Ring Bear

Friday was the big day, Ring Bearer day. Or, according to FFM, 'Ring Bear.' The week leading up to my cousin Sarah's wedding was filled with errands, luncheons, and lots of fun time with our Kansas family.
The wedding ceremony ran like clockwork thanks to Sarah's careful planning. Here she is taking a break between photos before the ceremony. The kiddos were all playing in the nursery and it was quite the contrast, the serene bride amidst the bustling kids who paid her no attention whatsoever.
My handsome cousins, Dan and James, with FFM right before the ceremony. I think FFM is showing off his shiny wedding shoes.
FFM and the new love of his life, Olivia the flower girl. They were a bit inseparable after they met at the rehearsal on Thursday. She's an older woman, 5 to his 3. Note the tightly interlocked gripped hands.
My brother Q and my Mom tearing it up at the reception. Early. Before they could use too many drinks as an excuse for their spastic dancing.
FFM and Olivia hitting the dance floor. They tore it up all night long until they couldn't keep their eyes open any more. Yes, he asked her to dance, and she did say yes :)

Olivia lives in Chicago and FFM was dismayed to learn she was leaving and that he wasn't going to get to see her anymore. He asked early on Saturday morning, "Is it my fault? Doesn't she want to be my girlfriend anymore?" I suddenly felt like the parent of a 13 year old instead of a 3 year old!

Wedding QOTD

At cousin Sarah's wedding tonight FFM was the ringbearer and was quite enamored with the flower girl, Olivia. They were thick as thieves all evening, aided and abetted by cousin Dan. Taking a break from horsing around with Olivia at the reception, F told me he wanted to dance with Olivia. I explained that the bride and groom would have several dances before everyone else got to dance.

T: "F, when you want to dance with a girl, it's polite to ask her first. You can say 'Hi, would you like to dance with me?'"

F (looking concerned): "But she'll say nnooo!"

Epilogue - she must have said yes, because F and Olivia danced and danced until F was nearly falling over in exhaustion. I think he was asleep in about 15 seconds tonight.

Candy Cane Festival

Saturday was the 10th Annual Candy Cane Festival at Hammond's Candy Factory here in Denver. Hammond's is famous for their handmade lollipops, ribbon, and hard candies that look like this:


We had a brisk but sunny day for Candy festivities. Upon arrival we were immediately waylaid by the Christmas Train.
While the boys were riding the train I investigated the craft tent. It looked pretty good so I bought tickets. Turned out the tickets were good for two crafts, what a bargain! So first we decorated cookies, with Hammond's candies of course.

Then FFM got his much anticipated lollipop AND got to craft it into a Santa. The icing on the cake was making a Rudolph candy cane, too. For those interested, the candy cane is Hibiscus Ginger flavor. Will let you know how it tastes...

We skipped the free tour of the factory, it was just too crowded. Since they're offered all year we'll go back someday when it's not as busy. FFM worked the crowd a bit, made some friends, hugged the costumed Frosty, Rudolph, and Gingerbread Man that were wandering through the crowd, and 'drove' the fire engine that was stationed there for the day. Even Santa and Mrs. Claus were there!

We wrapped up our day with a 'sleigh' ride around the block and caroling, lucky for us we sang the two carols that FFM knows the words to, Jingle Bells and Rudolph. Can you tell Rudolph is a favorite around here this season?

Instant Christmas

Saturday my Aunt Melinda and I converged on my Grandpa Moore's house with our families to create instant Christmas. Grandpa Moore didn't really want to do the whole Christmas tree, decorating, and lights on his own this year but Melinda and I couldn't imagine his house without just a little holiday. We set the guys to work doing the heavy lifting, the kids to trimming the new artificial-pre-lit tree, and we put out all the fragile items. In no time things were merry and bright and Grandpa was thrilled with the results.

Rudolph

Today when I picked FFM up from his "Holiday Cookies" activity I was greeted by a stomping, clomping, reindeer. I guess even in cookie decorating class you do some arts and crafts.

