Family in town, part 2

Posted on November 20, 2019 by jlcleve

What originally was going to be a trip to Utah or Wyoming, turned into a really fun day spent in the Springs. We visited Garden of the Gods (or, as Micah calls it, “God’s Garden”), the Olympic Training Center and the World War II Aviator Museum.

It was a really fun day and allowed for the boys to get home in time to trick or treat around the neighborhood for a bit. The boys were dressed as characters from one of our favorite series, Green Ember. My mom did an amazing job making these costumes for the boys!

Other activities with my parents included carving pumpkins and spending time at my Aunt and Uncle’s house.

We LOVE having everyone in town to visit. We make such fun memories.

Family in town, Part 1

Posted on November 19, 2019 by jlcleve

At the end of October, my parents and my grandpa came out to Colorado for a visit. It had been a year since my mom and grandpa were in town (my dad came out twice in that time), so we were especially glad to have them back again! Over the span of 10 days, we had shorts weather and a winter storm that cancelled CC for the day. It was pretty wild, but that’s part of the fun of fall in Denver. =)

My grandpa and aunt and uncle got to watch Ethan’s final soccer game on a cold, windy evening. And over one of the weekends, they and my parents watched Micah play!

Time at the house included doing various house projects (thanks, Dad!) and sewing projects (thanks, Mom!), playing piano, looking at coins (thanks, Brad and Sal!), playing outside in the snow, reading books and working on school, eating pancakes and dressing as twins (an accidental, but super fun experience for me to witness).

One highlight at the beginning of their trip was hosting dinner at our church for homeless families through a neat organization called Family Promise. We did this as a family (my parents and our family of 4) and then Micah, my dad and I all stayed overnight at church.

Another highlight was the wintery treasure hunt my uncle sent the boys on around the park by our house. It was pretty awesome!

And the hot chocolate party afterwards:

We also drove down to Castle Rock the first weekend for Micah’s soccer game, only to find out there was still snow on the fields down there. We opted for yummy burgers instead.

Side note: Mike was gone over both of the weekends, in case you are wondering why he isn’t featured more. The first weekend was his scheduled one-on-one trip with Ethan (I’ll write about that in another post) and the other was his make-up trip with Reggie from way back in December when their trip was cancelled on short notice.

Mama Retreats

Posted on November 10, 2019 by jlcleve

My dear friend and I got to sneak away yet again for our refreshing semi-annual retreat. This is something we both cherish oh-so-much and is encouraging for our souls. We retreated to Lake Dillon this time and enjoyed lots of time chatting and hiking and eating good food. One of the biggest highlights for me was having delicious tea and watching the sunset behind the mountains and chatting the whole time. As you know we don’t take a lot of pictures, but here’s what I got:

Meanwhile at home, Mike knows how to spoil these boys:

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Every day life in October

Posted on November 9, 2019 by jlcleve

We had a few snow storms already in October. You better believe we had hot chocolate and soup and did a whole bunch of puzzles. And Micah kept the squirrels fed. =)

We also had a whole bunch of lovely warm days:

Other highlights included watching Mike play a softball game again (after many years of not playing), getting donuts at a local shop up the street to celebrate something, playing hangman with Daddio, and leaving notes for each other on the whiteboard.

Also, we have two Packer fans in the house again. I am thankful for player names like “Savage” and “Geronimo” who helped make this possible.

And, there’s a lot of snuggling happening in our home:

Education in October

Posted on November 8, 2019 by jlcleve

Here are some pictures from early to mid October from our home-educating life:

We play a variety of games to keep reviewing our memory work exciting (rolling dice to find out what week and which subject to review and answering questions before throwing a bag in corn hole). But we also do a whole lotta boring review days.

Micah likes to smile in every picture he notices me taking…

And here are two pictures of the guys playing the tin whistle at CC:

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Posted on October 4, 2019 by jlcleve

Here are some pictures from the last weeks in September.

CC Community Day:

Some homeschooling pictures from around the house:

Women’s Church Retreat in Breckenridge:

Meanwhile, the boys had soccer games and got ice cream with Daddio (no, Mikey didn’t eat any – he was still finishing up Whole30).

I underwent a pretty miserable medical test to try to figure out what’s going on with my body. I was showered with lots of love and prayer. The boys were especially sweet and made meals for me, drew pictures while I rested and read me books. It wasn’t a fun experience by any stretch of the imagination, but it was very sweet to feel loved by my dear community, near and far.

We were able to see family from out of town – such a treat!

And fall has officially arrived. I watched Ethan’s soccer practice bundled in a blanket and LOVED it.

Calen Comes to Visit

Posted on October 3, 2019 by jlcleve

My childhood bestie *finally* came out for a visit after years of us talking about it. She had never been to Colorado before, so I encouraged (AKA nagged) her to come out while Mikey was traveling. We hadn’t seen each other much in the past few years, but friendships that started in infancy are likely to last forever if you’ve made it this far. =) We picked up right where we left off and the boys LOVED hearing stories about our childhood and getting to know her.

We had a great time showing her around Denver and taking her into the mountains. It was so much fun to experience Colorado through her eyes. Also, we naturally bought matching t-shirts since this was a theme from childhood and needed to be replicated. =)

The first day we hung closer to home, but ventured out to Red Rocks.

The next day we went to Breckenridge for a beautiful hike, had pizza at Beau Jo’s and ice cream at Little Man’s. While we were shopping in Idaho Springs we heard Mmmbop on the radio – a song we especially loved growing up. It was awesome. (or, epic, as the boys would say)