What a difference a year can make!

A year ago today, we were starting our week long cruise to the the Carribbean!

Today, we are sitting in the house wrapping presents, putting up decorations, and preparing for the holidays while a blizzard is surrounding us outside.

It was 85 degrees then, and today it is 13 degrees outside. Brrrr!

Oddly enough though, I am pleased and quite content.

Rachel and Mason have been gone for about 2 weeks with their mom and they came home this morning. It is nice to have them home and I finally feel complete with our whole family at home, like I can start the holiday season now with them here. The Broncos were away today, so I had my husband at home too. That doesn't happen on Sunday's very often. I have beef stew in the crockpot and the Christmas tree lights are on.

As my niece would say, I am happy! :)

Proud Parents!

Brady decided to go out for basketball at school this year. He will play on the 5th/6th Grade JV Team. It is a team mostly made up of 6th graders, but the 5th graders have the opportunity to play a couple of games and learn from the older kids. The 5th graders don't get to travel with the team for away games unless it is their game to play (they each get to play in atleast 4 games).

Well, Brady was pulled out of class yesterday by the Coach and asked if he would want to play with the 6th graders and be on the travelling team. He is soo excited! The best part is that his very good friend, Corey was asked too. They are the only two 5th graders that were asked, so it is a big deal. We are so proud of him. They got their uniforms, he is #40, and he played his first game tonight.

Unfortunately, they lost their first game, 26 - 32, but they did a great job and Brady got to play for awhile. He did a good job and had a couple shots on net, but no big points for him... yet! I know he will be great, he is very passionate about it and is working very hard.

Brian is really excited too, I've never known him to like basketball very much, but I tell you what, he is loving this new sport. We had a great time at the game tonight, and are looking forward to many more with some wins hopefully. I may need to visit Dr. Chad more often, those benches are painful. Maybe Santa will bring us some of those dorky, parent, folding bench chairs we can carry with us to all of the games. I'm also going to get a new "Basketball Mom" shirt to replace my "Soccer Mom" shirt for a few months.

Anyway, Brady's basketball schedule is posted on the top, right corner of the blog. I will keep you all updated with his new found sport. That's it for now...

The finale to "Birthday Week" for Brady

Well Brady's actual Birthday was spent with him still laying around recuperating from the flu, so luckily we had already scheduled his Birthday party for the Saturday after. We had a family/friend Birthday Party at the local skating center, it was a lot of fun. I can't show any pictures with them skating because it's too dark in there, so you'll have to settle for cake cutting and present opening.

This is my cute nephew Sam, he is too young to skate but they had a stroller that he could sit in and his daddy pushed him around on it, he had SO much fun. How happy is he?

Here is another look at my excellent cake decorating abilities, ha-ha! Poor kids, they have a dorky mom that makes their cakes instead of buying them.

We are thankful for....the Broncos?

Every year when we get our Broncos tickets, we let each of the kids pick the games that they want to go to before we invite anyone else. B chose the Thanksgiving game this year and got a little surprise from his Uncle Sam - he got to go on the field before the game. We didn't tell him so he would be surprised when they got there. Brian just gave him his pass and they headed down to the field. I sent Brian the camera and made him promise to take pictures, well he didn't need to because B must have taken about 150 pictures. When they got home, I had to look at them all.

This is probably the first year that B has actually wanted to go to the Bronco game. Rachel and Mason have been going since they were little and always beg to go, they never pass up and opportunity, but B will usually pick a game and end up giving it to his brother or his sister. He is really into this year though, he has been waiting for his game to come and even been excited. So the field pass was a nice surprise. Thank you Uncle Sam.

B with Brian and my cousin Brian who works on the field. He played catch with B on the field. Pretty cool, huh?

Ummm, yeah this is a picture of Josh McDaniels that they had to take for me! :) Well, actually I think Brian may have a man crush on him too, so maybe it wasn't for me???

Happy Birthday Brady!

Happy 11th Birthday Brady!

I'm sorry that you spent the day sick. I hope that you keep feeling better so that you can have a good birthday party on Saturday.