Many, many, many rounds of Rudolph were sung on the way home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall has quickly turned into winter around here. We've been pokey homeowners and slow to rake our leaves. In our yard we only have evergreen trees, but we get leaves from the neighbors and our pine sheds a few needles every year.


FFM helped out a lot
And then a lot more.

We opted for a quiet just-the-three-of-us Thanksgiving this year. Like most of our Thanksgiving history we broke with tradition and had a feast of fondue instead of the traditional turkey. Poor FFM will probably grow up not knowing that most of America watches football and eats turkey for Thanksgiving. At least he's learning about pilgrims and Indians at school.

In other news, FFM is the proud owner of his very own FIRST ski pass. Lucky for him it's free until he's 5. What a deal!

Santa 2010 and the Black Eye

This year's visit to Santa has been much anticipated. For what seems like months I have been peppered with The List nearly every time we drive in the car. Somehow, through no fault of my own, FFM has made the connection that Santa is The Official One to tell The List to and I am merely one to practice on.

Wednesday I get a call from my mom telling me Santa has arrived at the mall and that there is no line. Now, I turn around and look at my child in the backseat of the car. His hair is sticking up a million ways, he's got smears of oatmeal on his too small shirt, and remnants of pink toothpaste on his chin. Not a good Santa day. Friday it is.

We arrive just as the mall is opening and FFM gets to watch Santa arrive, with bells jingling. Hooray! Because we're first in line, he even gets to sit and visit with Santa for extra time while the photographer sets up. He gets his whole list out, and of his own volition, even tells Santa some of the thing he should bring Mommy for Christmas. We stayed for a snack, some playtime at the new mall playground and then headed for the car. I spied some warm clothes (I'm ALWAYS cold now!) and since everyone was still in a very cheery mood we stopped for some unscheduled browsing.

Then BAM. Poor FFM glanced away while he was walking and slammed head first into a table, klonking his left eye. One half inch higher and it would have been a trip to the emergency room. Luckily he's just got a little puncture in his lower eyelid and a pretty good black eye. I now know how to get first aid in the mall and a free teddy bear. It's very vain, but I'm glad we'd already been to tell Santa the list and to get the photo as the kiddo now looks like the walking wounded. He was very brave, and recovered remarkably well, especially after guest services arrived with a bear.

And for grins, from left to right, 2009, 2008, and 2007. As always, lots of cheek.

Quote of the Day

"Mommy, my orange vest is sad."

me: "Why is your orange vest sad?"

"Because I'm wearing my blue vest today."

Chips

Life is slowly returning to normal around here. I can chop things for dinner again and get my right arm up high enough that I can actually wash and brush and blow dry my hair. My shoulder feels OK most of the time, a bit tender and stiff, and it improves daily. Did you know you use shoulder muscles when you sneeze and yawn?!

We just returned from a trip to visit family in Pennsylvania and one of the highlights of the trip was a potato chip factory tour. This was at the request of Mr. Man who wanted to know where chips came from. The factory we got to see not only made regular chips but kettle chips and popcorn, too. That's a lot of chips. About this point in the tour our wee blondie starting asking about tasting some chips. Being veteran factory tourists we were pretty confident we'd get a sample of the wares, we just weren't sure when.

Luckily, just around the bend there was a spot where our guide snagged fresh chips right off the line and dumped them into a basket. FFM started with one chip, then got so excited he started grabbing huge handfuls and couldn't figure out how to hold two handfuls of chips and maneuver them into his mouth. Dad to the rescue.
A batch of popcorn popped up nearby while we were sampling and our guide refilled his tray with some freshly popped corn. Yum!
The whole trip was a 3 year old's delight - Pennsylvania parks, a model train museum, horse and buggies in Amish country, the National Aquarium (he reported he did not like the dolphins), Hershey chocolate factory, and Cousin Audrey's 2nd birthday party. Adults rejoiced, too, as the superfun days and overexcited kiddos resulted in 6:30 bedtimes most nights. We almost sure what to do with that much kid-free time.

