1 Month

Tomorrow is December 1st! Can't believe we only have one more month of 2011. Seems like this year has flown by so fast! Cayle has grown an unbelievable amount, and is learning so amazingly quickly! There is a new baby now growing in my wife's belly that we are so incredibly excited about. I will be 31 in a few weeks.. yikes!!! Gettin old! I am in a completely different situation at work than I was one year ago, and absolutely loving it! Life is good! This year has been a great one for so many different reasons. 1 more month to continue making this a great year!

IL Basketball

I got so frustrated watching last year's basketball team. There was loads of talent, but they were consistently lacking on the effort end. I would much rather watch a team play with lots of effort and not have the talent. Of course it's always nice when they do have the talent to match the effort. That's when you get the teams like Kentucky, N.C, Duke, and Kansas. Talent and effort.

The good thing is that this year's IL team has the talent and play with the effort. The only thing that may be holding them back is some immaturity/lack of confidence which will result in some bad choices. That being said, I would much rather see a team play aggressive and make some mistakes, than a lazy team. Excited about the season after tonight's win vs. Maryland in the Big Ten/ACC challenge!

Cayle went to spend the afternoon with some friends, as his regular sitter was unavailable. They had a little basketball hoop set up. Apparently Cayle shot baskets all afternoon.... :-) It makes me laugh!

Back to work

First day back to school went as smoothly as could be expected. 3 weeks, (15 days,) till Christmas break. We can do that... :-)

Cayle did fantastic at the pool this morning!!! Our best trip in a while. He was sliding, splashing, and just figured out today that with the weightless effect of the water, he can jump a bit. Several times he fell over forward in the 3 feet deep water. He would then flounder for a bit before I would help him up, but he continued to jump and splash! He even interacted with Macklin a little bit. This is the first time this has ever happened. He tried to splash with him a bit, and played with the ball with Mack a little bit. He was just having a ton of fun! There were several weeks where he really struggled and acted like he wanted nothing to do with the water, then 2 weeks ago he did a little better, just spending the entire time on the slide, then today he was all over the place. Hopefully that continues, as it is much more fun playing with him in the pool when he really enjoys it and is not afraid to get wet and go underwater once in a while.

A Grateful 9 days

We have had 9 days off work. Two of the days were furlough days (we lost 1.5% of our salaries this year, and have an additional furlough day January 2). Although the pay cut wasn't much appreciated, the past 9 days with my boys have been exactly what we needed :)

We spent the first few days hanging out here at the house, getting ready for Thanksgiving and relaxing. Cayle had a chance to play in the snow a little bit (small snowstorm). He's getting more used to snow, but is a bit scared of it!
On our way to Colorado Springs on Wednesday, we had a pit-stop at the Dr's office to have our ultrasound. Cayle enjoyed seeing the baby, and kept on saying, "mommy, daddy, baby" over and over again. We didn't get many good profile shots of the baby because it is transverse (laying across me, not up and down). But we did see the baby moving lots, which I had wondered about since I haven't felt it moving much at all. The dr called later on Wednesday to let us know the ultrasound looked good, and the baby has all the working parts it needs!

We had a really good time spending Thanksgiving with Ronnie, Michelle, Ethan, Lexi, and Michelle's parents - Ron and Marge. The meal was a big success! We had some relax time after the big meal. Then we took Cayle to a park across the street from Ronnie's house where we played on the playground equipment and shot some hoops on the basketball court.
On Black Friday, we headed out for a shopping trip just after 10 am. We stopped at a bicycle shop for Cayle's new Strider. That boy loved that bike! Now we have to hide it from him for a few weeks! We also had to pick up some child safety locks from Toys R Us and figured we had waited late enough for the shopping madness to die down. WRONG! The checkout line wrapped around the entire store, which pretty much eliminated any ideas Nick and I had of picking up a basketball hoop and baby doll real quick for Cayle. We had to wait about 45 minutes in the customer service line just to pick up the locks we had already ordered and paid for. The place was a zoo! We did venture to Target and Wal-Mart later in the day. I was able to score a basketball hoop for Cayle at Wal-Mart. It's safe to say Nick and I will not be shopping on Black Friday anytime soon. The rest of Friday, Nick, Ronnie, and Ron spent time dry walling the garage so that Ronnie can heat the garage. We also had an outstanding dinner of very good Mexican!

