Biking and Dancing

John got a road bike today - an early Father's Day present, but something he really needed to pick out for himself. He's going to try biking to work occasionally. He and the kids had a nice little ride around the block this afternoon.




This was a precious father/daughter moment last night. Helene said, "Daddy, will you dance with me while I'm wearing my beautiful dress?" Then she told John she wanted to do the "jumpy dance," where he lifts her really high and helps her bounce around in circles. When they started dancing, John said, "We need music. What should I sing?" and Helene replied, "The Aggie song - Hullabaloo Kaneck Kaneck." I know it warmed John's heart to have his daughter request a dance with him to the Aggie War Hymn. What more could a father want?!

Annie

Just a quick post to show before and after shots of Annie. John usually shaves her at the first of every summer. She seems happier with a shorter coat in the summer, and it's easier to get ticks off of her (she usually picks up a few when we go hiking). John decided he didn't want to mess with it this year (it takes hours and scares Annie), so we took her to Petsmart and had them do it. Much easier and nicer looking, too. Unfortunately, she pulled the pink bows off of her ears before I could get them in a picture. THAT was funny looking - cute little pink bows are not at all Annie's personality. But when the groomer asked if she could put them on, I had to say yes because I knew John would get a kick out of it.





It's hard to get a picture of Annie looking at the camera. The camera scares her almost as much as the clippers. Poor neurotic dog.

Homeschooling Update

We had a good homeschooling day yesterday. I love the spontenaity that is possible with teaching the kids at home. Campbell was playing around during a break on my Casio keyboard and had the keyboard playing a preprogrammed song, "Die Lorelei". I started singing along, and both children started dancing. Then I showed them the poem by Heinrich Heine, read it to them, and translated it. Helene was fascinated by the story and wanted to act it out. So here she is, perched high on the treacherous rocks, combing her golden hair and singing a haunting melody. I didn't get Campbell in the picture, but he is below, in a ship, about to crash into the rocks because he is so entranced by her beautiful singing. Whether she is conscious of her own learning style, I'm not sure, but Helene is always asking to act things out, and when she does, she remembers every little detail of the lesson.








Another neat homeschooling moment happened the day before yesterday. I was talking to Campbell about American history and the events leading up to the revolution. Mostly, I was reading from a book and trying to expand and explain some, but history is my weak point. John got home from work early, while we were still reading, and sat on the couch near us to read his own journals. I had told Campbell that the Colonists didn't like the laws King George had imposed, including the taxes, and I had explained all I could to him about the taxes, but he wanted to know more. I'm so glad John was there. Campbell started asking him questions like, "What other laws did King George pass that the Colonists didn't like?" and saying things like, "No, Daddy. That's not too complicated for me. Keep talking to me about it. I want to know more." I thought that learning history via lecture and discussion would be the most boring possible way to learn it, but Campbell really seemed to enjoy it. Personally, I learn history better through reading historical fiction :), so we're reading Johnny Tremain as well as the history textbook.

We only have one week left of school, officially. We'll probably continue homeschooling into the summer some, but not on as regular of a basis. It has gone well, and I'm glad we did it. I think it has been good for Campbell. I still don't know for sure what we'll do next year. Helene has gotten into a charter core knowledge school, Carbon Valley Academy, for Kindergarten. Campbell is second on the waiting list for the third grade there. Campbell and I visited a third grade classroom at CVA last week to see what it's like. We were impressed. The school has a nice atmosphere, the teachers are organized, the kids were nice to Campbell and excited about having a visitor. All of the grade levels at the elementary school (1st - 5th) have math at the same time, so a child can attend math at a different grade level if the one he's in is too low or high for him. And they do the same thing for Language Arts. The principal seems flexible and open to new ideas. For example, they had never had a student ask to come visit for a day, like we did on Friday, but the principal called me personally when I requested it and helped me arrange for it to happen. Like I said, I'm still not sure what we'll do. Homeschooling has its advantages, but it's hard, and there are so many life lessons that can be learned in a classroom in a school, but not at home. Then again, there are so many teachable moments at home that I can follow up on, but in a classroom of over 20 students, the teacher can't just follow one student's lead and stop everything else to have an in-depth discussion about taxation without representation or to have an impromptu dramatization of "Die Lorelei". We still have a lot of thinking to do this summer. . .

Kitchen Makeover

This is what the kitchen looked like when we bought the house. It's beautiful, but a little plain. The cabinets and floor are oak. The curtains I think were once black, but they've faded and now look navy.

