Owen’s 1st Field Trip to the Fire Station

Owen has officially been on his very 1st field trip. He took a couple in Preschool, but they were optional and their parent had to go with them. This was his first official field trip that he was actually required to go on. All the Kindergarten classes got to go to Fire Station #13 in Littleton. Since the Fire Station is literally around the block, this was a walking field trip. I was lucky that they allowed siblings to tag along on this trip which allowed me to be a chaperone without trying to find daytime childcare for Autumn. Win, win. Autumn and I met in Owen’s class at 1pm and headed out with the class along with the Full day Kindergarten class. Almost as soon as we got into the station the Firefighters got an emergency call and had to leave. The kids were in shock and thought they’d have to leave without going in the truck & firehouse. After about 15 minutes of the teachers & chaperons playing stop, drop & roll with them in the grass, the Fire Truck & Medic Van pulled back up and the field trip went on as planned. Yay! It was a fun trip, even for me since I have never been inside a Firehouse. It was really cool seeing how they live on shift and the family bond these co-workers share living together 2 –3 full days a week. I was also in complete shock that out of about 40 kindergarteners I could not say that one child was misbehaved. They were an amazing, well mannered, very good group of kids. I can now say I have finally chaperoned my very first field trip and I have to admit that I have been REALLY looking forward to this day since I was a kid in Elementary school with my Parents chaperoning my field trips. Such a fun experience! P.S. Autumn was thrilled to tag along with Brother’s Class :) Enjoy the pictures.

They were pros walking single file. Honestly, I’ve seen 5th graders at the school that can’t even properly accomplish this task! They seriously impressed me. Ms. Doherty is a great teacher, she is strict and runs a tight ship, but they all adore her. She is fantastic with kids and you can tell she loves what she does.

His school is known for exceptional parent involvement and it is true. The amount of chaperones was fantastic. They had so many parents volunteer for their next field trip that they had to put names in a hat and draw them out to make it fair. How cool is that. Love this school.

Owen and his new friend Brayden. Owen & Brayden started hanging out about the second week of school and have became such great friends. Brayden is such a sweet heart and also shares Owen’s love for Ninja Turtles and has introduced Owen to Star Wars which has now become Owen’s new obsession. Brayden has a little brother about 6 months older than Autumn and his name is Brycen. His mom (Brittany, she graduated from Columbine High School the year after Brandon, small world) and I have became great friends also and the boys have already had a few play dates outside of school. My son ROCKS at picking such great friends!!!!

Heading out on the Emergency Call they received.

Practicing their Stop, Drop & Roll Techniques in case they ever catch on fire :)

It’s BACK!

Listening to Firefighter Tyler give his speech and suit up for them.

They have 2 mintues to get their gear on and get out of the station when they receive a call. SO nuts, I can’t even get dressed that fast!

The Firehouses Kitchen and Dinning Room. Owen found it really cool that they had 3 refrigerators in the kitchen, Lol!

Inside the Medic Truck. There is a difference between an Ambulance & A Medic Truck but I will fail to explain that to you.

Owen’s classmate Ben got randomly selected to be a pretend patient on the stretcher.

He even got a mini EKG done to test how well his heart was working. The kids LOVED this!

Ms. Doherty’s PM Kindergarten Class 2013-2014

From Left to Right: Sevina, Jayden, Carter, Ms. Doherty, Owen B, Owen M, Brayden, Alex, Andrew, Ben, Christopher, Rylynn, Sebastian, Emerald, Gwyn, Meliah,and Zack. 

When we got back to the class it was 3:10pm so the parents that were present got to take their kiddos home a bit early. Such a fun afternoon with some awesome kiddos.

Needless to say, I wore this sticker with a lot of PRIDE,

Personal Update & Mom, Sis, & Abi’s Visit

Personal Update

Just a quick little snip-bit for you all as many of you are unaware of everything going on with me. For those who don’t already know, I have been dealing with a lot of medical issues lately (basically since the beginning of the year). I have had ongoing GI/Stomach problems since my Gallbladder failed and was removed back in January and I have been having OBGYN stuff since last November (or basically ongoing since I was 15). To make a long story short (I could be here all day if I tried to recap it all), I have basically had every procedure/scan/blood test in the last couple months that you can think of. After everything I had an Ulcer that has been treated for the time being & acid reflux as far as GI Problems and OBGYN wise I have chronic ovarian cysts & really bad endometriosis. As Brandon and I have really been wanting to expand our family we have had a lot of failed attempts and as you all know we suffered a really heartbreaking miscarriage of twins this past June. Needless to say its been a really rough year for us with countless trips back and forth to the doc/ER  and we are at a point where my body is forcing us to make a very permanent decision in the next few months as it is being recommended that I have a full hysterectomy. We knew this was a likely possibility as my doctor told me about a decade ago that I should have my kids young as I would likely run into this exact outcome. No full decisions have been made yet, but all prayers are welcome and appreciated as we move forward these next few months. It has been the most physically & emotionally painful year for us and it’s no where near being over. I will keep you as updated as possible as we move forward.

