Doing “letters” on the green couch

A couple of years ago Jude was really into playing “letters” on the computer. Basically, “letters” is just an educational website called Starfall for kids to learn about the alphabet. Now, that Jude is in first grade he is learning about numbers and the alphabet in class and it has piqued his curiosity once again for this game. I think it is good for him because it teaches him some familiarity with computers and helps strengthen his knowledge of the alphabet. Computers are not encouraged at all in the Waldorf school until middle school so he gets no exposure to them whatsoever in school. This has been his sole experience with computer games are he seems quite satisfied with it.

Anna give snowshoeing a try in the backyard….but where is the snow?

I had Ridhwan school this weekend so I was not around much but Marcy took the kids to yoga on Saturday and then got out the snowshoes in the afternoon. A friend was borrowing some for a trip but Anna decided it would be fun to put them on and walk around the backyard.

Jude loves to climb on just about anything…

We have this really old back patio and awning that is going to come down when we do renovations next year. Well Jude and Anna discovered a fun way to climb on it this weekend.

Yes, that is Jude underneath this scary skeleton costume

Both kids have been excited about Halloween for weeks. They love everything about this holiday. The dressing up in fun outfits, going around the neighborhood after dark and yes…the candy. Here are both kids getting ready to roll and fill their orange buckets.

Anna, the sweet witch

There were not many kids out on our block so Jude and Anna scored a ton of candy with several people saying, “take as much as you want”. Both kids would reach in for a handful. What to do with all this candy?

Someone at school mentioned that the “Switch Witch” comes to their house and takes all the candy and in exchange leaves a toy for the kids. We loved this idea so we implemented it at our house. Both Jude and Anna were keen to give this a try although Anna decided to keep a few pieces of candy hidden from the Switch Witch…

It was another beautiful weekend here and we spent quite a bit of time outside. Today, we went to the Stapleton playground, one we hadn’t been to in over a year. It is a big playground with a lot of variety for the kids so Jude and Anna were in heaven. They could have stayed there all day. There is also a big field next to the playground where they ran around for a while. I snapped the photo below on our way back to the car with Jude and Anna in deep discussion about a pretend monster who was lurking in a drain nearby.

At the Stapleton playground in deep conversation

Finally, I was out of town in New York City for most of this week. Part of the reason was for the TedX Wall Street conference that was held at the New York Stock Exchange. The post conference party was held on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. They were taking photos of people “ringing” the closing bell so here I am with my good friend and new business partner, Bo Brustkern.

Our two little football fans: Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers

We have had a gorgeous fall week here. Sunny and mild every day and this weekend was perfect. I bought Anna a Peyton Manning jersey for her birthday and Jude wanted something different. He was watching the Packers one day and he said he liked them and he wanted one of their jerseys. So, he now has an Aaron Rodgers jersey. I love the Packers, they are my second favorite team, so I think it worked out well.

Jude has been asking to play football a lot lately. We have been playing in the backyard a lot but I have been wanting to get him out on a big field. So, while Anna was napping yesterday I took him up to the local school where we had an entire soccer field to ourselves. Jude had a blast and we played for a solid hour, although only half that with a football. He wanted to play tag as well. By the end of the hour, I was worn out and I a little sore today.

This week was Anna’s school trip to the pumpkin patch. It was a little chilly in the morning, so everyone was bundled up. Anna brought back a couple of pumpkins and a few other fall vegetables. Within a day Anna and Marcy carved a jack-o-lantern and she has the pumpkin in her bedroom now with a candle in it that we light every day.

Anna scores a pumpkin

I got free tickets to the Bronco game today, so I spent the afternoon there. It was such a gorgeous day that I rode my bike. But it meant that I missed the Halloween Journey night at the kids school. The 7th graders put on a show for everyone. Jude and Anna got dressed up in their outfits and went along.

Anna in her witches outfit ready to go, with broom in tow.

Our knight in shining armor.

Anna does the first snow shoveling of the season

We had our first snowfall of the season this week and it happened on a day when the kids were off school. Anna woke up so excited to see the blanket of white stuff on the ground. She immediately asked for her ski clothes and snow shovel and out she went to play. (Jude was still asleep at this point). It was only a couple of inches and the sun was out by lunch time so by the end of the day the snow had melted away.

