back to school...

We survived yet another first day of school!!!  I always DREAD this day.  I try so hard to be calm so that the boys don't sense my anxiety, but as soon as the first bell rings and they head in to their classrooms, I instantly get watery eyes.  It did help that this year they were both super excited to start school.  Not sure why, I like summer vacation much better.  Maybe it's the fact that they are going to a school this year called BACON Elementary.  :)  

(Bob Bacon who the school is named after is a Senator here in Colorado) 

When we were first looking at moving to this area we thought it would be so funny to have the kids go to this school.  Anyone who knows Dan knows why this is so ironic.  Anyway...turns out that this school was recommended by everyone in the area as having the best program for kids with Aspergers. So our quest was to find a good rental in the school district and we did!  So far the school has been amazing.  It has great resource/therapy/aid help, is very organized, all the teachers are very friendly, it is state-of-the-art being so new, the principle already knows our names, I signed on to help in the PTA and as a classroom helper in both the boys classes, and they have a HUGE playground which is the most important thing according to KJ. KJ has a male teacher which he was thrilled about!  This is his teacher's first year of teaching which can either be good or bad.  We think it will be good, he's very excited and enthusiastic about teaching and has lots and lots of good ideas for fun learning!  When we met his teacher we learned that he has wanted to be a third grade teacher for the past 14 years, when he himself was a third grader, which makes him about 22-23 years old, which makes me feel very, very old.  KJ got 'student-of-the-day' on the first day of school so he got to sit in the special 'black' chair!  We met some great kids while waiting in the class line and by the time school started KJ said he had already made 3 new friends.  When I picked him up from school he said this is the COOLEST school he's ever been to and that this year will be his favorite year EVER.  He gets to be on the 2nd floor with the 'older' classes, so he thinks he's pretty cool.  Let's hope it stays that way.  

As for Jack, he is the one that had me most nervous.  Dan keeps telling me that he will do just fine, but I worry about all the little things.  I worry that he wont eat enough at lunch (which is bad because of his metabolic disorder), I worry the nurse wont give him his meds on time, I worry he may feel left out at recess, I worry people wont be as patient with him as they should be, I worry he wont know how to tell the teacher if he is behind or struggling with something, I worry he wont be able to put the straw in his juice box or open his string cheese, with Jack I worry about all the little things that are so normal for typical kids.  He is my baby.  He's needed me a little bit more that my other 2 children and he has required much, much more attention, so having him gone all day instead of just a few hours at a time is a very big adjustment for me.  He's been my focus for the past 5 years.  He definitely holds a special place in my heart and it's only 1:40 in the afternoon and I'm already missing him dearly.  But I also know that this Independence is just what he needs.  He needs to learn to be social, he needs to learn to share, he needs to learn all kinds of things on his own...without me guiding him.  I know he will have a great year.  He was most excited that he sits by a girl named Lucy which is his newest cousins name.  He is also excited that he gets to eat lunch at school out of a Mario Kart lunch box.  It's the little things that make Jack happy and I will definitely miss that during the day.  I have a couple more weeks of Olivia all to myself before she starts Pre-K, 3 half-days a week.  I am definitely going to have to start a new hobby next year when all three kids are in school all day.  But for now, I will work 2 days a week at the school and play catch-up on my one free half-day of the week!  I'm sure there will be many more school day posts....stay tuned!

The traditional first day of school picture!

I had to get a picture in front of the school sign,
it's too cool of a name not to!

Testing out the playground before school!

Third graders lining up for the first bell.  His new teacher
is in the blue shirt.

His new friends!  YAY!

Jack is just too cool for school!
Love this little guy!

Excited to be a Bacon Bulldog!

This will probably be Jack's favorite subject...recess!

Having popsicles after I picked them up!  They survived their
first day!

summer va-cay

We just got home from our 2 week summer vacation to Idaho and I am SO tired.  It was just me and the kids and we drove and drove and then drove some more.  We went to Boise for a week, Riggins for a long weekend, and then up to Coeur d'Alene for 6 days and then drove all the way back home to Colorado!  I get tired just thinking about it! In fact, I really don't have the motivation to do this post, but with school starting soon I know I need to get it done ASAP.  So get ready for a whole lot of pictures and not a whole lot of words.  I'm too tired to think of what to say.  But pictures are worth a thousand words right?!?

It's always great to get together with the Boise family for a good old fashioned Sunday dinner!  I seriously think I have the best family in the world.  I am so lucky!

We had a day at the lake where we swam, tubed, and water skied.  I hadn't slalom skied in probably 10+ years, so I was happy that I got up this year!  I wont wait as long before I get out there again.

We had a mini-family-baby-shower for Coley while we were there.  It was just family and it was so much fun.  We can't wait to meet little Russell in less than 2 months!

