tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82350408676176218732024-02-08T09:17:30.416-08:00KeishoZilLiz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-20112002088394030202011-08-18T20:45:00.000-07:002011-08-18T20:47:14.092-07:00Cara NonnaNonna, you've been such an important part of my life. I'll miss you so much.
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<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cornchopsunshady/5790525914/" title="IMAG0046 by cornchopsunshady, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5264/5790525914_6469934f31.jpg" width="500" height="297" alt="IMAG0046"></a>Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-46228899882794402952011-02-02T08:05:00.000-08:002011-02-02T08:07:31.247-08:00You know it's cold when.....You have ice on the inside of your windows!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cornchopsunshady/5410233939/" title="100_1807 by cornchopsunshady, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/5410233939_11b5d7f6d7.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="100_1807" /></a><br /><br />The temperature said -16 when I woke up this morning. Brrr. School was cancelled for the second day today, so the kids are loving this.Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-53399193521706196502011-01-28T16:34:00.000-08:002011-01-28T16:57:29.934-08:00StuffThis post doesn't have any real theme. Mainly just some pictures I wanted to share.<br /><br />First, a cute picture of the little kids at Christmas. Grandma gave Nadia and Avy the same dress and they had fun being twins! We had a nice time with Dave and Sandy and their kids.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cornchopsunshady/5396987716/" title="100_1790 by cornchopsunshady, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5213/5396987716_f16f4739a0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="100_1790" /></a><br /><br />Sophia and Nadia both joined Girl Scouts recently. I wasn't in Girl Scouts, so I don't know too much about it, but so far they've enjoyed it. I'm not the most enthusiastic cookie seller though, I have to admit. I was embarrassed about how few we sold, so I bought a ton from both Nadia and Sophia. Guess we'll be eating lots of cookies.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cornchopsunshady/5396389769/" title="100_1801 by cornchopsunshady, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5215/5396389769_6aecf529c5.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="100_1801" /></a><br /><br />Also, Nadia lost her first tooth! It was hanging there for several days until finally it just fell out on its own. You can see the other tooth underneath if you look closely. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cornchopsunshady/5396988268/" title="100_1800 by cornchopsunshady, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/5396988268_e106ba3119.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="100_1800" /></a><br /><br />I also bought some new office furniture. I was so stressed about this purchase because I knew it was going to be huge, and I was afraid I measured wrong. I bought it online so I kind of wasn't sure what to expect. But, I'm really happy with it now. I think I got a pretty great deal compared to purchasing from a furniture store. My old stuff was literally falling apart, and since it's where I spend a huge part of my day it's been pleasant to have the room looking a little nicer. I also was able to put out our books for the first time in years. They've been packed away I think since we moved from Chicago. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cornchopsunshady/5396390029/" title="100_1806 by cornchopsunshady, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4084/5396390029_5d6dedef38.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="100_1806" /></a><br /><br />That's all for now!Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-43254756313048467332010-12-08T10:35:00.000-08:002010-12-08T10:45:35.940-08:00Awkward situationSo I've been volunteering as a parent helper in Nadia's class. I don't want to post all of my reasons for doing that on a public blog, but if you're curious and want to have a long conversation ask me sometime. :)<br /><br />But today, while I was there, the kids went to the "Holiday Shop". Now, I'm not a fan of holiday shops. Why in the heck are we having the kids spend money during school hours? I'll tell you why - Parent Teacher Association fundraising. But, my main reason for being against it is even though I hate it, I can't really feel good about sending my kids with no money. It would stink to be the only kid with nothing, the you have to stand there and watch all of the other kids buy things. It wouldn't be fun to be that kid. <br /><br />So today, all the kids lined up with their money for the shop. One kid was crying. He had no money. He had to stand there and look at everything while all of the other kids were making their purchases. He was sobbing. I felt horrible for him. So, I snuck him a dollar and told him to find something he could buy with that.