Loving the Crazy Weather

Tuesday morning, very, very early in the morning, it snowed. I know - shocking, as we do live in Colorado. When I went out to my van in the morning (which is currently being parked outside because JADs car is parked in my garage), there was a good 3+ inches of snow that needed to be cleared off before I could leave for school. I do have to admit, however, that the scenery as I drove to school was gorgeous. It looked like a master painter had taken a paintbrush thick with white paint and dabbed it on the top of every house, bush, and tree. By the time I walked out of school that afternoon, all the snow had melted and the temperature was in the low 50s. Today we hit the low 70s and we'll stay that way through Saturday. March is really following the addage that it 'goes out like a lamb.' I'm not complaining, though. I got to pump gas tonight in short sleeves and a skirt and I didn't freeze. Even better, we won't be popsicles at soccer Saturday morning. It's a beautiful thing.

Back to School

Today most of us had to go back to school. JAD had today off (lucky dog), but the other four kids and I all had to head back. It was BRUTAL getting up at 5 am this morning. I had the luxury of sleeping in until 8 or later just about every day during spring break. That's the nice thing about your kids getting older - even if the little ones wake up early, they know to leave mom/dad alone and go watch tv or play a game. It's a beautiful thing. The kids were not overly happy about having to be up before 6:30, either. MED cried almost hysterically about having to get up at dark o'thirty. Let me just say it wasn't a pretty scene getting her up and moving. Somehow, I have a feeling that tomorrow morning may prove to be a little more difficult. Day two always seems to be that way and waking up a teenager before the early hour of 10:30 will be a challenge. Hope your week is starting off better than ours! Only 35 more school days left...

Friday Afternoon

Today we went to Fountain Creek Nature Center. Fountain is a little city that's just south of the Springs and it only took us about 15 minutes to get there. The Nature Center is a nice little building with representations of some of the wildlife that lives in the area - some things are in glass cases and others are tactile so the kids can get a feel for what actually lives there. The younger kids really liked it. After about 20 minutes in the Nature Center, we decided to go for a walk on the trails in the Nature Preserve. The day was beautiful - upper 50s - and we spent an hour and a half just walking along the paths and watching the ducks and geese that inhabit the marshy areas, ponds, and Fountain Creek. One of the first things we experienced was 'star sticks'. JED got great pleasure in showing his entire family what these are as he came to the Nature Center last year on a field trip.

If you break open the sticks at the right place you are rewarded with a center that's in the shape of a star.The kids searched for 'star sticks' underneath this tree:

This tree is over 20 feet around and five stories high. It was quite impressive.

We continued on down the path and the two youngest ones wanted to become the 'leaders' (just in case we got 'lost'). Here are our fearless leaders:

Don't they just make your heart MELT??? I always want to remember them this way - they truly are best friends.

Spring is finally peeking its way through the brown... it's slow in coming as we are very, very, very dry here in Colorado. The brilliant green of the ferns along the riverbank was just astounding. The pictures don't even do it justice.

I captured these pictures as we continued to meander down the walking path.

I think it captures the simple, pure love between a father and his daughters. It makes me believe that there really is some good in this world.

We finished off our afternoon with a little time at a park that is just off the path. The kids (yes, ALL of them) enjoyed running around and acting goofy.

Yes, that is CED running between the swings as her siblings went up and down. I kept waiting for her to get whacked. I probably would've laughed. I know that's mean, but if you're crazy enough to run in between swings...

We ended the evening with pizza (Free! From Dominos! CED won a few free pizzas at school - score!) and two movies - The Town and The Fighter. Our evenings of family movies continue. Hope you enjoyed your Friday. We did.

Movies Movies Everywhere

We decided that this week we would watch a movie a night with the kids - something we love doing and we can all pretty much agree on it together. So far this week we've watched Grownups (funny!), Unstoppable, Salt (think Jason Bourne - just female), Red (we will be purchasing a copy of this movie in the near future), The Tourist, Good Will Hunting, and Secret Window. Some have been better than others (The Tourist looked better in the previews) and some have had us in stitches (see previously mentioned Red) and some were watched after the three youngest went to bed (Secret Window). All in all, it's been great sitting down and just relaxing with the whole family. We love RedBox (you can't beat a dollar a rental)... I can't wait to see what is in tomorrow when I return tonight's movie!

A Hiking We Will Go

Today we decided to go hiking. It's something we love to do as a family and it's free. Bonus! We went to one of our favorite places - Cheyenne Canon Park - it's close and there are lots of trails. We drove through most of the park up, up, up the mountain and decided to go on a trail near Helen Hunt Falls.

This trail proceeded to do nothing but go up, and up, and up. The view at the top was beautiful, though. It made all our hard work worth it.

And, as always, what goes up must come down.

After this, we decided to go on another trail that proved to be pretty tricky at one point. Fortunately for us, our kids don't shy away from a challenge and they were scrambling up steep inclines with nary a complaint. Of course, we did have to come down again and on an incline this steep, it always proves to be a little tricky.


Here's a picture of our motley crew:


The kids ended the hike with a stirring rendition of the commercial song "We Wear No Pants". Yup. We're klassy with a 'k'.

The Things Girls Do...

as they get older and have sleepovers. CED and her friend B had a sleepover last night and they decided to do a face mask. They were all giggly and running around showing K and myself how they looked through the various stages of this very entertaining (in their opinion) process.

Girls.

On Stage

On Friday and Saturday MED had the privilege of being a part of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' put on by the students (and a couple of faculty) at the Colorado Springs Conservatory. It's funny watching how your different kids react to various situations. MED had absolutely no problem being up on stage. In fact, she just basks in the lights and 'adoration' of the crowd. (She thinks they're adoring her alone - they are really enjoying the culmination of ALL the kids' hard work. Just don't tell MED.) Here she is with some of her fellow dew drop fairies and Hermia (who is personally one of MEDs favorite people at the conservatory):

The play was really well done and we had a great time watching. Just don't ask JAD or JED for their opinions...