One of the many things I love about Colorado is the weather. After that snowstorm we had a beautiful day on Saturday with 60 degrees and perfect sunshine. And both kids wanted to play football so I was happy to oblige. We have been watching a bit of football together and both kids have been enjoying it.

Playing tackle football in the backyard

We started off playing tackle football between the kids but that proved a little rough. And after some tears were shed we switched to touch football although I still had to tackle them both when they had the ball. Jude was really into playing. Last weekend we played for 3+ hours after the Broncos game and this weekend we had long games both days.

Jude is proving to be quite a good runner. He is quick and changes direction well and seeing that I have to tackle him without hurting him he can be quite elusive. And he is learning some of the fundamentals of football in these games. I do make sure he scores the occasional touchdown to keep him interested. Often he and Anna will play one on one and he likes that because he scores pretty much every time. Anna can also hold her own and has outrun Jude occasionally to score.

Jude showing his speed in backyard football

After football it was time to play in the leaves. Marcy and Anna created quite the pile in the front yard. Both kids played in this pile of leaves for ages, with Anna even taking a rest lying down on her bed of leaves.

Isn’t playing in the leaves fun!

It has become a tradition in our family to celebrate a birthday by going out for breakfast. It is so much better than a dinner date for the kids and it gets the day off to a great start. On Monday this past week Anna turned five. So we all went to Snooze to celebrate.

Anna loved her birthday celebration. But after breakfast it was off to school for the day. When she arrived home the real festivities began. As soon as she walked in the door I stopped work and we opened presents and had cake. Marcy had baked a beautiful gluten free rainbow cake for Anna which she just loved.

Then it was on to the park for what we expected to be her birthday dinner. But after getting the picnic setup we decided it was a little chilly and the mosquitos were bad so we packed up everything and went home and had a picnic on the floor in the kids playroom. Anna loved her special day and Jude handled it as best he could. It was a little hard seeing his little sister getting all the attention so I kept reminding him throughout the day that it was only 47 days until his birthday.

Today I took the kids to Elitch’s and then we came home and watched the Bronco game. For her birthday I gave Anna a Peyton Manning Broncos jersey and she loves it. She wore it all day today and when we got home from Elitch’s both Anna and Jude watched the first half of the game with me. Then after the game we went and played football in our backyard. Jude said afterwards that he wanted to play football with other kids. We will see if he keeps this interest up but I think a team sport of some kind would be good for him.

Jude is taking a liking to more sports these days. We played baseball in the backyard the other day and he really enjoyed it. He is a natural switch hitter and you can see in the photo above that he is giving it a whack left handed. His progress in the last few months with hitting a baseball has been quite impressive. But it has also been fun to see more interest in this area.

Today we watched the Bronco game and Jude was genuinely interested in learning more about it. He told me that he was going to play football and be on TV when he grows up. We will see.

Last weekend we went to a corn maze with some friends and the kids had a great time. We had to keep a close eye on them because they would just go off running in any direction.

The maze was at the Denver Botanic Gardens facility in southwest Denver and they had all kinds of fun things there for kids including this big tree that Jude just had to climb.

Colorado has been in the new a lot the last few days. It even made the news in Sydney as I have had a couple of friends there email me to make sure everything was ok. Everyone here is talking about the rain with most places around Denver experiencing record rainfall over the past few days. The kids don’t mind, though, as it can provide an instant lake. Like it did on their school playground when Marcy picked them up earlier this week.

Last weekend I was in San Francisco on business although it wasn’t all hard work. I was able to take a trip out on the Lending Club yacht which was very cool. It is a 73-foot long trimaran that is one of the fastest boats in San Francisco Bay.

While I was in San Francisco, Marcy took the on the annual Park Hill family bike ride which everyone seemed to enjoy.

One of the things that is great about our new house is our back yard. We have a large yard with lots of flowers planted by the previous owners. We even have a hummingbird feeder up but hadn’t seen any until this week. Marcy snapped this great photo of one getting nectar from the real thing.

The transition from Kindergarten to 1st grade is a very big deal at Waldorf. Jude has been counting down the days all summer until he got to be a “grader”. On Tuesday morning the big day finally arrived and he was excited. Here is with Marcy about to leave for his first day of 1st grade.