<br /><br />Well, a few minutes later the teacher came over and made him give me back my dollar. She said came over to me frowning and shaking her head. She said, "We can't be giving him money. We don't know why his parents sent him with nothing. It could be he is being punished and we can't undermine that." She said she didn't know if he was being punished, but she wanted to assume that could be the reason, instead of maybe his parents didn't have the money or maybe they forgot. I was so taken aback! <br /><br />Was I wrong to give the kid a dollar? I just found it really hard to see a kid sobbing becuase he was left out. What if he ws left out becuase his parents couldn't afford it? Or what if they just forgot. If I forgot to give my kid money for this and a parent gave my kid a dollar I would only feel grateful. I don't know. I feel pretty angry about what she did. I think it was just mean.Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-33172732486900938602010-11-11T19:41:00.001-08:002010-11-11T20:12:38.317-08:00HalloweenWe had a fun Halloween. I think it was the warmest Halloween we've experienced since moving to Colorado. We only needed sweatshirts for trick-or-treating which was great! It was almost Arizona-like!<br /><br />Dave, Sandy, Avy and Max came over and we had some pizza. Sandy brought over some very fancy carmel applies, ghost cookies and carmel corn. We ate a lot and the kids had fun trick-or-treating. <br /><br />Nadia was a water fairy, Sophia was wearing a Greek costume with a mask and Andrea was Betty Crocker. I was the lady from the Progressive commercials.<br /><br />Enjoy the pictures!<br /><object width="400" height="300"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157625244754421%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157625244754421%2F&set_id=72157625244754421&jump_to="></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157625244754421%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157625244754421%2F&set_id=72157625244754421&jump_to=" width="400" height="300"></embed></object>Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-46246300689441361502010-10-03T10:26:00.000-07:002010-10-03T10:39:07.275-07:00Nadia's BirthdayNadia is not letting me do my usual procrastination thing. She wants me to post this now!
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<br />We had her birthday party yesterday. We ended up doing a dance party at the a local rec center. The dance teacher ended up being Avy's ballet teacher, so that was kind of fun. I think all of the girls had a really great time.
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<br />On Nadia's actual birthday she wanted to have a big decorated cookie instead of a cake. I ended up making too much frosting, but instead of throwing it out I decided to load up the cookies with tons of frosting - just the way Nadia likes it. It was pretty sickeningly sweet for my taste, but Nadia enjoyed them.
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<br />The cookies here are actually my second attempt. The first attempt I stupidly tried to bake on a foil covered pizza stone that I have, thinking that might work pretty well. But, instead the cookie grew over the sides of the pizza stone and leaked all over the bottom of the oven. Then that dough caught on fire. Dave and I had a heck of a time trying to put out the oven fire and all of the smoke alarms throughout the house were screaming. I had to send the kids out in the garage in the car to get away from the noise. That may have been my worst cooking distaster ever, maybe second to the time I let my mom's pressure cooker get too hot and it blew off the top and sprayed split pea soup all over the kitchen.
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<br />Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-68240817669031571382010-08-12T08:09:00.000-07:002010-08-12T10:48:58.296-07:00Home AloneWow, it's been a long time since I posted. I kind of figured I wouldn't be the best at this blogging thing.<br /><br />So the kids all started school again. Andrea is a sophomore, Sophia is in 5th grade and Nadia is in 1st! So... yesterday was my very first day home all alone all day. I've been looking forward to it for years, thinking of how nice it would be to work uninterrupted, not having to stop every few minutes to get snacks, put toys together, etc, etc. But, I think I actually just felt kind of weird and lonely! In fact, I ended up going to meet Nadia for lunch to break up the day! She was happy to see me though, so that was fun.<br /><br />Lunch with the first graders was so cute! They are all so little. My favorite quote from that was: "Hi Nadia's Mom! My name is Stephen, but you can call me Snake." Ha!! Where did that come from? <br /><br />Anyway, even though I think it's going to take some getting used to, I think I will start to really like being able to get all my work done before everyone comes home in the afternoon. Yesterday kind of made me realize what a challenge it has actually been to work and take care of kids at the same time. I got accustomed to it, but it definitely isn't an easy thing.<br /><br />Here's a video I've been meaning to upload since May: <br /><br /><object style="background-image:url(http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/BKkJRbfJuwc/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BKkJRbfJuwc?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BKkJRbfJuwc?fs=1&hl=en_US" width="425" height="344" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br /><br />It's from Nadia's kindergarten program. She had so much fun at this program. I think that's evident in the video.Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-58844502563994299252009-12-01T09:51:00.000-08:002009-12-01T11:34:29.730-08:00OverparentingI really liked this article:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1940395-1,00.html">http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1940395-1,00.html</a><br /><br />One thing I think wasn't emphasized enough in the article though was the fact that parents aren't the only ones to blame. Parents have to be constantly worried that if they don't live up to our culture's view of what proper parenting is that we'll lose our children to family services or end up on the nightly news.<br /><br />Our school district for example seems to have some pretty strange expectations. For example, I just got an email today for an invitation to a meeting about a particular program being offered at our high school. The first line was <br /><br />"To all current 9th grade and 10th grade households. Attention Parents and Students:<br />Want to be prepared to compete in the global economy?"<br /><br />Are you kidding me? My 14-year-old is supposed to be worried about her ability to compete in a global economy? That's after being told in 8th grade that having a 5 year plan about what they want to do after high school is essential to their success. I wonder how many adults had a 5 year plan in junior high and if they did how many of those actually stuck to that plan. I mean I'm not against setting goals, but this is over the top in my opinion.<br /><br />They give homework to our kids in kindergarten. It's required by the district. Here's an example of one math assignment:<br /><br />"Children like to be involved in making food choices for family meals. What are some of your family's favorite foods? Take a survey to find out. Mathematics Note: Collecting data helps children sort, count, record and visualize complex information."<br /><br />They can't possibly expect Nadia to be able to create a survey on her own. So basically the homework is for me. What happened to 1+1=2; 2+2=4? <br /><br />Anyway, this article gave me hope that maybe people are starting to recogize the weird way we're raising our kids now and that in the future there may be a shift back to something that feels a little more natural and normal.Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-72700731595454766312009-11-25T07:32:00.000-08:002009-11-25T08:11:37.072-08:00School Thanksgiving FunAt Roxborough Elementary they have a special Thanksgiving school lunch where they serve turkey, mashed potatoes, a roll, cranberry sauce and usual some kind of special dessert. It's a sort of tradition for parents to show up and eat lunch with their kids at the cafeteria on that day and I think I've participated almost every year since Andrea was in first grade.<br /><br />Anyway, so Nadia and I joined Sophia and her friends for lunch. The food was, well, school food of course. But it's always nice to see my kid during the day.<br /><br />Nadia especially enjoyed going to the big kids school. Our elementary is divided into two locations. One building is K-2 and the other is 3-6, so Sophia and Nadia are in different buildings. Nadia got to go to recess after lunch with her big sister and was in heaven as all of Sophia's friends paid attention to her and pushed her on the swings.<br /><br />On Friday the kindergarten had their "Thanksgiving Feast" where they wear Pilgrim and Indian hats and they get to prepare some food. They do things like make butter by shaking cream in little jars, or pumpkin pie in a cup (pumpkin, pudding, vanilla wafers). My station was vegetable cornucopias - vegetable sticks with ranch dressing put inside of an ice cream cone. Cute idea, but I was supposed to let the kids help cut the vegetables - with real knives! Yikes! They didn't realize I guess that I am way too much of a worrywart to let the kids handle the knives on their own. So I just let them push down on my hand which was holding the knife. Funny thing was I think I was assigned the same station for Sophia's kindergarten feast. <br /><br />Anyway, kindergartners are cute. Here are some pictures. They are from my cell phone so the resolution isn't the greatest.<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622874440698%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622874440698%2F&set_id=72157622874440698&jump_to="></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622874440698%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622874440698%2F&set_id=72157622874440698&jump_to=" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><br />P.S. Just in case someone doesn't realize this, when I post these Flickr slideshows you can view them in full screen by clicking on the little icon with arrows on the bottom right. Also, if you click on the slideshow itself you'll be taken to flickr where you can download a picture in its original resolution.Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-40786891378167265532009-11-02T18:06:00.000-08:002009-11-02T18:26:03.073-08:00HalloweenWe had a fun and busy Halloween this year. On October 24 the elementary school had a Halloween carnival. The kids got to ride ponies and play in a jumping castle and go to a "Haunted House". The guy who brought the ponies let Sophia and her friend lead the ponies around for each other. <br /><br />On Halloween I had an orchstra concert. It was a children's concert so all of the kids got to come. We played Harry Potter and a piece called "The Composer is Dead" that has narration by Lemony Snicket that goes with it. It was actually pretty funny. It was a fun concert and I'm glad all of the kids got to come.