back in the saddle

We headed up to Eldora today, our first time on the slopes this season.  Shane was SO nice and stayed with Micah and Haven at the car while Sage and I skied for a nice long spell.  Sage is pretty pro, her mama on the other hand, not so much.  I was proud of myself just for making it down every run without falling.  But I do believe that this old dog can learn new tricks so I'll keep on going back, with my daughter in tow to coach me down the mountain.

traveling days are done

Brace face

Sage and I have been traveling to LA every 6 weeks or so since October for her orthodontist appointments. Yes it's a long way to travel and yes it's exhausting (there and back in 1 day) but the results are worth it. And yes Dr. Hang is a pretty special ortho, one of only a handful of guys in the country who use unconventional treatment methods i.e. widen upper jaw, move lower jaw forward...exclusively on kiddos ages 4-11.  This time Sage had her braces and expanser removed and got a retainer.  next visit she gets a big old appliance that postures her jaw forward.

Our travel day goes something like this: Wake up very early (between 4-5 AM), walk to bus stop (1/2 mile), ride bus 1 hour to airport, hop on plane to LAX for 2.5 hour flight. Take shuttle to rental car, pick up rental car, drive 1 hour to Thousand Oaks, go to appointment (1/2-1 hr), grab a smoothie and some goodies at Trader Joe's, drive back to LA, drop off rental, take shuttle back to airport, hop on plane and back home. Catch bus back to Boulder.

Phew! Long day. In spite of the long travel days I sure love getting Sage all to myself for a day.  And Shane is wonderful and has Micah without any break...tiring on Micah's hard days.

We ordered up a perfect day...not a cloud in the sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well this week our trip was 2 days long since she had to wait for a new appliance being made. It sure felt leisurely compared to the usual trip. We had time to go to Malibu and soak up the sun, eat at In-N-Out (mmmmm) and spend the night with a friend who lives right by LAX (thanks J!).

This mama's travel days are over.  Shane will take over for the next six months or so of treatment.

Down we went to the beach

six.

Ready to make a wish.


Dinner.

Sage turned 6 last Sunday. We tried to make it a fun day (inspite of being Sunday). In the morning she enjoyed fresh mangoes and waffles. For lunch her favorite pizza from Nick 'n' Willy's for lunch--the Big Kahuna--canadian bacon, pineapple and mandarins. Don't worry Mom we bought it on Saturday. For dinner: hamburgers, fried potatoes and no salad...we let her off the hook on her berfday. And chocolate cake with pink sour cream frosting 'cause mama forgot to get cream cheese and we had to improvise. It was a hideous cake but it tasted good going down and that's what counts.

And she opened some EXCITING presents....a chiropractic pillow to make sure her sleep posture is good, books and gummi vites. We're fun like that.


Donuts.

Then on Tuesday I went to her class to celebrate. She and I made baked mini-donuts for the kiddos. They had to be gluten-free and dairy free. When the time came to pass the treat out the student teacher double checked the treat. Gluten-free? Yep. Dairy free? Yep. Egg-free? Sheesh...nope. The one lone non-egg eating kid got to have rice crackers instead.

A few things about our six-year-old:

• When she earns money by working at Shane's office or receives a gift or her weekly allowance her first question is, "How much tithing do I pay?"
• She loves to make Micah laugh and the sound of them laughing together is magic.
• She's great at rolling with the punches.
• When I call her down from upstairs her immediate reply is, "Coming," or "I'll be right there." And then quick as a wink she's at my side. I sure love that.
• She loves to help: cooking, washing dishes, peeling pears (for Micah), watching Micah...she does anything and everything. I always say that I couldn't get through this time without her.

Date with Daddy.

Off they go...

Sage got her birthday present early this year...a trip with Shane to see Cirque du Soleil's current show, Allegria. It's a mishmash of dancers, contortionists, clowns and acrobats, beautiful music and spectacular stunts. They had a wonderful time together. Shane said Sage laughed hysterically at the clowns...wish I could have seen that. They returned home with a DVD of the show so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of Allegria this year.

Months back Sage and Shane somehow stumbled upon the theme song from Allegria and they've been learning it every since (it's in English, Spanish and Portuguese). Cute to hear Sage walking around singing it.

We hope this is the first of many shows with Sage. We promised that for her 8th birthday we'll take her to see Phantom in NYC. Can't wait for that!

A perfect Saturday.

Riding the bus back from the lodge. Micah decided that dirty bus seat
tasted better than anything the lodge had to offer.

