Silverthorne

Chris has been traveling a lot lately, so a three-day weekend where us girls had him all to ourselves was wonderful. Chris has a co-worker who owns a condo in Silverthorne. She is in the process of selling it, but didn't mind if we used it for the weekend if we kept it clean. We were all excited for some time away. We decided to leave Saturday afternoon after lunch and chores and a kids' meeting.

Since I don't travel toward the mountains and Golden very often, I requested a stop at Colorado Mills mall so that I could check out The Children's Place Outlet store. Sometimes I find really good deals there, that particular day I didn't. After looking at Eddie Bauer and The Children's Place, I was ready to move on; however, my girls remembered the Lego store and wanted to visit it. If you have ever been to Colorado Mills mall before, you might know that the Lego store is quite a distance from The Children's Place store. Since it wasn't me making the suggestion to keep on shopping, I was happy to oblige. Chris ended up finding some laptop bags (the complete story will be in another post) at Wilson's Leather, so he was quite happy with the visit as well.

We left the mall around 5 pm amid cries of, "I'm hungry." and, "Can we go to Olive Garden?" We drug out our visit to the mall until 5 pm and close enough to the dinner hour--'cause you know 4:45 is just too early to eat dinner. The nearest Olive Garden wasn't exactly close, but we weren't in any hurry.

We finally arrived at the condo around 7:30. We got situated and set up an extra bed for Amy. The girls watched tv while Chris and I drove to the grocery store to pick up some snacks and food for Sunday; by the time we returned, we were happy to send the girls off to bed.

We attended church meetings in Frisco on Sunday morning at 10 am. Crazy but we met the temple president and his wife there and friends who used to be in our ward. One young boy, he wasn't any older than 9, bore his testimony about prayer and finding his dog. We were all enthralled with his story and how his prayers were answered, but ended up laughing when he said, "If I hadn't prayed and my mom hadn't gone to the basement and turned on the light to look, we might never have found our dog who had fallen into the window well, for a very long time. Except that we might have smelled him." The entire congregation started laughing.



Our girls weren't too thrilled to be "visitors" in Primary, but ended up enjoying their time in a ward so tiny that the visitors outnumbered the regular attendees. I sat in Relief Society meeting next to the open window listening to the stream next to the building and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

We returned to Silverthorne and the condo for lunch. Chris found a hike for us just a short distance further up the hill--to Lily Pond Lake. I think this was the first hike where our children didn't whine and complain the whole way. I know! Miracle! This is Kristen's first year of hiking without hitching a ride, and she was a very happy hiker. The first part of our hike was a rather steep incline up to the actual trail.





Can you just imagine what this must look like when all the flowers are in bloom?



We hiked up over a small rise to another lake that sparkled in the sunlight. I highly recommend enlarging the picture.







Next thing I know, Chris was walking out onto a log with Kristen hanging on for dear life to his hand. She made it to the end of the log, let go of his hand rather reluctantly while expressing her desire to hang on, posed rather quickly and was then deposited back on the shore. Unfortunately, that depositing unbalanced Chris and the log gave way under the mud beneath it. His foot plunged in to the mud and water. He did his best to wash the mud off, but really, he should have seen that one coming.



And wouldn't you know, Amy and Misha had to follow in Dad's footsteps--at least they didn't fall in!



The girls were throwing rocks and branches in to the lake and were having a grand time when all of a sudden we hear a splash and then extremely loud wailing from Kristen, "I fell in the water!!!!!!!" Really it was mostly just her hands that were muddy, but she was not very happy nonetheless. Chris helped her get washed off Daddy style.





You can see that her oh-so-supportive Daddy wasn't as upset about the whole incident as Kristen was!

On our return portion of the hike, a few members of our party were not quite so enthusiastic. To keep their minds off of being tired and hungry, I played an alphabet game with Kristen. I gave her a letter and she had to think up something that started with that letter. She zipped through it. Seriously, Chris and I were quite impressed. I asked her how she thought of something so quickly. She replied that she just remembered the alphabet cards in her classroom at school and the pictures that were associated with each letter. Wow! Impressive.

