Picture of the Week -- Week 33

Cody was relaxing next to Alex's big whale stuffed animal and Alex popped his head in between them. They looked so adorable... Alex loves Cody so much!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 32

Alex and his friend Jacob washed my Jeep and my friend Karol's car today. Since Alex rarely will let me take his picture anymore, he just HAD to be a goofball. (Notice the placement of the hose in picture #2.)

This is the scene at our house most days after school... snacks, homework and Legos (for the boy who hasn't started back to school yet!).

Josh's science teacher gave him the recipe for "oobleck". It's that stuff that you make with corn starch + water and it's an ooey-gooey liquid, but if you put pressure on it, it turns into a solid. Here's a fun video that the kids enjoyed watching about oobleck. (Note to self: Do NOT use food coloring in the oobleck to make it pretty.)

Pictures of the Week -- Week 31

Mattea started playing softball for the Spartans this year. She has practice 2 nights a week and games on Saturdays. These pics are from her first game on August 6th.

We got to puppy sit for the cutest little "Chiweenie" (Chihuahua/Dachsund mix) this week. The puppy belongs to the Nieman's -- Mattea goes to school with Nikki and Lexi Nieman. I sent a text of the puppy to Aunt Julie and freaked her out! She thought we were crazy enough to have gotten ANOTHER puppy!!

Grandma Judie and Grandpa Bob visit!!!

Grandma Judie and Grandpa Bob came out for a visit and brought Alex back from Iowa with them.  It was wonderful to have the peace of mind that Alex was being accompanied on his plane ride.  I truly was freaking out when I had to put him on that plane going to Iowa ALL.BY.HIMSELF! 

We had a very relaxing time with Grandma Judie and Grandpa Bob.  In addition to spending time with us, I think Mom and Dad thoroughly enjoyed the Colorado weather... especially the low humidity. 

While it was a bit stressful to hear that Dubuque had received record rainfall, they remained calm and content in knowing that their wonderful neighbors back home were making sure the basement didn't get any water.  Whew!

Grandma got ambitious and tackled both Alex and Josh's closets.  She is always such a big help when she is here.  Dad pitched in, too, and helped hang curtains in Josh's room.  Josh was so excited when he came home!

Grandpa Bob spent some time helping Mattea hone her softball skills. It reminded me of the millions of times Dad and I played catch in the backyard. Ahhhh... the memories!

We took a weekend visit to Keystone to visit Uncle Terry.  We had lunch and then headed up the Gondola to walk around Terry's "office".  Jeff and I got a look at all of the electrical stuff that Terry uses on a daily basis.  A-maz-ing!  We took a nice hike and saw sailboats on the Dillon Reservoir. 

On Sunday, we had breakfast and then the kids played in the water. After that, Terry took us to meet his friend, Karen, who works at a horse ranch. She surprised the kids by letting them go for a ride on the horses. Alex & Josh even got to ride by themselves. They had such a blast!

After lunch, we said goodbye to Terry and headed back home. What a fun visit!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 30

Mattea has taken an interest in reading.  One afternoon, her and I were just hanging out on the couch reading our books.  She kept changing positions which was really cracking me up... especially when she started reading upside-down!

Josh attended the Brandon Lloyd football camp this year. With the NFL lockout recently lifted and training camps getting underway, it was highly unlikely that Brandon (#84 for the Denver Broncos) would actually show up. Josh had a fun time at camp even though it was an extremely hot day. During the last 15 minutes of camp, the coaches herded the kids onto the bleachers and guess who showed up??? Brandon Lloyd himself. Josh was quite intent on shaking his hand and thus ignored the coach on the loudspeaker telling the kids to sit down. Atta kid!

First Day of Elementary School

Today is the first day of school for Josh & Mattea. There were some mixed emotions about it for sure. Mattea was beyond ecstatic! She couldn't wait to wear her First Day of First Grade outfit, see all of her friends, see her new teacher, go to her new classroom and put away all of her new school supplies. Josh, on the other hand, told me that he is excited for 5th grade, but not necessarily for school... which basically means that he wants to see his friends, but not learn, take tests or do homework!
Both of the kids wanted to take the bus this morning, but I used my Mommy veto power and insisted on driving them to school. I took the standard front porch pictures and didn't even get any eye rolling about it (at least not that I saw!). Josh even let me take one picture of him & Mattea on the playground! Mattea & I walked him over to find his mobile classroom and his friends quickly flagged him down. I resisted the urge to take a picture with him & his buddies. I gave him a very casual "See ya, Josh. Have a great day!" and walked Mattea to the 1st grade playground. He's still my little buddy, though, because before he went into school, he came over and said goodbye again. What a sweetie! I watched Mattea play on the playground until the bell rang and then watched her walk into school with a definite skip in her step. 
I think it's going to be a great year!!!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 29

I love braiding Mattea's hair and thinking of new, fun things to do with it. She is extremely patient and loves to be surprised at what I come up with. I watched a YouTube video on how to do fish braids because I think they look so cool. I never realized how simple it is to do!

After a LOT of begging and negotiating, Jeff and I decided to let Josh play tackle football this year. We picked up his helmet and shoulder pads at Play It Again Sports. He put all of his gear on when we got home and Jeff had him running plays. He can't wait for football season to start!

Elise babysat the kids again this summer and she kept them pretty busy. They got out the car wash stuff to wash my Jeep and pretty soon she had lots of extra helpers!

Mattea drew a picture of EVERY SINGLE KID in her class. She loves to draw and while I might be biased, I think she is quite talented!