Done!

I did it! I completed all 20 pages of the application for Noah to attend CEC next fall. I dropped off the packet this afternoon and received confirmation that Noah now has a reserved spot for fall. The next step will be for Noah to take their placement test in April. 

Whew.

A day off...

After Micah's visit to Build A Bear, we headed up to Estes Park for the day. It was the first time we'd been able to make it up there since the flooding last September and the first day Nathan's had fully off in awhile. The weather was gorgeous and we took advantage...

Found this fun glockenspiel along the walking path...

(Thanks to the music classes the boys took years ago, I'm fairly sure I'm correct in calling this a glockenspiel and not a xylophone, as xylophones are wooden.)

And then we had a late lunch at Ed's Cantina, our favorite restaurant in Estes. Yum!! Here are the younger two posing with Ed's famous pig (decked out for Valentine's):

After driving in Rocky Mountain National Park for a bit, we hit our traditional Tiny Town Mini Golf course (even with the snow and some lingering repairs still taking place after the flooding)...

We followed that up with some window shopping...

...and got ice cream (as is tradition) at Hayley's...

We were getting chilly at this point so headed back to the van to grab more coats, lol. We then walked back to Ed's for dinner. Because we really, really like Ed's. ;) (And we'd been missing them while the roads were out after the floods.)

And that was our lovely Saturday. :)

Build a bear (and a horse)

For Christmas, one of the gifts Micah received from us was a giftcard to Build a Bear. Last weekend, we finally went in for him to use it. He was pretty stoked. ;)

Before we even got there, he'd searched online and decided on two new stuffies he wanted along with an outfit for Koaly. He was all business when we arrived and waited anxiously in line for his turn:

(Yes, he brought Koaly with him...to try the outfit on and also to tell the staff person just how stuffed he wanted his new stuffies, lol.) 

Here he is helping to stuff his new horse. (His new bear, Roosevelt, had already been stuffed at this point.)

And then they all got "baths" (even Koaly)...

(It's really just air blowing on them, activated by a foot pedal. At first, Micah had scoffed at this when watching younger kids, but he got into it when it was his turn and had to fluff all of his stuffies. Isn't he the sweetest thing?)

After getting the new outfit, and deciding that it worked better on the horse than on Koaly, Micah created their new birth certificates to complete the trip...

(That's Roosevelt sitting next to him. He's wearing the helmet...because helmets don't fit on horses very well, lol.)

Yes, the outfit is a football uniform. A Broncos football uniform. And, hey, he named the horse Peyton. 

So. Let me just state for the record...yes, we're Broncos fans in this house. All of you who've been in my life before I was 22, don't yell. I know I was raised to be a Seahawks fan. I know. ;) And I'll be happy for them if they manage to win the SuperBowl. And all my boys are very aware that it would be just dandy if their Papa's team wins. 

But. Officially, we're Broncos. ;)

(ducking now as I'm sure my brothers are throwing things at me...)

Is it too much to ask...

...for windshield wipers to be positioned just two inches higher? So that the defrost blowers inside the car can heat the wipers in addition to the windshield? Seriously. Why isn't that just obvious?

(Says the driver who was quite frustrated this morning by the icy build up on my wipers...making visibility challenging)

Drum roll please...

Purpose. That’s it. That’s my word for 2014. I contemplated a great many others. I really did. But, after much wavering and deliberation, I feel like PURPOSE is the one that fits. 

In 2014, I want to stop and ask myself why I’m doing things...what is my purpose? I’m not talking huge, life-defining stuff here, folks. And it’s not that anything is wrong with my life right now. In fact, I’m pretty darn happy with my life. It kind of rocks, and I’m seriously blessed. :) By stopping to really think about purpose, though, I’m hoping that I can take things to another level...that I can make things more significant, more intentional, more meaningful. 

Specifically, I want to look at purpose in these areas:

• Fitness: In my training for the Colorado Half Marathon, I want to remember that my purpose is fitness...not just completion of the race. I’m hoping that keeping that in mind will push me through each workout when the little voice that says “I can still finish the race without this particular workout” tries to knock me off course. :)
• Education: I’ve gotten rather caught up this past year or so with just checking off the various curriculum boxes and battling boys who don’t see why they have to do certain assignments. I want to stop and re-evaluate and make sure that I’m remembering what it is I’m trying to teach...probably make a list, lol. I also want to help boys actually see and understand what each lesson's purpose is. 
• Celebrations: It might seem small, but I want to really do better at our holiday traditions...at making them more “ours” and more purposeful. I’ve got some specific ideas. ;)
• Documentation: I’ve fallen off the scrapbooking wagon. :) I’m not committing to getting back to where I was in that regard, but I want to remember why I started scrapbooking in the first place and find a way to record memories more intentionally again. 

Whew. So, that's that. I've put it out there for what it's worth. :)

Do you have a word for the year or resolutions you want to share?

(For a look back on previous words, check here.)