Glorious

Today was one of those days that I sat back as life was going on and thought to myself, "Can life really get any better?"  Zeke had swim lessons this morning and did a really good job of listening and swimming (the first was lacking on his first day of swim lessons).  After swim we headed over to Waterton Canyon for a walk.  Ki slept the entire out to our picnic location.  I walked in about two and a half miles, we stopped and had lunch next to the water.  After we ate lunch the boys and I splashed in the water, Ki had a blast in the water - Zeke on the other hand was a big ole' chicken and so I pushed him in a few times, needless to say the entire canyon heard that Zeke was unhappy to be pushed into the freezing cold water! :-)  After we splashed for a while I got the boys dressed again and we headed back to our car (another two and a half miles) by the time we got to the car I was pretty tired.  Ki like I said, slept the entire way out to the picnic area and then Zeke slept the entire way back - so that meant no nap for a tired mommy!  Once I got back to the car I got the car turned on and got the air conditioning going for my hot boys and myself, I checked the outside temperature... 94, ouch!  No wonder I was sweating like a pig.  I figured that between the walk, the sweat and the freezing water dip I got a good exercise in!  All in all a great day - I was definitely sitting and reflecting as my boys were eating their lunch - thinking I truly am blessed.  I get to spend my days taking my boys to do fun things, we get to enjoy the sun and play all the while my hubby is slaving away at work.  

 

Frustration in the Futility

As many of you may remember back in April I had Zeke meet with a Speech therapist.  After meeting with the ST she said that it was imperative that Zeke had speech therapy.  After further talking with her she informed me that our insurance would not pay for speech therapy without a few things, the first was his medical records from San Diego, if in those records there were three or more ear infections we would be given X amount of speech therapy.  Those records were sent and there were only two on record.  The next step was to have an occupational therapy evaluation.  The evaluation was not going to offer us any speech therapy appointment but might help eliminate some of the speech troubles.  So that was last week (the soonest appointment I could get) the OT informed us that there are plenty of issues to be addressed and she made a few goals for the 30 appointments that our insurance will pay for.  The last and final step in hopes of getting insurance to pay for X amounts of speech therapy appointments was today, a developmental hearing test.  I will admit that last night in my quiet prayers I was asking God to have something be wrong with his hearing, that maybe there would be something!  I know that sounds kind of silly, however I was knowing that this appointment this morning was our last ditch effort.  Michael has been such a huge help this week for me and took Zeke to his OT appointment yesterday morning and his hearing evaluation this morning.  There was a part of me that was feeling guilty about not taking Zeke myself however I was busy volunteering for VBS all week.  I will admit that this morning I was eager to hear from Michael how the appointment went, somewhat hoping for "bad" news.  Well, the bad news that I was hoping for was not the case - Zeke has perfect hearing!  Yes, that is great news, but now we as parents are at a cross road.  What are we supposed to do for Zeke now?  Two months of running through all the hoops that we were required to and now I feel like we are right back at the beginning.  Nothing has been accomplished, I feel!  Thus my frustration in the futility!
Now I am in the process of trying to find some way to get speech therapy paid for my baby boy.  How can it be that the insurance's Speech therapist  says that my son has to have speech therapy and yet the insurance says that they will not pay for it?  My next step is to contact that company that we have secured insurance through, CHP+ and see if there are any resources through them.  Then I will go through the school district - this is kind of my last choice, we would really like for Zeke to continue to attend our church's preschool but if there is no other choice... then so be it!

Santa of Outdoor World

Today Michael decided that since it was rainy of chilly here we would make the best of it and head to the Outdoor World Bass Pro Shop in Denver.  This place is huge, you could probably place two Costcos inside this one store.  I will say that I was pretty impressed by the sheer mass amount of outdoor stuff.  While walking through this store Ki kept picking up odds and ends and carrying them from place to place.  Zeke on the other hand, kept seeing things and saying to Michael and I, "I gotta ask my Papa from this."  Of the list of items there was a bow and arrow, a bb gun, a fishing pole, an atv, and then a big tent.  Not sure when my dad became the Santa of Outdoor World but in Zeke's mind he has gotta ask his Papa for just about everything in this store.  I thought that maybe Michael had put him up to saying it but Michael didn't even know what Zeke was saying at first and so I "translated" and all Michael did was laugh and say, "Well your dad is the outdoor guy."  While we toured this extremely large place I did call my dad to ask him about a rifle that he is looking for and told him about Zeke needing to "ask papa for..." my dad simply laughed and I think felt honored.

