47%

47%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

I saw this over at Beth's Blog (PP) and thought I'd check it out. I honestly thought I would have a higher score, so I am pretty pleased with myself! Hee.

Busy busy

WOW it has been busy lately. I think the catalyst for this frenetic week has been Ted's every-day Chautauqua camp, which he has LOVED. It's tough to get up and out the door every single morning with all 3 kids. Today Ted had the busiest day EVER. Camp from 9-12, swimming at 1:30, TaeKwonDo at 4:15 and then more swimming with his friend Jack at 5. Crazy!! He is passed out now. I also think he ate more food today than any other day to date. I think he ate 6 sandwiches today (breakfast, camp snack, lunch, and 2 at dinner). We are keeping the bread companies in business! He also had about 4 bananas and 3 plums. Oy!
Sam set a new record for himself tonight by CHOOSING to swim in the deep end of Jack's pool. He was jumping in, swimming around, goofing off, and generally being a big kid. It was great to see. He always hangs out in the baby pool so this is awesome! Yay Sam!
I realize I haven't posted about Mae lately, but she has been rockin' on the potty and bed things. Dry at night and at naps, doesn't get out of her bed, this kid ROCKS!
Oh, and notice anything different about me? Heh. I've wanted to do this for years and years but I've always felt held back by something. I guess I figured 36 years old is old enough to do what I want! Besides, I need to keep my kids on their toes!

Winter Park

This weekend was blissful. We left on Friday afternoon and had an easy, painless drive on 70 to Winter Park. It is so beautiful up there. We arrived at Sarah's around 6 and took a tour of her gorgeous log home. SO beautiful. It was actually built by a company called Lincoln Logs....and it looked exactly like that. SO amazingly beautiful. And peaceful. And the company!! It was exactly what's always lacking from our monthly dinners-time and beds to sleep in! We chatted until one of us fell asleep, and then went to bed and slept in and kept on talking! We went out to dinner one night and had the BEST Mojitos. Oh, it was wonderful. I even went down the scary Alpine Slide! I am completely refreshed (although I am tired because we had to walk 14 miles on Sunday and I'm feeling it!) It's nice to be physically tired and not emotionally drained, however. Mae crashed off of a retaining wall last night and didn't stop crying until this afternoon, when Wendy put an official "biker scab band aid" on her (I'll update with the website when I get it. I'm going to get more of these band aids- she hasn't made a peep since!) Ted also has some serious road rash on his nose (it looks like frostbite-a complete layer of skin was scraped off by afore-mentioned retaining wall!) and Sam had quite an interesting encounter with a toilet and the floor today...much mess was made. But I'm cheerful! I'm VERY tired and plan to go to bed early, but I think that would have happened regardless.

Update! As usual, Wendy took some AMAZING pictures in Winter Park. HERE they are. Man, she is good.

Story Time

This morning we went to Storytime at the Louisville Library. It's geared towards Toddlers, so it was perfect for Mae and Ariel. The older boys did fine though, and then we all went to swimming classes. Poor Mae and Sam didn't get a nap in today with all our goings-on so everyone crashed tonight after our Wahoo's walk/bike ride. Tomorrow afternoon I leave for Winter Park with two moms I've known since Ted was teeny. I'm looking forward to sleeping in and staying up late drinking wine...can't wait! I'm not bringing the computer, so I'll post again Sunday night!

garlic scape hummus

Our CSA has been both gratifying and frustrating. I'm not a lettuce lover, and we get an abundance every week. However, I do love all the new things we get to try. I'd never had turnips or garlic scapes or bok choy before. And now we love them all. Here's a recipe for garlic scape hummus that was in our newsletter this week. I fixed it tonight and it's really delicious. YUM.

Garlic Scape Hummus
(from www.dakotagarlic.com)
2 cans garbanzo beans, drained
1 cup sesame seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh chopped garlic scapes

Place the ingredients in a blender on high until a thick paste forms.

cool gadget

My friend Colleen told me about these handy things. They are bookmarks with a timer on them. Since we are on a roll with the reading, stopping is often an issue for Ted. This way, we'll all know when to stop. Since my timer is on my microwave downstairs, this will be nice for the bedtime read. Cute!! Check them out here.

crazy day

Today Mae and Ariel had a little photo shoot together and then I took the girls to the bagel store. They split an egg and cheese on a spinach bagel and a peaches 'n cream smoothie. Both girls loved the smoothie...Ariel didn't care much for the egg but liked the melted cheese on the bagel. More than her cookie, actually. She is so cute. I took Mae home for her nap, only to receive a call from the JCC half an hour later. Renee thought that Ted shouldn't stay for Enrichment; apparently he was having a very emotional day and had his feelings hurt. He'd been crying for a long time and wanted to come home. So I got Mae up again and off we went. We did make a DQ stop to help in the cheering up process. He seemed fine to me, although he was very mad at his friend. He confronted him in the hall, hands on his hips, and said loudly, "How'd you like it if YOU were me and I didn't help YOU? How would that make YOU feel?" Good words, Ted! He and Sam watched Star Wars VI while Mae took another nap. I wanted to go to the pool tonight but Sam is pretty fried so we may just lay low. My car said 98 today. We turned on the air for the first time today. Bummer.

cutie

My big girl.

We had fun at our neighborhood pool today. Pics on moeltini.

First stamp!

We finished Book 2 of MTH this afternoon and Ted took the quiz. Very simple quiz, IMO. So he got his first stamp for his passport. He is SO excited. Alex gave us the next 3 in the series (Books 1, 3 & 4) so we are set! This is fun.

In other news, Ted ripped the upper frenum in his mouth(OW!), bruised the gums at his two front teeth and his lower lip is bruised purple from his bottom teeth crashing into it. OW OW OW. He was a trooper and we luckily had appointments at the dentist on Monday morning anyway. He ran into his friend Luke while playing soccer with the neighborhood kids and Paul on Father's Day. Poor kiddo. He also has two cavities, so after his mouth has healed up, we'll get those filled. Darn gumballs. I should have taken a pic when he first did it, because it's healed up pretty well now. I would post a pic of his torn frenum but I'd have to include a 'graphic content' warning because it's so gross!

Backpacks

Paul had the kiddos all to himself Sunday morning.

Summer "Reading"

Since Ted can't read yet, I'm not worried about his reading skills disappearing before the school year begins. However, it turns out that The Magic Treehouse series is 37 books long...and has a great little passport with stamps to earn as an incentive to really read/listen for comprehension. Ted does really well, I think, at listening when being read to, and usually can fill in the word for me if he's heard the book before. I didn't realize that he really liked these books, but Alex is into them and Wendy lent me the 2nd book (they read the 1st one in preschool). Tonight we read 2 chapters, and I think if he hadn't been exhausted (more on that later) he would have protested more at stopping so soon. I think we'll have a goal to complete the passport by the first day of school. It shouldn't be hard...but I might have to read more than 2 chapters a night. I might set the timer...I think his Kindergarten reading homework is 20 minutes a day, minimum. Until he starts reading, it's up to us. These are cute books and historical fiction is right up my alley. Check out their website for more info.

Happy Father's Day!

Here is Paul's Father's Day card. Click for a larger view. He's having cream chipped beef (vegan of course!) on toast tonight too. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! I'm off to call my dad right now!

Bed Report

I am happy to report that Mae did GREAT last night!! And, she is napping now. I think the key to this is that she is still unable to open doors. She stayed in her bed all night and looked mighty cozy. This morning, Paul sent Sam up to get her when she woke up. She did wake 2-3 times last night, but was easily patted back to sleep. I am so proud of her! I think she really likes it.

sweet dreams?

Let's hope so!

Rush! in NoBo

Today was a hot one, in the 90s. Mae stayed cool as a cucumber at PALs and had a blast, as usual. We went to a new (favorite) smoothie spot, Rush!, in North Boulder, across the street from 4580, a JCC parent-owned delicious restaurant. Rush! was formally called Xoom Juice, basically a healthier version of Jamba Juice. Because it was opened by a JCC family, Ted and I used to frequent it often back when he was a Caterpillar. It was good...but locations on The Hill are tough with kiddos/minivans. Now there is another location (re-named Rush!) in NoBo, and this one has some AMAZING things! I ordered a tropical bowl, which was different exotic fruits blended to perfection, served with hemp granola & agave on top. YUM. Amazingly delicious. I hope we go there again and again! Mae and Ariel split the "Goldilocks and the 3 Strawberries" smoothie.

Lotsa swimmin'

What a fun summer day today was! We started the day at Kylee's pool. It is beautiful and idyllic and perfect for a hot summer day. Ahhh....
Except for Sam's massive diarrhea attacks (luckily he got out of the pool in time, each time!), it was a blast.
At noon, we headed back to Boulder for the kids' back-to-back swim classes. Ted is in strokes again this summer (He was last summer too but rebelled in the Fall. Hopefully he'll be more mature this go-around!). After swimming we headed over to the Starbucks at 29th Street Mall, which has a nice outdoor play area adjacent to the store, complete with a Family (i.e. mini potty) Restroom. Ted and Alex played at Alex's kindergarten playground for a while this evening before Ted and I finally scored the essential sideboards for Mae's toddler bed. Paul says he'll put it together this weekend. Too exciting! Tomorrow Mae has her first summer PALs. Should be fun!

croc envy

I couldn't help it.

Mae's other friend!

For the first year of Mae's life, her only real friend was Henry, which actually ended up being a perfect match. I am so grateful to Erin for having such a cool little dude for my girl to hang out with! Since January, Mae has been in Ariel's company most days too. (Ariel is Alex & Adam's cousin and Wendy nannies for her.) Ariel is 3 months younger than Mae but they get along beautifully. Ariel, at 19 months old now, is really getting funny. Yesterday she was chasing Mae around Wendy's house, trying to hold her hand, giggling the whole time. She is so cute. I'm so glad Mae has a little girlfriend too.

Happy Birthday!!

Tonight was fun. We had Paul's favorite meal: black bean & corn tacos, with chips and hot salsa. I made up Rumba's famous Floriditas (equal parts Gold Rum, Cointreau & lime juice) and baked a rum cake, which Wendy decorated to look like a soccer ball. His Crocs (very manly, army green) and fancy drink glasses were a hit. I think it's been a good birthday. We love you, Paul! Check moeltini for more pics!

croup

Figures. All but 2 families from our travel group are in town and Mae comes down with CROUP and has to stay home. Grrrr. She's been coughing at night for a few days now so I took her in. You'd think by the 3rd child I'd have this figured out, but no. I think all 3 kids have/had it, actually. I think Paul and I may have had it too! Our whole family started coughing almost 2 weeks ago, one by one. But it always cleared up after a while and there are no symptoms during the day, so... duh.

I spent Sunday morning walking 12 miles (read about it here) and the rest of the day at the Boulder Jewish Festival with Ted, while Mae & Sam napped. This week the boys have summer camp at the JCC (Sam's exiting Caterpillar/entering Butterfly class is aptly labeled "Chrysalis" for the summer. TOO cute.) Tonight is Paul's little birthday party at home. In case he checks the blog this afternoon, I'll save the details for later. Should be a fun and delicious evening.

Brown Couch

It was wonderful to see 8 out of 10 Huaihua girls tonight. From Left to Right: Amber, Addie, Zoe, Angelina, Kate, Mae, Caitlan & Sophia. The girls played together beautifully, seemingly picking up from the last time they were together. Mae interacted mostly with Zoe and Caitlan and had a blast. More fun is in store for the next few days too. Click on the pic for a larger view.

FFFF Challenge: MESSY!

I haven't done one of Donna's photo challenges in ages! But this one called out to me like no other! Mae is an incredibly messy eater. She has to have a bath almost every night, just to wash her hair. She thinks oatmeal, beans & rice and yogurt are particularly good conditioning products, I think. She is also guilty of grabbing a few (messy) pieces of food before catapulting off her booster chair and running gleefully from the kitchen. If you'd like to participate too, click here! Wendy took this pic of Mae at Ted's birthday party. Cracks me up every time I look at it.

another biking success

Yet again, I forgot my camera, thus the stock photo on the right. *sigh* Today after Farm Camp I took Jack home to play. After Sam & Mae napped, and Paul got home, I took the 3 boys to Wahoo's/Noodles for dinner, on our bikes. Sam rode on the tagalong, only because I didn't want to hoof it again like last night. All the boys did great biking, snarfed their food like champs, and biked home without complaining (til the very end, but even I walked up the last hill. Uphill with a 40lb kiddo on back is HARD for a wimp like me.) All in all, lots of fun. The tagalong is now officially attached to Paul's bike, although it rubs on the wheel sometimes so I'm not sure how to fix that. It didn't do that to my bike, so it may be that Paul's wheels are technically too tall for it, in which case we'll switch it and put the baby seat on Paul's. I can ride either bike and now can pick which child to transport. Tomorrow we go to Rob & Renee's around 4 to meet up with our travel group! Can't wait!

bits and bobs

Yes, back to bullets. This has been a chaotic week!

• The boys had their first Sunflower camp, Wed-Fri. They've come home filthy, tired and happy. I love the farm. Bren (the owner) reminded me that since Mae is potty-trained, she could do the last August session! They take 2 year olds. Hmm. I'll have to see if she could be in Sam's group. If so....that would be cool!
• Our CSA pickup tonight was refreshingly diverse! (we've had a lot of lettuce!) We received spinach, turnips, garlic scapes, more lettuce, and bok choy. I have some excellent-sounding recipes for the turnips and the garlic scapes (something I'd never heard of! Just the tops of garlic before they're full matured, usually discarded but apparently delicious!) appear in simple sautees with a squirt of soy sauce. We've demolished the spinach already and I want to try a soup with the bok choy and leftover dried porcini mushrooms. Hooray!
  
