Snow and Field Trips

Recovering from a vacation seems so weird yet so needed.  Especially with kiddos. It was snowing when we got back from Albuquerque to Durango and it seems to just keep going.  I'm actually not going to complain at all about the snow.  It's beautiful and very much needed so I'll just shovel away and enjoy the scenery.

The highlight of our week was a homeschool field trip to the Durango Police Station. At first Jack didn't think he really needed to go.  He said he already knew what they do there - "catch bad guys and if they don't listen then they taze them"

I thought, great. He's gonna be so bored! 

But as you can see from this picture, by the time the day arrived he was super excited.  He even dressed up for the occasion in his policeman costume. Be still my heart! 

I think the highlight of the trip was visiting with the K-9 Unit.  Meet Uti, the awesome German Shepherd police dog.  He was the most well-behaved spaz I've ever seen!  He sat and smiled for the camera because his trainer was right behind me with his favorite ball :)

The Sargent was super kind and showed us everything! The holding cells, the breathalyzer, the Detective desks, fingerprinting.... We split up the girls and boys for the walking tour so I wasn't able to get Kate being fingerprinted.


We even got to see the inside of the police cars.  It was a really neat tour and I'm so thankful for a group of homeschoolers we can join to do fun things like this!

This week also consisted of lots of snow shoveling, homeschooling, life group, staff meeting and lunch, blogging (I'm working on improving the other blog I run - Growing in Grace), and preparing for the 3rd Annual Marriage Dinner we are hosting at the church next Friday. It's crazy how things go along but then all the last minute details pile up and it feels out of control until it all comes together the day of.  Whew!  Talk about an adventure!

This week will be very similar except we have another birthday to celebrate.  Kate will be 9 on Tuesday!  She's super excited (Jack is not - it's hard to watch his siblings have birthdays so close together).  We have plans to get her a haircut and a manicure the day of.  I'll be posting pictures later. 

Happy snowy Saturday to you!  Out to shovel!

Quick trip south

A few weeks ago Mark and I were discussing how we could celebrate our kids' birthdays differently this year. We came up with a plan to travel south and visit Albuquerque for a change of scenery and some needed family time. 

We left early Friday morning and got in ABQ at lunch time.  We thoroughly enjoyed eating at resturaunts we don't have in Durango.  Our first stop was Chick Fil A. Yum! 

After lunch we headed to the ABQ zoo and aquarium.  I'm so glad we did. They don't really compare to the ones in Denver but they're far better than the ones we have in Durango (we call the local fish store the Durango zoo!). 

The kids especially loved the shark tank.  I think we all could've sat and stared for quite a while! 

After the aquarium we wandered the zoo and loved seeing the polar bears and seals get fed. The zoo doesn't take long to see everything. It's quite compact! 

Look at the sweet baby chimpanzees! 

From there we left and found our hotel.  We had heard about Hotel Cascada from some friends. It's a hotel with an indoor water park. I had hoped to go down not on a weekend (take advantage of our homeschool schedule and avoid crowds) but they have different winter hours and were only open on the weekend. Bummer.  So we swam with a few hundred of our closest friends ;) I'm pretty sure there were a dozen or more parties happening there this weekend. It's the place to go! 

*Not my photo 

We had a great time though. The hardest part was that Mark and I were both battling colds the entire weekend. Makes swimming a bit more cold and challenging. It definitely motivated us to get the kids into swim lessons ASAP. 

We swam part of the day Saturday then went shopping for some clothes for the kids.  And I bought my first pair of skinny jeans. I just had to throw that in for the record. It's taken me several years to succumb to this trend...here's hoping I don't look like I poured myself into them! 

Anywho, after shopping we took the kids to Cracker Barrel (not helping me at all with the trying to not look like I was poured into my pants!). I forgot how much food they give you! 

We thought for 10 seconds about swimming but decided going back to the room and watching the food network sounded way more fun.  My kids love Chopped! Unfortunately we had some late night partying neighbors move in next door on Saturday so getting to sleep was a bit challenging. We had to call the front desk when they wouldn't get quiet after Mark asked them to (I promise we waited until after 10pm although I probably could've been asleep at 7). 

We got up and ate breakfast in the room.  I let my kids pick cereal for the trip before we left.  Lesson learned.  Sugar on top of sugar is what they picked.  Oy! 

After breakfast we went and swam for another hour before showering and heading out. We ate lunch at Red Robin - Mark's favorite - and drove home to 7 inches of snow. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that there was no snow in New Mexico and as soon as we crossed the border - bam.  Snow. Beautiful snow. 

Now to unpack and start laundry.  It was a great weekend of making memories. 

Finding the Time

I'm pretty tired of answering the question "How are things?" with "Busy!"  Seriously it gets old.  Sadly it's true though.  And frankly I'm weary and tired.  When I look at the list of things in my life it can be overwhelming.  The things I want to accomplish, the things I have to accomplish, the things I'd rather leave for someone else to accomplish...They are all jumbled together.

And I need to prioritize them.  Say no to some things so I can say yes to other things.

Since I only have a couple minutes right now I'll update you on one aspect of life.

I'm really enjoying the writers group that I am in - even if it's seriously intimidating and definitely hitting every insecurity I have! A couple months ago I was wondering what got in to me to make me sign up (sometimes I still think that) but God is showing me one piece of the puzzle at a time and I just have to trust that He knows where He's leading.  It's my job to follow.

