Eagles

John called me on his way to work this morning to tell me there were eagles perched on the ice of the reservoir. So I grabbed my camera and stopped by after dropping the kids off at school. Sure enough, they were still there. The majority of them were way on the other side of the water, but look how many were out there!

The eagles in the above picture are the 5 tiny dots towards the far edge of the water. No, not the ones on the grass - those dots are cows! Remember, the title of my blog is "snapshots", not "National Geographic Worthy Photos".

The two in the tree were a little closer to me.

Thai Kickboxing

Last night, I went to my kickboxing belt promotion ceremony. Two of my good martial arts buddies were also promoting, although we are all at different levels. I have been doing Tae Kwon Do for almost 2 years now, and I just added in kickboxing this past fall, as a supplement to TKD and a good cardio workout. I have really enjoyed it, much more than I thought I would, and it has helped to get me in the best shape I've been in for quite some time. For the belt promotion ceremony, students have to demonstrate the curriculum they have learned so far and are required to do a certain number of pushups, which increases by 5 for every belt level. For me, being so new, it was pretty easy. I just had to demonstrate my white belt and yellow belt combos, do 30 pushups, and break a board with a palm heel strike. My new belt is orange.

This is Karna with me. She had to demonstrate 6 different combos, do 50 pushups, and break a board with a skipping front kick. She earned her red belt last night. Karna and I met and became friends because we were the same level in TKD. Unfortunately, she had to take a time out on TKD for a while because she had a baby a few months ago (her third child), and it's just too much for her to do everything. I know she'll get back into the TKD program again, but I'm disappointed that we won't be earning our black belts together. Karna and I get together and bake before big holidays. Those of you that had that delicious key lime pie at Thanksgiving - thank Karna!

This is Chris. He earned his blue belt last night. He had to demonstrate 4 combos, break a board with a downward elbow strike, and do 40 pushups (although he did quite a few more because he's a show-off). :) Chris is my training partner for TKD. We are both perfectionists and want to do our very best, so we work well together. We also co-teach some of the Little Dragons classes for the 4 - 7 year olds, which is a lot of fun. Our sons are the same age, and our daughters are only a few months apart, too, so they all get along well, and we're often together for playdates. Some people have asked if we're brother and sister. I guess I can see that, when I look at this picture. No need to take offense, Chad, he's a great guy!

Kickboxing is fun and a great workout. I don't have the same passion for it that I have for Tae Kwon Do, though. I'll have to devote a future blog to that (especially since I devote so much of my time to the sport).

Metamorphosis

Do you remember the painting instructor, Bob Ross, from PBS?

When John took off his hat the other day and saw his wild hair, he decided he was starting to resemble Bob Ross.
John kept this beard for a few months (probably the longest he's ever kept a beard), and I really liked it. Without the wild-eyed goofy stare, it was very manly.
But he decided he had kept it long enough. It was time for a shave and a haircut. I was ready to see his face again, too. He shaved in stages, to see what he looked like with different kinds of facial hair. The sideburns and goatee look is interesting...
The mustache and soul patch, I'm not so crazy about.

There's my smooth-faced husband back!!

Colorado Beauty

I took this picture this morning - the sunrise was reflecting beautifully off of the clouds over Longs Peak. Then I emailed it to Bobbie, and he worked some photoshop magic on it. Thank you, Bobbie!!

I stopped while driving past the reservoir last week to snap this shot of the ice. It is so beautiful here! We are constantly thankful for living in such gorgeous surroundings.

Fun in the Sun

It was in the upper 50s today and absolutely gorgeous! Annika visited Helene's Tae Kwon Do class this morning, then both of my kids went over to Annika and Ian's house to play all afternoon. The girls decided it was even warm enough to play in the sprinklers. Bobbie took these precious pictures of them.

