Randomize.

I have purposely been ignoring the weather, choosing to remain in air-conditioning-free bliss. Windows open, fresh air. Love it!

But I did notice today that it was getting warmer and warmer and finally when I was convinced I was having menopausal hot flashes at dinnertime, I checked and looks like we're creeping our way up the 90s ladder towards 100 again.

YUCK and double yuck.

So back to air-conditioning we go. Sigh. Just when I was starting to dream of fall again.

Little Miss and I got to spend a whole day together today! She's been out of sorts the past couple of mornings and I totally think she is in the adjustment period, too. Her beloved brothers have disappeared to that mystery place called school.

She loved posing for me today, saying "Chee!" everytime I pulled out the camera:) We read books together this morning and she "helped" me do some cleaning/organizing upstairs.

Which really means, finding new treasures and scattering them everywhere and pulling out what I just put away:)

The boys continue to be tired, as I knew they would be. Samuel gets a bit of a 'tude when he is tired from school which I try to nip in the bud very quickly. His biggest complaint of the day? That he wasted one of his recesses standing in line at the tire swing and only got to swing for maybe "40 seconds."

He got his first page of homework tonight but finished it pretty quickly so he could play outside. What a life!

Zakkai claims that he only gets "like 4 minutes" to eat lunch and therefore can't finish. I happen to know that he is a slow eater because he's very busy looking around him, soaking up every little detail. Guess smaller lunches is the way to go!

He jabbered the entire walk home about his day and most especially a very exciting event that happened. Apparently an old battery charger in their classroom started smoking and the teacher had to call the fire department and "2 ambliences, 2 fire trucks and 1 police car" showed up to take care of things. He's pretty sure they sprayed some water all over while the kids were waiting outside:)

Then he told me that his class did some "work" afterwards but he couldn't stop thinking about the fire trucks and the smoke.

He asked about 422 questions about smoke/fire alarms on the way home. The only thing that I could think was to say several times, "And you know that you're not allowed to touch the fire alarms, right?! They are only for the firemen to touch or a teacher in an emergency."

I do not want to get a call that my 5 year old called his own fire drill at school. Ha! Remember the "911 talk" we had last year and how you all were waiting for me to tell you that the police showed up at our door randomly one day?

I think he's going to love kindergarten:)

For now, we're allll adjusting. I barely made it through my post last night before I was nodding off. In bed and sound asleep by 9pm.

I'm old. However, I'd love a good repeat right about now.....

Ciao!

Tired boys!

We survived a very long day today! My heart has completely melted over all the stories of these sweet newly minted kindergartners falling asleep every which way this afternoon:)

Zakkai fell sound asleep on our way to pick up our farm produce this afternoon, less than 5 minutes after getting in the car. I know it's silly, but it made me a little teary to look back at him because it was such a big reminder of how little he still really is! He's only 5.

As I found out at Z's curriculum night tonight, one of his buddies fell asleep under a coffee table this afternoon:)

The boys seem really happy so far. Samuel is definitely more confident, as some of you have pointed out. He gained so much confidence last year and is handling the transition really well so far! Aside from some extra emotions today that come with the adjustment time period. He says he really likes his teacher and I introduced myself to her today and she was very nice. We'll get to meet her and see his classroom on Monday night.

Tonight was Z's classroom night. I helped Ben tuck our exhausted children (who claimed they weren't very tired) into bed and skipped off to meet his teacher and see his room! His teacher is a very, very sweet lady (kind of weird to call a person your age a lady....what's the other option? Girl? Woman?) who seems to really love the children and will hopefully help them blossom.

Zakkai sits at a green table with 4 other friends and has a big classroom with lots of neat teaching tools, toys and learning "stuff." I think it'll be a good year for him!

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We got our farm produce today, as I mentioned and we are just loving it so much! We got tons and tons of tomatoes, which Ben described as some of the best he's ever eaten:), basil, kale, some other green leafy stuff, garlic, bell peppers, hot peppers, a small watermelon, yellow squash and a very, very odd looking squash. I'm so glad we did this!

