2016

71 posts, oldest first. Back to the archive

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January5

Christmas in pictures

January 7, 2016

Swim lessons

January 13, 2016

We enrolled Jack in swim lessons at the Apex center for January. He is taking the intro level "Tadpoles" class and LOVING it.

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Winter FOs

January 29, 2016

Ive had a busy little winter of knitting so far, with many lovely FOs (finished objects) to show for it! I'm so pleased with all these, I had to share them here in addition to my Ravelry account.

(The next time you wonder why I haven't blogged in a while, remember this list representing my work from November to January. My fingers are probably busy with yarn instead of a keyboard.)

I made this cardigan for Amanda for her birthday. It's made with a linen blend from Madelinetosh called Dandelion. It should get very soft and drapey with washing and wearing. The garment is knit in one piece from top to bottom.

Here is a warm hat with two different yarns I spun myself. Never got a great photo of it. Also, I made it a little too long and I keep thinking about pulling out the brim to take and inch off. But it's wearable as is.

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These are mittens I made for my Dad for Christmas. I hadn't used this brand of yarn before. It was so nubbly and fun to knit with! I'd love a whole sweater out of it (but it would cost an arm and a leg!)

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This hat was a fun, quick project I gave to Jenn for Christmas. The pattern is called Beeswax and I found this rich amber Madelinetosh Tosh DK for it. I added a removable pompom and bee pins. This picture is before I blocked it. Jenn, please send me a better product photo for my collection!

Not too exciting, but I had these sock "hibernating" on needles for over a year. I finally finished the second sock. For some reason the old one is much tighter than the one I finished recently! Annoying, but I still wear them.

I made these socks with Madelinetosh Sock yarn. I hadn't used that type before, but like all things Madelinetosh, it was delightful to work with. My feet want to wear hand knit socks every day! Someone has a birthday coming up and would love some more sock yarn ;-)

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Ben gave me some luxurious Woolfolk yarn for Christmas. It's only merino wool but it's as soft as cashmere and so squishy soft. I turned it into a cowl with lots of undulating brioche stitch ridges. Love it so much, I'm wearing it now.

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You may not remember this sweater from 2014 (but you probably remember that hair - yeesh!). I had a hard time wearing this cardigan. Too hot in warm weather, too cold for chilly days. Not many outfits were flattered by it.

Such a shame. I was proud of the construction and work and I love the color and yarn (another Madelinetosh Tosh DK), but what good is that if I don't wear it?

In a rush of bravery, I unraveled the whole thing. I put them in loose hanks and reset the twist in a warm water bath. After drying I wound them all back into cakes to use again.

I made this sweater last spring of 2015. I loved the fit, but hated the cheap yarn from Hobby Lobby. It pilled terribly, looked messy after just a season of occasional use, and didn't block well.

I decided to make this pattern again using the Tosh DK recycled yarn. It's a masterpiece! I've never been happier with a sweater I knit.

It looks great and fits great - despite a lot of improvising. I had to adapt the pattern from fingering to DK weight (I'd already had to change it from fingering to worsted on the brown sweater). I also added a deeper collar with shaping and cables along the body side and up the inner sleeve. I jumped around from sleeve to neck to body, doing a little at a time to make sure I had enough yarn for each direction of growth.

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Now I'm working on a new shawl with (you guessed it) Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light. I have four gorgeous colors and a pattern with fun, new techniques. Too bad I can only work on it when kids are sleeping. If I try to knit when Sam is around he claims my lap.

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I have two non-knit finished objects to show off. Jack saw Dr. Doom on Super Hero Squad swearing a snuggie. He asked me if I could make him "a blanket with sleeves." Sure! What else is a crafty mom to do but whip up two snuggies on a Saturday night.

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Jack Danger and Sam Storm

January 29, 2016

A transcript of the pre-nap playtime.

J: I am Jack Danger!

S: I Sam Storm!

J: I have the power of all things that are dangerous!

S: I got storm!

J: You have lightening. Sam, make lightening.

S: Lightening!

J: I have dangerous powers. Like scraping wood! Now run!!

(boys take off running)

(boys pause to admire their capes)

Sam, Sam, make a storm.

S: Storm! Lightening!

J: Scraping wood!

New bedroom decor

January 30, 2016

You may have glimpsed my new room in the previous blog post. Ben suggested that for Christmas we buy ourselves a new bedroom set instead of getting each other a surprise gift. I loved the idea! He let me run with it, changing up the whole room arrangement and getting new curtains and a mirror.

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I love our new room! We spend more time in there now We read to the boys in here at bed time every night. I used to be embarrassed when a guest saw my room. Now I'm happy to keep the door open.

February7

Another snow day has begun

February 2, 2016

Ben is a rockstar

February 11, 2016

Sometimes Ben gets frustrated with work, like any person. The last two (four? six?) weeks have been very busy for them, and an employee just gave his notice to leave, which will make things even crazier for Ben.

But it seems like whenever things get bad, something good happens to remind him of why he sticks with this job, so far from home. It might be a bonus or thanks from his boss. Today one of his client companies scheduled him to be at a meeting. To his surprise it was to give him a thank you party!

With a poster and cake in his likeness! I'm so tickled for him. There was no deadline or project completion. Only thanks for his persistence and greatness.

If only he had been wearing that shirt today ;-)

Today is my birthday!

February 21, 2016

I'm 34 years old today! I love February and I love it when my birthday falls on a Saturday.

Ben gave me a splendid day. I got to sleep in - a particularly precious gift because we were out late at A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder last night. Birthday presents were opened with breakfast and I got many lovely things. The kids went bonkers for the balloons my German pen pal sent with her package.
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We took the boys to a park to enjoy the warm weather and meet some friends from Jack's school. Then Ben took the kids to McDonalds while I escaped for a long, quiet lunch alone with my book. Ah, bliss.