Before we left CO Springs, we had a few family photos taken...hopefully to be used in the Christmas card!
On our way home, we stopped in Golden for pizza at Woody's. Yummy! We made a seond pit-stop on the way home at Wal-Mart, still in search of a male baby doll for Cayle. We found the last little boy doll in the store! Go us! The Thanksgiving trip must have taken more of a toll on me than I knew, because once we arrived home, we got everything put away, and then we crashed. I had wanted to start putting up the Christmas decorations, but didn't move off the couch until Nick woke me and told me it was time to move up to bed.

What a great 9 days we had! Lots of time to recover from the first few months of school. Now, only three weeks until Christmas break :)

PS - There's another blog from today under this one!

Getting Ready for Christmas!

Now that we've celebrated Thanksgiving, we're moving on to the Christmas festivities. We spent a few hours today putting up Christmas decorations. Last year, Cayle slept through much of our decorating and he didn't get into any of the "stuff" that was out. This year it's a completely different story! Cayle helped put up some decorations today, then was pretty excited to play with the "baby" in the nativity sets I put out.
We'll be going out to the forest this upcoming weekend to cut down our tree. We also have the Eagle Christmas parade and an ugly sweater party on Saturday! Lots of celebrations coming up!

It will be a busy three weeks of work, Nick's basketball season wrapping up, Christmas preparations, and packing for our trip to IL, but that will make it that much more fun :)

Bucket list!

Haven't really ever put together a complete list but.... short list off the top of my head...

24 hours of Moab - done
Ironman
Thru-hike the AT
Thru-hike the Colorado Trail from Boulder to Durango
The Manitou Incline - DONE!!!

This morning before we left The Springs I got up and headed up to do the Manitou Incline. Got started about 630, and it took about a 1/2 hour. Definitely difficult and extremely challenging and fun! Then got a good couple mile run back down the Barr Trail back to the parking lot. Back to Natalie's brothers for waffles and bacon before the drive home. Awesome start to the day, and a nice way to end a great Thanksgiving trip!View from the top.
About halfway up...
At the top!!!! That was incredible!
Sunrise at the start @ 630
View from well below the top...

So Thankful!!!

So thankful for my family! My wonderful wife, superior son, and blissful baby (who we got to see on the ultrasound yesterday!)

Natalie had her ultrasound yesterday, and we found out that she really was pregnant! Despite her not feeling pregnant at all. She had been thinking for a couple weeks now how weird it was that she never felt the baby move. Well, we found out why. The baby is laying in the transverse plane... laying horizontal across her belly with the placenta facing her belly button. In which case the placenta absorbs all the movement and she feels nothing. We found out though on the ultrasound that the baby is moving bunches! The ultrasound tech let us know that the baby has everything he/she needs and looks to be healthy! So exciting to see, and Cayle actually seemed interested and kept saying, "mommy, baby, mommy, baby, daddy, mommy, baby..."

Got down to CO Springs yesterday to spend the holiday with Natalie's brother and his family. Spent the day hanging out and planning for the big day. Today Natalie spent the morning slaving away in the kitchen to prepare our awesome meal with the help of her little brother Ronald. It all turned out fantastic. Had all the staples plus some... green bean casserole, jello, turkey, stuffing, mashed and sweet potatoes, wine, gravy, cookies, and pie... apple and pumpkin! Spent a bit of time outside this afternoon, and laying on the couch and watching football and drifting in and out of sleep.... :-) Very filling and relaxing!

Cayle is loving it here! There are so many toys to play with! He really just loves the basketball hoop though! He has shot hundreds of baskets today... he just focuses in and doesn't stop... it's kinda freaky really how focused he is on making baskets... Reminds me of his uncle Bob with his ability to focus on one thing until he has it mastered. Definitely doesn't get that from me... Thinking Santa may have to bring him a basketball hoop...On the agenda for tomorrow: Just a little bit of shopping and not sure what else? Nothing crazy though that's for sure!

