Here we are in December yet again and my cards went out today with no letter in, again. I actually like posting it online. I guess I don't care that much that creepy people can read about us. I don't have that exciting of a life. We had a great year, my kids are growing up, heck before I know it they will be leaving and Lou and I will be on our own...Not sure I can handle that right now.
We were blessed to be able to take a number of vacations this year. I'm so grateful that my mom and dad like us well enough to invite us along on their excursions. We went to Cabo, Mexico in January. We had a great time with the short plane flight, with the beach, swimming in the ocean, and exploring downtown. We had a few weekends in Beaver Creek, which my kids love to do, we went to Las Vegas with the dance company so Brooke could compete at Nationals and then we had an excursion to Arizona for Thanksgiving. I think it is safe to say that my kids have been more places in their short lives so far than I have. I think that means spoiled, but I could be wrong.
My little man...Tyler has been a giant inspiration to all of us. He is so fun and happy (90% of the time). He is in second grade and in his words he is "still waiting for the teachers to trick him." Although I'm happy he is a confident I'm a little sad that he has yet to be 'tricked.' Tyler has been blessed with having a teacher that is up on the technology curve and he has the luxury of having his own mini I-pad to learn on for the school year. He has been very excited about that. Tyler is still playing soccer. In the spring it was still small, 3 vs 3, but in the fall it changed to a bigger field with a goalie and more players. Lou also took over coaching in the fall which turned out to be a bit of a learning curve for both of them. This winter he will continue with indoor soccer. In the summer Tyler ran track, which he loved (although he would deny it today). The track coaches really like his ethics and he had fun at practice. No meets for him though. In his words he would have to get up too early to go. The other really exciting thing for Tyler! This summer is was finally comfortable to swim in the whole neighborhood pool. By the end of the summer he was jumping off the high dive (AKA the lifeguard stand) into the deep water. For anyone that knows us very well we all know what a big deal this is. Finally Tyler started playing the piano in February. He is a natural. He performed his first recital in April (Old McDonald) but since then has made great progress. I'm so proud that he has found a few hobbies that he keeps busy with. When Tyler isn't busy with his own soccer, school and piano he is busy with the sport of the season. Right now is pretty busy with football (Peyton Manning), hockey and basketball. The funny fact about all of this is that he knows so many random facts about teams that I couldn't possibly begin to remember.
Brooke is in 5th grade this year. She is also privileged with an amazing teacher who is also up on the technology curve. She is lucky to also get I-Pads in her classroom. So three classroom's in the whole school have the devices and my kids are both in the classes. We couldn't be more fortunate. She again is motivated to challenge herself in all subjects. I'm happy to see that. Brooke is such a perfectionist that it sure can be frustrating when things don't go quite as perfect as she would have hoped. Brooke is still playing the piano. She is doing well despite the fact that she doesn't have a ton of time to practice. Lucky for us we have a great teacher that is patient. Brooke is still dancing an amazing amount. This past year was her first year of competitions. She had three different dances that she competed for most of the season and she wasn't in love with any of them. Her group did well enough to make it to the national competition so off we went to Las Vegas. Let me be the first to say that taking 10 year old to Vegas was not mom of the year material. Hopefully we don't have to go back to Vegas with children for awhile. This dance season Brooke has learned a solo, and 4 other dances. She seems to like these dances a lot more so hopefully there will be more positive behavior out of the situation. Brooke also had the opportunity to work with some choreographers from Chicago and Florida, she has done workshops with many big names in the dance industry. I'm not sure she even understands the amazing opportunities she has had. My little Brooke is growing to be such an amazing young lady. I'm just hoping the pre-teen attitude passes us by.
It is so much easier to talk about my kids, or really anyone else. I am still working at Four To Go. As a business we are doing well. I have had help making an e-commerce site for the business and although it is still a work in progress it is starting to do great things. In the process of that I was working a lot and my attitude was reflecting that I wasn't doing what I wanted. I've been leading the running club. It has been fun to be associated with such a great group of ladies. We went to Palisade again to run the race through the vineyards near Grand Junction, and although I didn't have a great race I had fun during the trip. I've started racing 10k's also. I'm not super excited about my times yet, but like everything else in life its a work in progress. I still try to help out in the kids classroom every few weeks and I've done my fair share of re-learning to help the kids with their homework. Recently, as I'm sure you have read on my blog I have taken up a running challenge where you run at least a mile every day from Thanksgiving to New Years. You can read all about my adventures with that challenge on previous posts. 15 days into it though, I'm glad I started and will be even happier when it is over. It is a whole lot harder than I thought it would be.
My dear Lou, works... alot. There is no other way to say it, so the nights that he is home we take full advantage of having him around. Like I also mentioned he is coaching Tyler's soccer team. He is good for the boys and he is having a great time with them. Lou also has been volunteered / nominated to be Vice President of the PTA at the kids school. As if the guy didn't already have enough to do. I try to help out when I can, but I also have to be careful not to step on anyone's toes. Lou has been very supportive of all the crazy running ideas I come up with, he is always the first to help out when someone needs it. For example, the dance company was moving studio locations. Midnight, one night, he was on his way home and saw them working. Instead of driving by he stopped to help and ended helping for 3-4 hours and ended up with only a few hours sleep. Sometimes his go getter attitude kills me, but other times I'm happy he is as motivated as I am.
Again, thank you for reading my yearly re-cap. I try not to sugar coat it and make it seem like everything in our life is perfect, believe me, some days are super difficult to get through. In the end we are happy, healthy and living a very full life.
We wish everyone the best! A very exciting and happy New Year, a Very Merry Christmas filled with friends, family and lots of fun.
Hi! New follower and just wanted to say that you have a beautiful family.
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