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I went home to tuck Sam in for a nap and Amanda came by. I always love seeing her! She was in the middle of high hunting season for musical props. I found some odd things they can use and we rehashed the show from last night and did some shop talk.

In the afternoon our friends the Arcands came over for the big event. I had arranged sitters for our kids all together at my house while we adults went downtown for a puzzle room and dinner. Jack, Nora, Henry, and Sam play so well together and Jack declared it was the BEST babysitting time EVER because his friends were there.

We had fun in our puzzle room. It wasn't too challenging, but we still had a time crunch in the end, finishing in a mild adrenaline rush. The host said our total time was 26.5 minutes, putting us in first place on their current leader board. It was a little confusing how often they reset all scores, but she said the all-time record is 21 minutes. So we are pretty proud of ourselves! After the game we walked to 16th Street Mall and had dinner at Mellow Mushroom Pizzeria, then picked up ice cream in Milkbox Ice Creamery in the new Union Station building.
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At home we treated all the kids and sitters to ice cream and cake before saying good night and putting reluctant kids to bed.

Now I have to decide whether to start my new sock yarn project or my new cardigan project, or to finish my shawl project! So much beautiful knitting and sewing is queued in my craft baskets!

Random slice of life videos

February 25, 2016

Here's a video from today:

Here's a fairly recent video:

And here's a bonus old video:

Full Day Kindergarten

February 26, 2016

Jack is now a full day student! I didn't want to pay tuition all year (especially during the holiday and sickness season). I wanted to start him in January, but musical rehearsals complicated things. Well, rehearsals are over for me. So for the last three months of Kindergarten I enrolled Jack in full day. His class was blended half and full day. All that changed is he no longer leaves at 10:50 in the morning. Instead he goes to lunch in the cafeteria (scary!) then a second recess (woo!) followed by alternating classes in art, PE, computer lab, science, and social studies. Basically all the FUN stuff in school. At the end they have free time, what you might typically think of as Kindergarten play time, but has been relegated to preschool and day care in today's education world.

Wednesday was his first official day, but it happened to be an early release day. His teacher shares pictures on the ClassDojo app and included one of lunch - I like to think she did it for me :-)

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Oh, I should mention that on that first afternoon, Sam was excitedly running around the asphalt play area and biffed it hard. He fell onto this front and flipped feet over head. He got an impressive bump! Poor kid. He seemed to forget about it by the next day though. Kids are tough.

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Thursday was a real full day, going all the way until 2:55. He came out happy and proud!

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His main complaint is that lunch is too short (20 minutes) and he doesn't get to watch TV. Ben and I laughed at him. We've known that it would be a tough day when he had to stop his Roman siesta style lunches with 1+ hours of TV and second (and third) helpings of food. I make it up to him with an after school snack and no more quiet time.

Sam and I had a spectacular day together. I felt less rushed without squeezing errands into school time. We had more play time together and he helped me make S'mores tarts. I put him down right after lunch for a nap and, as I suspected, he took to the early time very well. When I had to wake him to pick up Jack he was in a better mood than usual. I'll find out soon if the lack of post-nap grouchiness is because of the new time or was a fluke. The weather was nice so we bundled up to walk to the school. I think he liked the extra time to snooze.

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Snow Ice

February 27, 2016

It took almost a year, but Taiwanese Snow Ice has come to Denver!!!

Near Colorado and Evans you can find Snowlabco and get your snow ice on. It's squeezed in between a marijuana dispensary, a rental car shop, and under a Brazilian capoeria studio. They were running out flavors that night so we couldn't get the basic sweet we wanted, but it was still very tasty.

Hard to compare because I had chocolate, but I think I prefer the one in New York that was made from cream based ice. This one is vegan with soy milk. It lacked richness. But still totally worth the drive across town to check it out.

The kids were at the Apex Center for tonight's date night. Prior to snow ice we found another gem in a sketchy strip mall, Ambli. I saw their menu on the Denver Restaurant Week site and it looked good. If I had known it was near a McDonald's, a Dollar Store, and a power station I might not have gone (I was searching in the "Cherry Creek" neighborhood). But the restaurant actually had great ambiance and a delicious variety of foods. One of the better places we have tried lately. We spent most of the meal discuss the Cosmere, as I had finished the latest Brandon Sanderson book* last night. Ben has me hooked. I'm thinking of going back to the beginning of Mistborn now that I know the whole trajectory of that world.

Date nights are the best :-)

*Whoops, not the latest. Daaaaang. That dude is prolific.

Oscar night

February 29, 2016

We hosted the annual Oscar Pool viewing party again. It was a good turn out and a lot of fun to see friends again. I even came in ~~third~~ second!

Missing Brian hard though. Love you, Loophole. We did our best to keep the pool true to your terms (even when we disagreed with your system!)

March11

Swim lessons: minnows

March 2, 2016

I worried that taking a break in February would make it hard for Jack to start the next level of swim classes. But he was a happy, floppy fish today!

I could never get him to walk kick for me.

My view :-)

High -five-giving after getting a toy off the bottom of the pool by himself.

One sharp looking dude

March 14, 2016

Monster Truck Build

March 18, 2016

Lowes Build and Grow is a great free program that we've been doing for years. Sam joined his expert brother last Saturday to build monster trucks.

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Dr. Seuss's Birthday

March 18, 2016

If you don't have a primary school-aged child, you might not be aware that Dr. Seuss's birthday is a Big Deal. It is also National Read Across America Day. I had forgotten all the hoopla that we had with preschool last year.

