Aunt Jenny Visits

Jenny, my sister, came to visit us! While she was here we had quite the time. She was here for 2 weeks. She flew in to help us out with the move - but since we were moved already she came to work and play. We spent basically one week working, and one week playing. We had such a nice visit! Here is a picture of Jenny. She didn't want a photo shoot, but I took a few of her anyways. I think this is a cute one!I'm going to talk about the playing first, then the working. The picture above, and the ones below, were taken at Garden of the Gods. It is a nice place, especially if you like big rocks. We discovered that we should have gone on a day that was not hot - there is no shade there. At lunch we ate in the one shady spot we could find, and were quite entertained by a very aggressive squirrel. We didn't stay very long, it was quite hot...but not until after we saw the "kissing camels" and drove the loop after we walked the path. This picture of Jenny is of her on the path.I like this picture of the boys...they are such cute brothers and are affectionate like this quite often, I was glad to capture it in a picture.Jenny took a photo shoot of me up against the red rocks. I know many of you were wondering what I look like pregnant, so this is what I looked like on August 4th (with the wind in my hair). I'll have to get a full-term (and better hair day) picture up later.After Garden of the Gods we went to see Manitou Springs. It is a quaint little city that we would have enjoyed longer if it didn't start to rain on us so soon. We enjoyed it while it lasted, and I can't wait to go back and enjoy it more later. This picture is of the boys touching the 3-D map of the city. Here are the boys and Jenny by one of the springs. There are 7 springs in the city, all with a different flavor to them. The city was believed to be a place of healing for the Native Americans, and people have been going there ever since to enjoy the natural springs. The city had a contest and the 7 winning fountain designs were built throughout the city for people to come and enjoy the water....bring your own cup! We filled up a water bottle and when we tasted it we decided to dump it out. Its mineral water! Eric was quite disgusted by it, and we all agreed we wouldn't fill any more of our water bottles up. But, we did enjoy the rest of our stroll down the main street until we started to run for the truck to get out of the rain.This HUGE bicycle scuplture is one of a few spread throughout the city. Another day we went to the Air Force Academy for a tour. We had a nice time. I wasn't able to get a good picture of Jenny outside the chapel, but we did attempt to take a picture of her in front of it. We walked on the path from the visitors' center to the chapel, watched some students marching, looked inside the chapel, ate our sack lunch on the way back to the visitors' center, and watched the "what we do at the academy" recruiting video. Here is a picture of the boys climbing on some rocks where we stopped to eat our lunch.
Jenny and I were even able to go out without the boys for a bit one day. Eric's first day of school was a day off for Jim, so he kept Michael while we went out for some fun. We went to a place called 7 falls. Its one big waterfall, that has 7 falls in it. Its a little pricey to get in, and a little disappointing to see, but at least we can say we went there. They have an elevator inside the mountain to go up to a viewing point (of course they have stairs too, but was I going to climb 200+ stairs in my current condition? I don't think so!) Then, they have tons of stairs that you can climb up to the top of the falls (no elevator, unfortunately), and you climb past all 7 of them as you go. I had to chicken out before the first platform - I don't like heights. But, Jenny climbed up pretty far to enjoy the view. This picture of her is at the bottom of all the stairs by fall #7, I think.While we were out without the boys, on our way home, we went to Albertsons cause they were having some really good deals. It wasn't until we were going out to the car that I realized that we were locked out of the car! Yes, this is the 2nd time in my life - both within 5 weeks of each other - that I've been locked out of my car. This time we didn't have mom and dad around with their AAA to call. So, I called Jim, grateful that he had the day off...and when he answered he said "yes, I'm going to go get Eric from school right now." I responded with "when you're done getting him will you come get me!" He took it in stride, I was impressed. While we were waiting we walked down to Grease Monkey, which shares the parking lot with Albertsons, and the guy that worked there was actually able to get us into the car! Yeah for the Grease Monkey guy! So, in the end Jim didn't have to drive 20 minutes to come unlock the car - and we now have spare keys to both the car and the truck for next time!