Helene broke the lamp/chandelier in the above picture by swinging a broomstick around. So we replaced it out of necessity. Then I replaced the curtain rods because they were dark wrought iron and I wanted brushed silver to match the cabinet knobs and drawer pulls that had been there all along, as well as the new chandelier. I also decided that the kitchen could use a little more color. Originally, I was thinking of painting the cabinets white because there's so much oak in the kitchen, that it all looked rather dull. But I started by painting the walls red (crimson bog), and now I think I might be okay with the color of the cabinets. I'd be happy to have opinions from any of you, though. Let me know what you think about painting the cabinets versus leaving them as is. I will put some kind of window treatment on the new silver rods, but I haven't gotten around to figuring that out yet. I'd be happy to take advice on that, as well.

I'm happy with the red walls. It adds a bit of pizazz to the room. You only see the breakfast room in the pictures because that's all I've painted so far. I should quit blogging and get back to painting the rest of the walls, I suppose.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, Cookie and Grammer (and to all the other mothers out there)!

After brushing my hair while Campbell rubbed my feet, Helene decided we should put on nice dresses and walk around town. "Everyone will stare at us because we're so beautiful," she said. So, we put on dresses, walked up and down Main Street (the boys were with us, but they didn't get dressed up), and had lunch on the patio of a local brew pub. It has been a beautiful day.



Campbell gave me this iris last year for Mother's Day. His class took a field trip to a garden in Boulder, where they dug up an iris they liked. He told me it was blue (which is my favorite color and why he picked it for me), but it wasn't in bloom when I got it. What a nice surprise to walk outside on this Mother's Day weekend and see that it had bloomed!

Girls' Weekend, The Other Side of the Story

I really don't know much about what the guys did while in Eugene, Oregon, but I know they had a great time and want to make it an annual tradition. John finished the half-marathon faster than he expected (he's been too busy to train like he would have liked). And I know they went to the coast one day. That's all I know. These are pictures my dad sent.

Girls' Weekend, Part 3

On Sunday, Courtney headed back home after breakfast to get some work done. My mom and I picked up the kids and took them to a playground that also has a skate park.

Campbell rode his scooter for a long time. There were some other boys close to his age there, as opposed to all the 20-something skater dudes that are often there, so that was nice. Helene rode her scooter for a while, then just ran around the bowls and half-pipes. I've tried that myself, and it's actually a lot of fun!

Helene showed Grammer a geocache that is stashed at the park. We have never tried geocaching, but if we ever get a GPS, I think it would be a fun family activity. I know Campbell and John would enjoy it.

My mom left Monday. It was a wonderful weekend, and we've decided to try to make it an annual event.

Girls' Weekend, Part 2

On Saturday morning, my mom watched the kids, while Courtney perused the Farmers' Market, and I helped out at Black Belt Spectacular (<-- click for a brief video of a previous BBS). That afternoon we had a sitter come, so we could go to the St. Julien Hotel and Spa in Boulder for some real pampering. We had a pedicure that lasted almost 2 hours and came complete with a cocktail! Then we wandered around Pearl Street Mall in our flip-flops, showing off our pretty toes. The tulips on Pearl Street are magnificent right now.





Saturday evening, the Turners were kind enough to have our kids over to spend the night, so we could have some completely uninterrupted girl time and even sleep in on Sunday morning. Thank you, Jill and Bobbie!



Apparantly, the girls had a good time playing dress-up and modeling.

And the boys acted like boys.

We did some shopping at the 29th Street Mall, then had a nice leisurely dinner at Cantina Laredo. And other than pets demanding to be let out Sunday morning, we did kind of get to sleep in. Sitting around drinking coffee and reading the newspaper before going to pick them up was nice. A lovely second day of our girls' weekend.

Girls' Weekend, Part 1

I had a girls' (and kids') weekend this past weekend with my mom and Courtney. Our husbands were all running a half-marathon in Eugene, Oregon, so we got together at my house and did some fun girl stuff. My mom arrived Friday around lunchtime, so we drove to Chad and Courtney's new house in Denver and had lunch there. The house is adorable. It is smaller than my finished basement, so it made me feel a little guilty for living in such a large house, but then again, Courtney said she felt guilty for having 3 TVs, when we only have one. I guess we all have areas we're willing to make sacrifices in. At this point in our lives, space and elbow room are important to our family.

After a very nice lunch, we went to RMS for Helene's class plays. The first was about a dragon and a knight who thought they should battle each other. Helene played one of the librarians who helped the dragon and the knight. When they discover they are not very good at fighting, the librarians give them books on BBQ-ing, and the knight and dragon open up a restaurant together.


In the second play, Helene was the wise queen. Peasant Peter comes to her for advice. Helene did a beautiful job of acting regal and had no problem with the delivery of the line, "Do as I say."

That evening, after the kids were fed and in bed, we girls made ourselves a pasta dinner and took it downstairs to watch "The Devil Wears Prada" and drink wine. It was a lovely start to our girls' weekend.

More to come . . .