Sittin' pretty

It's kinda hard to see, but she is really sitting all by herself. It only lasts for about 15-20 seconds until she falls backwards. When she gets wobbly she will put her hand on the floor to catch herself. It's pretty cute.

Smartie Pants

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to go to my first parent/teacher conference. I've kept up on most of the things that Jared is doing in school, but it gets a little difficult to stay abreast when I receive no answer when I ask "What did you do in school today?" Actually the response I get is "I don't remember", to which I'm always amazed because I ask this as soon as I pick him up from school. Oh well.

His teacher, Mrs. Shearer, reviewed his report card with me. In all of the things that they are doing thus far he received "E"=exemplary, "P"=proficient, or "+". He also received a "A"=advanced, in art.

He is also doing things that most of the class isn't close to doing yet, like writing all his letters, counting, and reading. He is in a group called AIM and he leaves class four days a week to go to the library to read. His handwriting is also exceptional for a kindergartener and his teacher is pleased with his work. If I can figure out how to scan some of his schoolwork, I'll try to post it.

On another school related note she also stated that Jared is extremely kind and very outgoing while dealing with the other children on the playground. Speaking of the playground, Jared recently told us that the kids aren't allowed to play tag at recess. They've outlawed it! Can you believe it? Although Jared has told me that the girls chase him at recess and one day caught him and yelled, "We love you Jared!" Jared also got a card from a girl in his class yesterday. It was pretty cute. She drew her and Jared playing together. So not only is he a little smartie pants, he's a chick magnet too! Like father like son!

The fruits of labor

After unmeasurable amounts of slobber and many painful nights Liza has successfully cut a tooth. I knew it was close and it popped last night. It's her bottom left tooth. I've been checking her mouth for the last week to see if it has come through yet but to no avail. It's hard to believe that she's old enough to get a tooth, well actually she is still so little, but it's here. My kids keep getting teeth younger and younger. Jared didn't get his first tooth till he was 8 months old, Payton was 5 months, and now Liza is just a few days shy of 5 months. WOW! where does the time go?

On a sporty note, Barry's team won their homecoming game. They played Pueblo Central. The final score was 28-0, a shutout!!! It was a great game. Defense scored twice! All I know is that whoever that defensive coordinator is, he needs a raise! :)

I've decided that I need to bring my cape to games so that things might go easier for me. Luckily I don't have to worry too much about Jared since he is down on the field hydrating the team, but Liza and Payton seem to need lots of attention. I also seem to pack everything to the games so that no one is cold or hungry, that is with the exception of the kitchen sink. The other fun duty at games is that a child usually needs to go to the bathroom, and it never seems to be #1. It makes for a real circus act trying to hold a baby and wipe a bum all while bundled up in our warmest. Also a kind man sitting next to us volunteered to take Payton to the bathroom but after careful consideration I hastily ran after him so he wouldn't have to wipe Payton. It was a very helpful offer but he would be sure get what he asked for.

After the crowning of the homecoming court there was a great fireworks display which started a small grass fire. It was ridiculous how long it took the fire truck to put it out especially considering they were the ones in charge of the show. I was actually quite surprised by the length of the show and Payton seemed to do well with the loudness of it considering he hates loud noises and usually cries at all fireworks.




Our Saturdays usually consist of Barry being gone for the majority of the day, so the kids and I tend to be a little lazy and stay in jammies for as long as possible, unless there are errands to be done. Upon Barry's return home he went to the neighbor's house to provide a little service. She is a single woman and stricken in years so we help whenever it's needed. She needed some trees dug up and one chopped down. Barry was only able to chop the one down because she was not there to instruct him on which trees to dig out. He will need to resume next week.

Coming up this week I have the priviledge to attend Parent/Teacher Conferences. It's a first for me. I'll report when I hear about Jared's progress.

Tradition!

