I had such good intentions of blogging more in the new year and staying on track with all my loyal readers. Thanks to everyone who commented or sent me a message about my blog. I really appreciate all the nice thoughts. I wrote that year in review post last Monday. On Thursday afternoon, while prepping some squash for dinner, I cut off the tip of my middle finger. The funny (or not so funny) thing is that I was using my brand new knives that I got as a Christmas present from my dear husband. The doctors and nurses in the emergency room thought that was hilarious and made sure to bid me a Merry Christmas! as we left. Anyway, I haven’t been posting because, well, I can’t type very well. The nurse that cleaned me up and dressed my finger did a really good job and it took me three hours yesterday to get the bandage off my wound. Now that I am sporting some antibiotic cream and a fancy Dora the Explorer bandage, it is much easier to type. Although, I am going to blame any typos and misspellings on my finger. Just a note, don’t cut off the tip of your finger. It hurts really bad, the bleeding doesn’t stop and waiting in the emergency room during flu season is really unpleasant. Sooo, I am now back and planning to post more.
The kids are doing well and enjoyed the delayed start from school this morning. We woke up to a nice pretty snow this morning. Life is good around here, aside from said finger-lobbing 🙂
Happy Monday!
Jennifer
2010 Oh What A Year!!!
Every year’s past holds so many good memories. The kids and I were reminiscing about all the fun we have had this past year. Some of the toppers were our trips to California and Michigan, participating in the Breckenridge Fourth of July parade and skiing over Thanksgiving break. So here is the recap of 2010. We sure had fun and we are really looking forward to what 2011 holds for us!
January
After a relaxing winter break at home we went into 2010 with a bang. Grandma Peggy and Papa Gary came for a visit and we celebrated Christmas with them. Alice had her 1st grade program, we played in the snow a lot and I really enjoyed my photography class at the Fine Arts Center.
February
This month was full with Valentine’s Day activities and Chinese New Year. We celebrated Mason being home one year. Our bedroom and bathroom went through a mini-remodel. We also took a family trip to the Denver aquarium and a all-church sledding retreat!
March
I love March. We may still get a snow storm but there is a possibility of wearing shorts. Weather in the Rockies! Anyway, our last March was awesome! Paige celebrated her 5th birthday with a Kai-lan bash that included stories, cake and a bounce house that filled the front yard. I started running again and signed myself up for the Denver Marathon. There was no turning back. Fast forward to October for all the details. At the end of March, we took the kids to California for spring break. We had so much fun and really wanted to stay longer. We visited many theme parks including Disneyland, visited old friends and played on the beach a lot. We could not have asked for a nicer week together.
April
Again, more weather ups and downs. We enjoyed more hiking days and also had a couple snow days. I continued to run and started dragging myself up at the crack of dawn to keep a regular schedule. Paige started playing soccer and loved it. She is hoping to play again this spring. We enjoyed a warm Easter Sunday with the egg hunt outside for the first time in a few years.
May
May. This may be the busiest month of the year for us. The kids saw the last day of school. Pre-season swimming started, two days of week. We started the month with a mother’s day hike on Cheyenne Mountain. The kids each had a Mother’s Day tea at their school which all fell on the same day. It was a good thing I already started run training 🙂 Sam joined Boy Scouts. Alice went from a Daisy Scout to a big bad Brownie. Paige graduated from Pre-Kindergarten and Mason got signed up for preschool. Will the tuition payments ever stop? The pool opened on the Memorial Day Weekend and we took advantage. Paige finished up soccer and had an end of the year party with ice-cream. Scott celebrated his 35th birthday with the loves of his life 🙂 If we do say so ourselves….
