“It’s payback time!”

–Asher, watching The Day After Tomorrow, talking about Earth fighting back when climate change results in the flooding of New York City

“Mom, the only thing that would make Captain Marvel better is if she were a black woman!”

–Tessa, after being told that the most powerful Avenger in the Marvel Universe is a woman

“It’s not time to be a gentleman, Emmett. Fight me!”

–Tessa, telling Emmett to try to push her down in the bounce house

“He he he he he.”

–Emmett, laughing a conspiratorial laugh while staring at the iPod he just purchased for himself

“Teamwork makes the dream work.”

–Tessa, while working with all the Pigs, shoveling dirt into Dad’s new vegetable and flower planters

“I’m going to picture myself.”

–Emmett, while taking a selfie with his new iPod

“I was hit by a hard plastic eye in the back.”

–Tessa, after Asher threw a stuffed shark at her in the bounce house and the shark’s eye hit her

“Mommy, why are boys so weird?”

–Tessa, talking about her brothers

“We need bananas, cookie dough, milk, and worms to make white fish bait.”

–Asher, totally out-of-nowhere, in a monologue about catching fish

“That’s perfect.”

–Asher, lining up stuffed animals around the edge of his bed while setting himself up to sleep without Riley for the first time (Riley moved to the top bunk)

“Yes, I’m almost a teenager. I’ll be 13, four years from now.”

–Riley, arguing with Tessa

“Uh, really?”

–Asher, when watching a demonstration on how he needs to clean up after himself

“Do I look fancy?”

–Emmett, putting on a flat-brimmed baseball hat to go jogging with Dad

“Did you like how I threw those punches, Mom? I think I made them look good.”

–Riley, after showing Mom his Improv Class Video where he played a good ninja, who, nonetheless, had to hit some bad guys

“Mom, is it next year yet?”

–Emmett, asking if we’ve already ended this school year and moved onto the next

So we added a new post after Christmas, but it looks like it never got posted or maybe the site hiccuped and it’s gone now? We aren’t sure. We are a bit miffed, as these posts are usually fairly comprehensive when we do manage to write these days, it takes some time to compose. Further, we like to keep those of you out there who are reading informed about All Things Pig, so we are sorry that whatever happened, happened and you didn’t get the January post. Regardless, here’s the quick gist of December and Beyond:

Emmett’s Birthday Party was a success. He asked for a Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter mash-up and he was not disappointed. Mom created a mystery play that we all acted out, complete with characters, costumes, and lines. Fantastic! And now Emmett is ten. Ten! Double digits! We can’t believe he’s getting so, so…old! But there you have it. We are told that this is what to expect, aging and whatnot. Anyway…

Christmas was great too (as it always is). Everyone got (mostly) what they’d asked Santa for: Tessa got an ipod to listen to Audible, Asher got Lego sets, Emmett got a robot, and Riley got dart gun stuff–those were the main highlights, but everyone got full stockings too. New Year’s Eve was great–we stayed up late and set off firecrackers. It was frigid, so not much playing outside, but we did manage to get out into the sun on New Year’s Day for our annual Silly String War…

Then came Tessa’s Birthday. She had a Harry Potter themed party, and Mom put together a scavenger hunt for all of the party goers. We got candy from a Sorting Hat pinata and sucked on Quidditch Broom Lollipops. Yay! Tessa was very clear that she wanted some time during her party for “Free Play” so all the Potterheads ran around the yard pretending to be on brooms, flying between Hogsmede and the castle. Wonderful.

Then we had Valentine’s Day, Mom and Dad’s Anniversary, and Dad’s birthday. All great. All necessitating cake and celebrating… Meanwhile, we’ve all been working hard at school. Asher took some time during the fall to center himself and prepare for the challenge of learning to read, but now he’s tackling that task and he’s doing great. Stay tuned, we’re sure he’ll be onto Cat in the Hat in no time. While Asher’s reading, the Big Pigs are science-ing (complete with a Leonardo Da Vinci camp at the Museum), writing, and math-ing. That last one only Riley really likes, but to each their own, right?