Jack's teacher shared photos through ClassDojo (that I stole with screenshots). They got to wear crazy socks to school, do special crafts and activities. Below you can see their hats and the kids testing whether they like their bread buttered on the top or bottom. I helped celebrate by making Seuss-like cookies for my boys.

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St. Patrick's Day

March 18, 2016

Speaking of big deal holidays, St. Patrick's Day never registered for me, except an excuse to bake soda bread and avoid the drunks on city streets. Then my kid started school and suddenly we have a reason to celebrate. Jack spent all day telling me about leprechauns. Apparently one visited his classroom while they were parade. It upturned chairs and spread glitter and candy all over the place.

Sam and I make some festive snacks at home.

Broken Glass Jello

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Rainbow Challah

Here it is before the second proof.

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And sliced into corned beef sandwiches. It's pretty good if you don't look at it while you eat it.

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Jack was delighted by this dinner :-)

Face Swaps

March 20, 2016

My parents are in Germany, heading next to Austria and Hungary. My sister is traipsing around India. We are spending our Mason spring break in boring old Arvada. Ben brought excitement home by joining the face-swapping craze with his phone.

Results were hilarious and frightening, as expected.

Proof that Jack and Sam look very very similar:

Spring break bummer

March 21, 2016

On arrival this morning we found out that the camp I had signed up for Jack's spring break was cancelled. He was absolutely crushed. Gotta figure out how to spend our days now. Went to a park this morning. Ben improved one of my pictures for me.

Zoo Zoo Zoo

March 22, 2016

We've had a fun spring break so far. The Masons came to visit family and play like crazy with the boys. They love seeing their grandparents.

Today we had nothing planned. It's supposed to snow tomorrow, and my zoo membership expires the end of April. That suggested to me that today would be a splendid day to see animals.

It's fun to see Sam get more and more excited about seeing animals with each visit. Jack brought his notebook and made a list of every animal we visited.

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Spring Blizzard

March 24, 2016

The weather flipped from the sunny zoo trip yesterday, to a blizzard today. All schools were closed along with my Zumba class at the Apex Center :-( At least the official closure dismissed my guilt about sleeping late (8:20!) and not wanting to drag the kids out in the snowy streets.

I did my best to keep the boys entertained without going anywhere. Ben planned for a snow day and worked from home. Best of all, we didn't lose power! The snow was very wet and heavy and there were strong winds. I saw on the Xcel website that there were many outages in our area. Woohoo for us!

Extra pajama time after breakfast, because why not?
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I built them a fort. I don't think they appreciated how dope a fort I made.
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This was in the morning, before it got super heavy.
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I'm glad I keep a well stocked baking pantry. I made a loaf of garlic bread from scratch for dinner, and the boys helped me make cookies with chocolate chips, pretzels, and caramel chunks. (The first pic is a high five in progress)
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Before naptime they bundled up to play.
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Me keeping a safe watch from inside.
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Ben heard a big galumph and was surprised to see Jem crash down into the basement window well next to his desk. Jack helped make a rescue.
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After spaghetti dinner and cookie dessert, the roads were cleared fairly well and the snow finally stopped. We all went to Target for this and that and to stretch our legs. I hope I can make up that gym visit and get the guys some indoor playground action tomorrow. I bought some paint crafts and boiled eggs for dying too. Oh, spring break. Why are you so long?

To mroe is Estr!

March 27, 2016

Tooth Extraction #2

March 28, 2016

Jack's second chipped tooth turned gray and started hurting. Time to take it out for the Tooth Fairy!

Before:
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After:
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Sam demanded a picture too, but only gave me tongue:
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April2

School Pictures II: Revenge of the Kindergarten - UPDATED

April 22, 2016

So there was a notice about spring school pictures. "Since when do they do pictures more than once?" I asked Ben. "Since whenever they figured they could make more money" he wisely replied. "Well, not from me" I declared, and resolved not to give them money and threw the flyer away.

Then I felt all sad and nostalgic and my babies are growing so fast and I tried to log on to order them later. But alas, I didn't have the code and their website sucks, so I gave up.

Then Jack gave himself a haircut that week. Then Jack had his other front tooth pulled that week. Then Jack tripped and smacked his head the day before.

Alright, totally not buying pictures. But I kinda wish I could see them. I dutifully dressed him and combed him in case there was a class portrait too, so he would look nice for others.

Fast forward a month and Jack brings this home:

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You guys. Wat. Seriously? Have you ever seen such doofy crazy eyes? I'll zoom in for you.

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Seriously? So fabulous.

I swear I didn't order these. I have no idea why we got them. And it's not just a couple prints. They sent me a deluxe set.

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So please, email me that you want 5x7's, 4x6's, wallets, and keychains of this amazing Ode to the Kindergarten Trifecta of Accidents. We'll keep the puzzle portrait for ourselves.

UPDATE - I logged into LifeTouch and it prompted me to "Order more portraits or pay for portraits I already received." Looking at the fine print, it appears this is a marketing ploy. I'm supposed to return any unwanted prints to them via the school. I think we will keep the "fun pack" with the puzzle, but return the rest unless someone wants to pay for it themselves.

Singin in the snow

April 29, 2016

April showers look awfully fluffy and white in Colorado.

May3

Macareenia!

May 5, 2016

The dance craze sweeping Kindergarten; a Cinco de Mayo gift from Jack.

Happy Mother's Day!

May 8, 2016

Field Day

May 13, 2016

The school year is ending soon and Jack is excited for Field Day this morning. So many fun things to do in May!

June2

Jack turned SIX!

June 11, 2016

Sitting in line on the street

June 18, 2016

I can't believe I'm doing this. But I realized there's few things I'm a fanatic about. Fancy tiger is one of those things. So I got up at 6:30 on a Saturday to attend their 10 year anniversary. The first 150 people get a bag of freebies.

