Scott was gone all weekend and man, did we keep ourselves busy.

Friday night, I had a craving for pizza, so we all headed out to our local Italian restaurant and pizzeria, Piazza’s, and enjoyed pizza, salad, flat bread and sodas (gasp!) After a month without soda, I truly savored mine. If you think that I am crazy for taking 4 kiddos to a fairly nice Italian restaurant you are very right. I am crazy. No just kidding, I had it completely under control. Well, sort of. Here’s the deal. We went early (4:00pm) in hopes that the restaurant would be pretty empty, took a game to play at the table (Bananagrams) and practiced our manners. My kids are usually really good out as long as they understand the expectations.
Saturday, Paige had a soccer game so I had our favorite sitter over for 3 hours while I took her to her game. After I dropped Paige back off at the house, I took off and went out to lunch, all by myself, and to Kohl’s, all by myself. All by myself is really fun. Really. Fun. I mean it.
Saturday night was rice night and then we finished it off with a movie.
Today was crazy busy. We started out at church, sent Paige off to her soccer game with friends, headed to Target with the other three to buy a present, took Sam to a birthday party, drove to the soccer game and picked up Paige, went to Chipotle, grocery shopped at Whole Foods, took the groceries home, jumped back in the car and went to the birthday party to pick up Sam. I should have clocked my mileage. It would have been high. The nice thing is we burned the entire day 8:45 am to 3:00 pm. Another day full of fun.

Scott is on his way home and I am planning out my quiet evening. I wonder if he has figured out my plan yet. The one that includes him. Him putting the kids to bed. Him reading bedtime stories. Him doing the dishes. Okay, that might be pushing it.

This is the kids last week of school before summer vacation. Look out!
Jennifer

I have read about this on some other blogs and thought that it was an interesting idea. Rice night. One night a week eat just rice and water. My kids were really put off tonight when they asked me what was for dinner and I replied….Rice. Kids: What?? Just rice???

For us, eating just rice, seems like a sacrifice but for many all over the world, rice is the staple, their meal; just rice. For some, rice is a luxury.

It is my hope that by eating rice one night a week, it will teach my children to be compassionate to the lives of other children. Children all over the world who hunger, children who do not have enough food, children who eat only when food is available, children who don’t have the luxury of anything they want anytime they choose.

As the school year winds down, the amount of activities always seems too accumulate and ramp up. Sam and Alice have one more week of school left and then they are done for summer break. They both have started swimming two nights a week in pre-season practice for swim team. Sam is still trying to make it to karate until the end of the month. Alice will finish this last session of gymnastics and has one more daisy scout meeting before the end of school. Tonight Sam is attending an info meeting for Boy Scouts, really, because we don’t have enough to do 🙂 Paige is also finishing up her last gymnastics session. Mason continues to go along for the ride. We try and attend playgroups about every 3 weeks and he really enjoys that.

To top it off, it is still snowing. Word to Mother Nature…IT IS MAY!!! The pool opens in 2 weeks and IT IS STILL SNOWING! Can you tell that I am ready for some summer weather. Forget about spring. Go directly to SUMMER. I have put the winter coats away and have sorted through the warm weather clothes. We are so ready!

I have not had a good running week. Since the weather has been so crummy, I haven’t really wanted to run outside and I have a mental block when it comes to running on the treadmill. I run for about 2 miles and then feel like I might die. I know, I know. It is silly but true. Anyway, this has resulted in me running very little. Because I have a fitness goal to run 3 times a week on top of my other workouts, I do it. Run on the treadmill that is. But I will never say that I enjoy it. That is definitely the truth. Like I said, the pool opens in two weeks and at some point, I will need to get into my bathing suit. Note to the treadmill~ My bathing suit thanks you.

Overall, life is good. The kids are fairly healthy and happy. Scott has been busy at work. He is getting away this week and flying to Michigan for a cousin’s wedding. He is really excited. I am getting a sitter on Saturday afternoon and I am really excited about that.

Have a great end to the week. Here’s to next Friday (last day of school, is case you skipped down to the bottom) and hoping that I don’t collapse. Looking forward to a fun summer at the pool and hanging out with the kids.

Jennifer

I had the best day. The kids were good. The weather was gorgeous. We spent the day outside. All the things I love.

We started the day at church, had bagels for lunch, hiked 4 miles in Cheyenne Canyon, had Mexican for dinner and opened a couple awesome presents from the kids. I had the best day.

The best part of all was that I spent the entire day with my kids and handsome husband. Couldn’t have been better.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there and those that are waiting or wishing to become mothers. Happy Mother’s Day to the grandmas, aunts, friends and women who love children. You are honored today.

We had many stops along the way. We stopped to sit (and climb) on many a rock.

We stopped for many drinks.

We stopped for a snack.

We stopped to cuddle and be silly.

We stopped for more snacks.

We stopped to tie shoes.

We definitely stopped to smell the roses, so to speak.

This mom thing….

It is a hard job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

Jennifer

This past Tuesday, Samuel and Alice had their track and field day at school. They have been really excited for this day. The weather was warm but really really windy. Here are the pics from the day.

Alice did really well. It is totally Alice to run in her big white sunglasses and a skort. My kids really are at their best outside being active.

Sam did well too. He was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get any blue ribbons but the competition was tough. He came home with a rainbow of colorful ribbons and we were proud of him for trying his best.

Paige was not an enthusiastic spectator and spent most of her time rolling down the hills with her friend Ian.