Now we're back home and settling into winter. I'm trying not to flinch everytime it drops below freezing and the weather forcast is for snow. Last winter still lives large in my memory - I was cold all winter and seemed to perpetually shovel snow. Good news for me, my therapist says no snow shoveling for me this winter. Even more good news? She says skiing is fine!

Spooktacular

Halloween Spooktacular is a massive Halloween party at our local rec center. Anyone and everyone under the age of 8 is there, and this year we took our neighbor Dylan with us. Of course once there we ran into most of the rest of the neighborhood, but FFM and Dylan had a good time making about 30 laps of the center making sure they had all the best candy and played all the best games.

Meet the Roaring Dragon and the Zombie Army Guy.
Waiting for the Cupcake Walk to Begin.

A real cupcake walk! Travis and both have fond memories of winning cakes and other baked goods at cake walks during our own youth.

Guess who won a cupcake! He's a lucky lucky boy.

Both boys made it through the Haunted Houses that night, FFM through the one for under 5's and Dylan was extra brave and made it through both the little and BIG kid Haunted Houses (he's got a couple years on our kiddo, though. What fun to have age appropriate scariness!

I would like to add a thank you note to Kelly T. for her face painting inspiration - I plunged right in and went full out. The photos here really don't do it justice, our little dragon really looked quite scaly and frightful and was quite pleased with himself and his toothy grin. Thanks Kelly!

My Lost Afternoon

Dear Josh McDaniels:
I agree with the fan that suggested you and your players donate today's salary to charity. Except for one game in freezing sleet many years ago where I nearly lost my husband to hypothermia, I have never ever ever left a game early. When the score tallied 45-14 with no end in sight I walked out on you today.
Sincerely,
One of the 76,125 disgruntled season ticket holders in Denver tonight.

Quote of the Day

"But Mommy, I WANT expensive toys!"

Gimpy

I feel lame. A week ago I had shoulder surgery and I'm still gimpy. All I had done was get three lousy holes poked into my shoulder, a bunch of bone scraped out, and some silly stuff slurped out that I didn't really need anyway. Now all I want to do is lay on the couch all day. I do get to blame some of it on the fact that my entire right arm still doesn't move above the elbow, and only recently did I gain movement from the elbow to my wrist, but I'm starting to get a wee bit restless folks!

I'm not used to being helpless (are any of us? Especially do-it-all mommies). I'm also not used to being a couch potato. I like to read. Or to go for a walk while FFM bikes/scooters/rambles about. Or I knit. And I constantly pick up the piles that we all trail behind us. I Organize, plan, bake things, cook dinner, you know all that day to day fun stuff? And I can't do any of those things one handed. OK, I can sort of read, but it's actually really hard to read one handed for any period of time-you can either hold the book OR turn the pages, but not do both...

So I'm ready for my arm to start moving. Here are some comic things I have tried to do, with varying degrees of success, one-handed with my non-dominant left hand:

blow dry my hair
dust
make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
wash the dishes (doesn't work-hah!)
pour milk out of reusable gallon jug (handle isn't on the side, it's a hinged one on the top)
pull a board game out of a stack of other board games
take lunch, swim gear, backpack, and 3 yr old to school in pouring rain
make no bake cookies
wrap a towel around my wet hair
snap F's pants
do up a bra strap (un-doing is much easier!)
read picture books with kiddo in lap

Every day gets a little better, I'm hoping that next week will see marked improvements. Poor F-ster is a bit bummed out that Mommy is 'broken.' He's been extra gently with hugs and has been very good about minding the right side, but misses snuggles and cuddles and big all over hugs. Must get fixed soon!

Nine

Where were you nine years ago today?
Me? I was busy marrying the love of my life.
Sharing life with Travis, and now our son,
brings me indescribable joy.
Thank you both.

