Where I Have Been

I'm hoping someone has noticed I haven't been blogging. Where have I been?

My focus to love more, serve more has put me in charge of a new ministry at our church. Reaching out to those going through big life stuff (babies, death, illness). And since this is still in its infancy stage, it has been a lot of work.

I've also been figuring out what to do for the boys birthday parties. I thought it best to host two small parties rather than one large one. But I awoke this morning at 6am stressing about Miles', which is next weekend. And no one has rsvp'd yet. So I will have to spend today & Monday tracking those parents down, asking them if their child is coming. And the stress comes in when I think, what if no one comes?

I promise, this weekend I'll write a real blog post. Something that will hopefully get you thinking.

Did I hype that too much? :)

Disney Live!

This note is for you local readers!

Disney Live is bringing a magic show to Denver next weekend! And I have tips on where you can win free tickets.

Mama Bird's Blog or
Denver Parent and
Mile High Mamas

All those sites also offer you the chance to buy tickets at a discount, if you don't win.

Enter now! They all draw for their winners on Monday, January 31.

The Boys

Figured I was due to update on the boys. Especially since this is an actual source for people to hear things.

Miles.

Preschool going well, and I really hope once he turns 4 next month, we'll be passed the horrible threes. Those are way worse than the terrible twos. We're continuing to work with him at home with his speech. Ms. Trish sends home updates every week, things we need to follow up on.

He is celebrating Culture Day on Feb 1st, and I'm tasked with making a poster about Canada. Wanted to prepare a Canadian treat, but we don't have the snow required for that. May try to convince Geoff to make butter tarts instead.

Elijah.

He still enjoys Kindergarten, and continues to thrive. His teacher, Mr. C, has asked Elijah to play a major role in the Kindie play in February. It took some convincing to get Elijah to say yes, as he had some concerns. Namely that he didn't want to be the villain, and he was worried kids would laugh at him. They are performing The 3 Piggies Opera, and Elijah is the Big Bad Wolf. He seems to be over his issues, and has his lines memorized.

Other than a 24 hr bug last week, both kids are healthy & doing well. They have been planning their birthday party since November, and have their hearts set on doing a Pirate theme again. If you were thinking of sending a gift, please- no toys. They received so many at Christmas, I'd rather we didn't add more. Books, movies, games, gift certificates are all good ideas. I'm trying to add those items to their Amazon wishlists to help you.

A New Year

Today is my birthday. Ask me how old I am, I'll tell you I'm a year older than I was last year.

It's not that the number bothers me. Okay, it bothers me a little. But I have found that a lot of people are bothered by the number of years they have lived and the goals they have not achieved.

Growing up, I did not have many goals, if any. So I don't really feel like there were things I should have accomplished by now. But I do feel, almost daily, that I should be doing more with my life. And I'm certain I should be savoring more moments.

So in 2011, my goal is to reach out to more people. Foster new friendships, strengthen old ones, forgive easier, love more. This is going to require a lot of prayer, and courage to stretch myself to the point of being uncomfortable. I know that while this year may hold more joy, it will also come with hurt. I truly wish for good health for my family & loved ones. And that 2011 holds more tears of laughter than tears of pain.

A Breath Of Fresh Air

A year ago, I was invited to a Glade event, where I received their Sense & Spray automatic air freshener. I loved it. So when they asked me to review their new product, I was keen. The other freshener does its job in the downstairs bathroom. But my two smelly boys need something in their bathroom.

Insert the new Glade Sense & Spray air freshener.



With a much cooler style, and new scents, it is both stylish & inconspicuous anywhere in your home. I must warn you though, the Hawaiian Breezes may cause you to dream of warmer locals. :)

*I received this product for free in exchange for an honest review. And I honestly do like this product!

Celebrate With Disney!

Meeting Mickey & Minnie at a "meet & greet" before the show.

Disney On Ice: Let's Celebrate features familiar faces, and takes you to far away places. How else can you go to Carnaval with Mickey, Japan's spring festival with Minnie, and end up in jumpin' New Orleans with them both?!