I'm #29. Got my knitting and Netflix with me. Only 2.5 hours until they open!

July3

Happy Fourth!

July 7, 2016

We spent the holiday in Grand Junction visiting both Waterhouses and Masons. The kids had a blast! I didn't take too many pictures, but I have these at least:

I spent most of my time doing a puzzle :-)
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The boys showed off their swimming skills.

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Tuckered out Sam every afternoon (of course, he stayed up late each night in exchange!)

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I made a flag cake!

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Sparklers and fireworks on the third, after dinner with all the family together.

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More swimming, with a surprise frog visitor.

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Releasing him in a safer place.

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The boys were positively pickled after hours of swimming on our last day.

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Sam nodded off before we crossed the town border on our way home on the 4th.

Within an hour of leaving I got this photo. So glad it got done! Sad I couldn't do it all while I was there though. I picked on too big for the weekend.

We drove through Vail during their fireworks display. Perfect timing! Jack declared "Those fireworkds really saved the day. It's a good thing we saw them. It was almost the worst Fourth of July EVER." //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

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We had no idea fireworks were so important to him :-) Noted for next year.

Down the rabbit hole

July 11, 2016

I haven't played video games in a long time. I have other things I'd rather be doing with my free time (mostly knitting). But this new game has sucked me in.

I downloaded the free Pokemon Go app for Jack, but very quickly realized the game was for me.

It's really a great game. Despite how (very VERY) buggy it is, I've been playing it nonstop for three days. I don't feel bad about that, because the game requires you to walk and explore the town in order to play. Here's my screenshot and selfie in play:

Read more about the game on your own; I won't bother to explain it thoroughly here. I will say that not only is the game addicting, it's exercise, and a social activity. We can't believe how many people are playing! We just came back from one of our local playgrounds and 4 out of every 5 people we saw were also playing!

Plus, it's been great for Ben and I to have something to share about between us.

If you know anything about the game, then be excited for these screenshots:

I'm a gym leader!!

Probably not for long. :-) The Arvada center was a CRAZY busy place. Tons of pokestops, tons of players. We even stopped to chat with a family who had taken their bull Python out for a stroll while they hunt Pokemon. Sam loved that :-)

Jack Rides a Bike!

July 29, 2016

Today Jack achieved a big milestone - riding a bike by himself!

One of my summer goals was to get Jack riding a bike like a proper first grader. We worked on it most days. I realized his bike we got for his 5th birthday is just too big for him to handle. I got a glider from craigslist to teach him to coast, then a medium sized bike also from craigslist as a step in between. Now we have a ridiculous pile of bikes in the garage, but I know Sam will use them all too it's justified!

Jack overcame a lot of fears for this. He was poorly motivated to learn, but tonight we couldn't get him off it. He finally got that awesome sense of speed and freedom that a kid feels on a bike.

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(Sam insisted on a picture too, of course)

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August10

Playground relief

August 4, 2016

If everyday in summer was cloudy, bug-less, and 70 degrees, maybe I wouldn't hate summer. Today is a nice break. Hope it stays cool. Two weeks until the first day of school . . .

Counting down the hours

August 4, 2016

I'm so excited for our trip this weekend! Last Tuesday was the 14th anniversary of our wedding. To celebrate, Ben and I are taking a short trip to Vail. We have tickets to the Vail International Dance Festival. I can't believe we've never been to it in all these years. I'm super pumped to see Isabela Boylston (again!), Lauren Cutherbertson, and Lil' Buck.

Plus, you know, QUIET CONVERSATION! Amanda has graciously offered to watch the kids and house overnight. I cannot wait to escape to the mountains for some fresh air, art galleries, nice meals, beautiful dancing, and no messes to clean up!

Beautiful Vail

August 6, 2016

Prisma

August 7, 2016

Is anyone else discovering the Prisma app? I'm having fun :-)

Vail Getaway

August 7, 2016

The Vail trip was relaxing, delicious, and beautiful.

We walked around town in the rain, popping in art galleries and catching all the unusual pokemon that spawn here.

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I fell in love with an artist at the first gallery we found. If I had a spare five grand I'd be all over any one of Tracy Felix's works.

We checked into the hotel and were pleased to find they had upgraded us to a full suite with a mountain view. Lovely!

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I changed into warmer clothes for the evening and we ventured out again. The clouds parted and the rain stopped for the rest of the day. We enjoyed the abundant flowers and had dinner at Tavern on the Square.

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The shuttle was an easy and quick ride across town to the Ford Amphitheater. We were a bit early, so we had plenty of time to explore the Alpine Garden just outside the theater. So many gorgeous flowers!
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We had excellent seats near the front and under the pavilion. It was a really cool space to see a show. The lights changed dramatically as the sun set. They leave a natural plant backdrop in the rear of the stage. During one piece with live piano accompaniment. there was a bird calling in response to each pause in the music. So cool! Here's some pics before the show and at intermission.

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Ben's favorite dancer was Tiler Peck from NYCB. She was indeed very light, smooth, and a strong performer. Lovely feet. She danced a mazurka and later this exact same piece with the same partner:

My favorites were the duo from the Royal Ballet in London. I loved Lauren Cuthbertson's performance in Alice. Eric Underwood was also in it as the caterpillar. They danced this explosive excerpt from Chroma. (This is Eric below, but not Lauren. Couldn't find a recording of her in it).

They were unreal! Such power and grace, so unworldly. I loved seeing this up close. My desire to see a Royal Ballet performance in London is only stronger now.

