Soccer going great & quick trip to Richfield

So this past week has been pretty normal.  Monday night the kids and I went over to David's house to watch the Broncos own the Raiders.  Colt actually enjoys sitting down and watching the game.  He can look at the scoreboard and tell who is winning.  He gets so excited when the Broncos are winning and then so disappointed if they are not winning.  He has enjoyed watching any football game really and will choose a color (team) and see if they can win.  He doesn't sit down during the whole game but always comes back to check on how they are doing.  He is doing great in soccer and really learning a lot from his coach.  I think that his dominate foot is his left foot.  I watched him during warm ups and he really only kicked the ball with his left foot.  We will just have to wait and see I guess.  Also this week, Colt had the pleasure of getting some one on one time with Grandma Chris and Uncle Jay.  His daycare provider was out of town three days so Grandma watched him two days and Uncle Jay watched him the last day.  He got to have a sleep over at each of their houses so he was in heaven.

Aspen has had a typical week except for on Wednesday night she accidentally locked my keys in the car along with my phone.  It was an innocent accident but more of a lesson for me to not leave my keys in the car and send the kids out to the car.  It took about an hour and a half before we got into the car.  It was way past bedtime so once we were in the house it was straight to bed.  Then on Thursday Aspen came with me up to Cedar City.  She was able to play with her good friend Kenzie Bird for a little bit.  Then we headed over to my former boss's retirement party.  I worked for Susan Tuckett at the Abbey Inn while in college.  We have kept in touch on Facebook and I wanted to show my support and appreciation to her.  It was a good evening with a lot of laughter and memories.

Friday was a busy day, for the most part.  My kids had a practice for the primary program on Sunday.  Then immediately following that, we headed to Golden Corral to see Mike and Connie on their way back from San Diego at the completion of their mission.  They had extended their mission six months but said that they were ready to head home.  After dinner the kids headed to the park with their cousins while I went to the gym for a little bit.  After the park, I let the kids watch a movie before heading to bed.  It has been awhile since they have done that and it looked like they really enjoyed it.

Saturday morning Colt had soccer pictures and a soccer game.  He needed a hair cut but I just ended up shaving it all off that morning.  He did awesome at the game.  At the beginning of the game, he got knocked in the nose by someone from the other team.  He continued to play but when there was a break he went up to the coach and said his nose hurt and started to cry.  So he came out and got some mommy lovin' and was ready to go within minutes.  Another mom said she saw him get hurt and it looked like it was a hard hit and that Colt waited a long time before he started to cry.  He did score a goal in this game too.  He said after the game that his hair cut helped him run faster and score a goal.  I love that kid and how excited he gets at the small things.

After Colt's game, we headed out of town to Richfield.  Great Grandma Higgins is turning 80 on the 2nd of October and her kids were throwing her a party.  We were a little late to the party but still made it before they cleaned up.  The kids were so excited to see Grandpa Higgins and Sheila, as well as Great Grandma - they just haven't seen her in awhile.  Great Grandma was so excited to have us there.  We were the only ones there from Grandpa Higgins' grandkids so it was extra special.  I was able to have a nice chat with Great Grandma and get caught up with her a little bit.  The kids did not want to go home but they had their Primary program the next day so I had to drag them out of there and head home.

Life is good!!!

If you are too busy to turn on the TV, then life must be pretty good.  During the weekdays, the kids and I are so busy we don't have time to sit down and just watch something.  I love it!!!  It can be a little tiring sometimes but well worth it.

So I had a parent/teacher conference with Aspen's teacher a couple of weeks ago where she told me that Aspen is one of four students in the advanced reading group.  I was pleasantly surprised because I didn't know how much she would remember after not reading on a regular basis in the summer.  She has been bringing home tougher books to read and it has been nice to have her be challenged.  I also went to the library and got her some different books for her to read on her own.  She has read the ones we have numerous times and I think she was getting a little bored.  But she seems to be enjoying school.  Now when I ask her what she did in school, she responds with "We did math" and that is it.  Aspen is also doing well in her dance and gymnastics.  Anytime we are at a park she is on the monkey bars.  She comes up and shows me the blisters from her doing the monkey bars so much.  I was also finally able to get in contact with one of her friends' moms so she could go play. 

Colten has been fun the past few weeks.   By fun, I really mean difficult.  He has gone back into his talking back, saying no, and being defiant.  He has been grounded from the wii for a week now and still has one more to go.  He really hates being grounded and asks me every day if he is ungrounded.  But just when I think about ungrounding him, he goes and talks back or is defiant.  I really hope that this is just a phase because I don't know how much of this I will be able to take if it is not.  Other than his being grounded, he has been doing pretty good.  He whines about going to day care every day but goes right in when we get there.  He is still doing well in karate and with soccer.  This past week he scored a goal.  He has a great coach who goes over things in practice that they use in a game.  And Colt really seems to pay attention and learn what is going on.  He loves playing in the actual game.  Lucky for him, one of his teammates doesn't seem to be too involved with playing soccer so the coach will only put him in for like a minute before he puts in one of the boys who actually plays. 

