, and then the tears just started to roll. Until that moment, I don't think she had ever stopped to realize that big brother won't be at school with her next year. She was devastated. I had no idea that it would affect her so much to have Hunter leaving for another school, bless her sweet little heart. She just sat on my lap and quietly cried her eyes out. I feel very blessed that she and HK share a special bond, and I have no doubt that big sister will step up next year and help Sophie every bit as much as her big brother has helped her.

Love is in the Air

"I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day.  When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon."  ~Author Unknown


I was thinking the other day how Valentines Day has changed its meaning for me over the years, from romance to chubby toddlers. It was always fun in elementary school because everyone brought valentines and candy, and everyone was your friend. Then I got a little older and the success or failure of the day depended on whether or not I got noticed by a boy. I was watching a middle school aged girl walk home on Monday this week carrying a single red rose, and in a flood of memories I thought about what Valentines Day was like when I spent the whole day waiting for recognition of my existence by a single other person.


By the time I got to college, I was pretty apathetic about "heart day".  (I guess I hadn't received enough single red roses in my younger years to care one way or the other!) But then in January of 1997 I met Tyler and had my first Valentines with a REAL valentine who wanted to be mine. We visited my parents that weekend and they met Tyler for the first time. (We'd been dating less than a month and I was bringing him home to meet me parents! And they didn't even panic! At least...not that I know of.) At any rate, I truly enjoyed that Valentines Day and the next few after that with my true love.


Then once the kids came, Valentines Day became less and less about romance and more and more about "chubby toddlers with weapons".  And I decided that I am totally ok with that.
I have a valentine who is mine every day of the year, not just on February 14th. And I have three beautiful kids to go with him. This year Valentines Day was all about family, and I wouldn't have it any other way.


So, I guess that was just a really long way of saying....here's what our Valentines Day looked like this year. I hope your day was as filled with love as mine was!

We started the day with heart hairdo's for the girls.
It's become a tradition.
Even the kids at school waited to see Lil's heart shaped hair!

  Sophie had heart hair too. I can't believe 

that I haven't learned by now that I have to take a 

picture of her before she plays all day!

My three "little" valentines!

We enjoyed a glamorous candle lit dinner together. 

There were lots of homemade cards and handmade hearts, 

just the kind I like best!

 Our glamorous dinner: heart shaped pink pancakes with strawberries and 

whipped cream.  It may not be gourmet, but everyone at my house eats it 

without whining, and that makes mom's heart day dinner a truly happy one!

Lunch of Champions

The perfect lunch for discerning four year-olds? Hot wings and pistachios, of course! Sophie had this more than once for lunch this week. She wanted it again today. She just walked into the kitchen and said "mom, I want the lunch of champions". You got it girl!

For my little Bieber Fan

I couldn't resist this. I can't believe my seven year-old is already boy crazy! (Just a little...)
You'll have to pause the music player at the bottom of the page.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Late Start Limbo

What do you do when it's snowing (again!) and school is delayed?

You do the Late Start Limbo, of course!

You gotta do something when the kids are up and you have extra time before school starts!

Yummy!!!

A four year old's dream....

 When Aunt Tonya was here in December, we had to take her to a new fun spot...Yogurtland. If you haven't tried it yet, you really should! You get to fill your own cup, pick whatever flavors you want, and then top it all off with whatever looks best! What's not to love?

The Museum

Over winter break we took the opportunity to visit one of our very favorite places, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. There is always something fun for the kids to do there. I found these cute pictures on the camera today.

The Amazon Voyage Exhibit - Who wouldn't love to put their kids is a fish tank? 

Lobster Sophie gettin' down. This was also in the Amazon Voyage exhibit.

Lobster Lily

Look at that pirate scowl!!

 We really enjoyed the temporary exhibit, "Amazon Voyage". HK especially is looking forward to the new pirate ship exhibit coming next.

New Year, New Look, New Start

Well friends, it's been a while. I have contemplated just letting this blog go "the way of the world". As 2010 progressed further and further, I could see the missed blog posts stacking up in my mind until I was positively drowning under them. Well, feeling overwhelmed tends to make me freeze in panic, like a deer in the headlights. And before I knew it, 2010 had passed without a single blog post to mark its coming and going. So instead of trying to catch up, I have given up on 2010. It will forever be the "black hole" of this blog, and I have decided that I am ok with that. I just couldn't face the monumental task that I created for myself of catching up, and in the interest of trying to retain my sanity, (which is already questionable at best), I am moving on.

