Our First Swim Meet

 The boys had the first week of swim team practice and their first meet this morning.  They are going to be extremely fit little boys by the end of the summer.  They practice at 8:30 five times a week and then have a swim meet most Saturdays this summer.  They did great during practice - I am impressed with how well they've done with nonstop swimming for an hour each morning.  Ryan did cut his finger one morning before practice and he thought he couldn't get it wet, so he swam one handed during practice - but other than that, they have worked so hard.  Their swim meet could have started better this morning - but it was our first one and we learned some dos and don'ts for the future.  To start with, we had to be there at 6:30 for warm-ups.  And it was really cold - 45 degrees.  The pool was warm, but once they were out they were miserable.  They also swam so much during warm ups that they were pretty exhausted by the end and Ryan was ready to go home. So we learned that we won't be doing warm ups in the future.  They are little boys (swimming with the 6 and under group) and I'm not going to require them to warm up with the older kids.  They can swim for the first time during the race and be much warmer and more rested.  I also had to volunteer this morning, so I couldn't help them out beforehand and prep them as to what to expect or watch what the other kids were doing.  But overall, they did great.  Luke is such a trooper and didn't really complain  much at all.  Ryan was miserable, but once his race started, he was on.  Since this was their first time they only swam a 25m freestyle.  As they learn other strokes and can swim farther, we may add a couple more events.

They can't dive yet, but they aren't too intimated by the starting blocks.  Luke was great during warm ups trying to dive in, but I think a belly flop caused him to choose to start off the side of the pool instead of the block.  Ryan "dove" off the block, but it was much more of a jump.

 Ryan's stroke has really improved this week.  He has gotten much better at getting his arms out of the water.

 Luke has gotten much better at turning his head and breathing to the side.  It's not perfect, but he is making progress.

Ryan was a rock star in his race.  He won by several lengths.  When he touched the wall he turned around and started swimming back - his coach had to swim after him to get him to stop (she was already in the pool swimming next to another 6 year old swimmer).

And my sweet little Luke did awesome, too.  I do foresee issues in the future when one does better than the other.  Hopefully they can swim in separate heats in the future to help with that issue.  But I'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  It would be nice if they could be cheerleaders for each other, but they are twins, and therefore very competitive.

I now am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and resting on our one day off a week.

Is It Summer Yet?

 The weather has finally warmed up and we are so excited for summer.  Work and life have been very busy and we are looking forward to the lazy days of summer.  Things really won't be that lazy - the boys are going to be on our neighborhood summer swim team, take tennis lessons, go to a week long reading camp with the 2nd grade teachers, and take an art class at the Denver Art Museum.  We'll fit in a lot of play time, camping,  and a family vacation to the Grand Canyon somewhere in the middle of it all.  Overall, after a very snowy late winter and spring - we can't wait for summer.

 I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I spent much of it making cupcakes for the boys' school birthday treats, but we also went to breakfast, dinner and had fun at home.   I am so grateful to have 2 crazy, funny, smart, sweet boys.  I can't believe that they are almost done with 1st grade and will be 7 years old.  I told Greg at dinner a couple of weeks ago that they were getting old so fast and they'd be gone before we knew it.  Luke came over to me, with tears in his eyes, and said he didn't want to get older and leave.  And Ryan asked if he could live at home when he goes to college.

 Ryan was in a play in April.  He had a good time and can't wait to go to drama again next fall.  He was James in James and Giant Peach.

 I can't say he is destined to be the next great actor - but he is very dramatic.

 And Luke continues to be his own unique little person.  I hope he will always be comfortable and confident with who he is.

I love these kids.  I make many mistakes as a mom - but I am so blessed that they are always willing to forgive me and move on.  We should all be lucky to have that attitude.

Odds and Ends of the Last Couple of Months

 We've had a busy 2013, so far.  It has been hard to stay on top of really anything.  The boys started taking piano lessons, we've had a weekend snowstorm 3 out of the last 4 weeks (really? no snow day on the weekend), school work for me and the boys have been constant, Greg has been in and out of town, and other day to day things keep us busy.  We are all looking forward to Spring Break, and Greg and I can't wait to escape to warmer weather in Jamaica.

 Ryan and Luke participated in the Science Fair again this year.  Luke's experiment dealt with creating Elephant Toothpaste and comparing the reactions of 2 different peroxide strengths.  Ryan's experiment was dissolving gobstoppers in various clear liquids. 

The boys also competed in the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.  Luke's car came in 2nd place for his den, and Ryan was close behind.  I was not able to attend due to work, but Greg said it was quite a production - complete with a giant projection screen showing the race and the results.

