When it rains...it pours!

Life is funny. It seems that at one moment, not much is going on, every day is about the same, then the next, everything seems to be happening all at once! It would be nice to spread the excitement out a little to break up the routine a bit. Well, as you've noticed not much has been happening lately, but this week we seemed to get our fair share of the excitement.
Sunday we went up to Estes Park to meet up with a dear friend of mine who now lives in Texas. She and her husband are up there this week for a family reunion, so we thought we'd take the opportunity to visit her since she was so close. We got to see her darling little boy for the first time and of course get filled in on life's little details that we've missed since a year ago, when we saw each other last. Melissa and I were friends in High School in Germany. She even lived with us her Senior year. She is definitely one of my oldest and dearest friends. A "kindred spirit", if you will. It never matters how much time we spend apart, we can always pick up right where we left off. Thanks to Alex and Mike for being such good sports while we had our girl bonding time!
Our next big event came on Tuesday, our 8th Wedding Anniversary. Where does the time go? Seriously! Anniversaries are great - not only is it an excuse to get dressed up and go out-without the kids, but it also gives us a chance to sit back and remember why and how much we love someone without all of life's craziness getting in the way. Mike and I took the chance to spend a bit of quality time together hiking through one of the Colorado State Parks not too far from our house. It was so nice to just have the chance to spend time together doing something that we both love to do, but honestly haven't done since Sam was born. Right now we really don't get to spend much time together. He works way too much, and unfortunately we don't have much choice in the matter, and with school starting up next week, those few moments we do have will be even more scarce. It was great to have at least one day - or even a few hours - to spend together without worrying about the daily stress. We even got to extend our date into a nice dinner. Gee, who knew it was fun to hang out and talk with your spouse! Thank you so much, Heidi! Again, what would we do without you?!!






















And last, but definitely not least, Wednesday was Sam's first day of kindergarten. I can't believe my little girl is so old! She, of course was so excited and has been talking about it for weeks! We got her a little outfit and everything, which, of course, she also had to have a necklace that matched! Yesterday morning she came into my room all dressed and ready to go by 6:30 am. Too bad she had to get undressed to take her shower. Mike went into work late so he could help take her to school. He stayed in the car with the boys and I took Sam into school. We were a little early so we waited for the bell ring. As soon as Sam heard that bell, she popped off my lap kissed me and with the biggest smile said "Bye mom!" and rushed into her classroom. That's when my tears started to come! I tried to hold them in as much as I could so I wouldn't look like a dorky mom as I walked past all the kids coming into school. As soon as I got into the car, I felt safe enough to let the tears go. Mike already knows I'm a dorky mom, so it was ok to cry in front of him. Of course she had a great time and loved every second of it! This morning when she got up she was already trying to put on the same outfit she wore yesterday. (It took a little while and a bit of an argument, but she and I finally agreed on something for her to wear.) As we were driving to school today Sam asked if I was going to cry again, and I told her probably not, that I would try to be brave. She said "Oh, good mom, I'm so proud of you!". Yeah, that's my baby, my little 5 year old, going on 20!