We’ve been building Legos, dancing, acting, art-ing, and generally being great. Everyone’s growing up so fast (it’s not just Emmett, it really is all of us), and everyday we seek out new challenges and explore new things… This keeps us very, very busy. Add into that life (a spate of colds, extra work piling up for Mom and Dad with Dad’s practice, a blizzard here, a few more d-e-a-d chickens) and there you have it. The gist. Sorry again for the glitch. Mom’s going to back up these posts from now on so that should it happen again, it’s no biggie.

But check back in soon. We’ve got Spring Break coming up, warmer weather, Fencing camp, and the march towards summer and all things Fun in the Sun.

Be well,

The Pigs

Soooo. This is awkward. It’s been months since we’ve last chatted. Maybe you’ve called, and we didn’t answer the phone. Or you’ve texted and we ignored the text. We’re sorry. But…well, life. Not that that’s an excuse. (It is an excuse.) And we should have been updating you more frequently. (We’re updating you now.) *cough, cough* Well, now that’s over with, let’s get down to business.

This fall’s been busy, as we are assuming every single blog going forward will at least hint at–we are a family of six, after all–and we’re an out-and-about family. Let’s start with most recent and work backwards.

10) Bunk with the Beasts

We spent the night at the Zoo. At the Zoo! We got a preview of Zoo Lights, when the entire Zoo is wrapped in festive, seasonal blinking and softly strobing lights. We got two behind the scenes tours, met and touches Zoo animals, and camped out with sleeping bags inside where it was moderately warm and only sort of smelled like Zoo animals. We made s’mores and got spray paint tattoos. It was amazing. (Mom would like to add that Emmett talks in his sleep and Tessa sleep-walks, which both made for some embarrassing middle of the night incidents.)

9) Museum Tours

We did THREE tours of the History Colorado museum. We did one by ourself inside, one guided tour inside, and one guided tour of Five Points, a historically diverse area of Denver. Turns out we love our state as much as she loves us. The Native Americans, the wagon trains, the gold rush… so much interesting stuff happened here. And continues to happen here. It is great. It is home.

8) Riley’s Dart Mania Birthday Party

Twenty kids with dart guns taking aim at each other for two straight hours. It was great. Mom and Dad played too! We were at a place with two different rooms of obstacles, including glow in the dark trees! Riley proclaimed it an amazing day, and Emmett had so much fun that he considered having his birthday party there too. (He’s since changed his mind.)

7) Halloween

From a ghost tour of the Botanic Gardens, to Enchanted Hallows at the Zoo, to the Corn Maze, to trick-or-treating with friends, to Dia de los Muertos–Halloween 2018 was a resounding success (and lasted for about six weeks). Okay, full disclosure, the Corn Maze could have gone better–Tessa and Asher kept dashing around corners and running through the corn until the entire family was completely turned around the lost in the corn for almost a full hour. By the time we got out of that maze, tempers were high and more than one tear had been shed. We might skip that one next year.

6) Ballet

Emmett and Tessa and Mom went to the Sleeping Beauty ballet. Traffic and parking we awful and we got there fifteen minutes late, which meant we had to wait with a ton of other people to enter near the end of the first Act, but Emmett loved it. Tessa, well, Tessa didn’t want to go to begin with. She’d asked to go last year when we bought the tickets and forgot and was really upset when she was made to go. But she didn’t throw a fit so we all count that as a win! Plus, there was a part in the ballet where two castle cats danced and she laughed. So if she says that she didn’t like the whole thing, she’s lying.

5) School

We only go to school one day a week, but we love it. We’ve made new friends, and still see the old school friends who’ve moved onto other schools, and we’re doing well with our homework at home too. We dressed up for Bright Colors Day, and Mom even came and did lunch duty when it was Riley’s birthday. Tessa’s loving science and keyboarding; Riley’s loving math and PE; Emmett’s loving Young Ameritowne and science; and Asher’s loving everything about kindergarten. Asher’s also working hard on learning to read and count, but not too hard as it’s still just kindergarten.

