May 2017 - 10 on 10

May is one of our two birthday months. Chris' birthday is the 8th, mine is the 12th and Kyle's is the 13th. This year was a special birthday year to me because Kyle turned the age I was when I had him.

May is also always a whirlwind of end of the school year activities. This was Michael's last year of elementary school. He's been at Red Hawk Ridge since kindergarten and we both had a little bit of a hard time saying goodbye.

May 1- Michael received his class’ Respect Award at the High Flyer Assembly this morning. This was his last Red Hawk Ridge assembly. # dster_5th1617

May 8- Happy birthday to Chris! We had dinner at Parry’s Pizza to celebrate.

May 13- Campbell vs Blocher 4-0 and Michael scored! # dstersports2017

May 14- Michael decorated the flower pot and planted the pansy in Sunday School for Mother’s Day.

The card from the boys-

Stuff You Ask Mom: What’s for dinner? What time is it? How come? Why not? When is it my turn? Can I have more? Where is it? Will you read this to me? Can I watch TV? Can I play with this? Do I have to go to bed?

Stuff You Ask Dad: Where’s Mom?

Flowers from Keila and a wonderful text from Kyle rounded out a lovely Mother's Day!

May 17- Michael ran 63 laps at the Fun Run today! # dster_5th1617

May 19- Third Annual Red Hawk Ridge Spring Art Show. The theme this year was A Parisian Salon. The 5th grade G.T. students presented facts about Luxembourg Palace (Michael), the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Palace, Mont Saint Michel, Notre Dame Cathedral, Picasso Museum and Random Facts. After listening to the student's presentation your "passport" was stamped with a potato stamp designed by the student.  # dster_5th1617

May 23- Before dinner walk #ise_walk

May 24- Field Day grand finale is always the tug of war. Michael’s class won their first round but lost in the final. # dster_5th1617

May 26- Today was Michael’s last day of 5th grade and his last day of elementary school. His classroom teacher was Mrs. Risley and his G.T. teacher was Ms. Carlson. # dster_5th1617

May 29- We played the Kennedy Golf Course mini golf Castle Course this afternoon and Michael made his first ever hole in one. # ise_summer

Thanks for reading! Until next month...

April 2017- 10 on 10

Hello again! Here's a quick summary of our April.

April 1- #dsterwithabook The book store was really busy. It’s rainy today- rainy/snowy enough to cancel Michael’s soccer game.

April 8- #ise_walk There were lots of photo opportunities on our walk today.

April 9- #lovebugmax The sun highlighting Max’s lashes

April 15- #dstersports2017 soccer Campbell vs Hossack 2-1

April 16- #SPYlegojerusalem Christian Ed students built a model of Jerusalem as they moved through the Lenten season. Michael’s building was Herod’s Palace (front left).

April 19- Young Ameritowne (Headquarters). Michael ended up being the accountant for the Snack Shop (310 Success Street) instead of the Investment Company & he was super happy.

Young Ameritowne is a “hands-on” lesson in free enterprise including lessons on topics such as: free enterprise, economics, banking, money management, government, communications and philanthropy, how to behave during a job interview (and actually experience one!), job training, ways to save and handle money to make it work for you, become an expert at writing checks.

There are 17 businesses: bank, college, containers, fitness center, investment company, market, medical center, newspaper, parcel service, parts and service shop, radio station, sign and print shop, snack shop, television station, Towne Hall (with elected positions of Mayor and Judge), utility company, warehouse.

April 23- Getting ready for SPY. I don’t think he can live without YouTube and his over the ear headphones.

April 23- SPY Mission Escapes (Room). The boys did the Treasure Hunt room and the girls did the Lunar Escape room.

April 24- Target selfie. I was in a Monday funk so the guys indulged my request for a photo. Cheers me up every time!

April 26- A haircut, dinner from Good Times and Ponyo on DVD for Michael and I as Chris was on a business trip.

Thanks for looking! See you next month...

March 2017 - 10 on 10

Hello there! Here's a brief recap of our March.

March 3- #lovebugmax On the way to the vet. We added a second pain med and he seems to be feeling better.

March 10- Chris and Michael proofing Michael’s weekly letter to his teacher.

March 12- #dsterwithabook On the way to Sunday School

March 14- This bird of prey chose our backyard to eat his breakfast in!

March 16- Musical talent showcase in music class. Working from home makes is super easy for me to pop over to school for fun things like this.

March 16- #ise_walk The baby llama was curious about us. So cute!

March 18- #dstersports2017 Corner kick. Campbell vs Carey. Tie game 1-1.

March 19- Michael's Sunday School class has been constructing Jerusalem out of Legos. His building is Herod's Palace.

March 22- I love how the rhubarb leaves look before they unfurl.

