bolder boulder

Alyssa and my first year for the Bolder Boulder! Jaiden and Dennis' second time on the course. Long story short - I registered Dennis and Alyssa first because we thought Jaiden was doing the BBRC with a group of his friends and track coaches but as the deadline approached, it became apparent that wasn't happening so I signed him and I up. Our start was after Dennis and Alyssa and the plan was for him and I to run and catch up to Dennis and Alyssa. I would walk with Alyssa and Dennis would chase after Jaiden.

The plan seemed like it would work until Alyssa took a major spill while waiting for the bus... yes, one would think waiting for a bus couldn't amount to anything but she managed to trip and fall banging up her knees, right hand and a major hit to the chin. Dennis and her went to Starbuck's for a cold drink and bag of ice. Jaiden and I headed to the start line.

This is the two of us before starting, and below is the big start line...

The plan worked although I have to say that boy runs fast! I was glad to walk with this cutie!

Our walk was much more leisurely and well... quite slow. We stopped for cotton candy...

but missed the cupcakes. We finished just over 2 hours.

At the CU stadium just before we headed out to find an open urgent care center!

Yep, urgent care. And ironically, it took me to stop at 3 different centers before I finally found one open. We were more concerned about her right hand which was now very swollen and she was unable to move 3 fingers and I was worried it might be broken. However, the nurse was more focused on her chin and attempted to bandage it up...

I seem to be collecting photos of her in clinics with bandages awkwardly applied to her face! The doctor thankfully did understand my concern with her hand and ordered x-rays. It turns out she didn't break it but she did severely sprain it.

Meanwhile, Dennis dealt with Jaiden melting down about how he didn't finish in under an hour despite the fact that he finished in 1:05:32.92... OR that he was in the top 25th percentile of his age group... OR that he was above the 50th percentile for all Males in the race placing at 9539 out of 20748 males... OR that his time beat his elementary PE teacher and his own dad?!

Yes, let's also remind him that Alyssa and I finished a few minutes shy of double his time!

He's already scheming for next year!

SaveSave

opening weekend...

A little slice of heaven for both Alyssa and me. 

For Alyssa, it was returning to her favorite Girl Scout camp - Tomahawk. 

For me, it was spending the weekend with her.

We drove up Friday afternoon. It was rather uneventful (thank goodness!) minus the pouring rain and thunderstorms! We listened to her play list streaming from my phone and she sang to several of the songs and we drove up the rode to the ranch, we were greeted by deer in the road and alongside the road!

By Saturday morning, it was beautiful blue skies with fluffy clouds scattered in the sky.

Our job was get the seasonal cabins ready for the campers.

It involved cleaning the bathhouse, sweeping, pulling out the mattresses and wiping everything down. Alyssa was in charge of climbing up the bunk beds and wiping them down.

I had almost forgotten to take a few photos as I was busy working too!

Our job also involved cleaning out the supply sheds and taking out any excess items... and she was invited to ride in the back of the truck with some other girls.

She ate with those same girls at lunch at their own kid table!

Stood up several times to help sing grace.

... and be silly!

She took in the majestic part of being at camp

And in the afternoon, we went to the barn to help clean up there too...

She volunteered to clean the duck's pen... again!

And later that night she sat with our friends around the campfire.

And tried out a skit...

or two...

... and that was beauty of camp. She was thrilled to be there all weekend even if it involved cleaning, and now only a few weeks away before she spends a week at Scout vs. Wild this year!

and with that, we begin summer break ...

It's official...  

a 7th and 5th grader in the house!

Our last day of school and first day of summer break was not quite what I expected. Alyssa still had the half day, class slideshow and all school picnic ...

We ate lunch with friends and Nina made her a red dog!

We said goodbye to my most favorite teacher... ever.

Mrs. Potter. And what I didn't expect was just how sad I am. After 4 years, I will no longer be working with her and I am going to miss her a lot!

What I didn't expect was after the picnic, Alyssa would dash off to a friend's house and not be seen again until 11:30 am today when she comes back with her friend, Emily and her little brother to play a little bit longer.

And Jaiden? He also had a half day of classes, followed by an awards and slideshow presentation in the afternoon. When I asked if he would like me to come sign him out early, I was given a firm "no thanks, I'll hang with my friends". I expected that, and I expected him when he showed up at his normal time 4 pm. 

What I didn't expect was to take him to guitar and then on the way home, finding out he had arranged for a friend to spend the night. Okay, I can work with that except we'd need to go out for dinner because in my frantic hurry of a morning, I had forgotten to pull something out of the freezer.

And what I didn't expect was to come home and have not just one friend come over but two, and somehow this turned into a 2 friend sleepover! It worked out fine and they had a great time. One friend left at 1 pm today and the other not until 4 pm, and it's all good but what I didn't expect was how I felt a little sad yesterday and today. 

Yep, poor me! I have a 7th grader and a 5th grader, and every year I hate seeing another year go by. My kids are no longer in the place where it was good to hang out with mom for the last day of school, or go to Dairy Queen for a sweet treat, or watch a movie in the middle of the afternoon... with mom. Yet, I should have known this was coming but I wasn't prepared.