4) Pets and All Things Animals

This summer was a rough patch for the chickens. We lost three (RIP chickens), one was mauled but lived (Mediama the Brave), and the others were spooked. But they’re doing better now. (Dad put up a trap camera to see if we could get picks of whatever was going after our flock, but no luck so far.) Our spring chicken hatched from an egg turned out to be rooster, she went from Cressida to Cressidude, and now we’re trying to muffle her early-morning crows so no one asks us to give her away. Our kitten Apollo has grown into such a fantastic ball of fluff that we all fight over him, which makes for good times in the Larson household. And Isaac has had some health issues that we’re keeping an eye on and crossing our fingers that our wise old man has many years left in him.

3) Late Summer in the Mountains

We took some trips to the mountains in August and September. We saw the leaves change and felt the first cool breezes of fall coming off the mountainside. We ran around at a mountainside concert and ate good food while breathing in the mountain air. (Wow, can we use the word mountain just one more time in this paragraph?) The mountains rock! (Look, we did it!)

2) Concerts with Friends

Mom and Dad went to a few concerts at Red Rocks this summer. It was nice for them to get back to doing grown up things with grown up (ish) friends. Being outside was wonderful too.

1) Team Pig

Team Pig has done great these past few months. We’ve gotten into watching the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit films, which everyone has loved–including Mom and Dad. It’s been nice to have a regular family movie night, where we watch slightly more grown up movies, eat popcorn, and snuggle on the couch. (However, Asher loves telling people how the bad orcs like killing the good guys, or talking like Gollum, and it’s a bit off-putting.) Dad’s been busy building stuff with us in the garage–he’s working on getting some toboggans built just now for the upcoming sledding season (although we’ve already been to the sledding hill twice this year already.) Also, we’re all super deep into Lego building–Asher especially.

Hope that’s a comprehensive round up! All is well with Team Pig…

Ah, summer. Long days, fun in the sun, and mayhem. What kind of mayhem, you ask? Although you might be imagining something innocuous, like a camp prank, you’d be wrong. This is the Summer of Bad Mojo. Broken bones, broken windows, and feathers scattered throughout the chicken yard. Something is most definitely amiss.

A Fact-Based Presentation for Bad Mojo in Castle Larson

Clue #1: One day before YMCA camp was set to begin for the big kids, Tessa plunged a harrowing six feet to the ground, breaking her clavicle clean in two. (See posted pic.) Riley admitted to wrestling with his sister on the slide of our inflatable pool and inadvertently pushing her off into the choppy, and hardly filled, waters below. Tessa spent the night (and most of the next few days) tossing and turning and yelling in pain, while issuing a moratorium on all discussion of missed YMCA activities. But Tessa wasn’t the only one missing out on something. Mommy had looked forward to that week, knowing that the days that the big kids were at YMCA and Asher was at Adventure School would be kid-less at home. Blissfully kid-less. Alas, thanks to Bad Mojo, it was not to be.

Clue #2: Not one week after the Broken Clavicle Incident, Riley and Tessa were outside throwing a bouncy ball onto the roof and catching it as it rolled off. Safe? Perhaps. Victim-less? Events were about to prove otherwise. When said bouncy ball lodged itself between two shingles on the roof, Tessa had the idea to throw a rock at it to free it. Riley agreed the idea was a shining example of clear-headedness. Bad Mojo strikes again. Riley threw the rock, lost control of its trajectory, and instead of the projectile landing on the roof, it went threw the front window.

Clue #3: A day or two before the Rock Through the Window Incident, one of our spring chickens went missing. Ash, may she rest in peace, disappeared without a trace. One moment she was trailing through the yard with her spring chicken sisters, and the next–poof. Gone without a trace. There was much talk about the circle of life and the ravenous appetite of local house cats and a neighborhood search was conducted, but all to no avail. Riley cried real tears, as he loves those chickens, and this was the first pet he’d lost to the cruel hand of fate.

