Grandma Patti's Visit

Grandma Patti came in last week for a seven-day visit.
I came down with a severe cough and cold and was hardly functional the entire visit. That was a bummer and on day 6 of my cough/cold, I finally went to see the doctor and she gave me a ton of drugs so I could combat the sickness. It worked miracles in 24 hours. Then Patti left on Friday just as I was recuperating. Go figure.

While she was here, I spent a lot of time in bed, but the boys loved having her around so they could play with her. On a down note, Jack finds all conversations around poop or bathrooms quite funny and Eban encourages him by repeating the words. So they laugh and laugh about this stuff. I've been trying to encourage them to only talk about this stuff in the bathroom where it's appropriate but I'm not having any luck with this strategy. In fact, they love farts and sounds of farts so much that Jack even starting calling Patii, "Grandma Patti Butthole." That was fabulous (insert sarcasm here).

Eban had one sleepover with Grandma and to say it wasn't restful for Grandma is an understatement. She had to get up and switch sides, she had to take a couple of arm blows to the head to arouse her from her weak slumber, and she had to have a wiggle worm of a heater right next to her. One sleepover was all she could handle. Eban slept soundly and didn't understand why she was so tired in the morning. Copius amounts of coffee were had by Patti!

While Ryan studied last Sunday, we headed out to a new adventure. I heard of the Wild Animal Sanctuary out near Hudson, Colorado, and thought we could check it out. They rescue large cats or other various aminals from neglect and/or circuses, etc. It's out in the middle of nowhere in the plains of Colorado and you need to take a dirt road to get there. I didn't know how safe it would be but basically you are on a huge platform above all the animals and we went at a prime time - - when all the cats and bears were sleeping. Awesome. At least it was great to see the good work they were doing and how they were providing a decent home for these animals who had been through some horrible situations.

Jack can't get enough of playing baseball. He doesn't want to use the tee anymore and he wants to hit it like a big kid. AND he does. It's unbelievable what he's capacble of. Check out the video below.

And Jack has also learned his numbers and letters. He has far surpassed Eban with the retention of letters and numbers and this causes Eban to get really frustrated as Jack easily recognizes letters and numbers while it takes Eban a little more time to articulate it/or know it. I'm cautious with this as Eban has gotten very sad because he thinks he's more "stupid" than Jack. I try to tell him that we all learn at different paces and that he's very smart. But it's still hard on him to see Jack look at the keyboard and easily pick out numbers/letters.

While Patti was here she was able to see Ryan sing at Earthfest in Boulder. The rules were laid out before we left - no crashing the stage and no crying. The boys even told Grandma the rules so that she would be sure to know that she couldn't crash the stage or cry. Well, it was a hippie extravaganza!! Driving into Boulder, there was a place flying overhead trailing a sign that said, "Light It Up!" Patti couldn't believe that they would so blatantly advertise marijuana. I laughed and said it was Colorado and Boulder...

The show was great. Liza and Ryan did a great job and all the kids at the show loved it. Jack stood at the edge of the stage and just looked up at Ryan smiling in adoration most of the time. Eban ran around. He hammed it up for a photographer and I love how I caught him in the act. Kalea, Liza's little girl, crashed the stage and I thought it was great as my kids weren't the only ones to do that. Kalea even one-upped the boys by putting her hands over her ears as the music was too loud. It was so funny to see how expressive she was!

But my favorite picture is the one below...by far - my favorite!

Eban reading/singing Wheels on the Bus to Jack for naptime

Wild Animal Sanctuary

Tidbit of Ryan and Liza singing

Jack Doing his Numbers

Jack Playing Baseball

Church at d-bar

Earlier this week, the kids were obsessed with my high heel shoes. I let them run around - - with them and they had a ball. This will be ammo for them to behave on their first, second and third dates when they are late in their teens!

Eban didn’t score this week at soccer as he was on another planet. The whole team was daydreaming…kinda funny. I don’t know if it was because the game happened at snack time or if it was too late in the morning or what the deal was. Eban was focused on his hair - - yes, his hair! Ryan put gel in his hair so it would be spiked in the front and he was so vain about the whole thing. He got upset if another kid would touch his head as it would “RUIN MY HAIR!” Ryan had to talk to him a couple of times about his vanity but we learned our lesson that we won’t “do” his hair before a game. Funny though!
There are some baby foxes near the preschool where Eban goes so this is a mini-zoo every day as I drop off or pick up as we have to see the babies and the mama fox. Eban wants to feed them and pet them. We stay our distance, but it is neat to see them grow up from afar.

It’s been ages since we’ve seen Dennis, Avery, Kelsi and the rest of the Rehm clan. We had dinner with them and my camera was acting up as all the pictures are blurry. It was cute to see Eban gravitating towards Dennis and Jack wanted Avery. (Side note - Dennis does not have a black eye. He HAS sisters who do his make up and paint his toes. One of the pleasures of being the youngest boy in the family.) In fact, Jack started calling Avery his girlfriend. Um…that’s interesting that both boys like the same girl. I wonder if this will be a foreseeable issue for the boys?

