Benjamin – jesser

September 22, 2017

Here Comes the Sun

It’s a little hard to believe it’s been over a year since I posted. I’ve thought about doing so a few times, but not as many as I thought I would. I miss it, more because I can’t go back and see what was going on than because I miss doing it. If that makes sense.

I am resolving to add some more recipes and updates on the kids and us when I feel like it.

Mentally, I’m feeling better than I did a year ago. Not that it’s always been easy. I miss the special people (and canines) that are no longer with us. Friendships are sometimes less than satisfactory as people move on and lives diverge. It’s not hurtful. But it hurts.

So what’s been going on?

Family Life

We’ve continued our family meetings with reasonable success and minimal grumbling.
We continue to cook good food and eat well. The kids are both learning to cook.
We strive to read together, but it is often a casualty of crazy schedules.
We continue to travel frequently, including camping, and have had some absolutely amazing trips this year.
The kids started at a brand new school this year and it’s been an interesting and exciting change of pace.
The kids were away from us for over two weeks this summer. They went to Flordia with their Nashville grandparents and to camp for a week. We missed them like crazy.
The kids are constantly begging for a dog and for now, we’re holding firm on the no. We just travel too much!

Ben

Ben is doing well at school. He seems to really excel at math, but is reading is really strong too. Penmanship is a challenge.
He LOVES gym and placed 2nd in his class for the pacer test where you run like a maniac.
He continues piano and has recently learned the Imperial Death March from Star Wars.
He is a hilariously funny kid and he cracks me up on the regular with his wittiness and interesting turns of phrase.
He has continued with karate and scouts and started swim lessons again a couple of months ago which he’s doing really well at.

Tabby

Tabby has changed a ton over the past year and is all little lady these days.
She is currently wearing the same size shoe as me. We both view this as very handy and I hope it lasts.
She is super super into music right now, playing really cool pieces on piano (Hall of the Mountain King, Morning, Linus and Lucy) and has just started violin for her school’s orchestra.
She adores being a Girl Scout and doing badge work and having experiences with her friends.
She is not too much into physical activity but enjoys her swim lessons and skiing.

Matt and Me

Matt and I celebrated 15 years of marriage this summer. We are doing great and love being together and working as a team.
We celebrated with a group trip to Mexico and also took a weekend away while the kids were in Florida to do a little trip to Telluride.
We are both leaders in the kids’ scout troops. I have continued into the juniors’ second year and Matt is an assistant den leader with Ben’s pack. It’s challenging but rewarding.
Matt continues on in his job and is doing well at it. I have recently been promoted and get to take a more active role in company leadership which is something I’ve wanted for a while.
I have been working out for a few months now at Orange Theory Fitness which I really enjoy.
Matt and I also took up tennis this year. We had both played in jr. high and high school and we have a number of friends who play, so it’s been a very nice activity.
Matt has been working hard in his wood shop. We built a console table that goes behind our couch and he is currently working on a large-scale closet system for the master closet. It’s an unbelievable amount of work.

Overall, a very good year. Lots of personal growth, positive changes and some bumps in the road. No complaints.

July 31, 2016August 2, 2016

Wilderness Guys

And so while Tabby and I were hiking around Vail and the Holy Cross Wilderness, Matt and Ben were doing their own thing.

They were on their annual boy’s backpacking trip, having a grand ol’ time.

The highlight of their trip was getting to hike their first 13’er, Mt. Parnassus, a cool 13,574 ft. above sea level. Pretty impressive.

The other highlight for Ben, besides running around like a savage, of course, was whittling. I feel like as a female, I cannot comprehend this, but I do find it cute- as long as he doesn’t cut himself.

June 27, 2016

Weekend Riding

We did lots of fun things this weekend: went to REI, had a block party, played Bunco (me) and Catan (Matt), went to a pizza party at a friend’s house, had friends over for dinner, etc. etc. but probably the most memorable thing we did was a bike ride.

Because this wasn’t just any bike ride. It was a nearly 3 HOUR bike ride.

Normally when we take the kids to a new spot, we scout it out first. But we had … kinda. See it’s a trail we used to ride before we had kids and they recently added some pieces to it making what we thought was a full loop. Turns out we were wrong. It basically improved it and made about a 3/4 loop. Which because it isn’t a total loop we rode twice … for a 1.5 mile loop. Or 50% more. The worst part is that in addition to the 50% more, we took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up at a dead end … at the END of a giant hill. And then we had to go down and back up another giant hill. It was exhausting and no one was having any fun by the end.

Hate that. BOO.

Ben was the “total trooper” winner award this go around. Little if any whining from him.

That kid is becoming an amazing mountain biker. Anytime he encounters anything where he needs more power, he’s straight out of the saddle and powering up the hill. He didn’t have to stop much at all. So cool.

Tabby tried hard and did pretty well, but she just doesn’t have the same stamina Ben has built up. Hopefully we didn’t permanently ruin biking for her and she can get some muscle built up.

We did have a couple of fun bright spots! Tabby was very excited to see the tipis above and even more excited to hear you can rent them out for a night (we will do this sometime this summer). We also got to see the goats!! Goats of all colors, munching weeds and making very funny noises. Glad to have a little bit of comic relief in a pretty brutal ride.

