Benjamin – Page 2

May 28, 2015

The Denver weather has been crazy the past month. We have had rain almost non-stop which is pretty unusual for our arid climate. We have all been making jokes about buying Nirvana albums and flannel. It’s great for the ground and the flowers, but has been pretty devastating for things like field day and keeping construction projects on schedule. Yikes!

So we were pretty happy to see a bit of sunshine in the forecast for Memorial Day Weekend. Matt and I have been running ourselves ragged and we had only minimal plans for the weekend, so we were really looking forward to it.

Friday we had Ben’s Kindergarten Celebration, so I worked from home all morning and then took off in the middle of the day for that. Since both of our offices closed early for the holiday, we could ease into our Friday night. We’ve been watching some of the classic movies of our childhood with the kids and so we watched the third installment of Indiana Jones. It was a big hit!

Saturday we did the karate thing and then we went to Denver ComicCon. It was a fun event and I’m glad we went, but it was mainly people-watching for us.

The kids got some fun souvenirs and really enjoyed it. But for $100 in tickets for the whole family, I don’t think we’ll be going every year. We were able to meet up with friends at ComicCon and then do dinner in the city, so that was a very nice bonus.

Sunday was our get stuff done day. We worked on the pop-up, did some chores around the house, grocery shopping, etc.

Then we were invited to Dad’s house to celebrate this guy’s b’day, way late. Mother’s Day and a trip had gotten in the way of prompt celebration, but it’s always nice to drag it out anyhow, especially when my dad buys tons of crab and makes his delectable chocolate mayonnaise cake. Not a bad thing at all.

Monday we got up and went right to North Table Mountain to go hiking! It’s right in our backyard, but it’s always a great place to do some hiking or mountain biking or trail running. And it’s especially beautiful when it’s been raining like crazy as it has been lately because then instead of the more arid landscape, you get actual streams and even ….

A waterfall!!! My sister discovered this beauty on Saturday when she was hiking there and we had to see it for ourselves. This is pretty darn rare and we feel very lucky to have seen it because it probably won’t last long. In the way of waterfalls, it’s not super impressive, but it is really fun to find it in such an unexpected place. There are no snow-caps that feed this part of the terrain, so you can only get this with crazy huge rainfall.

Kelly was kind enough to go with us and we all had a great time.

Super super beautiful right now. It’s hardly ever this green and I love this part of the year. The kids were huge troopers, hiking over 7.5 miles!!! I’m so proud of them.

Afterward, we had to hightail it home for showers and refueling. I even stopped and bought them chocolate milk as a little reward for their hiking prowess.

Kelly and Tabby and I spent the afternoon shopping for some new clothes for Tabby who suddenly fits into NOTHING. She got really into it and picked out some very cute things. I had to steer her away from dresses and explained that she needs good playclothes for the summer and she got it and found some stuff she really likes.

We had dinner, worked some more on the pop-up and our long weekend was over like that!

May 1, 2015

Ben Turns 6

Our little guy turned 6 a week ago. All parents know the feeling of watching their big, capable kids and barely being able to connect them to the snuggly little babies they were once upon a time.

It’s amazing and humbling to watch him grow from the Very Hungry Caterpillar who couldn’t get enough milk into his big, almost-done-with-kindergarten self.

This has been a transformative year for Ben. I suppose they all are, but he has had by far the biggest challenges so far this year and it’s been wonderful to watch him work to overcome them. Ben is a typical little boy with lots and lots of energy. He has had to work hard this year to tame that energy and direct it into his school work. It has been an uphill battle and I really appreciate the effort his teacher has put into helping him develop strategies to work through his boundless energy. It’s made a huge difference.

Outside of school, we have fits and starts, but the overall arc is good. He listens better. He picks up well. He is learning to control his temper and his err… smart mouth. His natural bend is to be the class clown and he truly is very funny. I swear he makes us laugh each day. Sometimes it’s accompanied by shaking our heads. He is very inquisitive and extremely intuitive about mechanical and mathematical things. If we can keep him busy, we can keep him happy.

We had a small family party for him at home. His “big” party isn’t for another week, but we asked him to pick what he wanted to do on the very special day and it was super simple – pizza rolls, fruit pizza and a movie at home.

Papa and Gaga got him Legos.