However, since I am not good a keeping a journal and many of our loved ones live miles and miles away, I have decided to give this blog another try. I'd like to put the year's events I blog about into a book eventually so I have something to keep and look back on when I am old and gray and all my kids have left the nest. (Wait, I am already old AND gray. But I still have kids in the nest, so I think we're ok!) So, here's to 2011 and a whole new year of blogging. I hope you'll join us.

December 2009

Has it really been that long since I blogged?!?! December seems like a very long time ago! For the sake of my very linear brain, I am picking up right where I left off...in December.

Sophie got to go on a field trip with her preschool class to sing for the "grandmas and grandpas". It was so cute to watch them all, and to watch the residents as they sang. It was a very cute performance!
It was such a joke trying to take this picture. I can still remember that eight months later! It would have been nice if my own child would have been paying attention, but hey, at least she's in the picture!!

Here's the cousins...Liz, Marlee, and Sophie with teacher Ms. Jenn

December also brought new church clothes of course. I admit it, I love to dress the kids up at the holidays, especially the girls. Unfortunately for us, I think they love it even more than I do!

And a picture with mom. Following the example of a friend, I am trying to include myself in pictures more often, whether I like it or not! (Photography by Hunter)

Ok, Ok...I get the hint!

So...I'm not sure if anyone even reads this blog anymore. Probably not, since there hasn't been anything new to read in about a billion years. The more behind I got, the more I dreaded getting caught up. Then I signed up for a scrapbooking weekend in July and planned to spend the whole time blogging, but the weekend fell through. It felt like I was destined to fail. But, after some "gentle prodding" from family members, I have decided to climb back on the blogging horse and see what I can do. Over the next few weeks, I will attempt to get caught up on what's been going on around here, and even if I'm the only one that ever reads it, at least I'll know I'll have made the effort for my posterity!
So...here goes nothin'!

Paint the Town December

Before the winter break rolled around, the first graders at Lily's school put on a holiday performance. Lily is our little star. Standing up in front of a gym full of people doesn't even seem to faze her! Plus, she loves any excuse to get all dressed up! (OK, let's be honest, I love any excuse to get her all dressed up too!)

When we got to the school on the night of the performance, Lily was thrilled to discover that her picture had been chosen for the program cover! I love how the simple things mean so much when you're a kid.

When Lil's turn rolled around, she stood up and gave her lines like a real pro. She said them loudly and clearly with great expression. She even got a laugh from the audience. And yes, I AM a proud parent, and I am not ashamed to admit it!

After the show, a few parents told me that Lil was the highlight of the show. (OK, too much bragging?) Plus, she had her own fan club there for the show:

On an unrelated note, I was also quite proud of her hairdo that evening. I just had to have a picture for posterity!

For Your Viewing Enjoyment

I am getting better at keeping track of the important moments, but I need to remember to savor the small things as well. So, here are a couple of small things that I don't want to forget.

Hunter brought this poem home from school the other day. It's priceless because it is so "him" at this point in his life.

If I Were In Charge of the World

By Hunter Monson

(Inspired by Judith Viorst)

If I were in charge of the world

I'd cancel Barbie

Dora and Boots,

pills and also,

vegetables.

If I were in

charge of the world,

there'd be no vegetables,

no vegemite, and

everything for me would be free.

If I were in charge of the world

You wouldn't have pink.

You wouldn't have shots.

You wouldn't have bedtime

Or "Don't go outside it's raining".

You wouldn't even have rain.

If I were in charge of the world

A chicken fried steak dinner with mashed potatoes

would be healthy.

All movies would be PG.

And a person who sometimes forgot to clean,

and sometimes forgot to do homework,

would still be allowed to be in charge of the world.

And as an added bonus, here's a picture of the Bug that totally cracks me up. She is such a ham!!

She came up with this outfit, and the pose, all by herself. Maybe she was supposed to be alive in the 1970's!!