Misha's turn was next. Chris started quizzing her on her multiplication facts. She knows most of them, but she doesn't have them down so that they just trip off her tongue. And before we knew it, we were walking back down the hill to our van.

Kristen was pretty pooped at bed time and went to sleep around 8 am. Chris and I let the other two stay up lots later playing games. I think they will always remember that part of our vacation.

We packed up Monday morning, cleaned up the condo, and headed down to the Silverthorne outlets. Back to Wilson's leather for an extra 30% off. Misha got a cute jacket and Chris...another laptop bag.

We spent time shopping, had lunch, and then headed off on a hike that some lady told Chris would offer great views. Well, yeah, because you sent us straight up the mountain. You can tell that not all of our family were thrilled by this... Seriously, if someone tells you that the Ptarmigan Trail is a great hike with amazing views, think twice before taking your 5-year, make that 10-year old on it.







After 25 minutes of going straight up, we'd had enough. Good workout for the day. Done. We decided to maybe try another hike in Georgetown, but that plan was kiboshed when we got into traffic. Something caused a major slow down and it was three hours later when we finally arrived home. Good weekend away though.

Intramural Volleyball

Amy's adventure into Middle School is going well. She is keeping on top of assignments, reading, and getting herself out of bed by 6:30 every morning (she'd sleep until 8:30 if she could). She has been excited for additional after-school opportunities, intramural volleyball being her first experience. She's never really played before, so it is a good skill to develop.

I went to watch her first game. She was a pretty good under-hand server, but her whole team was pretty passive when it came to returning a serve. More often than not, they all just turned and stared as the ball hit the hardwood and bounced away. This week, the team AND especially Amy were much improved. She served well and even returned a few serves.

Little Sickie

If ever there was a good time to be sick, Kristen picked it. Our schools have a late-start Wednesday once a month. The half-day Kindergartens switch off going in the afternoon on those late-start days. This month, Kristen was home, and it was a good thing. She had a fever of 103*, her body ached, and she threw up a couple of times. Poor little thing. The bad news was that Chris wasn't home for help and moral support. The good news was that Chris wasn't home and Kristen was more than happy to usurp his spot in our bed. In fact, she fell asleep on the couch (so cute I had to take a picture), and as I was taking her upstairs to bed she mumbled, "Can I sleep in your bed?" Usually that's not allowed, but with her continuous fever, I wanted to keep an eye on her. (With Chris being gone regularly, I get that question often enough. I can just imagine the fights my girls would have over whose turn it was to sleep in my bed THIS time!)

So, Kristen didn't have to worry about missing a day of school. She was better by Wednesday evening and raring to go Thursday morning.

Naps

When Kristen was three, she told me that she wasn't a baby anymore and didn't take naps. Saying goodbye to naps was a sad day for this Mom. We have been napless for the past two years except on those rare occasions when it sneaks up on us. Until Kindergarten started. A half day of kindergarten completely wears my daughter out. She doesn't need a nap every day, but usually every other day she is a whining, tired wreck. AND she knows that she needs a nap. She is also getting up earlier in the morning because Amy is up earlier making noise. It makes for one tired little chica.

I explained to Kristen last week on one of her tired days that because she is going to school now, her body needs a little more rest. She's logical, she knows she's tired, she naps. But, since I laid down with her the first day because she didn't think she could go to sleep during the day, she thinks I need to snuggle with her every time. Truthfully, I don't mind. One, she is napping. Two, I realize these moments of snuggling won't last forever. As she drifts off to sleep, I watch her eyelids flutter closed and her thick eyelashes rest against her cheek. I try to memorize the curve of her face and the feel of her body close to mine as she drapes her legs on top of me. Yes, she likes to be close. Again, I don't mind. My days of having a five-year old will pass much too quickly.

Misha and Braces Update

The system they use for braces now is pretty amazing. Our Orthodontist uses the Damon System which utilizes an amazing memory wire to straighten teeth. The memory of the wire means that it wants to be straight and it adjusts the teeth so that the alignment is achieved--quickly, I might add. When I first looked at Misha's teeth last Wednesday after her braces had been applied, the wire was straight across her front teeth then jogged up a bit around the next two teeth and then back down again. Misha has had her braces on for less than a week and already the wire is almost back to being straight. The amazing thing is that it is much less painful than other systems.

