Love it!

I just love this shirt that JAD got for his birthday last month. He wears it proudly. And it is SO true! It just makes me giggle every time I see it.

It's the Most Awful Time of the Year

It is that time of year when EVERYONE starts to get sick. School has started, kids are cooped up together, and the germ fest has begun. This weekend K succumbed to the stomach flu and is still recuperating. MED stayed home from school today because, as she put it this morning, she "puke-ed" during the night. In her bed, mind you. She just covered it up with a blanket and went back to sleep. Little dear didn't want to wake mummy. Oh sweetheart, please just wake me up next time! And then CED was sent home from school at about 1:45 with a fever. Which she still has. She actually ASKED if she could go to bed at seven. That should tell you something. This is my kid I have to hunt down EVERY NIGHT to tell her to go to bed.
Who's next, germ monster??? Bring it on!

Right in the Middle

of Colorado Springs is Palmer Park. It was named after Col. Palmer, who was the founder of Colorado Springs and donated this land to the city in 1902. There are 25 miles of hiking/biking/equestrian trails and pretty views of the mountains and the bluffs that run through the park. The odd thing is, you'd never know this beautiful park is here as it just seems nestled into surrounding neighborhoods. It is beautiful, believe me! We spent a couple of hours hiking here this afternoon. The weather was perfect - upper 70s, light breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. All the kids are becoming quite the hikers - including MAD and MED who did a cool 3 miles on an intermediate trail without batting an eye.

Balloon Glo

Fairly often we will see hot air balloons up in the air around here. Who wouldn't want to fly around here when you have gorgeous vistas of the Rocky Mountains? MED and MAD are absolutely enthralled every time they see the balloons up in the air, which is usually around 7 in the morning as we are driving to school. This year, it's just MAD seeing the balloons, but the excitement is still there.
Every year, Colorado Springs hosts a hot air balloon festival Labor Day weekend. Each morning of the long weekend, a bunch of hot air balloons take flight from Memorial Park at 7 a.m. A little too early for us. Saturday and Sunday evenings, however, they have a balloon glo. (No, I'm not spelling it wrong - this is how they spell it). We decided to go (along with tens of thousands of other people) last night to see what this was all about. As we arrived, the balloons were spread out on the ground and around 7:45, they began to inflate them - with big fans! About 8:00, the fuel was light and all the balloons began to go up. There was a wide variety of designs - from the Energizer Bunny to an American flag to colorful squares to a pig that can fly. It was amazing to be so close to all the balloons, seeing the size of the basket, how they turn on the 'fire' to fill up the balloon, and the sheer magnitude of the balloons themselves. About every couple of minutes, all of the balloons would 'glow' together. Here are some photos of what we were able to see last night:

Couldn't resist putting in pictures of the kids as they anxiously await the balloons' inflation

This was the first balloon to go up and be lit; pretty, isn't it?

A Photo and Word Montage

Four weeks ago school began. Four weeks ago I had a semblance of a life. Now I spend my days at school and spend my nights getting ready for the next day of school. In between all that, I chauffeur kids to soccer practice and pretend to make dinner. On the weekends we go to soccer games. And I get ready for the next week of school. All that said, my poor little blog is falling by the wayside. And you don't know what's going on in our busy little lives.

MED started kindergarten. She loves it. She thinks she's super big. She thinks she knows it all. But she delights in the fact that she is in KINDERGARTEN and she's learning all kinds of things. I keep looking at her and think that she's just WAY too small to be with all those big kids all day long. I guess her being four and almost a year younger than most of her classmates doesn't help, does it?


CED is in fifth grade. Fifth Grade! That means middle school next year! How did that happen??? She has been chosen by her teacher to be on Student Advisory Council again this year and she'll be working with two primary kids on phonics and spelling throughout the year. She continues to be a teacher's favorite. If only she'd clean her room... :)

JED is in second grade and has a MALE teacher this year. He is SUPER tall - way taller than daddy, the kids say. But JED seems to really like him. We're hoping for a great year. It's starting off well so far and JED is making new friends every day. Can't believe he's in second grade already. It seems like he was just where MED is right now.


