Blue Belt

Just so you know, Asher earned his blue belt last Friday. He was pretty stoked and we continue to be so very proud of him:

He's actually wearing his demo team uniform in this picture, since he also performed that night during the promotion ceremony. I really have taken pictures of him doing that, but they're just not great. The demo team will be performing at Fort Collins' New West Fest soon, though, and I promise to take better pictures to post then. :)

Seven.

Just quickly so I can get back to watching the Olympics, lol...

My baby turned SEVEN today. Oy. This boy. He seriously keeps us on our toes and entertains us and drives us crazy. Life would be boring without him and he knows it. ;) Seven quick thoughts about him:

1. He's still content to be my baby...still gives hugs and waves at me from classes.
2. His attention to detail is freakin' amazing (scary almost). For example, as we've all been watching the Olympics, at most any given time we can simply turn to Micah and ask him for stats. The boy knows what size shoes Missy Franklin wears, what everyone's scores were in gymnastics, whether we're watching a semifinal or a qualifier and how many more heats remain...you get the picture. (For what it's worth, I'm fairly certain that a portion of the time he's just completely making stuff up, but he does so with such conviction that we just never know, lol.)
3. He's adorable with his missing front teeth. ;)
4. He recently switched to boxer briefs and is hilariously proud of how he looks in them.
5. He's so proud of the progress he's made this summer in his swim lessons. (Mind you, he's made more progress in his attitude about swimming and in his own little head than in actual technique, but it's definitely progress, lol.)
6. He has few friends his own age, preferring friends his brothers' ages...as he thinks of himself as older anyhow. 
7. He's recently decided he looks best in sleeveless shirts, which makes keeping him dressed tricky as he only has two. (He's also fairly picky about what makes a suitable sleeveless shirt, lol.)

We've already done the party and all, so tonight is just low key, but the boy's pretty dang impressed with himself:

Sigh. ;)

Cheyenne Frontier Days

So. I've never been to a rodeo before (at least not that I can remember). Given that, we decided to try something new and head up to Cheyenne's Frontier Days this year. I invited some college friends and we picked a day. That day was yesterday. ;)

To start, we watched the fabulous USAF Thunderbirds. Yes, the fact that the Thunderbirds were performing yesterday had a great deal to do with our choosing yesterday as the day to go. (Let's just say that boys weren't overly enthusiastic about just watching a rodeo, lol.) 

In any case, it was an awesome show and did not disappoint. The boys particularly liked when a single plane would do a quick fly-by while your attention was elsewhere. (Fortunately, Micah is at the stage now where he thought this was fantastic and not back at the point where he felt loud planes were too loud...similar to the toddler in front of us who *freaked* out due to the volume, lol.)

(Insert note here that I opted not to lug my camera around all day so only took photos on my iPhone. Sorry. But, it was totally worth it not to have the extra bag/weight, lol.)

After we left the field where we watched the airshow, we grabbed some lunch (Thanks again, Marti, for your help in that department! We ended up at Two Doors Down and it was great.) and then went to the rodeo!

(For anyone who might be unfamiliar with this rodeo, like we were, we recommend definitely sitting on the west side of the arena...in the afternoon, you're in the shade and not looking into the sun. All good. We ended up in the balcony section of the B stands, opting for the assigned seats rather than general admission because there were eight of us and we wanted to be sure we'd be altogether. The east stands probably do have a better/closer view of the action, but we were perfectly content in our spots and using the big screen tvs when necessary.)

Back to my story...the bucking horse being ridden above was named Crazy Mary. We were all fascinated by the different events...the bareback riding, bull riding, steer wrestling, steer wrangling, colt race and so forth. We decided, though, that next time we may have to do a bit more research ahead of time so we'll actually know what we're watching, lol...not that that stopped us from applauding and gasping with the rest of the audience. :) Micah says his favorite was the bull riding, but all three agree (fortunately, lol) that rodeo is not something they'd want to participate in. 

And here's a picture of Molly, me and Melissa (taken by Mark) before the weather took a turn and changed from sunny and 80s to windy and pouring rain...

Given the weird weather, we did get a bit wet and ended up leaving the rodeo a little before it was actually done for the day. Since as soon as we were out of the stands the sky cleared and went back to sunshine (of course), we then got some desserts (we were at the fair after all, lol)...funnel cake, elephant ears and dippin' dots...and wandered some of the commercial exhibits before heading out. 

We ended up eating dinner together in Fort Collins (having called ahead from the car during the drive after discovering that the wait time in Cheyenne was about the same as the drive time from Cheyenne to Fort Collins), where Micah provided the final entertainment for the day by losing his other front tooth right into his mac and cheese. 

Yes, there was more drama and I had to take the boy to the bathroom lest he bleed to death (or so he thought). But. Molly had promised him $5 if his tooth came out before she left and the waiter felt a lost tooth deserved a scoop of ice cream, so the boy was delighted. 

And thus ended our pretty darn good day. :)

Ten on Tuesday.