4th Day

Got out for a bike ride today! 45 degrees and sunny. Did the cart path loop on the golf course. My first actual bike ride since Oct. 23rd!!! Felt great to get out, and Cayle loved his ride in the Chariot too! Got to watch the Illini pick up the win in basketball tonight. Great day! Off to Co Springs for Thanksgiving in the morning after Natalie's ultrasound. Hoping to climb The Incline while we are down there...

Day #3

We took Cayle to the Doctor this morning for his 18 mo. appointment. Doc said he is doing great! (We already knew that...) He is 34 1/4" long and 23 pounds. This put him in the 95th %tile for height/length, and 20th %tile for weight... As my mom says, "he just has a big ol' belly, but he's definitely not heavy or anything!" It's true. He eats a ton! He has a huge belly! Especially after he eats a bunch, but the rest of him is pretty skinny I guess. It's funny because I always think his thighs look big.... We went to Glenwood today after his nap for hair cuts (Natalie and Cayle.) He looks so much older when he gets his hair cut! He looks really good! I like it short better!

Day #2

Cayle went to bed before 6 last night and slept all night. He has a cold/runny nose and cough, so the sleep was surely good for him! We gave him a steam bath this morning when he woke up.

We were a lot more productive today. We made it to church at 830, then headed up valley to Wal-Mart for some groceries and errands. We made it home by early afternoon to get Cayle his afternoon nap, then Natalie and I made sugar cookies... well, Natalie made sugar cookies, and I offered "advice..." :-)

No more snow today, but it was super foggy when we woke up. Couch and tv time this evening. Super relaxing break so far!

One Year!!!

I wrote about the local brewery almost a year ago when we went for my birthday.

Today they had their 1 year anniversary celebration. They had a full day of celebrations planned, but I just met our neighbor there for the free keg from 12-1. It was fantastic! Love having a local brewery! So nice to be able to head over for a drink and some bar games or just to sip and relax! Can't believe how fast they have grown, and can't believe they have already been open for a whole year! Looking forward to many more annual celebrations!

Snow!!!

It snowed most of today. Our first real snow! ...still only got about 2".... Cayle enjoyed it though. We got him all dressed up in his snowsuit, hat, gloves, boots, and all, and he played for about 5 minutes before he was ready to go back in... :) He enjoyed it while he was in it though! I will upload a pic tomorrow.

Time Management....

Obviously never learned much about time management growing up (the time before I graduated high school.) I mean, for the most of my life during that time period, I woke up, went to school, sports practice, and then came home and did homework. During High School, the only change in that was going to work some days after school, and on Saturdays, and summers. But even with all that routine, I always had as much time as I ever could have wanted to do the things I wanted to do. I honestly believe this was partly because my parents didn't have T.V. (cable), so I was able to spend TONS of time outside! I spent countless hours just exploring in the woods, riding my motorcycle, or hunting.

Obviously, not much time management is learned in college, or not by me anyway... I went to class (most days) did most of my homework, and worked 10-15 hours a week at Jimmy Johns. Despite all this, and this is why college life is so great, I rarely had to manage my time wisely in order to get what I wanted. I still had TONS of time to sleep, party, workout, play video games, play intramurals, and lay on the couch.

Fast forward to today... The ability to manage my time wisely to get what I want, and still help my family function properly is my greatest challenge. Now time management has much greater implications on my daily routines. If I manage my time wisely, I usually am able to work out with Cayle in the mornings before school. Go for a run or a bike ride, or x-country skiing, or something of the sort for an hour or so. If I don't manage my time wisely, the physical activity is the first thing that gets lost in favor of the daily chores. If I manage my time wisely, I easily have plenty of time to get things done, and still have time for myself.

Basically I think it comes down to motivation as I wrote about in an earlier post. If I really want something on any given day, I am more likely to get the chores done, if I don't really care, then things don't get done as quickly.