Eban and Jack cried when we left the Rehm house and that’s the best compliment. They weren’t done having fun. I agree with them as I believe our family is done hibernating for the winter!

Ryan and I had a date night Saturday night and we saw the independent film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We both read this book and loved it. It’s a mystery story from a Swedish author who wrote three books, died, then had the books published, and now has a cult-like following. We came home to Meg, the babysitter, who told us that Eban threw an Etch-a-Sketch as hard as he could at her shin. I made her show me the bruise and ugh…I felt so bad. I guess she told him it was time for bed, he pouted, then picked up the Etch-a-Sketch, and then flung it as hard as he could at her from less than two feet away. Lovely. Ugh.

Sunday, we finally went back to church. We haven’t been going as Ryan concentrates on his grad school studies and I watch the boys on Sunday (he’s almost done – yeah)! Well, it was great to see our church friends - the pictures don't do it justice as the place was jammed packed! We’ve been going to a church where we meet in a hotel conference room but got booted this Sunday for the Star Trek Colorado Convention. So instead, the church had an informal gathering at our friend’s dessert place called D-Bar. (See below picture of Pastor Doug and Ryan.)

The church even rented an RV and had the kids in there for movies. They had face painting and cookie/cupcake decorating. They had tons of fabulous food and great camaraderie! The people are the best thing about this church - - they are lovely souls who just radiate goodness. Ryan and I both committed to being more active as we really feel good after we leave. Anyway, Ryan took Jack into Keegan and Lisa’s kitchen to see them and Jack immediately reacted in a repulsive manner. He looked around at the bustling kitchen and scowled and said, “I DON’T LIKE THIS!” Lisa laughed and recommended that he shouldn’t be a chef as it’s too time consuming. It was funny. But later on when he was with me, he was crying and only wanted to see Lisa. Keegan was there and I asked him if he wanted Keegan and he angrily told me NO! So we went back into the kitchen where Jack could watch Lisa at work. Church at d-bar is the way to go on a Sunday morning!

The rest of the weekend was filled with baseball, baseball and more baseball. Jack is obsessed with the game and bats and throws with both hands. It’s very ambidextrous. He is even sleeping with his glove and baseball…that’s how much he loves it. Fun stuff!

Just a little movie of Eban's last soccer game

2010 Car Show

Unique little stories from the last two weeks include the fact that Eban requested an avocado with cracked pepper, sea salt and fresh lime juice. What kid requests that type of snack? His palate is incredible.

Two weeks ago we saw How to Train Your Dragon and loved the movie. I think all of us did. Jack said his favorite character was Hiccup and Eban’s was Toothless (the dragon). I thought it was cute all around. What wasn’t cute was the cost of our excursion. Movies aren’t cheap and neither are the snacks. I will be a champion of bringing in my own food (or sneaking it in) as that will be an incredible cost savings! My philosophy is the same for baseball games or basketball games. The officials always market to families saying it’s a family friendly event, but it’s not friendly on the wallet or the average American family. Oh well…

Speaking of hiccups, poor Jack has my hiccup ailment. He gets them for roughly 10 minutes and they are loud and long. Poor thing. I hope he outgrows it as it can be a hindrance when you’re on a conference call or in a meeting with VIPs. That always makes for a unique impression.

Last week, Eban scored two goals at his soccer game. We were SO proud. He got in the car and slumped in his seat saying he was upset that he didn’t score five goals.

On Sunday while Ryan studied for one of his last classes for grad school, I took the boys downtown Denver to meet up with Grandpa Morgan to go to the 2010 Car Show. It was great. The boys took turns in the various vehicles. One would drive while the other sat shut gun. Then in the next car, they would switch positions. They always talked about speeding and getting a ticket by the police while they were in their vars. They LOVED the pick-up trucks and the RVs. Getting the boys out of the RVs was like pulling teeth. The screaming and the sheer torture of making them leave was enough to make me crazy – good thing I was adequately caffeinated as I didn’t lose my cool as I had them both in football holds exiting that area.

At least their attention was diverted when we came to the motorcycles...Eban looked at them and went the to next display. Jack wanted to ride them. He kept saying, "Look at me. I'm Uncle Steve!" I would correct him by saying the Uncle Steve wears helmets, but I don't really think he cared as he thought he was the coolest cat in town riding a big BMW motorcycle!

At the Lexus cars, I think it was Eban’s turn to drive and Jack was sitting shut gun when a strange occurrence happened. After four minutes or so of the boys “driving”, a crazed man came up to me and got in my personal space and got his face five inches from my face and sneered while he said to me, “DON’T YOU THINK YOUR BOYS HAVE BEEN IN THERE LONG ENOUGH!”