March 29- Target bunny ears headband shenanigans part 1

March 25- Chris' Grandpa Don turned 90 on March 28th and the family had a surprise birthday party for him. (Photo by Jonathan Martz.) I made a short slideshow/video of the party.

Thanks for reading! See you next month!

February 2017- 10 on 10

As I’m looking at my photos for February, I’m amused with my initial concern about having enough photos for a monthly 10 on 10 recap. I’ve had to exclude photos I love for both January and February! While the photos I’ve chosen to share may not be the BEST photos technically, they are the best representation of what happened last month. I’ve chosen my favorites from each of my five photo series plus 5 more. I post daily on Instagram @zonemama.

February 19- #dsterwithabook This child is a reading machine (his words)! It’s challenging to find books that are at his advanced reading level that are also age appropriate.

February 22- #ise_walk As the weather has been so mild, we have been taking fairly frequent walks. Michael has recently started coming along and he and Chris have a good time throwing a tennis ball back and forth.

February 28- #lovebugmax This is how Max spends most of his days. He has a really hard time standing up and getting around these days.

February 18- #dstersports2017 The Aurora Rec basketball season concluded with a two game “tournament”. Michael’s team was ranked 13 (out of 18) and they played the #14 and #15 teams. They won both games which was a nice way to end the season after a 5 game losing streak.

February 12- #SPYgrp2017 SPY (St. Paul Youth) Aurora Police Station tour. Chris and I got to go along on this outing. The officer that did our tour did it on her own time. She did a great job of keeping it age appropriate and trying to help the kids empathize with the troubled kids that end up with legal issues.

February 9- Crossover. He received his Arrow of Light and crossed over to Boy Scouts tonight. He’s decided not to continue on and that’s okay.

February 11- Cousins. We celebrated Ben’s 11^th birthday and Carl’s 6^th birthday today with lunch at the Aurora Texas Roadhouse. Aren't they all so handsome?!

February 14- Valentine’s Day. To celebrate Valentine’s Day, he wanted to play a game and watch a movie so that’s what we did.

February 21- Commemorate. You would have been 72 on the 21^st. I’m so grateful you took the time to make this scrapbook.

Loving Memories scrapbook quick video

February 25- Brunch at Lola in the Highlands. We had brunch with Kyle today. It was super yummy and fun! Kyle and Michael both had the Smoked Trout and Mole Negro.

That was our February- thanks for reading! See you next month...

January 2017- 10 on 10

I was inspired by a photographer I follow to try this "10 on 10" format of sharing my top 10 moments from the previous month in photos. This was our January.

1/1 2017.  I used baby carrots and salad tomatoes to illustrate my goal of taking better care of my health this year. Michael helped me out with the design of the ‘7’.

1/5 Snow day! Chris worked from home and Michael slept in. Luckily for us, he still likes to snuggle.

1/5 Snow day! Chris got a snow blower for Christmas and this was the first time he and Michael used it. One of the neighbors told Chris I should put down the camera and pick up a shovel 😊.

1/6 Spelling bee. Michael was the last student to be eliminated from the group that went on to the district spelling bee. He misspelled the work gymnastics by saying ‘j’ when he meant ‘g’. He was heartbroken and we were heartbroken for him but still so proud!

1/7 Rise Up basketball tournament. There were 3 games at 4pm, 6pm and 8pm at Thornton High School. They were the youngest team, the only noncompetitive team and they only had 5 players until a dad offered the younger brother of another player from another team to help out our team. Unfortunately, they didn’t win any games but Michael still had a good time.

1/12 Thursday nights. Aurora Rec basketball practice is on Thursday nights from 5:45-7:15. 5:45 is a little early for dinner before practice so Chris stops at Chipotle for Michael's dinner on the way home. I just happened to notice Michael’s reflection in the refrigerator door this Thursday night.

1/18 Liberty parent info night. Michael will be in middle school next year. We went to parent information night to get the scoop. He’s growing up so fast!

1/19 Max. He’s 12 ½ and no longer the fastest walker, but he still likes to go.

1/25 Target frozen food isle. Michael wanted to stop in the frozen food isle at Target to look for mac and cheese he might like to eat. Tweenager!

1/29 Michael reading in the car. He reads wherever and whenever he can. He caught me in the act of taking this photo and was not happy. This is the evolution of his, “Really Mom?” face. He loves me, he does 😊.

Thanks for reading. See you next month!

The Adventures of Roxy and Skip by Michael I.

When I was born the 9^th puppy in my family they couldn’t take care of me so they dropped me off at the train station. I was only 10 months old at the time and I was very fragile. I saw red stuff on the ground as I hit it. So I licked the red stuff mmm tomato sauce, this tasted good I thought. So I followed a trail of that smell and it lead to a hot dog in someones hand, yoink! I thought and I leaped up in the air and at it nom, nom! Well the human wasn’t very happy so…abandon ship! Run I thought and right into the hand of my soon to be owner Rick.

