I Hate Cleaning

I so want to hire a house cleaner after we move. Oh, wait, but by then that amount of money will probably buy me oh about 1/2 a tank of gas. Oil companies are evil.

New 5K PR!

I ran the Northside Stride 5K today, which benefitted the Marcia Mounsey Foundation. They help kids in northwest Denver afford art, music, and sports activities that they otherwise wouldn't be able to participate in. Anyway, I finished in 28:01! That may not sound very fast to some of you serious runners out there, but my goal was to finish sub-30 so I am really excited! Colorado Springs 10K Calssic, here I come!!!

Zoo Fun

Today, Noah and I went to the zoo with my friends Lorrie and Heather and their kids, Symon, Ryan, and Katie. I love it when I can take Noah to do something that's fun for him and it's fun for me too...not in an "I'm having fun because my kid is having fun" kind of way, but in an "I'm having fun because this is really fun for me" kind of way. Needless to say, we all had a blast and Noah is exhausted and sleeping in his bed right now! YAY!

Anyway, here are some pictures from our doubly fun day!

Noah and Ryan (Ryan is 4 and Noah thinks he is the coolest!):

No he's not picking his nose, he is eating:


Katie and Symon:



Heather, Katie, and Symon on the train:

Heather and Symon:

Noah in the petting zoo:

Noah on the train:

Lorrie and Ryan:

New Job

OK, so here's the deal. I couldn't blog about this last week because I wasn't able to get in touch with my boss, but I finally talked to him today. I got a new job! I am going to be a behavior specialist in our local school district. I am very sad to leave my current job, but this is an amazing opportunity and I did not feel like I could pass it up. So, here's to Kunsberg School! Good luck with everything. I will miss you tons!!!

Here are some pics of my students. Most of them are from a 3 day trip we took to an outdoor education center. I miss them already!

Questions

Nicole (http://heresthediehl.wordpress.com/), KC Jayhawk's friend, had this on her blog. Can you complete this questionnaire with one word answers? If you do this, please link it back to her blog. Thanks!

1. Where is your cell phone? counter
2. Your significant other? Dan
3. Your hair? blonde
4. Your mother? Mary
5. Your father? Ken
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? work
8. Your favorite drink? wine
9. Your dream/goal? happiness
10. The room you’re in? loft
11. Your ex? nice
12. Your fear? failure
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? colorado
14. Where were you last night? wall-e
15. What you’re not? stupid ;)
16. Muffins? blueberry
17. One of your wish list items? furniture
18. Where you grew up? college
19. What are you wearing? shorts
20. Your TV? Dora
21. Your pets? dog
22. Your computer? on
23. Your life? fun
24. Your mood? calm
25. Missing someone? friends
26. Your car? jeep
27. Something you’re not wearing right now? socks
28. Favorite Store? REI
29. Your summer? busy
30. Like someone? Dan
31. Your favorite color? blue
32. Last time you laughed? recently
33. Last time you cried? IDK

Swimming

I finally remembered the camera when Noah and I went to the pool yesterday!

New House Picture # 23,987

Sorry if these are getting old, but we are pretty excited to have siding!

Park Hill Gala

Two years ago, my good friend, Dana, opened a charter school. It is called Park Hill Preparatory School (http://web.mac.com/parkhillprep) and she does an amazing job of teaching students who have a variety of difficulties. Most of her students come from neighborhoods that many of us can't even imagine. Anyway, tonight, she had her annual fundraising gala. It was a concert at the Bluebird Theater in downtown Denver. Noah, Dan, and I went and I saw so many people from work and people I used to work with. It was awesome because I hadn't seen a lot of these people in what seems like forever. The highlight of the night for me was that I got to see two of my former students!!!The boy just graduated from high school and will start college in the fall! Success!! The girl will be a senior in the fall and already has 5 college applications at her house ready to be filled out. She and I are going to meet in August some time so I can help her fill them out. I am so excited because I just had someone tell me the other day, "Well, but not very many of your students in the population you teach are successful...they don't graduate." Dumbass! Anyway, here is a picture from tonight.

Chillin' Time

Tonight, we went out for sushi (which Noah loves, by the way)...YUM! Then we played in the backyard for a while and went to the playground behind our house. Here are some pictures:
(BTW, if you scroll through the posts just a little, that video of Noah laughing finally works!)

On the slide

Crazy Man

On the sandbox

Silly face

Ride 'em cowboy

Flying

Crashing

Climbing on Japhy

If Only Life Could Be Like the Pool

Noah and I went to the pool this morning. I would have pictures but I forgot the card for the camera again (Note to self: Quit forgetting the memory card for the camera). It was so much fun. Noah brought a bunch of his pool toys and so did a lot of other kids. What I love about the pool is that everyone shares their pool toys and people just play and no one gets all posessive or anything. They all just have a great time. If only all our lives could be like that! Whenever two kids claim the same toy at the same time, moms just help them talk it out. Anyway, the only bummer was that it started lightning about an hour and a half into our pool time. Otherwise, I think Noah could have stayed all day!

Sorry I've been kind of lame about posting lately. There is something big that's been on my mind distracting me, but I can't talk about it yet. (No, I'm not pregnant.) I promise I will post about it next week though.

Noah's Laugh Video

Ok, after a great many attempts, I finally got the video posting thing to work. Here it is (finally).

Windows!!!

They put the windows in our new house today! Here's a picture:

The Burnout has Burned Out

The running is going much better these days. It is feeling better and the burnout I felt after the marathon seems to be fading. I took Noah for a four mile hill run in the jogging stroller today and it felt pretty great, which is weird. The third mile had me cursing the hills in my head, but other than that, I actually enjoyed it. I am so glad because I thought I was going to have to take a break from running to get back in the groove.

Camping in the Hayman Burn Area

I have been dying to go explore the area of Pike National Forest that burned in the big fire 5 years ago. So, this weekend, we went camping down near the Lost Creek Wilderness Area, right smack dab in the middle of the area that burned in one of the worst forest fires in Colorado history. It was really interesting to see the re-growth in the area and see how ecosystems repair themselves in time. I was shocked by how green everything was and how many wildflowers there were. Just a few years ago it was all black and I thought nothing would ever grow back.

Our campsite:

Hiking in the burn area:

Noah had a blast camping as usual...can I tell you how hard it is to get soot off of light khaki pants, though? On Saturday, we climbed up to Devil's head fire lookout tower. Noah got a card from the ranger dude proving he made the climb. But I think his favorite part was when we made s'mores by the fire.

This is what he looked like for most of the trip:

I tried to keep his face and hands clean at first, but I soon realized that was a losing battle.

On Devil's Head Trail:

Happy Father's Day

Happy father's day to my husband, Dan! He is the best dad to Noah that I could ever ask for. Thanks for being a great dad and husband, Dan!!!

Happy Birthday Kenny!

My nephew, Kenny, turns four today!!! Isn't he adorable? I love this pic of Kenny and my brother! Go Royals!

Noah's Laugh

Yesterday, Noah and I went to story time at the library. We have been a couple of times, but Noah has always been pretty shy and quiet. He really opened up yesterday. He sat down right in front of the lady who was reading and really participated. He kept laughing and he was cracking everyone up because his laugh is so infectious. I took a video of him laughing last night in the bathtub so you can see what I mean. Unfortunately, I am having trouble uploading it right now, so I'll have to come back and do it later.

House Update 2

Here are the two pics I took yesterday:

This one at about noon:

And this one at about 6:00: