Wordless Wednesday - Ethan with our furry kids

Ethan with our pug - Yao Ming

Ethan and our princess cat - Gracie

Yee Haw!! Cowboy Fun!!!

Ethan checking out the western saddle in the horse barn

 Ethan and I took a very fun trip to the National Western Stock Show this past weekend. This is a tradition that my mom started with me and I love that I get to continue it with Ethan. This is his 6th Stock Show and each year it gets more fun to watch him enjoy this time. We did not go to the rodeo this year because he often complains of being bored....typical 6 year-old!

Ethan sitting in a John Deere tractor wheel

 The Stock Show in Denver is set in 3 buildings and you have to be prepared to walk A LOT!! There are a lot of vendors selling all sorts of things from farm equipment, cookware, horse trailers and many other things. Ethan's favorite vendors are the John Deere Tractor dealers. He loves to sit on all the tractors because that is what cowboys do! He also loves the trailer dealers, he often dreams of having a horse (or many) and hauling them around in his trailer! 

Ethan participating in the pedal tractor race

 There are so many activities for the kids at the Stock Show. Ethan had a blast walking around the horse barn, and the other barn that had the sheep, pigs, goats and cows. You get to talk to a lot of the ranchers who raise the animals and learn all about each type of animal. We sat down and watched a little bit of a heifer show, and saw some very young kids showing these big animals. He liked seeing the sheep get sheered and even participated in a pedal tractor race.

Ethan with the Llama

The petting zoo is always a hit with the kids and this one did not disappoint.  There were sheep, goats, potbelly pigs, llamas and alpacas. We were able to feed them, brush them and pet them. There was so much to learn at the Stock Show this year and I love the days when my son has bunches of fun while he is learning!

Ethan fell in love with this sheep

Easing His Fears!!

This past weekend my husband and I took a trip to our local fire station to help ease some anxiety in our little boy. 

A few weeks ago, I was making some toast in our house and burnt it a little and that set off the smoke detectors in our house. This raised my son's level of anxiety to high alert, so much that he would not walk to his room by himself because he had to pass under the smoke detector to get there. This made me feel bad because I don't want him to be afraid of things in our home. This was also annoying because that meant he stopped doing things on his own the he had been doing for quite a while, like getting dressed in the morning and evening and even going potty by himself. 

We decided to make a trip to the fire station in our town. We actually have 4 fire stations but decided to go to the main fire station because it is the "coolest" and pictured above. 

The fire fighters were great! They brought him into the station and talked to him about the importance of smoke detectors and overall fire safety. He actually got to push the test button on the smoke detector and hear the noise (even though he heard it when I burnt toast). They talked about what needs to happen when they go off and what he needs to know when he calls 911.  I guess we need to work on remembering our address!! 

If any of you mamas out there have a child that has anxiety around these type of topics, I highly encourage you to take your kiddo to the fire station and make a fun learning moment out of it.  Ethan's favorite part was that he got to sit up in the fire truck and got a CRFD badge sticker! (yes, I forgot to take the darn camera!!) I love that we  have such great heroes in our community that can be great influences on our children!!

Y3W: Making Santa Cookies

Today I am linking up with Jenni from the Blog for her Y3W (Your Three Words)

Yesterday Ethan and I made cookies for Santa (and others). We made cutout sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies. We had so much fun just hanging out in the kitchen, listening to Christmas music, dancing and making yummy goodies! This is such a magical time of year for kids and I am so glad I took some time off of work to spend some very special time with him!!

Ethan was so proud of his decorating

Hard at work

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Birthday Ethan

Ethan 3 Days Old

One of my favorites of my little man!! Love that smile!!

Ethan at his 6th Birthday Party!

Wordless Wednesday - My Silly Son

Weekend Craziness!!

I know we all have difficult days with our children, but this past weekend was especially hard for my son and I. Saturday he had a birthday party, which is always a difficult day for more than one reason, and he was a bit hopped up on sugar and had a hard time controlling is behavior. When days like that happen, we tend to fight a lot. Mostly we fight because he decides he does not need to listen and that is never acceptable in our house. Sunday was also difficult, starting with church. Usually during our church services the children go to their own program called Worship and Wonder and during the month of August this program takes a break (mostly to give the leaders of that program a much needed break) and our children are left to be in church service with us. Since my son is not used to this and does not always do well with changes in his routine (he has often been called Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory show, check it out and see how my son will be when he is older) he has a hard time controlling his behavior in church. The rest of the day kind of went down hill from there until bedtime. 

On days like this I often sit back and try to figure out where I went wrong during the day. This is very hard for me since in my mind I am NEVER wrong. These days I often feel as if I have failed my son somewhere in the day.  I know that rationally this is not all my fault, but I also know that part of the issue is how I react to my child's behavior. I have read books, articles and other people's blogs looking for answers to my woes. There is one thing that is true everyday, it is not easy to change anyone's behavior, especially my own. I will be the first person to tell you that I am not a perfect parent and I often get very frustrated with my child. I also wear my emotions on my sleeve and he knows exactly how I am feeling at any given time. I think he often sees that and plays me. This will then make the frustration worse. I am still working on this and when we are by ourselves life is much easier, when we are around other people he really amps it up a notch and knows how to throw me into a tailspin.  