Just ten random things... ;)

1. I realize it's belated, but we had a pretty darn good Fourth of July this year. Given the fireworks restrictions and the many cancelled city shows, we opted not to brave the throngs to see the one city show in the area and, instead, just stayed home with friends. The boys showed off their new bedrooms, games were played, girls were chased and plenty of food was eaten...including snow cones, of course:

So very thankful for good friends to share good times with! Wish I'd taken more photos...

2. Asher's been loving being on his karate Demo Team! So far he's performed at three local elementary schools and will perform at his own belt promotion later this week and at New West Fest next month. It's really rather impressive how quickly he picks up on the routines and how much he truly loves doing them. I'll try to take better pictures soon, honest. ;)

3. Due to the smoke levels during the High Park Fire and the distractions of redoing boys' bedrooms, there were a few weeks there that I mostly stopped running. I've been paying for it lately as I'm working on getting back to it before the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon that Molly talked me into running; it's in a few weeks. Oy. I'm being realistic and know that I was much more prepared for the Colorado Half Marathon that I ran in May so am simply hoping to finish this one. :) Wish me luck! 

4. Our kitchen table set recently decided that it's had about enough. It's an antique actually (from the 1930s) but just isn't up to the squirminess of certain young boys. So. When Nathan and I went to IKEA to pick up supplies for the boys' bedrooms, we also looked for a new kitchen table set...one where the chairs wouldn't literally fall apart when Asher sat at it, lol. But. We didn't find anything we liked. Instead, we decided to make our own using a bigger slab of butcher block than the ones Nathan used for his desk and Micah's. Nathan put on the last coat of finish last night, so I'll have pictures soon. For chairs, we're letting each family member pick his/her own chair (though I, of course, have final veto power, lol) to give it an eclectic feel. So far, we've only found one chair but are working on finding more. Stay tuned...

5. Molly made me join Pinterest. ;) I love it but Nathan's decided it's really just a new form of "honey do" list, lol.

6. I'd love to learn how to whistle...you know the type of whistle where you stick two fingers in your mouth and get a lovely loud sound? Anyone know how to teach me that?

7. As campaign season is upon us, let me take a moment to say:

I made this little sign to hang just outside our front door recently. Been meaning to for awhile now and am pretty happy with how it turned out. ;) (I picked up the small, blank chalkboard sign and beaded chain at a local store, Feather Your Nest, and then painted the text on there with white paint.)

8. Asher and Micah have truly been enjoying swim lessons this summer! We normally only do one or two sessions each year, but this year went ahead with three because Micah asked. Given that until this summer we still couldn't get the boy to put his face in the water without freaking out, that was saying something and we decided we'd best take advantage of his enthusiasm, lol. It's been going well. As an added bonus, Asher's last instructor would toss the kids at the end of class:

9. Yesterday was my last post as a member of the Ormolu Creative Team. It's been a fabulous experience that I've truly loved...but it's time for a new team that will start later this year (after the shop owner's maternity leave, lol). Thank you, Kaitlin, for such a lovely opportunity!

10. Don't hate me, but I just have to say that I'm not a fan of potlucks. One, I prefer events with kids to either avoid meal times altogether or to be picnic-style where everyone's responsible for their own food. I just find that very much simpler...particularly when you have children who won't eat just anything if you know what I mean. ;) And, two, I'm so very introverted that group outings like this are work for me. I'm not at ease in large groups, particularly so when I'm not familiar with most of the people there. I don't do well at putting myself out there and meeting new people. 

But. For the sake of my children, I find that I do put myself out there more nowadays than I did before kids. Case in point...last weekend we went to the boys' karate school potluck. Though I was outside my comfort zone for sure, the boys had a blast...literally. There was a raging water fight between the younger kids and the black belts:

I think they all won in the end and I was glad that Nathan talked me into going. :)

Okay, whew. I think I'm pretty much caught up now. Can't believe it's almost the end of July already. How's your summer going?

Alternate title

I was just realizing that my previous post really should have been entitled "Brought to you by IKEA and Home Depot." ;) Not sure what we would have done without them, lol. Here are the things we got at IKEA:

NOAH

• duvet cover and comforter
• wire display hanging thing (Noah's has the around-the-corner piece, too)
• desk tabletop & legs
• chair
• curtains & window treatment hardware

ASHER

• wire display hanging thing
• desk tabletop & legs
• curtains & window treatment hardware

MICAH

• table lamp
• wire display hanging thing
• desk tabletop & legs/base
• chair
• curtains & window treatment hardware

Most everything else was brought to you by Home Depot...the paint, electrical stuff and light fixtures, in particular. Oh. And the shelving in Noah's closet. (The shelving in Micah's closet is stuff we'd done before and we recycled wall shelves from the yellow room to make shelving in Asher's closet.)

So. Thanks, IKEA and Home Depot. One of these days we'll get around to redoing our own bedroom and we'll definitely see you again... ;)

(PS In case you were wondering, the boys keep their clothes under their beds in drawers.)