While Princesses do not get my boys excited, they were certainly enthralled with Jack Skellington & his friends from Halloweentown hosting a party for the villains. Jack stole the show (hint to Disney- we want more Jack!) Other characters that my kids loved were the gang from Toy Story, Pinocchio, & Stitch.



We had some issues with obstructed view (tall people with kids who squirmed and sat on their knees), but were able to get that fixed for the 2nd act. If you have small(ish) kids, definitely opt for seats on an angle vs. floor seats..

The show runs at Pepsi Center until Sunday, December 12. Tickets are still available (contact TicketHorse at www.TicketHorse.com/DisneyOnIce, by calling 1.866.461.6556, or the Pepsi Center Box Office.), and start at $15. Parking will cost you $10.



If you want a case of Disney Fever, or you just want to be entertained, Mickey is waiting for you!

Disney Celebration

Let's Celebrate!, the current Disney On Ice show is just a week away. It's not too late to get your family some tickets! My two boys, (ages 3 & 5) loved the last show. Bright colors, familiar characters & tunes make it enjoyable for everyone.

Come celebrate your Un-birthday with the Mad Hatter, take your princesses & princes to the Royal Ball, and have a Halloween haunt with Disney villains.

Your ticket info again:
Tickets prices are
$75 (Front Row)
$42 (VIP)
$26
$20
$15
*Service charges and handling fees may apply

Tickets are on sale through TicketHorse at www.TicketHorse.com/DisneyOnIce, by calling 1.866.461.6556 and at the Pepsi Center Box Office.

**Here's what I can offer you:
Purchase a 4-pack of tickets for only $44 for weekday performances or receive $4 off weekend tickets
For either offer enter the code FFA4 at: www.TicketHorse.com/DisneyOnIce or call 1-866-461-6556

Weekday = Thurs 7pm, & Fri 11am performances. Minimum purchase of 4 tickets required for 4-pack; additional tickets
above 4 can be purchased at $11 each**

Please share with me who your favorite Disney character is. For me, it's Mulan. Feisty warrior trying to find her place. Who is yours?

Disclosure: Feld Entertainment, Inc. generously provided me with 4 tickets for my family to attend Disney on Ice in exchange for this post.

Seeing Santa

Friday night, to get into the holiday spirit, we went to the Denver Zoo to check out Zoo Lights. Since we have been a few times in the past, we know to bundle up. I had hoped we would be able to see Santa, since the boys missed out on that last year. Lucky for us, the line wasn't very long at all.



Once Elijah & Miles were done sharing with Santa what they wanted, we started to move on to allow the next kid in line to speak to the Man in Red. Elijah turned back and asked Santa, "Are you God's helper?" Santa, paused and smiled, answering "yes, I am. Sometimes I'm even considered a Saint."

Elijah shared with him, "I know that Christmas isn't about getting, it's about giving".

Santa smiled bigger, saying, "yes, that's why I give presents."

Geoff & I were left feeling pretty proud of our little boy. :)

Kidecals

Before Elijah started Kindergarten, I knew he was going to bringing more stuff to school. And I didn't want anything to get lost. Because I'm cheap and didn't want to have to keep replacing his stuff. A friend clued Geoff into a local business that offered personalized name labels. He encouraged me to share the info with the Mile High Mamas, but before I could, they knew about it too.

Kidecals is a Boulder company offering fun name labels, wall decals, or if you really need it, allergy-alerting stickers.

I was pleased with the colorful design options, and of course you can get something custom made to your liking.

Here are the labels I ordered for the boys' water bottles

I've hidden our phone number, it doesn't need to be public



I'm thrilled with this product. The stickers are washable, and easily removed. I totally recommend them! And you should "like" them on Facebook. Hilary (the owner) advertises discounts on there!

*Disclaimer*- I paid for these labels myself. I really liked the product, and thought you'd want to know about them too.

Let's Celebrate!

Disney On Ice is back!

We had a wonderful time with their show 100 Years Of Magic in March, and if you missed it, here's your chance to see the new show.




The show runs Thursday, December 9 through Sunday, December 12, at Pepsi Center. Here is your ticket info:


Tickets prices are:
$75 (Front Row)
$42 (VIP)
$26
$20
$15
*Service charges and handling fees may apply

Tickets are on sale through TicketHorse at www.TicketHorse.com/DisneyOnIce, by calling 1.866.461.6556 and at the Pepsi Center Box Office.

