A Week in Review (August 20-26)

A Week in Review (August 20-26)

Watched: The Dark Tower movie. It was awful. I'm not even sure why they would say it was based on the books. They have used the same names and a very limited amounts of all 7 books. It's so sad to see what could have been greatness ruined by Hollywood. Nick says I'm too harsh on it but I think he's rather forgiving.

Read:  I finished up The Couple Next Door. This book was a fairly easy read that kept me guessing in parts. While I knew certain things right away, there were things revealed at the end that still surprised me. I'd recommend it to all suspense fans. I'm looking forward to the author's next novel.  Next I started on The Dry.  It is pretty good. Next week is fairly busy, but I am still hoping to be able to make time to finish it. 

Listened: To a lot of Madden 18. Jack was so excited to play it that he woke up at 6:45 on a school day.  He also tried to get a game in before his football game. He really enjoys it!

Made: Popcorn for the whole school in just one afternoon. It kind of crept up on us and we didn't realize that this was the last Friday of the month since August goes clear until next Thursday.  Luckily we had two other mom's who were able to get on it and get it knocked out of the park.  It felt nice to work with people who wanted to work towards a common goal.

Felt: Excited for football. Jack had his first game on Saturday. He played middle linebacker. It's not as sexy as a position as he was hoping for, but he played it pretty well. It seemed to take him a half to knock out the cobwebs, but then he was really into it. My friend Gretchen took pictures again. When I was uploading them to the a shutterfly share site, I picked out some of my favorites for Jack. I put just a few of them on here for you too see too. 

Planned: On getting things done around the house when we got back from our trip. I had the DAC meeting in the morning. Then I ran to the grocery store. I thought I'd just take an hour to go do the sign out front of the school. That turned into a whole afternoon at the school. Then after school Jack incit d his friends over to play before football practice. Football practice went a bit long and we didn't get him until almost 7:45. I didn't get much done for the house, but I did get lots of things done.

Loved: The total solar eclipse.  When Nick was talking about seeing it, I didn't really think it would be that big of deal.  I was so wrong.  I had such a visceral response to it. It was truly one of the most awe inspiring things that I have ever been a part of.  I can only imagine the pandemonium that would ensue without having the science behind one.  It almost makes you a junkie for them.  We are talking about seeing if we want to be part of one in the year 2024.  We took some good selfies.  My mom's friend also took an awesome picture of the sun during totality.  I am so thankful that I got to share in this experience with so many people that I love!

Here are the pics for the week:

A Week in Review (August 13-19)

A Week in Review (August 13-19)

Watched: Jack really bring it during his first week of tackling practice. He has been much more into football now that he can hit people. He loves being able to break down people much larger than he is. He is working so hard that he sweats so much that his hair gets imprinted with his helmet pads. It cracks me up. I can't wait to see what position he is assigned by this coach.

Read: I kept on reading Loving Frank.  I really pushed myself during a couple of days so that I could finish it up and move onto another book.  So many talked negatively about this book because they were upset with the main characters actions. That was not my reason for rating this book low. I just thought that the beginning 2/3 were dreadfully boring. The story has merit and I enjoyed how much of it was based off historical events, but it just dragged on. Not a book I would recommend to otherwise outside of Frank Lloyd Wright fan's.  I started The Couple Next Door at the recommendation of my friend Sarah.  It seems to be a good read, but we have a lot going on the next couple of days and I am not sure how quickly I will be able to read it.

Listened: To the Ninjago theme song again. Jack found a book in his teacher's classroom library and it reinvigorated his passion for the show. He decided to start watching them instead of YouTube for his chill time.  We have downloaded almost the entire series to my iPad for our trip to my mom's to see the total solar eclipse. It saved a lot of data usage on the way up there. I am not sure how many he has left, but hope it's enough to get him home too!

Made: Lots of small changes around the house.  I cleaned out the pantry, weeded the front flower beds (and boy did they need it!), put in some mulch in the beds and a few new decorations.  I also scrubbed down the fridge.  Guess I was in the mood for some fall cleaning!  It felt good to have lots of things freshened up.  It took plenty of pictures to show Nick so you get to see them too.

Felt: Surreal about Jack entering 4th grade.  It just feels like I was dropping him off at preschool, but somehow he is now in the upper elementary grades.  How did that happen?  It's just further proof of the days are long, but the years are short concept.  We are so thankful that he is with a teacher that he loves.  It really eliminated in first day nerves for both of us!  We took his teacher in flowers that match her new theme.

Planned: First three days of boy being in school.  I have been making a list of things that I would do once be was in school.  Lots of other things got done too, but I enjoyed cleaning the house and just letting it stay clean!  I also got to watch a movie recommend by a friend and just enjoy the sound of silence.

Loved: Nick making it home in time to see his first practice of Jack's football season.  He hates being so far away during the practices and made sure that he made it to as many as he can. While we don't get much time together recently, we do try to make the most of the time we get.

Here are the pics for the week:

My cleaned up pantry!

