Meanwhile...

While Erik and I were enjoying life at the Broadmoor, Luke and Paul were able to spend time with their grandparents.  I might be wrong, but I think the highlight might have been the boys' Taekwondo class on Friday morning.  All grandparents were in attendance.  They were privileged to meet Mr. Nick, our Friday instructor.  Lots of pictures were taken.  I wasn't there, but the pictures are pretty sweet.

Mr. Nick started the lesson with a really cool obstacle course.  After crawling through the tube and jumping over the red sparring cushions while carrying the ball, Mr. Nick then proceeded to attack each boy with the blue noodle.  Luke informed me that Mr. Nick also did play-by-play during the obstacle course.  He jumps!  He ducks!  He jumps!  I'm kinda sad I missed it.

Then, after jumping the three black sparring cushions, each boy weaved through the cones with the ball.  I love the look on Paul's face in this picture.

After the obstacle course, came stretching.

 The butterfly stretch.

 Done with stretching and it's time for push-ups!

The next part of the class was spent working on what our dojang calls Basic Form.  I'm fairly confident that our school invented this form in order to help beginners understand the concept of Taekwondo forms without having to learn anything too difficult.  The boys learned the first four steps for Basic Form on Friday.  I'm so jazzed because they were able to teach them to me this morning! :-)

I think that Grandma has the picture where folks are looking straight at the camera, but I had this one because Oma took my camera.  It's still a great picture.

From The Broadmoor

About four months ago, Erik's manager asked if he could put his name in to work a conference in Colorado Springs in November.  Looking at our calendars, we thought it might be the perfect opportunity to get away as a couple.  We asked if it would be possible to purchase our own plane ticket but allow me to stay with Erik in his room.  Takeda said that would be fine and they would even help us find a good price for my plane ticket on the same flights as Erik.  Lovely.  But wait, there's more.

About two months ago, Erik discovered that Takeda was going to be lodging us at the same location as the conference, The Broadmoor.  At the time this meant nothing to me.  Erik went online and did a little research.  He knew what was coming.  Me?  Clueless right up until the doorman opened the door and the most stunning lobby ever greeted my eyes.

The beauty and hospitality of this place is indescribable for me.  I grew up in the suburbs below the poverty line.  Finding myself at a five star resort is a bit surreal.  Just yesterday sitting by a roaring fire in the beautifully appointed West Tower lounge, I couldn't help but be thankful to God.  We have spent the last four days surrounded by absolute beauty and luxury.  We could never afford to be here without the generosity of Takeda, Erik's employer.  God provides more than we ask or imagine.  No joke, people.  I would NEVER think to ask for this.  I ask God for opportunities to connect with my husband, and God gives us a nearly free trip to the Broadmoor.  Wow.

Wanna see some pictures?  I've taken a few.  Let's see what I can find...

 Our room - 550 square feet of beautiful

 No fish eye lens necessary - this room is huge.

 The view from our room on the fifth floor of the Broadmoor West building

 Where we ate breakfast yesterday morning

 Hallway in the main building

 Also in the main building

 Me on the stunning marble staircase in the main building

 The lobby in our building

Real roses - you can smell this from about three feet away.

  View from the terrace looking toward Cheyenne Mountain - we stayed in the building on the right.

 Swans on the lake - lovely

 Cutest couple in the coziest spot at the Broadmoor.  This is the library.

 Erik looking scholarly in the library

 Another gorgeous fountain, this one in the main building.

The TV in the bathroom - in the mirror.  Game Day while I brush my teeth...I'm such a happy girl.

Check out is in about two hours.  Erik is working his final shift at the conference.  I'm finishing this blog post from a comfy chair in our room.  This post would be incomplete without including the quality of the staff here at the Broadmoor.  Think Disneyland without the costumes, people.  Everyone smiles at you and greets you warmly (good thing considering it was -8 the night we arrived).  Seriously though, Erik and I have spent the trip splitting every meal, a necessity because of his expense account.  Not one person has even looked askance at us.  In fact, they have gone above and beyond to serve us and make us feel welcome.  Last night at the Golden Bee, an authentic English pub, we ordered a chicken pot pie to split.  They baked two small pies in separate adorable little dishes.  That's just one example of how cool the staff is here.  As folks who could easily feel like we don't belong here, we have experienced the exact opposite.  It's been a pretty amazing trip.

Just Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year, mostly because we were able to host some folks in our home for dinner and then trick or treat together afterward.  A few weeks ago, the leaders of our Gospel Community asked if we would be willing to do this.  I thought it sounded super fun.  It was!

We had seven adults and ten kids under the age of ten.  PARTY!  We ate tacos and hit the streets for free candy.  Then we came back and ate lots of sugar.  What a great holiday.  Did I continue the Bangsund Family Tradition of buying my children's candy from them?  Yes, yes I did.  They ate three pieces a piece and were satisfied with their twenty dollar bill and dreams of new LEGO.