Clue #4: In a summer of fantastic camp experiences (science, zoo, art, YMCA, and Steve and Kate’s), great celebrations (Forth of July in the mountains, Asher turning five, both Riley and Emmett getting their first stripe in jiu jitsu), and general fun (ghost hunting downtown and Asher learning to ride a two-wheeler), Asher has been a ball of GIVE ME MY WAY! frustration. Asher starts the day yelling to get his way (I SAID PANCAKES!), the middle of his day is yelling (I WANT THE KITTEN AND RILEY WON’T LET ME HAVE HIM!), and he ends his day with yelling (I DON’T WANT TO WATCH THAT SHOW!). He is a party-of-one in Crazytown and working hard to entice new transplants. Emmett and Asher fight like cats and dogs, over our cat and dog. Riley and Asher smack and wrestle each other over bedtime activities in their shared room. It’s mayhem. A typical case of five-year-old high jinx? Maybe. Chronic tiredness? Perhaps. But you force that little man to lay down and nap… It’s too much yelling for us.

Clue #5: We were spending the day outside in the yard on a picnic blanket, catching up on math and paragraph writing, when it happened. One moment, all was well. The next: Emmett noticed that Splashy, a winter silky, was missing and the chicken yard was dotted with blue and white silky feathers. Another neighborhood search was immediately conducted, and again, no sign of the missing chicken was found. But Splashy was almost as large as the area cats, you say. And you are not wrong. To wrestle that fantastic little feather-ball over the fence for sure took size and strength. We’ve seen the area cats carrying off baby bunnies and voles. Maybe they’ve been training for this? Maybe they were ready to up their game to a full-sized bantam chicken? But to ambush her and carry her off in a silent attack? That was no housecat, we decided. We’d just experienced the return of the City Coyote. And tears, again, were shed.

General Clues: Add to the above detailed incidents, a small car accident in the Honda that shook all four pigs and Daddy, countless nights of house-wide insomnia, lots of phantom aches and pains from all inhabitants of Castle Larson (bad aches and pains, bad enough for the big kids to learn that they are old enough to take Children’s Advil), and we’re looking at a Summer of Bad Mojo.

What’s the cure? you ask. Well, we still aren’t sure. We’ve planted vinca minor (a plant known to ward off the evil eye) and salted all the thresholds in the house. We’ve burned incense and sage. We even burned pine needles in the garage while speaking an un-binding spell, returning to sender all Bad Mojo. Did it work? Only time will tell. (Daddy did, however, take a more hands-on approach to protecting the silkies. He built an enclosure for the little chickens to ensure that nothing can sneak in over the fence and grab them. Two lost birds is enough.)

Until we’ve some sign that All Is Well, we cross our fingers, hold our breath, and wait for the end of the Summer of Bad Mojo,
The Pigs

ps We Craigslisted the inflatable pool, but so far have had no takers. Another sign of Bad Mojo?

Again, our dear fans, it’s been too long. We haven’t said anything, no filling in or illuminating you, since mid-April. So sorry! But, as Mom and Dad have learned, we might be more capable of taking care of ourselves personally (like bathing and eating and doing homework) but there are so many things that we’re doing now that take organization and driving and organization. (Did we say organization?) It all take time. Time we aren’t devoting to blogging. But, have no fear! We’ve got an (maybe close to) exhaustive list below, detailing our exploits.

End of April and May brought last day of school, Mother’s Day, and an epic trip to the Zoo. Asher toured his kindergarten classroom for next year, met his teacher, and added an extra day each week at Adventure School. We went to the Botanic Gardens plant sale and planted our re-vamped garden. (On a sad note, we’d like to say a small prayer for the edamame plant. The rabbits ate it. RIP edamame. RIP.) We got our hair dyed–everyone but Asher–and the older boys went to a friend’s birthday party at Boondocks, a place of wonder and joy, where they played laser tag and mini golf, and rode on bumper boats.

