High School

This is the kind of pictures I get from other parents of my son!!!  At least he's got a sense of humor and is having fun huh?

We went to freshmen orientation today and although we stood in 3 different lines for over an hour we still had fun with it.  I was able to open his locker on the first try, yep - I've still got it :)

He almost died when I asked him to take this picture with me.  We actually had to wait until the hall cleared!  I can't believe he starts high school next week.  Boo hoo!

To the dentist!

Pax went to the dentist for the first time!  The office was fantastic with him, he was able to hold a stuffed animal and sit with Aidan!

Big brothers are the best!

Elitch's

We spent the day at Elitch Garden's in Denver.  It's been a long time since I was there and it was Paxton's first time ever.  We had a lot of fun!  Our very first ride was the carousel.

 

 

Then there were the motorcycles.  Pax loved these!

Here's a picture of the big guys.  We didn't see them much until they needed money.

 





The water was cold as usual but Pax loved it!  He didn't get out until his entire body was shivering.

 

Choo-Choo!  Yes, I was Pax's riding partner.

My favorite picture of them all.  He was really driving this boat!

 



Our 4th

I hope that you all had a wonderful 4th of July like we did!  We traveled up to Denver for a Rapid's game.  It was one of the few venues in Colorado that was still able to have their fireworks show.  Our drought and the fire danger stopped most of the normal events here.  But the boys and I won't argue with a reason to watch soccer!  It was Paxton's first professional game and he did it in style.  He had not one serving of Dippin Dots but two!

 

Pregame - very patriotic.

After the game (which we won 2-0) everyone is able to go down on the field for the fireworks show.  Both boys brought a friend, what a good looking group huh?

It was sold out, here's a look at how many people were there.

 

Paxton enjoyed the fireworks even though it was a really late night for us!  I loved having my entire family back together (Aidan had just returned from Oregon the night before) and spending the day with them.  They are my world!

 



Aidan's in Oregon

My child is in Oregon for USA's Regional Soccer Camp and I feel like I'm dying!  He only calls once a day and I'm missing him and everything that is going on.  This is such a weird experience for me!

Aidan is at a week long "invitation only" camp.  There are 15 boys from Colorado there with about 200 total from twelve different states.  What an experience huh?  He's in the dorms at Linfield College in Oregon and his roommate is from Alaska!  They have daily practices, meetings, presentations and then every night there is an invitational game.  Aidan was invited to that game last night and from what I hear from another mom - he made it again tonight!!!  Wish the boy would call or text me so that I knew for sure.  See why I'm dying???

Aidan's goal is to make the Region IV soccer team for the USA and it seems like he is giving it his best shot!  I can not tell you guys how proud I am!  

Summer soccer

This past weekend we escaped to Boulder for the boy's soccer tournament and it was nice to get far away from the Black Forest fire.

Tristan's team is losing a couple of players as they venture out to different programs and high schools.  What a way to end it all - they won the tournament and they played a year older. 

Left to Right - Tristan, Sammy, Joel, Eric, and Jaylen.  Sammy is a member of the USA National Team and has already played soccer in Spain and Croatia.  Eric is moving on to the Colorado Rapids Academy program.  These two boys will be missed!

Our three musketeers!

Aidan's team made it to the semi-final but did not win. But he did win a 3v3 soccer tournament two weeks earlier!  We did a little switcheroo - the boys wore pink and the girl wore blue!

Three weeks ago

Before Pax had a cold with an ear infection and I had a throat infection...  before we all had the stomach flu...  before Pax had viral pneumonia and another ear infection and then gave me the most horrible chest cold I've ever had...  we went to the circus!

We had front row seats and it was awesome!  We couldn't spill a snow cone on the people in front of us this time.  

Paxton is an animal lover so the tigers and elephants were huge hits!

Too bad for intermissions, they've spoiled our last two shows.  When it happens, Pax thinks the show is over and is ready to go.  And when he sets his mind on something there is no other way around it.  We left the circus about 45 minutes early but had no problem getting out of the parking lot, ha!

Summer pictures

Aidan's trip and a little Pax

I found this picture online of Aidan and the two other boys from Colorado Springs who made the team that went to California last weekend.  It's a short article and if you'd like to see it click here.

He had a great time and made a lot of friends!  Their team tied the Texas team but lost to the California teams :(

I haven't shared pictures in a while so here's a few of Paxton.  Above - he's watching Mickey once he's ready for school.  Below - he's wearing Aidan's hat and looking cute!

Been way too long...

On top of finishing the school year, finishing the soccer season, Josh going back to work, me trying to keep up at work while only working half the time so that I can take care of the boys, I was sick!  Not only did I get some virus that attacked my throat but Pax gave me a stomach flu that Tristan and Aidan got later the same day.  It has been tough around here.

I have to share that Aidan missed his last day of school to fly to California!  He was selected to play for the State of CO at Ventura College!  Here is a part of the email that we got:

Coach Ward and his staff have been challenged with the task of selecting a team from the current player pool to attend this tournament. Those players who are listed below have been selected at this time to represent Colorado in the ’00 age group for this tournament.  Below is the list invited to participate in the PCI.