June 21, 2016July 6, 2016

The Purple Belt

About a week ago, Ben finally go the OFFICIAL nod to test for his purple belt.

For the uninitiated, belts and their corresponding tests come pretty quickly at first and then they get harder and harder. It’s been over a year since Ben got his orange belt. The fact that he took last summer off slowed him down, but Ben also has some challenges with ADHD that he has been working hard to overcome. Technically, his medicine will have worn off by the time karate class rolls around, but the focus it is allowing him to cultivate when he’s on it seems to have a carry-over effect and apparently, it’s pretty noticeable.

The test took about 1.5 hours.

They had to go through all their forms and really show their stuff.

But what is really crazy (especially if you know Ben) is that he had to spend 20+ minutes of his test meditating. That is sitting.perfectly.still. This is a kid who NEVER sits perfectly still, except when he’s sleeping, or as we say, “recharging.” !!!!

But he persevered through it all, nosebleed included (you can see the aftermath above), and got his belt!!!

I’m not sure who’s prouder of him … us, or himself. Victories like this are amazing for Ben and now, he is at the same rank as his sister, which is pretty darn sweet.

June 10, 2016

Raingutter Regatta

Being as that I am a girl with no brothers, I have little experience with the boy side of scouting. Which is actually part of what makes Ben’s Boy Scout events so much fun. It’s lots of new stuff.

For the uninitiated, like myself, the Raingutter Regatta is the maritime equivalent of the Pinewood Derby. You build a boat, paint it, make it a sail and race it in rain gutters against your fellow scouts.

We (of course) discovered that this event was sooner than we’d thought on Monday right after Matt left for a business trip (that wouldn’t have him home until today), so I got tasked with turning the rectangular wooden piece and dowel we were given into y’know … boats.

Fortunately, I have been paying attention during shop time. And I was able to complete the task with little fanfare.

The kids painted them and off we went.

Ben competed against fellow Wolf Scouts and Tabby was in the “family” (mostly sisters) bracket.

It was a double elimination tournament (I learned how those work yesterday), and both kids won their first 2 races and lost their third.

Which netted them 3rd place in each of their brackets!

Not too shabby for our first go. More importantly, they had a great time!

June 6, 2016

We’re on Lake Time

We got out of town Thursday night and headed Jackson Lake. It’s a nice state park about 90 minutes from our house. It’s also in the opposite way from most of the traffic, so it really is 90 minutes.

Though much of it lacks shade, we got a great loop to setup on and had decent shade. The first night, we setup, got the kids to bed and did some camp fire hanging.

Friday was the beach day. I got to paddle board …

and the kids got to swim.

I’d say they had a pretty good time (this might be my new favorite pic of Ben – look at those freckles!!) …

… even this big girl who’s getting way too sassy.;)

… and especially this old man dog, who got naps and shade and pets and walks and illicit foodstuffs and a dip in the lake.

May 24, 2016

Scouts and Hiking and Denver!

We had a wonderfully full weekend (again).

We got things started off right by hosting a couple of our closest family friends (friend families?) for dinner and the planning of our EPIC road trip, scheduled for August. Matt cooked jerk chicken. We drank mint juleps and wine. The guys played around in the shop, the kids watched a movie and the ladies took a long walk around the ‘hood.

Matt and I got up earlyish on Saturday and took a run around our neighborhood. With views like this, even an early morning run is pretty awesome.

We met this little guy (probably 6″ long) on the trail. He was still cold and immobile in the shade and I was fine with that.

After our run, the kids headed to karate. They had to make up the lesson they missed Thursday while we were at the school art show and anniversary celebration. They’re both doing great and Ben is ready to test for his purple belt!!

Following karate, Matt and Ben went to see a man about a new tool for the shop and Tabby and I went on to event #2 of the day – Girl Scout field trip to the animal shelter! I don’t think Tabby could have picked a better field trip.

I of course, was inundated with requests to take home a new pet, particularly a cat. As I am severely allergic, saying no was easy. Though Tabby did meet this guy and even I had to agree he was pretty awesome. His name is boss and he’s about 2 years old and he’s the biggest love bug. All he wants to do is snuggle and is practically climbing out of the cage to do so with everyone who passes. Ahh well. I know he’ll find a good home.

After the shelter tour, we went home and had lunch and after that, we headed off to Ben’s Cub Scout bike rodeo where I took (somehow) 0 pictures. What’s up with that?

We went back home for the second shower of the day and headed off to my cousin’s graduation party where I again took 0 photos. Seriously, what’s up with that??

Sunday I got up and went to the store while Matt worked on our picnic lunch that we took when we went hiking with friends. We hadn’t hiked at Red Rocks before (just gone to concerts and movies) and it was a fun place to hike! The kids were minimally cranky and kept asking us for math problems the whole hike. Ben is doing multiplication very well and Tabby has advanced to solving some pretty good equations (3x²-8=40).

The trail was particularly fun for the kids because there were some neat nooks and crannies to crawl up into (see first pic above).