Ben and I both LOVED this group from Philadelphia called BalletX. They performed this piece:

They remind us of a local Colorado company, Wonderbound, but they have greater dance technique and better, more mature choreography. If they ever tour to Denver I definitely want to see them. The director and the program mentioned a piece they do called Slump. There's a part of it online:

The show ended with Lil Buck doing his famous Swan routine. I've seen him perform online and on TV a few times. In person, it was mesmerizing.

We got to stay up late watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies without worry of kids clamoring for us in the morning. We slept in late and slowly made our way back down the mountains to our family. Amanda is a fantastic aunt. The kids were over the moon with all the fun stuff she did for them. I'm so lucky to have her so close by and to offer an overnight stay.

I wouldn't mind repeating this weekend every August. Happy 14th anniversary Ben!

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Let's go to the mall, today!

August 9, 2016

I had no plans for today. Asked Ben for advice and he suggested the mall. I was dubious, but he was right! The kids are having a blast! I guess it's been a year or more since we came here.

Vail Update

August 10, 2016

Hey look! They posted a video of the show we saw. If you want to see a condensed version of the whole night, watch here:

Lost a tooth

August 15, 2016

Jack lost his first tooth the natural way today. Looks like the tooth fairy is coming right before he starts first grade!

First Grade and Preschool

August 18, 2016

Today is the first day of school - Woo-Hoo!!!

The kids were pumped. I've been sick all week but feel pretty normal today. I got up in time to make them a hot breakfast. Surprisingly we were ready to go on time. I credit that to packing lunch and laying out clothes last night.

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Jack's nerves dissolved when he got to meet his teachers yesterday. He's excited because it's one he met last year and was hoping to have, and also there are some old friends in his class. He gets his own desk this year. His first grade class is in the same pod as kindergarten, so he sees his old teacher walking around, uses the same restrooms, so he will be fairly comfortable with the transition. Man, I'm so excited for him to be back in school. He'll be there until 3:00pm today. I can hardly believe it! It's been a looooong summer.

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This other goober is excited too. Sam shoveled the scrambled eggs in like he meant business. He's very pleased with his monkey backpack and wore it all morning. I'm pleased that he agreed to wear clothes today - that's been an argument between us every day this week. I feel guilty that I didn't make it clear I won't be at school too. I figured it will be ok - he does nursery at church and childwatch at the gym for hours every week. So this morning I just sort of slipped out. I hope he doesn't freak out when he realizes I'm not there anymore. I'm positive he'll have a great time though. At the meet and greet yesterday they had playdough and cookie cutters out and that's all he could talk about today. "I'm going to make duck cakes!" I checked with the teacher before I left and indeed, they will have playdough time today. Hooray!

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Oh, I'm sooooo happy about this. Two hours without kids twice a week? It's gonna be great. I can clean one room without the other getting messy at the same time. I can change the oil in my car, or get groceries, or other errands without having to juggle carseat belts and waterbottles and snacks and potty breaks. Also, having time away from the kids makes me love them even more. Having a little distance will be good.

Dinosaurs and Sword fights

August 29, 2016

We had a pleasant weekend together. Saturday we took the kids to Dinosaur Ridge and did the bus tour and had a picnic. The kids seemed to enjoy it.

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We watched the Princess Bride together for the first time. It's one of my all time top three movies (The Princess Bride, Singin' in the Rain, and Rushmore). We split the movie over two nights. The kids both enjoyed it, though it was scary and had a lot of talking they didn't understand. They both loved Fezzik and the Miracle Max scene. The Fire Swamp was maybe too scary. Sam retold me the story, "There was a scary mouse, and the sand ate the girl, and there was fire, and the guy in black put fire on the mouse." I hope we didn't induce any nightmares. We laughed out loud when, in the Pit of Despair, Fezzik announced "He's dead" and Jack spoke up "Wait, did he say he's dead?" right in time with Fred Savage interrupting "Grandpa, grandpa, wait. Wait, what did Fezzik mean, he's dead?"

Jack told me he loved the movie and was surprised it was so funny. I'm glad he got over the "princess" in the title and watched a challenging movie.

We also started reading Harry Potter together when school started. I'm much more enthusiastic about our reading times now, and have to restrain myself from reading ahead on my own!

September8

Happy Birthday Sam!

September 14, 2016

Today my little Sam is 3 years old! We celebrated with a family party on Saturday. Sam had a smashing time. He's such a big kid now. So talkative, so creative, so adorable!

The night before I set up streamers, balloons, presents, and a new play tent. The tent was an immediate hit. Sam reacted on the stairs like it was a magical Christmas morning.
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Later (eons later it seemed) (my scheduling, but kid anxiety made it seem like forever) the family was gathered for a midday brunch.
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Sam soon proved to be an expert at present unwrapping.
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Jack was a super older brother. He help back very well and let Sam really enjoy opening the presents. Jack also quickly inspected each one for age appropriateness and share-ability.
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(Sam fell on his face a few days prior, his teeth cut both the inner and outer bottom lip. That's the black scab you see on his face.)
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For months (literally!) Sam has been asking for a Bob the Minion birthday cake. I think it turned out lovely! (Though I'm miffed the cake was dry. I even used a cake soak!)
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We went to the mall for playtime and shopping. The boys each got a Build-A-Bear and they are their new best buds.
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Earlier in the day Sam declared that he wanted to get ice cream. We delivered.
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Spoiled with a train ride through the mall. Always fun!
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And we found a little playground for a quick stop before dinner at Red Robin.
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An exhausted and happy three-year-old climbed into his new toddler bed for a long night's sleep. Happy Birthday Samwise Storm!
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I frickkin love Halloween!

September 17, 2016

Well shoot

September 19, 2016

Happy Monday to us!

All the problems

September 22, 2016

So as you saw, we have a leaky pipe under our master bathroom that pooled into the living room below. Aside from structural damage, the dog bed was the only thing destroyed. Sam auditioned the replacement bed for Jem.

