Hiking: Devils Backbone

My darling Cole,
Today we went for a family hike out near Loveland at a place called Devils Backbone. We made it to the keyhole for some great views. You didn't complain too much, especially once we started to play spies and throw grenades (aka rocks) into the tall grass where the evil scrogers were hanging out.
Then we had lunch at Sonic, played video games with dad while I finished the movie The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. Then you and I went to the library and checked out 14 books all for you. WOW! After we got home Sofia came over and you guys played until dinner was ready. After dinner, we went over to Uncle Derrick's house to visit with Gramie while she babysat the kids. Then, it was back home and off to sleep. Geez, it was a busy weekend.

I love you baby boy. Sweet dreams.
Mommy

Busy

Dear Cole,
I'll catch you up from the last couple of days. Thursday G-ma came over for dinner. It was so nice having her over. Friday, we celebrated the end of a long week by having dinner at Ted's. Yummy!

Saturday, I ran a 12-miler, you played Halo with daddy, then it was errands with me. We hit the gas station, car wash, cleaners, yummy lunch at Bean & Berry, Old Navy, the candy store, grocery shopping and finally, Baskin Robbins for build-your-own-sundae.

When we got home, it was bike riding, baseball, quite time movie time, dinner, and finally sleep. It was a gorgeous day out and we made good use of it.

Thanks for hanging out with me.

I love you,
Mommy

How may I help you?

Dear Cole,

We cleaned out one of the closets downstairs and you wanted to keep all sorts of things we were getting rid of like a book called "How to deal with NASTY people", old credit cards that you put in your wallet, and this headset. You wore this thing ALL day long, even while watching TV or reading or eating. You thought it was the coolest thing ever.

It reminded me of when I was little and thought that about my mom's stuff. Or like the time Uncle Derrick and I got caught stealing office supplies from my dad's office. What in the world did we want or need with a stapler and other like items at the age of 8? Fascinated by new things that really had no applicability or use to use but were somehow the most intriguing things ever.

Last week when we got home from school, you asked if you could wear a costume and so you were Ironman all night. Speaking of super heros, daddy took you to see the Green Hornet while I was in San Francisco. You guys also made an incredible carousel with your Kinetics.

At school, you've been working on writing letters, actual letters, one of my favorite things ever. You wrote me this note:

Drire Mom,
I miss you. I wot to kom with you. I love you. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX.
Love,
Cole

Or how about this one:
I no that you are a lover to me and you are so sweeat you always say that you are gonna eat my cheeks.

You packed me off for my trip to New Orleans with a special note that I could only open at the airport. It read "I love you mommy" and you had a plastic heart attached to it.

I love you my darling. I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with you this weekend. I've missed you.

By the way, thank you for surprising me by getting my toothbrush ready twice this week. My sweet boy.

Goodnight,
Mommy

Mornings

Dear Cole,
There are some mornings, when things just don't go smoothly. It usually happens the instant you wake up. We all have days like that and boy, are they challenging.

But this morning, you were an angel. No arguing, no pouting, no asking three or four times for you to do something. You were just heavenly. Because I'm leaving for New Orleans today and had extra time this morning, we decided to walk to school. But it wasn't any walk. We pretended that we were hikers, high up in the mountains, dodging crevasses, and sliding on ice. You kept calling me "friend". You'd say "be careful friend." The school was the top of the mountain. We reached our destination, gave awesome hugs and kisses.

Before we parted ways, you reminded me that you left something special in my backpack for my trip and told me to look for it when I got to the airport. You are so sweet. Have fun with daddy this weekend.

Hugs,
Mommy

The Simple Life

Dear Cole,

Happy New Year! I just wanted to write and tell you thank you. Thank you for helping me be silly and goofy. You love being goofy and silly. Sometimes after a long day at work, it's hard to switch gears from being so serious and stressed to being silly and goofy.

Life is simple right now. You love to spend time with me and daddy. After I get over my serious self, we play sheriff and robber - having shootouts down the hall and capturing the robber and putting him in jail. Or how about hide-n-seek! Simply a favorite of yours. Or board games or cards. Or chase...you never get tired of playing chase. Or how about tickle...you love to play tickle and we just laugh and laugh. I love to hear you laugh.

It's hard to play sometimes because it takes some effort, energy, and imagination but it's good for my soul. I need it. To see you smile and giggle and be happy is precious. Tonight, we had a carpet picnic where we ate hot dogs and spicy fries and watched Spongebob. Thanks for hanging out with me. I love you so much. Thanks for being such an awesome 6 year old.

As I tucked you in bed tonight you said,"The first thing I like about you is your smile. The second thing is your singing." That was of course after you read me a book and I sang you a lullaby.

Good night darling. I love you.
Mommy

2010 Movies

Cole,

Here are most of the movies you saw in the theater this year:

The Spy Next Door
The Tooth Fairy
Percy Jackson and The Olympians
Alice In Wonderland
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
How to Train your Dragon
Furry Vengence
Marmaduke
Alpha & Omega
Iron Man 2
Clash of the Titans
Shrek Forever After
The Karate Kid
Toy Story 3
The Last Airbender
Despicable Me
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Nanny McPhee Returns
Guardians of GaHoole
MegaMind
Tangled
The Chronicles of Narnia
Yogi Bear


I might have missed acouple. We saw Chronicles of Narnia with Uncle Joe and Michael a few weekends ago and after we got out of the movie, there was a table set up to build the Narnia ship, Dawn Treader. Here are some shots.




