Tabby made him an adorable book entitled, “The 10 Things I Love Best About Ben.” Our present to him will be a Russian Tortoise that we will pickup sometime this week. We were going away for a long weekend and so wanted to wait to get the tortoise until we could be home for a couple of weeks in a row. We do have a name picked out though, “Taco.” Yep, I don’t know either.

He got his wish for his night in, pizza rolls, movie and fruit pizza. I love that his requests are still so uncomplicated. For his party, we will be having a water gun fight in the back yard followed by some cake and ice cream. We’re all looking forward to a good time.

Happy birthday to my darling little guy. Here’s to many many more years of Benji fun and snuggles.

November 12, 2014

Cholula Chihuly X2

It was truly a great weekend – fall’s last hurrah! We had many wonderful adventures – riding our bikes to the movie theatre to see Big Hero 6, cooking up some delicious food in the kitchen, cleaning out some messy corners and, in my case, heading to Denver’s Botanic Garden not just once but twice to see the Chihuly exhibit.

Friday evening I went with my girlfriends to see the exhibit at night. The glass, expertly illuminated was gorgeous. And as always, it was wonderful to hang with some of my best friends.

The weather cooperated beautifully for us and the rain/snow that had been forecast held off so we could enjoy the show.

It was almost as great to just see the gardens after dark as anything. Here the moon rises over the science pyramid. I drank copious amounts of tea a chatted and laughed with good friends.

After seeing my photos from Friday, Tabby begged to go to the exhibit. It’s something I’d been planning to take the kids to see … just hadn’t gotten around to it just yet. So I agreed and ordered up the only tickets we could get – for 9 am on Sunday.

The second trip was just as great. I got to see all the pieces that I hadn’t been able to see at night …

And see some others in a whole new light.

And in addition to the beautiful artwork, we got to take in the beautiful fall scenery.

… and make some cool discoveries, like these GIANT (they’re bowling ball sized, for real) turnips and a plaid cactus and a tree with ccamouflagebark!

They even got to have chai lattes as a treat. That’s hard to beat.

September 3, 2014

The Haps … September 2014

Well lots has been going on, but not in the orderly, organized way that lends itself to blogging and photo taking (although I’ve done quite a bit of that). We’ve been settling into the school routine. It is pretty different from when we had one kid in “real” school, I’ll say that. It’s probably not quite double the work, but close! Lots of papers that need reviewed and signed and homework that needs a help-it. And while it would have been smart for us to stick close to home, probably, we went away for the weekend last weekend and we’re doing the same this weekend. I never really regret doing these trips, but they don’t exactly make my weeks easier either. Truly, it’s a good “problem” to have. So in between the school stuff, here’s some of what’s been going on. We’ve been taking lots of walks around our new ‘hood. It’s something we LOVED to do in our old ‘hood and I sort of thought I might be giving up when we moved to the new ‘hood, but not so. It’s like the old hood on steroids! There’s tons of trails already built and there will be more. And where the old ‘hood was mostly neighborhood, this has some excellent wild, open elements to it as well – less landscaped and manicured with fields of cows and amazing vistas. We even found a ton of crawfish in the stream (drainage) that runs through our neighborhood. All this wildness will diminish somewhat as the neighborhood grows, but our northern side is bordered entirely by a wildlife preserve (above) that will always be wild! We even spent a good hour of our date night walking around the ‘hood together. It was very nice. Moving along … We took these two on an outing in Downtown Denver the last weekend in August. I wanted to see the Maya exhibit at the Denver Museum of Science and Nature and we did it on literally the LAST DAY of the exhibit. It was a really great exhibit with plenty to read, but also a ton of cool interactive features like this rubber ball simulating the ones the Maya played their ball games with. Sucker is HEAVY! Afterward, we went to Biker Jim’s for gourmet hotdogs (wild boar, rattlesnake, etc.) – photo above – which is always a huge treat (even if it’s a huge pain to park near there!). School is going along pretty well. The transition for Ben has been a little harder. He has had some trouble listening and keeping his hands to himself, but has already made huge strides correcting these peccadilloes. Most importantly, he LOVES school. Yay! I went to “curriculum night” at their school to hear the spiel about what they’ll be learning and enjoyed his cute poster (above) about himself. As he states, his favorite thing about school is hot lunch in the cafeteria. He also likened his iPad (and beloved Woofie!) to Owen’s yellow blankey, complete with picture showing its green case (and his doggie!!) … in a truly cringe worthy parenting moment. Tabby is LOVING second grade as well. I was able to pick her minion out from across the room (its the patterned glasses that tipped me off) when I went to back to school night. Her teacher is awesome as well and she’s in for a great year. She’s super excited as well to have leveled out of the little kid take-home books and now gets to read chapters from chapter books every night. The honor is not lost on her, that’s for sure. I’ve been doing a lot more cooking at home than I was able to this summer as well. I suppose if you have to take a season off cooking, summer’s a good one. I don’t BBQ much (though I am able) and about all I really like to make are salads. But fall is the best for cooking – I love making soups and stews and that sort of hearty fare. I’ll have to post one of my new favorite recipes, Buffalo Shrimp Po’ Boys here pretty soon. We’ve made them twice now and they’re a huge huge hit. And also the Chicken Gumbo from above. No one can say no to that soup!! So all in all it’s going pretty well. Work’s been a bit crazy, but nothing I can’t handle. I also signed up for a 15k (9.3 miles) which we’ll see if I can handle the first weekend in October. I am feeling like life is coming back together and I’m so immensely grateful for the good people and wonderful blessings all around.