We are running the damage through our homeowners insurance. USAA is a really great company. Glad we have them. The damage was positive for mold AND asbestos. Yippy! Yesterday they set up the negative pressure seals to isolate it.

The leak came after I spent the weekend cleaning our couch and our armchair. Our babysitter let the kids have milk in the living room. I discovered milk had spilled all the way through both pieces of furniture when Molly started lapping up the puddles forming on the floor beneath them. THEN Sam had an accident sitting in the armchair, releasing a flood of urine on the recently cleaned cushion. But I'll tell you what, there's nothing like major home damage to make furniture spills seem inconsequential. My brain instantly flipped from possibly getting a new living room set, to possibly getting a new living room.

Today I met with the project managers for the abatement and the reconstruction. It looks like it will be 2-3 weeks to complete the asbestos/mold removal and dry out, then a couple weeks to plan and approve the reconstruction. Depending on how much needs to be done it could take 3 weeks or more. The minimum we are looking at is new drywall, new paint, and sand and finish the hardwood floors. It could be as extensive as replacing the flooring for the entire main floor, redoing the master bath, and maybe even fixing unseen damage into the basement. We won't know until the abatement is done and they can safely investigate.

Luckily our insurance will cover the abatement and the reconstruction. We are only responsible for the plumbing repair and anything we request beyond the "return to normal" repairs (I figure if they end up tearing up the master bath we might as well upgrade it).

I spent today re-organizing the living room and basement so we have comfortable spaces for the next couple months. Currently we can't use the upstairs toilets. For a short time we will be cut off from most of the main floor and possibly the basement. This will probably cut us off from all house toilets. I'm working on a solution so we don't have to stay in a hotel during the abatement. That would really suck. For now, we are trying to keep smiles on our faces.

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Halloween is coming! Pumpkins and crispy leaves and sweaters! School is super fun for all! We read Harry Potter and loved it! Ben is taking a staycation next week! There's a lot about which to be happy and grateful.

Locking picking

September 24, 2016

I have a new hobby.

This summer I started picking locks. I love it. That feeling when it releases is euphoric. You can tinker mindlessly, or meticulously tease each pin like a puzzle.

I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. I was watching the Houdini & Doyle TV show and decided to finally jump in and learn picking. I got a started set and within ten minutes had my first padlock open.

Reddit has a great community and sources for learning. I have no nefarious intentions, it's purely a hobby. In fact, there are two rules lock pickers uphold:

1) Do not pick a lock that doesn't belong to you.

2) Do not pick a lock in use.

I only had three pad locks to play with. When my parents were out here I let my Dad in on my hobby. Yesterday I was thrilled to find he and my Mom sent me three new (old) locks to pick!

The cylinder locks were fairly easy. The circular padlock gave me trouble. After a few sessions I put some lubricant in and finally popped it today!

I picked all my locks again for fun:

Got any old locks? I'd love to take them off your hands. :-D

Halloween is coming

September 26, 2016

Mini-movie night for me and Sam. He picked the movie.

Abatement begins

September 28, 2016

To my surprise they got the permit first thing this morning and were over before 8:30 to start the real sealing. They had to put in additional taping and decontamination units. They let the kids poke around at the end of the day.

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We also got a temporary outhouse. I suggested this as an alternative to staying in a hotel and they readily agreed. I'm sure it's cheaper for them, and a lot better for us to sleep in our own beds, have all our possessions nearby, and to be able to care for the animals ourselves.
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The worker was very sympathetic to locking off the bathroom and offered to leave it like this overnight, doing the final seal in the morning. (Weird fluorescent lime paint and vintage wallpaper revealed in the bathroom tear our.)
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My kitchen is filled with overflow from the work area. I didn't feel like making a mess in the kitchen and dining area, so we did Mcdonald's for dinner. Now we are watching The Force Awakens in the basement. Things are crazy, but we are making it work.

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Phase 1 is done. Dry out in progress.

September 30, 2016

Mason maison is making progress. Tuesday they set up the extra work areas for decontamination and by Wednesday night they were done. We got our living room back to partial use. Here's the before and after:

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But we lost use of the last toilet, so now we can only use the outhouse.

Here's a shot of the exposed, offending pipe:

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Thursday they disinfected all the surfaces and took out the damaged wood floors. They put a high power fan/dehumidifier thing in there to dry out the wood.

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Our project manager came over this morning and took measurements. He said it's still a few marks shy of normal level so we should leaving it running another night. A crew should arrive first thing Saturday to take the fans off. Then Monday they paint on the encapsulation barrier to prevent future growth/contamination, and let that dry over night. So we are looking at mitigation being done by Tuesday next week if all goes well. I've put out a couple requests for a plumber but haven't been able to get one over here yet. Hopefully this afternoon. We'd really like to get the leak fixed so we can use those upper bathrooms again.

Particularly for this guy:

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//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js Sam came down with a virus. Diarrhea, high fevers, croupy cough, and stridor all night. Poor guy. He's doing better today. Taking a nice long afternoon nap now. But it's hasn't been fun for him to get dragged out to the backyard loo when he has to go in the middle of the night.

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js We had tickets to see Miss Peregrine tonight but I cancelled so we can be closer to home. My new sitter's mom is ok with her watching a recovering kid, but I'm not comfortable having her be in charge for 4-5 hours while we are all the way across town in a movie theater with limited communication. We're just going to get dinner closer to home. A nice meal out with my husband, away from the noise and disorganization of home, sounds lovely.
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In other news, I stopped by a locksmith shop and they gave me a couple locks they were going to trash. Got them picked within an hour each!

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Also I bought Jack these Chewbacca jammies. Couldn't resist.