11 years ago today was the best day of my life, my love for you continues to grow each and every day. You are a wonderful son and you make me proud for so many reasons. Continue to grow into the smart, handsome, and kind young man that I know you are going to be.

I love you and hope that you have a great 11th Birthday! XXOO - Mom

H1N1...is all that it is cracked up to be!

Well, the Strong Household has been hit by those initials that we have all been dreading, Brady is the first, and I'm going out on a limb to say, hopefully the last victim in our family to get H1N1.

It started early last Wednesday; he woke up with a high fever, body aches, sore throat, and a severe headache. We called the doctor's office as soon as they opened and he was tested - yes indeed, a casualty of H1N1 he is.

We have had an interesting week to say the least, we have good optimistic moments just to be knocked back down with a reminder that this is not your normal 24-hour flu. We have had him quarantined in our bedroom to keep him away from Rachel and Mason as much as we could. We have had many sleepless nights and plenty of worry.

He has been able to fight the fever taking motrin faithfully, however the headache and body aches are a lot to bear for a kiddo fighting this nasty stuff. Now... he has a giant fever blister on his lip from the high fevers that has now split so it looks like someone has punched him in the face.

Trying to force fluids down him has been one of the biggest struggles, he doesn't feel like eating or drinking. I'm not as concerned about the eating as I am the drinking. I am practically bribing him to drink. He keeps saying "Mom, I don't think this is the flu anymore, I think I have something else now". No, babe it is still the flu, just the worst flu you have ever had.

So, keep us in your thoughts, we are still fighting this thing. He missed school 3 days last week, and unless he wakes up and is miraculously cured, I don't see him going to school tomorrow or Tuesday. I see a looonnnggg Thanksgiving break in his future.

There are many yucky things with this stuff, but the worse thing right now is that tomorrow is his Birthday. I am so sad that he will be sick for his 11th Birthday. He will be hanging out at home instead of taking treats to school to celebrate with his friends. Thankfully, his actual Birthday party isn't scheduled until next weekend so... wishful thinking for a recovery by then.

Happy Halloween!

(Brady dressed as a punk-rock skeleton)

This year Halloween was a little weird for the Strong Family. Rachel and Mason were in Arvada visiting their mom, so it left Brady as an only child with two parents that don't really get into the Halloween spirit. Needless to say, he was less than thrilled that we had no exciting plans for him.

We ordered some pumpkin shaped pizzas and he went out trick or treating for a couple of hours with his friend / grandma's bf's son, Scott and helped hand out candy.

(Brady and Scott)

We did not get a lot of trick or treaters this year, those kids must have had cool parents that actually planned for them to do something more exciting than what we did.

I do have to show off my very cutes neices and nephew, Emma (cheerleader), Ally (Minnie Mouse), and Sam (Mickey Mouse). I do miss the days of dressing them up so cute and taking them to show their cuteness off. Ehhhh -Hmmm, I don't have a picture of my other cute neice and nephews to share (hint-hint brother).

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

I can't imagine living anywhere else in the world, well except maybe Hawaii, but that would probably get boring looking at beautiful blue ocean all day. I love that we have seasons here, we can go from summer to winter overnight. This week we had our first big snow of the season.

The kids have had 2 snow days. Rachel caught up on movies, Mason has played endless X-Box, although did scoop the walks for us (thank you Mason), and Brady, well has anyone seen Brady? It seems that he has spent the last two days building forts, having nerf fights in the front yard, and playing with half the block. I heard from him once in the last two days asking where all of his "old snow pants" were for the other kids on the block. He of course found his in his snowboarding gear, but needed to outfit the block for endless fun.

It was nice to put yummy soups in the crockpot for the last couple of days; we had beef stew and homeade chicken noodle soup. Mmmmm!

Rachel and Mason are back in school tomorrow, although their mom is coming for the weekend so we will be without them for a couple of days.

Brady had the day off already because it is teacher in-service day, so he will end up having a 5 day weekend. Lucky kid. Because I've put in some extra hours at work this week, I get the day off tomorrow too, which I am very much looking forward to.