Belated Home-iversary

One year ago we bought our house. I blinked and it's gone. Trite, I know, but so true.

Things are much different a year later. I'm getting more than 4 hours of sleep a night since I'm not doing an overseas move/buying a house/being a single parent all at the same time, there is furniture in the house, new paint on nearly every wall (there are a couple bathrooms holding out) and the once green grass is a disaster. While I'm halfway decent at plants I guess neither Travis or I paid enough attention to our grass this summer. The massive rabbit population that's taken over our neighborhood isn't helping matters, either.

So, for those of you who are wondering if we're settled in, I guess we're as settled as we're going to get. The home improvements will probably go on and on as it's in our nature to constantly improve, but the guest suites are always ready for visitors so come on by!

Mighty Mites

Mighty Mites Soccer started yesterday. FFM's one of two 'littlies' in a group of mostly 5 year old kids, this group is for 3-5 year olds (he is as big as the 5 year olds, but not nearly as coordinated as they are). Watching little kids learn to play group sports is one of the cutest things. The coach knows her stuff and kept them all entertained and learning skills the whole hour. We're looking forward to soccer!

F's the one in the green shirt and denim shorts right in the middle of the picture.

(Sorry the picture is so dark, practice is in a bubble dome so it can continue all winter and the light is really tricky for cameras. Frantic soccer moms were foaming at the mouth! Just kidding, we were all totally mellow about it-but we WERE all taking pictures!).

Farewell Fountain

One of our favorite hangouts this summer was the fountain at Southglenn. Nothing fancy, just some choreographed water jumping out of the concrete, but when it was hot, boy was this the place for us. Some enterprising staff member at the developers office thought some benches and café tables would be a good idea, so on any warm day you could always find a group of parents armed with snacks and towels camped out.

We are still having some pretty warm days, but with school in session and soccer staring up our days are getting too full for fountain playtime before naps. After naps, well, it's getting cool and dark early enough now there's just not enough time in the day to do all we want to do. So now we go to watch the light show at the fountains which is almost, but not quite, as much fun as playing in them.

Grand Canyon

We went on vacation! It was a two part affair- first Phoenix to visit Uncle Q and Aunt Karen, and then we all filled our cars with camping gear and headed up to the Grand Canyon for a bit of camping. After many trips flying over the Grand Canyon I finally got to see it from the ground.

As always, Mr. Man was thrilled to be camping. The first morning we woke to find a buck nonchalantly nibbling the tree next to our tent.
Since we were hiking with a three year old we chose to stick to the south rim trail, along the top of the canyon, and not venture down into the canyon itself. None of us was interested in hauling a pooped kiddo uphill when he gave up. However, he maintained full steam for our entire hike along the rim.

"C'mon Aunt Karen, this way!"

I tried not to panic about edges, and the rule was that off the path FFM had to have hold of someone's hand. He was excellent about remembering it, much to the relief of all in our party. Often the edge of the canyon was steps from the path!

Way, way, way down there you just might be able to see the mighty Colorado River (it's green). While I wouldn't rank the Grand Canyon as the prettiest canyon I've ever seen (it is good looking, though - I took plenty of photos!) it's vastness is astounding.

Hey, look, here we are at the Grand Canyon!

Typical Fall Day

I'm not sure what our official temperature readings for today will be, but it was a typical fall day here in the front range. Our reading here at Euclid Place was a low of 41F and a high of 100F.

This afternoon was the Broncos home opener, yippee! Especially since I got to go to the game with my sweetie while Grannie Annie and Eric babysat. By halftime our seats were well shaded and nice breeze came up, making the game (which we won) quite enjoyable.

It was my mom's birthday today (Happy Birthday Mom!) and while she refused my offer to make her a cake, when we arrived to pick up FFM WE were presented with a tin full of cupcakes the two of them baked today in honor of her birthday. Yum.

Quote of the Day

"Mommy, I did a 'little' naughty."

