What's Better Than Running 13.1 Miles?

Climbing a 14er with the sisters!  Even though our race was canceled, the sisters came down to Colorado for a visit and a hike into the high country.  We had a great day!

We were at the trail head and ready to go really early in the morning.

It was a beautiful day in Colorado...not a cloud in the sky!

The sisters

Taking a rest...not much oxygen to be had up at that elevation!

We made it to the summit of Greys Peak -- 14, 278 ft elevation. Yay us!

The views from the summit were amazing

Breckenridge ski area in view

And when we made it back to the ranch safe and sound, the boys enjoyed some quality time with their aunts, including making silly faces for the camera

We took a look at some areas that got hit by the flood.  Justin helped a friend pack up his house in Lyons, one of the towns most severely impacted by the flood.  There's a lot of recovery and restoration going on down here.

Momo and Aunt Kenzie--she's stayed for a longer visit with us.  The boys love it and ask if she can stay forever.

We visited Heritage Square for an afternoon of fun.  The boys received free ride tickets as part of their summer reading program at the library.  Momo made it around twice on this roller coaster before asking to get off.  (:

This one was much better!

Mommy and Jacoby on the ferris wheel--and yes, I did scream like a girl the first time around.

The boys loved this crazy bus ride, and even started putting their arms in the air.  (:

Light sabers from Aunt Megan.  The lights have since gone out, but they sleep with them under their pillows every night.  Jedis in training, you know!

Morgan is doing another soccer class and really enjoys it

Hope you all are doing well!

Precipitation

Well, I'm sure you've seen us on the news this week!  The rain has been unlike anything we've ever experienced, and the flooding is just unbelievable.  Our house has been fine and we've been safe and thankful.  Anything we've experienced has merely been an inconvenience.  Many friends and colleagues have been impacted in more severe ways with flooding, evacuations, and in some cases complete loss of their town or home.  I never expected to feel such humility and amazement when viewing the site of a house submerged in water.  And I also didn't expect to feel almost desperate when I almost wasn't able to get home from the airport on Friday because of closed roads.  I've never been so happy to see traffic on the interstate once they finally opened it up!  Our church is an evacuation site for the town of Lyons and some of the other mountain communities.  The sun and blue skies finally emerged from the clouds today and the big helicopters were out all afternoon rescuing people.  Clean up has also begun and Boulder has placed huge dumpsters all through town.  I helped a friend of mine who's basement flooded this weekend drop off bags of ruined carpet, tile, and baseboards.  The dumpsters are already filled to overflowing.  Jacoby's school is closed through Wednesday.  The half marathon race has been postponed.  The boys and I toured some of the flooded areas around Longmont on Saturday and we also saw what a close-to-empty grocery store looked like.  It's amazing the things you take for granted!  We are keeping our eyes out for ways to help once recovery begins--right now, the sole mission is rescue.

The boys have kept busy indoors with short periods of outside time between the heavy rain showers.  We're doing our own version of "home schooling" every day (yes, we're mean like that) just so Jacoby keeps up on math, reading, writing, and spelling.  The boys are reading The Fellowship of the Ring with Justin and are really enjoying that story.  Jacoby just finished reading us the third book in the Junie B. Jones series--really great books that make us laugh each evening.

 Here are a few pics from our week:
 

Jacoby's school started the 100 Mile Club this year.  Jacoby decided he wanted to participate, so they kicked it off during the Harvest Festival.  Jacoby is the one in the middle in fluorescent green.  We're also doing the Turkey Trot road race in November as a family (boys and I are doing the 2-mile and Justin is doing the 10K).

Getting time outside has been a challenge.  They welcomed any opportunity to jump in puddles and hunt for worms!

We had to do our Lowes Build and Grow projects at home this weekend because the lumber department was flooded.  The boys are getting better and better at these.  Mommy still has to give the nails a good whack every once and a while.  (:

 Jacoby putting his wheels together

 

 Our plants and trees sat in swimming pools most of the week...you can sort of see the river coming out of our gutter.  We checked our basement a lot, the ceiling a lot, and walked the perimeter of the house a lot just to make sure the water was staying outside.

 Playing games with Daddy

 This is Boulder Creek still raging out of its banks and forming a lake at one of the parks in town.

The boys in their "boat"...they've had to get creative this week with their play and activities.

An Anniversary and Some Family Time

Happy September everyone!  Anytime the fall weather wants to arrive and cool things down around here will be just fine with me.  Our days are already noticeably shorter.  We're all doing well and had a great long weekend.

Some news:

   Morgan Ethan is officially in Pre-K and a big kid on campus.  We're in our fifth and final year at the preschool.  A part of me is thrilled that this is our last year for childcare tuition and a part of me is going to be so sad to leave preschool and say good-bye to what really has become part of our extended family.  

We spent a day in Rocky Mountain National Park hiking and fishing

Here's a boy I love

The other boy I love

And this one too...for 12 years, no less!

Posing for a picture

Happy Anniversary to us!  12 years!