I remember when my younger brother had braces, he had a spacer installed in the roof of his mouth to spread his palate. Painful. It unnerved my mother to put the key in and turn the spacer, so I got to do it. Luckily the key had a string attached so that one didn't inadvertently swallow the key! They are now finding that this method promoted a damaged palate later in life (sorry Dallin).

Because the wire is straightening out, it now pokes out of the last brackets on Misha's teeth and jabs the inside of her cheek. Ouch! I called Dr. Lang's office yesterday to see what I could do to alleviate Misha's pain. There's the wax which Misha has applied and subsequently swallowed. They suggested making the area as dry as possible. How does one do that? Hair dryer! I've even thought about trying to snip the offending wire myself. I'm sure Dr. Lang would be horrified if I tried. Why not just take her into his office, you ask? Well, the office we visit in Firestone is a satellite office and the office hours there are about three times a month. Dr. Lang's main office is in Boulder which is about 45 minutes away.

I was prepared to take Misha to Boulder this afternoon for a little wire snipping, however, my plans have changed. I am so impressed with Dr. Lang. He called this morning. HE called. He wanted to know if Misha was still having problems and said that he had made arrangements for one of his assistants to come to the Firestone office tomorrow morning to fix Misha's wires. Outstanding patient care. I am a Dr. Lang fan!

She's Got Standards

Chris and I went out together on Saturday night. Our girls always like it when we do. Hmmmm. We were both exhausted though and didn't bother to change clothes. Kristen asked where we were going and when we said that we were going out, she looked us up and down, "But aren't you going to dress up?"

Longmont Street Fair

We attended the end-of-summer street fair last Friday night in Longmont. In the past years, we've attended and the crowds were moderate to allow for movement to and from different activities. This year it was so so so crowded. In some spots, we tried to walk through a crowd and I made all my girls hold hands so that we didn't lose anyone. Great turnout for Longmont, but not so much fun from an attendees perspective.

The bubble machine, jumpy castle, mini train and fire dancers were a big hit and each of the girls took a turn at the climbing wall. Amy really wanted to try the bungee trampoline, but it had the longest line. Chris flew in from Nebraska and met us in town for the last hour of the fair.

Misha and Braces

Whereas Amy was excited to have her braces put on, Misha was not. Perhaps because Amy really did have something to smile about with only TWO brackets on her front teeth. Misha now has a full, shiny smile.

Seriously, Misha was not anxious to have braces, but she was a trooper. Mariah, one of Dr. Lang's assistants, began by taken the panoramic pictures of Misha's teeth for her xrays.



She then pulled out some pretty funky implements to take pictures of Misha's mouth. Now really, who wouldn't want such flattering pictures to be posted on the internet? My kids always say, "Pleeeeaaaase, don't post this one." I think they are only half serious. We moved to another room where the brackets would be applied.





Mariah pulled out the tooth polisher to clean Misha's teeth. She then applied blue paste to each tooth which was designed to open the pores of the tooth and created an optimal bonding surface for the brace. Or so they said.

Now this creative little gadget must have been a brilliant light bulb moment for the industrious inventor. Not only did it hold Misha's mouth open the ENTIRE time, but it also had two little tubes attached to it that when hooked up to their little vacuum tube, sucked the saliva right out of Misha's mouth. And there was a little spot for her tongue to hang out so that it wasn't getting in the way. Attractive huh?



It really didn't take as long as I thought, Misha was back to school by 10:45 hoping that she wouldn't get a tardy slip. I had emailed the school to let them know she would be absent so no tardy slip for her. I know, pat me on the back.

The first night with the braces, Misha was pretty miserable. My brothers have had braces recently so they were giving suggestions on food and pain relief. I filled two of Chris' older socks with rice, tied a knot, and warmed them up. Instant comfort, though it didn't take all the pain away. Fortunately, she wasn't in much pain at all Thursday after school, and her only complaint now is that the wire is poking the back of her mouth. We'll get that snipped off a bit and she should be good to go.

Isn't she cute?

