iPhone Pictures Update: June 2013–August 2013

We went to a birthday party for my nephew Lane. Cooper absolutely adores his older cousin. Charlotte loves all the other little girls. Here she is with a cousin – Alyssa. (6/9/13)

I let the kids get crazy messy with shaving cream mixed with corn starch. They made shaving cream monsters with pipe cleaners and wiggly eyes. (6/16/13)

We went to the spray park with my friend Heather and her two daughters, Ryan and Reese. The kids play so well together. (6/22/13)

We attended a wedding for a very good friend of mine from college. It was such a fun wedding and I was able to reconnect with another friend from college. The next day we did Adult Field Day and brought the kids with us. We had the best time! (6/21 & 6/22/13)

We often find Charlotte sitting in her room reading aloud to herself. I love that. (july 2013?)

I cut Charlotte’s hair! (8/4/13)

We saw Planes! Charlotte loved it, but Cooper got bored. It was cute, but not as great as Cars. Gigi went with us. (8/18/13)

Cooper had some fun with fake vampire teeth before bed. (8/20/13)

We enjoyed a dinner and game night with Mikael, Che, Maile and Paige. The kids played Twister and after we put them down to bed, we enjoyed wine on the patio.

Out with the girls

I had a girl’s night with Che and Raeann in June. It had been almost a year and half since the last girl’s night. We always say we need to do them way more often. We had dinner at Marlowe’s and a friend I grew up with, Shawna, stopped by. I haven’t seen her since I was in high school, so it was fantastic to catch up with each other. We then went to a wine tasting at D’Vine Wine and the wine was just okay, but the location was terrible. Bad ambiance, bad music. We left fairly quickly.

We wandered on 16th street mall and followed a bridal party to Coyote ugly. We each had a terrible tasting drink and promptly left. We were WAY too old for the scene. We wandered further down the mall to a local hangout that had great drinks and music. We danced a little bit and then some random guy started up a conversation with us. He was so terribly boring we got tired and went home early. I don’t even think we made it to midnight!

Raeann and I went to the Boz II Men/98 Degrees/New Kids on the Block concert together in July. The Boyz II Men concert was the first one we ever saw together and NKOTB was a staple we grew up with. We had the best time! We were so, so close to the stage, thanks to my awesome husband buying us amazing tickets!! 

We left during 98 degrees to get drinks because we weren’t big fans.  We only came back to ogle Nick Lachey. 

NKOTB put on a great show.  They mixed their new stuff with their old stuff.  They have aged well. 

I even got to meet my teen idol, Jonathan!  Surprisingly, Chris resembles him just a bit.  Guess my tastes don’t change much!

Happy 10 years!

Chris and I have known each other for 17 years, been in a relationship for 14.5 yrs and we recently celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary.  Sometimes I feel like we’ve always been together and other times I can’t believe it’s been 10 years of marriage because it feels like we are just starting out.  On our anniversary, we had dinner at our favorite restaurant Zengo.  On Sunday, we finished our celebration with a Cirque du Soleil show and dinner at another favorite restaurant, Steuben’s. 

Anniversary night:

Cirque show

Chris gave me a gorgeous diamond tennis bracelet and without thinking I said, ‘I thought you were going to buy me a Minions phone case!’.  We both laughed.  My plate was full and I had not had time to find the perfect gift for him, so I asked for the remainder of the month.  Here is what I bought him:

From uncommongoods.com pi bottle opener (our dating anniversary is on 3/14)

And from Amazon, minted dime cufflinks (for 10 years!)

I also wrote him this note (on FB):

My first kiss. Did you know even after 17 years you still give me butterflies when we kiss? Today marks a big milestone for us. An entire decade we've been married. We've lived in 2 states, 6 homes, and we've voted in 14 elections . We've built an amazing life together. As partners. As equals. I admire your patience, your intelligence, your sense of humor. You inspire me to have a care free spirit like your own. We have so much fun together. You are so sure that things will always work out. And you are right about that more often than I am. You provide for our family in ways I always thought I would, but I have realized you are simply better at it than I am. And it makes me so proud to be your wife and mother of your children. You challenge me to do more, be better, and change. Not because you need me to change, but because you recognize who I can be long before I can dream it. You've taught me how to be patient. Well, how to be a little less impatient. And how to hang up my towel after I shower. The success I have reached is a reflection of the champion I have in my life. You. You stand behind me when I need the push or the soft place to land. You stand in front of me when I can't find my way. And I look forward to many more years with you at my side, facing the world together. Happy 10 years. I love you.

Job Updates

I LOVE my new job. I love the technical work I’m doing, the company and the people. It couldn’t be more perfect. One owner regularly tells me he wants this to be my dream job, so do whatever I can dream up. The other owner reminds me that kids grown up too fast and he doesn’t want to hear about me missing anything for my kids and that they don’t count hours, they just care if you get the job done. There are so many things that need to be done, so I have a long list of value adding projects to work on. The best part is that my bonus is tied directly to the success of those projects – very highly motivating. The balcony is an amazing place to enjoy my lunch or read my book. The trails just a block away are a great way to get a run done in the middle of the day. And I love walking right into a middle of a nerf gun war in the hallway. Such an awesome place to work!

Chris has stopped by with the kids and he also loves my new job. So much so, that he keeps asking how he can also work here.

A lot of people keep asking if/when Chris will go back to work. Charlotte especially is on it.  Chris asked the kids what he's supposed to do since they are going back to school all day. Charlotte says 'Find a job.' After the first day of school she came home and told him, "Daddy you were supposed to find a job today!"