My updated flower bed


Nora and her friend Sadie chewing on each other during practice!

Helmet head

A Week in Review (August 6-12)

A Week in Review (August 6-12)

Watched: The Glass Castle with my friend Mindy.  I broke my rule about reading the book before watching the movie so that I could hang out with a friend.  It was a very emotional movie and I think it sat heavy enough with me that I will just skip the book.  If you like drama, especially ones that are based on a true story, I would recommend watching this movie.  If you happen to have read the book, can you tell me why does he call her Mountain Goat?  They never explained it in the movie, but I am guessing they did in the novel.

Read: I finished up A Bridge Across the Ocean.  It earned only two stars from me.  It was really the ghost story part of this story line that I didn't like and didn't think needed to be there. The other two storylines were pretty good. They were fairly predictable though. Definitely my least favorite Susan Meissner book that I have read.  Next, I started on Loving Frank.  It is very slow moving and I haven't made it very far into it.  I did have book that my girlfriend recommended to me come off my holds list Saturday night so maybe that will push me to get through Loving Frank faster.

Listened: To bad news that Jack's friend Oliver would not be returning to PHE because his mom returned to work and they could't figure out a way to make the transportation work.  Jack had really made a close friendship with him, so he was particularly bummed.  Luckily, we were able to spend Friday afternoon together.  Jack introduced him to Payday and then they shot some hoops.  They made a game of Madden with Jack on All pro and Oliver on Rookie.  Oliver kind of whooped up on him.  It was good for his ego!

Made: Bags of popcorn for Back to School night.  Instead of popping it all, we got day-old donations from AMC.  It was so much easier and less messy!  It meant a lot of trips to get it, but that's much easier than hours spent around the machine and the mess of cleaning it up.  Back to school night was a huge success and we had like 70 people sign up.

Felt: Grateful for help.  With Nick out of town, we can't quite do everything like we are used to being able to.  For instance, I couldn't be at both Back to School night and get Jack to football.  Luckily, we have made good friends with one of his teammates.  She was kind enough to let Jack come over a little early so that the boys could play and I could take a few minutes of downtime in between bagging and engaging in the night.  I am glad that Jack has Miss Coomes again so that she is really willing to work with me because of how much I volunteer.

Planned: Drive to Blas.  Wednesday, I was brushing my toe along a baseboard and I thought I cut it.  I went about my day and didn't think much of it.  By Thursday it was hurting pretty good, so I looked down and saw that I hadn't cut it but I had gotten a huge splinter in it!  It was so deep and it was on it's way to being infected.  Since Nick isn't around, I immediately wish that Poppa was close by to pull it out because he is magical with splinters.  I tried to get it out on Thursday night, but it was just too deep.  The internet suggested making a baking soda paste and putting a bandaid over it.  I can't believe it, but it actually worked.  Once I took it off the next morning and opened a big enough hole at the end, it just pushed it's way out.  If it hadn't came out, I probably would have driven home to have Blas help me!  Think I might have lost my adult card over that one.

Loved: Our kickball party.  We have had seriously the wettest August that I have ever lived through. I think it has rained nearly every day.  I sent a text to all of our invitees reminding them that the field might be wet and muddy.  Right before we were scheduled to start, a rainstorm hit.  Luckily, it didn't last very long and we just played on a very wet and muddy field.  The kids did indeed get very messy.  They fell plenty of times on slippery grass.  But they all laughed and had a good time.  Our picture is missing a few people who had leave early and a few people who were in the neighborhood and decided to join in.  Jack had such a good time, he is looking forward to doing it again next year!

Here are the pics for the week:

He's the one hitting the bag out of the coaches hands

Our kickball group


So much popcorn and this isn't even a third of it!




Check out the size of the splinter!

A Week in Review (July 30-August 5)

A Week in Review (July 30-August 5)

Watched: The kids have a blast at The Springs Trampoline park. They have quite awesome Ninja Warrior course that they have constructed in the middle. I like that each area has different ways to make  it more challenging for all different age levels. You can watch Jack complete it HERE.

Read: I had to speed read The Hate U Give in order to be able to finish it for my book club on Friday afternoon.  I was able to work it at pretty good pace, but I did use the audiobook to help me along.  This more a 3.5 star book for me. Having grown up in rural Nebraska with only a handful of black people and then having spent the majority of my adulthood in suburban areas, I often felt like the white people referenced in the book. Especially the part about treating your dogs like children. ;) I really enjoyed hearing the narrative of someone with such a different experience from me. I have always been offended by the #alllivesmatter movement and I now see how offensive it must be to someone who has lived a different life than mine. It made for a good discussion at our book club.  There were a lot of different perspectives on it.  Next, I started A Bridge Across the Ocean.  I was quite surprised to see it has a ghost storyline.  We will have to see how it wraps up.

Listened: To Jack's new coach give a talk a team meeting on Saturday. He seems quite a bit different than his old coach, but I think it will be good to learn from a new style. They are going to be the Broncos. Nick is not thrilled about that.  Next week starts practice at 8 hours a week!

