September Pictures

Pictures of Baptism, trip to Manitou, and pre-school kids.

August Pictures

August pictures. We started school. Ashley with Mrs. Clark. We had a silly string war when they got home the first day. Justin and Mia enjoying pre-school at my house, raspberry picking in Woodland Park, and Hans and kids making and painting my new mudroom shelf thing.

July Pictures

Here are the rest of my pictures from July. We spent a lot of time at the pool in July. The girls were on swim team and Justin did swim lessons. His teacher, Miss Katie, now babysits for us. Justin still won't get his head wet. He said to a lady at the pool yesterday - "Isn't it weird that I'm older then Mia, but she'll get her head wet?" Mia's favorite part of the Ranch Creek pool was the shower and her favorite part of the villa pool was the hot tub.

We also spent time with Justin on the motorcycle. I put Mia in the stroller and run to keep up. It's great fun.

I had the Conley kids for a long weekend. It was lots of hair for church. I'm so grateful my kids have cousins close.

Hans always hopes to sleep in.

Update

I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll start with my kids going back to school. Ashley got Mrs. Clark, who is wonderful, and Katelyn got Mrs. Hawkes, who is not so wonderful. Nearly everyday I think about homeschooling. I just am scared to fast and pray about it. I think I would like to have them home with me and I also think I could teach them everything they would learn in 1st and 3rd grade, but I'm not positive. I need to be positive before I make this kind of life change. I am homeschooling Ashley in math and that is going well. She is doing 4th and 5th grade math this year, which just assures she'll be bored next year in math. And the year after that. It's how I spent school - bored. I realize that a part of life is boredom, but really? If I could have been challenged, I think I would have been happy about it, but I'm not sure. So many what ifs with this one. I am seriously considering homeschooling for next year. When Mia is older. She has hit that really annoying age of almost 3. I quite dislike this age until they turn about 5. I need to change my attitude and like this age, but I just don't. It's my 4th time with this age. They whine. They cry. They are babies, but I think they shouldn't be. It's a balancing act for all of us. I can't believe I just admitted I hate this age. But I do. It feels good to have that off my chest.

So...for Ashley - Ashley loves Mrs. Clark and so do I. She is doing great. She has friends in her class. She says she is the smartest person in her class. I believe her. She is doing amazing at gymnastics. She got promoted after one class to an advanced class and after 4 classes they are finding her a spot on pre-team. She does a beautiful front limber. She is really flexible in her back. She loves her hamster. First, there was nugget. She died after doing an acrobatic move on the cage and came crashing down onto her back. She was replaced by ginger. Ashley took her back today and exchanged her for ila. Ginger was too boring she said. She just hid all day. She is taking piano lessons still and has a gift for the theory side of music - again with the math. She is growing up. She loves activity days. She got baptized. Her baptism was wonderful. My parents and Hans' parents came into town for it. I love baptisms. They are a great reminder of the purposes of this life. Simple, really. I felt the Holy Ghost testify to me that she was making the right decision. I'm proud of her for making this step. She takes her Book of Mormon to school and reads it during boring time. She is a great example. We shared the baptism with Larissa Simmons, Ashley's friend from Church. They are cute girls. I will post pictures.

Katelyn - Katelyn is enjoying school. She has a little bit more of a difficult time getting to school in the morning. She doesn't want to go. She wants to stay home. 1st grade is an adjustment. It's just so darn long. I wish school was 3 hours every day and that's it. I'd be okay with it then. I have volunteered in her classroom so I can see her and she can see me. She has some really weird kids in her class. I miss her friends from kindergarten. She got promoted to a level 3 in gymnastics after getting her kip. She spends too much time away from home. She told me one morning - "Mom, I can either go to school and skip gymnastics or skip gymnastics and go to school." I can't argue with that.

Justin - I am doing a co-operative pre-school with Justin. There are 8 kids. I already taught at my house and had a great time. Mia loved it as well. He goes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9-11:30. He doesn't tell me much about it, but he is always happy to go. I signed him up for soccer, which Hans and I are coaching. He is really cute. He smiles the whole time and is so happy to be doing an activity. He has a great group of boys and I love hanging out with the soccer moms during practice. Justin scored a goal at the game last week, but really by default. He was standing in the right place at the right time. He's not an aggressive fellow.

Mia- She is at that annoying stage where she just whines. I am working on not losing all patience with her. She has a playgroup with people from church, but she refuses to go. It's at my house this wednesday so maybe that will help. She likes friends in theory. But not for real. Maybe she got that from me:) I am doing a sort of pre-school with her with Kim and Kim. She loves Taylor and I taught at my house last week and they all loved it. They are cute. She is dying to take ballet still. She went to her first birthday party on Saturday and was so excited. She talked all week about Ellie Ruge's party. Priceless. She had a fantastic time. I sent her with a vegan chocolate pie - dairy, gluten, sugar, oil/butter free. I guess she didn't eat any of it. It was good though. I promise.

We have enjoyed company. Hans' parents spent labor day weekend with us after the baptism. We walked in Manitou springs and enjoyed the activities they had there. We ate out at Biaggis and took the train up to Pikes Peak. I got sick that weekend too and drank 2 Liters of water on the train since my throat hurt and for the last 30 minutes of the train ride with no bathrooms I literally thought I was going to die. Other then that it was fun. I had hiked Pikes Peak a few days before. It's a much different experience hiking up then riding up. Melanie and I had a great time hiking. We made great time. 4 1/2 hours. Only 20 minutes off my best time, but we stopped a couple of times on the second half to actually enjoy the scenery. Imagine that. We also spent a couple of days in Vail with my parents in a beautiful condo they stayed in after the baptism. We swam twice, went bike riding twice, played at the playground, walked around the lake, threw rocks in the river, and watched two movies. All in 2 days. We didn't stop. I'm grateful for 2 sets of grandparents who take an interest in my kids lives. Hans' mom also flew out to watch my kids for a weekend while Hans and I went to San Francisco to surprise my mom for her 60th birthday. All my siblings came. No kids. It was awesome. We walked about a million miles, biked over the bridge and all around, ate an awesome sundae at Ghirardelli square, shopped, and ate. And ate some more. San Francisco knows how to serve a meal.

I can't believe I have done all that stuff. No wonder I'm tired. In the midst of all this I am still marathon training. It is winding down. I'm tapering, actually. And under orders from my physical therapist (if you need a physical therapist - go see Mark Phillips - he is so great) not to run until next week. My IT band is killing me. I barely made my 12 miles on Saturday and didn't sleep Saturday night from the pain. It's feeling better today, but I am nervous for the marathon. I really want to run faster then last time. My plan is to run with an 8 minute mile pacer and let him or her slow me down at the beginning and then help my just hang on at the end. I am never running another marathon. Unless I decide to do Boston, assuming I qualify, which I will, easily. I hope. I've also taught a lot of yoga. I love yoga. I'm going to a yoga retreat in November which I am so excited for. I am teaching a lot, but I love it. I am making my own lara bars tomorrow. I cycle in and out of being domestic.

Hans went on a Thursday -Saturday motorcycle trip this weekend. He had great fun. He looks forward to when the whole family can go with him. He bought a new x-ray sensor. That's a highlight for him. He has a great staff right now. He hiked the incline with a friend last week as well. He keeps busy. We all keep busy.

I am sure I missed something. I am still figuring out (in that I am waiting for Hans to just do it) how to get pictures onto the computer from my camera. I have great pictures from the baptism. I took none of our weekend with Hans' parents or at Vail. Oops.

Update

An update is coming...Promise.