Make new friends but keep the old...

...some are silver and the others gold. Ted has found some true golden friendships in his K/1 buddies. He, Kai, Pete and Omri share a love for each other that is truly special. With Pete off in Fort Collins, they don't see each other very often but when they do, they light up with joy. Today was Pete's 7th bday party and I drove the 3 boys out there for the adventure. They had a great time, although Ted had a short period of sadness when Pete's other new school friends arrived. He spent some time in Pete's room by himself, commenting to me that he really missed Pete. He got through it though (Kai and Pete came looking for him, which was really sweet) and they spent the rest of the party having a blast. Here is a pic of our four fast friends. I hope they continue to stay close, because friendships like these are rare and precious. We love you, Pete!

Sam's Pre-K Graduation

Sam graduated from Pre-School on Wednesday. It was, as expected, incredibly bittersweet. The kiddos sang a bunch of adorable songs (well, Sam didn't sing. He suddenly got stage fright.) and they were presented with their books (a 3-ring binder of all their "work" all 3 years. Sam reads his every. single. night. And during the day as well. So cute.) Then there was a big party on the playground (with Penguin cake!) What a blast. Here is a brief clip from Graduation and pics of Sam and his buddies. We have only one more year at the JCC for Mae. Only one more year with Caroline the incredible teacher. I can't imagine life without those teachers in it. Thank goodness for Sunday School! Sam has on a white T-shirt over a red long-sleeved shirt. He's in the middle of the stage, NOT singing. Heh.



With his buddy Jacob and his favorite teacher Dan:

Bolder Boulder: Triple Edition

This was Ted's 1st year doing the Bolder Boulder and he enjoyed it for about the first 3 miles, then walked. He was cheerful though, and had LOTS of energy after the race, so we may look into feeding him more next year. He finished in 2:01:17.

Paul and I ran our hardest this year. Paul zipped in at 43:31, slower than last year by 35 seconds (!) but still pretty amazing, in my humble opinion. Then he ran about 3 miles back to Rob's house to collect Ted, and then ran-walked it again with him. He's a superstar. At least now he knows how a half marathon feels. Ouchy!

I had my best time ever this year. I came in at 1:00:39, for an overall pace of 9:47. I felt good the whole time, except perhaps Mile 4, when I considered making up a story about just doing it with Ted, so I could stop. But I powered through and felt fine by Mile 5. I'll eat more next year too. I tried to catch a glimpse of Ted and Paul (and Mr. Wenzlick from TKD! Thanks for running with Ted, Mr. W.!) but missed them at the 2K. I joined them just after the 5 Mile and we all ran in together. (click to see larger)

After collecting our goody bags, we went to the stadium to watch the elite runners coming in. That was really exciting. Then we had the skydivers (beautiful landings this year!), the gun salutes, the speech and finally the national anthem. And then ... a huge clap of thunder and a downpour. Keep in mind we were WAY up in the stadium. We huddled for a while til the crowds thinned and then made our way into the stadium where we hung out for a long time til the rain slowed to a light drizzle. Then we made our way to Broadway where Angel Rob picked us up, drove us to his house (he took care of Ted this morning) and gave us hot tea. Ahhh....

All in all, a fabulous run. A great day for it too, cool and cloudy. It was very kind of the rain to hold off as long as it did. But wow! We were soaked.

I came in 153rd out of 575 (in my division) which is in the top 27%. Woot! You were right Wendy. I CAN get better as I get older. Cool!!! Pics to come, when they are posted on the BB website.

so many updates, so little time

OK, let's update. Where to start? Bullets will work for this purpose, I think.

• Singing: I'm singing in the HHS House Band for my friend Marcia, who just had a baby girl.
  
• Also singing with Temple Sinai for Shavuot. I have to sing soprano this time - blah!
• Ted: glasses, Vision Therapy & Tutoring are all going well. He is fine with all of it and it seems to be helping him a lot. His reading has improved noticeably since all of this. Not quite as much of an improvement as I was hoping, but he'll get there. And he looks so handsome!
• Ted & D: after talking with the Asst. Principal and with D's mom, we have some plans for the boys. Since the boys talked with the Asst. Principal, there have been no more problems between them. Hooray!
• Tri: I'm going to train for my 1st Triathlon. After watching Wendy do one last weekend, I was inspired. I may be terrible, but the training alone will be fantastic. It's a Sprint, so a 1/2 mile swim (in open water!), 12 mile bike & 5K run. I'll train with the Tri Babes, a Boulder group that does group workouts as well as sending the members 'what to do for the week.' I love that kind of stuff.
• House: still not much news. The warranty company is officially annoying me now and I will get on them more aggressively next week. We are waiting on the bids so we can hire a repair company to GET STARTED ALREADY! Oy.

I think that's about it. Life has been very busy with TKD classes, swim classes, running, therapies, volunteering and end of the year planning (Sam's graduation!) Three more days of school left. Amazing.

Tomorrow Ted, Paul and I will run the Bolder Boulder. Paul is in the AB wave, I'm in EE and Ted is in PE. Paul will run with Ted and I will meet them at the end, unless I get to PE in enough time to join them; then we'll do it together, with Paul being my insurance that Ted will not get lost should he decide to run the whole way. Wish us luck!

Gotcha Day Anniversary

We celebrated Mae's 3 year Gotcha Day anniversary on Friday night. We had Chinese take out and she picked a Madagascar cake. Ted's been sick so we couldn't have our traditional party with Wendy's crew. It's amazing that she has only been with us for 3 years. I suppose she isn't much more than 3 years old anyway, but it sure feels like she's been with us forEVER! Now that she is getting older and talking more and more about her beginnings, we are starting to talk about returning to China to visit. Ted wants to work in an orphanage for a summer ... I may have to look into whether programs like that exist. The other day Mae asked me why her skin was darker than mine and why we didn't look the same. I answer all her questions as honestly as I can and as 'easily' as I can, so she doesn't pick up any tension in the questions. I want her to always feel that she can ask me anything without it being "weird." So far, so good. Happy Gotcha Day, Mae!

Noodles in China, 2006 and Noodles at home, 2009. Some things never change.

Glasses

Ted has a mild cold. With all the Swine Flu hype, I kept him home today. We went to pick up his glasses this morning, ran some errands and had lunch with Wendy and Adam, all before picking up Sam, Mae & Ariel from preschool. Then home for Mae's nap. While I was putting Mae down for her nap, the boys called up to me that they were going on an adventure. "Have fun!" I replied, figuring they were going to the cul-de-sac, where they usually go. About 20 minutes later, I decided to run up and check and they weren't there. I had my neighbor stay at the house with Mae, had my other neighbor Karlie drive around and Ole and I jogged every street in our neighborhood. I called Safeway and Walgreens, to see if they had seen them. I was on my way back home to start driving around myself when I turned onto my street to see an ambulance and sheriff car at my house. Turns out they were having a picnic quite aways away, and a concerned mom flagged down a cop. Besides feeling like I definitely deserve the Mother of the Year Award now, if I didn't before, I also need to seriously reconsider the freedom I give them. I let them play out front alone, because I trust our neighborhood, know all our neighbors and can usually hear them. They have been told repeatedly not to cross streets alone, and have shown us that they understood that rule. Until today.  Thank GOD nothing happened to them. Now I'm going to have a glass of wine.