News Overload

Isn't it kind of a crazy week for news?? I almost can't process everything going on in the world. At the beginning of this week I was so crushed and heartbroken over the story of Neda the 16 year old girl killed during the protests in Iran. So tragic. It made me teary that the chants of the protesters became, "I am Neda!" the day after her death. The image of her tragic death will be a point in history just like that iconic image of the young man in front of the tank in Tienanmen Square. So so sad. Then the news of the metro accident in DC. That was scary to me having been on that metro line so many times. And then all the celebrities that have passed away. Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson today. I'm actually watching some coverage of Michael Jackson's death on the news right now. Whoa, who could have expected that? I'm not a huge Michael Jackson fan but Billie Jean and Thriller are moments in my childhood that I will always remember. And for him to have passed away at only 50 years old is very shocking. So anyways, I don't know about you but I'm experiencing serious news overload and I'm sure the coverage on Michael Jackson has just begun. Maybe I should take a time-out and watch some nice period costume drama that has nothing to do with everything going on right now. Persuasion here I come!

Finally Free for Summer

I very nearly just wrote a huge rant about the challenges I've had landscaping our yard and getting a bunch of house stuff fixed over the last 3 weeks. But instead I am taking a deep breath... And exhaling... And thinking nice thoughts instead. Rainbows. Cheesecake. SYTYCD. I can say without being crabby that our backyard is landscaped. Sure the grass is still dead (which is ANOTHER house warranty issue, because the grass was put in by our builder's landscaper), but hopefully that will be resolved soon and Adrian says he is going to put up the swing set this weekend which will be a happy event for everyone. I think I'll take another deep breath and exhale to still keep myself from that rant... It's bubbling to the surface... Puppies. Rufus Sewell. Diet Cherry Limeades. Good, I am putting my happy face on. There, happy face affixed.

If I write in a teensy-tynsy font how much I hate dealing with landscapers and contractors of all kinds does that count as a rant?? I don't think so. If I also say that quite a few of them are greedy meanie butts does that also not count?? Hmmm, maybe that one was questionable.

So anywho, ever since my kids have gotten out of school, literally everyday, I've had to be at home waiting for someone or other to work on the house or yard. It's been very boring (for everyone) and stressful (for me). But now that we are landscaped and patioed and painted and drywalled and carpeted we can start getting out! Woohoo. I'm trying to work on a sort of summer schedule including trips to the library and such to keep the kids happy. We have a weekly piano lesson for Sophie and swimming lessons for all 3, but other than that the week is pretty open. I'm thinking about starting a sort of cooking school with Sophie to teach her how to make bread and brownies and other fun things because she's expressed interest in learning how to cook. It should be good fun mother daughter time. If Ben and Nina want to join in too I hope it will still be fun.:) We expect a visit from my parents and grandma sometime soon so that will be a great thing for us to look forward to also. I guess summer has officially begun in our house.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's day to my husby! From the day our baby Sophie arrived Adrian has been a fantastic dad and has always made our children feel like they are each special and loved. I couldn't ask for a better husband and partner in parenthood. Thanks for all you do and for the person you are, Adrian!!
And happy Father's day to my Dad! I love you Dad!

DON'T PUT YOUR HANDS NEAR YOUR EYES OR BITE YOUR FINGER NAILS AFTER CHOPPING JALEPENOS

Seriously, don't. Ouch!!! Ahhhh!!! Ouch!!! Lesson learned.

Burning the Midnight Oil (or the 10pm oil)

I remember the first book that gripped me. I was in 4th grade so I was 9 years old. I remember sitting all day on my bed reading and reading, using a small transparent blue ruler as a book mark whenever I got up to take a short break. I just had to finish the story and find out what happened. That book was Where the Red Fern Grows. I loved it. I read it over and over loving the detail and descriptions. I wanted to save all my money and buy my own pair of Redboned Coonhounds that I would carry home in a gunny sack from some great distance. Oh how I cried at the end. Reading Where the Red Fern Grows all by myself was such a pivotal moment in my life because it was with that book that I realized just how much I loved being transported to a different time and place by a book.

Other books that I absolutely loved as an elementary age kid were: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (right up there on my list of all time favorite books to this day), King of the Wind, The Box Car Children, Black Beauty, and Summer of the Monkeys. I adored the beautiful illustrations in Kind of the Wind, and could almost smell the chocolate in the air right along with sweet little Charlie Bucket.