• Sam went on my walk with me tonight. He biked while I walked (and jogged) by his side. He did 4 miles and never complained. Read about it here.
• My travel group (except for one family we will miss terribly) is starting to arrive from various parts of the US. This will be a very busy next couple of days, but so exciting! We have dinners planned for Fri-Sun and possible Denver activities next week. I can't wait to see everyone, especially those that didn't make it to the winter reunion (Sophia & Amber's families!) We will miss the Mikans so much! I hope that next year we can go there, to make sure to see them!
  
• Today in TaeKwonDo, Ted surprised everyone with his total command of the "Shark" self-defense maneuver. He was firm, loud and exact in his movements and commands. Whoops from the peanut gallery (not just me!) confirmed his success. He was pretty proud.
  
• Paul's birthday is Monday! He'll be 38 years young. Fun!
  

Mid-week events

This is an old picture, but I forgot my camera. On Tuesday, we braved the high 70's & cloudy temps and went to the pool for the first time! We were one of 2 families there. Too funny. Erin joined us with Henry and then Alex et al showed up and we biked to the park for Popsicles (poor Alex took a serious fall but was tough enough to walk all the way home, which was impressive! He even needed a new helmet because he hit his head in the fall.) That night, after TaeKwonDo, Ted, Mae & I joined Wendy and the gang for yet another epic adventure (read about it here). We got home after 9pm and the boys had to be up and at 'em for Sunflower Farm Camp on Wednesday. Boy, they love that camp. Even more fun, this session Ted's friends Alex & Jack were in his group and Sam's friends Adam, Jason, Ben & Jack were in his group! They have camp Thursday and Friday too.

Big Boy

Is it just me (and my mom), or does Ted look really grown up today?! We scored this outfit from our friend Blake last year. It's a size 6-7 and I assumed Ted wouldn't wear it for ages. Well, it fits! Yikes! It matches his eyes beautifully, I must say. *sniff*

Paul at the BB

We were psyched to have 6 photos to choose from this year. He looks good! WTG, Paul! He will be in Wave BA next year. In case you're wondering, the mysterious gray blob in his right hand is his cell phone. Too bad he finished the race before we got there! ;-)

Biking into Fall

This summer is booked up with fun summer camps and plans of lazy days by the pool (and long walks for me at night and on weekends.) Once Aug. 16 (!) comes, I will be in charge of getting Ted to school by 8:10, hanging out with Mae, and then picking Sam up at 1 from preschool, hanging out some more, and finally picking Ted up at 3. I have figured out a fun adventure for Ted and Mae (and me) that involves biking, childcare and time for me to run. The East Boulder Community Center is located due east of Horizons (#20 on the map). While the path there isn't particularly direct, it looks like a combination of multi-use & bike paths should get us from the Rec Center to Horizons. If I have Mae in the baby seat and Ted on his bike, he can lock his bike at school. Mae & I can bike back to the rec center, where I can drop her off for 90 minutes ($6.50) of childcare while I work out, in some way. There is also a sweet little pool there, so after I pick her up, we could potentially swim, play at the nearby park, or even enroll in a little class such a gymnastics or dance. Looks good to me. We may not live in Boulder, but I would love to bike around as much as possible before the snow comes. Woo hoo!
Oh, and it's only 9 miles from my house to Horizons, but it's mostly on a paved shoulder on a major street. I don't think Ted is up for that alone, but perhaps on Tue/Thu, when Paul will stay with Mae & Sam while I take Ted in to school, we could bike to school with Ted on the tag-a-long. Very exciting prospects for limiting our time in the car.
Click on the map for a larger view. I've traced our route in red, but my mouse hand is pretty shaky, so rest assured that doesn't mean I'll weave around like that on my bike! Because it's red, it's hard to see, but we will be on Baseline for a little bit.

9.5 miles today

Ole is sore. I think he's getting old. Click here to read about our long walk. It was a beautiful day!

Estes

Every summer our chavurah gets the pleasure of going up to Estes Park to the family cabin of one of our families. It is a quick hour drive and the views are breathtaking. There are hikes galore and just around the cabin are huge boulders for the kids to climb around on. We look forward to it every year and this year was the best yet. Mae took a great nap in the Pack 'n Play in one of the 'out buildings' and the boys played with their friends peacefully for the most part. What a great day. More pics on moeltini.