**Here's what I can offer you:
Purchase a 4-pack of tickets for only $44 for weekday performances or receive $4 off weekend tickets
For either offer enter the code FFA4 at: www.TicketHorse.com/DisneyOnIce or call 1-866-461-6556

Weekday = Thurs 7pm, & Fri 11am performances. Minimum purchase of 4 tickets required for 4-pack; additional tickets
above 4 can be purchased at $11 each**

Disclosure: Feld Entertainment, Inc. generously provided me with 4 tickets for my family to attend Disney on Ice in exchange for this post.

The Water Bottle

After two years of using our stainless steel water bottles, we decided to get some for the boys. The trigger was our car trip up to Canada. I wanted them to be able to have water when they needed it. I got them each one from Target, which I regretted. Not that they were not any good, but I was not able to purchase a drinking nozzle for them. They still served their purpose, until I left them at my brother's house, along with mine & Geoff's. Before leaving Calgary, I decided we needed new ones, we couldn't wait for them to arrive. We hit up a camping store in the mall, and upon Geoff's recommendation, we bought 4 new Nathan Hydration stainless steel bottles for everyone.


Nathan's stainless steel bottles for kids. Photo courtesy of Nathan Sports

This was going to work out great for Elijah, who would be bringing a water bottle to school. Except it didn't work out so great. Day one of school, he lost the straw inside. Okay, he has backup. After two weeks, the nozzle broke off the lid.

You've got to be kidding me.

See the missing knob on the right side?


See the plastic knob wedged in the hole?

I went online to Nathan's website to discover they don't sell replacement lids. And I wasn't thrilled about spending another $15 on a new bottle. I contacted them through their website. No response. A month later, sent another email. No response. Then I sent them a curt tweet. A week later, I hear from them, on twitter.

They said it sounds to them like it was a product fail, and they are sending us a new lid. Finally. Now I don't have to steer people away from them.

As I've mentioned before, I'm pretty brand loyal. If a product is good, I will hype it to everyone I meet. But if you or your customer service disappoint, I'll be sure to tell people too.

So Nathan is back on my good side. :)

Seriously. Nathan Hydration water bottles are good, and it is unfortunate that Elijah got one with a bad lid. He has been using the lid from Miles' bottle, since Miles doesn't really need one for school. I'll be much happier once the new lid arrives.

***Update*** Nathan sent us a whole new water bottle for Elijah. Thank you Nathan!

Kids Rock

The third weekend is October has meant it's time for the Denver Marathon. When it was announced that this year would be the inaugural Rock N Roll Denver Marathon, I was excited. Geoff participated in a Rock N Roll Marathon in San Diego (2005) and liked the feel of it. I knew if my friend Cristina was looking for another relay partner, I'd volunteer myself.

We asked Elijah if he'd like to run in the Kids Rock race, the day prior to the marathon. He seemed keen, and we put off signing him up. This worked to our advantage because Mile High Mamas offered free entry for the first 50 kids to use their code. Sweet!

Friday afternoon we drove downtown to pick up our race packets, and check out the fitness expo. My kids will go anywhere when people are handing out free snacks. Even better, my kids will return said snacks if they have too much sugar in them (that's you Yakult.)

Elijah woke this morning with a croup-sounding cough, but had no other complaints. We decided to let him eat his breakfast and chill out before we would see if he would be up for running. He wanted to go, so we grabbed everything we needed and headed downtown.


Pre-race photo

We made our way to Civic Center Park, and found where we needed to wait for the Kindergarten division to start. I was nervous, because we had only 30 minutes from us parking to find the race start. I didn't need to worry, when we got there at 9:20 for his 9:45 start, they were only finishing the 3rd graders. We still had 2nd & 1st to go through. Elijah made friends with another Kindie waiting to race, and eventually it was time for him to warm up with all the Kindergarteners. Miles & I found a spot to watch the half mile race, and waited anxiously for him to start. Daddy waited near the start line to encourage Elijah and then joined us once Elijah got going.


