Fall Photo Shoot {2016}

I would say that we lucked out with the perfect day when we set out for a family photo attempt two weeks ago - but really, living in Colorado, we are spoiled with perfect days on the regular.

Still, for an autumn day it was about as perfect as perfect can get, with the contrasting colors of the changing leaves against the expansive blue of the sky filled with just the right amount of puffy white clouds.

Which was definitely lucky, because I decided that we should squeeze pictures into an already full day - starting with hockey for the kids at 6am and ending with Marie's first sleepover and a sitter for the boys while Peter and I escaped to go enjoy Octo"beer"fest at a friend's (super cool frinds who brew their own beer, I might add). Oh, and I also had a haircut scheduled that morning, and when I mentioned our plans for the day, my hairdresser decided to give me some nice curls so I didn't even have to do my hair! Score. [Not that it mattered that much with the wind, but hey - I was happy].

Picture snagged by sneaky Peter

We still take our own pictures for various reasons (and why not, now that I'm actually getting the hang of it), so we packed the camera and tripod and trekked over to nearby Daniel's Park, one of our favorite hangouts - and perhaps the most perfect backdrop of the Rockies from our little corner of Denver.

We got one really good family photo, some others that were eh, pretty good, (with a funky kid expression or hair taking flight here and there), and most blessedly, we actually had fun! It wasn't a miserable experience [as it very well can be] - we picked one spot for the tripod, the kids helped snap a few frames and even ran back and forth to press the timer, and then we did some exploring and just enjoyed the view. Not bad at all.

I brightened up the lighting and cropped a few of these shots just a tad, but for the most part, it was a no filter kind of day. Here are the winners - including an outtake or two, because of course.

The One

Honorable Mention

Kids

Grownups

Just ignore the random shirtless man behind the curtain. Someday when I'm not so lazy I might Photoshop him out...

Combos

Outtakes

Okay kids, for this one just hold hands and pretend like you like each other.

No, like you actually like each other. [Oh and don't blink].

Just kinda stand there and put your chin in your hands. Like that, yeah! Er. Never mind.

Goofy

Because the kids these days, they just live for the goofy ones. 

A little to the left...now up, no down... eh. #intentversusexecution

#findMarie

Phone Captures

And finally...the ones I snapped on my phone of the fun part!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Le Hockey

I may be kicking myself in the future, but two years after Marie started saying she wanted to play hockey, and after a few weeks of Peter hardcore selling this great new program for kids that the Colorado Avalanche was piloting, I finally caved. I said my little girl could play.

Don't worry - Peter wore me down a bit more and convinced me to sign up the boys (who weren't all that excited about it) too.

And so it quickly came to pass that we were standing betwixt three behemoth bags (far bigger than their owners), chock full of hockey gear.

I'll at least concede that Peter was right in that it was a great deal; all of this brand new equipment was included in the six-week program - we got a full set of CCM gear for each kid, from helmet to skates and everything in between, all for keeps. Also 6 free tickets per kid to an Avalanche game of choice (although we're happy to share, because sitting through three separate Avs games sounds exhausting right now!)

With two weeks to go before the first practice, we spent the weekends at open skate letting the kids try out their new gear and get their skating legs under them. They were delighted that their pads protected them from all of their spills and made the whole experience a whole lot more enjoyable. They improved quickly (Marie especially, thanks to her rollerblading experience) and Marie had fun trying to race me around the rink. No one was willing to race Dad, of course.

Despite being hesitant at first, the boys came around quickly to playing hockey with big sis after their first time skating in their gear. The real clincher was when Dad allowed them to watch The Mighty Ducks that evening. Talk about inspiration station. [Quack with me. You know you want to.] Naturally it immediately led to what I was dreading: hockey in the house.

We had drill the same day as their first practice, so Peter's parents were incredibly helpful as always and carted the kids off to the rink and started getting them all suited up until Peter could arrive to help. Having already raised one little hockey hound, they got to re-live their glory days of hockey mom/hockey dad expertise - but this time, times three!  Never have I see Peter so in his element, either. It's really almost as fun to watch him as it is the kids.

And I also got out of work early enough for once to catch the last fifteen minutes of their practice; it was the most adorable thing ever. Seeing them ice skating was cute enough, but add hockey sticks and a bunch of tots all on the ice playing bumper pads...seriously. Adorable.