On the first day of school there is a big ceremony for the first graders and the entire school attends as well as the 1st grade and 8th grade parents. There is a rose ceremony where the 1st graders say goodbye to their parents and are led through a tunnel made of dozens of bigger kids with their 8th grade buddy. Every 1st grader gets an 8th grade buddy who they will get to know throughout their first year at the school. It was a wonderful ceremony and there was many a crying parent (including Marcy). Below is Jude sitting at his desk in the front row just before heading down to the rose ceremony.

The night before Jude’s first day of school was another milestone. Jude lost his second tooth. He proudly displayed it the next morning. You can see that the first tooth he lost has a new tooth coming in well.

It has been really hot in Denver these past two weeks and the swamp cooler broke down one day. So, Marcy set up the tents on the balcony and we all slept under the stars one night. Jude and Anna were pretty excited about it.

The last two weeks also saw the return of our piano after being completely restored and tuned. Our piano was built around 1930 (around the same age as our new house) and we bought it for $100 from a church. After having it restored it looks great and sounds even better.

We now have another musical instrument in the family. After Jude listened to the Magic Tree House story about Louis Armstrong in New Orleans he has wanted a trumpet. Instead of spending $500 on a new trumpet we decided to rent one. We may do lessons at some point but both Jude and Anna like to get it out regularly and blow through it. It is pretty cool to hear them play it.

We have spent most of the past two weeks in Des Moines for our annual summer trip. These trips always revolve around the pool and sure enough within 5 minutes of our arrival (at 9:45pm!) both Jude and Anna were in the pool. And they spent time in the pool every single day. Below is a shot of Uncle Nathan propelling Jude to the other end of the pool – which he loved of course.

All the cousins got along really well for the most part and here they are all goofing around on our first morning there.

But the trip wasn’t all spent by the pool. There were lots of activities including fishing (where Jude caught plenty of fish), some time at the Iowa State Fair, the Science Center, Living History Farms, (which both Jude and Anna said was their favorite) as well as lots of activities and games around the house. Here is Jude showing off his first fish.

Marcy and I were able to get away for a couple of days by ourselves which was fantastic. We chose Dubuque this time where a friend of ours is from. We stayed at his great grandparents mansion which was turned into a bed and breakfast. We stayed Monday to Wednesday so we ended up having the place to ourselves. Here is Marcy reading outside with a beautiful view of the Mississippi River. We stayed in the end unit on the top floor which was actually a two bedroom suite. Awesome.

We were back in Des Moines less  than 48 hours before leaving for home. The drive was uneventful and we arrived back home at 8:30pm on Friday night.

We have had a pretty low key weekend and both kids spent a lot of time playing with their toys. But the big news is today both Jude and Anna got their first pet. They had to choose a low maintenance pet and it was between a fish and a frog. Jude initially said he wanted a frog but changed him mind when Anna chose a fish. They each have a Betta in a bowl. Here is Jude admiring his new friend that he named Blue Scale, with the fish bowl decoration of the Cat in the Hat. This is a learning experience for both Jude and Anna and if they do well we will consider a dog or cat down the road but they have to take care of their fish all by themselves.

Jude has been talking about snorkeling with the fish for over a year now. Ever since he found out that when you turn six you can go to the aquarium and swim with the fish he has been excited about it. This past Saturday we did it and he had a blast. The fish are so tame in the aquarium that they come right up to you and almost touch you. Above is Jude in full snorkeling gear taken with the underwater camera they provide.

After moving almost two weeks ago Jude is settling in to our new house well. He likes having his own room again, after more than 18 months of sharing with Anna. He is very happy to just go to his room to be alone and read some books or just play with his toys. His sleeping has been great which is more than we can say for his sister.

The local public school is literally 100 yards from our house and they have a great new playground. So, we are making this a regular place to visit after dinner and on weekends. Jude likes to practice his climbing skills there as he maneuvers up the pole.

These days Jude’s favorite books are the Magic Treehouse series. We have a few of them in paperback but Marcy has been checking the audio CDs out from the library. And Jude can literally listen to these stories for hours. This is going to come in handy when we drive to Iowa this week.

Here is Jude in a real treehouse at one of our friends places. He thought it was very cool.