So far, June’s seen a fantabulous performance by Emmett in Swan Lake. He was a hunter! And so cute! He had a racoon-cap, a vest and belt, and a crossbow. We went to Comic Con, and had an AMAZING time. We all, and I mean everyone, had costumes. Emmett was Harry Potter, Riley was the Blue Ninja, Tessa was Hermione Granger, Asher was Master Wu, Mommy was Luna Lovegood, and Daddy was Sheriff Hopper. We took pictures with Moana and Maui, Dorthy from Oz, and tons of other characters. We actually met David Tenant. For those of you out there that have no idea who that wonderful man is, he is the voice of Scrooge McDuck. (Or for those of you that are older than us, he’s also been in Jessica Jones, the Harry Potter movies, and was a doctor in Doctor Who.) He was great and said, sounding like Scrooge McDuck, “Curse me kilts!” And he signed a picture of Scrooge for us. We will always remember our time waiting in line for him fondly.

And we’ve already hit up a lot of camp. Emmett’s had an entire week of theater camp (coming home singing Puttin’ on the Ritz), Tessa had an entire week of art camp (metal embossing), and everyone just finished up a week of science camp (dissection for the older boys, animals for T-bone, and wild animals for Asher). And that’s just the start of camp-y-ness! Zoo camp, Steve and Kate’s, YMCA, and dance camp are still to come! Not to mention, park days, water fun in the yard, going to the mountains, and just general summer-goodness.

Stay tuned for more details as they develop,
The Pigs

Sorry, people! We’ve been slacking on blogging. But in our defense, we’ve been busy. And, as way of explanation regarding the short-ness of this blog post, we are still busy.

Asher’s started going two days-a-week to Adventure School and he’s doing amazing. He hikes and climbs and builds forts and pretends to be sailing and sees coyotes, eagles, and deer every time he’s there. He has friends that he puts on shows for and two great teachers that teach him stuff about ropes and tents and stuff. He loves being outside all that time, no matter the weather!

Emmett’s dancing is going great. He was in a contemporary dance performance in March and he loved it (and we loved watching it!). He got a teeny kitten, whom he named Apollo (after the spaceship), and the kitten sleeps with Emmett in his bed every night. So cute! The kitten is getting accustomed to our home, to our people, and to our dog. So far, so good. Emmett’s also picked the guitar back up, so now he’s doing voice and guitar lessons together–perfect!

Tessa’s doing great being Tessa. She’s had some art classes, she and Emmett recently started doing jiujitsu with Riley and they both are having a blast with it, and she’s enjoying riding much longer distances on the new bike she got for her birthday in January. She’s also working hard practicing guitar and loves performing the Gnarls Barkley song “Crazy.”

Riley’s excelling in jiujitsu, he’s hitting guitar practice hard too, and he’s recently acquired more Nerf dart guns and Pokemon cards, both of which he likes sharing with friends. He also loves snuggling with Emmett’s kitten and Emmett’s kitten loves napping on Riley, so it’s a good fit for all. Riley does an amazing job taking care of the chickens, too. He’s our go-to man for jobs done, which works for him because he likes to earn money to buy more dart guns and Pokemon cards.

Tessa’s bday was a hit. Everyone made great tie-dyes. Spring break was a bust. We were all sick. Dad’s bday was good. We went to the mountains, where we’ve been a few times in the past few months to ski and snowboard. Pop-pop’s bday was great. He and Ms Ann came over for dinner.

We’ve taken a break from weekly swim lessons, but added another jiujitsu class each week (and in Tessa and Emmett’s case, they’ve added three new jiujitsu classes each week), so it feels like we’re less spread out and more focused on just a few things. It’s a good thing. But we are still busy, busy, busy.

Coming up: Summer. But for now, we are good. And happy.

Be well,
The Pigs

Hi All!

We were so busy with the holidays, we forgot to blog about the holidays. We had all the regular stuff: Emmett’s birthday party, Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, and New Year’s. And although while we were in it, it felt not too rushed, not too crazy, it went by so fast and we had so much to do that when it was over, and we were onto the next thing, we forgot all about it. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe we’re so present in the moment and when the moment passes, we are present in the next moment. Maybe it is a good thing to not be looking too far ahead or too far behind. Maybe that means everything is exactly as it should be.

But still, the holidays did happen, so here’s the recap: Emmett’s birthday was a Back to the Future birthday. He and his friends took the couch apart and built a time machine fort, then took over into the Past. Once there, Dad helped them with some science experiments to help them get back to the future. The jury’s still out whether anyone returned to the future, but a great time was had by all.