416 oz

Does anyone know why berries have been so affordable this summer? It's been great, even organic ones have been a steal often enough that we've had some variety of fresh berry in our fridge pretty much since May.

Yesterday in our kitchen we had 416 oz of berries. Our local market had all varieties of berries on sale AGAIN and this time they were SO affordable it was worth it to stock up and make some more jam. We needed to make some more jam because the boys in this house seem to think that it's OK to put heaps of jam on everything and the stash we made this spring is seriously depleted. Not only that, but since the last batch we've all kind of gone off store bought jam, it just doesn't taste as good. Poor Travis was reduced to Welch's one day in his PB&J and you'd think I made him eat bugs for lunch.
So, I bought 16 pounds of strawberries and 8x6oz boxes of blackberries to supplement the 8x6oz boxes already in my deep freeze. Let the jamming begin!

No strawberry jammer should be without this nifty tool. It gets the hulls out in record time and doesn't take much flesh with it. It's cute as a button, too.
Several hours later (things moved along faster after Travis came home and I had a second set of hands to help) we had JAM! Lots and lots of strawberry, and some blackberry. The blackberry is seedless, so we have more waste along the way, but I really dislike blackberry seeds in my teeth.

Think this will last those boys through the winter? Yup. And I might even be able to give some away without Travis giving me dirty looks!

Go Broncos! The maiden voyage...

Travis here again....

Saturday the 21st of August was a momentus day in sports history - FFM's First Broncos Game! In true urban fashion, we rode the train to get to the stadium. The folks sitting across from us managed to guess that FFM and I were headed to watch the Broncos; must have been our aura or something....



At the Mile High train stop there are giant stone footballs - perfect for photos on a beautiful day. "I love football!"The requisite photo outside the south stands, with Bucky standing guard up top. (Trivia buffs: Bucky stood atop the original Mile High and John Elway tried to buy him when the old stadium was being torn down a number of years ago, but good sense and sentiment prevailed and Bucky has a perch for years to come.)
FFM: "Wow! We're wwaaaayyy up here!"

"May I have some more popcorn, please?"

"OOh! Fireworks!"

"Hey Daddy, look at those ladies dancing"

"What's that horse doing down there?"

Daddy: "Isn't this fun, FFM? Just about 20 minutes more until the game starts..."

FFM was looking rather serious in this shot. I think he was checking out the haircut of the guy taking the picture. Or maybe waiting for more popcorn. Anyway, he was having a ball at Broncos vs. Lions.

We stayed through the beginning halftime, even catching a Broncos touchdown with three seconds left in the half (and the resultant fireworks, music, lots of cheering and excitement).

Overall, I think the highlights for FFM were (in approximately this order):

Train ride.

Fireworks and music.

Popcorn/pretzel/nachos.

Ladies dancing (cheerleaders).

Horses on the field (mascots).

Men falling down/somesaulting (actual football).

His next live Broncos game will be next year, and I'm sure he'll be just as enthusiastic.

Bike

I forgot how fast things happen when you're three. It seems like all of a sudden our litle guy's a great big KID. I remember from the days of working with kiddos this age (3-4's were one of my favorite ages to work with) that overnight they'd make these amazing changes.


I guess the balance bike did the trick, we didn't do training wheels at all. Our neighbor across the street got a new bike at the beginning of summer and handed this one down to us with the idea 'someday'. The balance bike has been 2nd chair for a while now, behind the giant green trike WITH PEDALS. After about fifteen minutes of barely hanging on, Travis just let go. I think FFM enjoyed mugging for the camera as much as he enjoyed the freedom of the ride.

A Little Bit About How Cool We Think Our Kid Is

Yes, we're excited. It's a new beginning. Something pretty cool happened yesterday.

It's messy, not anywhere close to right, but it's here. From nothing to something.

FFM wrote his name. All on his own. While we were waiting for pizza dinner! There are actually two N's there and we're still working on scale. Bath crayons on the shower door have been quite successful.