While I was in Coeur d'Alene I had the chance to meet up with some of my oldest and best friends from way back when!  We spent one afternoon playing at my friend Lexs' house and it was so much fun to see my friends children.  It's weird that we are all growing up and have families of our own!  I also got to see my HATS girls (Hana-Alexis-Tiff-Shawna).  We try to get together whenever we can, the four of us have remained close since high school and I love those ladies.  We took an evening hike around Tubbs Hill and then walked around downtown.  I love old friends that you can get together with after long times apart and it feels as if we were hanging out like old times.

We spent one day in Coeur d'Alene being tourists.  We went to the Fort Sherman park, went to the 'beach', walked around downtown and went to a super fun toy store to let the kids pick a souvenir.  We tried going to Hudson's for a famous Hamburger but the line was out the door so we went to Paul Bunyan's for a burger and a shake.   I love this part of Idaho, it is so beautiful and I forget just how beautiful it is until I go back 'home' to visit.

 We also spent a day at SILVERWOOD!!!!  This was the kids highlight of the trip up to Nana Smidt's!  They were in complete heaven.  I loved having Pops there with me to ride all the big roller coasters!!!  It was a great day!

Nana was so cute to get down and play with the kids.  Her and Olivia spent a lot of time creating chalk masterpieces!

I thought this was so sweet.  After all these years of marriage, they still like to hold hands in the park.  I hope Dan and I will be like them someday!  I love them to death.

I also got to meet my newest cousin, Maggie.  She's a doll and a super easy, content, sweet baby!

And now begins the whole reason for our trip to Idaho....RIGGINS!!!!!!  This is the one tradition that my kids will hold me to.  This is their 'all-time' favorite place to be.  And we had to make the trip up this year because my little brother will be leaving on a mission for church and will be gone for 2 years.  His last family vacation choice was camping at Riggins.  What we love is that we can camp on white sand beaches, there are porta-potty's, we can swim, we can kayak, we cook great camp food, we can fish, we roast marshmallows and starbursts, and the list goes on and on.  It was a great way to spend time with family and especially Jess before he leave for Brazil.

Kayaking...

White sand...

The dogs had just as much fun as we did!  

We always love Jack's tan line!!  

This was the sunset we saw each night from our campsite.  

It really is one of God's greatest creations!  

Thanks to everyone who made the trip so much fun and so memorable!

 Goodbye Idaho....until next time.  

Nine Years Already?

At 2:41pm nine years ago (on July 21st) a little boy named Keaton James came in to my life and forever changed me.  He gave me that perfect gift of motherhood and I knew at the very moment the nurse placed him in my arms, it would be impossible to ever be more filled with joy and love.  Suddenly the 41 hours of labor, sickness, pain and eventual C-Section stress melted away and I held the most perfect and precious little man.  I knew he was sent to me straight from heaven.  He was perfect and pure.  I am forever grateful for him.  He is still the sweetest thing and is growing MUCH MUCH too quickly.  He keeps telling me he's halfway to becoming an adult and this will be his last year in single digits ever.  While he's anxious to grow up, I would like him to be my little baby forever.  And he will be.  He'll always be my little baby boy, even when he outgrows me by height, weight and shoe size.  :)

Since we are brand new to the area, we had a little family party for him in a Harry Potter theme the weekend before his 'Real' Birthday.  It was a really fun day.  We had my 2 little sisters, their hubby's, and sweet little Lucy here to help us celebrate!  We even had butterbeer the official drink of Harry Potter Fans everywhere. 

And we all went to the pool!

Keaton has been saving up his money for years to buy something really cool.  He decided that he was ready to make his first real BIG purchase.  He went and bought himself a really nice new shiny Trek Bike.  He was very specific on what he wanted.  He wanted a front shock, 21 speeds, a kick stand, etc.  He was able to get exactly what he wanted and he is now OBSESSED.  He wants to ride all the time.  I know it was a perfect purchase and one he will always remember.  (I still remember my first big purchase.  An old school nintendo with a power pad and 2 guns for the game Duck Hunt)

(Notice we were counting the $ that has had his piggy bank full the past couple of years!  The nice bike shop was more than happy to have all those quarters and $2 bills I'm sure!)

On his real birthday, we had the typical breakfast in bed.

We went on a bike ride to the dirt bike park.

We stopped and ate a snow cone!

We went out to lunch at his favorite place, Noodles.

We went to spend the extra $ he got for his birthday.  He had enough from family to get his very first digital camera.  Another great purchase that gets used lots and lots.