Now, I have to go join my exhausted children in slumber because I, too, feel like I could fall asleep under the coffee table;)

If I had one....

School Days.

 I still can't quite believe that school days are back already. At the beginning of the summer, if felt like we had endless days of relaxation ahead of us. And then I blinked. And school started again.

I am mixed in my emotions. On one hand, I am excited about getting back into routine and structure again. It's always refreshing to have a break from it in the summer time, which in turn, makes it nice again in the fall:) Good cycle.

And my other emotion, of course, is the lump-in-my-throat feeling I get when I realize yet again how big my boys are getting. I teased Samuel that he wasn't a 2nd grader until today because he was ready months ago! We were walking to school this morning and he said, "I bet you're sad today because you don't want us to get older."

But the thing is, I do want them to get older. I do want to watch them grow and learn new things and be amazed at the people they are becoming. I want to see what they will do with their lives! It's just hard to watch it go by so quickly.

Samuel has been nervous for a few days now but I reminded him what a great year he had last year and he didn't know anybody and was in a brand-new school. And this year, he already has a few friends in his class and knows the school. He's also right next door to Mrs S, his teacher from last year;)

I still can't get over this.....

The boys' schools are right next door to each other. Zakkai's is an entire school for kindergarten and Samuel's is 1st-6th grade. Their days will start within 15 minutes of each other but they let siblings of S's school be dropped off a few minutes early at the kindergarten school. The Forest Road kids (as they call the siblings:) get dropped off at the back door by the playground. We had to rush over their after watching Samuel's class go inside and drop Zakkai off. All the kindergartners had nametags pinned to their backpacks stating their name, their teacher's name and which door they are entering.

There were teachers waiting at the doors and we just had to wait in line and then hand over our kids to the teachers, who walked them to their classrooms a few at a time.

I kissed Zakkai and hugged him and handed him over to a teacher. He kept looking back at me and just looked really lost. I kept my emotions together really well but I could feel tears just begging to be released and a lump taking up residence in my throat.

How is my sweet little baby 5 years old and ready for kindergarten??? It just seems so unbelievable to me. He was the baby of the family for 3 1/2 years and now he's becoming his own person, not just a little tag-along brother who's waiting his turn. He's the big kid now. He's the one who's about to learn to read and write and become more independent.

Okay, the lump is growing.

We were really thankful to discover that one of our good buddies (in the pics above) has the same teacher as Zakkai. Her big brother was in Samuel's class last year (unfortunately, not this year) and we hung out a lot this summer. I'm so glad Z knows one person in his class!

They all posed for pics patiently and then wanted to do a silly one. Eliana got in on the silly faces, too, which cracked all of the big kids up:) She's a goofy one!

Tomorrow I send my boys off for a long day of school. The district starts them out slowly. They skip Monday, the first day is 1-1 1/2 hours, the second day falls on Wed which is a shortened day (by 45 min) every single week (teacher meetings or something) and then 2 full days.

I think Zakkai is a little nervous about the thought of being separated from me for a whole day. We are preparing ourselves for the inevitable weeks of adjustment with exhaustion, extra emotions and the need for more reassurance. It's tough being a 5 year old and suddenly going to school for 6 1/2 hours! I pray he adjusts well and makes new friends and just grows in confidence this year.

Both boys are going to school with small laminated wallets of our newest family picture, each inscribed with a bible verse and a little message telling them how much we love them on the back. I started this with Samuel when he entered kindergarten and it's become a tradition. Something special for him to look at and be reminded that he isn't alone and that we are praying for him and love him so much. And now Zakkai gets his very own, too:)

Now we'll see how Eliana does without her "Brudders" all day....

Finale.

 Gotta hurry up and finish my CO post since life is about to get really busy and there's something big and fun to post about tomorrow....the first day of school! Still can't get over my Z becoming a kindergartner and Samuel a 2nd grader. Wow. More on that tomorrow!