Love you baby,
Mommy

Christmas 2010

Dear Cole,

Wow! What a Christmas! We got a box full of games from Grandpa Jack and Grandma Carol that kept us occupied. You got a PaperJams guitar and amp from Santa that you played and filled our house with music. You got a Ball Wizard kit (you make your own bouncy balls....and it WORKED) from Grandma that I'm going to say was your favorite gift followed by your Snake Eyes mask and sword. You got a couple new hats which you look AWESOME in. And about a million other toys. We had fun watching you go through your stocking and opening your presents. Mom and Dad didn't make out to bad either. Thanks CV for all my "perfect" gifts.

But most of all, thank you for our family. It is the most precious gift of all.

Christmas Eve 2010

We had a very Merry Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandma, Uncle Derrick, Aunt Veronica, Eliana and Parker. Grandma and Grandpa made yummy beef stroganoff. I ate too much. We opened presents and then we headed outside to put some food down for the reindeer. Next, was some family snapshots and then we loaded up and walked down to Aunt Donna's house for some delicious desserts and a visit from Santa.

Putting some magical oats out for the reindeer. Visit from Santa Nice Cole...any idea what he was so excited out?

Thanks for all the great food and gifts and company.

Life

Dear World,

Well, I've finally caught up on some blogging. The past seven weeks have been challenging, both personally and professionally. I have been struggling with finding clarity, balance, motivation and at the same time trying to be resilient and let things go. It's been a struggle and well, when life gets you down, it's sometimes hard to be happy.

These are the times that allow us to grow, to develop, to become more. So, I'll embrace it, even though it's hard as hell and I'll most likely cry some more tears. But, my happy blog lives. It's my place to see how beautiful and wonderful life is and all the people in it....all the people in my world.

Be thankful for the little things, everyday. They keep people going. Last weekend Cole called out from his bed in the morning "Mom? Can I come snuggle with you?" Who could ever resist. He climbed in, his body warm and soft and wrapped himself around me like a cocoon. It was a sweet moment that I've taken myself back to several times this week.

I'm going to practice what a wise woman once told me - "Rest in the unknown". It's hard to find peace in that, but I'm going to try.

Good night,

me

Gilpin Cty Fair x 6

We decorated the house right after Thanksgiving. All the gifts have been bought and most I've already wrapped. We're definitely ready for Christmas. But, nothing beats our holiday tradition of going to the Gilpin County Holiday Fair with Rachel, Sierre, and Ryder.

This was our 6th year watching the kids get their face painted, sitting on Santa's lap, decorating cookies, and making hand prints. They were even excited to look at the craft fair this year - they stopped by every booth, curious to see what had been made and even get some samples of yummy treats.

Here's to traditions! See our day in pictures.

NITA Holiday Party

NITA celebrated the holiday season with a happy hour at Empire. Drinks, apps, and good people! A few of us started an hour early in my office to help my social anxiety. It did the trick!

Whitney and John Daniel and Christine
Katie "Bangs" Strand + hubby Zane = so freakin cute
Raquel, Nick, "Bangs" - a few of my favorite peeps.

Thanksgiving

We had a Thanksgiving Open House. CV and I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen. We made way too much food but had a good time doing it.

The evening was filled with family and friends. We celebrated Uncle Derrick's 37th birthday too. Happy Birthday Big Brother! The kids did a couple of skits for all the adults. It was so sweet.

Thanks to Uncle Joe, Deborah, Michael, Cesar, Dena, Sofia, Uncle Derrick, Aunt Veronica, Eliana, Parker, Grandma, Grandpa, CV and Cole for making my thanksgiving one to remember.

Lucky Strike - Nov 28

CV had to do some side work downtown and asked if Cole and I wanted to come with him. So, we loaded up and headed to downtown Denver. While dad did some work, Cole and I passed the time by hanging out a Lucky Strikes in the Denver Pavilions on 16th Street. We played a few games of pool...Cole style, with Cole rules. It was fun to get out of the house and show Cole some of downtown.

Zoo - November 14

Waiting for the train at the Denver Zoo.

We usually go to the Denver Zoo at least once a year with Umple Joe and Michael. The day was gorgeous and we had fun - with some pouting - but nonetheless, it was a fun adventure. In all truth, Cole doesn't really like going to the zoo. But, for me, it's an opportunity to be outside walking around so I usually make him go.

The two things he does love at the zoo have nothing whatsoever to do with animals - the train and carousel. So, we promised him a ride on both and after we walked around for a while, we were ready with our tokens. We wanted to let the boys ride the train by themselves. You know there's a good possibly of something going wrong when they can't agree were sit. Things pretty much just went down from there because Cole got a bit sassy and before you knew it, Umple Joe was hopping right over the fence to remove Cole and his attitude problem from the train. It was classic. Cole then pouted for about half an hour and Umple Joe repeatly kept apologizing to me --- apologizing for what? For giving my 'sassy-cranky-I-hate-the-zoo-six-year-old a lesson in respect? Please sister. Actually, please Joe - do it all over again anytime you see it happening.
Cole and Michael got to see the tiger cubs and learn about them from one of the zoo keepers. We finished off the day when some food and they got crazy silly with the oreo cookies....with some (or alot) of encouragement by the adults....but mostly uncle joe!

Jump-n-Rope: Tournament Nov. 22

Cole and I competed in our first jump rope tournament on November 22. This little six year old is quite a good jumper.

We both competed in five events:
1-minute speed

3-minute speed

1-minute double unders

1-minute criss crosses

1-minute speed forward then backwards

Cole did so good. His little cheeks were red and his hair soaked in sweat by the end of the 3-minute speed, but he was focused and determined the whole time. So proud you little monkey. You were awesome!

Mom didn't too bad either. I will admit though, at first when we got there, I was thinking "What the f--- am I doing?" But some other adults showed up so there were 8 of us in our own category. And the funny thing is, that by the end, I couldn't have imagined NOT doing it. We had a blast. Special thanks to Mr. W, our videographer and cheerleader for the day. He got some great footage.