I am trying to be more like my wife in this aspect. As far as chores and professional responsibilities go, she is one of the best time managers I know. :-) She is a good role model for me!

Coaching

Basketball has been going great. It's so much fun working with the 7th graders in that aspect again. I missed it more than I had realized. I have a team that runs 1o deep with talent. They lack size and belief in themselves.

We had a big test tonight against Eagle Valley Middle School, who also happens to be our biggest rival! We were coming off a 3 game win streak and starting to believe in ourselves a bit, but I knew my kids didn't truly believe they could win tonight. They believed that they really wanted to win, but the confidence just wasn't there. We played great the first half and 3rd quarter. We held our composure until 4 minutes to go in the 4th quarter. We were up by 3, then gave up 3 easy layups, and turned the ball over on two consecutive trips. We lost by 10.

The kids were pretty disappointed, as was I. I was more disappointed for them because I believe they are the better team. I have to try to get them to believe in themselves more... Of course, it never helps when you go 13/30 from the free throw line.... ouch...

A week off for Thanksgiving break. Time for some rest and family time! Looking forward to spending lots of time with Natalie and Cayle, and Natalie's brother's family in CO Springs!

A busy and productive weekend!

Nick and I received an email Friday afternoon from his sister, Anne Marie, letting us know she was in Denver for the weekend. So, we quickly packed our bags after school on Friday, asked our neighbors to watch the dogs, and headed down to Denver for the weekend. We arrived at Luke and Jodi's house in Highlands Ranch about 830 on Friday night. They were out of town, so we set up Cayle's pack-and-play, put him to bed, and headed off to bed ourselves.

We got up early Saturday morning and drove to Golden to pick up Anne Marie and head out for a yummy breakfast at IHOP. We had a good time chatting and visiting with her! After we dropped Anne Marie off, we went to a bike store in Aurora to pick up a bike for Nick's dad. Cayle had an awesome time riding the bikes there. We're pretty sure Santa is going to have to get him a Stryder for Christmas!
We also got new tires and stopped at the mall for some things we had been waiting to get: a new baby book, some new jeans for Nick, and some safety door locks to keep Cayle from getting in certain places. Saturday night was spent with Luke, Jodi, and Nathan once they got back from the airport. Cayle and Nathan had lots of fun playing together!

This morning we got up and had breakfast and let the boys play together a bit before heading back home. Good thing we got new tires - we had a chance to try them out today in a winter storm. It's good to get lots of things taken care of, but it's also good to be home :)

This is our last week of work before Thanksgiving break. Nick has three basketball games this week, so it will be busy. But once the week is over, we will have 9 wonderful days off work!

Cayle at School

Cayle's babysitters little girl was sick today, so I ended up staying home with him. I went up to school just before noon to get my sub plans prepared. After, I decided to take Cayle to see Mommy. I went into the room opposite hers, and then let him go, and stayed out of view. He walked into her classroom and really loudly said MOMMY!!! then took off running to her in the middle of her class! She loved it, and he was really excited to see her and the kids all thought it was really cute! (It was in the last 5 minutes of class anyway.) He's always so excited to see us, kinda makes you feel warm and fuzzy... :-)

Trying to tell me something???

The neighbor/Cayle's sitter has a toy that looks something like what you see above. But it's some kind of animal, a horse or lion or something. Anyway, not sure he plays with it that much. But it's kinda funny because whenever I drop him off or pick him up, he runs to the tricycle and hops on and pushes himself around the room. They have a wood floor. He goes crazy on it, then he looks up at me and laughs, as if he's looking for approval. It's cool to see that he likes it so much, and that he is pushing himself around on it like he is.

Tells me that he will be ready for a strider by the time spring rolls around!