Everyone was very busy Saturday night running around collecting strewn items, packing, doing loads of laundry or in my adorable, precocious nephew's case....dancing. I wish I could describe it but you really had to be there. Just picture a 2 year old boogying down, break dancing and well, dancing better than most adults!!

A few of my favorite mountain shots. A camera never truly captures what you see with your own eye. It's truly incredible and awe inspiring to see the mountains.

Especially if you're from the Midwest:)

Sunday morning we got everyone packed up, cleaned up and loaded up by 9am! Then most of us followed each other down the mountain and back towards Denver to go to my sister and her husband's church.

Eliana was being a total ham before she crashed and took a nap on the way:)

After church, some more family took off for their homes (sniff!) and some of us went to eat lunch and then we made our way back to my sister's house, where we were spending the night. The boys discovered their love for the trampoline in about 2.4 seconds and literally stayed on it for hours the next 2 days!

I couldn't get any non-blurry shots because they were so busy jumping..

Laughing.....

And falling over:)

My adorable niece, Sofia.

Mr. Personality himself:)

My mom finally got to feeling much better from her virus and even got in on the jumping on Monday:)

I'm sure she'll thank me for this picture later.....hahaha!

Eliana discovered that trampolining was super fun, too! She threw a major tantrum when I tried to get her off. I know, hard to believe she could throw a tantrum, right?

Right.

Later on Monday around dinnertime, we headed over to see some dear, wonderful long-lost Chicago friends! We lived one floor apart back in Hyde Park and kept each other sane during the long, lonely winter months while our husbands were working hard at school.

I thought for sure our kids would need a little time to get to know each other again since it's been TWO years since we've seen each other but I was amazed to watch them act like they hadn't even spent a day apart! It was awesome.

Plus they got to have a big slumber party and stayed awake giggling til 10:30pm. Double awesome:)

Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day, which is apparently normal for Colorado. Imagine sun!! We went to a park to get some of the kid's energy out. Samuel was a bit grumpy that day due to lack of sleep:)

My lovely friend, Ms J, and her youngest, 2 year old twins. They were so gracious to host us for 2 days and have 7 kids, 7 and under running underfoot!!

My friend is extremely creative and great at finding ideas to occupy children. She pulled out some water beads in the afternoon and all the kids gravitated towards them like bees to honey. She may never get them out of her grass but it was worth it, I'm pretty sure:)

So busy!

We were really sad to say goodbye to our family, our friends and our vacation but we knew we had to get back and resettled before school and work began again. We loaded ourselves into our van and left just after 5am on Wednesday. As you can see from the picture above, we were exhausted!!!

The boys alternated listening to books on tape and sleeping the whole way home. Eliana took at least 2 naps and I did, too! All the kiddos were konked out about an hour from home. Eliana and Zakkai were carried right up to bed and we didn't hear a peep from them til late the next morning. Samuel was really hungry so he got a little snack and then went to bed.

He was probably hungry because Ben was (in my brother in law's words) a "Road Warrior" on Wednesday and every time we stopped he was like, "Hurry! Quickly! Gotta get back on the road!" We didn't drink much or eat much, just wanted to sleep in our own beds:)

Other than needing a few days to adjust and feel good, we had a really good vacation. We loved spending time with our loved ones, seeing new places and having fun. As all vacations go, it went too fast but we will treasure the memories always!

Now....back to reality:)

Days 2 and 3!

 Sorry these vacation posts are taking so long! It would be WAY too long of a post if I did it all in one. And I'm trying to write down the details for my own memories:) So you have to put up with me for a couple more days:) And trust me, it's much more exciting than me telling you about how exhausted we've been since we got back. We are just starting to feel ourselves again.

So last Thursday after we got to the house, I had a headache and thought I was guzzling a lot of water (an absolute must in the mountains!) but I think the combination of traveling for 2 days and loss of sleep plus going straight up into the mountains after arriving in Denver was just too much for my body. And we really weren't "taking it easy" that first afternoon/night.