<br /><br />Andrea dressed up all of the American Girl dolls in different outfits. There was Dorothy, a cowgirl, a balleria and some others. Sophia and especially Nadia thought that was pretty neat.<br /><br />In the evening Dave, Sandy, Marisa, Avy and Max came over to trick or treat and Andrea's friend Sarah stayed with Andrea and helped pass out candy. We had so many trick-or-treaters that we ran out of candy even though I had three Sam's Club bags worth. I thought for sure I bought way too much this year, but I guess not!<br /><br />Luckily by Saturday evening the sun had melted most of the snow off of the sidewalks so trick-or-treating was pretty pleasant. It wasn't even very cold. We had a nice time, ate lots of food and candy and played Mario Kart.<br /><br />Enjoy the pictures.<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622597096955%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622597096955%2F&set_id=72157622597096955&jump_to="></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622597096955%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622597096955%2F&set_id=72157622597096955&jump_to=" width="400" height="300"></embed></object>Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-70909089974527928382009-10-28T12:21:00.000-07:002009-10-28T19:05:22.615-07:00It's too early for this, isn't it?This is how it looks outside today. School was canceled. This isn't our first storm this winter either. I don't know if I'm ready for this kind of weather yet! <br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S_MfIA61ClI&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/S_MfIA61ClI&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Later in the day:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6_fKLc2NOo8&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6_fKLc2NOo8&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Trying to make snow angels:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QuhBO89T_TU&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QuhBO89T_TU&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-22550680110985812782009-09-07T09:40:00.000-07:002009-09-07T09:54:27.650-07:00Nadia Rides the Bus and a Roxborough HikeNadia decided that she wanted to ride the bus home from school. There is not a bus to take her to school in the afternoon, but she is able to ride the bus home. It's a long story why I haven't had her ride the bus sooner, and I may post that another time, but for now I just wanted to post some pictures of little Nadia getting on and off of the bus. <br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622162827785%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622162827785%2F&set_id=72157622162827785&jump_to="></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622162827785%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622162827785%2F&set_id=72157622162827785&jump_to=" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><br />I'm really pretty nervous about her riding. Both the other kids got on the wrong bus at one point in first grade and it was pretty frightening. But, she really seems to like it so I guess we'll keep trying it. Some very nice volunteers get the kids all grouped by which bus they ride. (Each bus is assigned an animal. Nadia rides the swan bus.) Then they walk them down in a group and make sure they get on. So they do try very hard to make this safe. Still, I rode my bike to the school to make sure she got on the bus and then rode to the bus stop to pick her up. Silly, but it made me feel better.<br /><br /><hr><br /><br />This weekend Andrea, her friend Shandre and I hiked up to Carpenter's Peak in Roxborough State Park. It's about a 6.5 mile hike with I think about 1000 ft elevation climb. At the top you can see from Castle Rock to Boulder. It's worth the climb. At the bottom we snapped some pictures of some fearless deer. We also saw yet another ladybug swarm. (Not sure what's up the with the ladybugs this year.)<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622162843499%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622162843499%2F&set_id=72157622162843499&jump_to="></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622162843499%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622162843499%2F&set_id=72157622162843499&jump_to=" width="400" height="300"></embed></object> <br /><br />Anyway, every time I go to Roxbourough I always feel very lucky to be able to live so close to such a beautiful place. I mean this is just a couple of miles from our house! <br /><br />Oh and yes, I decided to start wearing a hat when I hike. I know it makes me look like an old lady, but hopefully it will prevent further sun damage to my skin. You know you're getting older when you start thinking that way. :)Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-70660401178206157652009-08-31T10:31:00.000-07:002009-08-31T10:39:01.368-07:00Ladybug swarmI promise all of my posts will not be about bugs...but this one was pretty cool. We went for a cookout this weekend at Mt. Falcon park. It's a high-altitude county open space park near Dave and Sandy's place - just up the canyon a few miles. Dave, Sandy, Marisa, Max, Avy and Andrea's friend Shandre all joined us. It was freezing cold and a little rainy, but we still had a lot of fun.