Ran

Did it... did some kind of physical activity again... the first time in about 3 weeks. Oddly enough though, despite all the eating and laying around I have been doing, haven't gained but a couple of pounds. Ran to the rec center this morning with Cayle, swam/played in the kiddie pool for 45 minutes, ran to the grocery store for donuts, then ran home. Cold out, but felt pretty good. Cayle had so much donut glaze on his face when we got home. I think he was actually falling asleep while he was eating his donut. He was a mess! Sometimes I think he likes to go to the rec center just because then he knows he will get a donut after. He likes the donut more than the swimming!

Feeling better

After being super sick yesterday, (he just laid in mommy's arms all day,) he was feeling quite a bit better today. He continued to improve as the day went on. He is now eating normal and playing great! Not good that he got sick, but it was nice that it happened to be over a cold, nasty weekend, when it was nice to sit inside and take care of our sick little boy.

I just found out today that the official start to winter doesn't begin until the 22nd of December...and here I always thought I was born in the winter...(12/19) but really I was born late fall... :-( But that being said, it sure does seem like winter outside. For the past week, it has been super cold... highs in the low 40's, lows in the low teens, snowy, windy, and just plain nasty. Can't wait for April/May to come back, but in the meantime, will put on a smile and get out on the snowshoes and x-country ski's! I think Cayle will really enjoy the snow this year!

Like a Jigsaw Puzzle

What do Middle School basketball and a Jigsaw puzzle have in common?

Specifically, I'm not really that sure, but it occurred to me after our loss today over in Frisco against Summit Middle School that coaching a bunch of 7th graders to play effective basketball is kind of like solving a tricky jigsaw puzzle. Allow me to explain....

First of all... about my team. We don't have much height, but run 6 deep on strong talent, and the other 4 on the A team are solid. We practice well, but fall apart in games.

1. We turn the ball over WAY too much.
2. We struggle to break a press.
3. We struggle to run our zone offense.
4. We struggle with boxing out when rebounding.
5. We forget in-bounds plays randomly.
6. We make too many stupid mistakes.
7. Most importantly we SOMETIMES play hard.

So while we have anywhere from 2-3 games a week, we have to work on all these things at the same time while trying to win basketball games, and still have FUN doing so.... It's like trying to put the puzzle pieces together to make the picture. Once the big pieces start to fall into place and the little pieces follow, we will be a pretty dang good team!

I offered sodas for rebounding today, that seemed to help a bit, now how to solve the other pieces of the the puzzle????

On another note... Cayle is super sick today :-( Just laying around and sleeping all day, fever and no energy. At least it happened on a weekend!

Motivation

Motivation: is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic.

It's such a tricky beast! Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don't. Most of the time during the bike racing season, I have it... big time.... sometimes though, I lose it... When the mountain bike racing season was over this year (Aug. 17th,) I decided I wanted to run a sub 6 mile at school with the kids. I was able to stay extremely motivated and knocked out that goal, then when dad asked if I wanted to bike race in Missouri in October, I was able to find the motivation again to train 3 weeks for that... But even keeping the motivation for that was tricky. After my major goal of the season, the mountain bike series, I always have some down time of laziness and low motivation. I had not really had that yet this year, since I started running hard about a week after the mountain bike series.

Now what brings this topic up? It is now November 4th and I haven't ran, or done anything physical other than riding my bike the 3 miles home from work since October 23rd... I haven't done anything except eat... lots!!! And struggling to find the motivation to get started with anything.

It's a good sign though, I have been getting antsy the last couple of days to get out and do something. Run or x-country ski or something. But that's at least the first step, feeling like I should get out and do something.

Until then, I am motivated to figure out a way to get my 7th grade basketball kids to start playing better. We have the talent, but lack good game time decision making skills.

Baby!!!

Last week Natalie taught Cayle... or tried to teach him..... that there was a baby in her belly. Not sure if he got it, not that we expected him to or anything. The funny thing is that now he walks around the house pointing at HIS belly and saying.. "baby, baby, baby." Guess he thinks that he has a baby in his belly.... could be interesting!

He got his first bloody nose today. He was walking around the house with a blanket on his head, and ran into the wall. Blood started squirting out and he was screaming! Luckily with daddy's calming hand, we were able to get it stopped, and him settled down... :-)