Erik saw me first and skated over the boards to say hi :)

Marie passing like a champ. She quickly appeared to get bored with this and
skated over to the goal to practice shooting. 

...and Erik followed suit. (That's him shooting in the background.
I also love the pileups in the far back on both pics).

Meanwhile, Ethan stayed glued o the mini goal so he could score over and over.

Suffice it to say, we have some happy little Avs and Avs fans on our hands...and I think it will be a very fun fall for all.

Gooooo Ducks! I mean Avs!

In the penalty box! 
(It was Peter's idea - and my new favorite picture of them!)

Recovery, aka Back To It!

I don't gush enough about my loving husband, so this is mostly an excuse share a couple fun pictures from when he took over parental duties during my recovery from surgery.

Included are pictures of him being the poster boy for stay-home-dad homemaker/homeschooler. Peter definitely inherited his mom's teaching gene, whereas I, decidedly, did not (even though my mom was also a teacher). I think it skipped a generation. I can manage short spurts, but I'm the worst when it comes to buckling down and doing anything - playing, crafting, pretending, tutoring, baking - with our kids for an extended period of time. I work much better away from the kids. Anyway, Peter naturally does a lot of educational stuff with the kids, like managing to rope us into conversations at dinner about anything from current events or physics to geography and the historical significance of a date. When he was little, Peter's mom had these books called "What your ____ Grader Needs to Know" for every grade; big surprise when they started showing up at our door in Amazon packaging so Peter could teach our kids the same. Marie says they're booorrrring but I've caught her reading them on her own a few times, ha. She appears to like the section on art best so far. 

Well, when taking off "work" so I could recover, teacher Peter put me to shame by doing all sorts of fun unschooling-ish stuff with Ethan while I sat on the couch and watched, the most fun being working on currency by playing The Allowance Game. Like, the whole thing, not a cheater version as I would've done.

On top of Ethan-schooling, I watched Peter plow through dishes, laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, and also manage carpool and free time. In a normal day, I only seem to manage about one big chore a day plus dinner. Maybe an occasional load of laundry too. Clearly we know who's the obvious choice in our family for stay-at-home parenthood. He would go for it too, if he weren't the one with all the degrees that make the Gs...

As for me, a few brief updates on my physical recovery for those interested: it's been exactly one month, and all things considered, I'm doing well. I was worried at first because the site of my chronic pain seemed to flare up pretty quickly after the initial anesthesia/meds wore off, but my doctor seemed confident at my post-op that it was likely the internal sutures they had to use because of the larger incision required on that side. I still have a little bit of pain, but it seems to be dissipating gradually - so hopefully that means my doc was right.

I definitely felt older this time in terms of my ability to bounce back. I was pretty exhausted the first two weeks - I overdid it a bit in the beginning, so I tried to slow down a little...but then went to drill a week after the surgery so I wouldn't get too far behind on work. It was an important weekend for me to be there, but that about did me in. I also had a rough go for two weeks with more food/digestive issues (it was a bad, bad day when I accidentally ate something with onions; it seems like my food intolerance reactions are getting exponentially worse) so that made for more exhaustion. But the past two weeks I've been pretty stable - I started a digestive enzyme and have been very, very diligent about taking it with the priobiotic my doctor prescribed and checking ingredients like a hawk, which has seemed to help. I still have a colonoscopy to schedule and look forward to (blerrrrrrrrg) based on my doctor's orders, but until then hopefully I'll be able to keep things stable.

But now for the total good news: starting week three when I was physically up to it, I finally carved out the me time I've been planning for a month or two now and suffered through my first barre class!

I've been looking for some sort of workout that I don't hate (read: anything with running or big weights) that's low-impact enough for my torn-up shoulders and bum knee (thanks gymnastics and diving) BUT still can help me build up my strength and endurance to my glory days - or at least get me out of my current weakling state. Sounds like the unicorn of fitness, right? Back in July though, a friend told me about a barre studio that she loves, and how it helps with core strength and toning and posture while being a good workout. And then I found out said stuido is literally in the same block as another location that I already frequent at least weekly, so I decided to sign up for a class.

