Cold

The weather is interesting here. It's really no different than Ohio in that it can be 65 one day and 30 the next. Snow here gone tomorrow. But it really doesn't feel so cold when it is cold, nor does it really feel hot when it's hot. The low humidity is nice, I didn't realize how much it would affect how it feels when you are outside. Yesterday the low was -15. Today when I took the kids to school my car read -1...it feels nicer at that temp than it does at 30 in Ohio. Weird.

Winter pics!

Here are a few pics from Lish and Aaron's visit...MBJ lost his FIRST tooth!! We put up the Christmas tree...did a little hiking and a little skiing :)

Halloween/Fall pics!

Here are a few pictures from Halloween, notice that the kids made a pretty decent haul on the candy!

PS

The selection of Hall and Oates songs on Myspace is severly disappointing.

AND I didn't get to go have lunch with EB :( My garage door opener quit working, leaving the door open and locked in place, can't disengage it. AND I couldn't get my car back up into the garage b/c of the snow/ice on our driveway.

I'm cranky.

Let it snow!

It's snowing! We've only had 2 snows here in Parker thus far. I like snow, now...not so much in March. Our slopes have LOTS of snow. They have been blessed with a coupla feet of dumps in the last 2 weeks or so. That is good news for the Branns. Today it is like 19 degrees out. Too cold for me. Especially since it was 65 the other day. We have up our interior Christmas decorations, but haven't had a chance to put up our outside lights just yet. With the cold and snow, they aren't going up today either, perhaps soon.

Lish and Aaron have gone home to Michigan. We had a good time and were really glad they could come out for a visit. The kids are back to school and had a nice holiday weekend.

I'm currently choosing paint for the front room/entry and upstairs hall and our bed/bath. I intend to have the entire house repainted before summer.

Taking sushi to school and having lunch with EB now, happy Thursday!!!!!!!!

Awwww

I still don't have Halloween pics up, but will get there eventually. MBJ lost his first tooth! Lish and Aaron are here and they were spending the weekend with the kids while BM and I went to a party up in Keystone...MBJ lost his tooth while we were gone!! I was so sad, I don't generally miss those kinds of things. BUT Aunt Lishy and Aaron took pictures for me and I got to hear all of the details so that was good.

We have been having a nice time with Lish and Aaron here. The weather has been incredible. Sunny and mid 60's. Last night we all went downtown to check out the 16th street mall and had dinner at the chophouse. Today we're going to pack up and take Lish and Aaron out to Golden Gate Canyon state park...it was one of our toughest but more beautiful hikes.

Pics soon!!!!!!!!

Loose Tooth and First Grades!

MBJ has his first loose tooth! And the new one is starting to grow in behind it already!! I cannot believe my baby boy is already old enough to lose a tooth....he didn't even know it. His dad was feeding him M&M's on the chair lift yesterday when he noticed there was a wiggler!

Marty jr. is very excited and eager for his first visit from the tooth fairy! I think he will have teeth more like me, mine all fell out in my earlier years. Whereas Emma, is more like her dad. She is half way through 4th grade and has only lost 8 so far!

1st semester is over and done with at Mammoth Hts, LM got his progress report and is doing very well in Kindie. They don't get letter grades just yet but he is developmentally on track and is reading/writing more and more as the days go by. EB's first report card resulted in all A's. I am so proud of her. Moving to CO was not easy. While we are able to do so many more activities as a family, we miss our family and friends, and this was especially true for Emma. But she has done really well in school through all of this change and so YAY for EB!!

Still waiting for BM to fix my computer so I can DL the Halloween pics.