I have enjoyed seeing my kids in their different activities while still doing what I chose which is going to the gym.  I am grateful for Darcee who goes with me when she can but also to Jay and Kayleeya.  They will watch my kids while I go to the gym.  School is also going well.  We had midterm two weeks ago.  It took me a little while but I think I have finally figured out how the administration and department work.  Definitely different than high school but definitely less stressful.  I have also been spending my spare time (what little I have) with David and his kids.  Dating and being a single parent is hard to do but luckily our kids get along.  We have spent the weekends that David has the kids keeping busy.  We have done Colt's games, movies, Jumpin' Jacks, swimming, going to the park, and watching football games.  Then today was my dad's 60th birthday so my mom had a big party for him.  BTW he is twice my age for the next 6.5 months.  She had us get him gag gifts.  So all the kids from David's and my family put 60 of lots of different things in bags.  They had 60 of reece's pieces, good & plenty, peanuts, Captain Crunch and then blades of grass, rocks, dandelions, flowers.  Everyone got a good laugh out of it.  Oh and Aspen came up with 60 words to describe Grandpa.  It was a great party with lots of laughing and chatting.

Playing Catch Up

Ok so since I moved into my new place I have seriously slacked on the blogging.  I blame part of it on not having the kids but the other part on me.  So I am going to try and recap what has happened since the kids came back home.

I kept them pretty busy.  They have been to Jumpin' Jacks, swimming and lots and lots of time with the cousins.  When I went back to work, they had sleep overs at both Grandma's and Darcee's.  They were actually disappointed over the weekend because they had to come back home.  I am so glad that we ended up here in St. George so my kids could spend time with their cousins.

Aspen started 1st grade!!!!  She is growing up so fast.  She started a new school this year and will be attending Bloomington Hills Elementary which is right across the street from my school.  She really seems to enjoy school.  She has come out of her classroom twice now holding a boy's hand.  At East Elementary in Cedar, she was holding Kai's hand.  At Santa Clara, she clung onto Jacob.  Now she has two boys, Micah G and Gavin.  I don't know what I am going to do with her.  She has also gotten back into gymnastics and I got her signed up for dance...finally.  She seems to really be enjoying life and all the things going on.

After spending some time with his dad, Colt really got into soccer so in addition to karate he will be playing soccer this fall.  I was scrounging around the week before I went back to work to try and find a daycare for him.  The very last day I found one.  Her name is Stacy and she is an in home daycare like Amber back in Cedar.  He really seems to like going but I can tell that he doesn't like to go alone.  He is still an electronic junkie.  He is constantly asking if he can play the wii.  When he gets in his moods of talking back or disobeying, he gets grounded from the wii.  He doesn't like it at all, which is good because that is what punishment is suppose to do.

I started writing this post in August and now it is the middle of September, oops :(  So again, I am playing catch up.  So the short version of what has been going on......kids are doing great with their activities.  Aspen is really enjoying school.  She comes home talking about doing math at school, which I can't help but love :)  She also is enjoying having 3 recesses but her hands are not.  She loves to do the monkey bars and without chalk, like at gymnastics, she gets blisters.  But she is a trooper and never complains.  Colt has started soccer and loves it.  He has played in two games and he is amazing for being a four year old, plus I am a little bias.  He has had lots of family support at the games and it helps that he actually plays in the game.  He has some team mates that haven't wanted to play in the game so he gets a lot more playing time.  But he doesn't mind it at all.  He is also doing well with his karate.  I hear him talking with Aspen about fighting with his palm instead of a kick or something like that.  Now that I put it into words it sounds like he is fighting with Aspen but he isn't.

The kids get to spend a few days with their dad Labor day weekend.  I was heading up to use my free Lagoon tickets and checked with him to see if he wanted to take the kids.  From what I heard, they went to a Bees game and Aspen was randomly chosen to go down on the field before the game and watch the players warm up.  They also got a couple of signatures from the game.  I think that they had a good time.  I had them on that Monday and we went to Trafalga for a little bit before heading back home.  I had a nice visit with Hollee and Jonah.

All of the kids activities plus mine, which is going to the gym, sure do keep us busy.  Add dating on top of that and I don't know how we do it sometimes.  But I think they kids are enjoying everything that St. George has to offer and I am really blessed to have been able to relocate closer to family.