Here are the pics!

 Mario gets help with his gloves.

 Luigi smiles big for the camera.

 Mario ready for action!

 The whole gang!

 The brothers compare their loot.

 Mother Mouse with coffee in hand and Super Mario Brothers leading

 Best. Face. Ever.

 Cute from the back, too!

Enjoying his spoils...he ate three pieces and I bought the rest and gave it away...the smartest thing I do all year!

Flexibility

Homeschooling is hard.  Don't get me wrong.  There are moments that absolutely rock, but sometimes it is just hard.  Recently I discovered that our seat work arrangement was not working.  Both boys at one table with  me in the middle.  They were spending more time distracting each other than working on anything.  And it was making. me. crazy.  So I changed it.

Instead of having both boys at the table in the school room, I set Luke up at the dining room table with his seatwork subjects and Paul stays at the school table.  Then I walk back and forth between the two of them.  It's perfect.  They don't distract each other.  They learn patience.  And I get in more steps for my fitbit.  Latest obsession.

We were also struggling with how the schedule for the day would run.  Boys were arguing about coming to do school.  Guh.  I tend to take this personally.  I know I shouldn't, but I do.  (Sidenote:  I actually read a portion of Scripture that is helping me hugely with this...Exodus 16:8 when Moses tells the Israelites they aren't grumbling against him, but against the Lord.  Yep.  He wasn't taking it personally.  I don't need to either.)

SO...my amazingly brilliant husband came up with this idea.  What if we create a visual representation of the day so the boys know when they have free time and when they don't?  What if we make it on a whiteboard, so we can change it as needed to accommodate each day's activities?  Brilliant.  Wanna see it?

Okay, so it's not Pinterest-worthy.  I know.  That wasn't the goal.  It's functional and flexible.  And I LOVE it.  We even move it around the house so the boys can see it wherever they happen to be.  It's beautiful for many reasons.

I now schedule my workout into our day, early enough that I still have energy to do it.  No joke.  The biggest enemy of my fitness goals is the couch at two o'clock in the afternoon.  I'm drawn to it like a moth to a big, soft, comfortable flame.  But at ten o'clock in the morning?  It has NO sway, no power, no tractor-beam like qualities at all.  Knowing this about myself (because knowing is half the battle, people) I decided to take a chunk out of our morning to get the workout done.  The fitbit is only happy when I get my 10,000 steps, folks.  And I've already lost seven pounds by making this a priority.  It will continue to happen.  It works beautifully.

Another plus side to the new whiteboard schedule is the fact that we make it together at the beginning of the day while sitting at the breakfast table.  They are part of the process.  They see the day coming together and can ask questions when I'm not trying to get them out the door so we aren't late to piano lessons.  Brilliant!

Finally, the boys are also able to ask permission to do special things during the day while we set up the whiteboard each morning.  On the day of this particular board, Luke wanted to spend some time on the treadmill.  Yes, it's true.  He is nine now.  I stay with him the entire time, but I let him do it.  And he loves it.

True story:  that all started one afternoon when he was running like a madman through the house, clearly so full of excess energy that he couldn't stand it anymore.  The weather was too gross to go outside, so I said, "C'mon.  You need some time on the treadmill."  He was OVERJOYED.  He's always watching me on it.  I knew he would jump at the chance.  And it worked.  Just twenty minutes on that puppy and he was ready to sit at the dinner table and be calm.  I may never win Mother of the Year, but somebody, some day might acknowledge my efforts with the Sneakiest Mom Ever Award.  And I will accept it proudly and with honor.

So happy to be on this thing.  Wish I could love it like he does!

Musings and Pictures

October has been pretty great so far, albeit, rather full.  I'll start with some musings and get to pictures.  I promise.

Musing #1 - Freedoms I take for granted
Grandma and Grandpa are traveling in China right now.  We have been able to exchange a few emails, but they are unable to access the blog while there.  It's not because they don't have the internet.  It's because the internet they have is only through a firewall that bans Blogger.  Pausing to think that through, I became very thankful for our country.

Yes, there are things here that make me nuts.  Yes, there are things on the internet that I find revolting and untenable.  But censorship isn't the answer.  Heart issues just cannot be legislated in my opinion.  It's like when I discipline my boys for being rude to me or some other adult.  I don't want just behavior modification.  I want heart transformation.  Sticky business, folks.  And probably not the realm of government.  Um...if this is offensive to you...just know that I'm not ultra political at all, and I probably don't know what I'm talking about.  I just feel like the freedom to blog is beautiful.  And I'm grateful for it.  Right?  Okay.

