First Day of Elementary School

Today was Josh's first day of 4th grade and Mattea's first day of kindergarten (or "king-ger-garten" as she calls it!). To say Mattea was excited was an understatement. All summer long, she had been sleeping in until 8am-9am... sometimes even 10am, depending on how late she stayed up the night before. This morning at 6:14am, I was awakened to hot breath and a loud whispering voice directly in my ear saying "KING-GER-GARTEN"!!! Did I mention it was 6:14am??? The start time for school had been changed from 8am to 8:45am, so this early waking time was clearly unnecessary (but still pretty darn funny). Eventually, we were all up and moving and getting ready for the day... even Alex, who doesn't start middle school until late August. Josh was not nearly as excited as Mattea. The kids all humored me with my typical First Day of School photo shoot on the front porch.

Soon, it was time to go. Mattea wanted to ride the bus, but I insisted that Mommy & Daddy wanted to take her on her first day and make sure she got to where she needed to go. So, we drove over to the school and parked the car across the street. Mattea hopped out and said "Bye!". I said "Mattea, wait. We are going to walk you in. You don't even know where to go." She replied "That's okay, Mom. I'll figure it out." SERIOUSLY? Seriously. Considering, I didn't even know where she was supposed to go, we walked her in anyway. Josh spotted his buddies, I took a quick picture and we dropped him off at the 4th grade entrance. After walking all the way around to the back of the school, we found the entrance where Mattea was supposed to line up. Whew. After a quick picture with Mommy, she was gone! Poof. Just like that. And that was the last First Day of Kindergarten for this family!! Both of the kids had a great first day! (Note: Mattea started riding the bus to/from school on Day 2. We couldn't put it off any longer!)

Thank you, Grandma Carol & Grandpa Pete!

Grandma Carol & Grandpa Pete,

I hope you enjoy this little video. It's my way of thanking you for the gift and for being so special to me!

Love, Mattea

Thank you, Aunt Julie!

A special thank you to Aunt Julie who is extremely generous and thoughtful! Enjoy. Thanks for thinking of us. ALL.THE.TIME. You rock!

Picture of the Day -- Week 28

July 10th – There have been lots of Nerf wars at our house this summer. The kids have had a blast! It’s amazing how many Nerf guns we have accumulated over the years. The only bad side effect is finding darts all over the house.


July 11th – Josh had a sleepover last night and apparently, he didn’t get much sleep. He fell asleep at dinner tonight before he even ate.


July 12th – Mom and Dad came for a visit. The kids were SO excited to see them. We were looking forward to having a great week!


July 13th – The kids went to the pool at Lifetime today. It was a beautiful day and they had a great time splashing around and practicing their swimming skills.


July 14th – Mattea got one of those Paperoni 3D craft kits. I wasn’t convinced she would like it, but she proved me wrong! She really enjoyed creating her little owl.


July 15th – Mattea had gone to bed, but didn’t want to sleep alone. I told her to snuggle up on Daddy for a little bit. I swear she was out like a light in about 10 seconds. I don’t think Daddy minded a bit!


July 16th – My co-worker from Arizona, Karol, comes to Colorado to visit her family every summer. She usually comes over to my “office” for at least one day to work while she's here.

Picture of the Day -- Week 27

July 3rd – We took the Meeks family to the top of Mt. Evans on our way to Glenwood Springs. We hiked around, watched the goats and enjoyed the beautiful views. We chatted with a couple who had two Siberian Huskies. Unfortunately, about 10 minutes later, one of the huskies broke free from the leash and took off after the goats.


July 4th – While we were in Glenwood Springs, we rented bikes. Jeff, Chris, Nick and Josh rented mountain bikes and literally rode UP a mountain! A-MAZ-ING! Alex, Mattea, Joan, Jon, Laura and I rented comfort bikes and rode along the Colorado River through Glenwood Canyon.


July 5th – Although, we really wanted to rent ATVs and tool around ourselves, we settled for a guided tour at a 6,000 foot ranch.


July 6th – We spent the day at the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. Our favorite ride was the new and improved Swing Shot which swung like a pendulum over the canyon. It was INSANE!


July 7th – Alex and Mattea were messing with Cody and got him all wrapped up in a blanket. I’m not sure how fun he thought the game was, but I think he liked the attention anyway!


July 8th – We caught a couple baby mice on the sticky traps in our garage. The kids helped get the mice off the traps and into the bushes outside our house.


July 9th – Jeff & the boys found a totally cool go-kart track, so we went racing while the Meeks family was in town. The kid cars went up to 40 mph and the adult cars went even faster!!!

Picture of the Day -- Week 26 (1/2 way through... woohoo!!!)

June 26th – Much to Jeff’s amusement, I have come up with a new reward system for the kids. I think it’s important for them to help around the house and incentives make it easier to get them to help. Each kid has their own jar and every time they do something to help out, they get a certain number of glass marbles to put in their jar. It’s working so far!


June 27th – Josh got this t-shirt from the Easter Bunny this year and I think it’s so cute. It says “I’m pretty much one of the best people I know.” I agree… he’s pretty much one of the best people I know, too!


June 28th – Alex hooked up the Ms. Pac-Man game to the projector and taught Mattea how to play. She was totally into it and actually did pretty well. I guess she’s probably seen her Dad and Aunt Julie play quite a few times!!!


June 29th – Sometimes, our shoe basket gets a little out of control. Based on this tower of shoes, I guess this was one of those times!!! Ya think???


June 30th – Mattea was helping herself to a bowl of Fruity Pebbles and didn’t realize the box was already open. OOPS! She started crying about it, but she stopped when she realized we have a built in cleaner-upper named Cody!


July 1st - Jon, Joan, Chris, Nick and Laura Meeks arrived today for a visit. We got them settled in where they would be sleeping and then spent a couple hours catching up. We are planning on heading to Glenwood Springs for the 4th of July!


July 2nd - I must be rubbing off on Josh. He has learned the art of self-portraits by holding the camera out in front, aiming as best you can and hoping for a good shot! I’d say he is a pro already!

The girl can ride!!!

Mattea decided it was time to lose the training wheels. After a very short time, she was off and riding on two wheels! She's a little wobbly and still needs some work on taking off and dismounting, but the girl can ride!!! Check it out...