Work

Our girls might grumble about the work we make them do, but it always seems that when we are working right along beside them, they might grumble a little less. This is Amy's first year experiencing the magic of mowing. The "magic" is in the muscle power required to push the "self"-propelled lawn mower. It takes a lot of effort to mow our lawn with its inclines. I should know, I did it once.



These are times when you think, "Someday they'll thank us..." I believe they will...someday.

By the way, that weedy patch of rocks and unique sand-pile landscape you see in the picture with Amy, that's not our yard. Just needed to clarify.

Back to School

It's the most won*der*ful time of the year. (Cue Christmas music). The good news was that 2/3 of my children were pretty excited about going back to school as well. Misha, on the other hand, didn't want to give up her freedom quite so soon.

Amy's middle school had done a great job preparing the incoming 6th graders for the culture shock. Amy was pretty excited until the night before school when the nerves started to settle in. It's always that way with her; she usually has a hard time eating breakfast on the first day of school. I've learned she survives with a few less calories that day AND her stomach and its jumble of knots always settles down once she gets back into the swing of things. Wednesday was great for her--except for her locker which seemed to give her fits all day long. Thursday was a completely different story--the 7th and 8th grade students attended as well. That was the culture shock, "Mom, one of the boys opened the emergency door on the bus and the bus driver looked but just kept on driving!"

This began Amy's first year of riding the bus to school. She has been anxious for this opportunity since Kindergarten. Hmmmm, maybe she'll change her mind about buses. Funny story about the bus though, she had asked me if I would walk with her to the bus Wednesday morning. You know, first time and all. We started walking out of the house and Amy noticed a neighborhood boy hanging out across the street, presumably waiting for her or anyone to walk the rest of the way to the bus pick-up location. Amy turns, "I think I can do this by myself Mom." She hugs me and is on her way. I was all set to take a picture of her at the bus stop, on the bus, waving goodbye to me on the bus....



Kristen, on the other hand, satisfied my need to drop someone off. She was completely over-joyed to be going to school. Amy was off at 7:30 am and Kristen and Misha had until 8:45 am before they had to leave. How many times did I hear, "Is it time to go yet?" Finally, we could leave. Misha rode her bike, and I walked with Kristen. She chattered all the way to school. That's certainly not unusual. She was so excited, "I wonder what the first thing will be that I will learn?" and "I'm so excited to be learning." If she wasn't happy to be at school, it might have been harder for me to leave her, but she was thrilled to be in school finally.



Misha smiled as I took a few pictures of her, and then she was off to a new adventure--4th grade. I watched as she sat mesmerized at back-to-school night; she'll do great and already loves her teacher.

Happy Anniversary

Chris and I celebrated our 13th Anniversary this past week. His work schedule originally had him traveling most of last week, but one of his trips was canceled at the last minute. Since we usually take turns planning the celebration of our anniversary and Valentine's Day each year, I had to quickly come up with an idea mid-week rather than later. It was a Monday night and one our last nights of summer vacation. I pulled the middle seats out of the back of the van, put down the back seats, and spent a couple of hours cleaning, vacuuming and getting the van in tip-top shape for our in-van movie adventure. Once spic and span (which in and of itself would have been a treat for Chris since he diligently tries to keep our van free of kid-c**p), I filled the back with foam mattresses, pillow and blankets.



The girls wanted me to blindfold Chris and drive around until he was completely lost, but it's as though he has a GPS built in to his brain. I might get us lost, but he'd know exactly where we were. Instead we drove to DQ to pick up a dessert (which, by the way, blasted way past a simple sugar overload--Double Fudge Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard). We found a secluded spot at a local park, pulled out the iPad and settled back for our very own drive-in movie.

It wasn't elaborate, but it was fun and totally different. Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

Turns out my arm is not long enough for a decent picture of the two of us together. I just gave up and snapped one of Christopher.

Braces

In the words of Rachel Lind from Anne of Green Gables, "It's an ill wind that blows no good." We were fortunate with Amy that when she needed braces, she only needed two! Misha needs a full mouth--top and bottom. I can't imagine that is going to be much fun at all. The Orthodontist is hopeful that the transformation will be complete in less than a year. Let's hope. We'll show pictures later this week.