Our old man dog had a nice hike too, but he does show his age. Lots of huffing and puffing and a little limping at the end.

We had just a little free time between the hike and heading to my dad’s house for dinner. He made us ribs and potatoes and corn on the cob, plus a rum cake to celebrate Matt and Ben’s birthdays (belatedly).

Who could ask for anything more?

May 20, 2016August 29, 2016

Family Meeting

A few weeks ago, I told Matt that I wanted to start having regular family meetings. I said I wanted to have an agenda and a family credo and snacks. This is exactly the variety of corny/cheesy stuff that Matt instinctively rolls his eyes at and internally GROANS. We’ve both been through way too many corporate team-building sessions with mission statements to be wary of this sort of thing and I get it. But to his credit, he heard me out.

I made the following argument: The kids are getting older. School, activities, friends, devices, etc. are encroaching more on our nuclear family and while that’s not wholly bad, it’s important that we are deliberate about protecting family time. We need to also be deliberate about communicating what values, activities, lessons, etc. are important to us and teaching the kids a few things. To his credit, he saw what a fabulously great idea it was and got on board. 😉

Continue reading “Family Meeting”

May 16, 2016

Ben Turns 7!

A few months ago, we decided to be really good bad parents and take the kids out of school for a full week for a vacation. And not to anywhere very cultural … Disney World!

Happily, the best dates coincided with the weekend of Ben’s 7th Birthday. What better place to spend your birthday than The Happiest Place on Earth? Amiright?

Continue reading “Ben Turns 7!”

January 11, 2016

2015 in Review

2015 was in many ways an excellent year for me and mine. The second full year following Mom’s death had it’s own pitfalls and moments of sorrow, but it went on and was definitely more happy than sad.

Family

We soaked up lots of family time, skiing, hiking, camping, backpacking, cooking, walking, reading, playing and just hanging together. It’s odd – I thought things might get quieter as the kids got older – I think because I thought they’d take less of my time to manage, and they do! – but we do so much more together.

Tabby is turning into a young lady right before our very eyes. She’s worked hard at school and at home and generally has a great attitude and work ethic. She reads like it’s breathing and impresses me constantly with her artistic abilities and insights. She got her ears pierced over Christmas break after working hard for this all semester, and it makes her look even more grown up. She’s enjoying learning piano and getting pretty good and has fun with karate and swimming.

Benji is still our darling little guy. I’m so glad he’s not too big or cool to give me lots of hugs and kisses and snuggles. School can be a struggle for him with all the requirements to sit down and concentrate, but he does well academically and we’re grateful for that. At home he’s a huge ball of energy. He spends his freetime building either with legos or in Minecraft. We’ve also gotten him interested in running on the treadmill and we’re hoping to help him beat some winter blahs that way (fully supervised of course). He’s a force to be reckoned with on the slopes and so so much fun. He also had a major puncture this year, but it was of the unscheduled variety – he had his finger slammed and badly injured in a door at school and a few hours at the emergency room later and minus a fingernail, he is much improved.

Matt and I are doing our usual balancing act, making sure everyone’s fed, bills are paid and the house doesn’t look like too much of a disaster zone. We bought a second treadmill on a crazy sale in early December so we can workout together in the evenings … important because we’re training for another half marathon in April! We sneak away just the two of us whenever we can manage it – date nights when dad takes the kids or sometimes a day off when the kids are at school and occasionally, we hire a sitter to watch the kids so we can go for a run or a bike ride. It’s a nice little luxury.

Work

Matt took on a new and extended role about halfway through 2015 and it’s making him happy and keeping him busy! He goes to the office about once a week and traveling more (none of us loves this, but it’s good for him and his career).

Work has been going great for me as well. I work long hours sometimes, but usually it’s very manageable. We’ve picked up a ton of work this year and really gotten our “hit rates” up – that’s marketing speak for how often we win work. Some of it is the improving economy, I’m sure, but I fancy that some of it has to do with some cool new things we’ve been doing. Cheeeeeers!

Travel

It was a fun travel year. The coolest trip we took, was probably the surprise trip we took in May! It deserves its own post (which it never got), but I won (!!) a trip to San Francisco to go to MakerFaire! So Matt and I took off while my dad watched the kids and we flew to CA and did it up right! It was a blast!

We also had a few ski trips throughout the winter and filled up the summer with camping trips and our first ever family backpacking trip.

Our longest trip was from Denver to Nashville, with some stops along the way. We pulled the pop-up to Missouri and dropped it off at my mom’s cousin’s house. Then we went onto Nashville, spent a few days there, including a great trip to Mammoth Cave in KY, and then picked it up, took it to family reunion and came home. Exhausting, but wonderful!

We finished off the year with an amazing trip to Big Sky, Montana over Christmas to ski!

Home Improvement

We did lots of little projects around the house throughout the year. We organized our laundry room and some kitchen drawers. We did a bunch of yard work. We planted a garden.

But probably the biggest project of the year finished up right before Christmas when Matt installed our new barn door!!! He and a family friend worked for HOURS on it and it turned out so amazing. And trust me, it’s even better in person.

There are probably another load of things I could and maybe should talk about, but those are some of the highlights. It was a good year.