Here's how it happened.

He started dropping the middle out of the alphabet song, which irritated me. Plus I've been reading books about how to prepare your preschooler for reading, which means learning your letters. ALL of them! No leaving out the ones in the middle.

So we've been on an alphabet mission. We play alphabet games in the car, put new batteries in the annoying fridge toy (you parents know, the one that you stick the letters in), and pulled out all the alphabet books. By the way, his number one absolute favorite alphabet book is the one we got at the Australian Post which goes A-Ant B-Bilby C-Crab D-Dingo E-Echidna, etc. I crack up (quietly) every time he works through 'eh-kid-na' but he's getting it!

The next part of the perfect storm was that we're about to go on a massive road trip. Like 850 miles/1400 km. Must. Have. Lots. Of. Entertainment. So I let him pick out a new 'educational' toy. This is what he picked:

The Leapfrog Scribble and Write. I'm not a fan of toys that take batteries, but he is so I try to compromise every once in a while (and Melinda helps sometimes ;). The timing must have been dead on because he played with this non-stop since it came home and his letter recognition went through the roof. Now, all of a sudden, letters are interesting and exciting! Hooray!

He still leaves out the middle of the alphabet song though. Hurumph.

Kid Rock

So I posted some video of our little rocker on facebook, but remembered not everyone is ON facebook. The guitar was a third birthday gift from us (an attempt to be creative and get him to break out of his car rut). It's been a bit hit.
Wheels on the Bus:


Old MacDonald

Cookie Rock

Travis here...

Today we were doing a small project at the side of the house that involved some digging around in the landscape rock. FFM was helping me with the " 'struction", and before long appeared with this piece of antique concrete in his hand.
"Look at this rock, Daddy!"
"What kind of rock is that, FFM?"
"It's a cookie rock!"
And so it is; what do you suppose we'll dig up next time?

It's Been a Big Week

We like busy weeks, which is great because we've had a lot of them lately. This past week (give or take) we got a lot of good news, had a lot of good times, and got to see some family and friends.

We learned our cousin Matt got into pharmacy school and he's in the process of moving from Kansas out here to Denver to attend Regis University. Go Matt!

Another cousin, Sarah, set a date for her wedding to a great guy, Brian. He makes her really happy and that makes me happy :)

FFM, Travis and I were all featured photos taken at the Denver Museum of Science Members Night. They had a professional photographer taking photos for new marketing materials they are working on for some of their new exhibits and we got snapped (OK, he really liked FFM and sort of followed him around the museum). I had no idea they were public and online until a friend of mine spotted us on facebook. Thanks Mollie!

F I and got our tongues dyed blue all in the name of science!

F found a bench shaped like an alpaca and went on a joyous ride.

FFM started a Spanish class and is learning numbers, colors, and who knows what else all in Spanish, a language I have an extremely limited vocabulary in. The teacher kicked out all the moms on the first day so all I know he's learning for sure is the fun bird song they end each class with. I can tell you birds say cheep cheep in Spanish just like they do in English (and they do it in the car all the way home, too).

Our neighborhood picnic was this past weekend and at the last minute we learned that someone arranged for the fire department to come with one of their fire trucks. Oh my, what a hit with all the kids. Not only did they get a hands on tour of the outside and inside of the truck, they all got to sit in the drivers seat (F was FIRST in line) and honk the horn, turn on the lights, and run the siren! The open space where the picnic was held was at the end of our street so that's where the truck parked. FFM is still talking about the fire truck that parked on his street.

My Grandpa Minnick just celebrated his 85th birthday. He and my grandma and uncle came all the way out here from Kansas so I was lucky enough to get to celebrate it with him. FFM was in heaven with all the attention.

The fall term of preschool starts tomorrow, we went to the open house last week, and during the open house FFM announced 'I love Miss Walker. Can I go to school NOW?' Tomorrow morning cannot come soon enough for F, who is the ONLY kid on our street who is excited about school starting this week!