Shocked and intrigued by this man’s lack of ability to communicate effectively, I cocked my head and didn’t move from my position and sternly said, “I’m happy to get my kids, but next time you talk to someone, you don’t need to be so snarky about it.” While this was happening, Grandpa Bob saw an old man angrily yelling at his daughter and he wanted to “help” while I thought I had the situation under control.

As I’m retrieving the kids from the car, the man is moving towards the driver’s seat and he angrily responds to me, “I AM AT A CAR SHOW AND WANT TO GET IN THE CAR!” I ignore him as he’s obviously unstable but out of the corner of my eye, I see Grandpa approaching him and Grandpa says something like, “Use your words next time rather than angrily confront a woman and her kids!” I want to tell Grandpa to ignore him but he was obviously mad at this guy’s choices. (By the way, the kids didn’t notice anything as they were happily onto their next car and driving it.) Basically they get into a minor confrontation at this point and Grandpa wins and the crazy man slinks away until we are well out of the line of sight. I told Grandpa to leave it alone when he got back to me but his adrenaline was pumping from the sheer rudeness of this old man.

I haven’t seen Grandpa so mad - - to say his protective instincts are still intact is an understatement. I’m glad nothing more came of it as I was fearful that I’d have to bail Grandpa out of the jail with the kids in tow - - they would find it AWESOME to be in a police station though.

A highlight was the big truck again. They have an 18-wheeler that shows up for a “Share the Road’ campaign by the American Trucking Association. It was a highlight for the boys last year and they were there again. You can sit in the driver’s seat of an 18-wheeler, see the bed behind the driver’s seat and also experience all the blind spots of the road so you can relate to the driver. It educates the public and the kids have fun with this hands-on experience.So I was telling the ambassador of the program that this was a highlight last year and that I was glad they were here again. I was pulled aside after going through the truck with Eban and Jack as the ambassador wanted me to restate what I had shared with him for his video camera. He said he wanted to use it on the ATA’s Web site. So I did. He thanked me and said to keep an eye out for it in future months. (I went to the Web site to look for it, but all the content is from 2009 so I realize I’ll have to wait a little bit to see Eban, Jack and me on the ATA’s Web site.)

All in all, it was a great car show. Memorable to say the least - - for multiple reasons!

We had to pay a buck for both boys to get pushed arround with a broom in these contraptions

Why I don't take a lot of videos - - I can't keep an eye on both my boys (and Eban has to pee)

Keystone Success

Last week, I finally took a day off work and spent it with Eban to redeem the Vail Resorts Ski School pass that we needed to use by the end of the season. Jack isn’t eligible to ski as he’s not potty trained.

Eban was stoked this time. We had breakfast and coffee (or hot chocolate on the mountain). He loved being the only kid in the coffee shop as he thought he was "really big." I dropped him off around 8:30am and without a hug or kiss, he was off with his ski school instructor. I was in shock that he was acting so “cool” and wouldn’t even resort to a high five when I asked him for that. Oh well - - I guess I should get used to it! I trotted off to the local high-priced coffee shop and plopped down for the next three hours to read. It was perfect. Around 10:30am, I headed up the gondola to the ski school area. I didn’t want him to see me like last time as it was a big ordeal and he got kicked out. As I was lamely attempting to be incognito, a ski operator for the gondola offered me his Keystone jacket and he would wear mine. So that worked out and I was at the fence taking pictures and videos without any recognition from Eban.

He seemed to be a tad whiny and was very frustrated with his ability at this point (he's the little guy in all the pics).

I went back down the mountain.

After lunch around 2:30pm, I headed back up and met Eban and his classmates as they were exiting the gondola and I was mortified that he would freak out. You could tell he was much more confident than ever before. And he surprised me by saying, “Mama, please watch me ski!” Happily, I obliged and off I went with him up to the ski area.

He was noticeably improved. His ski instructor even told me that Eban was the first kid he ever had to cry after I dropped him off because he wanted to ski – not watch an instructional video. He also said Eban was learning to snowplow very fast and that next year he’d have no problem. They now call the snowplow “the pizza” for little kids.

I left him with his class and headed back down the mountain to continue reading an espionage book. I picked him up and he was so excited about skiing but more excited about the prospect of hopping in a “hotcuzzi”. He blends the words Jacuzzi and hot tub into hotcuzzi.

After leaving the mountain, he fell asleep with no problems as we headed back down.
Can’t wait for skiing next year…maybe even I’ll get the opportunity to ski??!!

First Run down the Bunny Hill - Not Bad

Second Run - Good thing there are handles on the back of the kid's ski vest

Gondola View

After Lunch Ski Skills - I like this one as you can see Eban trying to grasp the concept of "the pizza" from his instructor

Last Ski Video of the Day