Living in Munchkinland

We celebrated Michael's birthday over several days. Last weekend, my mom sent Michael a gift certificate to Fluvog and so we left the kids at home and went downtown to the Fluvog store and got Michael two amazing pairs of shoes. He had so much trying them on and choosing. That evening, we went out to dinner with our neighborhood friends at an Irish Pub. We celebrated a week early, because we planned to fly to Texas on his real birthday and spend the weekend with friends and family there. Unfortunately, Hurricane Harvey happened. The category 4 hurricane swept in on Friday night and cancelled our plans. We gave up our plane tickets on Thursday and so Michael's birthday the next day suddenly became an empty spot on the calendar. I asked him what he would like to do and he chose a movie (Dark Tower) while we were all at school and then Thai takeout, Catan, Rose' wine, and lots of fancy non dairy ice cream with the neighbors. I was all about that and we had a lovely evening. ...

Michael and the kids and I spent a perfect Sunday last week at Redstone Park running a 5K and celebrating our school with an amazing festival put on by our PTO. Everything was free and we spent all day there enjoying all there was to see and do. I loved running my very first 5K and I was so proud that everyone in my family ran it together. Then we spread out a blanket in the shade and camped out. Our neighbors came out to play with us and the kids ran inside giant hamster balls, played human foosball, made rockets, got painted, ate out of food trucks, dove into a pool of legos, interacted with a robot that played frisbee and had a great time. I adore our school AND our Colorado August weather.

Earlier in the summer, I wrote a grant to the city of Littleton asking them for money for an outdoor movie block party and they sent me a check for $500! We ordered a keg and bought wine and catered frozen yogurt. I made a sign up genius and invited people to bring meat for the grill and a side dish for potluck. I put out hula hoops and lawn games and we emailed the neighborhood. We had a party! So many neighbors came and we all socialized and enjoyed each other. Then we head out to the green space for a screening of The Sandlot which was adorable. I love my neighborhood. The next day, Michael and the boys sat in the garage helping us empty the keg. They were very helpful.

Here in Colorado we had 92% coverage of the sun. Our school had a voluntary virtual day in case the kids wanted to stay home and do eclipse activities with their families. Lots of people here drove up to Nebraska or Wyoming to see totality. I taught and sent my kids to school and gave M a pair of eclipse glasses so he could go out in the neighborhood and check it out. At the school, we all took our students out (with waivers and glasses from home in hand) to see the eclipse. Our science teacher had brought out a telescope which was pretty neat. Only 9 students showed up for one of my classes and only 2 from another. Still, we had fun. The first graders charted the temps and it went down 10 degrees! We had clear skies and the weather was perfect for viewing. It was a very exciting day.

I have a job. A Job-job. Last year I volunteered at the kids' school and helped put on four productions there. At the end of the year, I interviewed for a position and was hired to be the head of the drama department and to help create the drama curriculum there. I accepted. It's a perfect job for me. It's at my children's school. I get to share my passion for theatre with kids every day. I work part time so my hours are 11-4. I get to be in charge of the content I am teaching. I love it. It's been difficult to adjust. I've had to learn grading and PBL and essential questions and how to use Canvas. I've read the handbook and done PD and chatted and set up my classroom. I've enrolled the kids in after care and juggled afternoon schedules. The week where I had to go to school and the kids stayed home was so stressful for me as I lived in that weird state of overwhelm where you know just exactly how much you DON'T know. I have a dedicated drama room ...

It was a wonderful last two weeks of summer. Cheris and the kids were here for two and half weeks and it was awesome. After our trip to Taos and our last grown-up evening downtown, Rob had to fly home and I had to go to work. I went to teacher training all week and Cheris was my lifesaver. I was stressed and overwhelmed, but Cheris kept the kids under control and kept me sane. The kids had a great week playing in the neighborhood and going to the gym and dart wars. They fought some and shared space, but overall did great and still love each other to bits. Success! Then last weekend I was able to join in some fun again. On Saturday we drove into downtown and went to the International festival at Civic Park and then down 16th Street and on to Union Station. We stopped at the beer garden and let the kids play foosball and they stopped at most of the blocks to play. They especially enjoyed the giant corn hole. It was such a great day. I really enjoy showing off our beautiful home and the...

The night we got back from Taos, the Liffords and Michael and I left the children at home with a sitter and spent the night at the Hyatt in downtown Denver. We told them we were there for Michael's birthday and got upgraded to a huge suite. We went out for dinner at Linger and then went to 1up on Colfax to check out the pinball games. It was so fun! Then we may or may not have ended up on 16th street for fries and wings after midnight but I will neither confirm nor deny that scenario. Either way, the evening was fabulous and it was so fun to show off our city to our friends.

We came home from NYC and had a week in Littleton. I shopped and cleaned and the kids had lessons and I enjoyed being home. Then the Liffords arrived and the party started all over again! They arrived on Saturday and on Sunday morning, we hopped in the car and drove down to Taos. We picnicked in a sketchy park in Walsenburg and made our way to the high desert and the beauty of Taos. We had so much fun while we were there! We went to Twirl twice, the new chocolate shop, Seconds and many more stores on the plaza. We hiked Italianos with the kids. The kids forgot their suitcase so we took a trip to Walmart and stopped at Leonel's for tamales. We took the scenic chairlift up the mountain and saw a groundhog and had a picnic and touched snow. We ate at KTAO and played volleyball and ran inside to hide from the afternoon monsoons. We walked with Valerie in Arroyo Seco. We played board games and drank wine and visited with Yvette Burks and her new husband. My mom arrived to join us! We...