A couple weeks ago I had a coaching call with one of the leaders and I needed to present her with my writing projects so we could discuss it and plan for it.  I had to laugh!  Writing projects?!  I email the women of my church once a week and I write blog posts try to keep up writing blog posts once a week.  I had no writing projects to share. 

But God did.

I was driving home one afternoon when He flooded my mind with an idea for a book.  I was so excited for all that He was showing me and the thought actually crossed my mind "I think I could do that!"  And then I had my coaching call and I was encouraged that yes, in fact, I could do this!  I'm not quite ready to share what the idea was but as I get closer to seeing this become a reality I promise that I will.

Now I just need to discipline myself, carve out time in my busy schedule and get down to the business of writing.  Oh and find a laptop so I'm not limited in when and where I can work.  I could get a lot done while waiting for my kids at gymnastics... :)

Snowdown, Super Bowl, Sickness? Stupendous!

Life is moving right along.  I was reminded on Monday of my need to focus on what task at a time and not try to do everything at once.  Some days are easier than others.

Last weekend we went to the Snowdown parade in Durango.  We haven't been in quite a long time.  The thought of taking 3 small kids downtown where there could be 10,000 people lining mainstreet made us cringe.  Thankfully the kids are much more able to handle the walking and the cold.  Especially if there's candy involved.  And there was plenty of that.  And the fact that they could cheer on their friends who were in the parade.  It turned out to be a rainy night but it wasn't miserably cold AND the parade was actually enjoyable...except for the streakers in a thong.  Some peoples kids!

Mark tried to go ballooning on Saturday but the weather wasn't cooperating so he got to go to breakfast instead.

Sunday we went to a Superbowl party and the cable wasn't working at the clubhouse.  So for the first half of the game we ate lots of food and had time to chat with friends.  It was actually really nice.  Eventually we went back to the host's house and watched the most exciting part of the game.  It turned out to be a great night with friends.

Here's Kate enjoying the recent sunshine we've had.

Monday morning Kate woke up feeling awful.  Headache, body aches, runny nose, coughing, fever... No good.  What was planned as a peaceful Monday turned into lots of running around.  I did school with the boys, made a dr appt for Kate, finished making a meal to take to a family at church, had a coaching call for the writing program I'm doing, had the internet go out for 2 hours and made calls to our provider, took Kate to the dr, switched out the modem, picked up a prescription (Kate has Influenza B - a milder, but still miserable, form of the flu), did a little shopping for meds and a working thermometer, delivered a meal, came home and crashed!  All with a wonderful headache.  I'm not complaining just stating the facts.  It was a crazy day.  Not a terrible day though.  A good reminder to take the time I do have and accomplish things one at a time.  That way when the margins of life get sucked away, I have some breathing room.

Kate has spent the last couple days holed up in her room.  Poor thing has gone through a couple boxes of tissue.  She has quite a mountain of them!

(Don't worry.  Right after I took this picture we cleaned them all up in a big trash bag. I didn't know how bad it had gotten!) 

I think she kind of likes the alone time and the ability to pick what she wants to watch on TV.  She has one in her room so she's all set.  But she doesn't like being away from friends so that's been hard.  She also really hates the Tamiflu we've had to give her.  We keep encouraging her that the few seconds of a nasty taste are worth feeling better sooner.  She's been a trooper in getting it down but not without some tears.  No one likes to feel yucky but when you're especially sensitive to how you feel...it can be unbearable.  For her and the rest of us.  I had prayed when the rest of us were sick that she would stay well.  And she did.  I think God knew that if she got sick when we all were we'd have a lower amount of compassion.  With it just being her I can focus more on helping her.  It's still challenging but not nearly what I had feared earlier.  She's been working really hard on staying away and taking her meds.  She knows it'll help in the end.  She's come such a long way!!

Today we've been dealing with our dog, Mishka.  Two weeks ago we noticed his ear swelling.  Took him to the vet and we discovered he has food allergies which caused lots of itching which caused him to scratch so hard he broke a blood vessel in his ear - hence the swelling.  He had a little minor surgery to drain the blood then got to wear the cone of shame for a week.  I was hoping after the first day or two he'd realize just how big his new head was.  Nope.  He was constantly running into people, walls and doors.  We were all super excited when he got it off.  We became super diligent in watching what he ate.  The food we had been feeding him was on the allowable list but we have to monitor the people food he licks off the floor or dishes when we're loading the dishwasher.  We've been so good about watching him but he hasn't really seemed a whole lot better.

This morning Mark took him back in and it turns out he's still having an allergy attack.  Now he's on an even more strict diet but thankfully no cone of shame!

Mark and I have planned a weekend away with the kids coming up in a couple weeks.  A fun way to celebrate Kate and Kale's birthdays.  We're going to Albuquerque and staying at a hotel that has an indoor water park.  We're all looking forward to a change of scenery and the kids are super excited to swim!  We've haven't gotten away as a family and just played since this summer and we could all use some play time.  Things don't slow down a whole lot for us just because it's winter so we need to carve it out for us.  Hopefully we're learning!  I had a woman tell me the other day that we have just 18 summers with our kids.  Wow.  Talk about perspective!  It goes fast and I really don't want to miss it.