End of Another Season

Lucas has really found his groove when it comes to Baseball.

He is an excellent catcher. It is his favorite position.

 He had a great coach, and can't wait until the spring.

Lucas is really into watching baseball and following the stats as well. Next year we will have to all jump on that bandwagon.

Gold Digging

Our children are HUGE fans of Gold Rush on Discovery. It is a reality show and it is pretty cool.

At least they aren't watching SpongeBob, right?

Anyway, we decided that today we were going to search for "gold" - in Colorado, that means gold leaves.

Hehehe.

We were prepared for the colder temps.

 Then, off we went to Idaho Springs, for a special fall activity.

 They are rebuilding one of the tunnels...it was cool to see.

 Once we got there we went straight to Beau Jo's for lunch.

We ordered the Nachos. Lucas was stunned.

And, when at BeauJo's you must order a pizza.

And enjoy the old time activities.

Then we walked over to the train.

 The kids enjoyed running and playing in the train. After that we walked up the creek.

 

 Mason, couldn't get close enough...

We had so much fun up by the creek, we decided to go to the actual gold mine.

 The kids were thrilled. They knew what all the equipment was named and its function.

Then, of course, we panned for gold.

It was a great day to be outside and with family.

A Free Day

I took the 2 week challenge of no picture taking and blogging. I decided to spend time with my kids and not document every last second of it. I was reading a magazine article at the doctors office about how the next generation is so programmed to look at a camera that nothing is genuine, nothing is special, because everything is special. The article went into how we use social media and our phones to out do and one up other mothers to justify staying at home. Or to show everyone what fun we are having, so we can hide the hard stuff...the real stuff. While I don't agree with the entire article, I do agree that having a phone with a camera readily available, it is easy to think everything is cute, and over document the mundane. I have more pictures of my younger two than I do of my older three. 

It was a great two weeks off. We rode our bikes, we colored with chalk till the street lights came on, made messes, and life went on.  I do love to blog, I like to post about what we did, so we can go back and look later. I do like reading other peoples blogs, and I love taking pictures. I think it was a good reset for me and my family. We slowed down and really enjoyed each others company.

Okay, enough with the rant.

Yesterday was conference day.

I prepared myself for 2 very different reports.

I asked the kids before I left, if there was anything they were worried about before I talked to their teachers.

Bridget said "nope, I know I am great, I know my teacher loves me."

Lucas said "well, I got a warning the other day for uncontrollable laughter. I tried, but the giggles were just inside of me."

And that is why I prepared for two different conferences.

Bridget's would obviously be less than positive and Lucas's would be stellar.

But, I digress, they were both awesome!

Bridget is above grade level in reading and math, and her teacher loves her.

Bridget is very helpful (read motherly)

Bridget has made friends with everyone in class, in fact, everyone writes about her in their journal. Haha.

Lucas has surprised his teacher. His vocabulary and fluency is off the charts. He is at a 5th grade reading level, and, she has promised to continue to challenge him. The problem is content. 5th grade reading levels means more mature literature and concepts. Lucas is just as high in math, and he only really had a problem with handwriting. He hates to write. He can, he just hates it. He writes a lot, has great content, but the penmanship is ... well ... hideous. I have decided to make that my personal mission at home. For all 3 older kids. Although, Bridget has beautiful handwriting. :)

After conferences, we headed over to Costco.

Juliet loves Pandas.

After Costco we went to Toys R Us because they kids each had $5 vouchers to use up.

Oh look, Juliet and another panda.

The kids enjoyed TRU

Then we went to Chick Fil A

I realize I just posted pictures of dumb things, but my Grandma has asked to see pictures of the kids. :)

LOL

Here are a few more from the past 2 weeks:

So, that's it.

I will post more, GiGi.

We are back to business as usual. :)

A bit of School Stuff

Bridget was so excited to have B at school. Lucas had to wait FOREVER to get W when he was in Kindergarten. She brought Blueberries for snack and filled her B bag with:

Ballet Shoes, Bubbles, Bike, Bun in a Bag, Baby, Battery, Buster Bunny, Bat, Band-aid, Brothers, and Baby Bridget. she wore a braid and barrettes and a bun in her hair.

That night was the schools Summer Reading Program Reward Sleep Over. Last year Lucas and Mason got matching jammies. Bridget earned the sleepover this year too, so everyone got matching jammies.

 We had to wait to feed the kids because Lucas and Bridget had dinner at the school. We normally eat dinner at 5:30 sharp, but the sleepover set dinner at 6:30 so we let the kids jump in the backyard while we waited.

The kids had a great time. Bridget was especially excited because her teacher spent the night too!

Pet Store Visit

We try to go to the pet store every year. Not because we will EVER get a pet, but because the kids have such a great time. Mason and Juliet were in heaven. We went on a Tuesday during Colorado's crazy rain/flood weather because Lucas's baseball practice was cancelled.

We spent too much time there and decided to go to Chili's for dinner. 

It was such a fun day (for them) and helped break up the "you can't go outside" for the 4th day in a row.