A welcome voice of love and peace :)

Marty and I have followed the elections closely this year. There has been much discussion and frustration over recent months. While we are so grateful that it is coming to a close, we aren't there yet. MBJ asked me today why we aren't voting for McCain. He said that one of his friends at school (a fellow 5 year old) said that we need to stay and fight in Iraq and that Obama wants to steal all of our money. Try explaining terrorism, just reasons for war, economics, social justice, divisiveness, doing what is right vs. what is easy, and ignorance to a 5yo. I guess I could just tell him what to think like his buddy's dad. We all know how well that worked for my pops :)

Anyhow, in the midst of stress and much annoyance (did you read that in Ohio someone is calling and telling the Dems to vote on the 5th?, talk about ethics)....Emma provided a ray of light. She sat down and jotted down a couple of poems with the holiday season in mind. Yes, I am already listening to Christmas music. Halloween is over, afterall.

A Joyous Acrostic

By: Emma C. Brann

Jolly ol' santa is coming to town

Oh merry Christmas tree

Young children playing in the snow

Tinsel sparkling

Old nativity sets

Toys being unwrapped

Hot cocoa

Everyone is laughing

White snow

Orange fire glowing

Red dresses sparkle

Lots of presents

Dancing around the tree

A Peaceful Acrostic

By: Emma C. Brann

Heat from the fire

All are warm

Peace in the room

Pleased faces glow

Young children wrapped in blankets

Hot cocoa they all drink

Old folks laugh

Light from the fire cheers all

Indigo dresses on girls

Deep black suits on boys

And lights from the tree glow

Young tree,

Songs of Christmas being sung

Tight squeeze

On the couch

All

Love the

Light!

Blogspot crams her poem together, there are supposed to be spaces between certain lines. Jerks. Tomorrow is a new day.

Love, Jen

Fall Break

Well fall break has come and gone. The kids had 2 weeks off of school. It is hard to believe that they started back in the beginning of August, and here it is almost November. We enjoyed the time off. We took one week to vacation up in the mountains near Wyoming. We rented a cabin and the first day we hiked and enjoyed the relatively warm air. The next morning we woke up to snow!!!!!!! We spent much of the rest of the week in the hot tub, playing cards/board games, and watching Harry Potter movies. We enjoyed playing in the woods and climbing all of the massive rocks. At one point we were out on a deserted trail and went off to climb this huge collection of rocks. When we got to the top MBJ said, "I just saw an animal run into that cave". I asked him what it looked like and he said "It has 4 legs", he also said it was as big as a dog, so we hurried out of there :) There are mountain lions and bears and all kinds of things here whose den I wouldn't want to wander into.

We took Sunny with us and she really enjoyed chasing chipmunks from rock to rock. I swear they were taunting her all week. We didn't see any bears or moose, but we did hear coyotes in the evening. We were advised not to let Sunny out by herself in the evening or morning, she might wander into something unfriendly...yikes!!

It's a tie!

They both opened at the same time! Hahah. Now I, personally, had no interest in heading out to ski ONE RUN at either place. But kudos to all who did :)

Update!

Loveland has upped the ante and is still in the running, they said they would open a half an hour BEFORE A-basin on Wed...A-basin replied by saying they too would open earlier...hahaha, I guess we'll have to tune in tomorrow AM :D

Life

So last week we had field trips. Emma's class went to the capital and to the history museum. They had a good time and Emma came home with lots of facts that I've forgotten, she has a memory for that stuff like my dad. MBJ's class went to a pumpkin farm. It was really neat. The kids each got a bag and could pick their own veggies out of the ground and load up. MBJ picked potatoes and carrots, which I cooked with dinner last night and they were awesome. One striking difference about pumpkin farms out here as opposed to the ones in Ohio is the mountains in the backdrop. I'm still enjoying taking it all in each day.

And fall break started on Friday, no school for over 2 weeks! We are enjoying being lazy in the mornings and playing with friends. We saw City of Ember this weekend, which was a pretty cool movie. We liked it. We also got some new ski duds. Emma way outgrew last years gear, so we got some new pants and a coat. They had gotten new skis right when we got out here. I can hardly believe it's even time to think about this stuff, but A-basin is opening tomorrow with Loveland (where we are going to get passes) not far behind.

And for those of you who have never been out here, no...it's not really cold here. It's still into the 50-60 range during the day and in the 30-40 range at night. But the mountains are always colder. AND the sun is so darn warm here that in the 50's you can feel roasty if you are not in the shade. I think we have had more sunny days here than when I lived in Florida.