Today is also my 'little' sister's Birthday. She didn't end up having a very fun day to do stuff, considering the weather. So tomorrow, Brady and I will go down and take her to lunch to celebrate since we couldn't get there tonight. So Happy Birthday Julie, looks like you will get a Birthday Festival Weekend, thanks to the weather.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Today is Rachel's 17th Birthday! I can't even believe that we are the parents of a 17 year old. It seems like yesterday that she was playing with Barbies. Now, she drives, she texts, she works, she drinks coffee, oh and she has a tattoo (see photo of Tattoo - Day 2).

She woke up this morning, and Brian took her to her favorite Donut Shop and to Starbucks, for her other addiction.

This afternoon we will have one of her favorite lunches, spiral ham and au gratin potatoes (definately not my favorite) and I made her a cake, a pretty cute one if I do say so myself.

Tonight she is going with a couple of friends to go haunted housing! She is a freak for that stuff. They are going to the Haunted Field of Screams in Thornton and The Haunted Forest in Parker. After the haunted houses, they are going to see Paranormal Activies at the movie theatre. I can't imagine that she will be able to drive home after all of that scary stuff, I wouldn't be able to, I know that.

Happy Birthday Rachel, we love you and are really proud of you. Have a great night, be safe.

I bet you are wondering...

Well, today is the day... Please view the beautiful artwork our daughter, Rachel is permanently displaying on her body.

(the redness will go down soon)

After much thought and consideration, we surprised Rachel today with her first (and maybe only?) trip to the tattoo shop. Tomorrow is Rachel's 17th Birthday and the thing she wanted most was a tattoo. We talked, we listened, we debated, we asked for advice and what it came down to is that Rachel is a very good kid and we really have had very little to worry about with her - she gets awesome grades, she stays out of trouble, she is kind to everyone around her, she is a wonderful big sister and role model... basically she has earned the priveledge of proving to us that she is deserving of us breaking the parental rules for her.

I have struggled with this so much, but in the end I left the decision up to Brian. He is after all her dad. I told him that I would support him with whatever decision he made on this topic. He finally decided a couple of days ago that he would allow her to get it. He has a good friend that has a tattoo shop in Lakewood and called and talked to him, getting more advice and information. He said that he would only allow his best guy to work on her, so we were able to make an appointment for today.

We told Rachel that we had dinner reservations and headed down there, she had no idea (at least not that she let on ). We pulled up and she was smiling ear to ear just seeing the word "TATTOO" on the store front. We headed in and she met Shawn, her new best friend. He and all of the people in the shop took the time to talk with her about this being a big decision, where she should get it, how big it should be, etc. I really appreciated all of their help. It's one thing when dad and the step-monster tell you stuff, but when it's coming from people who are living with having tattoos all over their bodies, it's another.

So, she decided on putting the tattoo on her upper back/shoulder area. She still got the stars that represent her brothers and all of her cousins - boys are black, girls are pink, and one red one for her cousin with a heart defect.

She held tough, and of course being the dorky mom that I am, I had to take pictures for the blog and her scrapbook. Hey, I'm still a mom, even if I am trying to be a semi-cool one. I would have to say that to see her smiling that beautiful smile of hers all night made it worth it. I hope she enjoys it for the rest of her life (well I guess she'll have to won't she).

Happy Birthday Grandpa Chuck

Well Grandpa and Grandma have headed back to Florida, but we were able to celebrate Grandpa Chuck's Birthday the night before they left. We had dinner with them and watched the Rockies game (boo to the score). My father-in-law loves baseball, but more importantly he loves the Dodgers. So I attempted to surprise him and made him a Dodgers Baseball Cap Birthday Cake. I don't possess many talents, but I will say that I don't think it turned out too bad considering it was my first baseball cap cake. He seemed to enjoy it.





So Happy Birthday Grandpa, it was nice to celebrate your Birthday with you.

Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Kathy

We have been fortunate enough to have Brian's parents in town for a couple of weeks to visit us. They are only able to be here for 2 weeks this time, so we try to spend as much time with them as we can. We usually have dinner with them every night and spend time as a family on the weekends. I know their days are a little long because the grandkids are in school and of course, Brian and I have to be at work, so once everybody gets home we go to their place and have dinner and hang out. The kids love spending time with them for many reasons, but they really enjoy that Grandma and Grandpa play board and card games with them almost every day after school. The kids are spoiled by grandma who "tickles" them, something that started when they were babies. She takes her fingers and lightly rubs their arms, they melt in her hands when she does that. The kids fight over who gets to sit by grandma because they know she will "tickle" who every is there.

