One-on-One Weekend

Posted on November 12, 2018 by jlcleve

Mike had high hopes of taking Micah away to San Fransisco for his one-on-one weekend, but he ended up needing to fly to Minnesota the day before their trip and Micah ended up feeling more comfortable staying in the state. SO, after hours of flight delays, Mike arrived home after ten pm and the trip was postponed until the following morning. Mike took Micah south about an hour to Great Wolf Lodge for the remainder of the weekend. We were pretty sure this would be just the thing for Micah. Sadly, Micah ended up not feeling well for much of their time and even threw up a few times. Regardless, Micah would tell you that he had a great time!

Here are some pictures from their special time together on the first day:

The following day Micah was feeling much better, but he was still not quite up to his usual cheerful self.

Needless to say, they are going to need a re-do on this whole trip sometime when schedules allow again. =)

Meanwhile…back at home…We had pretty cold all weekend, but I tried to be excited about all of the outdoor activities Ethan had in mind. Ethan and I biked to the tennis courts two days in a row to play some tennis. We played football for a long time, too! We also kept ourselves busy playing lots of games, playing the piano and looking for birds!

We were definitely glad to be together as a family after all of that. Micah requested that only people dressed as wolves/animals play with play dough. =) Quick side note – the play dough was a prize from Sunday School, which I am incredibly happy to report, Micah was SO sad to miss while on his weekend away. Previously, he didn’t even want to go to Sunday School and now he was feeling really bummed to miss even one week of it! Such an answer to prayer.

Random

Posted on November 11, 2018 by jlcleve

This will just be a random post getting us close to caught up on normal life.

I took the boys trick-or-treating. Micah was still King Peter, but Ethan opted for his Chewy costume from last year. We actually walked the block with neighbors we just met that night – I guess there are some nice things about that holiday. 😉

The boys are super helpful around the house. They worked on raking and cleaning up the front yard the other day while I read a book! Amazing.

We checked out owl pellets this week in the science portion of CC. It was a little stinky and kind of gross, but it was pretty awesome at the same time!! Both boys seemed to enjoy finding remains of various rodents the owl had eaten.

CC brings out a lot of joys in our world. The boys have been playing a lot of tin whistle music this week. Ethan even copied down some music so that he doesn’t have to borrow my book when he wants to play. Also, Ethan LOVES diagramming sentences for Essentials. Who knew?!

We got to celebrate cousin Caleb’s 2nd birthday recently. Such a blessing to live by family and celebrate this little guy together!! Apparently we only took a picture of half of the table. Oops.

Lastly, I took a video of Micah’s most recent drum lesson. He seems to be enjoying it!

Grandpa and Grandma here (part 3)

Posted on November 10, 2018 by jlcleve

Mike and I got home late Sunday night. The following day was CC community day. As I already alluded, it was dress-up-like-your-favorite-book-character day! Ethan was Reepicheep and Micah was King Peter, both from The Chronicles of Narnia. My parents joined us for the day and, thus, my dad took all kinds of fun pictures! And we happened to be dissecting crayfish!

There was more work done on bird houses and lots of bird watching/recording. Sadly, Micah’s birdhouse broke after it snowed and he’s still not sure if he wants to make a different kind of bird house.

Mikey and I had the opportunity to go out for my birthday gift – the Josh Groban concert! It was a really good concert! The last time we saw him was when we were dating in college and we saw him perform at Red Rocks.

Meanwhile, the boys enjoyed carving pumpkins! Milestone! We’ve never done it before.

We did end up seeing them one more night after their trip to Taos (which they recommended highly, by the way), but it was brief and none of us took any pictures. We LOVED having them in town with us. They blessed us beyond words by their presence. Thanks for coming out again, Mom and Dad!

Grandpa and Grandma here (part 2)

Posted on November 9, 2018 by jlcleve

I flew to Phoenix on Friday morning and came back home again on Sunday with Mikey. I’ll include a few pictures we took from our time there at the end of this one, but I’ll keep the focus on the fun the boys had with Grandpa and Grandma in town. And they really did have a whole lotta fun together!

The boys taught them a new game and played a whole tournament of it:

They also worked on Halloween costumes for CC. I had ordered some things for the book characters they were going to dress up as, but the box didn’t arrive until I was already gone. So I tasked my parents with making sure everything fit and making the necessary additions – like a red feather for Reepicheep’s ear. Thank you!! Parts of Micah’s costume (King Peter) came in handy for playing “Queen” with Grandma. I understand this may have been my mom’s favorite game to play – she got to order people around and get served by the knights/servants. =D

Ethan and Grandpa spent some time making a bird feeder (more pictures to come in the next post).