WiCKED

Last week was a week for making memories with my kids. Last Thursday, after many weeks of waiting, Lily and I went on our big outing to the theatre. Let me rewind...

I LOVE the musical WICKED. I've seen it four times now, and I love it every time I go. My sweet husband let me buy tickets yet again when we found out the show was returning to Denver. After some discussion, we decided that the time was right for Lily to have her first "big girl" outing. Since I love the music from the show, she knows a lot of the songs. She had asked a few times if she could please go see the show if it ever came to Denver again. So Tyler took one for the team to stay home with the other kids, and Lil and I had a date.

I wanted to make the evening as special as possible, so we dressed up in our best clothes and went to dinner before the show.

Here is Lil at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. She has a new found love for seafood, and the restaurant is only a couple of blocks from the theatre.

It's hard to tell in the dark, but that's the theatre in the background. Didn't she look pretty?!

This was really a special evening for both of us. She acted like such a lady the whole night. I can't even count how many people told her how pretty she looked. She was one of the only kids there, and people kept stopping her to tell her that she looked like a princess and that she was so pretty. The usher even thanked her for putting on her best clothes to go the the theatre. It was absolutely perfect. She loved the show and was mesmerized by her first real stage production. I was so afraid that she would get tired and fall asleep, she is definitely my biggest sleeper and the first act is rather long. But she didn't. She made it through the whole show, and then she fell asleep in the car not five minutes after we left the parking lot. I was very proud of her, and it's a memory I hope we can both keep forever.

Chalk Talk

Last week, Hunter and I got to go to this cool event sponsored by ESPN called "Chalk Talk". It's a program ESPN puts on in cities when they are in town for Monday Night Football. My ESPN Insider husband got the tickets, and then he had to leave town for work. So I did something that I never do. As the teacher inside me was screaming "NOOO!", I went and pulled Hunter out of school for the rest of the day and we headed down to Mile High Station for the event. There was a fancy catered lunch and a program. (And if you're not a football fan, you can stop reading here, 'cause I'm about to start dropping names!)

This is Hunter on the second floor looking down on the set before the program started.

Here is Denver Broncos owner Pat Bolen, (left), NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and a big wig from ESPN whose name I don't remember.

These are the hosts of the program, EPSN MNF reporter Michelle Tafoya and ESPN analyst and former Bronco Mark Schlereth.
This picture was from the "Legends" portion of the program. You might recognize (from left to right):

Former Bronco Safety Steve Atwater, former Bronco wide receiver Rod Smith, fomer Steeler great Jerome "The Bus" Bettis, and former Bronco Guard Mark Schlereth.

It was SO fun to be in the same room with all these guys, and listen to them talk to each other and answer questions. Then, on the way out the door, we all got handed a gift bag, complete with Monday Night Football cooler and tumblers, plus a Broncos yearbook!!

It was really a fun afternoon, and you know how I LOVE football, but the best part was having some fun one on one time with Hunter. He and I don't get to do that very often, and it was special to take him to do something that he and I both thought was exciting. It was a good day!!

Pirates and Skeletons and Ninjas, Oh My!

Now that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I guess it's time to post the Halloween pictures. I'll catch up someday...maybe!

This year we had a pirate, a skeleton rocker, and a ninja. Halloween gets more interesting around here every year. I kinda miss the days when the kids were little and would wear which ever costume I deemed adorable. Those days are gone! I can remember my halloween days as a kid. Every year, all I wanted was to be something beautiful and sparkly...an angel, a fairy, a princess. Apparently, my girls don't feel the same day!
Sophie loved wearing a costume that allowed her to say "aarrghhh!" and swing a sword. As a bonus, she got to have red streaks in her hair and wear a cool hat.

Lily was a "Skele-Rocker" this year. She LOVED this costume, from the pink hair spray to the dog collar and the pleather skirt with a ruffle. This was SOOO Lil, pink and ruffly, but big and bad at the same time. She is something else!

Ninja Hunter. A nine year-old boy with multiple weapons. Enough said!

And just for fun, here's a picture of the kids with cousins. What a crew!! I am so sure that the big boys are standing behind the little kids threatening them with their weapons. Yep, that sweet ninja is mine!