I managed to get control tonight and have them both home ... although truthfully I believe it is because they were both wiped out from staying up late and hanging with friends but I can't help but think I better find some small projects to work on this summer as I likely will have more time on my hands than I expected.

music to my ears...

Last night was Alyssa's last choir concert as a 4th grader! It's hard to believe we are almost to the end of another school year... and soon it will be summer fun time!

Her concert was wonderful. They sang 4 songs. I took 2 photos and video taped one song but mostly I sat watching her on the stage singing her heart out. The funny thing about the video is I should really use a tripod if I am going to film because honestly, I am so distracted watching her I don't even realize where I am aiming the camera or that I am moving so much... and only recently did I realize that I need to focus when I am filming... yes, I am better with still photos!

You can find Alyssa on the top row, far left, 2nd from the left ... bright blonde hair!

My favorite song was when they snapped, clapped and stomped to Africa by Toto... I wished I would have videotaped that one!

Until next year...

done!

In the afternoon on Mother's Day, Jaiden was bored, bored, BORED! I told him to figure out something fun or interesting to do and then I found a project that he had asked for help on. Except the jump rings I had were too small for what he wanted to do. 

And then, he asked if he could make something with Perler beads and make Pokemon characters. Except then he realized (after searching online for designs) that he needed bigger boards that could connect and well, he just needed me to take him to Michael's and see if we could get them.

We did and he started his project. At some point, he realized he had messed up in his outline so he took it all apart. Upset, of course. He asked what I would do? And I showed him what I thought might be better way for him to figure out the pattern. 

And then he finished it...

And now I am really scared to iron it!

title nine 9k

My annual mother's day gift from Jaiden... 

because he knows I love to exercise so why not run a 9k?

It will be fun, they said. And here we are at technically our 4th race, although truly our only second full finish of the race. 

1st year? we walked most of it and it was hot! And I mean hot!

2nd year? we showed up, attempted the run but turned around because it was rain mixed with snow, and we were wet and only a mile into it!

3rd year? cancelled due to snow

4th year? The threat of snow/rain was in the forecast but somehow it managed to be the perfect running day and I (who does not particularly care for running) 58 minutes of it!

 Just before the start we wandered around and found a selfie booth with boas! He chose the pink and black, and I got the crazy red one!

 We laughed over this sign. I told him this was his instructions for me!

 At the start line, literally seconds before we were on the trail.

Around mile 3.

 I encouraged him to run ahead. He's a runner, I am faking it. Actually, I started training for this but then fell behind in my training when I got severe shin splints in my right leg so I didn't quite finish my full training. But Jaiden agreed to run intervals with me. So it was 10 minutes of jogging, 5 minutes of walking. He had the urge to run so when it was our 3rd interval, I said go for it. I will meet you at the next water station except he stopped in the field where he thought I might finish with my running interval and he had good timing because I had just slowed to a walk when I grabbed this cute photo.

Of course, he sprinted to the end and finished a minute earlier than me... I felt pretty darn thrilled I wasn't dragged across the finish line and I wanted to catch my time...

Turns out the finish line was a few feet behind me and I finished at 1:23:22... woot, woot!

And when we headed home, he said "Next year mom, let's shave off 20 minutes!"

Maybe I can convince 10 minutes faster would be good...

flowers, leopards and pink!

She asked me to text a photo of her to dad while we were waiting at the dentist office. I have no idea why she asks these things but I had to laugh because seriously? what kind of outfit is that? Silly girl! Love that she still has her own idea of style and makes it work!

leadership wall

The last month of school is always crazy. There is tons of activities, school projects to turn in, teacher/staff appreciation, and with middle school a lot of unknown. Thankfully, Mrs. Potter gave us a heads up and told us our kids would be receiving an award at the late start assembly today. First, it was 2:45 and then at the very last minute changed to 2:30. I was bummed because I had a doctor's appointment at 2:15 that I really need to be at. It would be quick if they took me in right away but we all know it doesn't work that way very often.

But I made it! I saw her and her group of STEM Explorers be called up and receive an award... and I think at this particular moment, she realized I was there in the standing agains the very back wall!

Later I asked her what the award was called and she replied "Leadership Wall". She received a necklace with a leadership charm on it... and I asked "what is a Leadership Wall award?" 

Her reply was "you get to be on the wall with a bunch of other kids with your picture on it to show you are a leader at school and in the community!"

Too cool! Now I need to find that wall at school!

found on YouTube

Dennis and Jaiden recently went to Education Dayz... an entire weekend about living with hemophilia, maneuvering through insurance, and a huge part is being part of the community around people who get it and understand the challenges. 

On the last day, they showed this video and Dennis was shocked to see Jaiden's debut. Jaiden vaguely remembers it because at camp there is always lots of photos, videos and craziness. I am pretty certain this was the year of the zombi tag incident and broken nose. It's such an awesome video of the boys we know and are watching grow up!