This past weekend, after church we drove up to Estes Park to see the beautiful leaves changing colors and walk around downtown. I love going to Estes, and so does Brian's mom, so it is usually the only time I get to go up there. We did some shopping and of course had to buy some yummy taffy. After shopping, Grandpa took us out to dinner, we had a very good day. We are looking forward to a few more of those days before they head back to Florida.

Sick Day

Sunday afternoon Brady started feeling crummy with a very runny nose, a cough, and a headache. He lounged around all day and didn't really want to do much, so when Monday morning came and he was still in bed with a bright red nose and a pile of tissues, I knew he would be staying home from school. What I wasn't planning on though, was that I would wake up with a terrible sore throat and headache on Monday also. I did the usual "mom thing" and said, "oh, maybe I just slept with my mouth open". Ha ha. I called the Dr. to get us both in because you can't be too safe right now with all of the crud going around, not to mention those initials that everyone is terrified of. We both went in and Brady has a cold/ear infection - I have strep throat. We'll have amoxicillin for two please. Please enjoy this very pathetic and pitiful picture of the two of us, all cuddled up on the couch for our sick day.


I sure wish I had some of my mom's homemade potato cheese soup. Hint - Hint!

To be or Not to be... TATTOOed

Ok, for those of you who are parents, you know that being a parent is the world's hardest job. You could make countless decisions in one day, sometimes not even knowing that you are making a decision. IT IS HARD WORK! When you really think about it, let's say you make 100 decisions in one day and you potentially get 80 of them right... that's only a B! I realize that B's aren't the end of the world, but I would not make the Dean's List with B's. Holy Cow, I can't believe I have been entrusted to raise these kids.

My blog today is about my beautiful and spirited daughter Rachel. She is at that age --- that wonderful - insightful - all knowing - I think I am adult age... almost 17. The world is at her feet, the sky is the limit, the world is her oyster, (that's all I can think of right now, so much for being philosophical). Anyhow, she has been driving us crazy over the last few months, but specifically the last week. She wants a tattoo, I mean REALLY wants a tattoo. I give her a lot of credit for all of the thought that she has put into this. She has really thought about what she wants and where she wants it, and I have to say, she has meaning for what she wants (something I never did).

So the dilemma, the good old I want my kids to learn from my mistakes, but know that they need to make their own choices and mistakes dilemma, you know the one? I remember being her age and wanting things and thinking that I would die without them, wanting something so bad that you can feel it - I don't want her to have that feeling. I want her to be able to be the beautiful and strong young woman that I would like to say that I had a hand in raising, but I don't want her to do things that she will (or could) regret. She of course argues that she won't regret it, I don't know the answer to that - I wish I had a crystal ball, but I don't.

Not only does she really want this certain tattoo, but she wants it on the inside of her wrist, somewhere where you could definitely see it - forever. I keep trying to talk to her about life and that she doesn't know what she will do with her life. What if she is President (she says she won't be and even if she is, President's can have tattoos), I asked her about marrying some important military man and going to big fancy black tie events with these tattoos on her hand, and she said "well if he doesn't like it, he shouldn't have married me". Touche' Rachel. See all of this stuff we raised her to believe has come back to bite me in the &%#.

You can probably tell what my feelings are about this, I don't want her to get it at this point in her life, but she is getting to the age where I am not going to have a say about what she does to her body. She is a really good kid, she gets very good grades, she has a gigantic heart, and she is an absolute joy to everyone around her. I love and adore her and I want to support her and her choices. When I told her that she had a year before she could just get it on her own and she wouldn't need our blessing, she says, I could go do it without your permission now, my friends go get them without their parents. See -again, good kid, tells truth, doesn't get her way because she is upfront and honest.