JAD started eighth grade at the neighborhood middle school. It lasted all of one week. Unbeknownst to any of the parents of gifted children, our district cut all of the gifted and talented classes. Ummm... not happening. So, we pulled him out of that school. Even with all the 'great' ideas the new principal has, I don't want my child to be a guinea pig while they iron out all the details of 'challenging' their gifted population of 10 eighth graders. He is now attending COVA, an online school. He can work at his own pace and he is actually able to take Spanish now. It's actually quite a great program. It is public education (run out of a county near Denver) and we get all of his school materials for free - including a computer and printer. He's a little lonely at home all day, but he made the final decision. Thank goodness for soccer and the friends he has there!

MAD is exactly what her initials spell out when it comes to daycare. She cries every morning that she doesn't want to go, yet tells me every afternoon what a great day she had. Crazy girl! Every morning while dropping her off she has screamed at, kicked and hit the daycare worker. I walk out listening to her scream "I want my mommy!!!". Makes going into work so much easier, let me tell you. I finally figured out that she goes peacefully and quietly if I drop her with another caretaker (who is supposed to be with the school-aged kids). But hey, it works, and Heidi (bless her heart) is willing to take my darling peanut.

In the last 4 weekends, we have gone to two tournaments - one, just JADs team was in and the other was at the Air Force Academy and both JAD and CEDs teams were in - and we attended four regular season games. CEDs team is already looking immensely better than last year with its horrendous coaching. They even won their third tournament game! The really great part about this is they won 2 players down. CED is now playing 11v11 and FOUR girls did not show up for the third game. Yet, they won - and the other team was subbing 4 players in at a time (we had no subs, 9 players total, remember?) and they had a full 11 on the field. What a great game! JADs team won their third game as well, and landed themselves in the championship game! They ended up losing, but it was an exciting weekend - tiring (7 games!), but exciting!

CED has become an AMAZING sweeper. She directs her teammates on the field, is aggressive in going after the ball, and has a killer slide tackle. She usually has a couple of girls marking up on her by the end of the game. She IS a force to be reckoned with.

JAD has been moved up to forward many of the games. He says it's okay. I don't think he likes the whole getting subbed out thing. At defense, he never got subbed. He's just too good to take out. When the game is starting to go down, his coach always moves him back to defense because he knows how to shut the opposing forwards down. However, he scored two of the three goals to get them in the final game... think he does well at soccer?


JADs team being 'introduced' before the championship game. It's hard to see in this picture, but most of the boys were almost giddy. And what you don't see in this picture are the drums that the other team and our team brought to cheer on the boys. It was a very noisy game.


JAD in motion...


Sitting on the podium having just received their medals.

Don't worry - there will be plenty of soccer pics to come! The season has just begun!

Before and After

JAD before going to the orthodontist to get braces. He is starting with the top braces only because his 100% overbite currently prevents him from getting the bottom braces on quite yet. See how happy he looks?

In the chair of torture, before anything began. He couldn't believe that I was actually taking pictures.

Having the rear brackets put on. Nowadays they use this fancy blue light to quickly dry the cement on the back brackets. Looks rather futuristic, doesn't it?

The final product. He chose alternating red and black rubber bands so it would match his soccer uniform. We keep telling him he will appreciate the braces and straight teeth later in life. He's not buying it yet. We promise, buddy, you will thank us!

Thirteen

JAD turned thirteen today. I still remember August 8, 1997 when my doctor told me that I needed to report to the hospital because I was having contractions every 8 - 9 minutes and she was ready to induce me. Amazing how time flies. August 9, 1997 I gave birth at 7 a.m. to a beautiful baby boy. Who knew what an incredible human being he'd turn into? Happy 13th birthday, dear son. You are going to make a positive, lasting impression on everyone you meet in life. I love you so very much and am proud that I am your mom.