June
This month the weather quickly turned nice and warm. The kids and I got into our summer schedule which pretty much consisted of swimming and more swimming. Actually, along with swimming, we found time every week to craft, go on a field trip, visit the library, play outside and spend time with lots of friends. The kids started a mural on the basement wall. We went yurt camping in Golden. The kids enjoyed a week of VBS at church. Sam started competing in duathlons and we found out that he runs really fast 🙂 At the end of the month, Alice celebrated her 7th birthday with her first ever slumber party and Mason celebrated his 3rd birthday at home. It was an very memorable month, to say the least!
July
Oh July, how I love you! The weather was awesome and we took advantage of it! We visited the Mining Museum and the Naked Mole Rats (at the zoo). The kids swam in lots of meets and started getting fast. We spent a week in Breckenridge and participated in the Fourth of July parade. The kids are already tossing around float ideas for this summer. We also had our first set of stitches this week in Breck. Paige fell face first on a rock wall and made a real mess of her face. She got a handful of stitches between her eyebrows and a raw nose. This month we also camped with our friends the Abernethy’s in Pawnee. As always, we had a blast and filled the weekend with all sorts of camping activities. Mason’s favorite camping activity is most likely the smores. I think Sam’s favorite moment was the snow-ball fight. It is always a great way to cool off in the mountains in July! At the end of the month,we spent a week in Michigan with Scott’s family. We spent most of the week in Houghton Lake and took some side trips that included Sleeping Bear Dunes and Mackinaw Island. It was a great week spent with family and friends.
August
August is also a busy month for us. Swimming finished up with a state meet here in the Springs. Sam and Alice both swam well and enjoyed their season. The kids started school and Mason eagerly anticipated the start of preschool. Paige was such a big girl on her first day of Kindergarten and the only one who shed tears was me. Sam, Alice and Paige went to the eye doctor and Sam walked away with a nifty pair of glasses. We enjoyed the last few precious pool days and mourned the end of the season. We visited the Dinosaur Museum and our favorite playscape in Woodland Park. By the end of this month, we had our Under the Sea basement mural finished.
September
Wow! Already September! This year is flying by 🙂
September started out with the last pool weekend and our church Retreat to John Wesley Ranch in Divide. Mason started preschool and was very unhappy when he found out he was only attending two days a week. The kids came down with the stomach bug and so sweetly passed it on to each other. They share so nicely! I continued to run my buns off and stepped up my training with more long runs much to my running partners dismay. With the marathon a month away I was feeling the pressure. Sam started fall soccer and all three big kids started running cross country. I was a driving machine! Brownies and Cub Scouts started back up and we sold more popcorn than I care to discuss.
October
The weather starts getting a bit cooler but we are still enjoyed warm days. Paige lost her first two teeth! Sam celebrated his 9th birthday with a potions party. He and about 20 of his friends and family had a blast with the Harry Potteresque party. I ran the Denver Marathon with my husband at my side the entire way. He posted updates throughout the race on his Iphone and was definitely the only texting marathoner around. Scott parents made another visit to our house and hung out with the kids while Scott and I were racing. Halloween 2010 brought out a Dementor, a black cat, a fairy and a race car driver. I was up to my ears in Halloween parties for four kiddos. The kids got tons of loot and in good parenting style I ate it all. Well, I had just run a marathon after all!!!
November
Once we are past Halloween the year seems to fly by. The kids all got sick with the stomach bug, again. Sam finished his first research project on the Plains Indians. We all celebrated Mason’s referral day with his favorite, CHINA FOOD! We spent our Thanksgiving holiday in Breckenridge. We skied, snowshoed and had a great time together.