<br /><br />Anyway, Sophia found this tree that was just completely swarming with ladybugs. It was pretty amazing looking. Unfortunately I only had my cellphone camera with me, but I think you can still sort of see what it looked like. Very cool and weird looking. Turns out that all of the trees/bushes of this kind in the near area were covered like this.<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622197007672%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622197007672%2F&set_id=72157622197007672&jump_to="></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622197007672%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcornchopsunshady%2Fsets%2F72157622197007672%2F&set_id=72157622197007672&jump_to=" width="400" height="300"></embed></object>Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-75064844937136918532009-08-26T07:52:00.000-07:002009-08-26T07:59:28.795-07:00Decadant American Food at its Best<a href="http://www.ajc.com/business/new-kfc-double-down-123988.html" target="_blank">KFC Double Down Sandwich</a><br /><br />I think my arteries are clogging just by looking at this thing. Notice a complete absence of any vegetable matter (other than the flour used to make the breading). Now I'm not a nutrition freak by any means, but wow. I'm not sure I could even finish one of these.Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-66609211275926531572009-08-22T06:38:00.000-07:002009-08-22T07:13:41.641-07:00Wild Wild World of Animals - Roxborough EditionOne thing I like about living where we do is we get to see lots of wildlife. The other day I caught a picture of our friend the fox taking a nap in our backyard:<br /><br /><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2528/3835769112_f04dafafab.jpg" /><br /><br />For some reason foxes love this spot in our backyard for napping in the afternoon and I have lots of boring video of foxes napping to prove it. I can't tell for sure if it's always the same fox, but I don't think it is.<br /><br />One day one of the foxes had a dead prairie dog in its mouth and it brought it into our backyard to enjoy its lunch. Well, I didn't want to have prairie dog pieces scattered around our yard so I opened the back door to try to scare it away. It did run away but it left the gross prairie dog! Yuck! Luckily it did come back for it though.<br /><br />Our neighborhood also has deer, tons of bunnies, prairie dogs, salamanders, frogs and coyotes. There are lots of big horn sheep that live up in the canyon not too far away. Dave and I are also fairly sure we've seen some bear scat scattered around the neighborhood - especially near the grocery store.<br /><br />Here's the not so nice side of the wildlife here:<br /><br /><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2606/3834966581_2942eb83d0.jpg" /><br /><br />We have these giant sized wolf spiders that end up in our house and garage at times. They're not really dangerous but they are very, very creepy. Notice in the picture that you can see its eyes shining and the other normal sized dead spider next to it (victim of the bigger spider?). That was behind my desk. Lovely. Try to ignore the dust bunnies. The cable is a network cable and that's one of those little bouncy balls for scale comparison. This was actually a mid-sized version of those giant wolf spiders. We had one in our living room which I would say was twice the size of this one. Not exaggerating.<br /><br />I have seen this in real life on the way home from school.<br /><br /><img src="http://en.wikivisual.com/images/2/2a/Wolf_spider_attack_position.jpg" width="400" height="300" /><br /><br />A bunch of kids had turned over a rock and found one of these monster spiders with egg sac attached and they had coaxed it out of its burrow and somehow got it into a water bottle. The kid said he was going to bring it home to show his mother. What a lucky mom!<br /><br />Now I think if I ever see one at this condition in or around our house I might never recover:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.ryanphotographic.com/images/JPEGS/Wolf%20spider%20and%20babies.jpg" width="400" height="300" />Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-38810406205442714032009-08-18T20:00:00.000-07:002009-08-18T20:22:38.772-07:00Starting High School and a Whirlwind Trip to UtahLast week was busy!!!<br /><br />Andrea started high school. Here she is getting ready to go on her first day:<br /><br /><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2440/3834966831_aaea4fbbf8.jpg"><br /><br />She was nervous but soon realized that it's not <span style="font-style:italic;">that</span> much different than Junior high. I wouldn't say we've settled into our school schedule yet. It's been an adjustment for us all to start waking up early again. 5:30 am now. :( Andrea has to catch the bus about a mile away at 6:55 am! I think we're starting to get used to the school routine again though.