                Rick was a very young man maybe 11 in human years. Rick brought me to my new home. I ran under the 4 legged wood thing because I can’t run under the couch. Trust me I tried. Well that’s probably because I’m a German Shepard. After I got comfortable I walked to explore and…squirls! I ran or tried to get to the backyard but there was a force field with a handle in the way. Rick let me out freedom! Squirl! Sorry I got distracted from the whole freedom thing. Squirl! Squirl! Squirl! Chase! Chase! Chase! Darn it it ran up a tree..the rabit…I walked twards the rabbit and cornered it. I’m going to give you to my master I thought and he will give me the tummy rubs. All he did was scream and yell something like MOM!

                All the sudden there was a thing bigger than Rick that looked surprised and angry so like all good dogs when there scared I peed on the grass. They looked kinda happy so I dropped it on the ground and opened it up so I could show them what I caught. They both screamed so I berried it, they looked realived.

                I was thirsty so I ran over to the toilet and turned on the sink by luck and whats better than toilet water? Sink water! Slurp, slurp, slurp. There was a squeaky noise and a thing bigger than Rick and to mom thing came in. I growled and then Rick screamed something like “Skip!” I turned around and saw Rick was talking to me so I ran over to him and sat. The thing bigger than the mom thing came over and set a bed, 2 dishes, a bed and a bag of wonderful smelling stuff on the floor. He came over and rubbed my stomach I liked that so I licked his hand, he pat me on the head and started speaking like Rick and the mom thing. I got bored of them talking so I went to explore the upstairs. It was a 4 bedroom 2 bath. I was interested in the one with loud noises so I bit the door nob and turned it with my teeth. Inside was another dog but it was another German Shepard but it wasn’t mature anothe {enough} to play with me, it was 2 in dog years. My life was quite boring till the dog who the humans named Roxy was 5 so over my 3 years I heard lots of barking, crying and yelling. Once Roxy was fainally 5 in dog years I could fianally play with him. He was very playful witch meant he slept a lot. One day Roxy and I where trying to see who could break a plank of wood into halfs fastest, Roxy decided he was going to use the fence as his plank and he flipped it over and in that time a two inch rattle snake came in so…Roxy and Skip to the rescue!

                Roxy pushed the fence back over so we don’t have to worry about it anymore because it went air born because half of its tail was still on the fence so he flung it back over. Yay Roxy! Squicccck! The door opened and the mom thing let us in. Then it was dinner time. We finished early so we went under the 4 legged wood thing to beg for food, I got 1 meetball and Roxy got a lot of spinach from Rick.

                All the sudden we heard a window break and a guy with a black thing on his face came running at us with a sharp thing with a handle. Roxy and I didn’t know this person so we flanked him. He tried to stab the dad thing so we bit him on the butt and leg, he fell but the sharp thing landed in Ricks toe. He stabbed him!!! WE DIDN’T LIKE THAT. We started biting him everywere and then we found a spot he liked and didn’t at the same time. First we chewed off his shoes witch we love to do, then we chewed off his socks witch we also love to do and licked his feet. Roxy sat on his head and I licked his feet witch taste like cryon and the dad thing called the people in blue suits and the people with two metal curcles, they took the robber away. Roxy peed on his shoe so he will always remember us but he can never ever get revenge on us so it doesn’t metter. Rick had a bloody toe so the mom and dad thing put a brown and white sticky thing on it.

                A few months later Roxy and I started exploring the forest in the backyard and sence we live in Flordia we where warned about the things called alligators. But even if we get warned we always end up finding it. When we where exploring we found a 3 foot long alligator lieing in the sun. We where  extreamly hungry so we planned to eat the alligator. Quick as lightning Roxy sat on the alligators head flipped him over and bit his mouth shut. I was about to start pawing at him but then we realized we where late to the tummy scratches so we dragged the alligator to a pit with water in it and scurried off to our house.

                Rick seemed annoyed at us when we got to our house, he was on a speaker with numbers attached. We realized later that we put the alligator in someones pool so we went over to apologize in dog. We found out later that the alligator ate someones dog so we thought if we opened its stomach like in The Little Red Ridinghood the dog would pop out. Nope. All we found was alligator and guts. The people didn’t like seeing guts on the ground so we put it in there pool. They also didn’t like that, grouches. We wern’t suppost to go outside for 3 months! So we made up a new game it was called the “drink water spit it out sliddy game”! What you did was drink water, spit it up twards the stairs and slide, then you would go bouncing down the stairs. We played that till the 3 months was over. Are lives where spectacular, but we never went on another edventure or got in truble ever again.

                After my uncle finished his troy of his dogs Roxy and Skip and I decided the next time I get a dog it’s going to be a German Shepard.