We went skiing for the very first time. Tessa crushed it. The instructor didn’t believe it was her first time on the mountain, she was that good. Riley’s feet hurt the entire time, but he was a great skier too. Emmett said, “It was hard to stay up, so when I fell, I just stayed there.” He’s chosen to snowboard for the rest of this season. And Little Man? Well, the instructor’s report regarding Asher’s overall experience was: “Generally, I like to see less tears.” So no more skiing for him this year either… But we’re all off to Breckenridge to snowboard and ski tomorrow (the first snowboarding lesson for the boys, the second ski lesson for T), so stay tuned to see how that goes.

Hanukkah was a hit, as are all holidays involving the lighting of candles. We all received coupons good for either a snowboard or skis. The boys all got boards (Riley’s and Emmett’s boards have Toy Story characters on them) and T-Bone got skis (with little hearts all over them). But just before Hanukkah, we went to watch Emmett dance in the Nutcracker. His dance academy put it on at a local high school, and the entire family, and even some friends, attended. He was a sheep in the pastoral section, just after intermission, and he was amazing. Such a huge grin. Obviously loving it. Best. Sheep. Ever.

On Solstice, Dad built a bon fire in our backyard and we all wrote one thing down on a piece of paper that we wanted to leave in 2017, then we put those pieces of paper into the fire and watched them burn. It was perfect weather. Not too cold. Not too warm. Then we went inside and ate some yummy pizza and had some dessert.

Christmas was good too, as we got great gifts from Santa and then went to Pop-pops to open more wonderful gifts from our family. We are now the proud owners of new science kits, sewing kits, arts supplies, lego books, and marble games. But our big present from Santa was a game console. (Full disclosure: Santa brought a Play Station. But, turns out, Sony’s site was down all Christmas day but they didn’t acknowledge it, so Dad fought with the PS4 for close to 4 hours. When it got to be too much, Dad shoved every piece of the PS4 back into its box, duct taped it closed, affixed the return label, and put it out on the front step for the UPS man. A few days later we got our new Xbox, which we love.) Emmett’s year-long dream of playing Lego Dimensions has been fulfilled, as has Riley’s heretofore unknown dream of OWNING everyone in every racing game he plays.

New Year’s Eve was fantastic. We lit fireworks, had a silly string war (remnants of which can still be seen in the yard and on the drive), and stayed up all the way until 9pm. Our personal best on New Year’s. But after all that, we’ve already moved onto what’s next. New classes (Emmett’s contemporary dance, in addition to his ballet), Riley’s jiujitsu, and Tessa’s weekly art class–to say nothing of Asher’s preschool, which he loves and missed during winter vacation.

Tessa’s birthday is in less than a week and she’s already received her birthday present. (She got an early present of a new 7-speed bike, which helps her a TON on family bike rides when going uphill. Mom started biking with us too, pulling Isaac in the baby trailer. We are quite a little band when biking all together and crossing streets.) Tessa’s having a tie-dye party on Saturday, having friends over to tie-dye shirts and eating a peace sign and heart filled tie-dye cake. We are all excited for this.

Then comes Valentine’s Day, Dad’s birthday, Pop-pop’s birthday and spring break… There’s always more!

So sorry for the long delay in blog posts, but rest assured that when we do return to writing, it will be with lots to talk about.

Be well,
The Pigs

It’s almost December, can you believe it? We had Riley’s fantastic birthday and party (10 kids on a scavenger hunt for Pokemon figures). We had Halloween, for real (by which time we’d worn our costumes to costume parties, a Halloween overnight at the museum, and to an anniversary party–so although we loved the candy and still have a ton left, we were pretty much over dressing up). We just had Thanksgiving (a totally wonderful, reservation-free affair where we went and saw the movie Coco as a family and loved it–and we also loved not having anywhere to be). During this time, we’ve arted at the Art Garage, we’ve climbed at our rock climbing gym, we’ve played guitar and sang at our music place, and we’ve hung out quite a bit at the museum. Oh, and, Emmett started taking ballet! And he loves it… He’s even going to be in his dance academy’s production of the Nutcracker!