Ok, on to the working part of Jenny's visit. She did TONS of babysitting for us, it was so nice to have her around! She was always so willing to just let us go and come home late - she took care of the boys so well! In fact, we picked her up at the airport in Denver, drove home, and an hour or two later she was babysitting while Jim and I went out! We went and saw a movie and had dinner for the first time in forever.

Another time we went out, we returned with ROCK BAND! I was so excited...it is the beginning of the first truly "family" video game time we'll have. It is something we all enjoy (well, its not exactly Michael's favorite, but he does enjoy playing if we help him). Jim was impressed at our shopping total - $34 is all we paid for the game ("regular retail price" of $169.99). We had so many Best Buy Rewards points from buying our washer, dryer, and fridge that all we had to pay (after price-matching Costco's 159.99), and after using a $25 gift card we got for attending a "buy our timeshare" presentation was $34. Jenny was so excited and helped us break it in. I didn't get any pictures of the adults playing (we were busy!), but I did get this picture of Eric as our lead singer (yes, he did have underware on, just not pants).Besides babysitting, Jenny and I (well, I kindof supervised some of it) did some hard labor! One evening we pulled a bazillion weeds which are encroaching on our grass from our next door neighbors' yard. She mowed our lawn. We did tons of laundry. She cleaned up some of our baby stuff to get it ready for Kate. We went fabric shopping (a few times) to get more fabric for Kate's quilt - for which I got the top part of done while Jenny was here. We cleaned the house like crazy - twice! She moved boxes around for me quite a bit, and did some re-arranging. And, the biggest project was painting the boys' room. I don't have an "after" picture yet because I'm not done with the decorating of their room...but, we did get the painting done (which is probably the most time-consuming part, the rest I need to do is hanging and sewing stuff). Here is a picture of the wall, taped and ready to be painted. We painted the bottom portion of the wall a dark blue.While Jenny was here we did LOTS of baking and cooking. There is something about being around family that makes us want to bake treats and eat lots of good food! Every night, after it was cool enough to open the windows and turn the A/C off, we would be in the kitchen baking something. I was actually surprised when I went to the Dr. after she left that I had only gained 2 lbs. in the 3 weeks since my last visit - I was sure I had eaten enough treats to have gained at least 10! I also got her hooked on bagel sandwiches with lunch meat (see, Jenny, ham is good!).

I feel like we packed SO MUCH in while she was here - and we did! I was exhausted every night, and we even had to take a few days to lay low and recover from all of our working and playing. The boys each had a Dr. visit while she was here...which helped us to slow down a little bit...but at the same time we got up and ran the next day because there was so much to do! I had been waiting for Jenny to be here to do so many things and see so many places in our new part of CO. Even though we made a list, we didn't get it all done! Thats ok, it just means there's something left to see and do next time, right?

Jenny's last night here was the opening ceremony for the Olympics. Jenny and I cleaned the house so we could have the neighbors over for a little party. It was planned just the night before, but it good times! We had 5 different desserts, one for each color of the Olympic rings. The Farnsworth's (back-door neighbors) brought some blue otter-pops and some "black" (as close as you can get to it) frosted PB cookies. Jenny made us our "red" pink lemonade pie, the Lahns (back-door and down the street neighbors) brought a yummy cake with peach rings on top, and Jenny and I made some green and chocolate striped parfait cups with mint on top. (Yeah for my mint plant, by the way, that is actually growing and going to finally thrive for a change). We had a great time visiting, eating, and watching the show while the kids played. Here is our picture of our Olympic desserts!

We were sad to have Jenny leave. But, life must go on. Actually, her summer was quite booked and we were lucky to get her for as long as we did! She came the day after summer school ended, and went home with only 1 day before she left for girls' camp...and her activities before and after those were quite booked! Michael asked me, after we left the airport, if Jenny was going to take all of her stuff or if she was coming back. Yes, Michael, she went home to Mom-O and Papi. But, maybe she'll come again for a visit? (maybe I worked her so hard she doesn't want to come back?)