Here’s the thing: Chris doesn’t have to work. Financially my job is way more than what we need. He supports our family in a way that we need – managing the household. Our family life is easy because of all the things he does. And he is finally enjoying it. We never imagined that he would continue to stay home when the kids went to school, but here we are and we are finding that it works for our family.

I think if a really perfect opportunity came along, he would jump on it and we would adjust. He will also likely start volunteering, which is something communities always need. Next year he will kick off starting his own business and we will see where that goes.

Medical Updates

Cooper lost his first tooth! He swallowed it while eating lunch at the pool and was very worried about the tooth fairy not coming to visit, so he dictated this letter for me to write. The tooth fairy responded.

He went on to lose his second tooth.  He got a dollar coin for the second tooth.

Charlotte now has a loose tooth.  Well barely loose, but she’s excited.

Both kids had their 5 yr old wellness check are very healthy and updated on their shots. It was so hard with the shots this time. Cooper begged me to not have to get them, especially since Charlotte went first and screamed and cried. At least the next shots aren’t until age 11. Here are the growth charts – Cooper is 54 lbs, 49.25” tall and Charlotte is 38 lbs and 42.25” tall:

 

School Updates

I am so excited about the kids finally starting ‘big kid’ school! Since I love learning and school myself, I find it incredibly rewarding to watch my kids experience this new stage in life.

We had first day assessment where we got the kids pictures taken, our contact information and their medical information on file, and the kids had their assessment as a baseline for what they know prior to entering kindergarten. It was a crazy madhouse and completely unorganized, but we made it through.

The following week was the first day of school. We both walked them to school, although it was more like us walking and them running.

The kids teachers cannot be more perfect for them. We decided to split them into different classes and they have been very excited to have their own teacher. Cooper’s teacher is high energy, firm, and very happy and upbeat. Charlotte’s teacher is quieter, incredibly kind and loving, and radiates calm and understanding.

So far both kids are doing amazing! Cooper comes home spelling new words everyday, attempts to spell his own words (spgt is spaghetti for example) and also tries to sound everything out to read words everywhere around the house and in all the books. It’s quite impressive how quickly he picks things up, and how well he does as long as he continues to be challenged. He LOVES doing homework and is disappointed that he only has to do it once a week.

Charlotte is loving the social scene school provides. She is best of friends with her teacher’s daughter (who is in 4^th grade I think) and says hi to everyone she knows or has seen before. If a song is involved, she learns very quickly. She has to work a little harder to stay focused and not get frustrated, but I think she is doing incredibly well. She doesn’t like homework at all. My favorite conversation with her about school:

Charlotte: Today Ms. Rosh filled me up.

Me: She filled you up?

Charlotte: Yes, on the inside. It’s imaginary.

Chris: What did she fill you up with?

Charlotte: Kindness.

Fitness Updates

Martial Arts:

The kids are continuing to do very well in karate. Cooper is an orange belt and Charlotte is a yellow belt. Cooper LOVES it. He is highly motivated by learning new things and seeing a tangible reward for his efforts. Charlotte likes the social part of it, but doesn’t seem as interested as Cooper. I personally think she does it to be like her brother. We want to get her in soccer or t-ball, because she is a natural.

Chris will start a martial arts in October. I don’t think he’s decided what he wants to do yet. I will start Judo likely next fall.

Obstacle runs:

Chris and I have completed two obstacle runs this summer. We have one more at the end of September. We have loved putting our running and weight training efforts to work during these runs. The first one was the Survivor Mud Run in Berthoud in July. It was MUDDY. Every obstacle had mud. It was okay at first, then we got annoyed by it. Running and doing obstacles with 5-10 lbs of mud stuck to your body gets old quick. I think we finished in just over an hour and walked most of the course. The showers were FREEZING to rinse off and were not more than a trickle. Over all the race was well organized and attended – although we probably won’t do it again just because of the mud.

The second run was the Warrior Dash in Cooper in August. This was our big run that we both were really training for. We did the run with some friends and had a fantastic time!! The obstacles were a breeze for us and despite the extra 3000 ft in elevation, we run more than half of it. We finished in about 50 min, which was great time considering it’s about 3 miles. This was extremely well organizedWe will definitely do this race again and feel prepared to go do the Tough Mudder next year.

Our next obstacle run is in a few weeks – 5K Foam Fest. This one is more for fun/silly times and should be a great way to wrap up the summer. I am getting bored with running, so that’s probably a good thing. The kids, however, ask all the time if they can come with us to do the obstacle runs. We can’t wait until they are old enough. I did take them on a morning run with me and they did pretty good, running about 0.3-0.5 miles!

Ballet & Gymnastics:

Charlotte finished her second level of gymnastics. She has the perfect build for gymnastics and picks it up very easily. She loves showing us all her moves. We need to find a new gymnastics class for her though since the rec center doesn’t do higher level classes. She excelled at it and LOVED it.

I started ballet last April. I had only intended on doing it through the summer to increase my coordination and flexibility, as well as to try something new. I never expected to fall in love with it. It is very challenging, mentally and physically. I am basically learning a new language (French) and challenged with flexibility, coordination, and rhythm. I look forward to class every week (a 2.5 hr class) and I’ve now started practicing outside of class and doing a lot of reading about it. I have also purchased a barre for our workout room and appropriate clothing to wear to class, rather than attending in my workout gear.

The biggest step I’ve decided take is to actually perform! I have my first ballet recital in December. My teacher is choreographing the Nutcracker for all her various classes. I will be Mother Ginger (go youtube that part and prepare to laugh) dancing with the 3-5 yr olds. The mental image makes both Chris and I crack up, but considering I had only intended to do this for fitness, doing it for performance is a pretty big deal. So I’m an engineer turned ballerina at age 33!