Made: Plans for the upcoming wrestling season. It feels like we are in a good spot to get everyone started out on the right foot and not being left scrambling towards the end of the season. I know that returning wrestlers have more information now than they have in years past.  Hard to believe it's only a couple months until wrestling season begins.

Felt:  Glad that we were able at celebrate Braydon's birthday celebrations with him. On Wednesday we went to Elitch's with their family. We were able to get them a good deal on our season passes, so it just made the most sense to go along with them. Jack also went to Braydon's party on his birthday proper. 

Planned: On the water being drinkable during the Manitou Springs mineral springs tour. It was mostly pretty gross tasting. It was funny to see the different reactions as we tasted it. We walked around to all of them. The walk up to the last one was pretty uphill. I asked the kids to show me how the felt about walking all that way for it. I just love Declan's face. It really did sum up how he felt.  They had spent the morning climbing up around in Pike National Forest and exploring Jack's favorite climbing rock, so they might have been a bit more worn out than I was.

Loved: Nick being home, even if it's only for a short while. He and Jack went and saw the new Spider-Man movie and enjoyed it. On Friday, we played some HeroQuest and the boys hung out while I went to book club. Saturday, Jack convinced Nick to do the Incline. This is listed as an extreme hike and isn't for the faint of heart. Nick stopped at about 2/3 of the way up, which is known as the bail out while Jack continued to the top which is another family that was going up. To learn more about this crazy adventure, I suggest checking out THIS link. While Jack was at Braydon's birthday party, Nick and I went out to eat and just enjoyed chatting.  We hate having him gone so much, but try to make the best out of our time together when he is home.

Here are the pics for the week:

A Week in Review (July 23-29)

A Week in Review (July 23-29)

Watched: My boy watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  With all of our playing of HeroQuest, I was pretty sure he would love it.  We watched the first movie Sunday night and he watched the second and third one back to back on Tuesday night.  He was rapt through them all.  I was reminded, again, that they just aren't my thing.  I don't see how they are so popular.

Read: I finished up The Garden of Small Beginnings.  I really enjoyed this book. It was funny and thoughtful all at the same time. If you enjoy gardening, I'm pretty sure you would really like this book. If you are trying to process what it would be like to love again, you would also enjoy this book.  Next, I began All The Missing Girls.  I have been waiting for it to come off hold since mid April!  It was an extremely fast read, so I have no idea why it took so long to get to me.  This book was more like 3.5 stars for me. The book is told in reverse chronological order so you have to be paying attention to catch all the details. It was a really fast paced book and I couldn't put the second half down. I stayed up considerably later than I was planning on because there was just never a good place to stop it at. All mystery lovers would be a fan of this book.  I was supposed to start The Hate U Give next but with family arriving in town, by the time that I finally went to bed, I was more in the mood for mindless things rather than a book.  

Listened: To the cousins stay up to the wee hours of the morning just chatting with each other.  They were all so thrilled to be together.  I am very thankful that my in-laws could provide the opportunity for this.  This is my sister-in-law's last trip out of town before we add a new nephew to our family.  I hope that as they grow they continue to keep the bonds of friendship that they have now.

Made: My first agenda for a PTA meeting.  Because it was just a planning meeting, I think it was a lot longer than it will take otherwise.  I jotted down several questions to try and help keep us on point while we were there.  Overall, it went pretty smoothly.  It still took a long time to get through all the information, but I felt we didn't stray off topic too much.  I am hoping that we are able to achieve a lot of awesome things this year.

Felt: Adventurous on Sunday.  We went out to the Rampart Reservoir area.  There are a lot of neat rock formations and areas to explore.  We have to thank Google Maps for taking us down a road we might not have otherwise went down.  Jack found a really cool rock that someone had lassoed a rope around so you could climb up if you were brave.  There are pictures below.  We also learned that Nora makes a pretty good rock climber, but she doesn't like to do it very often.  We finally made it down to the water and were pretty disappointed.  Apparently the boat dock was closed.  I am not sure if this is because of the fire that happened there or not.  You couldn't really get down to do any fishing without having waders on.  Overall it was still an awesome day.

Planned: Food for the family when they were in town.  We have several picky eaters and so I wanted to make sure that I didn't waste my money on food.  I have a friend who routinely feeds 8 people in her family.  With the cooking and planning, it just reaffirmed my notion of how awesome she is!

Loved: White water rafting with Denise, Lee, most of my nephews, and my niece.  When we looked at the forecast on Friday, we quickly determined that Saturday might be the best day to make of a go of it.  We booked our trip with Raftmasters, which the company my family and I used over a decade ago, and had a great experience again. The guide was so friendly and helpful.  We had the kids take turn sitting in the middle during the rapids so that they could experience the big splashes of the river.  They all had a very good time.  They were all craving even more adventure and can't wait until the turn 13 to come back and try the more difficult rapids.  Papa purchased the photo package that they took, which is where we got so many awesome pictures from.

Here are the pics for the week:

iTopIt after white water rafting