Grandma and Grandpa's Autumn Visit

This past week we had a wonderful visit with Grandma and Grandpa Conlin.  They came into town during our busy fall season and stayed for nearly a week, so they were able to see the boys having fun while doing their thing...or should I say things?! 

Our days were quiet, and always included a yummy, lingering grown-up lunch, but the evenings and weekend were packed with activity.  No problem though!  They kept up and kept smiling and cheered the boys on through it all.  They attended soccer games and cross country races and rode along to keep company while we drove carpools.  Grandpa chipped in a HUGE helping hand with Zac's Eagle Scout project, which we were all especially grateful for because that was a monumental task, and Grandma took on a few dinners so we were eating at a normal time, rather than super late as we do sometimes on our busier nights.  One night she made us FIVE batches of Grandma Pancakes, another it was sticky buns and scrambled eggs.  That is a labor of love!

We were able to share our 17th Annual Conlin Family Fall Feast with them, one of our favorite nights of the year, as well as the super/harvest/blood/total lunar eclipse.  It was a lovely time and it felt so good to have them here, showering us with love.  The boys always light up extra bright when they are with our extended family; it makes them feel so valued and a part of something bigger than just our little tribe, so these visits are incredibly important to us and so appreciated.  Thanks for the visit, Mom and Dad/Grandma and Grandpa!  We love you bunches!

The Bits: September 8th Through September 18th

More September Bits:

Four stinky boy feet ready for their essential oil massage nightly routine.  They don't let me "accidentally" forget.

This is one fantastically clean van!  After not one, but TWO boys had carsickness incidents over the Labor Day weekend, we thought it best to give it all a good scrub down.

Helping Josh's 5th grade class create their own mini water cycles during science time at school.  I'm really enjoying volunteering at the kids' school this year.

Growing up, my sister and I played all kinds of elaborate imaginative games, including the kid classic "hot lava monster."  So it makes my heart all fuzzy when Luke and Tommy play just like Leah and I did.  One of my favorites is "Carrots of Doom," like the lava game, they can't touch the wood floor (which reminds them of carrots, hence the name) when the kitchen light is on (or the Carrots of Doom are on), unless they have the "magic tie" (a rope).  There are about 50 more funny little rules to this one.  It's a crack up!  Unless I'm trying to get them out the door for school.  Then it's just irritating.

Picture Day volunteer!  I've been surprised to find that the free time I thought I'd have after the kids started back to school is pretty limited with all the little tasks I've lined up for myself, including a lot of volunteering at the school.  I'm glad to be busy.  I'm still getting used to this no-kids at home thing, and I like to feel needed.

These five boys all play soccer together and all five finished in the top ten at the Palmer Lake meet.  So cool!

Ben placed FIRST at his second cross-country meet up at the Palmer Lake Trail Head.  He was so speedy and finished well ahead of the second place 7th grade boy.  WOOOOOT!

We are having a summery heatwave right now, dry and hot, but interspersed among all the sweltering days, we have had a few that testify of an imminent fall...and the winter that comes right on its heels.  As I sweat through these September days feeling annoyed, I am trying to remember that our winters are so long and it's OK to have summer linger a little, even if I think I am ready for sweater weather.

I remember watching the horrific evens of September 11th, 2001 unfold, holding this darling little chunk of a boy extra tight.  My love for my little family gave me the best reason to hope on, carry on and believe in the power of good as we faced the uncertainty of a future in a new reality that held potential for so much evil and destruction.  I am so grateful for all the ways I have witnessed the light shining through the darkness--then and since.

Having two Olympic-hopeful fencers share their inspiring thoughts and talents at the Reading Olympics kick-off assembly for AIES is one of the neat things about living in the same city as the Olympic Training Center.  So fun for the kids and adults alike to see them in action, and they were really stand-up guys.  We hope we can root for them in 2016!

This is pretty much how I feel after every long run as I train for my half-marathon at the end of October.

Family Dance at AIES: Night at the Museum theme.  Clockwise from upper left: Josh and Eli sell treats and drinks at the 5th grade fundraiser; Tommy with his favorite new kindy friend, Kate; my pirate and ancient Roman citizen, straight out of the museum; Luke and Cooper cutting a rug; Josh and Eli shaking a leg; me and my cuties.  We missed Adam and the two older boys, who were at Ben's team dinner.

Ben's team dinner!  We sure love this team.  It's a perk of membership when your coach's wife is a professional caterer.  YUM!  Archie is Zac's Pride coach, too (when he plays club again in the spring), so he was happy to tag along.

How Luke watches soccer.

Tommy's team won their first game of the season!  I think Tommy touched the ball more during this game than during the entire spring season.  More soccer, less waving to Mom and Dad!

Am I an embarrassing mom by making Zac and his friends pose for a picture when I dropped them off at the RHS Football tailgating party?  No.  Am I a stalker mom because I took a picture of them through the window after they got out of the car?  Yes, yes I am.

Gentle twilight.

One of my favorite pictures from our weekend games.  Tommy's big thumbs up for Ben's team's 1-0 win in the State Cup Quarterfinals.  Ben had a beautiful no-look assist for the goal by Jake.  Semifinals, here we come!

