Picture Dump

There was someone at Nate's work getting rid of a pool table, what a fun addition to the basement.  Although I don't think any of us realized how hard these things were to setup.  Originally Nate and Joe tried themselves but then turned to a pro that Joe happened to know.

Here it is without the rails installed.

We have a six year old now, she asked her Dad for a gun for her birthday.  Those reading this can guess my answer but this time I lost.  At least this way Joe can teach them all about the safety part. 

That's Austin's shot in the upper left hand corner.

Little Goose is still too small to really even hold it but she sure wanted to be included.

There's her best shot, nearly hitting the target.

We met my Mom for lunch on Austin's birthday at Haceinda Colorado - Awesome Mexican food.

And then kindergarten graduation/promotion this morning.  This little ham ball just loves smiling now.

Austin is in the back row singing the songs to us.

Jackson was nearing nap time but trying to stay strong to watch his big sister.

Gram and Tyler were too engrossed in the program to look at me.

Do you see how his little arms are blurry all the time...we've got ourselves another wiggler. :-)

Introducing our new 1st grader and Pre-Schooler!

The Special Olympics

Because they knew I hadn't put on makeup yet this morning, one of Austin's teachers sent home a copy of the video that they made for the Special Olympics this year.  What a fantastic honor for Austin to be chosen to go down there and support her classmate.  At the end of the day one of the character traits that I hope my children always have is kindness.

Real Life Grownups.

I saw Joe Rogan do a stand up where he spoke about "real life grownups".  I remember thinking to myself (at the rip old age of 25 when I watched him) "Yeah Totally Dude!"  BUT....Yeah totally dude.

Seriously I cannot believe that I am a full fledged grownup.  I have a will, investment portfolio AND three flippin' kids.  Sometime in my Bud-Light twenties I grew up...I am not sure who decided that I was ready to have the world on my shoulders but they sure assigned it.  Just baffles me most days.

This could be the reason that I am feeling so old these days - here's our big girl after losing her first tooth.

Look at how small that little tooth is.

And it's been raining here so much that we have frogs in our back yard, which Joe managed to catch for the girls and it just so happens that they are a male and female so now the whole terrarium is full of frog eggs. :-)

Also, I managed to find the Joe Rogan clip about being a real grownup...definitely not suitable around kids due to language but super funny if you find time.

Owl

There was an owl today in the tree at Austin's school...holy smokes are those things cool!

Change of attitude...

I have been grouchy lately...just ask the poor saps that live with me.  I went from being top dog at my work to being one person on a team that doesn't do what I am good at.  There is a huge learning curve and lets be honest if layoffs come I am the first to go, that coupled with my strike assignment has made it hard to see the goodness that my job offers.  And then...since I needed a reminder...while stuck on another friggin' conference call, Jackson started to cry in the next room.  The call was over in 10 LONG minutes of listening to him cry and which point I walked into my son's room and nursed him.  Hmmm.  To be making enough to support our family and still be able to walk one room over (albeit not instantly) when our kids need me is truly spectacular.  My new found attitude has made it much easier to just smile.

This was our drive home the Saturday night before Mother's Day.  Yep that's a ton of snow...gotta love Colorado weather.

This little guy requested a teething ring from Gram so he had something to chew on.

Because as you can see from this selfie...the drool baby is definitely teething.

Reminder number two why my job is still awesome...the kiddos and I went to Austin's school to watch her Healthy Assembly Musical at 9AM on a Tuesday morning.

And last but certainly not least...I was asked the other day at one of our parties why we send our kids to public school rather than private or charter schools.  These pictures below were taken at The Special Olympics...Austin has a little girl in her class that has Down Syndrome and was competing yesterday in the games.  She invited Austin to come and cheer her on while she competed, so Austin got to ride the school bus with her down to the fields, pack a sack lunch and hang out all day.  These were all huge "firsts" for Austin who was somewhat taken back by the lack of seat belts in the school bus.  Me and the other kiddos drove down after lunch so Goose and Jackson could see what it was all about and pick her up.  I think the part to me that means so much is when you ask Austin what is different about her friend in class she says that she is shorter than Austin and is 6 rather than 5....that's it, that's all she sees and God willing and the creek don't rise we can keep her that way.

Jackson was really into watching what everyone else was doing, so much so that I don't think he even wanted out of his car seat. ;-)

Happy Mother's Day to me...

Happy Mother's Day to me, with a bit of buyers remorse we finally bit the bullet (thanks to the dishwasher breaking) and ordered new appliances for the house.  They look and cook amazing!

Kuma thinks I am taking a picture of him...but alas no big boy, it's of the old refrigerator.

Joe cutting away part of the cabinet so the new ovens will fit.

The new dishwasher after the old one broke down.

 See that big beast...I have coveted double ovens for most of my adult life.

And if you were wondering "yes it truly is THAT heavy", as you can tell by the way it sliced and diced my hands up.

By now it was forgiven.

What kitchen would be complete without a gas cook top.

Even though the metal is shiny and everything looks awesome, the real hero is Joe.  Every single thing needed a significant amount of modifying or installing (like running gas lines).  Other than lifting heavy stuff, I am not much help...but he sure is a wizard when it comes to "remodeling" things like this.

And the wedding...

I forgot to post a couple of pictures from the wedding we just went to, it was an awesome wedding of two friends that we have probably known forever which made it even more fun.

Right before the wedding.

 There's Dan and Lisa!

One of our friends Anna and us right after the ceremony.

Joe and I waiting for the reception to start.

Work...still a four letter word.

Verizon is preparing again for a potential Union strike, which means that those of us within Verizon that are not Union will be filling in where needed.  Apparently my "need" is in Pittsburgh, PA as a collections agent.  If the strike goes into affect on August 1st that will be my new job, on the phones for 12 hours a day 6 days a week.  I am hoping that Joe can figure out his work and drag himself and the kiddos out there because the thought of being that far away from my family for an undisclosed amount of time truly feels like too much.  Although I guess it's still better than allowing the family to be homeless and starve.

While searching for hotels in the Pittsburgh area yesterday I was told about some layoffs coming up next month.  Needless to say between these things and my new job being FAR different than my old one, morale is pretty low now on the work front.  As I sit and stare at my three children who need my income and benefits I am reminded that I can't just quit...but boy is it hard not to.

I forgot to post some of these and then I also finally cleaned up my phone enough to be able to take some new pictures.

Here's Jackson and Papa watching out the window in Breckenridge.

While Kelley and I march off to the slopes.

The kids were just all sick and poor Goose couldn't sleep at night so the next morning after getting ready to go pick up her sister at school this is what I walked into my office to see.

So I woke her up and she went and got her blanket "Mr. Stinky" and proceeded to fall back asleep on the chair.

Jackson and I were sending a smile to Dad while he worked.

There is a Momma deer and her three babies that have been hanging around our house this year.

And on the way home last night we saw a fox and her four babies, we must have sat there for ten minutes watching those cuties play.

These two.  When they aren't trying to kill each other they get along marvelously. :-)