And beyond that, I'll be off to the library today. We are starting our master bath remodel and I want to get some good ideas before I commit to a plan. Colors, tile sizes and design layouts, etc. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!

GO MARTY JR!!

MBJ learned to ride his 2 wheeler! He was hesitant for a long time and it finally occurred to me to take him to a more open space (our sidewalks are narrow)...duh! He just started riding all on his own!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!

Fall!

Fall is here, and it is really terrific weather here. It's really cool overnight. During the day we're still into the 60's-70's and enjoying the sunshine. This weekend we went out to Golden Gate Cayon park to hike and enjoy the colors. From here in Parker, it looks like someone splashed gold randomly across the front range. So cool. The aspens are so vivid yellow, I'm really glad we got out to get some pictures, because snow is moving into the mountains!!

We had a great hike. We are still just picking random trails. We chose one that happened to be classified "difficult" and started out. It was a cloudy day so we didn't want to get stuck out too far. We figured if it was too tough or started raining, we could turn back or catch another trail. Well it didn't seem tough so we just kept going forward. We were probably 1 to 1.5 miles in and up before we realized we might want to get onto an easier trail. There were segments of rock scrambling and just extreme elevations. Sunny could be a mountain climber I swear. The kids too. At this point we figured we would trudge on to the next connection (about 3 miles from the start, keep in mind this is all a climb), so we did. It got really insane at points and we lost the trail a few times. You could hear the rain a couple mountains away and it got really cold and the wind kicked up. Whoopsie! After about 6 miles of covering the mountain from bottom to top to back down again, we were finished. It took about 4 hours. Our kids did not complain once. Emma is really a machine on the mountains, she just races on ahead and we are always reigning her back to us. MBJ loves taking the harder path just to challenge himself. I, was freaking exhausted by the time we got back to the car.

Hiking Pics

A few pics from out hike at Chautauqua park 2 weeks ago. It was a gorgeous day with awesome views whichever way we looked. We hiked up and out for awhile and the trail got trickier and trickier.

As we went on the edge of the trail was pretty much a cliff. The kids were troopers and didn't fret. Too much fun to be had.

Eventually we were essentially rock climbing and decided it was time to turn around. MBJ had just come down the trail in this last picture and I had to take a shot to show what kinds of trails we have been hiking. The kids are doing great and learning so much about the great outdoors!

And it was the first time Sunny experienced getting a cactus stuck on her paw. She didn't even notice. I saw it and pulled it out, it was in there good. But in true Chesapeake form, she didn't make a peep, there was work to be done...a trail to conquer!

Proud Mamma

I am so proud of my kids. They rock. I'm getting into the swing of volunteering at EB and MB's classes each week. I get to see them regularly in class and interact with them on a different level. They really dig school. They are doing really well, participate a lot, and are having a great time. We had PTK conferences this week. Here kids are req'd to come to their PT conferences and are encouraged to participate, ask ?s, discuss goals and how they feel they are doing, etc. I love how interactive the school is with parents and kids. The kids are req'd to set goals and are active participants in evaluating their progress. Far stretch from the OLHC curriculum set for us back in the dizzle.
But beyond how much I like the school and staff, I am just so happy my kids are digging school. They always did, but with the move I didn't know what to expect. Not only from the school, but from them. They are handling the transition beautifully and I am really proud of them!

Say what?

Yesterday I was reading an article which stated that mothers generally have a favorite child, and just don't want to admit it. Huh? For real? That's really appalling to me. And the article implies that we SHOULD admit that we prefer one child over another! Sure, kids go through phases where they are easier to get along with than at other times, but to secretly favor one child over another really makes me angry. For parents who grow up fostering a closer relationship with one child over another, and rationalize to themselves that it's the child's "fault" or "choice" (she doesn't need me as much as her sister or he is just fine on his own), shame on them. Not only is that thinly veiled delusion, but what it does to the unfavored child is irreparable. As human beings we ALL seek a close bond with our parents. Imagine seeing someone you are seeking love and acceptance from give their time and attention primarily to someone else. It's going to have an effect all right. I guess we can decide that it's the best we can do but that is a complete cop out in my opinion. I don't hope to do better, I will do better. I have never loved one of my children more than the other. Do I cherish different qualities in them? Absolutely! But I will always give of myself equally to both of my kids. Not because it's fair, but because I couldn't imagine it any other way.