December
December is my favorite time of the year. Of course, I celebrated my 36th birthday. Victoria took me out to lunch and then Scott and I headed to Greeley for Mason’s foot appointment. Good news~ he only has to wear his shoes and brace for 6 more months. Thanks to my parents for watching the other three kiddos while we made the trek north. Can you believe that in two years he is completely mobile and corrected!?!? It is a MIRACLE! I could not have asked for a better present! Mason and I went to Denver for the Henan Orphanages Directors Delegation. Basically, we went to Denver to visit Mason’s orphanage director and meet some other families with children adopted from Henan Province. Scott and I took our kids and our Godchildren to Electric Safari at the zoo. We all decorated gingerbread houses and our “village” was very festive. The annual Christmas tree hunt ended with a tall, skinny tree tied on top of the LandCruiser. We even caught a glimpse of Santa riding his four wheeler up the highway. We spent the Christmas holiday at home this year. On Christmas Eve we spent the day with my parents and then went to church in the evening. There is nothing more spiritual and uplifting than Christmas Eve service. The kids choir led the singing of the carols and did awesome. After Christmas, the kids and I have spent a lot of time hanging out in our jammies and just have fun being together. We have watched a lot of movies and played the Wii wayyyyyy toooo much.
Please excuse any mistakes and misspellings. My retinas are beginning to burn and I am quite sure yours are as well!
I love writing this blog. For me this is very much a journal for my kids as they grow. A recording of their lives. A story in photographs and sometimes way too many words 🙂
There are times when I feel like I don’t have anything exciting to say, when the days seem to run together. I am quite sure that I keep only a handful of readers. I often refer to my life, as a SAHM, as Groundhog Day. I get up and do the say things over and over again. When I was writing this recap of 2010, I realized that not only is our life fun and busy but it is also unique and interesting. I am blessed by my family and friends beyond words. My kids are my life and I hope that you (all ten of you) don’t get too bored reading about our daily happenings. I know that 2011 will hold as much excitement and fun as 2010. Who knows what we will be up to next year!!!
Happy New Year! May your family be blessed in 2011!
Love, Jennifer
Winter Has Arrived!
Kids are outside
I am inside.
Amen.
Love, Jennifer
Good Times
We are really enjoying the break from school. Last week seemed to blow by with family visits and last minute errands. This week we are hanging out, playing with our new toys and having lots of fun. Yesterday the kids and I went to the movies and saw Tangled. Very cute. Paige was thrilled with the limited amount of scary parts and Mason was thrilled with the large package of Twizzlers that were not so hidden in my purse. Today after lunch, we headed out to our local soda shop, Squeak. Sam had Black Cherry soda with a large scoop of Death by Chocolate ice-cream. Paige, Alice and Mason all chose Cotton Candy flavored soda with a scoop of Cotton Candy ice-cream (topped off with a piece of cotton candy). Can you say SUGAR HIGH!! It was a nice treat and good to break away from the house for a few minutes anyway. I took these pics with Scott’s new camera. He was really wanting a super small one that he can take out on long runs and bike rides. It takes pretty good pictures. I got Photoshop Elements from him and I am having fun editing some pictures although these are straight out of the camera (okay, I did crop them). I also got a Cricut from my parents. Alice and I had a good ole’ time cutting out shapes and letters this morning. I have a feeling that thing could suck up a lot of my time and money, in a good way, if you know what I mean 🙂 I always love a craft. Right, Vic?!?!?!
Unfortunately, Scott has not been having as much fun as us. He has been working a ton of hours and doesn’t see an end to it. I had a Orange Creamcicle with Vanilla ice-cream float in his honor. And maybe just a little bit for me…..
Have a great holiday!
Jennifer
Merry Christmas!
I hope that you all had a great Christmas and enjoyed the holidays! We had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. The kids are having a blast with their new toys. Santa and the grandparents were very good to them this year 🙂 This is pretty much the gist of our holidays. It was a whirlwind and Scott and I are exhausted.
Every time we tried to get a good photo we ended up with the back of someone head. This time it was Paige’s.
Anyway here are a few of my pics from the holiday.
We spent Christmas Eve at my parents, went to church for a couple hours and then went back to my parents for the annual crab leg dinner. Christmas day the kids got up early and opened presents. For dinner, we went to my brother’s house. Again this year, my younger brother, Jason flew in for the holidays. We only see him a couple times a year so it was great to catch up.
