Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Friend Family

Cedar and Benjamin at the Rodeo Parade
Old friends celebrating! Or as Sharp says my friend family enjoying time together...laughing harder then usual, dancing, eating, drinking, biking, enjoying the present times we have together!
We love our time with friends....
Happy Kids
Auntie Sharp and Truthy at Rockygrass

Mama Family!
Sharp and I

Summer Family

If I  had to sum up the our summer it would be simple....time spent with family and friend family! We always feel spoiled all summer with our MN travels, Music festivals, camping, parades, celebrations, and simply summer fun! Summer is my season. Hot, sunny, busy with friends, social, I LOVE SUMMER.




Love for Grandpa!
Mimi, the boys and cousin AZ swimming!
Mimi, Truthy and Orien out on the boat
Grandpa with the whole gang
Summer traditions....traveling to MN to visit family.....boating, swimming, eating ice cream, biking, Duluth, friends, more family time, humidity, sunshine, ponds, lakes, cities, we love our traditions!

Cedar and Grandpa bonded on bikes...they rode nightly all over Maple Grove
And then we enter the 4th of July! Always love seeing the kids so happy riding in the local parade and watching foreworks in Estes! And of course a little T-ball....the boys played on the same team and loved it.
Orien ready to bat


The 4th of July Parade

Cedar throwing in a ball from out field




Monday, September 12, 2011

Summer with Emily.

I guess you could say it was a fast, warm, playful, eventful, time for us. I apparently shut off the computer often enough to skip our life in a blog. Maybe these times away create a space that excites me to return. Fall always seems like a place of returning, organizing, planning, committing, changing. Our summer created our changes. Emily changed our family. We live in great space, high on the mountain side, a bumpy gravel road leads us there. We drive daily to visit town, play, socialize, rejuvenate via gym, toss a ball at T-ball. When we retreat we garden, play with chickens, mountain bike, hike, play...alone with Eamonn way. Then Emily moved in across the street. Cedar, Orien and Truthy were so ALIVE with a neighbor friend. Cedar fell in love with his perfect life....mountains, friends and neighbor. It has brought on big conversations of finding a neighborhood that will fill us up but not over do it. We aren't city folk, we like a little privacy, we like to know our community...and so Lyons will one day be our next  home.

Summer in a blurrr goes like this....Cedar turns 7!!!!!!


Cedar turns 7 Little House on the Prairie Style!


We built a Log Cabin like Pa for his Party!

Cedar and his new mountain bike


Thursday, May 19, 2011

drowning

April showers bring May flowers. Isn't that how it goes? Or May showers and snow make for unhappy Mamas and crazy kiddos. As much as I love green grass, fresh dandelions, thunders storms, grey days, fog, cool rain, snow melting qquickly under my flip flop feet...Enough is Enough. We have spent too much time inside waking to cold mornings filled with snow, rain that never takes a break, and now sick people. This is my rant post! The hold back the tears, watch the rain fall, hold a fevering little girl and just wish it all away. I think the cure, puddle jumping if I had a friend to splash with! So to you mother nature I beg for a break. I beg for a arm sun, a dry day and a healthy family to enjoy it.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Cedar Dancing!

Dancing





Another year, another dance recital! Cedar and Orien both decided to dance again. In different classes both learning tap and ballet! They love it! Cedar is extremely focused, really want to learn how to do everything correctly. Orien likes class, likes to run and slide on his knees and play with the other little guy  in the class! They both made it on the stage! Cedar looks intense, moving at just the right time, excited every time he gets to perform! Orien is relaxed, waits for the girls to tell him what to do, never seems stressed or quit sure what will come next! Both boys Loved there year of dance!!!

5 and 3

A bit embarrassed, a bit exhausted, I finally find myself back here to my writing home base! Apparently life has been full, and full is always good until it runs over..and then well we must start fresh, rejuvenate, relax, breath and begin to fill it up again. And so it goes we are breathing ,resting, fighting off colds, cuddling under blankets while spring has a hard time sticking. When we were full we were over flowing with Birthdays, parties, traveling, camping, working, family visiting, and dancing, playing soccer and schooling!! I never complain as I apparently enjoy a bit of "over the top" activities. Today I am thankful for a moment to re-experience this last month and celebrate Orien and Truthy who have both celebrated another year of Birthdays. I feel shocked to have my youngest at 3 and my middle "school age"

Orien has bloomed into a sweet 5. He is our deep lover of the family. I think he loves his siblings more then they will ever understand. Cedar is his gold. His big brother that leads him to try most anything. At this point without Cedar, Orien wouldn't know what to wear everyday, whether to enjoy a particular toy, try a new sport etc..He simply LOVES Cedar and wants to be just like him! BUT he does have a boundary and when it comes to comfort he will still pull back and find his own groove. He wont be pushed past his physical comfort. He is still getting comfortable on his bike, or in a pool. What I have learned is that Orien enjoys doing and learning without anyone noticing. He on the other hand loves praise and cheering, but first must take the time to get comfortable in the element and then can enjoy the positive praise. And when it comes to the loves of his sister he is always there to give her a morning hug, a kiss when she is sad or hurt and will always play "kitchen, babies, mom and dad" I find him lucky to be in the middle. He can choose to go with Cedar and try out more extreme play or relax into Truthys room of babies and toys,and then he has always been good at leaving them both to do his own creative playing.  For the year it has been playmobiles, fire men, police men and farmers! He can fall into his conversations with is toys for hours and always has been able to enjoy his solo space. Orien is growing into a kind, gentle, silly, feisty (when hungry or sleepy) 5 yr old boy. He has started wanting to sit at the table during school time with Cedar and learn his basics...shapes, counting, coloring, letters and seems very happy next to Cedar! This next year is big and we all can't wait to see where Orien finds his place in it all!

Truthy turned the big 3. Maybe the hardest year for me to hear. There is just something about a 2 yr old that makes me think baby, but 3 is different. She is older, she is changing.She is independent, always was but now has a plan, a play of her own. She demands music to be played all day so she can dance away. She is a mama most of her days and has a dozen babies to take care.  From dressing, to feeding, carrying them, she is busy! She loves her siblings, love to jump in the trampoline, and I have noticed is always watching to mimic there every move in life. She is a social extrovert. She seems to make a new friend where ever she goes. From the random Dad at the soccer field to the kids playing around her she loves people! Truthy has added to the conversation in the car and now gets the boys all rattled up as she would like to talk most of the time! She loves girls, will always leave the boys when she finds a girl to play with! She loves tea parties, dresses that spin, dirt, worms, animals, sleeping with her mama, and still drinking milk from a bottle!
Orien celebrating his 5th Birthday with his friends bowling!

Sweet 5 and 3 cuddling together!

Truthy is 3!!!!!

Truth, Orien and Cedar happy in Arches Nationl Park. We took a camping trip to Utah between birthdays!