Grandparents lunch

PTSA hosts a special Grandparents lunch each September.  The kids can each
in the lobby with their grandparents and little goodies are provided ( like these suckers Grams and Mack are holding)

Enjoying lunch! I was on hand to snap some pictures of the
early eaters because I helped set up.

Son day

I snuck out and captured some shots of Mike and Mason playing together in the yard.

Chattering to his daddy

" Swing!" Another favorite word of Mason's

Mason feels like a big kid now, climbing the ladder to the play set.
This makes this mommy pretty uneasy.

Come one, come all! Membership Drive 2013

PTSA sure has been keeping all four of us busy! This past week we were buried under projects to prepare for the membership drive which was held at Chick-Fil-A. In the past, the membership drive was held at the school where a spaghetti dinner was served. While it was nice to have it at school, it also meant that the PTSA had to set up the eating area and pay all the school staff who'd need to work extra hours. Chick-Fil-A has a program that allows schools to hold fundraisers in their restaurant and a percentage of each purchase would go towards our program. This also means no set up or take down and we could focus on drawing people in with raffles and giveaways. It turned out great with about 100 families from our school coming to have dinner as well as other community members who helped out just because they were there!  I think the best part for the kids that came was seeing their teachers helping out . That night it poured rain nearly the entire time. The principal spent the evening drenched, escorting guests into the restuarant under an umbrella! What a great thing for the kids to see. All around, it was a great night!

The whole family has had a part in the PTSA!

The cow was a huge hit!

A cow AND a play place? I could hardly keep her still for a picture!

More from the farm.

 It is so pretty out at the farm in the evening light. I can't resit snapping a picture of two ( oh , who am I kidding, there were 177 on this trip) . Here are some more of them. I know those Hansfords in Arizona especially love to see what's going on at 10487 WCR 39.

The kids had so much fun when they realized they could climb on the fencing
and easily get atop this goat shed. I always smile when I see Mason and Brooklyn
together. Their baby pictures look so similar and you can still see their similarities.

Checking for eggs. Mason owns the place, he thinks.

Dad's got 6 or 7 cows right now. After working all day, he has a crown gathered at home,
waiting for him. Six horses, all the cows, two goats and a herd of chickens all call for him ( and his
side kick, Buddy) in unison as soon as they see his truck pull in. It really is fun to watch.

Oh this sweet boy.

Two headed goat? What's in the water out there, Papa?

This is one of the Morning Glories that are climbing the fence
at our house!

Celebration Saturday

James and Mack rode on the platform. Mack is wearing her Twombly Bears
t-shirt.

 Fort Lupton got it's start back in 1836 when Lancaster Lupton established a fort along the South Platte river which became a very busy hub for fur traders.  A lot would change over the next 177 years but every September the city comes together to celebrate it's begining with " Trapper Days". It's a big deal with lots of out of town visitors.  This year the Mx4 ( Plus Grams) walked in the Trapper Days parade with the Twombly Elementary PTSA.  The school's theme was " Superheros" so the girls of PTSA got to work, making no sew capes! We all had a lot of fun -even Mike who was coming off a 12 hour shift.

Some of the PTSA members

Lots of students rode on the platform truck!

Here we are in our capes. Mike wore his Twombly polo shirt although
I'm sure he would have worn the cape with no complaints.

My guy and me

And of course, we were home with plenty of time to ramp up
for the Michigan/Notre Dame game!

Creative temper tantruming

Here is a tiny peek at a classic Mason temper tantrum. You may want to turn your volume down a bit.Notice
how he makes good use of space and volume.

A hard lesson learned as Ballet class ends

It was two weeks ago that I ran in the Color Me Rad 5k. Because I had to leave for downtown at 7 am, Mike would be in charge of taking Mack to ballet. And since I wasn't home, he'd also be bringing Mason ( My mom offered to stay with Mason but it just worked out to be easier for Mike to take them both). It was obvious to Mike ( and Miss Nicole, the dance instructor) that Mackenzie was having a difficult time with out me. As Mason got restless, Mike took him to the hallway as to not disturb the class. When he came back, Mack was sitting alone along the wall, not dancing, and definitely not having a good time.

Mike and I explained that this wasn't an acceptable way to behave in dance class. It is absolutely ok to feel sad that she missed mommy but it was disrespectful to Miss Nicole and the other dancers who were counting on her as part of their team. Mackenzie agreed that the following week she would need to apologize to Miss Nicole. As it goes, the next week Mack woke with a fever and we kept our germs at home. Seven days passed and the time for dance class arrived. As Mack was instructed to get dressed, she began to cry.

" Ballet just isn't my thing!" She wailed. Ah. Another teachable moment was upon us. We talked about how Macky had started the class and her friends were all counting on her to finish it. There was, after all, only this one class left. She may not want to take another ballet class, but she still needed to complete this one and doing it with a good attitude would make things easier, but that part was up to her.

That is not a happy ballerina.

Nervously, Mackenzie apologized to Miss Nicole for not participating in the class two weeks before. Miss Nicole accepted her apology and welcomed her back to class. Mack's nervousness didn't leave her and I could feel her getting more anxious . It carried on to the point that I had to escort her, tears in her eyes, to the dance floor. This is so uncommon for Mackenzie but the truth remained that Mackenzie needed to follow through on her promise. This continued for a bit but as class went on, Mack perked up and eventually even enjoyed herself." Ballet is kind of my thing" She told me on the way out.  In reality, the part Mack likes the best about ballet are the parts that are more gymnastic in nature. So after we had a chat about the morning events and talked about more constructive ways to handle feelings, we decided she'd give gymnastics a try coming up in September!  It was  a trying morning for us both but we got through it and , to me, it was worth it because I know that, with in those trials, are embedded very important lessons. Maybe ballet isn't Mack's thing. But we're better for having tried!

The class dwindled down from 7 to 3 over the course of it. Here are the three faithful girls doing their dance.:

Cookies with Miss Nicole to celebrate the end of dance.