Christmas. Okay, I said it. But I only write this post because I know family & friends shop early.

Again this year we ask you not to send the boys toys for gifts. I have talked with Elijah about it, pretty much every time he utters the phrase “there are too many toys to pick up!” So I’m offering you some suggestions:

Books, movies, clothes (Elijah is 5T, Miles is 3T), art supplies. The kids love to color & draw.

As always feel free to email with questions.

Thank you. 🙂

In the month of August, I was at the doctor every week. And I have an appt next week! Before you freak out, it’s nothing serious.

Week 1: Yearly checkup.
Week 2: Cholesterol test
Week 3: This was me going to get antibiotics because I’d had that sore throat for a week.
Week 4: Redoing a test from my checkup that didn’t turn out.

And I go back to redo that test AGAIN, because for some reason they can’t get a good result. My doctor isn’t concern, so I’m not. Well, not really. I’m a little leery that if my doctor couldn’t get results, what chance does the Nurse Practitioner?

Overall, my doctor said I’m in good health, and my concerns I brought up with her she said chalk up to getting older. So I continue on the path to eating less and exercising more. Two things I wish I didn’t have to do. 🙂

I’ve been nursing a sore throat for 5 days now. At 2am, Elijah woke up crying with his croup cough. We had to get him to calm himself, because he was so worked. Good thing we had the humidifier already set up in our room, we just moved it down the hall. Geoff ran the hot shower, and I showed him a book to get his mind off his throat. He’s much better this morning, but we stayed home from church so he can rest.

Elijah has his meet & greet with his new preschool teacher tomorrow. I’m happy he’ll have Ms. Brenda back, so he’ll have at least one familiar face. I am curious which kids will be back.

We went to a potluck dinner last night to meet a potential new Pastor and his wife. What a nice couple! I hope they get the affirmative vote, and I’m sure they will. He seems to be pretty grounded in the Word. I think the best part of the evening was that we were able to talk to the adults, while the kids were being taken care of by the hosts’ teenagers.

That’s about all going on here. Taking each day as it comes.

I know you all want to know what transpired.

I called her supervisor, asking her to place a call to the teacher, letting her know I wanted to speak with her before class, could she show up early. She showed up right before class began, and she snubbed me. I mean, I waved hello, and she sort of half smiled and proceeded to go talk to some other parent. Figuring she didn’t get the message, I decided to let it go. When I returned home, the supervisor had returned my call. I called her back, and explained a little of the situation, but told her I was going to let it drop. She encouraged me to take it up with the teacher, stating that if I wasn’t pleased with the discipline, I should let her know what kind of discipline I would like in the future. I don’t think she understood that my issue was that I didn’t think discipline was necessary.

In any case, he has 2 classes left, and all future swim lessons will take place somewhere else. Elijah mentioned to me after class, “did you see that I didn’t talk about body parts today?”

Thanks for the support everybody, it meant a lot to me. 🙂

When does the learning curve kick in? I would like to think that when I make a mistake, I learn and don’t repeat it. But when do children learn not to repeat a mistake?

On the 2nd day of swim lessons, Elijah remarked to the boy sitting next to him that his “belly sticks out”. This was heard by the teacher who prompted Elijah to apologize, and a discussion was had about bad words (both by teacher and Daddy).

Now it’s day 5, and again Elijah remarked about bellies sticking out. He was told to apologize for his bad words, and given a 30 second time out. He cried the entire time, not wanting to be excluded from class.

He’s not being malicious, and the other boy is not showing any response to Elijah’s words. My concern is that he is going to be asked to leave the class if he doesn’t stop talking about it. I haven’t been given the opportunity to talk to the teacher, or the other parent. I am going to have to be more forceful about it before next class, but there isn’t time or privacy to discuss it.

What’s a mom to do? Help me out. (Lisa-thanks for the advice)

Barker Reservoir, Nederland, CO

Geoff enjoyed a staycation this week, and after days of nagging him, I convinced him to take a trip somewhere. I was desperate to get out of the ‘burbs, if only for a day. While we had the option to go to Rocky Mountain National Park, we also wanted to be able to enjoy Friday night activities, like step class. I suggested we try to visit Boulder Falls. It was an easy hike, and who doesn’t love to see a waterfall? We drove on up, only to discover that falls were closed. Another visitor to the spot told us it had been closed for months, due to an accident, a rock hitting someone on the head. Our next option was to either go back down into Boulder, or continue up the road to Nederland.