Needless to say, we’ve been busy. But not too busy to start thinking about Santa’s Nice List. First, we started a fundraising page for the World Wildlife Fund, with each of us having specific goals. Emmett is helping eagles, Riley is helping sharks, Tessa is helping owls, and Asher’s helping all the baby animals. We’ve been upping our game cleaning up around the house, feeding the chickens and giving them water, and doing our homework. You never can do too much this time of year to make-up for any missteps that may have landed you on the Naughty List! So, in addition to helping the animals this year, we’re also looking to bag some presents for ourselves. Nothing to big. Just some fun games, art projects, etc.

In the meantime, we’ve already got a LOT planned. Emmett’s birthday party is on the calendar. He’s having a Back to the Future party, and we’ll be dressing up and pretending we’re stuck in the past. Dad’s taking the Eights (Riley and Emmett who are both the same age for roughly six weeks) to a Broncos game. We’re going to try skiing for the very first time, with a full day lesson. And we’re going to see Santa (a specific request from Asher). We’re trying to hit the right mix of unorganized play and scheduled stuff, but so far we’re all kind of tired. Maybe it’s still the time change? Our suggestion was to just cut out school, then we’d have a lot of time for lazing around and enjoying doing nothing. But Mom and Dad said no. So…

Keep checking back for great pics of our events and outings. We’re enjoying the season and hope you are too!

Today is the first day of Fall. It is also the Fall Equinox. Today, the day and the night are exactly the same length. From here on out, the days will grow shorter, the nights will lengthen, and winter will come. We’ve seen many signs of the changing season. The monarchs are making their way south, not in the hordes that we saw this past spring, but in a stream of ones-and-twos. They flitter through the yard, or across the road while we are driving, and before we can gather to look, they are gone. On the move. They’ve got things to do and places to be.

Sometimes those things to do are laying eggs. We know this because our neighbor has much milkweed in her yard and we’ve seen monarch bodies in the wood chips. We’ve learned that after they lay their eggs, they die. We even took one in for the night, her wings shuttering in the almost freezing temps, thinking that maybe she wasn’t on the edge of expiring. But she was. And that was okay, because we did our best to make her comfortable–
we gave her a warm place to be for her last night–and because we knew that next spring her eggs would hatch and her baby caterpillars would eat and spin cocoons and turn into butterflies and the migration would begin anew with many new sets of wings. We are starting to see that all exists within cycles.

We know well what’s next in the cycle of the calendar: Pig Party Season, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the winter holidays. We love this time of year and we anticipate the cooler temperatures, the changing leaves (which we’ve already seen this past two weeks visiting the mountains for a fall festival at Copper Mountain), and the earlier nights (which we are anticipating because we’ve got our first ever Night Games scheduled with friends in a few weeks). But, as always, within the cycle of what we’re expecting, something unexpected always falls.

Isaac found a vole in the yard a few days ago. She was alive but confused, she was not underground, and she did not try to hide from Isaac or from us. We caught her in some tupperware and we placed her into another vole hole in the yard. But she didn’t stay there. She came back above ground and slept out in the open for most of the afternoon. Tessa named the vole Abnorma Diggerly, and Mom explained to us that Abnorma was acting sick or poisoned or drunk. She wasn’t acting like a healthy vole. And if Abnorma wasn’t healthy, she would probably die. So Mom prepared us for Abnorma’s early end. But this was the very day after our butterfly friend expired in the kitchen, and Riley cried at the thought that the universe was sending animals to our house to die, so we all kept our fingers crossed. We let Abnorma hang out where she wanted to be, but we kept a close eye on her. And after a lengthy nap, Abnorma woke up and got to work. She dug. And dug. And dug. And while she dug, she let us watch.

We saw how she used her huge front paws to tear into the packed earth and how she anchored her little body in her ever expanding tunnel while she dug deeper and how she pushed the extra dirt out the front of her hole. And, finally, when her tunnel was so deep and so long that we couldn’t see her, she came to the mouth of the tunnel one last time. She hung out while we got very close to her and watched her fat nose twitch and took a last look at her long nails, and then she closed her front door and we wished her well as she went on her way.

