Love Day

Well this was the only pictures we got around Valentines Day! Some highlights included the following:

• Russell helped both Ryker and Dempsey with their Valentines Day boxes. I didn't help with one thing. This felt weird. AND I was stoked to see what they all created! Ryker had a plane, and Dempsey created a Unibunny. It's crazy to think that next year we will only have 1 more kid doing Valentines Day boxes. 
• We focused on the kids this year and we decided that the theme was US. We got the kids a new game called Beat That! A total hit of a game that has us all doing fun and random challenges! We also got bracelets that say Fru5. AND we got a Lego set of wildflowers that we all put together! AJ said that this was his,  "Favorite Valentines Day because normally we do candy. But this year we got things to do and did them as a family." I don't take this quote lightly. OUR 7th grader wants to hangout with us, enjoys hanging out with us, and prefers hanging out with us to candy! WINNING!

We got a typewriter and I found this note from Ryker on it. I'm keeping it forever! 

Love,

Momma

Outdoor Adventuring

We headed to the Breck area two weekends ago and it was magical! First of all, we stayed in this sweet A frame house. It was so cute and more spacious than I thought! It was in Fairplay was the perfect space for our family and John+Barb. For dinner they introduced me and the kids to Oysters! THEY do taste like the ocean, and I figure we should probably have them weekly but they were SO DARN GOOD. Ryker and AJ tried Oyster Rockefeller and I think they actually liked it!

 On Saturday we went snowmobiling. We did a guided tour and I'll be honest I was a bit nervous to be driving the snowmobile. I have weird social anxiety in those situations...my head fills with....what if I can't drive as fast as the rest of them? What if I wreck the snowmobile, what if I get lost? What if I get made fun of? What if I kill the engine and can't figure out how to get it started again? THANK GOODNESS I don't let all those thoughts deprive me of what turned out to BE SO DARN FUN! LIKE LEGIT-I want one. I'm not a huge fan of cold weather activities because I just don't love being cold-but I could have cared less.We took John and it was his first time riding! It was sure fun to see him be so giddy:) There were two family groups that went, and our group was the F*A*S*T group! The kids all rode on the back, and then even had heated armrests! LIVING the life!

Once we got back from that adventuring Russell, Barb and I decided we needed to move our body. We took off from the Airbnb on snowshoes and went to find some adventurer. Good news is that when Russell and Barb are involved...we will find some. Highlights including going off the trail, Barb and I laughing so hard she tipped over, and feeling grateful for Russell's trailblazing skills so that we didn't have to recreate the trail in LOTS and LOTS of snow!

Sunday we packed up and headed out to Keystone to go skiing. You know the Mastercard commercials? It was very much like that:

Ski rentals for Ryk+Dempsey: $200

Lift tickets: $800

Meals+Snacks+Incentive candy: $60

Dempsey doing 1 TINY run and then quitting, Ryker-Megan-Barb and Russell doing 1-3.5 mile run, and then calling it good. BUT WE DID IT and created memories and listened to our kids and provided them the love and what they needed and challenged ourselves:  PRICELESS.

 

It was a helluva weekend-and I'll be honest I was tired going back to work that week. BUT it was primo for adventuring!

-Momma

The sign.

AJ loves Ace of Base, specifically The Sign and we sang it together tonight.

hah.

-Mom

Conferences

Tonight we had conferences for all 3 kids. Some amazing nuggets:

•AJ: His language art teacher had all sorts of amazing things to say about AJ. He commented on how his “sociability” sometimes caused her grief, but not too much! Hah! AJ! Too social. He was so overwhelmed at the beginning of the year with writing, and he has truly figured it out. She showed us a few essays from him and I’m so darn impressed by that.

•Ryker: One of the best stories his teacher shared was that Ryker is one of the only kids that tells her “Good Morning” every single time he comes in to school, She let him know that, this means the world to her. I get it. I can’t tell you how many kids at my school completely ignore me when I said hi to them in the morning. To be acknowledged, is everything.

•Dempsey: A story that her teacher shared was that a fellow students sit right by Dempsey in class. Typically this student has a para with him, but this year there isn’t enough money for that. After Dempsey is done doing her work she asks if she can help her teacher, and sometimes her teacher asks her to help this student (if she feels comfortable). Dempsey does and is so sweet and kind and helps him out! 

We always leaving feeling so darn proud of our kids.

-Momma 

My kids.

I was having some pretty decent stomach pain this evening. Dempsey came to hangout with me. Then Ryker joined, and finally AJ came.

While Demps was in there she first got me a container in case I puked. Then she held my hand and squeezed it 3x (a thing the kids and i have done forever that means I love you).

AJ was working on homework and I asked if there was anything he needed. He looked up and said,” Mom is there anything you need?” I said, “it’s just good to have you all be in here with me. You all are so sweet.”

Ryk looked over at me and said, “Mom, you’re sweet to us. We are just repaying the favor.” 

Tears. Oh my gosh. My kids. I love them so hard.

-Mom