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October9

Brian's Quilt

October 3, 2016

The Omuras popped by yesterday to drop off a new heirloom:

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Linda quilted this blanket out of Brian's shirts. The front framing and the back fabric are new, but all the square piecework is authentic Brian shirt. She had enough to make a quilt for Travis, for me, and for herself.

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Brian had some real snazzy shirts :-) I'm sure friends will remember several of these prints.

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Linda made a beautiful quilt and I'm so honored to have one!

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October fun

October 10, 2016

Sam is feeling better after six days of fevers. He was able to go to school this week! The water damage mitigation is all done and I have an appointment to meet with the reconstruction team tomorrow.

We decorated Halloween cookies Ben and I went to see Shaun of the Dead at the Alamo last night. Today I woke with a cold but was able to teach my primary class still. Ben let me take a nice long nap. Now we are watching a classic together. The boys think Snoopy is hilarious. Things are pretty good.

An unquiet quiet time....

October 11, 2016

When I checked on him, "I'm a ninja. It's Halloween night and I look for the jack-o-lantern."

Leaf Piles

October 14, 2016

We are enjoying a lovely Colorado fall this week. The leaves are getting thick and crispy on the ground. The kids found motivation to help with the yard by making a leaf pile for playing.

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So industrious!

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Somehow their little child brains decided that the logical solution to making a bigger pile was to knock more leaves off the tree. Never mind that there were thousands of leaves already on the ground elsewhere :-)

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Housing Update: Waiting for Reconstruction

October 14, 2016

The reconstruction team has come and made an official estimate, that our insurance company has accepted. The floor guy came this morning to take measurements and inspect the existing materials. I should be hearing from my guy early next week about a schedule for drywall, texture, painting, and plumbing. We're looking at being done before Thanksgiving even if there are some minor hiccups.

I had the mitigation company take out all the plastic tarps so we can enjoy the full room again. Despite the powder room displacement to the living room, I'm happy to have the walls down and the sunlight streaming in. The kids IMMEDIATELY starting running circles around the house again. I didn't realize how much they loved and missed their first floor race track loop.

Reading Champ!

October 18, 2016

When Jack asked why all his friends have medals and he doesn't have any, Ben was happy to get him a medal celebrating Jack's best skills. Any ideas for a silver and gold goal?

10pm in the Mason Maison

October 21, 2016

Halloween Preview

October 23, 2016

Our church held the annual Halloween party early this year. After judging at Amanda's Speech Meet all day I raided her prop closet to build a spooky trunk display. What good is having a drama teacher in the family if you can't mooch off her? Sam insisted on helping.

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Not long after that we all suited up and went to the party! As Sam has been reciting all month, he was a dragon, Jack was an ewok, I was a vampire, and Ben was a ghoooooooooost.

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I'm didn't know the kids looked so grumpy in this pictures. I blame that on the sealed container of candy corn someone left in plain sight at the entrance. Don't show kids candy if they can't have it!

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It was a whirlwind party. Quick pizza dinner, then a quick round of carnival games.

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I wish I had more time to set up my trunk - I barely got it decent looking before kids arrived! A lot of the the things I had planned didn't happen because I had no time. But there were many ooo's and ahhh's and I had many kids try to come back for seconds and thirds or more. (Seriously. Ben packed me two 36 packs and one 18 pack of full-sized candy bars and I ran out well before the kids stopped coming. I'm POSITIVE there were not 90 kids there). I didn't have time to replace my fangs or put on black gloves and pince nez. I did my best impression of Sam's preschool teacher with the thick Slavic accent, put spooky music on my old timey speaker, and tried to keep the cauldrons bubbling. I might have sounded like this at times, but people seemed to like the effect either way.

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The party quickly wrapped up and the boys dived into their hauls. It's only October 22. I hope we have more fun to come. (Sorry if I sound grumpy. I have a splitting headache. It was a fun but crazy day with a lot of emotional kids to handle for a variety of reasons. I really really wish I could sleep in tomorrow.)

Pumpkin Patch Time

October 27, 2016

It was time to visit Rock Creek Farm and pick out pumpkins!

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That's only the start of the fun of course. Rock Creek also puts out a free play area with hay bale maze, animals, and bounce houses. We had to drag the kids away!

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November6

This is Halloween, This is Halloween!

November 7, 2016

Soccer!

November 9, 2016

We are broadening Jack's horizons. This week I sprung on him soccer class. He was enthusiastic when they covered it in PE weeks ago. I signed him up for Mighty Mites, a non-competitive program to learn the basics and practice with other kids aged 5-7.

He ran right out there and started dribbling! It looks like he's having a ball out there. I'm so proud of him!

Finally!

November 18, 2016

The first snow of the season. It finally feels like the holidays.

Excited

November 20, 2016

Excited for holidays and new dragon jammies!

Thanksgiving trip

November 27, 2016

We spent the holiday in Grand Junction with a plethora of relatives. Not only my entire immediate family, my parents, Ben's parents, and all my siblings, but the Arndt family came to visit too!

A few of us got ill during the trip, but we were all well enough on the big turkey day.

(I'm new to Wordpress and these pictures were uploaded in reverse order. Still learning the ropes.)

Special Visitor

November 29, 2016

Recently I had the pleasure of being the "special visitor" for both my boys' classrooms.

Sam's preschool teacher invited all the parents to come share their professions or talents if it ties in with the class activities. Last month the classroom centers included farms and arts and crafts, so I volunteered to teach the children about sheep, wool, and knitting.

It was so much fun to be a part of their class! I brought in Amanda's giant sheep to talk about the animals. I brought lots of roving to pass out and talk about colors, and showed them how it is carded and spun on my wheel. Then I showed them some projects I have made and talked about how sheep give us warm clothes.