Having never been to Nederland, knowing the town only for it’s Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival (which I intend to do someday), we took a chance. It was a small town, a population of less than 1400. There wasn’t a lot to do or see, the “main street” was almost painfully short. The one gem we got out of the place was a BBQ place called Wild Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery. We were able to sit out of the patio, enjoy the fresh air and view of the mountains. You can see Eldora ski resort from there. Lunch was pork sandwiches and Geoff tried the Hop Diggity IPA.

I was able to snap off some pictures of the place (visit Shutterfly), but didn’t get one of the infamous Tuff Shed. Though I did see it on our way out of town. Well, at the very least, I can say I explored someplace new this summer. And that’s my goal, to see as much of Colorado as I can while we’re here.

Lola’s first fruits

Yes, she produced tomatoes, and the boys in the house seem to be enjoying them. I consider this planting season a success!

To give you an idea of their size, they are bigger than cherry tomatoes, but smaller than on the vine tomatoes.

Little green tomatoes

She’s getting taller

Here’s Lola at the 2 month mark. We got her on May 5th, this was taken July 5th. I think we’ll definitely have tomatoes this summer. Next summer, we’ll try green beans or peas. Or both! I’ll just have to find a spot to plant those.

Our site at Golden Gate Canyon State Park

When the Armstrongs camp, you must anticipate the unexpected. You can count on rain for one thing. This trip lived up to that, and then some. We arrived Friday around 12:30, and the rain had just started. The kids and I stayed huddled in the car while Geoff set up the new shade. Thankfully the neighboring campers helped him erect it, and we were able to go out underneath it and help with the tent. It was a light rain, so not yet unbearable. Once the tent was up, and the car pretty well unpacked Geoff left to go buy some wood. At this point the rain had begun to beat down hard. I went into the tent to set up, so the kids could have some place dry to play. Then the hail hit. I called the boys to come into the tent. We huddled inside while lightning crackled right above us. It was unbelievably loud, nearly frightening me, but not Elijah or Miles. It must have lasted at least 15 minutes, before it went back to rain. Geoff returned to a very damp site, puddles everywhere. With his mad fire-starting skills he got a fire going. The sun eventually returned but we had to try and dissuade the kids from soaking their shoes in the puddles (we were unsuccessful).

The big reason we like site 91 is because it backs into a wooded area, giving the boys a lot of room to run around and explore. Even the sites on either side aren’t very close, so it affords us privacy.

Chad & Khara (along with pup Kona) arrived around dinner time, and thankfully it was a quick dinner to throw together. We made flank steak fajitas. Kona loved having the puddles to lie down in. We were all a little concerned about being warm enough throughout the night, but only the girls and the dog were chilly.

Saturday morning, we woke to a sunny morning. Following breakfast Geoff went on his trail run, and we walked up to the amphitheater. I was able to check out the inside of the cabins & yurts (for future reference). That short walk was all Miles wanted to do, so we headed back to camp. The kids played and napped a little and us grownups played some crib (Jen & Cate-I didn’t win!). We had some lunch once Geoff got back. We hung out at the campsite the rest of the day, most everyone had an afternoon nap, save for Chad & Geoff. Chad made baked potatoes and kababs for dinner. Naturally dessert was the same as the night before, marshmallows.

Sunday morning Chad made bacon, eggs and hashbrowns, and the Lockmans tore down their tent. We decided that we’d had enough of camping, with the boys being whiny and fighting over sticks. We packed up and went home a day early. It worked out well, since it allowed us the rest of the day to clean up from camping. We did stop by Panorama Point again, since it’s on the way out of the park.

3 days and 2 nights is a good amount of time with a 2 year old in tow. Perhaps next year will go smoother, weather wise and kid wise.

Pictures are on Shutterfly.

We did a 2+ hr hike on Mt. Falcon today for Father’s Day. The weather was warm, comfortable when the breeze picked up. But sure tuckered out me & the kids. Pictures are up on shutterfly.

Next weekend, camping!