Pokeween

I'm sad to say that Pogo passed away in her sleep last night. I'll write a post dedicated to her once I can reflect properly. For now, let's celebrate Halloween, a day surrounded by one of Pogo's favorite things: food.


Happy Halloween from this PokeFamily!


MewTwo wishes you a mystical Halloween


Snorlax wishes you a sleepy, fluffy Halloween.


The Pokeball wishes you'd catch the Halloween spirit!


Pikachu wishes you a nap-filled Halloween.


Ash Ketchum wishes you'd catch all the Halloweens.


And Misty wishes you a waterlogged Halloween.


And the pumpkins (by Liam, Grey, and Dash) wish you a spooky Halloween!

a little windy

Sean's been working at his pediatric clinic for nearly three months now. It's a great place with wonderful coworkers. They've been very helpful with any of his questions and have been careful to make sure he feels comfortable in his new position. He has weekends and Thursday morning off and is only on call (which is just by phone, no going into the hospital) once a week or so. It's almost a night and day difference from his time as a resident. We have dinner together most of the time! We can go on adventures! It's not a surprise when he can actually join me for some outing!


It's not a complete cakewalk, though. He does usually have to bring some work home to finish. And he has his boards to take (WHICH HE'S TAKING RIGHT NOW) so he's been studying in much of his free time. While we've started paying off some of our debts, we've had a bunch of pricey issues come up. It feels like we're purging money, bleh. The kids have done well with the transitioning but have definitely upped their tantrum game. It hasn't been super easy to make friends (dang introversion). Still though, these are just footnotes to the goodness of being out of residency.


We went on a bike ride to the park, recently, that seemed to mimic our life experience at the moment. In a broad view, whee! We're going to the park! It's so much fun! But as we were going it became very windy and cold, then even a little rainy. So we donned our coats and played anyway, maybe cutting our time at the playground a bit shorter. The weather may not be perfect but we're having fun anyway.


It's important to remember that sunshine and warmth will always return.


And in the meantime, we can just put on a jacket and a smile.

Fort Collins Temple

Temples are holy places for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As in bibilical times, they are places where heaven and earth meet, the most sacred places we can be. To keep them holy, adults who enter must strictly keep the Lord's commandments. There, we make covenants with our Father, act as proxy in covenant-making for those who have passed on, and learn more of His gospel.

On Sunday, a newly built temple in Fort Collins was dedicated, which we were able to watch via satellite broadcast. What a special experience it was to take part in this service and a needed reminder to make the temple a central focus in my family.


Once a temple is built but before it is dedicated, any and all who would like to visit are allowed to come tour the building. This was our children's first time in the temple and we were so excited to share that with them. Their favorite parts were the oxen statues by the baptismal font and the infinite mirrors where they could see themselves endlessly. For we are an eternal family, after all.


But the children's very favorite must have been the fountain outside. And here I was allowed to take pictures, so let's see a handful:







I'm so grateful they are mine forever.

First Grade and Preschool

Would you like to see first day of school photos, two months after the fact? Oh dear, this is getting ridiculous. C'est la vie.


The twins are in the same class again for first grade but, obviously, in a new school. They seem to be adjusting just fine and are making friends (by playing pokemon together during recess)


They have a rather no-nonsense, but nice teacher. She seems super on top of things and has been doing a great job of teaching them. Their reading continues to soar and they do a great job behaviorally. Liam even got Student of the Month for September and I was able to go to the little assembly for it, where the awardees got to run down a cheering walkway- it was cute. Can't wait to go again when it's Dash's turn.


They have homework now, maybe five minutes worth, and they're finally used to that. There was a bit of complaining at first. I wonder what it'll be like when they have really substantial work to do at home.


And this little man has started Preschool. It's the same style as I did with Liam and Dash, a school lead by the moms a couple days a week. The way the age requirements work in Colorado, Grey will be in Kindergarten next year so we had to get him started with some school familiarity now. He was hesitant and nervous at first but now gets... kind of excited to go. He's just a reserved kid in unfamiliar environments. I wonder what it'd be like if HE had a twin to do all these intimidating Firsts with him. Grey's also working on the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and does a great job when he's not trying to be silly. Hurray for learning!

Balloon Glow

Colorado Springs does an annual hot air balloon "glow" and launch. We headed out, expecting to see the balloons from afar.


But we ended up being in the middle of the action. It was so cool!


The boys were interested but a little skittish, too. Wren, though, leaned back and soaked it in.


The balloons put on a show, lighting up over and over:



It was so interesting to watch the fire shoot into the balloon.


You could get right up next to them. Here it is in slow motion:



The balloons weren't launching that night, this was all for display. One by one, the balloons collapsed, until warm breath returned them to life come morning.