Just say NO to NaBloPoMo

Yeah, it's November 1st and I'm blogging. Does that mean I'm participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) as I've done for the last two Novembers? No. Somehow I don't think I can stick to it given that so far in 2009 I've only blogged 28 times. :)

The only news around here is the boys have fevers. Again. Yuck. So, they both saw the pediatrician today. Logan is on day 9 of his antibiotics but still has an ear infection, so now he's on a stronger (and much more expensive) antibiotic. Connor has croup and is now on a steroid to help his lungs and a course of antibiotics. Fun times in the Dean house...

Halloween was ok, so maybe I'll post pictures soon. Not tomorrow, though...don't want you thinking I'm going to post every day this month! haha

Edited: Uh, yeah, I just realized it's not even November 1st. So, uh, the whole point of this post isn't so funny anymore. Sigh...

What a difference two days make...

You know how I love leaf pictures given posts of the last couple years but this year has been difficult. Once the leaves here in Longmont really started to change Connor and I got sick, then it snowed, and rained, and before we knew it it was October 26th. There's no real significance to that date other than we watched the news and realized that the weather forecast was calling for a foot of snow! So we quickly loaded up the kids and drove to our favorite trees, hoping that enough of their leaves had fallen to make it worthwhile and that those leaves hadn't been destroyed by a lawn mower or blown away by the wind! I think we got some cute shots.

The first picture I took - Logan was sliding in to lay next to Connor :)


Our little monkeys swinging in the trees




What a goofy look on his face!


Brothers


Connor up in a tree


Logan hugging a tree :)


And then, 48 hours later, SNOW! Lots and lots of snow! I think there's probably 8 to 10 inches so far but it's hard to tell since it's also been pretty windy. All surrounding school districts were closed today except for ours (of course) so when Connor got home we built a snowman!


They did cancel school for tomorrow, though, so we're hoping to have pancakes for breakfast, carve pumpkins, maybe even make cookies!

Update

I'm not sure why blogging is always the first to fall off the to do list but it does...

Connor and I were both sick over my birthday which pretty much sucked. My argument now is that if I didn't celebrate it, I didn't get a year older. Yeah, that's what I'm going with because it makes me feel somehow better for not leaving my bed that day. I still have a lingering cough but Connor bounced right back :)

Here are some pictures from a couple of fun trips to some pumpkin patches over the last few weeks.

Logan on the barrel train ride - he tells us every day that he wants to do that again!




Pumpkins!


Logan making a funny face and Hannah (Kristina's daughter) with her beautiful painted face!


Logan, Connor and Connor's friend Noah walking hand in hand


We should have made a break for it while they were locked up!


Connor loves this cow - it's his favorite part of this pumpkin patch!


Jeremy and Logan breaking the rules in the corn maze by leaving the trail :)


At our other favorite pumpkin patch


Mom! It's too bright to look at the camera! :)




Brothers, pumpkins...what more do you need? :)


We're busily trying to get the boys' Halloween costumes finished this week. Losing a week due to illness was not in the schedule! :) Connor is doing great in Kindergarten and amazes us with his reading progress every day. Logan is doing well too!

School Days

The Saturday before school started we went to a parade in downtown Longmont. There were fire trucks from all over the area and once they were done parading down Main Street they let the kids climb all over them - a little boy's dream come true!


The day before school started I was at work, as usual for a Tuesday, and in a meeting with a coworker who just returned from maternity leave. My mind drifted during the oh so interesting meeting and I thought about my first few times back in the office after Connor was born...and how he was about to start kindergarten now and everything that he's done over the last 5+ years and...I had a hard time keeping it together! I thought for sure I was going to be a mess when the day actually arrived but Connor's extremely positive and outgoing nature was overwhelming that day and his excitement helped us all be excited!
Connor about to go to Kindergarten, Logan about to go to preschool


He wanted to pose like a big boy :)


Lining up and getting ready to walk in the classroom. I'm not sure why he posed like this but it's cute! :)


After Logan's nap he asked me take a picture of him again so here it is!


Connor thought every day of Kindergarten would include a photo op so here's Day 2...


Day 2 was also Connor's first bus ride to school! He told us he's waited his WHOLE LIFE to ride that bus and it was just as good as he imagined it would be! In fact, he was upset that we took him to school and picked him up the first day - he would have been fine riding the bus from the beginning!


Poor Logan has kind of been neglected as far as excitement over school goes but he's liking his new class as well. Two days a week Connor stays for a full day at Kindergarten and each of those days so far Logan begs me to go pick Connor up so they can take naps together. He misses his big bro!