38 Bird feeder, 6911

And they also went down to the park a couple times to rake the leaves and jump in them, sometimes while catching the football.

Meanwhile, in Phoenix…we were eating lots of good food, playing pickle ball, and hiking. Mike spent a whole lotta time playing PIG and I enjoyed reading my book. We were SO glad to get to spend much of Sunday with Grandma Cleve, with quick little visits with both grandparents, as well!

Next up…a couple final days all together in Denver.

Grandpa and Grandma here (part 1)

Posted on November 8, 2018 by jlcleve

My parents have been coming out to Colorado in the fall every year since before I went to college. In fact, it was probably those trips in high school that gave me a taste for Denver and prompted me to move out here for college. Anyway, this year was no different except that they scheduled their trip to coincide with a trip Mike and I took for his work so that they could watch the boys. AND, my grandpa made the trek as well! We are SO grateful for time with our family!

We hit the ground running the moment they arrived. My mom whisked off with Micah and I to his drum lesson, while Ethan and my dad and grandpa stayed back at the house.

The boys’ kiwi crates arrived that night so there was much creating to be done that evening and the next morning. Doing those projects also often makes Micah interested in other science experiments so he told a Bible story and shared how the Midianites (aka the pepper) ran away from the Israelites (aka the soap) in the story about Gideon.

One of my silly favorite parts of having my parents in town is listening to my Mom read the boys stories. They love it, too! We were on a big “George and Martha” kick that week – those are some of my favorite children’s stories of all time.

The next morning we snuck in some school work, puzzles, concerts and a tour to Celestial Seasonings (followed by a dessert my Dad brought home and baked with Ethan).

Next up – I join Mike in Phoenix and my parents take over watching the boys.

**Photo cred for all of the sharp pictures in this and future posts goes to my Dad. Thanks for always capturing the fun!!**

Festivus

Posted on November 5, 2018 by jlcleve

Mikey competed in his second Festivus for Crossfit a few weekends ago. This was a partner event and he competed with a friend from back in our college days. In fact, Grant was in our wedding! Love how Mikey stays in touch with people over the years!! Anyway, it was fun to watch them compete together, especially because they both came to love crossfit separately.

Afterwards (and after cleaning up), we went out for dinner at an awesome hotdog spot. Seriously. I’m still dreaming about this place. =)

Every Day Life

Posted on November 4, 2018 by jlcleve

When we returned home from Breckenridge and our fun family trip, the heat wasn’t working in our house. It had gotten pretty cold by then, so what better to do than make s’mores in the oven?! =) Thankfully, we had the heat fixed before too long.

That week we went on a field trip with our dear friends to pick veggies at Miller Farm. It was a chilly day, but we sure had a fun time!

The boys (mostly Micah) have started sending letters and pictures with our sweet cousins in Wisconsin. Ethan is also writing letters with a friend from CC. So much fun!

Micah finished his favorite writing workbook. He has requested that I buy it all over again because he thought it was so much fun.

Ethan is our primary lawn-caretaker. We had a massive amount of mushrooms in the front yard recently, so he took care of them (along with his Daddio!).

Here are some pictures of our community day at CC. Ethan’s doing a great job in the afternoon essentials program – the one I was so nervous about earlier. =) We also took a nature walk one week and Ethan brought us a class pet. Lastly, I was so pleased to see the high schoolers playing with all of the younger classes during the lunch break recently! So much fun for everyone.

I was down for the count with a cold recently while Mike was out of town. Mamas don’t really get days off. But the boys did an awesome job doing school while I laid low on the nook.

Ethan recently decided to participate in a research study. It’s a study of the brains of young people with autism and those who don’t have it. E was pretty nervous about getting the MRI done and almost quit a couple times, but he persevered and then was really pleased he had done it. I was so proud of him! He earned himself $20 and got a picture of his brain scan.

Weekends are cherished times around here. We love biking and playing tennis and just spending time as a family.

And, last update for now, is from when the boys and I babysat Caleb recently. We sure love spending time with that sweetie and he’s starting to play alongside them.

The Cleve Crew

We do FAITH, FAMILY and FUN!