Well it seems as though Sophie has reached that pivotal point as well. She just finished up 4th grade and she's 9 years old. She has always been a good reader and has always read beyond her grade level. She loved the Disney Fairies series in 2nd and 3rd grade. She got really into all the Ramona books and read them all, but in her free time she'd always choose TV or computer games/Nintendo over books. Well not anymore. Last night at almost 10pm we saw lights on in Sophie's room and went to investigate. She was reading! And she was complaining that she was almost finished with the book and wanted to read a little more. I was secretly SO pleased. And you know what book it was?? Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I recently read Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets out loud to her and she decided to start reading #3 all on her own. Oh I was tickled. How lovely that Harry was the one to get my Sophie to stay up late reading. I absolutely love Harry and after reading #7 I think he is the best character ever. (Well right up there with my other best characters ever like Heathcliff, Romeo, Edward, Mr. Rochester, Holden Caulfield...) But even though both Adrian and I were very pleased with her reading we still enforced the lights out rule and told her she could finish in the morning. (Sophie is an early to bed early to rise kind of person and man it's a crankfest if she stays up too late.) So today Sophie took the morning to finish HP3 and she very eagerly started #4. We had a talk about how in Goblet of Fire things are a little different, it's darker than the first 3 and has some scary and really very sad parts. After talking with her about it I think she's ready. It was not an easy decision to make, but I know those books backwards and forwards so I know that I'll be able to talk with her about the more intense parts coming up and make sure she's okay with it all. Oh, I'm so thrilled that she wants to read and enjoys it so much. Hip hip hooray!!

BTW (and this is more for journaling purposes) the current book I'm reading out loud to Sophie is The Mysterious Benedict Society and Ben is loving Frog and Toad. Every night either Adrian or I read Nina the same book - The Little Mermaid. I don't know when this Ariel phase is going to end, but let me tell you that book is getting old. I'm looking forward to reading Anne of Green Gables to Sophie after we are done with Benedict Society.

Another Crazy CO Weather Post

Yesterday was crazy! All of a sudden the sky got very dark and as I looked out the window the clouds were gathering in a weird way and I got pretty freaked out that I was going to see my 2nd tornado up close. That didn't happen, thankfully, but it did start hailing like mad. It was coming down so hard that I thought the force of it was going to break our windows. At this point I decided to take the kids down to the basement because there was a tornado warning. The noise of the hail was completely overwhelming and the kids were getting pretty freaked out. So we went downstairs and rode scooters and everyone was happy. We were only down there about 15 minutes before everything died down. I wasn't too worried, but I sure was hoping a funnel cloud wasn't going to touch down near our house again. When I looked out the window it was like looking out during a snow storm - all the house roofs were covered with hail and so were the streets. So weird. Chalk it up to crazy Colorado weather.

Happy Happy Swimming Update

Ben got into the pool!!! I might have had tears in my eyes. Well I did have tears in my eyes, but I'm not sure if it was from the overwhelming chlorine smell in the air or the fact that my boy, my sweet sweet and formally totally scared of water boy, got into the pool. I saw him hesitating, but as soon as the other 2 kids in his class jumped in he did too. I knew that peer-pressure and not making a big deal of it was going to be key so I acted totally blase, like it wasn't a big deal at all that he was standing at the edge of a pool about get himself totally wet. (Have I mentioned that he has never happily gotten totally wet? Never. He even hated baths as a baby and just started sitting in the bath tub about a year and a half ago.) At the moment that he got into the pool I wanted to jump for joy and take a picture at the same time!! However, I kept a poker face and just gave him a big smile and thumbs up. Then, big old cherry on the swimming lesson sundae, he took turns jumping into the deep end of the pool with his teacher catching him! We are talking actually jumping into the pool, totally immersing, popping up with aid from his teacher and then smiling as he climbed out of the pool and got in line to do it again. Total success!!!! The miracle happened and it was a thing to behold!

Sophie's and Nina's swimming lessons also went really well. Sophie had lots and lots of fun and it's great to see her so happy in the water and learning to float (the whole floating thing has always been hard for her). And Nina loved her lesson just like predicted. Can I just say how incredibly happy I am to report good news about the kids swimming lessons!

New Moon please get here soon!!!