We also went sledding a couple of weeks ago.  We got a ton of snow on Saturday, but the sun came out on Sunday and it melted quickly.  So by the time we went sledding, it was half mud and half snow.  Ryan and Luke still had a great time.  Here is a video of Ryan sledding and then wiping out over a mud hill.

Copper Mountain

 We went on our 2nd, and likely last for the season, ski trip a couple of weeks ago.  The boys had such a good time.   The weather was beautiful and the boys did great.  There was no pausing at the top of the lift for them - they took off down the mountain and didn't stop until they were at the bottom and back in line to get back on the lift.  Video of Ryan and Luke skiing. 

 We now have several months to look forward to skiing again.  I don't think we'll have time to head up again.  Also, I'm done with winter and snow - and I'm looking forward to summer and warm weather and the pool.

It's Cold Outside!

 We are in the middle of a fairly big snowstorm.  The bummer part is that it is Sunday and the roads will likely be clear by tomorrow for school.  Hopefully it will last long enough into the night - but I can't count on that now.  Ryan loves the snow and headed out into it earlier.  He traipsed through the backyard and even went down the slide.

 He also tried to write his name in the snow with his blue snow marker.

 He even attempted to sled, but there was too much snow.

Other things going on:  The boys had their 1st grade musical earlier this month.  Each boy had a line.

 Ryan got to play the part of one of the children - easy costume.

 Luke was a bat.

The annual Valentine's Party was quite a hit.  This year the boys had to create their own Valentine's box at home.  Luke made his one weekend while Greg and I were still in bed.  It is a black widow spider (can't you tell?).

 Ryan and I made his -  he was really worried about it getting torn up at school.

Overall - Feb. has been a good but very busy month.  The boys are now taking piano lessons.  Luke is trying to learn to Lean on Me and Ring of Fire.  Ryan is doing a great job at reading music out of his music book.  Luke has also been taking an art class at school and Ryan is in a theater program and will be in a play in April.  Greg and I are really looking forward to Spring Break at the end of March and our trip to Jamaica!

Skiing

 We tried our first round of skiing this season with the boys last weekend.  Overall, it was a success.  Greg said it went remarkably better than he had thought.  We headed up to Loveland Friday morning to take the boys on the cheap green lift in hopes that we could get them comfortable enough with skiing to avoid another lesson this year.  I'm sure a lesson would be more effective, but our way worked, too.  The first 2 times down the mountain became a huge lesson in frustration and highlighted my lack of patience.  But after lunch and hot chocolate, the boys did great and didn't give up.  They aren't proficient at getting of the chair lift on their own yet, but they are pretty close.  We'll head up to Copper Mountain at least one more time this year.

 It was a really cold and windy day.  I think I was affected by it more than the others - partly due to  my developing cold that ended up putting me in bed the rest of the weekend, and partly because I hate being cold.  The boys were total troopers.

 Greg and Ryan heading down the mountain.  By the last few runs, Ryan didn't fall down at all - he is really proud of that fact.

Luke did great - he was really good at practicing turns.  He fell down quite a bit, but would just lay there and wait until I was there to help him up. 

Ryan wrote about our weekend for his "Weekend News" writing assignment on Tuesday.  Below is his story, with his own spellings to go along with it (he's in the 1st grade - spelling comes later).

I wint to the maowtins.  I wint skeeng thar and it was lots of fun.  I even had hot choklit.  It was hot but it did not hrt my tung.  It was cold awt side so it did not hrt my tung.  Then we cep sceeng and sceeng and I didnt even fol dawn.  I rele rele rele like sceeng.  Sceeng is so so so fun.

Nuggets Basketball Game

 We went to a Denver Nugget's game last night.  It was the first NBA game for all 4 of us - and I must say, it is way more cushy than a Bronco's game.  I really don't care much about basketball, but it was enjoyable and the boys had a good time.  Our school district had a fundraiser where a portion of the tickets go back to the school's foundation.  The boys; school sold enough tickets to allow some of the kids to give the Nugget players high-fives before the pre-game warm up.  Ryan and Luke thought this was pretty cool.

 Luke is hiding behind one kid - but you can see Ryan  - 2nd from the bottom left.  Luke told Greg he thought that the basketball players were 5 feet taller than him (Greg) - Greg thought that was a pretty fair estimate.

And of course the real highlight of the evening were the dipping dots. 

They also thought the picture as a player was pretty cool, too.

Overall, it was a fun evening.  A lot more comfortable (and affordable) than the Bronco playoff game that Greg and I went to a few weeks ago (where the temperature was around 15 degrees).