Dearest Jonas,

Happy birthday Jonas!  You are 10 - double-digits.  Wahoo.

You've had a year of ups and downs - like most everyone.  Some good and some bad.  You continue to whine at the drop of a hat - or the drop of a "no" is more like it.  You tend to lie as well.  But other than that (!), you're a pretty great kid!  Hopefully you'll grow out of those two less-favorable traits, right?!

It's been a rough past couple of months in our home - lots of crazy and, I'll just say it, horribleness.  A lot from the kids, some from me.  But you've had yourself some shining moments.

The other night Emmy "ran away."  She had previously made plans to head to Mexico or Texas and so we knew this was serious (haha).  You boys (meaning you and your brother) went out and dragged her back home.  It was splendid.  Then, all on your own, you made a little card for Emmy that said, "We *heart* U."  You had all of us sign it.  Then you made Emmy some coupons:  clean your home, do your chore, free hug.  Pretty dang cute of you, huh, Jonas!?  It was super-duper sweet and Emmy loved it and it is hanging in her room.  I loved this - and so hope I can see this type of stuff more often.  Hint, hint.

You helped me make dinner tonite - after I had asked your brother (so as to keep him away from making all the siblings cry every second) and he rudely told me "No!  I'm not going to!"  You came in and asked if you could help.  It was awesome and I really appreciated it.

You are aware of others and their feelings - as these stories demonstrate.  You care about relationships and friendships.  Those qualities are going to serve you well.

Oh, I better put this down so we have proof:  you sang Christmas hymns tonite!  We went to a Christmas fireside and lots of the songs we were to come in on the last verse or so and join in - and you sang each song.  It was truly a Christmas miracle.  :)

You had a great finish to your 3rd grade year.  You "officially" got in to the honors program (you were a part of it, but not officially as some of your testing scores didn't "qualify" you for it technically.  But you qualified on the math part at the end of last year and so now it's "official.")  You are quick at math and win the "math krypto" pretty much every single time at Quest (it happens once each week).  This is good leverage as you sometimes will put yourself down and say "I'm the dumbest and worse kid ever!"  (What you say when you've been caught either lying or just doing something wrong. . .)  Then I say, "Then how come you win krypto every time against all the other math whizzes?!"

I just asked you dad what I should write down.  He said something like, "He's generally a happy kid.  He likes to talk like a baby.  He likes jokes."  Those are all true indeed.  Your baby-talk is, ummm, really annoying.  Just save it for when you're playing with Ivan or something, please!  You like to laugh and sometimes try to make up jokes.  Most aren't so great (unless you are a 10-year old boy, I suppose), but you did come up with one once that goes something like this:  "Why did the lip blow up?  Because he put lip-bomb on it."  Get it, like lip-balm.  Haha.

You're a good kid Jonas and we don't have too much trouble with you.  We love you and are super happy that you are a part of our crazy family.  I hope your 10th year is wonderful!!!

I love you,
mom

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas . . .

I think I do a post like this every year with probably the same things.  But whatevs.

 Our lovely "wild" Christmas tree.

 Our nativity with the cool star.

 The best stockings in the world (ahem, sis, the kids have all requested one for Brigham . . . just sayin').

 I love these prints.  I won them years ago on a blog or something.  I found the frames at Salvation Army.  They make me happy.

 Our newest treasure - which is a treasure, indeed!  This is from Germany - my parents gave it to us as our Christmas present.  Luckily they told me we can open it early.  :)  I love it so much.

 Eljin, our elf, is back.  He isn't tricky like the Elf on the Shelf - but does move every night.  Except, ahem, the night I was gone, ahem, in Moab.

Our awesome advent made by my sister - am I lucky or what?!

It's the most wonderful time of the year . . .

While I was Gone in Moab . . .

The kids had a good time while I was gone.  Lucy got to play at a friend's house on Friday; Jonas and Emmy got to walk home to an empty house after school; and Miles, as usual, rode his bike home.  Ben got home around 4 - probably when Miles got home.

That night the boys went to the library's Star Wars party and had a good time.  Ben dropped off the boys and then took the girls out for ice cream.

Saturday morning was spent doing chores and lots of cleaning.  After lunch they headed out to find a Christmas tree.  (I had to miss out on this last year due to the race . . . such a bummer . . .but it really is the only day to go and so go without me they must!)

It was sunny and warm - like 50 degrees - when they left our home.  They drove for about 25 minutes in to a winter wonderland forest!  They found the tree quickly and had a good time playing.  The kids had a great time, from what they told me.  It was hard and frustrating for Ben - because that is often what life is with kids (hard, frustrating, yet good all mixed together!).

I hoped he would remember the camera this year - and he did!  So here are the pictures:

 Oh it looks so fun!

 Brigham had a fantastic time and didn't mind the snow one bit - as you can obviously see.  :)

 The tree!

 The boys found a cool cave/fort and had fun playing in it.

The handsome lumberjack and his girls.