Shane here. I don't often write in the blog, so you know if I do, it's gotta be something special. One of my best memories of growing up is skiing at Lake Tahoe. Living in Boulder, we've joined the rest of the town and bought season passes to El Dora, a resort 30 minutes from our house. Sage is a good athlete, but had never skied before last month. She spent the first 3 days holding onto my hand or pole as we went down the hill. There were mostly happy times, but a few tears came after hard falls, cold weather, and getting frustrated.

I bribed Sage with a $10 bill if she was able to make it down the bunny slope all by herself and lunch at the lodge if she could make it down the green hill one lift over. Two Saturdays ago, she was so close, but didn't quite make it. Once going down the hill that day, she tried to negotiate with me. If she skied down just half of the hill, could we go to the lodge for lunch? I told her that I had high standards and that only when she skied down the whole hill, including getting off the chair lift and not falling while skiing and not touching me at all, then she'd get lunch. While laying in the snow after falling, she was cold and started crying, and said, "I don't like standards."

I knew that this past Saturday she was going to do it; the weather was warmer and we were up there early. On the 2nd or 3rd run, Sage did it! It was one of the happier moments for me as a dad. We went over to the next hill and she went down that one on her own as well. The next 5 runs, she was totally on her own, even asking if she can could on the chair lift by herself. She earned her rewards.

After Sage and I finished, we went back to the car where Alicia and Micah were hanging out. It was Alicia's turn to ski with Sage. From where we parked, I was able to see both of them as they skied down. I was relieved that every time Sage make it to the bottom she would patiently wait for Alicia. Sage taught Alicia everything that she knows and they both did well.

Compared to other kids in Boulder, Sage is getting a late start in skiing, but I have a feeling that she's going to pass many of them soon. Check out the video and you'll see that she looks like a natural. Even started using her poles and doing really great!!!

Micah, you're next...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now it's Alicia. I just love seeing Shane be the proud papa....he's not one to brag about our kiddos but he sure is proud of Sage. Skiing was lots of fun last week. Sage and I got in 6 runs together. She was coaching me all the way up on the lift and even on the mountain, "Great job Mom!" and "I can hold your hand if you want."

By the way, we did eat at the lodge that day. Local ski resort is code for cruddy lodge...the food brought back memories of my elementary school cafeteria. We had a snack there and then went to Sage's favorite place for dinner, Larkburger. Mmmm...truffle (as in mushroom) burgers and truffle parmesan fries. Yum.

Santa came early this year.

Ready to roll.

Generous old man that he his he brought us ski equipment, a rack for the car and season passes to Eldora, the resort in town. The season began 2 weeks ago and Shane and Sage have been up 3 times now.


Riding the chair lift for the first time.

Sage's first day out the bunny slopes were closed so they went straight to the green runs and hopped on the chair lift. Boo and I sat by the lift and watched Sage and Shane on their first run together. Needless to say it took a long time and many spills to make it down the mountain. After that Micah and I went on a walk then headed to the car for some lunch and snuggles in the open trunk. The skiers joined us later for some grub then back to the mountain.



It was a nice day for everyone. Micah napped in the car after lunch and I dozed a bit and by the end of the day Shane and Sage managed to squeeze in more than dozen runs! On the way home as Sage snoozed Shane told me that she did really well. She loved going fast and had no fear and never fell again after that first run. She'll be coming down on her own in no time.

Worker Bee

Trimming the grapes

Sage is a good little worker. Each day she empties all the trash cans in the house, unloads utensils, cleans her room up, clears the table and once a week she rolls the big huge trashcans in at the end of trash day. We are glad she is learning to work BUT lately her attitude hasn't been so hot. In an effort to help her work cheerfully I taught her "Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel." I explained what shirking means and how we never want to shirk what needs to be done. She loves the song and I often hear her singing the chorus as she goes about her chores:

Put your shoulder to the wheel push along,
Do your duty with a heart full of song.
We all have work let no one shirk,
Put your shoulder to the wheel.

On a recent Saturday as we were all cleaning the house, Shane stepped away for a minute to check a score online. Sage saw him and quickly informed me, "Uh-oh! Daddy's shirking."

At the Boulder Creek Festival

Flying down the Super Slide



Climbing the rock wall. We promised her that if she reached the top she'd get....



Ice Cream...only the 2nd scoop of her lifetime

A Christmas Carol

We finished! Sage and I began reading Charles Dickens' classic on December 1st. I fully intended to finish by Christmas Day but we got a bit behind.

Sage's thoughts on the story:

"I loved Christmas Carol. It was so great. It's pretty scary. Bob Marley is in the story."

I think you mean Jacob Marley kiddo.