Mason watched the back of his eyelids and spent most of the time in the stroller. It was so windy that he finally fell asleep holding onto his hat.

It has been a busy week with 2 Mother’s Teas, a field trip, track and field day, teacher appreciation at the preschool and elementary, meetings at church and end of the year projects. If you add in all the day to day stuff and exercising, we are maxxed out.

I had another early morning run today. Started at 5:30 and ran a little over 4.5 miles. Great hills and warmer weather makes for a fun start to the day. We could have done without the wind but that is just part of spring in Colorado.

Have a wonderful day!

Jennifer

Like I said in my last post, this little guy is busy. Busy, busy, busy. He pretty much moves all the time. I am finding it hard to get some good pics of him because he usually moves before I can get the shot. He is really moving from toddler to big boy. Occasionally he will say to me…”Me no baby, me big boy”. I haven’t broke it to him yet. He will always be my baby.

He made so many milestones in his first year home. We aren’t seeing so many of those big changes just the small ones that come with growing and getting a bit older.

Mom, momma, mommy, hey mom, mommmmmmmm and mommymommymommymommy are still his favorite things to say. Over and over again. Sometimes it is cute.

He is talking a ton and some of his favorite phrases are Come on! No way! Aw right!

He adores his sisters and brother and takes inventory all day long. Sambo? At school. JieJie Alice? School too. Paigie? She’s at school too. Aw right.

We have seen most of the attachment issues fade away. He now realizes that, no matter what, I am the one that he belongs to. No one else. Ever.

Our busy little guy. Isn’t he cute?

If you asked my mom, she would probably tell you that I have never been a morning person. I am definitely more of a night owl. My habits have definitely changed since becoming a mom but if I had my way I would sleep in every morning. Unfortunately, 4 little beings 8 and under, don’t care for that plan. Paige routinely enters my room between 4 am and 5 am and wants to jump in and cuddle. At that time of the morning, she doesn’t much care about daddy as long as he gets out of her way in route to momma. I also find it hard to exercise after the kids are out of bed so that leaves early morning or after bedtime. In the evenings, I can find the will power to drag myself to the basement for a short workout but anything more than a half hour and I am done so that really just leaves early morning for those longer runs.

This morning, ahem, very early, 5:30 am, I picked up my dear friend and running partner, Kristin, and we headed out. We ran a little over 5 miles on the Santa Fe trail. After our long 10 miler on Sunday, we were ready for some trail. And so were our feet :). It was another pretty morning. I don’t have any pictures because 1) At 5:30 am it is a good thing I remember my shoes and 2) even carrying my keys sometimes feels like a ton of bricks.

The Santa Fe trail is part of a fantastic trails system that runs north/south on the west side of Colorado Springs. It is mostly dirt and nice gentle ups and downs. We started running north toward the Air Force Academy, took a bathroom pit stop at the lake and then ran a bit further into the Academy, turned around and ran back south to the car.

Anyway, it might be a good day for a nap. After lunch, Mason, Paige and I are joining some friends from our neighborhood co-op at the fire station for a tour. Mason is so excited! He has been chanting “fire truck” for a couple days now which makes me regret ever telling him the good news.

I have been meaning to give you a catch up post on Mason. It is coming soon. Our little guy is busy. Very busy.

I am also hoping to post soon about food. A couple of my friends have asked me about our food and eating habits around here so I am going to give my mommy advice on meal time. Don’t say I didn’t warn you 🙂

Have a great Thursday. We are hoping for a repeat weather performance from yesterday. Paige would really like a full soccer practice tonight, for the first time this season. It is so refreshing to see the trees beginning to bud, grass turning green and the birds singing as I get out in the morning. At least the birds are happy so early in the morning.
Jennifer

We had a great weekend. Friday the kids were all home and we ventured out in the horrible snowy rainy weather to register Paige for Kindergarten and a fill up at the grocery store. Saturday, the weather was suppose to be nasty again, so Paige’s soccer game was canceled which meant, nothing to do all day long. A Saturday with nothing to do is a rare treat around here. Scott and Paige went out and did a little shopping while Sam, Alice, Mason and I stayed home. While Mason napped on the floor after some hard playing, Sam, Alice and I read, and read, and read some more. Sam finished two books and Alice finished one. I love that they adore reading as much as I do. It is so awesome that we can spend an afternoon reading. After dinner, we headed over to Ute Valley for a short hike to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. After our hike, we took the kids out for some ice-cream. Mason really enjoyed his superman ice-cream and took forever to eat it. One lick at a time.
Today was a busy fun day. We headed to church as our usual start to a Sunday. After church, Scott took the kids home and I went out for a long run. We ended up running for almost two hours and ran 9.93 miles. Yahoo!!! Scott’s cousin John, his wife Jen and their totally adorable son Jackson came down from Denver for lunch and the afternoon. The kids played outside, kicked around the soccer ball, threw some crazy football passes to Uncle John and generally wore themselves right out. Here are some cute pics from our hike. My big camara is out of commission so these are from our point and shoot. Nice to carry, not so nice for pictures.

Have a good week!

Jennifer

write your Christmas list, what else?!?!?!?

My Christmas List (by Sam)

Santa

1. commputer controlers

2. snacke webkin

3. pet hermit crabs

4. Lego sets

5.giant Nerf gun

6. pack of seeds

Mom and Dad

1. a hug

2. new commputer games

God

1. a snow day