Winter Sun 10K, 2015

Well it was the 33rd annual Winter Sun 10K; for me it was my 3rd annual.  And, as always, it was wonderful and fun!  It's the perfect little get-away - not too far and not too long.

I picked up two gals on Friday at noon (after a school PAC meeting, watching Wren, dropping Wren off, and dropping Lucy off, oh, plus packing since I didn't have time beforehand . . . it was a busy morning!).  We drove to Moab; did some grocery shopping; played a card game of Monopoly (fun stuff); ate a yummy dinner of spaghetti, salad, fruit, and bread; chatted with friends (the two I came up with, plus the others that were already there); etc.

We got up and ready Saturday for the race.  It was fairly warm and definitely sunny - practically perfect for a run.  I felt super on my race (I was wearing brand-new never-ran-in shoes!) and had a really good time for me:  51:58, according to my watch.   A new personal record for me.  I felt wonderful afterwards as well.  We stayed a bit for the awards and raffle prizes - which my friend Kandace won one of them!  We then grabbed some lunch and then headed home.  I made it back in time to take the kids to the Parade of Lights, while Ben got dinner ready.

It was a great trip and I'll be excited to do it again next year!

A letter from Lucy

Lucy is really in to writing "things" lately.  Sometimes they are really hard to decipher and when she asks me to read what she wrote, I feel badly.  But usually I can figure it out.  :)

Here is one from her tonight:

R FLAMLE IS WLCUE TOO THE DAS

Translated:  "Our family (flamily - ha, that's usually how it's pronounced by my little ones!) is welcome (she gets mixed up with her "e" and "w") to the dance (she wrote it "das").

Lucy has even picked out my clothes for the occasion.

November, 2015

Emmy, my pre-teen, on Thanksgiving

Here is a dandy of a song that Emmy came up with on her own on Thanksgiving:

Ski videos

Thanksgiving break so far . . .

The kids got the entire week off from school (first time ever) and so Ben requested the week, too.  Perfect.

We left Saturday for Littleton - after a few setbacks of 1.  a snowstorm that prevented us from leaving on Friday evening, 2.  Brigham getting sick, and 3.  Emmy having to go to the doc's on Saturday morning for yet another UTI.  But we got off by 10am and had a dandy of a drive - for the most part.

I'm just going to post a bunch of random pictures and will comment from there:

 While Brigham was sick, the kids (girls especially) took good care of him.  :)  He barfed a bunch on Friday.  He still wasn't feeling great on Saturday morning when we first got up - then all of a sudden he was!  Yay.  That wouldn't have been fun traveling with a sick dog . . .

Brigham's normal place in the car (behind the back row seats) was taken up by luggage.  So he struggled to find his new spot.  Jonas didn't mind too much.

Haha.

We had fun that evening at Joe and Britt's home (i.e., the cousin's home).  Then Sunday was a nice day of church, a walk with the whole family (which included both dogs), Ben and I driving out to pick up our cute niece who had a quick one-night stay with us, dinner all together at Joe and Britt's house, birthday cake celebrating Joe's birthday, etc.

Monday we went swimming.  There was this lazy river there and the kids just had a blast.  It was fun!

Then Tuesday we went skiing at Loveland resort.  While not perfect, it was definitely a great ski trip and everyone had a great time - expect when we didn't.  :)

Sisters are good to have around when you don't want to take off your gloves and put on sun-block . . .

 A bunch of cuties for sure!  They are all getting better - but Emmy definitely has the best form!

Ben skied like this for the most part of the day.  It's hard work!  Lucy had chances to ski on her own, but since we sort of skied all together, she was "leashed" a bunch so as to come on the bigger runs with us.  Lucy, too, is getting better.

This was a way-cool cabin at the top of one of the lifts.  It was nice and cozy and warm in there - a perfect place to rest and eat some jerky.

Emmy and I on the ski lift . . . good times.

Then we got to experience Denver traffic . . . blech.  We went 20 miles in 2 hours.  Blech.  We had dinner at the nostalgic-to-Ben-but-not-as-good-as-he-remembers restaurant of Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs.  We made it home by 9pm that day!  Long day, but totally worth it.

Haha, this is what Ben and I returned to after our exercising on the Highline Canal (I run with Brigham and Ben bikes along with us).  Jim and Diana were gone as well so the kids were left home alone.  Emmy was simply just trying to brush her hair.  :)  Ben did an awesome job in getting it out.

Today (Wednesday) we went to the zoo with Joe and Britt's family.  It was colder, but it was super fun and so not-crowded.

 Miles with elephant ears.

Our group - minus the beautiful Brittany who took the picture.

Just some cuties at a "look-out."

And our last picture of the super cool cousins with the coolest hippo around.

Ben and I have spent the evening getting ready for tomorrow:  cranberry salad, check; turkey brining, check; yam casserole; check; 2 1/2 pies, check.

Thanksgiving break . . . so far, so good!

The Kissy Game

as written by Emmy:

Thankfully her teacher alerted me to this.  :)