August 26, 2014

Woa Woa, I Gotta Go … Back to School!

It was an exceptionally CRAZY first week of school.

All the things happened, practically at the same time.

The kids started school – but not even on the same day – on two different days, which led to me going to work late two days and then taking off early to pick them up two days.

Matt got sick – like actually take-a-vacation-day sick (and the other reason I was doing drop off and pickup).

I got a completely out-of-the-blue, totally-last-minute project for work that I handled while watching an entire season of Downton Abbey.

The photo shoot I had scheduled went from an estimated 3 hours long to an estimated 7 hours long to an actual 6 hours long.

I had to spend two hours on Wednesday evening at the kids’ music orientation.

Family came in from out of town.

We almost didn’t get a proposal in.

I sat on a panel (which sadly did not involve any sitting). I did not get my pedicure. I had bunco. I avoided Matt’s icky bug and so did the kids.

SO ANYHOW, SCHOOL: The kids are super happy with their new teachers. They are off to a great start for the first year. We haven’t even screwed up too much/many paperwork assignments and they have more or less been on time.

Ben is most excited about the cafeteria, specials (art/music/gym) and recess! Tabby is most excited that her BFF is in her class. Also, they have a field trip soon!

The kids have been crazy tired in the afternoons. I expected Ben to be a bit off, but Tabby has been just as tired if no more so! And me too. Lots of adjustments, lots of fun. The kids start music lessons tomorrow to add to the crazy. And we have more out-of-town guests for the next couple of weeks and a couple of weekend trips.

Life is good.

August 8, 2014

The Haaaaps

The house is coming along nicely! We have been making “diligent and expedited” progress as we say in the proposal writing biz. We felt like we really turned the corner on the main level a couple of nights ago when we got all the window coverings hung (Matt) and the office unpacked (me). Since then we’ve mostly been “cleaning up” the main level, sending bits and pieces to their proper places (sometimes Goodwill) and taking out the trash and recycling. There’s actually quite a lot of that to do. My oh-so-exciting plans for when I get home from work today are to actually vacuum and mop our wood floor on that level. With zero landscaping and lots of rain, we’ve got the muddy paw prints everywhere!!

I hope to post some nice photos of how things are progressing by Sunday. It’s looking good!!

But loads of other things are happening right around us. A couple of months ago, Ben earned his third stripe for yellow belt, jumping ahead of his sister who took the summer off from karate to focus on her intensive music program. That alone was a big accomplishment and he has been getting high marks from his sensei who has applauded his greatly improved focus. Last night we learned that in addition, he will likely be able to test for the next belt (orange) in a week as well. It’s been a great summer for Ben!

Tabby has had a great summer too. She successfully completed an entire school year’s worth of music classes in about 2.5 months. This effort took huge commitment and dedication on her part. She went to class two days every week and in the time between each class, only 3-4 days, she had to learn the material for two lessons, or about 2 weeks worth. That included two theory lessons, 2-3 brand new songs and additional elements for songs she’d already learned and music appreciation elements. Barely a day went by when we didn’t practice and as I’m sure I mentioned, we even found a keyboard to continue with while we were on vacation!

Yesterday, she passed her final assessment with flying colors and performed at her recital. It was interesting because she’d never practiced her piece without the sheet music available and I was worried for her when I saw it wasn’t there. She said she was a bit worried too. But she sat down and played it from memory as though she’d done it 100 times.