I think Tommy's trying to say that when President Uchtdorf said that the church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints, he truly included all.  Even Swamp Monster and Darth Vader.

Two huge smiles for two fun races!  Luke and Tommy ran the first of their three Landsharks races and had a great time.  I was so proud of Luke who ran the entire mile, without walking once.  Tommy was so happy with his half-mile finish: "I got middle place, Mom!"

It was a crazy week with Adam out of town for work in Everett.  He got to spend an evening having dinner with his family, but the rest was filled with meetings, team building and more meetings.  We are so grateful for work he enjoys that also supports our family, but BOY OH BOY am I glad to have him back home!  It is not easy juggling our boys' evening activity schedule alone.

Sunrises around here are also pretty lovely.

I don't have a lot of experiences with first place medals, so I was thrilled to receive this in the mail.  I am pretty darn proud of this accomplishment and of the amazing women runners I was able to team with.

Ben placed 1st again at the Air Academy meet hosted by Timberview.  The boy has wings on his feet!  This time he came in 4th overall, behind only three 8th grade boys.  I'm so impressed!

This is Ben's middle school agenda, a required school supply item provided by the school to keep the kids organized and help them be respondable for their assignments.  It went out to every student in all three grades, so they never forget that respondability is a valued quality at our school.  Ben forgot an assignment last week and I told him it was very irrespondable of him to do so.  When Ben leaves for school in the morning we wave and call, "Don't forget to be respondable today!"  We've been having too much fun with this pretty major spellcheck fail.  Haha!

A sweet throwback that popped up in my Facebook memories this week.  On a road trip with my darling boys while Tommy was still cooking!

Field Day fun!  I love seeing my boys in their element, but we were all exhausted at the end!  Volunteering for these full-day events at the school always makes me even more grateful for our awesome teachers who have the energy to devote to our kids.

Hoping that switching back to old sturdies from minimal runners will help with the places I feel like my body is falling apart these days.

The Bits: September 1st Through Labor Day Weekend

Bits of the first week of September:

Zac at the first game of the JV season; his first high school game!  He was given number 8, just like Adam wore in high school.  He looked great out there and was a sold defender against Palmer Ridge.

Luke can be a complete chatterbox sometimes, especially on the way home from his ninja classes.  It's nonstop stream-of-consciousness talking, and so funny!  Adam and I spend so much of our time driving our boys to one activity or another, and sometimes I can get irritated with life in the car, until I remind myself that the car time is some of the best time for us.  This is time when the boys often relax and just talk about anything and everything.  I really do love hearing their thoughts about their lives, their friends, their concerns, their joys/worries/struggles, their random wackiness, the things they think are funny or are sad, every bit of information from their days comes out in our drives.  Car time is never wasted time, it is precious time!

Josh is so happy to have his dear friend Sophie back at AIES after her year at School in the Woods.  He sees her walking and it's "Bye, Mom!  Love you!  See you after!" and off they go.

Ben's first cross-country race was fantastic!  He placed 3rd out of all the 7th grade boys, which is impressive considering there were five teams from around town at the meet.  Watching Ben stride out is a beautiful thing to behold!

Hello my lovely Colorado.

Even Ninja Warriors crash sometimes.  Ground: 1; Luke: 0.

After spending Friday home sick with a nasty, cruddy cold, it was nice that it was pretty quiet on Josh's end of the field during the first game of his Labor Day Weekend President's Cup tournament .  

Ben, meet Boris.  That really was this giant's name!  Really, could it have been anything else?  In the 13-15yo age groups there can often be a lot of disparity in the maturation of the players, that can have a lot of us parents joking about birth certificate checks!  But some kids just grow fast.  Boris wasn't a problem for Ben in their first Labor Day Weekend State Cup game, however.  Ben shut Boris down to help his team to a 2-0 win!

While up north for games, Josh had the chance to meet up with an old AIES pal, Sanjay, who moved to Denver two years ago now.  Eli, Josh and Sanjay were such good friends and they still love getting together!

Ben's second game of the tournament ended in a tie, with Ben sending it in to tie it up!

You know Josh really loves Ruby when he doesn't even mind her dog breath too much!

I was really disappointed that we had to miss out on a fun camping trip with a bunch of friends because of soccer tournaments for Josh and Ben.  Sometimes it can feel like soccer rules our lives!  But then I remind myself how much the boys love it, and how much we really do love to watch them play, and it gives me a little perspective.  Plus, playing outside in the long twilight of a late-summer evening and gobbling up fresh-from-the-oven cookies always helps to soften any disappointment.

I just can't get enough!

Ben's final game of the tournament was a win...a squeak of a win when they should have had a huge lead, but a win still!  The boys moved on in the State Cup playoffs to future games!

Josh's final game brought a bit of a cool down from the heat of the weekend, but with the cooler air came sideways rain!  The umbrella was out in front of us like a shield, and we kept peeking around to watch the game.

Josh with a great save during his game!  Unfortunately, his team was knocked out of the tournament, with two losses and two wins.

Tommy: "Yay!  It's na-cho buisness night!"  My cheesy puns (haha! there's another one!) have been passed on to my kids.