Earlier this month we all enjoyed another summer "Gramp Camp." The kids packed up for 10 days in Grand Junction, sharing time between both grandparents. It looks like they had a great time! Lots of swimming and lots of video games. Lots of spoiling by doting family with late bedtimes and many sweets. A very good week for kids by any standard.

After delivery the kids, Ben and I eagerly planned out a relaxing week of quiet at home. Ben took time off work to make it true vacation. We went to two movies at the Alamo - In the Heights and Black Widow. I took a fun daytime hip hop dance class that I usually can't attend. We made many day trips to parts of the Front Range to see friends and eat good food. I also ate ice cream almost every day!

Thank you to all my family for taking care of the kids and driving them back. We had an amazing, relaxing week to explore locally and rejuvenate our minds.

Today we celebrate 19 years of marriage. 🎊

Being a Monday, a pandemic, and the unremarkable number nineteen, we kept it simple.

Ben brought me a mass of sunset colored roses.

We had dinner at a local Japanese restaurant with nice outdoor seating. Ben loved his ramen and I had delicious beef curry, shumai, and veggie tempura.

Not wanting to rush home, we gazed into each other’s eyes and said

“Target?”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

Ok, lame I know. But immediately after our ceremony at the temple we went to Target in full wedding attire. We wanted to pick up a cold drink on our way to the ring ceremony!

So really, the first thing we did in our marriage was go to Target. It’s sentimental!

Yeah, Ben is laughing in the pic because I treated it like a thing. But it IS a thing to me!

We are still so in love and so happy we followed our young foolish hearts 19 years ago. 💕

I love you, Ben.

Sam would like to share two funny MadLibs we recently did.

Pirate Makeover, words provided by me.

Love Letter, words provided by Jack.

If you would like to do a MadLibs with Sam, comment your words for one of these pages below, or email them to me. Sam will fill them in and do another reading!

Jack has been working on many different pieces this summer. Here is the theme from Ocarina of Time, a Legend of Zelda game. (He says the song fades out, that why he trails off at the end).

Here is "A Recipe for Ice Cubes" with words provided by mom via email.

If you want Sam to do your submission, email or comment your words to me. You can do the Caveman, previous posted, or The Blob:

Here are a couple pieces that Jack learned during his orchestra camp session.

Caveman, words provided by Betty and Rick.

The day he has been waiting for is finally here. Jack got braces today!

They put on a top set and will do the bottom layer. 18 months to two years of treatment, then a retainer to maintain. He’s so excited to be “full nerd.”

The kids wanted to share some magic tricks. I don't think a lot of practice or preparation went into these, but it's fun anyway :-)

Yay! Jack started middle school this year. He gets the ride the bus! Hurrah! He's happy to have a friend and some classmates from elementary on the bus with him.

Today was all orientation for 6th graders. Jack came home brimming with excitement. There were definitely nerves, but overall he seems psyched. He has friends in almost every class, including 3 classes with a friend he made in the summer camp program. He raved about his science teacher, who entertained them with pyrotechnics during their brief orientation period. He said math might actually be a challenge this year, since he is in the accelerated 6th & 7th grade math class. He's also taking Western Hemisphere studies, English/Language Arts, orchestra, and PE.

Sam is in third grade this year. He had a good day with no real surprises. It seems like he only has minor changes to his schedule and routine from last year. He said his new teacher even reminds him a lot of his second grade teacher, in looks, manner, and teaching style. She seems great to me, very experienced and easy going. Sam's best friend is in the same class again - yay! The school had some renovations over the summer, so at least that was new to him!

Sam was more resistant to me taking pictures than Jack was. He blandly obliged me with these pics, and then ran off to start the year.

Me? I had a fabulous day! I cleaned the house and it STAYED CLEAN. I indulged in some quiet morning time watching three new k-pop music videos that dropped last night and DIDN'T GET INTERRUPTED ONCE. I'm talking, like, 12 minutes in a row!

I made a new recipe, S'mores cookie bars. I love having fresh baked cookies ready for the boys after school. I usually bake on Wednesdays, but why not celebrate the first day? I got out my mixer and reached for my headphones, before remembering that I was all alone. I put the headphones back and pulled out a loudspeaker. It was really fun to crank up my music and dance and bake.

Cleaning, laundry, working, and reading made up the rest of my quiet day.

If I wasn't still suffering from an SI joint spasm it would have been an A+ day. This lower back pain pops up 1-3 times per year ever since my pregnancies. I already saw my chiropractor twice and have been throwing all my therapies at it (ice, heat, anti-inflammatories, rest, yoga, foam rolling, etc). I'm much better than when it flared last Wednesday, but not 100%. Dang, because I was thinking I could do a hip hop class in Boulder tomorrow morning while the kids are in school. Maybe next week ;-)

Sam has had several loose teeth for months. He finally wrestled one out yesterday after school.

This was a special tooth, a Siamese twin tooth! We identified it when he was a baby. The dentist told us it’s a single tooth that had a fusion, so it looks like two teeth from above the gum line. He assured us that a single tooth would erupt below it. It’s time to test his theory!

(He got the regular $5 plus $1 for this fancy tooth specimen)

Gross tooth photo warning. ⚠️

If you are not into that the post ends here!

Twin tooth:

Here's some pictures I took last week. Nothing remarkable, just a slice o'life.

I love dancing again! I've been trying to do two classes a week all summer, and so far am keeping it up since school started.

In Zumba Wednesday night my teacher filmed one of the routines and I asked for a copy. It's a super old song and I've done at least 3 versions with different instructors over the years, none of them recently. So I was a little rusty! I love when they put old routines in playlists though.

Here's a short clip of the dance. I'm wearing all black and the mask on the left. My friend and instructor is center in the white tank top.

I tried putting that one directly into wordpress, so I hope it plays for you. Here's the full video on youtube. It got a copyright claim with the music, I apologize if it plays annoying ads as a result.