Now we get a two week break from music before Tabby heads into the third year program and Ben begins his first year in the same program.

… and in just over a week, they both start back to school! Where did summer go? How are they growing up so fast??

June 5, 2014June 4, 2014

Our Graduate

So we raced home from camping to attend this cutie’s pre-k graduation ceremony. The more practical side of me balks at the goofiness of all this – he hasn’t even started “real” school yet. But he’s had a great couple of years at this school (he won’t actually leave until the end of summer) and made lots of friends and learned a TON. It was also dang cute.

They had the kids sing a few songs about leaving preschool and going to kindergarten and then they marched them out one by one onto the stage to receive their certificate.

They also had them tell the audience what they want to be when they grow up. There were lots of painters and policemen, one “Yoda” and a couple of “Elsa.” Ben changed his mind from his blood-thirsty assertion of a few days before when he professed to do anything where he got to have a gun to “Veterinarian” – each syllable carefully enunciated.

Most importantly, he had a great time and felt very special. Can hardly believe he’s ready for kindergarten!!!

May 11, 2014May 11, 2014

Mama’s Day

This Mother’s Day is pretty bittersweet for me. It is the first one where I don’t have a mother to celebrate with. I am missing her like crazy and reflecting on the amazing mother and grandmother she was. Continue reading “Mama’s Day”

May 5, 2014May 11, 2014

Oh That Boy!

Ben had a bit of a dis-jointed birthday party, thanks, almost entirely to the family tummy bug!! Yikes. Continue reading “Oh That Boy!”

December 18, 2013

Playing Catch-Up

Well things are rolling along sometimes fairly normally. The kids are doing great, growing and learning by leaps and bounds. We register Ben for kindergarten next month. I can hardly believe it. Tabby has been having fun with spirit week at her school (see green hair above) and even Ben got in on the action.

The kids have been enjoying the season and all of the fun things it has to offer. We saw The Nutcracker with some friends last week. Everyone really enjoyed it. Tabby has been studying Waltz of the Flowers in music class and she and her little buddies could be seen doing hand motions as it played. The kids both took home nutcrackers (joy! rapture!) to add to our Christmas decorations.

Tabby baked cookies yesterday and has asked to make apple cider caramels again. She’s also been asking about Elf on the Shelf which all of her friends have. We do not have one and I made an executive decision that this was not the year to get it. I love the creativity behind setting up the tableaus, but I a) don’t have time and b) am not really into the Santa deception thing, particularly as it pertains to manipulating my children’s behavior.

We have been doing lots on the house situation, particularly as it pertains to getting our house ready to sell. We are finished retiling the master bathroom (a project we should have done YEARS AGO). It was ridiculously tedious because there were tons of things to work around and a diagonal wall. We had a family friend come in and help us knock out the last stage in record time, and despite how the above looks (don’t mark tiles when it’s late and you are STOOPID) …

It turned out really well. AND I’m so glad to have it done. Well mostly done – still have to put the trim back and reset the toilet. OY.

We have also been busy picking finishes for the new house. Above is our fireplace surround tile (bottom) and kitchen backsplash (top). I am very excited to see all of this start to take shape … but it will be a while. We had a snafu with our site plan and we STILL haven’t gone to permitting. It is resolved and we got a nice $25k option for FREE out of the deal, but it is frustrating. It should go in by the end of this week. I am anxious to start seeing dirt flying. Hopefully BEFORE we put our house on the market.

What else has been happening?

Matt and I saw a wholly unsatisfactory Broncos game (they lost). At least the seats were awesome.

It’s been cold (this hampered the tile project) … but also warm.

Tabby lost another tooth, but the tooth fairy still has yet to get ahold of one of Tabby’s teeth – she kept the last one and lost this one before she could turn it in. The note was more than fair payment though, I say.

I made quite a few Sunday dinners, including Pioneer Woman’s pot roast. YUM.

Overall, I’m doing OK and in some ways, improving, I think. I have decided that based on my job right now and our lives that early morning workouts are no longer working for me, so I have been doing evening workouts for over a week now and it actually seems to be sticking. Thank goodness. Not that I’ll say no to a nice early(ish) morning run when it works, but as a rule, this is working better for me right now. Working out just makes me feel good. And I’d been missing it and it seems to be helping.

I’m even looking forward to Christmas a little.