The last bit of February...

So. Aside from those Leap Day pictures from yesterday (is it sad of me to admit that I'm still sore from leaping? lol...course we also did a short bike ride and I'd run 8.5 miles the day before that...), I'm a bit behind. Here's what's been going on since mid February:

- Close call. We've known for years that Asher and Micah will need braces. We thought it was going to be this year and, upon the advice of our pedodontic dentist, scheduled a couple orthodontist consultations. We had the first one in mid-February and were thrilled to learn that that orthodontist thinks we can wait another couple years and then do one slightly longer session of braces for Asher instead of starting now and doing two sessions. Given the orthodontist's explanation, the poking around we've done and the talking with other parents and such, we're pretty good with that diagnosis and Asher actually really likes the orthodontist and her office, so we'll likely stick with that. (We do still have another consultation this month with a different orthodontist and will get the second opinion, but it would take a lot of convincing to sway us at this point.) Whew. :) We know it's still coming, but having a couple more years to save up for it is definitely welcome. ;)

- Presidents Day. Like last year, the boys still had Options (can't afford to take all the "Monday holidays" off when you only go to school on Mondays, lol). And, like last year, I asked them again what they'd do if they were president. Here are their answers:

• Micah: "I'd make it so you couldn't have walkie talkies during fitness testing in PE." (Apparently, a "walkie talkie" is a set of girls that chats while completing the mile run, lol. This somehow offends Micah or gets in his way...)
• Asher: "I'd quit." ;)
• Noah: "I'd order Apple to put a store in Fort Collins." (Yes, still a bit obsessed, lol.)

- Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The day after Presidents Day, my mom came for a visit! On Wednesday, then, we headed down to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for hours of perusing and fun. The boys particularly enjoyed the Expedition Health exhibits...Asher even tackled a couple of the experiments offered:

Here he is with his Nana...looking at the cells from inside his cheek. After that, we even convinced Micah to join us all in the new lizards and snakes exhibition (after reassuring him multiple times that all of the lizards and snakes were closed behind glass, lol). 

- Archery with Nana. The next day, the boys and I took Nana to the archery range...to show off their shooting gear and skills and to help Nana try out archery. Nana even got a bullseye!

 
And we took this picture of me and my mom... ;)

- Swim meet. Later that night, Noah had a swim meet. He did really well and is happy. ;) He took first in back stroke and breast stroke. He also did his first IM (individual medley) and finished really well (because the meets are internal, they don't always have enough kids in each age bracket and event to fill all the lanes, so technically, I don't think either of the other kids in Noah's IM heat were in the same age bracket). 

- Karate tournament. The next day (Friday, if you're keeping track, lol), Asher and Micah competed in their second karate tournament. (Read about last year here.) It's also an internal event (to help the kids learn how bigger karate tournaments operate) and is broken into two parts. Friday night was the forms competition. They divide the kids up by age/rank-ish into groups of four or less for the most part (so that everyone gets a medal and prize). Here's Micah:

And here's Asher:

They both took first and were darn happy. ;) Then we hugged Nana as she headed down to Longmont to spend the weekend with my brother and his family before heading back to Washington:

The sparring portion of the tournament was the next morning and it was Asher's first time participating in that part (thanks to his broken arm last year...he was still recuperating). (Micah doesn't do the sparring stuff yet.) We weren't so sure how it would go, as he's a youngish and smallish green belt and the height difference makes scoring points more difficult. But. It turned out well, and he took first:

(To be fair, it was just Asher and his opponent in his bracket...only one other green belt signed up for the tournament and he was considerably taller so was in a higher bracket.)

- Bows for us! It was probably inevitable after making the choice to dive into this archery thing for the boys...Nathan and I joined in! Nathan's almost got his new (used) bow all sorted out and equipped now (having ordered the bow less than two weeks ago). We spent the weekend sorting that out and ordering a bow for me. Should be here soon! :)

- 100 mile mark. This morning's run, btw, put me over the 100 mile mark for 2012. Yay!

And that brings us to the present... ;) Whew.

(Off now to take care of Asher (who woke up sick today) and try to figure out our science fair projects and organize the fair, itself, and take Noah to swim team and Micah to karate and stuff like that...)

Comments

[np]

You make me tired just reading all that you do!

I think Asher had the best answer to the President question. :)