First Rockies Game!

My fellow math teacher Travis had some extra tickets to the Rockies game last night and offered them to us. We had a great time. The Rockies beat the Diamondbacks 15-3, the weather was beautiful, and there were fireworks afterwards because it was fan appreciation night. Not bad for Reid and Aiden's first Major League Baseball game.

The Nicest, Best Day Ever

I think I might have been mistaken in thinking life might get a little bit more manageable as the boys get older. While there are certain aspects which have gotten easier, I think time seems to be flying by faster every year. Both my grandmas lived very long lives (94 and 100), so I thought maybe I'll be fortunate to live that long as well. But my dad passed away when he was 70 and now I can't help to think that I might be halfway, instead of a third of the way through my life. And there is so much I want to do including a large queue of crafty projects. Craftiness is my love language.

Last week I dragged the boys to my favorite cross stitch store to pick up some back-ordered floss for a couple of projects I'm working on. Both projects are by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. I have the pumpkin patch and part of the right third stitched so far. The colors they chose are beautiful. There is still a part along the bottom to be revealed, as it's a mystery pattern you can purchase at a discounted price. I think the last clue arrives sometime this week.

I'm also making this "Once Upon a Time" sampler for Eva, but I only have a couple of the months done. Might take a few years.

I made a mini farmer's wife quilt which I finished over Labor Day weekend.

I washed and blocked a shawl (a couple of years in the making) and some fingerless gloves last weekend too. 

I won a raffle at the cross stitch store, so after spending the morning grading, I dragged the boys back out. I won a Halloween pattern and pin cushion. The boys weren't impressed, but I was thrilled. I also took them to the fabric store, which darn near did them in. I let them each pick out a fabric and told them I would make them a pillow case. As we walked out to the van to drive home, Aiden said "That store was sooooo boooooring." Again, I would strongly disagree, but I suppose its target audience is probably not four-year old boys.

My prizes:

A quilt kit arrived in the mail. I'm so excited to start this one. I've been drooling over this kit since it was revealed at quilt market a few months ago. I found a good Labor Day deal from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. They also included the bright green keychain with their logo.

Tonight we went to downtown Littleton for supper. We tried a new pizza place and ice cream shop we had never been to.

My Grandpa Starrs owned a Coast to Coast hardware store in Thermopolis, so I'm a sucker for old, downtown hardware signs.

Can you tell I've worked 250 hours over the last four weeks? My poor, tired eyes. My classes/ lessons have gone very well, but the prep work and other aspects about district/ school board turmoil have been extremely overwhelming. I'm not exaggerating about the 250 hours, either.  I'm not sure I can keep it up much longer, so here's to hoping for some relief and less peripheral stress that greatly affects my/our livelihood, but I have no control over. 

Aiden took this pic of Eric. He's been attending the BMW PGA tournament the past few days.

So, when we went to the cross stitch store this afternoon, the boys spotted an ice cream shop. I told them that they couldn't have ice cream then, but maybe we could some other time and bring Eric too. As soon as Eric walked through the door from the golf tournament, Aiden began begging to go to the ice cream shop. Hence our downtown outing for supper. Aiden kept telling me it was the nicest, best day ever. How quickly the trauma of being dragged to a fabric store disappears with some ice cream.

Strawberry for Reid. Peanut butter cup for Aiden.

But brudders share, too.

P.S. One more crafty item to highlight. I made Noodlehead's Open Wide Zipper

pouch for Sandy for her birthday this week. I had been wanting to try this (free!) tutorial for a while and loved how it turned out.

End of July

It's the end of July already? How did summer fly by so quickly? This past school year I typed up too many worksheets, quizzes, and tests and responded to so many emails that I needed to step away from the computer this summer. I just spent a couple of hours updating my school website and our dept's website, so it looks like re-entry has begun. This summer I've enjoyed spending lots of time with Aiden, Reid, and Eric, sewing, cross-stitching, knitting, and listening to audio books. The boys start Pre-K on Monday, August 4th. Next week I need to spend some time at school to get a jump-start before teachers officially report on August 11th. I'm also going to try to catch up on posting more pictures of our summer adventures. Stay tuned...

"Hio"

On June 13th, we made our semi-annual trek to Ohio, or "Hio" as the boys have been referring to it. First stop: DIA (Denver International Airport). The construction of the airport hotel is continuing. I told the boys when it was done, I was going to go stay there by myself for a little get-away. Aiden immediately told me "No!" I like this shot because I was able to capture the iconic white peaks of the main terminal.

The boys did a great job thanks to our iPads. Reid sat with Eric, and Aiden and I sat in the row behind them. We flew on Southwest because that's the only airline flying directly from Denver to Dayton. It's a little nerve-wrecking not having assigned seats, but luckily we were able to find seats together.

So long, Colorado.

Hell, Dayton.

Still Reid's favorite spot:

Eric's dad cleaned up a go-cart that cousin Jordan used to drive. The boys loved it!

On Saturday, I went for a long walk around the neighborhood. I found a corn field not too far away.

We visited Eric's mom at her care home.

We enjoyed spending lots of time with Jennifer, Shane, and Jordan. Shane made his delicious chocolate chip cookies and buns again. This time he also made some yummy strawberry cupcakes. He's a great baker!

The little cousins are gaining on the big cousin.

Jennifer and Shane gave the boys their birthday presents- puzzles that you can color, a Nerf basketball hoop, and lots of Legos. They've all been big hits with Aiden and Reid. Thank you!

Auntie Jennifer and Aiden. Aww!

Reid made up a game where you had to try to throw the Nerf ball in the gift bag.

I think Aiden resembles Eric in this picture:

Luckily, the weather was fairly pleasant and the guys played outside a lot.

Eric never seems to quite be able to make the tag in baseball.

We even saw and caught some fireflies.

We swam at our favorite pool.

We caught a very early flight going home. The boys were luckily in good spirits despite the early wake-up call.

Good bye, Ohio.

Honk shoo!

We had a great time and the boys keep asking when we get to go back to "Hio". Reid said we should wait six weeks and then go back for nine weeks!