Ear Piercing

Kristen has been waffling about getting her ears pierced. She was all for it until Daddy agreed that she could get it done. Then Amy scared her with the idea that it would hurt. She changed her mind for awhile and decided that she would wait until she was older. And then suddenly she said to me yesterday, "I don't care if it hurts, I want to get my ears pierced so I can wear earrings." Alrighty then. She asked if we could go this morning. I thought maybe she was having second thoughts when she asked me to pinch her ear to show her how much it might hurt. The idea of wearing earrings seemed to override the potential pain.

Off we went. I had hoped to have both ears pierced at once, but it was a Monday morning. Typically not the busiest time of the week and only one employee was available. The lady in the store made Kristen promise that after piercing one ear, she would let her do the second ear as well. Kristen promised. She held on to the bear during the process and barely flinched for the first ear. I could tell she was a little surprised though. On to the second ear and Kristen scrunched up a bit knowing what was coming. And then it was all over. Gotta love her thumbs up.

Growing Too Fast

I thought my girls looked lovely for church today. Sadly, I think they are growing up too fast.

Changing Roles

We met up with our friends Jamie and Jeremy on Friday evening at The Orchard for dinner and live music. For years, Chris and I have been toting along our children, diapers bags, cheerios, sippy cups and stuff and missing out on hot dinners trying to juggle active little ones. Through it all, Jamie and Jeremy have patiently endured. It is quite humorous to Christopher and I as the roles have been reversed. Their little guy, Eli, is into the active, I-don't-want-to-sit-here stage. They carry the diaper bag and all of its accoutrements, and we watch as they take turns trying to eat or talk and hold a baby.

Bird Poop and Feathers

A bird pooped on our windshield in the van. Not only did it poop, but it also lost a feather in the process creating a disgusting blob with a feather attached to draw even more attention to it. Before Amy had a chance to pull the visor down to block her view of it, Kristen commented from the rear of the van, "I'll pretend I didn't see that."

Speaking of seating in the van, when it is just me and the girls, we have done a little rearranging. Kristen used to sit behind the driver seat in the second row. She now sits one row back in the very rear of the van. Misha sits in either seat of the middle row, and Amy sits in the front seat. Kristen was causing too many problems. Now peace has been restored once more.

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

My girls were thrilled with the prospect of seeing more grandparents this summer. My parents flew in for a visit last week and stayed until Friday. Shopping is not the favorite activity for all of my children, nor my dad, so after the first day of tagging along, Misha and my dad opted to stay home. But during the first day of shopping, we picked up some lunch and spread out in the shade to enjoy the 80* weather.





Wednesday evening the weather wasn't so cooperative. We had thought it would be fun to go to Sunset Pool in Longmont, but the overcast sky, rain, and thunder nixed that idea for us. Instead, my parents offered to watch the girls while Chris and I went out. Okay, twist my arm will ya!

My mom is the craft lady. For as long as I can remember, she has kept herself busy with all kinds of crafts. Her hands are rarely idle, and my children love when she comes and teaches them fun new things. She taught all my girls how to make rope-style belts out of yarn.



Chris and I had tickets for our family to attend a New Members night at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on Thursday evening. It included entrance to the museum and a meal. With a quick phone call, I was able to add my parents, and we enjoyed a delightful and not-so-busy evening checking out the different sections of the museum. Half way through the evening, my mom opted for a wheelchair. Kristen loved hitching a ride since she was getting tired.





Chris should have been just a little more scared here.





There were parts that I had never visited before, such as the roof deck on the fourth floor. It offered a beautiful view of Denver's downtown skyline. As you can see, my camera didn't capture it all that well. Trust me, though, it was beautiful.

Hairy Chest

My girls were chattering back and forth in the van as I drove. As it so often seems, the simplest conversations spiraled into some kind of argument. Amy said she was the best. Misha then replied back with this little ditty, "First is the worst, second is best." And then Amy chimed in with, "and third is the one with the hairy chest!" I happened to look in the rear view mirror at Kristen just as Amy said this. I heard a quick intake of breath from Kristen and saw a horrified look on her face. "I don't have a hairy chest!" Tears, tears, tears. (Laugh, laugh, laugh in the front seat two rows up so she can't see me).