I love Colorado

I really do. This morning I took the kids to school and signed in to do my volunteer work, first helping out LM's teacher with paperwork and then EB's class to help the students with the days math lesson. It is really fun for me to get to go and help out, while observing my kids at school with their friends. I really like getting to know the other kids and just spending time in their school. We are really lucky to have another excellent school. From the technologies they use here like Mac desktops in the class and the mics the teachers wear so they can speak at a normal tone, to the whole attitude of respect for each other and our education...great school.
When I was finished with my role at the school for the morning, I walked out and enjoyed the glorious day. Blue skies as far as you can see, and being on a plateau a mile high, you really can see far... huge puffy white clouds hugging the mountain range to the west, and a giant moon sitting in the western sky. In moments like that I feel really peaceful and blessed to be here.

Wooooooooot!

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=99612&catid=339

Snow! And they are getting the runs ready! I could not see the mountains this morning for it was a cloudy, drizzly day :( We truly are getting spoiled...but no matter, the 10 day is calling for 70's and sunny after this drizzle leaves us tonight.

Tears of Joy

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=99428&catid=188

Do I even need to say another word?

Happy September!

We had another great weekend. ! Sue and Harry came to town and it was wonderful to get to visit with them and show them our new home. I look forward to them coming back to go and visit some of the gorgeous sites around here! While they were here Aunt Jane, Uncle Jack, and Jill all came over for the evening and we had a great time visiting with these great people... Here are a few pictures, the one of the kids is from a hike out at Deer Creek Canyon. A picture of Sunny because she is baby and a picture from our visit with Sue and Harry. Thank you for the pic Jill :D

Labor day weekend

We had a nice labor day weekend...some friends invited us to go out on their boat with them Saturday and we did. The kids had a blast riding on the boat, it's been a long time since we have been out on one. Emma did lots of tubing with her friend Chloe. She loved it! MBJ was not up for tubing yet, but content to ride up front with Chloe's little sisters. M and I attempted to water ski. We ALMOST got it but I pulled a muscle and couldn't do it anymore that day...I am old! M stuck with tubing after that :)

We also went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth, which was a fun movie. And beyond that we chillaxed.

Our basement remodel is almost complete...the flooring is finished, except the transitions. Painting and lighting done, woodwork almost finished. Now if the rest of my curtains would arrive I would be thrilled. I've had the darndest time figuring out what I want for window treatments.

I'm rambling about window treatments...time to be all done :)

Weekend fun

Well we had a fun weekend....Friday night Chandler came over for a sleepover, we had a tea party and Cheetah girls...fabulous! Saturday EB and I had a day shopping and hanging out by ourselves while the boys worked in the basement some more. The basment is coming along really nicely. The painting/lighting is finished and the flooring is almost done as well.

Sunday we went to Deer Creek Canyon to hike. It was a great hike and the kids kept up really well. I'm so glad they like hiking, it's easy to do here with the gorgeous backdrop everywhere you look. After an hour and a half up and out we noticed some rain heading our way so we turned back. Not long after we got home EB came in from playing outside with some friends and said "There's a funnel cloud outside!" I looked out the back door and sho' nuff...there is a freakin' tornado right there!!! You couldn't tell how close it was, but it looked close...it can be decieving here b/c the sky is so big, you can see weather miles away. So I flipped on the news and no doubt, that tornado (one of I think 3) was right in Parker. Here is a video of the one that was closest to us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2knTNIl020U&feature=related

As summer winds down...