Everyone was rushing around hugging, talking, settling in, checking out the ginormous house, etc. Fast forward to the night where our dear little Eliana slept like a newborn and was up AT LEAST 7 times.....My head was starting to hurt so bad and I felt worse everytime I jumped up to quiet her, hoping to minimize her disturbing everyone else.

Our family was sleeping in a bunk room~twin bunks for the boys, a full/twin bunk for B and I and the pack n' play for E. My headache probably didn't get helped by the fact that I whacked it FOUR times on the top bunk as I leapt out to quiet Missy:)

Anyways, I started getting so sick by morning that I was throwing up, etc and sleeping on the floor so I could rush to the bathroom. My sis, being the wonderful sister she is, went to find my mom, who came to our room to find me laying on the bathroom floor looking like death. (My sister and her hub and baby had the bunk room on the other side of a joint bathroom.)

She helped get all the kiddos out and upstairs to be dressed/fed and brought me some stuff to drink and some medicine for my head. Under the threat of going for an I.V., I forced myself to drink every few minutes in between dozing. The worst part was that there isn't enough oxygen up there (we were just over 9,000ft up) and so I would wake up after short naps, gasping for air. Terrible feeling!

Ben felt pretty cruddy and not himself, too, through the day so my sisters were nice enough to take our boys out and about to have fun. They were having a total blast! It was a really stinky day for B and I and we were SO disappointed to have a whole day wasted where we couldn't do anything:(

I improved slowly throughout the day and pulled myself together enough to join the big Anniversary Dinner at a local restaurant. I would've crawled there for my Gma and Gpa!

We got a whole upstairs section of the restaurant to ourselves!

We sat at tables, booths, on barstools, anywhere:) Just catching up and having a good time!

B and I sat with my sis and her hubby. I really wish I would've felt better and could've enjoyed it more. I nibbled on some mashed potatoes while everyone dined on all sorts of good stuff.

My sweet niece conked out shortly after and slept most of the time! She's such a doll baby:)

All of the older cousins got to sit allllll by themselves:) They were seriously stuck to each other like glue the whole trip. They called themselves "The Club" and ran around playing with these walkie talkies the house provided, going on outings to lakes and fishing, playing wii, and so much more. It was SO much fun to see them soak up their time together. Samuel keeps saying he wishes we were still there....

Some mountain views on our way back to the house for a special evening...

We tucked little ones into bed and had a big celebration. We all wore our pins throughout the weekend with my grandparent's wedding pic on them and my mom and aunt put together a really special sideshow of pictures with their favorite music on it.

Afterwards, we spent time laughing and crying while sharing special memories and thanks to the wonderful, amazing people who started our family and have set an example of love for 60 years! (66 if you count the 6 years they "went together" in high school:)

So many people, so many tears, SO much laughter and love! I hope the reunion was everything my grandparents hoped it would be.

The next day I forgot my camera (dang it) but B and I were on breakfast duty with my Aunt J and Uncle G and we wowed our family with homemade Cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, bacon and cantelope. Oh, and coffee. There are many coffee drinkers in the family apparently:)

Almost makes me wish I liked the stuff. Almost.

Then a big group took off for fishing! Ben went with one group and two of my bro-in-laws took all 6 of the older cousins on their own fishing expedition. Unfortunately, the fish were not biting for either group that day but I think they all had fun!

Meanwhile, another big group of us (excepting my poor mom, who got sick with a nasty virus) went to Breckinridge, a nearby town to sightsee. We walked around and got to take a gondola ride up the mountain! Eliana just sat in my lap and looked around. It was so pretty (and a little scary.) I'll have to bum some pics off of someone!

We ate a little lunch at a pizza place and then headed back for naps. The 2 little ones (Eliana and her cuz Evelyn) fell asleep on the way back. We ended up back at the house at the same time as the adult fishing crew and almost immediately headed back out again for some outlet shopping!

Gotta pack in as much as you can:) It was, overall, a much, much better day than Friday and it felt good to be out doing things. We had tacos for dinner and there was lots of game playing and Olympic watching going on.

I wish I could be back there now.......:) More tomorrow!