Thank goodness I love him dearly!! I am sure that is why God makes babies so cute and makes us instantly fall in love with them. Children as such a blessing and such a pain in the ass all wrapped in a cute, cuddly, loving package. 

Thursday Thoughts

Ok, so my son started kindergarten last week and while looking over his school calendar I am dumbfounded by the amount of days off of school kids these days get. I am not here today to boast about how hard I had it as a kid, you know all the stories....When I was a kid I had to walk to school, up hill both ways in two feet of snow. But, I must say, I did have to be at school way more than kids today. 

So next week my son has two days off after being in school for all of eight days. This creates a huge burden for families like our that have two working parents. We have enrolled Ethan in the after school program at his school and they have child care on most days when school is out, BUT you have to pay A LOT of money to send your kid there all day. I know he will have a blast and he is looking forward to being there but I am having heart palpitations thinking about the cost. 

The other beef I am having with the school right now also has to do with money. The first week of school Ethan was sent home with three requests for money. They are all legitimate requests but it seems they are all needed within a week. Maybe next year on the school supply list they should put, be sure to take out a loan to pay for all the stuff you will be asked for the first week of school and the childcare for all the days your child will NOT be in school!!!

Wordless Wednesday - Why I Live In Colorado

He Loves the Mountains

Great Mountain Lakes

Beautiful Vista

Trail Ridge Road

Love this spot

Great Sunset

Rocky Mountain National Park

Cute and Snuggly

 

Best Part of Colorado!!

No Recess For Some

There was an article on MSNBC this weekend about how some school districts are cutting down or even cutting out recess for kids in school. You can read the full article here. It is so sad to think that schools are under so much pressure to perform that they are forgetting their main focus....the kids! I for one am a huge believer in recess for children in elementary school. My son who just started kindergarten would not be a happy camper if he was in class all day with no outdoor play. Since we live in Colorado, the kids play outside most days. In fact at his school, the temp has to be below 20 degrees before they play inside. I love this policy! My son is a kid that really needs to get outside each day and run off some energy. I can't imagine our drive home, even when he was in preschool and at the babysitter's house, and not asking him what games he played outside that day. This is a huge place for him to play out his imagination. He comes home with so many stories about what he and his friends played that day, along with what he did in class too. 

I have to say that this year Ethan is blessed to be in a school that values play time outside. Each day he gets a morning recess, some recess time after lunch and an afternoon recess. He does go to after school care at his school but the first thing they do when the begin that time is have some free play time, most of the time in the gym since there are still other kids milling around the playground. I am sure this is helpful for not only the kids to get the wiggles out but for the teachers running the classes and programs to help focus the kids on the tasks they need to accomplish. Ethan's school also makes sure that all the classes get to go to P.E. twice a week and I am so grateful for that as well. With the fact that my hubby and I both have to work full time and Ethan has care after school, there are some days with very little time to play outside when we get home. I can only hope that this policy at his school remains in effect through his tenure because I would be so sad to see the schools cut things like this since they have already had to cut other programs. One great website you can also go to and get great ideas on how to make sure your kids grow up healthy is Michele Obama's Let's Move that can be found here. 

First Day of Kindergarten

Looking nervous on first day

Today was a HUGE day in our household. It was Ethan's first day of Kindergarten. Last year he went to Preschool and I did really well sending him there. However, this morning was hard for me. I think the difference for me was at his Preschool it was only preschool kids. There did not seem to be much of a threat from 3-5 year-old kids. But this year is different, he is in Elementary School. His school is K-6th and I think that made me realize he is really in a big kid school! 

He was so ready to start school. We have spent several weeks shopping for the perfect backpack, lunchbox and all the required school supplies. Yesterday we went to his school for an orientation with his teacher and walked around to see where some of the things in the school are located.  Last night he had a hard time going to sleep because he was just so excited to begin school.

This morning he woke up with the first bit of light that came into his room. Usually I have to remind him to go use the potty, but this morning he went right there and also decided he wanted to also brush his teeth while in there. I got up just in time to tell him that he needed to eat breakfast before he brushed his teeth. Once we got to the school, we took the pictures that all parents take on first day of school and went down to line up for his class. Once his teacher came out to get his class, he began to walk away, with out hugging or kissing us. We had to call to him and ask for hugs and kisses and he obliged. He could not understand why I had tears in my eyes. There he went, off to "big kid" school. I cried all the way back to the car, my hubby kept snickering at me while I was crying.  This has been such a big milestone in our family and now we are just praying we all get acclimated to the new schedule quickly, for all of our sanity! 

Full Outfit in front of Kindergarten Playground

The backpack - it took so long to find this!

Wordless Wednesday - Chronicle of Ethan

These are some of my favorite pictures of Ethan over the years. I have been doing a lot of looking at pictures as Kindergarten draws near.

3 days old

Happy Aggie Boy



2007 Daycare Pictures

 

Sleeping in our bed with his moose....so cute!!



Learning to walk

First snowman

Love overalls!! Love his little friend in his pocket!

 

Cousins! Ethan loves his Cousin Tyler!



First Horse Ride with Cousin Cloa!

Preschool Graduation

First Daycare Pictures, such a cute expression!

Cowboy at the Rodeo!

Shampoo Mohawk

My boys, the light of my life!!