This is for the enjoyment of any "Kaiser/McDonald" that may read this. Jared has been begging for the last 3 days for "grandma's pankcakes". While my mom was here when Liza was born and during our trip to Montana this summer, my mom cooked Blina probably around 10 times total. For those of you who don't have a clue what blina is, it's basically sourdough pancakes but with less the wait. Well, I finally remembered to prepare them last night and Jared was so happy this morning to wake up to blina. I have such wonderful memories of my grandma making sourdough pancakes and now my mom has begun a tradition of blina. Thanks mom! These will now be coined as "grandma's pancakes".

I also decided to take some cute pics of Liza yesterday. She loves to take a bath so I thought that I needed to capture this moment. I also had some laundry that needed folded last night and Liza "helped." As you can see Liza loves to put her hands in her mouth which makes for a pool of slobber. She is working on getting some teeth. At times she thinks it beneficial to try to cram both fists into her mouth at the same time.

My "Lou" all clean!

A great weekend!

Friday was filled with excitement as the Kadets pulled off their 4th win this season. They are doing great. We were up against a tough team that has some big and fast athletes. The Kadets sealed the win with a safety towards the end of the game. It was awesome. The final score was 33-28. Phew!

As soon as the game ended I blazed back home so that Jared could attend his school carnival. We got there for the last 45 minutes and the lines had died down some. The kids had the most fun on the inflatable slide and jumping castle.

Saturday, I took the kids to the dollar store so that Jared could spend some of his birthday loot that's been burning a hole in his pocket. After the dollar store we went to a farmer's market that held at Doherty high school. I so hard not to buy anything because all the produce looks so good and it reminds me of my Great-Grandma's garden. I could've spent hours in the garden eating peas. We managed to get out with a bag of apples and some fresh salsa. There were so many other tasty things there.

When Barry got home we were looking for something fun to do and we considered going to the top of Pike's Peak, but was unsure of how Liza would do going up the mountain, so I mentioned that we should go to Denver to our favorite restaurant Cinzzetti's. It's an all you can eat Italian Market. It's almost 20,000 square feet of delicious food. On the weekends they have all you can eat peel and eat shrimp. My favorite is the crepe bar that you can add incredible fillings and toppings to. The kids love the ice cream bar.

Payton and his friend Ashton chatting up the Kadet!

Jared's 6th Birthday!

(FYI: If you click on the picture you can see it large!)

We can't believe that Jared turned 6 today. I know it sounds cheezy but it really does seem like it was only yesterday that he was born. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful son. He is such a joy.

He had a great day today. He could sleep in much this morning because he was so excited for his big day. Last night Barry took him to the grocery store to get cupcakes for his class. When he got to school a girl from his class gathered a few other kids and sang to him on the playground. Later the class sang to him and he got to go down to the office and pick out a treasure. After I picked him up from school we came home and prepared to have a very low-key party. I invited some of the neighborhood kids and a few others to come have cupcakes and ride bikes. It was a lot of fun. Last year we decided that it would be fun to let Jared pick a restaurant to eat at and he chose Texas Roadhouse. It's an awesome steak house. He enjoyed having the wait staff come sing to him and bring him ice cream.

Payton was great all day about all the attention on Jared. When Jared tried to share his candy with him he said "no, it's Jared's birthday!"

We had a wonderful day celebrating Jared's birthday. I continue to wonder where the time goes. I wish that I had a time machine and go back to when he was a baby just to hold him one more time. He's entirely too big to fit just in my arms anymore. Although it is great to watch my children in the stages that they are in at this moment. We are so proud of Jared and his accomplishments.

The other event of the day was that Liza had her 4 month check-up today. She weighs 13 lbs 2.5 oz which is the 45% and is 25 1/4 inches long which is the 75%. So she is long and skinny. She also had to get shots today which has made her a little bit irritable.

Behind the wood shed

Well it was good, it was old fashioned, and it was a butt whoopin'. Half way in the first quarter the Kadets took a 21-0 lead over the Liberty Lancers. Barry was hoping for a shut out but we weren't able to hold the Lancers. We ended up winning with a final score of 56-21, bringing our record to 3-0. We're off to a much better start this year. It was a great win against the Lancers mostly because we lost to them last year. I think everyone was hoping to break 60. We tried with our JV team out there but just couldn't punch it in.