 

AIDAN BROWN

 

So not only was he selected but he was the first player listed and it was not done alphabetically!  I am so excited for him!  They have already played their first game and tied it 3-3 against Texas.  They play Southern Cali next which will be tough.

 

I hate not being there with him but Josh and I are getting some much needed yard work done and I'm trying to recover from everything in the first paragraph! 

 

State Cup Semi-Finals

I am so proud to share that both Tristan and Aidan's soccer teams will be playing tomorrow in CO's State Cup Semi-Finals!  This is the highest level of soccer for their ages.  Their teams are both underdogs for this game so it will be a challenge but I'm very excited for them.

You can watch the games online for free at www.coachesaid.com.  Tristan plays at 9:00 a.m. Mountain time.  His game is Pride Predator 99 Boys vs. Rush Nike on field 21.  He's #8.  Aidan's game is at 11:45 a.m. Mountain time on field 18.  His game is Pride Predator 00 Boys vs Real National and he's #15.

Who knows - you might even see me going crazy on the sideline!

Pax's Post-op

No one likes to be woken up early to go to a strange place with lots of strange people.  He had no idea what was going on and that was a good thing!

Here's a quick picture before they put him under.  I made Josh go into the operating room with him, I've done that before and would prefer to never do that again.

Pax's surgery was only about 30-40 minutes long and he came out of anesthesia like an angel!  So sweet!  He has amazed me with how well he's done the past few days.  He started walking after only 4 hours!  He's had very little pain and even went to school today.

I can not wait until the bandages come off Friday and we can see his new toes!

Surgery

Paxton is having his toe surgery tomorrow at 7:00 a.m.  Please keep him in your prayers! 

See that third little piggie?  His doctor is going to cut the tendons (both feet are identical) so that his toes will straighten and then his fourth toes should straighten up also instead of curving around. 

He is getting over another cold but our pediatrician put him on antibiotics Monday so that he might clear up before tomorrow.  Hope so - that would stink to go in at 6:30 am just to be told that it's canceled. 

Will try to update again this weekend if possible!  It will all depend on how he handles everything.

Our first show!!

Finally a show came to town that I could take Paxton to!  Disney on Ice!  We had great seats until about 5 minutes before the show started when I discovered we were in the wrong section - oops!  Right row, right seat numbers but wrong section.  Bummer too because in 111 we didn't have anyone in front of us but in 112 there were.  You'll find out below why that was unlucky...

Look at how excited he is!  Love the cup placement too.  That came to bite us in the end with his snowcone though.  Hint, hint!

Ready for the show with his Mickey ears on!

Here's that dreaded snowcone that I bought!  He put it up on the ledge once he was done (had only eaten a few bites) and ended up knocking it over and spilling it all onto the people sitting in front of us.  Very embarrassing!  They were nice about it but let's face it, a red snowcone on a white shirt?  I felt horrible.

This is how close we were to the ice!  Even in the right section :-)

It was a late night for us but Paxton loved his first show and I can not wait to take him to another!  Minus the snowcone from now on.

The Stanley Hotel

The boys also went to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO during Spring Break.  This is the hotel that The Shining with Jack Nicholson was filmed.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the gang!  They stayed in a "haunted room" and took the Night Ghost Tour.

 

Got to love the Pet Cemetery.

 

The famous room 217 from the movie.  I haven't seen the movie lately and don't care too since scary movies are not my thing anymore.  I just know that 217 is extremely popular, the hotel can't keep the room number on the door because guests keep stealing it.

 

Ahh, a little memorabilia.

 

The boys stayed in room 428 - The Cowboy's room.  He was a murderer and it's one of the most active rooms at the hotel.  Needless to say the boys came home exhausted - they did not get much sleep but had a lot of fun scaring themselves.

Go USA!

I'm playing catch up from Spring Break with these next two posts!

To start our Spring Break we got the opportunity to see our USA Men's National Soccer Team play Costa Rica in Denver.  It's kind of a once in a lifetime thing unless Tristan or Aidan decide to make the National team ;)

Being Spring Break and all we did not expect a major snow storm!  The game started as scheduled though so we were there!

Here's a look at the field when the game started.  They cleared the field at halftime and it was covered again by the time we left.

These guys are troopers!  It was so cold and we only made it to the 75th minute when then we could no longer feel our feet.  But USA won and we made it home safely so all in all I'm so glad that we had that experience!

Aidan's update

We are all completely shocked but Aidan is NOT growth hormone deficient.  He barely passed the testing, a 10.9 when he needed a 10 for a pass.  So it's a pass and a label of "severe growth delay" which stinks because there isn't a treatment.  Our endocrinologist does want to continue seeing him though and will follow up on his growth again this summer.

Happy Easter!

 

I'm so glad that we had these pictures from two weeks ago at our neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  (Paxton woke up Easter morning a very sick little boy.)

 

We got to meet the Easter Bunny!  Tristan is in the red hoodie, he's almost as tall as me!

 

Pax's first egg hunt and he had lots of help.

 

I have no idea what was so funny but we did have a good time.

 

I'm not too proud to post this picture of myself and Pax.  We really enjoyed their treats!

 

Happy Easter everyone!  We love you all.  (Pax is struggling with another cold, yay for daycare - NOT!)