For good measure, here is one more picture of Jenny and the boys, at Garden of the Gods, in front of "balancing rock."
Jenny... remember that time that...ha ha ha...I won't say it here for everyone to read. We had some really good, although busy, times! Thanks for coming Jenny!

Eric: 6th B-day and a First-grader!

Eric turned 6 this year! It was kindof an extended celebration for him. He was waiting and waiting for so long for his big day to come. Even Aunt Jenny was here for his "real" birthday. The poor kid was sick with what we thought was strep throat, so he went to the Dr. on his big day. Turns out it wasn't strep, but we did get him a Rx. He was happy through it all and could hardly wait for his birthday party, cake and presents.

Here he is with his cake. He wanted a baseball ice cream cake, which I made for him to eat after his taco dinner he requested. He informed me, as we were serving his cake, that he didn't want a baseball...he wanted a baseball field, I guess. Its a good thing we were having another party for him a few weeks later so he could get the cake he really wanted then. He was still happy to have his cake, and eat it too.This is the cake we had weeks later, when the Vintons gathered...the cake I guess he really wanted. I was impressed with how it turned out and I think Eric was happy with the look. And, we did surprise everyone with the mint ice cream inside.
Jenny gave Eric this monster sweatshirt for his birthday. He was so cute in it.
Eric got a game table for his birthday that he saw at a garage sale and asked over and over for. So, we told him he could have it for his birthday. It is one of those tables that has like 10 games in one table. He was excited to have it and could hardly wait to play. I like this picture of him, concentrating on playing pool.
A few weeks later we had the Vintons over to help us celebrate Eric's birthday. We had a great time with everyone! Eric was so excited to have everyone coming, and to have another birthday party. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Brian, (Great) Uncle Doug, (Great) Aunt Layne, (Great) Uncle Rick and (Great) Aunt Claudia came to help us party. I did kindof use Eric's b-day as our "good excuse" to get everyone here at our house for the first time...and we all enjoyed Eric's request of tacos for dinner and ice cream cake, followed by lots of visiting and some Rock Band! (No, I haven't blogged about us getting Rock Band yet...I'll get there sometime).

Here are Uncle Doug, Uncle Rick, and Grandpa...they sure look like brothers, don't they!Here is Grandpa, playing the Rock Band drums.

Eric, singing.Eric also had his first day of school on August 7th. That is WAY early for school to be starting, but that's how it goes around here. Eric was so excited to go to school, and a little nervous. The night before school Eric kept asking me "what if my teacher is mean?" Finally I told him that if his teacher was mean I would go and talk to her and ask her why she is mean-that seemed to settle his worries and let him go to sleep. He was happy to report at the end of his day that his teacher was nice, so we didn't have to worry about that anymore.

We were lucky to have Jim's day off fall on Eric's first day of school. He gave the boys both blessings, made breakfast, and we all walked to school together...Jenny was even here to help us make it a good first day. Here are Jim and Michael making breakfast for the first day of school. "Scramble begs" as Michael calls them.

Eric's "first day of school" picture taken here at the house. He sure is a cute kid, and very proud to be a first grader!

Here he is, with his sweater and backpack on, walking to school.

Here are my 3 boys crossing the bridge between our development and the school. I love how close we live to the school - we walk every day down 3 houses, across the dirt (where there will eventually be a house), across the bridge (which crosses a sometimes-full irrigation ditch), and then we're at the back fence of the school yard.

Eric, by the school, waiting for the bell to ring to line up with his class.