Tessa thought that maybe the universe didn’t send Abnorma to us to die, but instead the universe sent Abnorma to us to make better. When we first put her into another vole hole, the hole she didn’t remain in for very long, she had a little snack. She ate some of the tree root in the hole. We watched her do it. Tessa thought that maybe that was all she needed to get better from whatever was making her sick. That same tree, after all, is the tree we hug when we are angry or sad or feeling sick ourselves and it always, always makes us feel better. So why, Tessa thought, wouldn’t it also help Abnorma? Whatever Abnorma had going on, we are glad to think that Abnorma is digging deep tunnels in the yard, deep enough to keep her warm till the long winter months end and she emerges from her tunnel just as Ms. Butterfly’s children emerge from their eggs.

We will be watching for all of our animal friends from now until next Spring. But first, Riley will turn 8! And Emmett will turn 9! And Tessa will turn 7! So, although we move with the changing seasons, and even if we anticipate what’s coming, there is much fun that will punctuate the wheel as it turns, much fun, and we eagerly await each day’s arrival.

It was a whirlwind. Camps, camps, and more camps. We had Museum of Nature and Science Camp (Emmett’s favorite, by far, and a close second for Tessa), Ceramics Camp (Tessa’s favorite), Mad Science and yoga camp, and Steve and Kate’s Camp (Riley’s favorite). Between all of our camps, we did everything from play chess to work on yoga asana to learn what’s in our stomachs. Little Man got to hang out with Mommy and build Legos and go to the Botanic Gardens and discover new parks. His favorite part was building Lego Bionicle robots and getting a baby stuffed chicken to play with. We were all very busy. And, to cap the summer off, we went camping and watched the eclipse! At our campsite, found and caught two baby horn tailed lizards (which we named Squishy and Speedster), saw a jackrabbit, heard wild horses in the middle of the night, and did some amazing general adventuring. Also, we saw the sun go out! At which point, we wished on the one star that came out. It was the first time we’ve ever wished upon a star smack-dab in the middle of the day, and it was a fantastic and impressive end to three months of busy-ness. But we weren’t expecting summer to last forever, and, in fact, now that it’s reaching its tail end, we’re looking forward to the best season of the year: Fall!

We started school today. Yes, school. Our one-day-a-week extracurricular school. And we got all the classes we wanted, including Lego Storytelling and Robotics and Drama and PE, so we are all very happy. (Actually, Asher didn’t get the classes he wanted because he really wanted class. He wants to be in kindergarten very badly. He asks for homework when the big kids do their work (but then loses interest quickly when faced with a pencil and some paper). And he always, always wants to be a part of whatever they are doing, often getting super upset when he’s told that he’s just not quite old enough yet. But his school days are right around the corner, even if a year seems like quite some time from now. And he’s already getting to take part in way more things, like art classes and swim classes.)

In addition to our school, we’ve got weekly swim lessons (including Asher), reading and writing tutor, guitar and voice lessons, and art and/or craftsman stuff (the art classes include Little Man, too). We’re still skateboarding, but not every week. And we’ve got some more camping trips planned already. So, although summer’s over, we’ve still got some great stuff to look forward to. Not the least of which is Pig Party Season. Beginning a scant two months from now, Birthday Season kicks off with Riley’s eighth bday. He’s already asked to go to the Broncos game with Dad and Emmett (just the Eights, as he calls it), but he’s also asked to see the Dracula ballet, so he’ll do that too. After that will soon be Emmett’s ninth bday, his own trip to the ballet for the Nutcracker (and then again next year for Romeo and Juliet, which he’s been looking forward to for at least six months already). Then T’s bday, and this time next year, Little Man’s again. The fantastic-ness never ends…

So check back in soon to see how we’re settling into a more regular routine (this summer was nuts!), and getting ready for Riley’s bday and Halloween. We’re already kicking around many, many costume ideas. All awesome. We’ll see which choices win out in the end.

Ta-ta for now!
The Pigs