The favorite gifts this year were…
Sam- Timex watch, Legos Star Wars for Wii, Diary of Wimpy Kid (last two books)
Alice- Kindle, zhu zhu pets, locket
Paige- snow globe craft, American Girl Lainey, Ipod shuffle
The best gift of all is the birth of Jesus. I really enjoyed learning about the birth, life and crucifixion of Jesus Christ through an Advent study at our church. We read a chapter of Luke each night and then discussed them weekly. The kids also enjoyed their Advent study and we had some great discussions this year about Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas.
I hope you and yours are enjoying a beautiful holiday season. With love from our family to yours.
Jennifer
A Heartful
Even when they seem like a handful, I truly know that they are a heartful. Some days, both 🙂
Electric Safari
Tonight we all packed into the truck and traded our zoo for a different one! The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I know that I have mentioned this before, but our zoo is awesome. A small zoo on the side of the mountain. If you live in COS and don’t take advantage of the zoo, you are crazy 🙂 Just kidding, you aren’t crazy….but you should get out to the zoo. It rocks! During the holidays, the zoo decorates with tons of lights and is open in the evenings for visitors. We spent a couple hours checking out the lights, the animals and taking a pony ride. Two of our most favorite kiddos, Ellie and Brendan, tagged along with us. All the kids were great and we had a blast! The holidays are upon us and I am starting to feel more prepared. Gifts bought, cookies baked, cards addressed and mailed and kids are done with school. Whew, life is busy in December!
Have a nice weekend!
Jennifer
Big Day for the Masonator
Or should I say for momma…
Mason had his preschool Christmas program this morning. It was really cute and all the kids did great. The best part was that I finally got a kid who will stand with the class, sing and do the hand motions. Finally. Samuel, Alice and Paige, all got freaked out standing in front of the parents and teachers. Sam would stay with his class but never sang. Alice would stand with her class and cry until I gave in and went up and got her and Paige, well, she never got up with her class and usually had to be pried off of the neck of one of her teachers. Mason is NOT timid, at all. I love it. I loved it so much that I only took a couple pictures because I was so busy watching him have a blast. Way to go Mason!
In the afternoon, Mason and I took a drive to Denver. CCAI was holding a dedication for all the orphanage directors from the Henan Province and those directors really wanted to see their kids. We couldn’t miss this. The director of Mason’s orphanage was really welcoming to us when we were in China. She gave us a tour of the facility, a snack, introduced us to Mason’s nanny, drove us to Mason’s finding spot and took us out for a traditional Henan lunch, pork fat and all. Okay, I have to admit it, here and now, even though my mom always told me to take a bite of everything, I didn’t try the pork fat. Now that I have that off my chest I can go on. Anyway, she was so excited to see Mason. She was thrilled to see him walking as well. It was a great trip and so worth taking the drive! Mason wasn’t so sure about all the kissing and hugging. All he really was interested in were the cookies at the refreshment stand. I honestly cannot tell you how many cookies he consumed. Every time I looked he had his hand on another sugary snack. Tis’ the season for sugary snacks, I guess.
Tomorrow is the older kids’ last day of school for Winter Break. You know what that means? The come home from school all jacked up on sugar and it will take the better part of the weekend to see them come down from that sugar high. Oh, they will fall, they will. And it won’t be pretty. Trust me, this isn’t my first day on the job. Enjoy an early start to the weekend and may your children pass the tray of frosted cookies and move right on over to the veggies. Man, whose mom would bring a veggie tray?!?!?!?! No idea.
No Words {Kidding, Only Kidding}
This is pretty much how I feel right now… No, not really. But we have been soooo busy and it seems that it is only getting busier. Truth be told, I love Christmas and the holidays but it is so easy to get wrapped up (pardon the pun) and stressed during the holiday season. On that note, a recap from our weekend.