We went to a party at Dan's new dental office where about 50 people sang to him and totally made him blush! (Dan had a ribbon cutting for his new office and we made it seem like a party for KJ.  The Chamber of Commerce scheduled this months ago and we couldn't change it.  It was fun.  It was catered with YUMMY food and desserts and we had prizes, etc.)

We ordered pizza and had cake and ice cream.

We opened gifts.

We watched Harry Potter.

Then we went to bed and I, as usual, got a little misty eyed.  I don't know why, but every time I put the birthday boy/girl to bed I get all sentimental.  I guess it's a mom thing.

I think he had a great birthday!  I can't believe I have a nine year old.  Holy cow!

Happy Birthday Bud!  We love you more than you'll ever know!

my trip to my grandma and grandpa's house (written by Keaton)

I got to take a trip to my grandparents house a few weeks ago all by myself.  I got to stay with them for 2 whole weeks.  I drove to Nebraska with my dad and little brother, it seemed like a day til we got to Nebraska.  When we were in Nebraska late that night we talked to Sam a little then went to bed.  Sam is my cousin and he is 9 years old like me but he is almost 10.  After that first night we went to the zoo and we ate lunch at Cracker Barrel.  I got a grilled cheese sandwich with 2 pickles on each slice.  Sam got chicken and dumplings.  We got to swim twice at the hotel.  I had pancakes for breakfast and at 10:00am Jack and my dad drove home to colorado.  And I drove to Illinois with Sam, Grandma and Grandpa.  I got to do a lot of things with my grandma and grandpa.  

*I got to drive Grandpa's tractor twice. And my dad didn't get to until he was 12 years old.  The second time I drove it, I was pulling logs to this place in their backyard where they burn wood.  

*I got to sleep at Uncle Brian's barn with my cousins and we had fun when we were playing his Wii.  

*We got to go to Toys R Us.  

*We went to the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois.  This was my favorite thing that we did.  We went to this place in the museum called AT&T, there was this guy who talked about the people from the past.  My favorite place there was in this movie theater and what we watched was called Lincoln's Eyes.  My favorite part in the movie is when they shot a cannon on the screen and real smoke rings came at us from the sides of the theater and the seats shook.  It was very cool.  We actually got to look at real things that Abraham Lincoln and his friends used.  And we saw their real clothes.  There were those things that they put on the bad guys legs to keep them in a place that they want them to stay.  It only looked like it was 90 years old but it was really about 218 years old.  I liked his log cabin, I liked the ghosts in the library, and I liked all the wax figures.  They looked so real.  We had fun there and we learned a lot.

*We saw Fireworks at the Elmwood park.  Firemen shot up fireworks and when they exploded they were about as big as a tractor.  I spent the 4th of July there. 

*I ate at Steak and Shake.  This is my dad's favorite place. 

*I had pizza at Monicals.  This is the best pizza in the world. 

*I helped Grandpa on the train and rode a safari bus around the Wildlife Prairie State Park.  Grandpa is in charge of the train at the park.  We saw bison, deer, squirrels and a goat.  Grandpa and grandma bought me a really cool wolf t-shirt souvenier and an arrowhead necklace. 

*I rode bikes with Sam.

*We went to the movies and saw Cars2 in 3D and I liked it very much.

*A few days later I caught a LOT of fireflies with Sam.  We put them in a lightbulb shaped cage and we hung it on a hook on grandma's house.  

*We went swimming 3 times at the neighbors house. 

*And on both the Sundays, we went to a band concert at the park.  My favorite was the first time.  Because they played a Star Wars song.  

*I went to go see my cousins Emily and Sam's softball and baseball games.  

*I got to see my other Uncle Tim and Sheyenne, my other cousin.  Sheyenne stayed at Grandma's house for a few days.  We played the Wii a lot.  We played baseball a lot too.

*On our drive back to Nebraska to meet my mom and dad, we stopped at the Amana colonies in Iowa.  We ate lunch there.  We ate saurkraut, popcorn chicken and I dipped it in Honey.  It was yummy.  I never dipped my chicken in honey before.  

When we got back to Nebraska we met my family at a hotel.  The hotel had waterslides.  It was fun.

 Then we all went out to my favorite place to eat.  We went to Red Lobster and I got crab legs.  I love it when I get crab legs. 

 We watched Night at the Museum at the hotel and had popcorn.  I was happy to see my brother and sister again.  I love staying in hotels. 

I had the most fun on this trip than ever.  I hope I get to do it again on another summer vacation.  I love you Grandma and Grandpa.  Thanks for all the fun.

10 years ago today...

...we tied the knot!!

And 10 years later...life is still good!

Happy 10th Anniversary Babe! I love you to the moon and back!

We have this picture/quote hanging in our bedroom and it is so true. Dan and I share so much joy and that's why we have been so happy after all these years! Can't wait to see what the future holds for us.