This morning was the first clear one we've had in a few days. I missed it, as it's generally sunny and clear here. While we headed to school I was really in awe at the change in the mountains since the cool weekend. They gots lots more snow! It's brilliant against the blue sky. I didn't imagine enjoying the mountains without snow as much as I have. I am going to be a bit sad when it's too cold to go hiking. But on the other hand I'm really excited about the fall and seeing it all change....and we can always get some snowshoes to strap on and explore on foot!

MBJ is really enjoying Kindie. He is making friends as each day goes by and is really excited about heading to school each morning. Cute statement for the day:

MBJ: "how many days are in a week?"
Me: "7...so how many days are in 2 weeks?"
MBJ: "Seconteen"

:D

Change in Direction

After much debate on what to do in the bathroom now as opposed to down the road, we've decided we have more to think about....so we are starting in the basement. We are ripping out the carpet and puting down wood laminate. And painting. We need some new lighting solutions as well...It will be groovy when we're finished, so I'm excited about getting into it. It's cold and rainy here, so inside projects are good for this weekend.

Friday morning

If anyone wants to send us a care package and include Sturkey's lite salad dressing and/or Skyline or Dixie chili, we would be thrilled :D I really miss that salad dressing, it's my fave.

Yesterday after I dropped the kids off at school I hit the Cherry Creek Trail and joined many other CO bikers to enjoy the gorgeous weather while getting in a workout. I got a bit lost and ended up riding for about an hour and a half. I saw creeks and horses and snakes and prairie dogs and bunnies galore. Today is chilly and rainy, they are calling for snow in the mountains. Hard to believe it was over 100 a week or two ago!!

We are embarking on project 16016 Sequoia this weekend. Well, we already painted the kids rooms, so technically we have already begun, but we start doing demo and remodel this weekend...in our master bath. We're going to start with the floor. It is currently carpet. It is ew and needs to be all done. I'll take pics!!

Visitors!

I love that Dad, Lish, and Liz have already been here for a visit. We had a great time exploring and enjoying the outdoors here. Today they have all gone home and we miss them tons, but always look forward to our next visits. I am so excited to share this Colorado adventure with our family and friends, so come on out people!! Here are a few pictures from the week. We went fishing and exploring in Estes Park. The next day we went hiking at Red Rocks and Dinosaur Ridge. Phenomenal!!

Back to school!!

Last week the kids went back to school. LM started his adventures in Kindergarden. He was really eager for school and had a great start. He really likes BigK and his teacher and is making new friends. Yay!! EB is really liking grade 4 too. Her teacher is terrific (as well as LM's) and they are learning so many new things here. Geography has suddenly become super interesting. Here they learn Spanish from K, so they are both really excited about that. I am so happy that we have landed ourselves in a school that is academically challenging and a really fun place to be. And one of the best things about our walk to/from school is the time we get to chat about school and whatnot in general without any distractions...of course except the view of the Rockies from our neighborhood :D

Trip to Garden of the Gods

Lizzie is here!! There is so much we all want to see and do, I didn't know where to begin. So we picked Garden of the Gods down in Colorado Springs. Oh My Gawsh. It is truly gorgeous. There are incredible rock formations unlike anything I've ever seen. Next time I go I want to go to the visitor's center to learn more about the history. We took Sunny with us, so we didn't do the indoor stuff. But my gosh, it was one incredible sight after another each way you turned. I'd like to do ride horseback through the trails also. I can see how it got it's name...truly a little piece of heaven on earth.

First Weekend in the West!

During our first fun weekend in Colorado we explored a ranch out west of Loveland. We did a little fishing and a little sight seeing. It was a beautiful day! And while hiking we found that you have to watch out for cactuses!

We continued our weekend with more adventure and exploration. We went to a magic show and Emma, of course, volunteered to be the magician's assistant. She was excellent, however she did get her watch swiped :) We tried our hand at alpine sledding, here is Emma finishing up her ride down the mountain. She later decided to hop on a zip line...nothing like trying new things!!

We finished up the weekend with a little pony riding and of course, a western hold up. A great time!!