Friday
When Scott got home we decorated our gingerbread houses. In past years I have bought the one big house and we all take turns decorating it but it is usually a fight between the kids on who gets to spread the icing, apply gum drops or line windows with skittles. This year I found a gingerbread kit that included stuff to make 5 houses. Everybody (but daddy) got their own house to decorate as they wished. Perfect.
The final product. It took me an hour to scrape red, green and white frosting off my tablecloth but it was so worth it 🙂
Saturday
Saturday morning we spent our time at church getting ready for the Christmas program at church. We ran a dress rehearsal (a couple times) and readied the sound system and set. In the afternoon, Scott took Mason to a birthday party and the big kids and I hung out at home. In the evening we got the pleasure of babysitting for Scott’s cousins kids, Jackson and Jordan. After John and Jen came home from their party, they hung out at the house for a couple more hours. It is so awesome having them so close.
Sam and baby Jordan. So sweet and tiny.
Sunday
Sunday morning we went to church, came home and all took naps and then headed back to church for the kids’ Christmas program. They did great and were invited to an encore performance next Sunday during worship. After the program we headed out to the Werschky family Christmas party. This is always a good time with yummy eats and a white elephant gift exchange. By the time we got home, everybody was exhausted and pretty much collapsed into bed. Getting up this morning was tough, to say the least.
the shepherds
the wisemen
our sweet sheep
angels
shepherd and sheep
I hope you all had a great weekend! We are enjoying this beautiful spring weather! Happy holidays to all!
Jennifer
Trees, Traditions and Time Together
This weekend was packed. And I do mean packed busy. Saturday we got up and continued on with a fun family tradition of hiking into the woods, hunting down the perfect Christmas tree, cutting it down and schlepping it back down the trail to the car. This is always a memorable experience. Scott and I started this tradition before kids. I do believe Sam’s first Christmas he rode out into the forest strapped to the front of me, nestled in my coat and (almost) every Christmas since we have set out on the ultimate adventure in search for the most perfectly scraggliest tree. Snow has fallen, kids have cried, disputes have ensued, all for that one tree. A Wescott family tradition. Anyway, this year was no exception and our quest didn’t take long. We found our Christmas tree right off the main trail. The kids fell in love immediately but Scott wasn’t ready to give up the search that easily so we marked our tree with a tree branch arrow and headed down the trail. After walking what seemed to be miles and listening to the kids ask about the first tree about a hundred times, we decided to turn around and head back. We kept our eyes peeled just in case our tree was hiding, tucked away, off the trail. We ended back at our arrow and with much prodding from the kids we cut down our 2010 Christmas tree. Everyone got a chance with the saw and nobody was harmed in the cutting of the tree. I know you are on the edge of your seats so without further ado, our tree (and some cute pictures of the kids out in the woods).
Today was my mom’s birthday. Happy Birthday Mom! I am so blessed to have such a fantastic mother. She has always been such a good role model for me as a mother and I love her dearly. I hope I grow up to be just like my mom 🙂 Oh wait, I am grown up. Shoot. When did that happen? Everyday I find myself saying something to my kids that she said to me as a child or wondering what my mom would do in a particular situation. She has always been my biggest fan and I hope she knows that I am hers. I love you Mom!!! Sooo, today we went on a girls trip with my SIL Stacie, niece Madison and my mom and girls to Denver. We had lunch and visited the American girl store. The girls had fun showing Grandma all the things they hoped for and wanted. They made a wish list, which in Paige’s case included everything in the store, for Santa. After shopping we headed back to my parents and celebrated again with a pizza dinner. This time we included the boys. We had an awesome day and can’t wait to do it again some time soon.
My mom and I.
We may have had a couple gimme’ meltdowns but I am not naming names.
Santa was really busy so we settled for a peek at the big guy and a picture with the plastic reindeer.
Have a great week! We are finally all healthy. Can I hear an amen?
Live Your Life 