The start line


The home stretch


The finish line

It was exciting to cheer for my boy, and he worked hard. He was thrilled to receive his first medal, and fill up his goodie bag before joining us at the end of the corrals. Geoff said Elijah was sure to ask them if the stuff had sugar in it before taking it. :) That's my boy!

At the end of the corrals, his fans were there to greet him, Daddy, Mommy, Miles, Cristina & Eric.

It certainly was a good day for running. My kid rocks!


Elijah shows off his medal

October Flies By

Realized yesterday that I hadn't blogged in weeks. And it's not because I've been crazy busy, rather that life has been calm and relatively uneventful.

Miles & the bully update: haven't seen the kid go near Miles since Miles stood up to him. I did scour Elijah's school directory, and discovered the boy is in Kindergarten. Thanks to everyone who gave support and comments on the issue.

Miles & speech therapy: If you could pray for it to move along a little quicker, that would be great. Right now he's only seeing the speech therapist twice a month, but obviously that is not going to cut it. His teacher Ms. Kim said I should expect to hear from the Child Find people around mid-November, to discuss the evaluations. We're continuing to help him as best we can at home.

We're off to Nick's Garden Center today for a preschool field trip. Elijah has no school today so he's crashing the field trip. Also on today's agenda is to make some progress on Elijah's costume.

Yesterday was the 7th anniversary of losing Dad. I listened to 60s music and Motown. I still really miss him.

Now you are up to date.

Battles On The Playground

I really didn't think that bullying was going to become an issue. Naive on my part, I'm sure. But to be able to witness it, and fight the urge to jump in to my kids defense has been hard.

We haven't even really talked about it, or played through scenarios on how to handle it.

When Miles & I come to school to pick Elijah up, we always stay and play a little on the playground. There are two play structures, one for small kids and one for bigger kids. They are separated by a blacktop, so I can't watch both areas at the same time. Which is okay, both boys want to be on the bigger play structure.

On Monday, an older boy, probably first grade, maybe second grade, saw Miles playing and confronted him. He mocked Miles' t-shirt, called him a baby and laughed saying he wears diapers. Miles defended himself, but ultimately ran to Elijah to tell him what the boy said. Elijah proceeded to get in the kid's face and say, "my brother is not a baby, he's 3. He doesn't wear diapers". The kid blew him off, and I told Miles just ignore him, play somewhere else.

Wednesday afternoon, it was a repeat of Monday. He saw Miles, mocked his clothes, and called him a baby. This time, Miles gave him the evil eye and said "I hate you. You're a meanie" The kid didn't have a response, but he looked in Miles' direction, Miles reminded him, I hate you. The boy retorted with "don't call me a meanie. If I see you on this playground again and you say you hate me and I'm a meanie, I'm gonna tell your mom".

The kid was called away, and I told Miles, if you don't want to be near that kid, just move away, play somewhere else.

I can't wrap my mind around why this boy is going out of his way to pick on Miles. I'm trying to walk the line between letting my kids fight their own battles, and being a helicopter mom.

I open it up to you dear readers, any advice you can give, any similar experiences, please share it with me.

School Days Part Two

Now that we are a month into the school year, I thought it was time to give you an update.

Elijah loves Kindergarten. He has had a few homework assignments, which he felt were not long enough. Slow down kid! You have years ahead to be saddled with too much homework. He's made a few friends in his class, Bram & Cassie. I think last Friday was his best day ever, it was picture day, he got to buy popcorn and he was chosen to take home the class teddy bear, Bubba. In turn, we had to do something fun with Bubba and write about it in the Bubba book. We went to Color Me Mine and painted.


Miles, Bubba & Elijah

Miles has since changed his "school is a little bit dumb" attitude, and isn't complaining anymore. He is thrilled when he gets chosen to be the line leader, and loves playground time. He will be working with the class speech therapist to correct his pronunciation, and I'm waiting to hear back from the school district about how we can make sure he's seeing her more regularly. Right now, he only sees her twice a month.

With all the work & art they are bringing home I'm going to need another office box to store them in. I'm curious what other parents do with all the school work brought home. Do you save it? Do you scrapbook it? Let me know.

If It's Not Scottish...