Anansi and the Talking Melon

Campbell was in a play at school today, "Anansi and the Talking Melon," an African folktale. Each of the students was a different animal, represented by the pictures on their Tshirts. Campbell was the turtle. He enjoyed making everyone laugh by getting pushed over and stuck on his back and by delivering funny turtle lines like, "Hey, everybody! Wait for me." I was really impressed by the amount of expression he put into delivering his lines. I didn't capture that in the pictures; you'll just have to believe me. :)



Campbell and other students waiting in the wings,


discussing the unbelievable talking melon,

and covering up their ears so they are not fooled again by Anansi.

The Zoo

Helene and I had a great time at the zoo today. It was fun having an outing with just the two of us. I hear the boys had a great time skiing, as well. They even went down some hard blues.

It was 50 degrees and sunny today. Absolutely beautiful! The animals were all basking in it.

Helene's favorite parts were the carousel and the train. She also enjoyed the mountain goats and the monkeys - mostly because she thought their habitats looked like fun places for her to play.

My New Car

Last month, for the first time in my life, I got to research, pick out, test drive, negotiate, and purchase my very own new car! I traded in the Suburban for a Prius. So, now, instead of 13 miles to the gallon, I get 40!! I also can fit in all the parking spaces around here (which are NOT Texas-sized). I am so glad I downsized.

My friend, Bobbie, helped me put the ski rack on top. (Okay, pretty much, I stood and watched while he did it.) These pictures were taken one Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago, as we were headed out to a nearby skiing mountain. The kids took 6 Saturdays of ski lessons there this winter. Campbell has become quite a proficient skier. He and John are going to have a guys' day at the slopes tomorrow. Helene prefers to ski one or two slopes, then spend the rest of the day drinking hot chocolate. So, since it will be sunny and in the 40s or 50s tomorrow, we plan to spend a girls' day at the zoo.

Happy Valentine's Day

the kids at the breakfast table this morning

Grammer, Helene loves her Valentine's clothes. She got lots of compliments today on the pants.

Business Hour, Postscript

I forgot to include this picture of Helene. She paid 50 gopher spackers to one enterprising student for a 2 minute massage. Total bliss!

Business Hour

The kids go to an amazing school for the gifted and creative. The best creative idea the school has come up with this year is a group called "Business Globe". It is a mini-society, which has created its own currency, among other things. Students throughout the school are able to earn the money (called "gopher spackers" - don't ask me why) from their teachers and spend them at business hours, which are held monthly. Any student can apply for a business license and sell some homemade product or service during the business hour.

Campbell and Helene have participated in this twice. Last month, Campbell sold copies of a computer game he designed and C & H both made "stuffed animals" out of socks. They sold out! They had to keep a record of their expenses, labor, rental fees for table and floor space during the business hour, sales, etc., and figure out their profit at the end. Doesn't every 5 and 7 year old know how to do that?! Great lessons!

Today was another Business Hour. I taught C & H how to use the sewing machine not too long ago, so they made pillows to sell today. Once again, they sold out very quickly!

Here's Cam selling a pillow to a 5th grader. You can see the boy clutching the pillow. It's one Helene made - she was very proud of how much stuffing she fit into this particular pillow. The girl in the foreground is holding a pillow she just bought - one that Campbell made.
Helene also helped work the table for her class. They made and sold crowns and jewelry.

My First Blog

I've decided to give blogging a try. I have so many snapshots of our daily life that don't seem worth emailing to everyone I know, but they are worth sharing. Especially now that we live in another state from most of our extended family, this seems a good way to share with all of you. . . to give you glimpses of what goes on here in our daily lives.

The URL is our first initials in age order (John, Ashley, Campbell, Helene) followed by the word "snapshots" to capture my love of photography as well as a sense of what I hope this blog will be for you - little snapshots of our life here in colorful Colorado!

My main means of sharing my daily life and cute stories about the kids is through my daily phone conversations with my mother. When I tell her something funny or clever the kids have said, she always says, "You should write that down." I never do. I'm not a journaler by nature. But, hopefully, I will do some of that in this medium.

Okay, those are my hopes and goals. On to the snapshots...