Watch this (the video on the May 27th post on Lauren's Bite)! Oh ho ho!! Doesn't that scene look awesome! Okay there's some gratuitous skin showing from Kristin Stewart, but other than that it is so similar to how I pictured that scene in my mind. I CANNOT wait for scary Volturi pictures. Heck, I just CANNOT wait for this movie!! Twilight and New Moon are my favorites and the end of New Moon is probably my favorite part from the whole series (I listen to it frequently on my ipod:)). November get here quickly!!:)

End of School Festivities, House Stuff, Swimming Lessons

Time for my Friday post. Geez, I've been horrible with the blogging lately. Well here's what I've been up to this week - school and house stuff. Isn't this time of year packed with end of school stuff?!! Picnics, class parties, teacher gifts, performances, graduations (preschool)... So much to do and remember, but I think we've made it through all that and I remembered to go to everything. Whew. And then there's the house stuff, but I'll get to that in a minute. Oh and also swimming lessons are starting up too. I can't believe summer is already here! What am I going to do with my children all day?? Probably go crazy and hopefully have some fun too. I'm going to switch to bullet form cause that'll be easier.

Preschool End of Year Picnic/Party:
This was actually really fun and Ben had a blast playing with all his friends. He had a great experience in preschool this year and his teachers (there are 6 of them!) are all very sweet and enthusiastic. I am amazed by preschool teachers, honestly it must be hard to be that happy and up-beat all the time!

Ben Preschool Graduation:
This was adorable in every way! Ben wore a cute little mortarboard and everything. The kids all walked to "Pomp and Circumstance" and crossed over a little wooden bridge to get their "diplomas" to symbolize them crossing over from preschool to kindergarten. Though Ben didn't actually cross the bridge, he more walked up and then jumped back down on the same side - everyone chuckled. I wonder if that means he doesn't want preschool to end?? It was pretty funny. Oh, and all the little kids singing the songs they learned all year was so cute. Ben actually sang and did all the hand gestures. I was so happy that my shy shy boy is doing so much better and having fun participating with his peers. Yay! Congrats to my little grad!!


Sophie's 4th Grade Concert:
We went to this last night and it was really a fun! The theme was "You Can't Stop the Beat" and the whole 4th grade sang songs from different Broadway musicals. Sophie was so into it. She always tells me she doesn't like to perform - she did not want to participate in choir or the school play, but we could totally hear her singing and having a great time doing it. Smiling the whole time. I think there is a ham in Sophie trying to get out! It was a very cute concert and afterwards we went out for ice cream to celebrate. You did a great job in 4th grade Sophie! Way to go!

Okay, here's my little house rant. Feel free to skip.
So this has been a crazy week activity-wise but also going on at the same time has been some major house work/repairs since our builder's warantee is going to be up soon. Yesterday we had a window replaced (long story, but the window had a leak and has been ruining our wall and carpet everytime it rains), which meant the siding in the front had to be torn off and put back up along with dry wall repair, a new window sill, carpet pulled up to allow it to dry which will be put back down and fixed next week, and lots of painting to still be scheduled... Oh my goodness I hate having a new house sometimes. I know, I know that sounds totally ungrateful... I am grateful for my house. I think its awesome to be the first ones in it and I get to smell that new house smell when I come in from being outside. It's great. But having said that the first year in a new house can be quite annoying with all the warantee issues, landscaping, blinds to put up, appliances to buy, drapes to hopefully get someday... There's just a lot to do and sometimes it gets me down. I feel like I have contractors in and out of the house all the time and I hate dealing with the contractors. Some of them have been so nice - I love our carpet guy - but some have been condescending and after waiting all day for them to come it's hard when they act like you're overreacting to whatever issue they are there to repair... But chin up (I say to myself), soon we'll get the quirks of our house fixed and contractors won't be in and out all the time. End of rant. I feel better.

Summer swimming lessons:
All the kids are starting swimming lessons tomorrow. Fingers crossed big time. I know that both Sophie and Nina are going to love it. They both love water and even though Sophie gets a little nervous in the water I think this is going to be the summer were she really gets comfortable and learns to swim well. Oh and Nina is SO excited and LOVES water so I'm sure her parent-child class with Adrian is going to be fun for her. But. There's of course my sweet and sensitive middle child who has issues with water. We have been working with him and he has been "swimming" in the tub during bath time which is huge progress. Adrian got him to put his face in the water and blow bubbles the other day! He is even excited to start the swimming lessons. Let's just hope. Please. Please. That he actually gets into the pool. That will be a miracle. It really will and I can't wait to see it happen.