We had such a wonderful time at the Robbie Burns Supper in January, we were keen on further embracing our Scottish roots and attending more Scottish events. After all, when Geoff & I were married, he wore a kilt. So he got decked out in his Armstrong tartan, I donned my Armstrong scarf and we drove up to Estes Park to check out the Longs Peak Scottish-Irish Highland Festival.

There are many celtic festivals held over the summer, but we seemed to miss them. This one happen to fall on a free weekend for us, so we jumped at the chance to go. You can buy your tickets in advance, and if you do, you will save some money. We did not, but we only needed to pay for three tickets (plus parking).

It's a pretty organized event, and has been going on for 30+ years. Aside from the clan tents, there are also scheduled events like jousting, caber tossing, dog agility. We saw none of those. What we did do was start at the Armstrong booth, have Elijah & Miles pick up passports, and let them run from booth to booth collecting stamps from the different clans. They thought this was awesome. We stopped extra long at Clan Cummins to see the Kellys, who represent their clan at all the festivals.


The passports & stamps

When we needed to dine, we visited the row of food stalls. The selections included fish & chips, haggis, bangers, deep fried Mars bar (which I wish I had tried) and meatballs on a stick. What I wanted was a hamburger, but those were nowhere to be found. I ended up picking a brisket sandwich that came with potato salad & beans. It was the shortest line, and it moved quickly.

There were a few tents that sold wares, and I resisted spending my dough there. At one tent though I discovered what tartan my family was permitted to wear. The Torrances (while I'm still unclear what clan/sept/family we belong to) wear the Edinburgh District tartan. So now I know that. :)

In the end we decided that the kids are still a little too young & wild to spend the day exploring a festival like this. And for the price we paid, it probably wasn't worthwhile. We would have liked to see more, but it will have to wait for the future. We may have better luck at Tartan Day, which is celebrated in April, in Olde Town Arvada.

Now I just need to get my little Scots an Armstrong button, or a tam.

School Days

We've entered into a new phase of parenthood, having two kids in school. Now it's only a few days a week, a few hours a week, but it's a start. The start, to more than a decade of schooling for them.

Miles has only been 2 days, and he has already declared that "school is a little bit stupid". While we have had no breakdowns during the checking in and out of preschool, when he is away from there, he expresses his desire not to go back. I guess that means I need to have a conversation with his teacher.

Elijah started Kindergarten, and he seems to really like Mr. Candelarie. But his start to school hasn't been uneventful, I got a call from the school nurse on his 3rd day of school. He's fine, and it added a humorous anecdote to Mr. Candelarie's memoirs (so he told me).

Meanwhile, I spent my free time on Monday going to the gym and taking my sweet time strolling down the aisles of Target in quiet. Reading as many labels as I wanted, not having to visit the toy section, and just moving along at a slow pace. It was lovely!

Where I Am

I didn't mean for 20 days to go by without blogging. I just haven't been able to narrow down what I wanted to say.

In the time I've been MIA, we had a lovely drama-free trip to Canada. People who had never met Miles finally got to. This trip was too short, unless you count the long hours my loving husband drove there & back. I assure you, that portion of the trip was not too short. And Montana is beautiful!

Ask Elijah what was his favorite part about the trip to Alberta?

"the day I got to eat 2 donuts!" (a visit to Tim Horton's with Gramma)



I promise to get back to blogging again soon. Once school gets going and I get two hours of freedom from Wingus & Dingus.

Five Long Years

If you needed evidence of how long it's been since I visited the Motherland (a.k.a. The Great White North, Canadia, Canada) here's what Elijah (the 5 year old) looked like:

Expectations

It was brought to my attention on the weekend, that I may have unrealistic expectations about our trip to Canada. Silly me, I thought it would be a trip without guilt. But Geoff assured me, having been away for 5 years, that it's likely to come up.

Really? I hoped that the fact that I came would placate these people.

So now I'm stressed. And that's stupid. What good does it serve me to be stressed about people being pissed at me? I can't change how people will feel.

In any case, I'm pushing that aside and looking forward to seeing my family. If they wanna pay for me to travel there more frequently, maybe we can start a fund.

I just really wanted my grandparents to meet Miles. And I want to visit my dad's grave. Though the thought of it makes me want to cry.

This may be an emotional trip.