Boys and their toys, I suppose!

Some Days

There are very few days that I get a chance to lay around the house and do absolutely nothing.  When those days come along, like today - I sit here thinking, "There is something I surely should be doing!"  What is up with that?  My boys are sitting down stairs with their daddy listening to music, the rain is falling, the house is picked up, and here I sit.  I will say that it is so nice to be able to sit here but why can't I allow myself the opportunity without feeling guilty?  Mentally I am thinking, I have a load of laundry in the dryer to fold, a load in the washer to get moved over, I did not make my bed this morning, my carpets could use a vacuuming, and I really should scrub the upstairs bathrooms, haven't done that since last week.  Sakes alive!  I do have to pat myself on the back though, cause I am sitting here on the computer rather than doing all those things, so I guess that is my way of enjoying the quiet afternoon. 
Another thing that hit me today is... my babies are growing up!  There are days that I look at Zeke and still that cute pudgy little boy that he was two years ago.  Ki is growing up so fast as well!  I think being that he has Zeke to catch up with it feels like he is growing faster.  Today Ki realized that he can go down the stairs on his hinney rather than on his belly like he has been doing for a while now.  It was sure funny though, I think the first hinney step he took was an accident and then we figured it out and he kept doing laps up and down the stairs.  Michael got in on the action as well, Ki and Michael had hinney bumping stair races - he sure is a good daddy!
Although it is chilly outside (yes we just had stinking hot weather this week and now it is 54 and rainy) I am grateful!  Michael was supposed to work today, but due to the weather they were called off today - Yeah!  I have to remind myself that we are very happy to have a job that pays for everything that we have and do but there are days that the long work hours and long work weeks can wear on our family, so I am very happy for the dreary weather.  Being that it is dreary out, I have the crock pot cooking a roast for dinner and I am planning on making some chocolate chip cookies.  Some times the dreary weather is a welcome guest in my home, it means that we get to hang out in lounging clothes all day, watch movies and snack with no guilt!
With that, I am off to get my lounging pants on (had to run an errand and didn't want to go in pjs) and snuggle on the couch with my boys and watch a movie and maybe even catch a few shut eye moments.

Summer Time

Okay - so I said that I would get pictures out as to how our summer has been... well it has been great!  Basically if we are not at a park or the pool than most likely we are napping or hanging out around the house.  I have been wearing my boys out, both of the boys have been taking hour plus naps in the afternoon and sleeping almost entirely through the night and sleeping in, in the morning (sleeping in is 6:30!).

These first few pictures were taken at "Touch a Truck" this was a little boy's heaven.  There was a tractor, dump truck, fire truck, police trucks, Zamboni, and drums... as if the horns were not already loud enough!

Summer time at it's finest!

The next few were taken downtown Denver at the Chalk Festival.  There were some really amazing artwork... all done in chalk on a few downtown streets that would be driven on in a few hours.  Seemed kind of crazy to spend so many hours on these pieces of artwork only to have them driven on and washed away in a matter of hours from their creation time.

This week the boys and I headed up to Tiny Town... little houses and trains!  Summer truly is the best time of the year.

Love Affair

I have recently come across a few new love affairs.  The first is my new water heater!  Monday our water heater broke, we were without hot water until Wednesday night and although I was very upset at the late response to my call - I now have a wonderful water heater.  Tonight is a good example as to why I love my new water heater... I gave the boys a bath, Michael took a shower, I have been doing laundry since four and right at the same time as I put the boys in their bathtub I did a sanitary wash load.  Twenty minutes after the boys took their bath and Michael took his shower at the same time, I got in and took a hot shower.  When I say hot I mean red cheek hot!  Ahhhh - I am so in love with hot water, it is amazing when you go without it for a few days and just how nice it is.
My two other recent love affairs are Mary Kay products.  Don't worry I am not going to sell you any, however if you know of someone that does sell, you might want to get your hands on these products.  The first is the microdermabrasion two step set.  Like I said I took a shower this evening and then got out of the shower and washed my face... the wash cloth was brown after the wash!  This product makes my face feel so clean and it gets the dry skin off and now my face is so smooth.  Another is the satin lips... living here in Colorado my lips are trashed, it is so stinking dry - this product takes of the sluff and then the lip balm is awesome.
Love these things, make my day so awesome!

