Tumble Tot

Yesterday, Julia had her first Tumble Tot class. This is her first real structured activity. She was excited about jumping and bouncing and running and laying down. (I have no idea why she thought there'd be laying down.) She really wanted to see her teacher.

Evan had the day off, so he got to be the participating parent. Julia was most timid at first.
This little 3 year old boy's name was Ethan. Yep. He was there to make sure I missed my own Ethan.
Evan had to help Julia participate at first.. She didn't want to warm up.
But, then she was excited to play along.




She really liked the music and yelled out, "I wanna dance!" and ran around dancing for a good 5 minutes all by herself.
After warm up, it was time for some activities with hula hoops and bean bags and balancing blocks.
There was a tunnel too. Julia really wanted to go in it...

but she said she was too big and then laid down. Just like she said she would.

After the activities, it was mat time.
The kids were supposed to crab walk. Julia just couldn't seem to get the concept.

So, she did her own thing.

Somersault time!


She was not a head stand fan.
Then, to close out the class, it was time for parachute fun.


Julia ran for the lost popcorn balls as soon as they left the parachute. She was kind of a hoarder.
She loved it!
Until one of the handles hit her hand and then she was kind of over the whole parachute thing.
Julia loved the class. And, even though it's an hour long and she was kind of done after 40 minutes and left the class bawling, she really had a lot of fun. When Elisabeth asked her how her tumbling class was, Julia told her all about it in her Julia-talk. Then she told Elisabeth, "I say, 'Bye teacher! I go home now!!'" Which is not true because she was throwing a fit when we left, but at least she thinks she left in a positive way. :)

Here's a video of her giving up on the bean bag thing and just dancing her little heart away:

Long Weekend.

First I need to show you the cover of Martha Stewart's new Halloween Handbook.

Holy cow! If that doesn't get you geared up for Halloween, nothing will! This was last year's Halloween book (which, of course, I own and have kept with my Halloween decorations):
I realize that Martha Stewart is a bit...intense. Her decorating tips and ideas are above and beyond what a normal person should be considering to do for their home (because, seriously, if you have time to do some of those intricate, mundane things to make centerpieces, then that time could be spent doing something more productive; like reading). But, her Halloween books are quite inspiring. And, some of the ideas are simple and cheap to replicate--two things Martha is usually not. This years book is no exception. And, since Elisabeth is having her birthday party on Halloween, I have some major decorating to do. (This will be Elisabeth's 3rd Halloween birthday party in her soon-to-be-8 years. Have I ever mentioned that I do so love Halloween?)

I'm excited to get started on planning my fall decorating. I don't usually start until the week before my birthday. Which is only a couple of weeks away!!!!

Alright, enough Halloween chatter. I know you all think I'm insane. :)

It is Labor Day weekend, which means Evan has 4 days off! Hooray!!!!!

We decided to not go away this weekend. Last year we went to Estes Park and explored part of Rocky Mountain National Park. But, this year, since Evan needs new tires for his car, we decided to hang out around here. There's plenty to do here.

So, today is going to be a normal day. Julia starts her Tumble Tots class today and Evan gets to watch it with us. Tomorrow we're going to head over to the Colorado Springs Balloon Classic. Saturday night there's a Volkswagen car show, which Evan is super excited about. Then, all the hot air balloons will be filled and lit for everyone's enjoyment. Sunday morning we'll be waking up early and heading back to the Balloon Classic to watch the balloons lift off. After we ooh and ahh at the balloons and I've taken a bajillion pictures, we're hightailing it out of there for the Denver zoo. Evan and Julia have never been before and it really is one of my favorite zoos. Elisabeth and I went in 2006 when we were visiting my sister Terra who was living in Ft. Collins, CO.

So, those are the plans. But, the most exciting part is having Evan home for 4 days. It's so nice when he's home all day, and having him home four whole days in a row is fantabulous.

Now it's time for random pictures.

Here's how my cats decided to sleep the other day.

One of the reasons we always have Thursday dinners at Rachel's house is because of her awesome back yard. We push the children out the back door and tell them not to come in till we say it's time to eat. Here's Peter on the trampoline. Peter's one of my favorite people to take pictures of because he's always doing something.

When Juila's on the trampoline, the kids aren't allowed to jump because she'd just bounce right off. She likes to scream "Don't bounce-a me!" when she's on there, even if no one is bouncing. Peter is telling Mabel that having Julia on the trampoline is no fun.
This is Elisabeth. I love the faces she makes. I also love that she loves Halloween as much as me. I trained her to love it. (I'm done talking about Halloween for today. I promise.)
Julia likes donuts.
And her bench.

A Girl and Her Trike

Good job, Juju.

Virtual Coffee

.jpg>

Oh, good! I'm so glad you're back for another coffee date! It's actually a Tuesday this time. I'm starting to get my days in order now.

If you were really here for coffee I'd tell you that...

I'm still in love with my potted garden. I've heard a couple of my friends and family say that they're done with theirs. Tired of weeding and maintaining. I'm not yet. I know that part of it is because mine are all in pots (so no weeds) but this is also my first garden ever (except for a few failed attempts in grade school and again in high school at my parents' house). I'm loving how I can actually keep things alive. My front garden still has flowering plants. I love seeing them when I pull up to our house. I like the bugs that have been frequenting them. It's a still a new hobby for me. I've already started thinking about expanding my potted garden for next year! Well, if we're still here next year...
We find out in a couple of months what we'll be doing next summer. Either we'll find out we'll be getting stationed somewhere new or we'll get to stick it out here another year. I'm kind of hoping for here another year because I love it here so much. But, I'm excited about seeing new places too. We'll also find out if Evan deploys next year. It won't be till around November until we know anything, but I'm starting to get antsy to know what the next step in our Air Force lives will be.
I bought Julia underwear. I think she's ready. I think it's time. I couldn't find Mickey Mouse underwear, so we settled for Minnie Mouse. I'm just going to approach this as not a big deal. Potty training Elisabeth left a negative vibe to the phrase "potty-training". But, I taught in a 3 year old class room for 2 years and got a chance to potty train a number of other people's kids. I can do this...
I've been a cooking fool lately. Experimenting with new ingredients and recipes I've never thought of trying before. Reattempting recipes that weren't great the first time and tweaking them till they are divine the second time. I did learn, though, that I probably shouldn't work in a pizzeria. I say lots of very bad words when working with pizza dough.
Tomorrow is September. My birthday month. My favorite season will be here in weeks. My parents are coming out to see me on my birthday. My friends are throwing me a party. Lots of things to look forward to.
I miss my nephews.
After our coffee date, I have to go work out at the Y. I'm still battling this weight issue. I'm trying to stay positive and not be depressed and frustrated. I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to losing weight. I usually feel great after working out, but it's talking myself into going that ends up being a struggle. Or I'm all jazzed about getting to go and then one of my children decides to get sick and I can't go anywhere. It's my forever battle.

Evan has 4 days off for Labor Day weekend. We're going to spend most of it just hanging out at home, but we're planning on going to Denver for a day. I'd like to see the aquarium and go to a restaurant that we don't have around here. We haven't really taken advantage of being so close to Denver as much as we should. I think a lot of it is that there's so much to do in Colorado Springs we don't really think about going elsewhere.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to me ramble. I'm glad you liked your coffee. I'll see you next week--same time, same place. ;)