It's beginning to feel like football season. The weather is dropping at night and it's a bit chilly. Liza is a trooper though. I bundle her up in two thick blankets and she's good to go. As long as her tummy's full and she's warm we're good. Payton was a little whiney last night but I think it's mostly because he can see Jared on the field. Payton's just not big enough yet.

The other excitement for the night was the updates on the Air Force game. I saw the highlights on the news and looked like a great game. The Falcons beat Texas Christian 20-17 in OT. It was the first time they beat them in 20 years. It was a great night for football.

Just some cheezy pics of the kiddos.

Feast on this!

This is entirely too funny! I found this while surfing.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695207475,00.html
Enjoy a giggle.

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!!

Kadets in action!

Jared on the sideline

Coach Clark takin' care of business! (He's got the headset on.)

The Kadets are now 2-0. We beat the Cheyenne Mountins Indians 28-7. With two wins under our belts we're feeling pretty confident. This a great start to the season. A few stats on the game for those of you who may understand them, the Kadets gave up 227 yards but had 322 rushing yards and 60 passing yards. The opposing team had three turnovers and the Kadet's came out with none. Last year was rough so now we are making up for it. We have a lot of returning players which is a great benefit to the team. The boys are getting the job done. Barry's defense in looking great and holding the other teams offense really well. Apparently all those long hours are paying off.

Jared did great tonight! The best part of the game was when the announcer had the crowd cheer for Jared, twice. Most everyone knows who he is and remembered his falls last week and the crowd erupted for him. It was so cute. I was the proud mama bear in the crowd. He ran with all his might and got the players their water. Barry says that the players are being so kind to him. Another fun thing for him is that he gets to go into the locker room during halftime. He loves being a big kid. I was so proud of him. I think that he was able to the first game jitters out last week and he learned how to run and take care of all those heavy water bottles. Jared feels like a superstar and is definitely winning some popularity points at school, not that it matters much! :)

Labor Day Weekend

Jared and Payton feeding a goat at the fair.

We had a great weekend. Saturday when Barry got home from football practice we decided to go down to Pueblo to the Colorado State Fair. We wanted to take the boys to the demolition derby but it was way too expensive. Payton was the most disappointed because he was really excited to watch the cars crash. Unfortunately we got caught in a rain and lightning storm while there and we hunkered down in the small animal pavillion. We weren't all that impressed with the livestock, but they did have an exhibit with tigers. They did a show and had the tigers jump and do tricks. The kids really enjoyed it.

Colorado Springs also has a tradition Labor Day weekend, it was the annual Balloon Classic. Down at Memorial Park they have around 90 hot air balloons and at night they do a glow and early in the morning they lift off. We never make it to the lift, but we went to the glow Sunday night. It was a little disappointing because they didn't put the balloons up for the glow. They just used the fire from the baskets. But the kids had fun running and playing with friends.

Monday, the boys went to practice with Barry and had a great time. Later that evening we had a BBQ with some friends. It was a good weekend and were able to enjoy some time together as a family, which is a little difficult during football.

Cuties!

Here are a few fun pics of the kids. Since Jared is reading he loves to wind down on the couch with a book, and when it comes to Payton, it's monkey see monkey do! Liza was being so smiley that I just had to get out the camera to capture her cuteness!

Can you see the resemblance?

Friday Night Lights

Proud little brother!

Jared is the little guy standing behind #50

Last night was a success for the Kadets! They won 13-7. It was a great night for football. I was really proud of Barry in his debut as defensive coordinator. In the first quarter our defense capitalized on a fumble to which we then threw an interception, but recovered another fumble during the next play. I always forget what the emotions feel like during a game. You can go from being excited to worried in the same breath.

The other great part of the night was that Jared got to suit up and was the team's official Bobby Boucher. He was the water boy. He had a great time. He was able to go out on the field during timeouts and got to go in the locker room during pre-game and halftime. He told me this morning that it was hard work. Unfortunately the water caddy is so heavy that when he ran off the field he fell twice. It was a little sad, but he continued to stick it out. He's still a rookie.