Heavy Heart

The last few days my heart and mind have been heavy.  There have been a lot of things bouncing around in my head and have been laying on my heart.  I wish that I knew the answers or even the questions to find out about what has been causing these heaviness-es. 
One thing that I know for sure though is that summer is here.  My boys and I have been making it practically a full time job going to the pool and park.  Last week we were at the pool Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday - two of those days we were at the pool two times in one day.  Loving the weather change and the ages of my boys - both of them are so much fun.  I will post some "summer pictures" in the next few days.

Road Trip

The boys and I woke up this morning shared happy face pancakes and then headed off to Buena Vista to visit Granny Joan.  The boys were excited for the road trip but what should have only taken two hours to get out there took three hours, what with road work, stripe painting and the occasional slow moving big rig.  About an hour shy of getting to Granny Joan's house the, "Are we there yet" set in by Zeke and the fussing and crying was heard from Ki.  Thankfully the animals were all out for the boys to see as well as the 4-wheeler for Zeke to ride on.  Lunch was eaten here and there, or in Ki's case he would stuff a piece in his mouth and savor another in his grimy little fist.  While we were there we got to watch the horses get their hoofs trimmed... Zeke thought that was pretty neat.  Being that Granny Joan lived on a ranch with a barn, my OCD boys had to get out rakes and shovels and clean up the already fairly clean barn.  Ki was in outdoor heaven!  I jokingly tell people that when Ki was born I know that they cut the umbilical cord but there are days you wouldn't know it... well today was not one of those days, he wondered here and there was as happy as can be!  After a few hours of hanging out down at the house we headed into town for some supper.  The area that we went to is called historical Buena Vista, however it is all new.  Let me just say that if I could I would purchase just about any of the homes in the area and pick them up and place them on a few acres and I would be a happy girl!   The boys continued their playing for a few minutes on a big climbing rock and then we headed into a very neat little restaurant for some yummy food.  A few more pictures, hugs and shared words and then the boys and I were off, headed home.  Ki did not even make it two minutes before he was sound asleep.  Zeke on the other hand did not sleep the entire two and a half hours home.  I thought that the boys would be out for the night, little did I know that Ki's quick crash was short lived.  An hour after leaving BV Ki was awake and none too happy to be in his car seat, which led to a bunch of noise coming from the back of the car, which led to a grumpy mom!  Needless to say, it is now 10:30 and Ki just now fell asleep, Zeke did not fall asleep until 9:15... and well Michael was asleep by 8:40 (a mere hour after we got home) - and I was the tired one!  Well all I have to say is these boys better sleep real good and long tonight, I am a tired mommy, who got a little too much sun, not enough water and way too long of a drive (my back and hinney are ready for bed too!).

(A word of warning... there are a lot of pictures and to think I only posted a fraction of what I took, I guess I am a picture junky!)

Love in a pan... Happy face pancakes for my boys.

Zeke all ready for our road trip

Ki snapped in and ready

Ki having a blast!

Boys, being... well boys!

Zeke was ready to be a big helper with everything!

Zeke got it in his head that he was going to juggle these rocks, after a few bumps he gave up the grand idea of juggling and just decided that throwing them at the trees was more fun.

The horses got "groomed" and Zeke jumped right up there and grabbed hold of the halter and started talking to the horse... it was pretty cute how much he looked like a Big boy.

The boys and their cleaning.

Granny Joan and her two grandsons

Just had to take a picture of one of the houses that I loved!  I am sure you can see why.

Rock Climbing

Poor little Ki, he circled that rock trying to figure out how to climb up to the top like his big brother.

A little sun on those cheeks.

Re-filling our tanks for what mommy thought would be night time, silly mommy!

All in all a fun road trip!