With all that said, I am majorly behind on blogging as every last ounce of energy I have has been going into getting through the day to day & still trying to be a good mom all while being in major 24/7 pain. I have no energy left to blog/write/form normal sentences that make sense at the end of the day, so this next part of this post will be lots of pics and not a lot of talking so I can go lay myself on the couch and rest :)

Mom, Sis, & Abi’s Visit

Last week my Mom, Sis & Abi came to visit for a few days. They got in late Saturday (around Midnight) and left Wednesday (about noon). Unfortunately Abi had a fever their entire trip here and wasn’t feeling well and I came down with Strep, yes on top of everything else I’m dealing with. Any who, despite two of us not feeling great, we managed to smile through the pain (I’m getting really good at it these days) and have a great time together. As I don’t have time to write about our time together, I’ll sum it up by saying that I have a fantastic, supportive family who me and my family love to be around. Here is a daily run down of pictures from their time here with us.

Sunday:

Sunday late morning we headed to take the cousins to a place I have been wanting to take the kids to for awhile now, Lollipop Park. It’s an indoor amusement park for 2-10 year olds only. It is a teeny bit pricy, but worth every penny. The kids had a blast going from ride to ride all by themselves and could’ve stayed there all day if we could’ve.

 

This picture is priceless!

Let’s just say Abi wasn’t too fond of the swings,

…and my kids would’ve rode them the entire time, over and over. Hahaha.

Mi Madre & Mi Hermana. Love them both SO much!

 

Later that day after naps, we took the kids to play at Clement Park & to Clement Lake to feed the ducks.

Headed home to eat some dinner and to end the day of fun the kids had a relaxed movie night in their sleeping bags. They watched Wreck It Ralph & ate popcorn.

 

Monday:

Monday morning we took it slow and just hung around the house. After we all got dressed and I got back from a trip to the doc to get some antibiotics, we took the kids to the mall for lunch at the Pretzel Maker & some play time at the kids play area before dropping Owen off at school.

Such cute cousins!

After play time we took Owen to school and the girls napped. We hung around the house and played, ate dinner, and then decided to take the kids to the Dollar Theater to see Monsters University.

The kids loved the movie (again, my two had already seen it) and were very well behaved. It was so nice since to have the entire theater to ourselves.

Tuesday:

Tuesday morning we got ready and dropped Autumn off at school. While she was at school my Mom & Brandon watched Owen & Abi (took them to the park) so my sis and I could have some much needed quality time together. My sis and her family may be moving to Portland, OR soon so this time together was precious since it may not happen as often if she is out of driving distance. They’ll know for sure next week. Anyway, we spent a couple hours shopping (H&M, Old Navy, Crazy 8, etc.) and then met one of my sisters friends who lives here for Lunch at one of our favorite places Snooze. It was amazing as always and the company was perfect.

I love my sister, she’s the best ever!!!

We got home, I went to get Owen from school while the girls finished up their naps. Once everyone was home/awake we took the kids to Downtown Littleton to visit Lola’s Sweet Shoppe. The kids were thrilled to be able to fill there very own candy bags that Nana was ‘sweet’ enough to ‘treat’ them too :)

The difference between mine and my sisters daughters are much like ‘our’ differences, they are complete opposites. Example: Abi loved the skeleton dolls and Autumn was totally freaked out by them. Abi picked it up and hugged it and Autumn barely touched it, looked at me and said, “uuummm Mommy, I think this doll is dead.” HAHAHAHA!!!!!

This is your kid on candy!

L-O-V-E!!!!

Later that night after dinner we took the kids to McDonalds for Ice Cream (yes, they got candy & ice cream within a few hours of each other, don’t judge) and play time. Then it was bed time for the kids and wine & nail painting time for my Mom, Sis & I!

Wednesday:

I forgot to take pics, but Wednesday morning Abi got to join Autumn at her gymnastics class AND it happened to be bring your favorite stuffed animal to gymnastics day. The girls had a blast and loved taking their favorite lovies to class! So bummed I didn’t get pictures. After gymnastics we came home, my mom and sis packed up and headed out while I was off to chaperone Owen’s first field trip (pictures coming soon).

Super sad goodbyes following a super fun visit with my 3 very favorite girls despite some crummy circumstances.

 

Being able to smile & have fun through it all (good or bad, rain or shine) is honestly what matters most. Love you Mom, Sis, and Abi Girl SO SO SO SO SO SO SO much and am so grateful for the time we got together. Thank you girls very much for coming to visit we miss you already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!