I didn't personally take any photos, but the next week I found myself on the bulletin board outside the classroom! Here's a close-up of those (with overly-intense-face from me):

Today I came to speak to the whole first grade at Jack's school about Christmas in Germany. They are doing a "holidays around the world" unit and the teachers solicited parents to come share if they had experiences. With my collection bolstered by my mom and sister's Christkindlmarkt hoards, I had quite a lot to show! I talked about Germany in general, where and why I lived there, all the familiar traditions we get from Germany, and the ways they do things a little differently. At the end I had time to read the Brothers Grimm tale about the Shoemaker and the Elves. The teacher took some pictures and shared them on ClassDojo for me:

I brought in homemade Stollen and Bratapfel for the kids to try. I took a poll at the end and it was about 50-50, half thought it was yummy and half thought it was a little too weird. Personally, I'm loving the baked apples, which I made with this recipe. Sam got super brave and tried the vanilla custard (made from scratch because they don't sell that kind of thing at King Soopers). He declared it delicious in a shocked voice. It's sugar and eggs, boy - what did you expect? :-) Jack's favorite is the stollen. He had two extra pieces as an after-school snack.

A special part of the project was collaborating with my long-time pen pal, Stefanie! We have been writing since the third grade, first on paper and then by email, writing a few times a year to tell each other about school, marriage, and now kids! She was very helpful in describing an authentic German Christmas. She also sent me pictures of her family to share.

The last thing, that I'm so pleased worked out, is we exchanged carols! I asked her to send me a video of her kids singing a German Christmas song for me to show the class. I received it last minute this morning!

I played these videos for the class while they snacked on baked treats. Then we recorded this message to send all the way around the world to Germany! I sent it to Steffi this afternoon. I hope her kids like seeing it!

December5

Post-bedtime exchange

December 2, 2016

JACK: smugly Do you know what a demigod is?

SAM: mimicking No. Do you know what a dummy is?

JACK: What?

SAM: Someone who goes poop on the floor!

Sam chortles, Jack scolds him for potty talk.

December snapshots

December 9, 2016

It's been a holiday whirlwind so far. Here's some choice selections from my day to day happenings.

Sam visits Santa.

Jack visits Santa.

The Alamo put floating candles and castle walls on the hallway into the theater for Fantastic Beasts. They also had a photo booth in the lobby.

Jem has a sick tummy and cuddles a Santa hat.

Jack has his "Star Week" and brings in a poster and show-and-tell items about himself.

Amanda manages a fire drill in the middle of Act 1 of Peter and the Starcatcher.

Jack learns to knit.

Sam will join primary as a Sunbeam in the new year. They brought in the little ones to practice sitting with the group. They have new matching sweaters on this day.

Didn't my cranberry bundt cake turn out fantastic? Ha, no. Tasted good. But I replenished my empty can of Baker's Joy the next day. Never rely on Pam for a bundt.

I bought an Ikea kitchen!!! This is some of the cabinet style. Hopefully I will have a resplendent kitchen enjoy soon!

Found this amazing candy shop in Park Meadows mall. Had to tell Santa about it for stocking stuffers.

MagicBands arrived! We are so pumped!

Don't you nap best with a mountain of manly machines to keep company?

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Good-bye to two old friends

December 17, 2016

Today we put both of our pets to sleep. It’s been a sad week and a very sad day. We feel relief and are confident we made the right decision at the right time, but it’s still immensely sad.

Molly was dwindling for months. I'm fairly sure she was diabetic or had another renal problem. She lost most of her muscle mass and had little interest in her food or play. Her toileting has never been stellar, but it's become a real problem the last few months.

Jem got sick with diarrhea before Thanksgiving, then added a cough and vomiting. We ran bloodwork and got her on antibiotics. She would seem to be getting better, then it would come back just as strong. She spent most of her days laying around, obviously in pain. More medication, no improvement. When the vet said that the next steps would be more imaging studies, looking for masses or other causes that would need drastic interventions, we decided it was time to be done.

We have a trip coming up and then at least a month of major house work. That’s not WHY we made our decision. Rather, as Ben put it, those events put up a mirror to view the pets through. We realized we were uncomfortable putting either pet through either situation, and if we didn’t think they could handle another week without us, that meant it was time to put them to rest.

We took Jem to the vet this morning and she had a very easy, very peaceful passing. It was good to be with her and feel her finally relax and feel good before slipping away.

A little later today a home-visiting vet came to do Molly at home. I was uncomfortable with taking her anywhere because she hates travel so very much. The home vet was kind, efficient, and soothing. An expensive option, but a nice way to go. Molly had ice cream and ham and then cuddled until she drifted off.

The kids are taking it well. Ben and I had a lot of guilt and the decision was hard to make. Andy called me and talked yesterday and it was really good to be validated.

Ben found some old photos of the animals today and it was shocking to see how much they had changed because it happened so gradually. Our robust, happy animals were already gone.

We are relieved and looking forward to enjoying Christmas and travel and house remodeling without stressing about the pets. We miss them, we cried a lot. But we also let the kids have a movie-picnic in the living room for the first time ever. I think I scrubbed my last daily-fecal mess. I won’t have pet hair on everything. We have good memories and are confident we did our best for them.

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Do NOT click Ravelry yet

December 17, 2016

This new blog has a link to my ravelry project page - and I love that. But please do not explore until AFTER Christmas. As usual, a few of you can expect knitted goodies under your tree. Unless you want to spoil the surprise - do not click.

The stockings were hung...

December 25, 2016

We are READY and counting down for Christmas. The kids are amped. The tree is drowning in presents. I've baked up pounds of butter into cookies and cakes.

Here's the kids enjoying this Christmas carolhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd79mpzBnJ4&sns=em