Quotable Sage

A: "Sage put your hat on."

S: "I don't need a hat...I've got all this hair on my head."

****************************************************************************************

Right now we live in a little vacation rental on a street called O'Neal Parkway. No garages in this condo complex so everyone parks on the street. A few nights ago Sage informed me,

"I know why it's called O'Neal Parkway. Because there's lots of parking space."

****************************************************************************************

I helped out in Sage's CTR class today. The teacher told a story about a boy named James who wanted to choose the right. She gave a few scenarios and asked how James could CTR. The last one: James wants to bring a pet to Primary, is that choosing the right? All the kids shook their heads no. Teacher asked why that's not choosing the right and Sage expounded,

"Because it might poop all over the place."

That's my girl.

Joy to the world!

Merry Christmas!

Ice Princess

Whoopsadasiy!

Hitting her stride

We told her we would go ice skating at 3 when Micah woke up. As soon as she heard him stirring she made a beeline for the door.

Lots of wobbles and a few crash landings at first but after an hour she was lookin' good and feeling oh so confident.

We drank hot cocoa with loads of whipped cream after. We're still not sure which part Sage loved best...the skating or the cocoa.

Climbing

We took our first CO family hike today. Cold and gorgeous.




Sage was a little mountain goat, climbing up the rocks with no fear at all.




If we hadn't seen the change in Sage with our own eyes Shane and I wouldn't believe it...she is freer and happier. Maybe it's all the fresh air and wide open spaces.



She and Shane are already planning their next climbing expedition.

Obsession

I love musicals. Stage and screen. In hopes that Sage would love them too I started her listening at a tender age. It worked...a little too well. Now this kiddo walks around singing, "Doo... doodoodoodoodoo...doodoodoodoodoo" (the Phantom's theme from Phantom of the Opera). And whenever we're in the car guess what she requests? Phantom. At home all day she asks if we can listen to Phantom or South Pacific or Singing in the Rain. And she wants to know what every song means and who's singing it and why they're singing it. How many times can I possibly explain why the Phantom loves Christine and hates her too?

Darn my brilliant ideas.

Jelly Belly

Can't show you the current state of the belly but here it is with 10.5 lbs of Micah in it

I was pumping the other day, tummy fully exposed, when Sage came along,

"Your tummy is fat mama!"

Yep. The cold hard truth from my toddler.

Halloween

One little punkin and a cowgirl (who was oft mistaken for a cowboy--poor kiddo).

Total cost? Nada.

Shirt, hat, bandana and pumpkin costume: borrowed

Vest: I turned a paper sack inside out, cut out a pattern and stapled the pieces together. Then I soaked it in water, crumpled it in a ball and let it dry in the sun to give it a weathered leather look.

And in the grand tradition of the S. family Sage carried a pillowcase to stash her candy in.

Yeehaw!































Shane was out of town in Colorado. He missed seeing our kiddos all dressed up but he did catch a Halloween parade. Here's our favorite costume from that night:
























P.S. Pretty sure that name tag says "Brother Locos" as in in "Brother Crazy." Ha! He's loco if he doesn't know that he's holding a treasure in his hands.

Like Mother Like Daughter

Sage wanted to try pumping.

Dreamin'

At dinner recently we were discussing our dream to someday have land and animals.

Sage piped in:

"I'll have sooo many chores. I'll get the eggs from the chickens and the milk from the cows and the bacon from the pigs."

Conference Fun

Yay for Conference weekend! I love hearing the wisdom and counsel of our prophet and apostles. Since there's no cable 'round this house we head to the church to watch Conference. How do we get Sage to sit quietly? She has pictures (see above) laid out next to her on a pew. Every time she hears the word pictured she gets to choose a small treat from a bowl.

She has been SO excited about Conference because she knows that for 8 hours she'll get unlimited snacking on treats. Lucky girl.

The goodies

It's a Hard Knock Life

Micah here. Let me tell you, it's ruff (with a capital R) being the baby around here. I have this big sister who's always mugging on me...smothering me with kisses and cooing over my cuteness. Mom says Sage adores me and she means well...I'll let you decide for yourself.

Exhibit A
She is constantly taking my picture. When Mommy uploads photos she finds dozens of blurry pictures and videos of me doing nothing.

Exhibit B
She adjusts me...scary! Check out the look of terror on my face.
I'd like to leave the adjustments to the professional around the house, thank you very much.

Exhibit C
She builds tents and makes me join her inside.

Mom says that some day we'll be best friends and play together all day.

Even though I like to complain about big sis I can't wait for that day.

Just don't tell Sage.