I will try to post what she wants to get, the computer is not letting me download it right now. It is a cluster of stars that signify each of her brothers and cousins. The boys are black stars, the girls are pink stars, and one star is red for her cousin with a heart defect. See, good choices again - no skull and cross bones, no I love random boyfriend, something that will stay with her forever - her family.

So please give us your comments, I am hoping that if she gets enough reasoning from others that she will want to wait OR maybe she will have a fan club that can persuade us. We'll see...

Oh Brady!

I couldn't resist posting this silly picture of Brady that Rachel took. It cracked me up. I wanted to tell him that old wives tell "be careful, or your face might get stuck like that", but I was afraid I would sound too much like my mom, so instead I just laughed at him. Bad parenting, I know. :)

Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

Our friends, Kelly and Nate weren't able to use their Rockies tickets this past week, so they offered them to us. I wasn't able to enjoy them, but Brian took Rachel, Mason, and Sam. It ended up being a very good game, the Rockies pulled off the win in the bottom of the 9th. Everyone had a great time, the seats were spectacular. Thanks Kelly and Nate!

Happy Birthday Brian!

Brian's Birthday always falls over the Labor Day Weekend, which he of course he thinks is pretty cool since he generally gets the Monday after his Birthday off. I'm not sure he even accepts the fact that Labor Day exists, I think he believes everyone gets the weekend off for him and his special day. So we let him believe that. Really, what does it hurt?

We celebrated Brian's 41st Birthday on Saturday, we had some friends and family over to celebrate with his favorite - BBQ. His parents, the kids, and I went in on a new golf bag and towel, tee's and golf balls; and a new Broncos shirt. He had a golf bag from like 1902, the thing weighs like 500 lbs. so I'm pretty sure that the bag alone is going to improve his golf game. :)

Mason made Brian's Birthday cake this year, I think he did a really great job. It was Brian's favorite kind, strawberry cake with cream cheese icing.



So Happy Birthday Honey, here is to another wonderful year of getting older. I love you and can't wait to continue to grow old with you. However, you will ALWAYS be older than I am.

Welcome Back to Colorado J. Cuts

I spent a wonderful evening with my husband at the Broncos and Bears game last weekend. I don't usually go to the games because 1. the kids usually beg to go and I give in and 2. I don't really like it so he has more fun going with friends and other family members.

However, when J. Cuts headed to the Chicago Bears during the off season, I called dibs on that game. Our seats are literally above the door where the opposing team comes in and out of, so... perfect place for some serious heckling.

Please visit my friend Kelly's blog to find out why this was so important because she said it perfectly http://anewblockparty.blogspot.com/2009/08/over-it.html .

I worked on a few signs to display my appreciation for J. Cuts during the week before the game and surprised Brian with what I thought were some pretty fabulous signs, if I do say so myself. I think he was kinda proud of me for getting into it so much. He did give me a pretty hard time about "girlying" them up though, he said I couldn't color and glitter them, but come on, I still have to be me, even if I am heckling a former player at a Bronco game.

We had a great time, I even had the paparazzi after me when I first got to our seats, the newspaper and TV cameras all came running over to take a picture of my signs, I can't lie, I felt like a pretty cool wife. Brian missed it though because he was with his brother over at his seats, so that bummed me out, he missed my one second of Cool-Wife-at-the-Bronco-Game-Glory. My poster even made 9 news the next day.

Here are the posters I made for the game.

The game also started "Birthday Week" for Brian, and he got his first Birthday present at the game, it was the Denver Broncos Sideline Cap. Doesn't he look so cute?

Brian's brother, Bill, posing with another excited poster maker fan.

Here is part of the very cool group of people we sit with at the game. In the picture is my brother-in-law, Sam; his dad; and some of his friends, along with Brian. I hope I filled the seat next to my husband with grace and hope that I am welcomed back soon. I may even end up loving Sunday Football Games, watch out kids, I may end up stealing your tickets.

Rachel and Mason Off to School

Well today marked the first day of school for Rachel and Mason, 10th and 11th grade! They both have first hour off so they don't have to leave the house until 7:15 or so. I know they hate having to get up earlier while living at our house, but we sure love having them.

