Tristan Graduates

Another milestone down...Tristan graduated from preschool.  We weren't sure he would make it to the ceremony because he had been sick that whole week before.  He made it and stayed up on the stage the whole time, but you could tell the pep was gone from his little body.

The program was really adorable and I was proud of him for remembering all of it.  Neil had to fly out early that morning, so he missed the ceremony but I sent him lots of pictures and there was a fun present he left for Tristan when we got home.

Tristan had a great year at Happy Valley and I'm so glad he had a chance to go there.  He will miss his teachers and his friends that have helped make this such a special experience.

Mother's Day

I love Mother's Day.  What's not to love?  The kids tell you they love you a thousand times and you get to do what you want that day.  Usually we start with church, spend a little family time, and then I go get some much needed alone time.

This year Ian was sick, so I stayed home from church with the twins.  Neil's brother and his wife were in town visiting with their baby Andrew so they went to church with Neil and Tristan.  It was just the nice quiet, cuddly morning with my little ones that I wanted.  Tristan and the boys worked with Neil the night before to make me a wonderful card.  I love it when Neil totally gets what I love about presents.

I was happily surprised that my best friend, Erin, arranged her travels to fly through Denver and be able to spend a few hours with me.  I love when she comes to town because we go to the yummiest places to eat and I don't ever hear one word about how many calories are in the food or how long we will have to be at the gym if we eat it all.  SO REFRESHING these days when everyone seems to be obsessed with talking about food...and not the good kind of food talk.  Erin likes to visit local places, so the two of us went to Chataqua Dinning Hall for brunch.  I have wanted to go to that brunch for twelve years, but Neil doesn't like brunch so we have never gone.  It was perfect.  We got a table out on the porch overlooking the flatirons and the weather was perfect!  We sat and talked about Africa, her adoption, my upcoming trip, and our current lives.  SO good for the soul.

After brunch, I came home to a house filled with family and got to celebrate with all of them.  There is something really nice about a full house on a holiday.  Neil then told me that he had arranged for my Mother's Day present that I requested.  One night at a local really nice hotel all by myself...awwww.  It would not be until the next weekend, but I could breath a little better knowing that break was coming.   Well, that day has come and gone and the kids were too sick for me to get away.  I think it will still happen, I just have no idea when.  That's the life of a mother though, those little kids come first :)

12 Years

Another year of marriage and another anniversary to celebrate.  We were really looking forward to this year, nothing big just a date night out.  Since May 1st, it seems like our lives have been non-stop busy and Neil and I just don't really live at that pace because we don't really like that pace.  It started with Tristan's birthday on the 1st where Neil left from the party to go on a business trip, home for the weekend, then off to another week long business trip where he picked his brother and his family up on the way home and we had a nice visit for a week with them.  The day after our guest left, Tristan got really sick and then Neil left for another business trip.  Since then, the kids have been passing the nastiest of viruses around with each other (and with Neil and I).

Now the big day comes and we have a sitter all lines up for an anniversary dinner and movie.  We had the kids just well enough to be able to have a sitter and BAM Finn comes down with pink eye last night.  Yuck!  No date for us, but both of us REALLY did need a break from the house where we had been stuck for the last week and a half.

We moved to Plan B.  We still had dinner and a movie, but we had to be really flexible. Actually it's fitting this falls on this twelve year anniversary because these last twelve years have given us lots of chances to perfect being flexible.  Neil went to the movies in the morning, I went in the afternoon, and then I brought home PF Changs for dinner.
The only difference between the quiet romantic dinner out with a movie we could discuss after and the day we had was that we saw different movies, has someone yell "I pooped" as we sat down to eat, and by the end of the dinner all the kids were over eating off our plates and playing action figures around the table.  We looked at each other, smiled, and couldn't be happier with the twelve years we have had so far together.

I can't believe we have a kid old enough to take our picture... before he figured out how to reverse the camera and take twenty pictures of himself.

Here's to an actual date night next year!!