A couple quick tidbits about Logan:

- His favorite new phrase is "you're my best friend" - 3 year olds are just so loving! A reward for making it through the terrible twos I guess :)

- When he feels sad, or at least is pretending to be sad, he makes a pouty face and points to it saying "look...I'm SAD." It's really hard not to laugh at that!

Summer, in a nutshell

Ok so my goal for getting this up to date was Logan's birthday, then August 1st and now before school starts. The question is, though, at which point do I cut my losses and just start with what's going on right now? Does anyone even read this thing anymore or have we all been sucked in to Twitter and Facebook? :)

Here's a brief* overview of the last, oh, 6 or 8 weeks? Buckle up...

Jonathan, Connor and Christopher in the shirts we made for all 4 boys to wear to the Rockies game on Father's Day. We had a huge group - Papa, Grandma Sue, Grandpa Larry, Grandpa Mark, Ben, Christopher, Jonathan, Jeremy, Connor, Logan and me! :)


My 3 boys watching the game


Jeremy's birthday was spent in our usual fun way! First, the parade in Allenspark. Here are the boys just before getting on the fire truck!


And the boys getting ready to watch the fireworks!


One of our favorite Longmont events is Rhythm on the River in July. Here's Connor on the crazy bungee jumping thingy (the official name, I'm sure)


Logan in a silly pose at Rhythm on the River


One of the big highlights of the summer was a visit from Shannon, Rhyann and Savannah! Rhyann even got to spend a night with us which is officially Connor's first sleepover :)

LOVE this picture!


We went for a walk and baby had to come along. Don't they make a cute family? Haha


Walking arm in arm


upside down


The plan was to have them sleep in the tent in our playroom but it didn't really work out. Neither had slept so close in proximity before and neither could stop talking/poking/etc the other long enough to fall asleep! So, Connor ended up sleeping in his bed and Rhyann slept in the tent. We'll still claim that his first sleepover was with a girl :)


Connor did quite a few little summer camps including some at the Y (soccer, tee ball, swimming), the Lego camp when Christopher was here, a fishing camp through the rec center and a Circus Camp! Here he is with his teacher after the final performance. She used to be a Ringling Brothers performer and the first day when I dropped him off we had to have a really fast discussion about how she was a "little person" and that even though she's little that she was still his teacher, still an adult, and he had to listen to her :)


Logan had a great 3rd birthday on the 23rd too! He got some fun presents and two days of cupcakes with candles :) He's happy to be a "big boy" though we're still struggling with the potty training! He's soooo the baby of the family and taking his darn sweet time getting the hang of it!

We spent the day of Logan's birthday at a water park in Broomfield called The Bay. Here's a shot of Connor coming down a water slide...


Logan and I hanging out at The Bay


I don't have Logan's 3 year old doctor visit stats handy right now but he was in the 80th percentile for both height and weight!

Connor with his friend Amelia just before we watched Kung Fu Panda - a free outdoor movie in the park!


Logan and his baby - he loves her :) He's so going to hate me when he's 15 and discovers that I shared this with others


The boys with their cool face painting at another favorite Longmont event, Art Link.


*Really, that was brief for me...

Ok so that gets us up to the end of July. August hasn't been too exciting yet, thankfully :) Oh, except for the mutton busting at the Boulder County Fair. Yeah, Connor rode a sheep. It only lasted about a second and a half but he had fun! And he got $5 and a mutton busting patch! There are still pictures to download off the camera but maybe you'll see those in October? haha

This summer I took on the task of organizing playdates for all the incoming kindergartners so we've had about 8 playdates so far with kids from each of the three kindergarten classes. We bought all the school supplies last week and Connor is super excited about starting school. We have one last picnic playdate this Saturday, then Back to School night on Monday and the big first day of kindergarten is on WEDNESDAY! EEK! Logan also starts preschool that day. I'm excited for Connor but a little sad that he's so grown up that he's ready for kindergarten. Even though he's been in some sort of daycare/school for years, I'm sure I'll be one of the teary-eyed moms that day since it's such a milestone! :)

A few tidbits I want recorded:

You know how when you're trying to get your kid's attention (usually because they're doing something wrong) you extend their name to include their middle and/or last names? Logan has picked up on this and any time we're not listening to him right away he says "Mommy! MOMMY! MOMMY DEAN! MOMMY DEEEEEEAAAAANNNNNNN!" :)

Out of the blue one day Connor blurted out "I was born to do something that you're not going to allow me to do!" What? Is he 5 or 15? :) Turns out that he thinks we won't allow him to be in a rock band and that's what he was born to do. We've never told him he can't be in a band or haven't supported his performing nature (we did make a stage for him for Christmas after all!) so I have no idea where this came from! Since then he has asked nearly every day for us to sign him up for guitar lessons. Sadly, Jeremy called two people today to see how crazy the cost would be but they both said they prefer to wait until kids are 8 to start guitar and instead point them in the direction of piano first. Well, we don't have a piano to practice on so that's probably out but we'll try to find something musical for him :)