The morning went well, for 5 people to be getting ready and heading out around the same time. Rachel has been going to bed a little sooner, and getting up earlier in the morning to prepare for today; although Mason hasn't been to bed before midnight and hasn't been up before 10:00 in the morning all summer long; I wasn't sure how he was going to do, but he did great.

This year is a little different for them because Rachel can drive them and they don't have to depend on the "parents" to get them there. They both have very tough schedules this year, both of them taking some honors classes, although Rachel is not happy at all about getting stuck in bowling 3rd hour, they are running out of the things to do with her, she carries a pretty heavy class load and has almost all of her core classes already done.

We are really proud of them, we know it takes a lot to drive back and forth to Arvada, and to be there early in the morning and not start homework until 3:30 or 4:00. We are also really appreciative of them being able to pick Brady up and take him home so he doesn't have to sit at the office all afternoon, they can all start on homework before Brian and I even get home.

Well, I guess summer vacation is officially over for the Strong Family, we are officially into the swing of things. Brady starts soccer practice tonight - 3 nights a week, Rachel is going to continue to tutor on Wednesdays and Mason has to work on homework vs. XBox from now on. Let the chaos begin...

I love lazy days!

It is very rare that we have a day with nothing to do, and today was one of those days. It was so nice to just hang out, we slept as late as we wanted to, we barely got dressed, and made sandwiches for lunch. Everyone kinda did their own thing; Brian, Rachel, and Mason wanted to watch the Rockies game so that's what they did; I, of course found my way to Lifetime Movie Network :) and Brady just roams around and keeps busy with whatever catches his eye. I love that we can have those days every once in a while and that our kids actually still like to spend the lazy days with us.

Rachel and Mason start school tomorrow and a whole new routine will begin. Brady starts soccer practice tomorrow 3 times a week, so we will fall right back into our busy school routine once again. I can't believe that we have a 5th grader, a 10th grader, and an 11th grader, when did they grow up and how did it happen so fast?

I will post pictures of Rachel and Mason's first day of school tomorrow and Brady at practice again. Until then.... I am just going to enjoy the rest of my lazy day~

Mason's afternoon with a Pro-Golfer

Mason's Grandpa Russ has a good friend that was a pro-golfer and now teaches at the Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora. His Grandpa set up an afternoon for Mason to go spend some time with Ben "Hogger" Hoggervaughn (sp?). He said he had a good time and learned some new tips.

Hopefully, he is getting some use out of his newly learned skills because Brian took the afternoon off today to go play golf with Mason at Buffalo Run Golf Course.

5th Grade - I can't believe it!

It seems like just yesterday that I was taking Brady to his 1st day of kindergarten, crying as I walked him into his classroom, taking pictures every chance I could get, and crying as I walked back to the car alone with Brian and then Brian taking me to Starbucks to help get me stop crying so I could go to work.

Well I didn't cry this year, nor was I ALLOWED to take any pictures of him once we left the car. He did allow me to take pictures of him in the front yard, he did let me walk him to class (I'm pretty sure it was only so I could carry his boxes of Kleenex, clearly because he was too cool to carry them). I entered the classroom, he told me to put the Kleenex where it supposed to go and then I was to leave. One parent had the whole video camera going, another one with the professional photography camera shooting away, I thought as far as parents go, I wasn't too horrible, at least I wasn't going that crazy, I just wanted one little shot of him sitting in the classroom; according to Brady - not a chance and if I EVEN considered kissing him, he would never forgive me.

I started thinking on the way back to work, (no Starbucks, apparently I'm too grown for that now too) that I can't believe I walked my baby to school for the last time and didn't even realize it. No more hand holding or packing snacks, no more picking out his outfits - no more little guy! I have officially entered the world of a tween, where I am no longer his favorite person in the world, I am no longer the one he wants to see the most every single day, I am now just Moooommmmm!

How did it happen right before my very own eyes, he is still sweet and handsome and lets me help with homework, but when I ask how he day is, he just says "fine" and the prying begins.

So here is to the beginning of 5th grade, filled with gross boy stuff, girl craziness, and plenty of homework to help with (I hope). For those of you with little ones, keep a close eye on them, it changes right before your very own eyes.