<br /><br />On Friday we left early in the morning to drive out to Salt Lake City for our niece's wedding. Luckily our trusty old van got us there and back with no troubles. It was nice to visit with everyone. Crystelle looked really pretty. We got to meet our new nephew Hugo and our grand-niece Eden. It was fun to see all of the cute babies!<br /><br />We drove home on Sunday. It's hard to get back in the car after only being there one day, but we had to get back to school and work. Here are some pictures from the trip. Yes, we saw the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile in Rock Springs, Wyoming.<br /><br /><iframe align="center" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=61625496@N00&set_id=72157621955620933&text=" frameBorder="0" width="500" height="500" scrolling="no"></iframe><br/>Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-71596275871092078782009-08-09T10:47:00.000-07:002009-08-09T11:18:17.932-07:00Nadia's StoryNadia is enjoying her spotlight on the blog. She said she wanted to make another video. So she wrote this story and had me film her telling it.<br /><br /><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2657/3804978822_45caec1aef.jpg"><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TGI57EfSpeM&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TGI57EfSpeM&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-90636176440807941052009-08-07T15:40:00.000-07:002009-08-07T16:47:43.313-07:00Nadia's First DayI always have a hard time with the first day of kindergarten. It's weird because I'm actually kind of happy to have my kid start school, and I think the three hours to myself will be pleasant! It just chokes me up when I have to drop her off there and I see her going in with all of the other kids. Guess it's the whole "my baby's growing up" thing. <br /><br />Here we are at home getting ready to leave:<br /><br /><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2674/3799581812_4a24085394.jpg" /><br /><br />Here she is in front of the school:<br /><br /><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2629/3798761253_685429cd6e.jpg" /><br /><br />Standing in line:<br /><br /><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3564/3799582440_a0df851852.jpg" /><br /><br />End of the day! I think she might have been worried right here that she couldn't find me.<br /><br /><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2619/3798797527_eaa31defe9.jpg" /><br /><br />Here's what she had to say about her first day:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/matL4kwEBTs&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/matL4kwEBTs&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8235040867617621873.post-21418748805286890322009-08-05T17:41:00.001-07:002009-08-05T23:07:01.097-07:00School MilestonesInspired by the blogs of family members, I decided that having a blog is really a pretty nice way to keep up with family and friends who are far away. So here it goes! Will it last or fizzle out like other good intentions? No idea.<br /><br />I thought this week would be a good time to start because our family is hitting a few big milestones - first day of kindergarten for Nadia and first day of high school for Andrea! Hard to believe that either of them are really old enough for either of those.<br /><br />Today was Sophia's first day of fourth grade. Our school district decided to make things as complicated as possible for us overburdened mothers and ended up making all the schools/grades start on different days. Sophia started today, Nadia starts on Friday and Andrea starts on Monday. For high school only the freshman start Monday. Grades 10-12 start on Tuesday. Seriously. It's very complicated. I only figured out this schedule for sure today! I was going to send Nadia to school on Monday one day late until another kindergarten mother kindly pointed out that they start on Friday!<br /><br />In any case, Sophia looked very cute going to her first day of fourth grade. She was nervous but when I picked her up she was happy. So I'm hopeful for a good year!<br /><br /><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3528/3794263656_7403ed18d9.jpg" /><br /><br />Nadia had something called "Tea with teacher" today. I guess for kindergarten they have the teacher meet with small groups of kids to kind of get to know them and to make the kids feel more comfortable. It was pretty cute. Us parents got to label all of their school supplies and put them away in their cubbies. Nadia is really excited, although I realized I've neglected giving her much opportunity to use scissors at home. I think that's mainly because I hate cleaning up big messes of tiny pieces of cut up paper. But I think I better have her practice tomorrow. We'll see how I do dropping her off on her big day Friday!<br /><br /><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3453/3793445063_690060f095.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2535/3793444983_0717668f89.jpg" /><br /><br />Yesterday was Andrea's birthday. I made a giant meal which we all ate too much of and then we topped it off with some german chocolate cake. It turned out hideously ugly because I didn't let it cool enough, but it tastes pretty good which I guess is the most important thing. Happy Birthday Andrea!<br /><br /><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2480/3794300116_8af0474207.jpg" /><br /><br />That's it for now.Liz O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16242802603151529977noreply@blogger.com2