And woah, buddy. The first class was a total everything-kicker [no really, like every single muscle group plus secret muscle groups that apparently only crazy barre instructors know about]. But it was so fun and I loved it. I've been to three more classes already, and have worked out my schedule so I can now go twice a week. The exercises are such small but targeted movements that I only had to modify one exercise during the first class because of my surgery and every class since then has been a-okay. Minus the ridiculous hobbling around afterwards because my entire body is in muscle failure. But it's in the best, most fun, total-self-care way possible. I dare you to find a studio and try it so you can say I told you so. I've been surprised at the spectrum of ages I've seen at the studio too - a few people younger than me and also a fair amount who are significantly older than me. (All who could probably kick my derriere-in-training--for now). Alright, enough jabber...but after being in such a long slump, I'm happy to finally feel like a more energized version of me, and that I've committed to something I'm both excited about and proud of myself for doing - all within a month of my surgery. It's good to be back.

I'll end with a fun anecdote: at work this past weekend I told two of my Army reserve girlfriends that I started a barre class. The younger one blurted out "you mean like bartending???" and the older one simultaneously said "like, to be a lawyer?!"

I'm really not sure which once is closest to the complete opposite of who I am...

Trying to look like I'm not dying after my first class.

Yo Adrian, I survived! If you're local and you ever wanna be my barre buddy, let me know!

A Mother Teresa Canonization Party

It all started with a table linen.

Well, really it was more of a coincidence, but we were thinking of cooking out with some friends over Labor Day weekend, and then I realized that Mother Teresa's Canonization fell right in the middle of the long weekend, and then I walked past my dining room table with my favorite table linen [the one I hunted down at World Market because I adored the blue and white stripes and it reminded me of Mother Teresa] and suddenly it clicked - what could be better than combining the two? So a Mother Teresa Canonization Party plus Labor Day BBQ it was.

I had way too much fun prepping for this celebration; apparently I'm far more into blue and white than I realized, and I gleefully kept coming across stuff in my wardrobe and decor cabinet that was just perfect. 

I love this gorgeous print from my lovely friend Gina at Someday Saints!

I also wanted to do something service-related in honor of Mother Teresa's work and mission, so we had each family bring an item so we could make "blessing bags," aka Ziploc bags with useful items to give to those in need. We did this once before with our moms group at church and it worked out really well; we usually just keep the bags in the car and hand one out if we're stopped at an intersection and see someone wit a sign asking for help.

To make sure there was ample entertainment for the kids, I found some fun Pinterest ideas relating to "helping hands" and combined a few of them, and got some free Mother Teresa printables here to color. I needn't have been concerned, as there was way too much excited running around and other fun happening for the most of the kids to sit down for a lengthy amount of tracing and cutting! But they're definitely activities worth saving in the event of a more captive audience in the future, should we ever be in need of a service-related craft.

Finishing up after the house was quiet.

[Ethan ad his matching outfit had already run off for bathtime]

We also had the canonization mass from Rome playing in the background, but got too busy talking to actually watch it. We'll have to have a separate watch party soon as a family to catch up on the real festivities!

And then there a whole lot of good BBQ food and fun to be had - and I was too busy having fun to take many pictures of the actual party besides the quick snap above of the blessing bags "assembly line" chaos. Even though I didn't get a picture, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fancy fresh strawberry-kiwi and cucumber-mint infused waters that Peter made. Fahbulous, dahling.

I'm thankful for such wonderful friends as the chance to share such a special day with so many great people. I've been a Mother Teresa fan girl since I was young, so it was a very cool experiencing the confirmation of her sainthood and revisiting so many of her simple yet powerful messages. Some of my favorites that never fail to put me in my place:

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread." -Interview by Edward W. Desmond in TIME magazine (4 December 1989)

"Don't look for big things, just do small things with great love....The smaller the thing, the greater must be our love." -As quoted in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (2007) by Brian Kolodiejchuk

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." -Mother Teresa Reflects on Working Toward Peace (essay, Santa Clara University).

And so many more. No matter who we are, I think we can all take a lesson from this unassuming soul who didn't set out to change the world, but simply saw a need in front of her, in her own small corner of the world, and responded in love. I need the constant reminder that we can always, like her, look for the greatest needs in our own family and immediate community, and do our best to respond using the strengths we've each been gifted - we never know what the chain reaction might be. And hopefully, above all, we'll be reminded in our every day words and actions to be propelled by the kind of love that never fails to uphold the human dignity of others!