I can't believe that my Eric is 6 and in 1st grade! He is such a smart boy who loves video games and karate. It seems like just yesterday to me that he was born! He is so grown up and wants his independence and to be able to do so many things, but at the same time he still needs his mom and I feel like I have to push him to be more grown up at times. Eric has memorized 4 articles of faith this past month, read 8 hours of books by himself this summer in not even a week to get his library prizes, loves to cut papers and invent games and make presents for everyone, is such a good big brother to Michael, and is very loving. He gives us hugs and kisses, and is very good to obey and has a very strong desire to be a "good boy" and make good choices. We are sure lucky and grateful to have Eric in our family!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

Look at the smiles on everyone's faces! What brought on such joy, you wonder? Last night we went to the baseball game! What a fun time that was! The 4 of us and our back-door neighbors, the Farnsworth family, went to see the Sky Sox play agains the Las Vegas 51 (as in area 51). Talk about good times!

For $22.00 (thanks to coupons) all of us sat on row I (the 9th row) right off 3rd base - and we even bought our tickets that morning! We got there at the end of the National Anthem, found our seats, and the boys immediately wanted their promised after-dinner treat! We held off until the 2nd inning and bought them cotton candy which came in 3 colors. The mascot, Sox the Fox, kept the boys wondering about why was he doing this or that...and why aren't they throwing any of those t-shirts to us?

Eric was full of questions about the game, so Jim and I had to trade seats so that he could actually answer the questions. I was getting all of the answers wrong, or wasn't answering the question well enough to make Eric's smart brain satisfied. And, I did say that there were 10 innings in the game...so Jim laughed with me and he decided I really DID come to the game for the malt (isn't that why you went to the Dodger game growing up?--and, FYI, there is NO malt at the Sox stadium). But, in defense of myself - why would I ever have known the answers to the questions Eric was asking? I never played baseball! I don't even know when the last time was that I went to a ball game (ok, maybe it was Sophomore year in college, but was I there to learn more about rules and tricks of the game? no) Besides, the game WAS a 10-inning game, which is when the Sox pulled ahead to break the tie! (Now, if you want to talk about soccer, football, or basketball, I could answer those questions! It's all a matter of exposure to the game, you know?)

I discovered why baseball is called "the American Past-time". The game is a little slow, and you just hang out and pass the time. We really enjoyed ourselves, don't get me wrong. It was some of the best hours we've spent as a family all week, just passing the time. It did help that our neighbors were there - its much more fun to be at the game with friends. While Eric was asking Jim questions, Michael kept going to their row in front of us to play with his girlfriend, Caper, and Arhan her brother. It was good, lazy, and very happy family times.

Michael, after I had him stand on my lap (well, my legs - I don't really have a lap right now) to dance to see if he would win free ice cream by being on the camera...he asked me "why don't they give me ice cream?" I guess he didn't understand the idea of the competition. It was so cute though as I watched the gears in his brain trying to figure this all out...and kindof sad too because he was feeling a little bit jipped out of his treat! And, Eric wasn't quite sure why that one boy would be so excited to get the broken bat. After all, it doesn't make sense - why do you want a broken one if its no good?

Here are a couple pictures: Michael, after enjoying his cotton candy of all colors and flavors...and Eric caught in the middle of his treat! Don't they look happy?

The game, which started at 7 and went until about 11, was a little bit long for the boys but we were holding out (we even stayed through the rain!) to the end because they really wanted to see the fireworks! It was the last Saturday home game of the season for the Sox so they had fireworks after. I was surprised at what a good show it was, for being such a small stadium. Michael was very calm and enjoyed the fireworks - unlike this year's 4th of July where he was scared and went with Grandma to her car to watch them. He sat on my lap and just looked up as I covered his ears. Eric couldn't decide, when I asked him on the way home, what was his favorite part of the game: the game or the fireworks, or the treats, or... The boys both had such a great time. Jim even enjoyed himself, despite the fact he probably would have been able to follow the game a little bit better if the boys and I weren't there distracting him with questions (Eric), being funny (Michael), and chit-chat (that would be me).

So, I've decided that we all need to say "take me out to the ball game!" next summer, a few times, to enjoy our "national past-time" more often. (or, maybe I'll send the boys and stay home with Kate? we'll have to see about that. ha ha ha)