The boys really liked the idea of taking our picture

Mommy demonstrating what it's like to get boys to cooperate for a picture...(:

We of course had to visit the big slides

Which are always lots of fun

I made an entire steak dinner in the crockpot.  It cooked all day while we were gone and turned out delicious.  We'll definitely be keeping this recipe!  I also made a gluten free cake which, ironically, turned out better than any previous attempt I've made at cakes...at altitude, no less.  It was super yummy!

 

Jacoby's class has already earned several privileges, including stuffed animal day and pj day.  This was crazy hair day, and since the child hasn't had a hair cut in months, we actually got some pretty good spikes!

And guess who's back on his bike?!  Thanks to a great thrift store and Craigs List find, the boys are riding new-to-them bikes.  Morgan's is an upgrade to a bigger size.  Jacoby's is actually the same size but different style that suits him much, much better...this was a bit of an attempt to remedy a major parental fail on our part by putting him on a bike that didn't fit or work for him and resulted in four stitches.  ):  But we're thrilled he's back riding again!  It's really all they want to do these days, and they are very proud to be riding without an adult around a parent-approved loop on our block.

 Doing homework--Morgan always joins Jacoby with his workbook, mazes, or stickers.  Jacoby is doing really well in school.  And as we begin week three, we've only had one food assignment.  One! (:

The first graders are learning how to write letters, so I get a letter on pink paper everyday that says he hopes I'm having a good day.  (:

 These are working out quite nicely.  Chores are going well and we're using a punch card system the boys really like and the parents can easily remember.

We're keeping allowance separate from chores right now and that's going well too.  Jacoby likes filling in what's going to happen during his week, and Morgan's too.

Have a great week everyone!

Some Ordinary Things...

What a week!  Jacoby seems to really like First Grade and I think we're off to a great start.  Next week the school schedule will be in full swing and Morgan will be in Pre-K!

Here are some things that have filled our days recently...

 Morgan and I stayed home together on Thursday (first day of school) so he could recover from a tummy bug.  "We" (Mommy) decided it was high time to tackle the pantry problem.  And we're going gluten free, so a full clean-out was in order.

 

 And here's the end result, mostly gluten and wheat free.

 The boys love climbing at the park!

 I stumbled upon this little gem, which we haven't had out in ages.  I helped them get started but then they completely took over, followed the directions, and were building all sorts of forts and creations.

 They really don't fit very well anymore (sniff), but they love building and disassembling.

 It's fun to listen to them working together and figuring out the directions.  Jacoby's gotten quite good at following instructions, I think in part because of all the Lego sets he's put together this summer.

 Here's where we find them most mornings...just hanging out, reading books together.

 Justin's been reading with the boys at breakfast time for about a year or so now.  They've been through Mark and are now going through Ecclessiastes.  They also learn a new word each day and are reading the Hobbit.

 I'm trying my hand at gluten free baking and cooking.  It's going pretty well, although there's definitely a steep learning curve.  These are chocolate chip cookies and they were yummy!

 Some of my First Grade homework this weekend.  The teacher was willing to make the class peanut/nut free.  The deal was that she would post it if I made it.  So, this is a sign for Jacoby's desk, signs for the class and door, and signs to go home in the Tuesday folders to each family.  I found the signs on a great teacher web site. 

 I think we're finally going to dive into the world of chore charts and allowance (Morgan's is in progress).  I've been putting this off for months.  There are a million different ideas and philosophies on chores and allowance and how the two fit (or don't) fit together.  After reading and contemplating, I think we've settled on a system that will work for us.  Implementation begins next weekend...I think.

 And perhaps the very not-so-ordinary event from this weekend, is Jacoby's major bike crash at the bike track that landed him in urgent care.  Four stiches later and a very roughed up little face, he seems to be recovering just fine.  Although, he told Justin he never wants to ride his bike again.  ):  Children's Hospital was, as usual, awesome.  I can tell Jacoby was working on the story for school tomorrow because he wanted to know specifics like how many stitches and how high the ledge was that he flew off of on his bike.

The boys are very interested in art right now, so they plop themselves down right in front of the art closet and get to work with all sorts of projects.  Jacoby's drawings are getting more and more detailed.  Morgan does a lot of observing, and it wouldn't surprise me if he just picks up a crayon and starts writing one of these days.  (:

Justin is busy at work and with his dissertation.  He gets quite a bit of reading time on the bus.  We're fortunate that the elementary school added before and after-care this year, so Justin can take Jacoby in early on work days and doesn't have to get home so late.  He's also scouting out the next fishing opportunity for the boys.

I've been logging many miles on my morning runs and did a 9-mile loop yesterday.  Work is fine--I expect to make a trip to Santa Fe, NM in the next few weeks to scout out a location for our spring board meeting.  I finally finished a 700-page book I've been working on all summer.  It was on parenting children with exceptional identities.  The author interviewed more than 300 families who were dealing with issues such as deafness, dwarfism, autism, down syndrome, prodigies, transgender, and a few others.  It was a fascinating read and there were many parallels to our own journey with our two "exceptional" boys.  (: 

Hope you all have a great week!