Ok, this is probably the longest blog post ever but that pretty much brings us up to date! Whew! If you're still reading, thanks! :)

Dean Boys part 2

While the Dean boys were visiting, Grandma Willy and Grandpa Mark also came to visit. We all drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a walk around Sprague Lake and a picnic. For a few days before we went Christopher had been telling Connor about how the hills in Ohio were much bigger than our hills but he took that back at some point when we were driving in the mountains :)

Connor, Christopher, Jonathan, Logan


Eating a snack and watching the ducks who quickly swam over to look for crumbs


Christopher and Connor on the trail


The whole group minus me (taking the picture) and Grandma Willy


Connor and Jonathan holding hands


Connor took this picture of Christopher and it makes me smile!



Waiting for us slow pokes

After a picnic lunch we split up with Jeremy, Logan, Willy and Mark heading back to Longmont and the rest of us (me, Ben, Christopher, Connor and Jonathan) continuing up with the goal of reaching the top of Trail Ridge Road.
An elk we saw along the way


Posing at one of the overlooks


We made it above tree line!


We stopped at a bathroom before the top and decided that was good enough to call "the top" given that we were all gasping for breath after each little walk at the overlooks :) It didn't take long for everyone but me to fall asleep on the way back! (I may have taken a picture of Ben sleeping too but I'll save that for later blackmail! haha)

Tomorrow: pictures from the Rockies game!

Dean Boys!

Jeremy's brother Ben and their boys Christopher and Jonathan visited us in June. Sadly Naomi had to go back to work before continuing on to the Colorado part of their vacation but we were glad to have at least the boys! With the two adult boys and the four little ones in this house, though, Bailey and I had to stick together :)

Bailey

It was a VERY busy week with the three oldest boys going to VBS for five nights and Christopher and Connor going to Lego camp five mornings! It seemed like we were constantly on the go but with that many boys under 6 it probably would have felt that way no matter what our plans were :) Here are some pictures from the slower times...
Riding in Connor's jeep


Running in the sprinklers and playing in the backyard (Connor and Christopher)

Logan and Connor in a slide at a local park (the park has a water feature which is why their shirts are off!)


Connor at the top of the rope climbing structure at the same park


Just before eating dinner one night


We also went to Rocky Mountain National Park and a Rockies game but I'll drag this whole story out and make you wait for the pictures :)

Peaceful Valley

On June 7th we went for a hike near Papa and Grandma's house. We weren't sure how far we would make it with the unpredictable weather but we pushed through the graupel* and had a great time! Connor probably hiked about twice as far as the rest of us ("stay on the trail" is such a boring concept!) and Logan only hiked about 5 minutes and rode the rest of the way on Daddy's shoulders.

Taking a break on a big fallen tree


This is one of my favorite pictures so far this summer which is kind of funny since they're wearing jackets and it was about to graupel. :)

* Defined by the handy 9News.com Weather Glossary as "Graupel: Small pellets of ice created when supercooled water droplets coat, or rime, a snowflake. The pellets are cloudy or white, not clear like sleet, and often are mistaken for hail." Yes, it was June 7th :)

Pella Crossing

We've been trying to have a picnic and go on a hike of some sort every weekend since Memorial Day. Well, that worked up until about two weeks ago. More on that later (ooh the suspense).

Anyway, here are some pictures from our walk around the Pella Crossing ponds near Hygiene. This is where Connor and Logan first discovered the joys of rock plooking. Plooking, you ask? Well, plook is the sound that tiny little rocks make when they're thrown in the water when attempting to learn how to skip rocks :)

Did I say tomorrow?

Yeah, I said I'd post the answer to the question below "tomorrow". Well, in my world, tomorrow is a new word for a period of time equal to about three of your old fashioned weeks. :)

Beth was correct with her first guess - Logan and Lachlan are boys; Jaana, Reece, and Elliott are girls. Crazy, huh? Reece isn't too surprising (think Reese Witherspoon, of course) but the spelling with a c is a decidedly male spelling, ranking 415th most popular baby boy name in 2008. In case you care, and cause I took the time to look it up so I must share it, Reese with an s was the 154th most popular baby girl name in 2008 (per the Social Security Administration's baby name site). Elliott on the other hand...I can't explain that one.

I have lots of pictures to post and just no time to do it! Here are a few to whet your appetite and hopefully I'll post more....tomorrow. :) Right.

These were taken on Memorial Day on our hike up Bald Mountain. Surprisingly, it was not named after Jeremy after all. LOL