Musing #2 - Why moms should do Taekwondo with their kids
Because it rocks.  We have attended four classes over the past four weeks.  It is true that last week I nearly vomited after our twenty-five minutes of calisthenics, but our 4th degree black belt instructor, Master Niranjan, said I was doing fine.  Note to self: no somersaults for me.  They make me ill.  :-/

ANYWAY, the boys think it is so cool that their mom is punching and kicking alongside them.  Seriously.  Today while doing a round of Ax Kicks, I slammed the ball of my foot down as hard as I could onto the giant sparring pad our instructor was holding, and IT FELT SO GOOD.  Did I mention that I get to yell "HI-YAH!" as loudly as possible.  This sport is perfect for moms.  Every moment of frustration you've carried through the week - HI-YAH!  Every time your kids didn't listen and you wanted to punch something - HI-YAH!  Best. Stress. Reliever. Ever.  Cheapest?  Nope.  But the best!

The boys are actually going to start going twice a week.  I am fairly confident that I would die if I tried to go twice a week, but my desire to improve (and my new fitbit) have me working out more often, including push-ups and sit-ups daily.  WHAT?!?  I know.  There's just something about knowing that there is going to be a dude on Friday at 10am expecting me to get better at this stuff.  It motivates me.  I also don't want the boys to pass me up too quickly. Right?  ;-)

And now for the pictures.  I'm sorry I don't have any from Taekwondo.  I'm too busy being awesome to take pictures.

I'll share from our trip down the Gorge to get apples a few weekends ago.

First the view from the apple farm we visit:

 I took this picture myself!  The days was perfect.

After buying LOTS of apples, none of which I photographed, we needed to kill some time before heading to a house warming party in The Dalles.  So we went to this park, just five minutes from the apple farm:

The play structure was fine, but the Daddy-Man found this stream and that is where we spent the next hour and a half.

What is it with boys and bodies of water?

 This one likes to get dirty.

I posed this picture, but I still like it.  I think it captures so much about my boy.

Click, Clack Deutsch and Taekwondo

This is becoming the Year of the Elective in our house.  Of course, we continue to study all our other subjects, but the Lord has provided a few new things as well.  I'm always reticent to add things into our day.  It can be SUPER tempting as a homeschooling mom to think that we can do it ALL.  We can't.  And when we try, we end up very grumpy and lacking in compassion for each other.  Nevermind the fact that I don't want to spend a fortune on things we won't use and just end up ditching.  So far, these additions fit our family well.  It doesn't hurt that they are fun and engaging.

We added keyboarding to our subject list when we started school in August.  In fact, the boys started keyboarding before school began.  I purchased Keyboarding Without Tears for $6.50 per student.  Thirteen dollars, people.  That's SO cheap for curriculum.  It has been a pretty big hit here.  It's usually fun and involves games they play on the computer.  Perfect fit.  They are learning to type (VERY SLOWLY) and it gives one of them something to do while I help the other with more individual subjects like language arts.

Lest you think my "Homeschooling Fail" box is empty, let me tell you about foreign language study.  I attempted to add German last year.  I bought books and workbooks.  We started going through them.  I didn't love it, and neither did they.  It didn't fit.  We ditched it after just a few weeks.  WHAT?  I taught this subject in the public schools.  I am stinkin' endorsed to teach this subject.  It was my VERY favorite subject to teach.  You would think...well...that's not how it played out in my homeschooling journey.   A vital choice that every homeschool mom makes is to let go of her expectations of herself and embrace another path when it is necessary.

This summer when I saw Rosetta Stone at 50% off, I did some research.  All the demos looked like something my boys would like.  So, I bought it.  Even at half price, it wasn't cheap by any means.  And I went whole hog and got all five levels.  I knew at the very least I wanted to brush up. I was actually the first one to try it out.  I set it to basically quiz me on each unit for Level 1.  It was easy to rip through it, but also helpful to see the types of activities it would be asking the boys to do.  Then, like most savvy moms, I didn't tell them it was time to do German on the computer.  I let them catch me playing with Rosetta Stone.

"What's that?  Can I try it?  What are those pictures about?  When can I try it?"

Yep.  I'm sneaky.  It just usually works, so I see no shame in it.  They are both about a third of the way through the first unit.  They can speak a little and understand a lot.  We are all excited for the Sunday in October when we host German students for one day.  Perhaps a wee bit of Deutsch will be spoken by my children.  Perhaps not.  No pressure.  Just fun.

Finally, yesterday was the day to add our final elective for the year.  Luke has been interested in studying some form of martial arts for a few months now.  After speaking with Dr. Lennen, the fabulous clinical psychologist whom we see with Luke, we decided to pursue this avenue of physical activity for both boys.

Do you know how many different martial arts schools there are in the Portland Metro Area?  TONS.  How do we pick one?  We prayed about it.  And then we looked at the one that was closest to our house.  I know.  Super discerning, aren't we?  It's just a truth that I am a better mom when I am not driving across town in rush hour traffic with my kids fussing in the backseat worried about being late for something.  I believe strongly that Jesus wants me to be a better mom.  I'm not saying I NEVER drive a distance for an activity.  I attend Bible Study in another city for crying in the gridlocked traffic.  I'm called to that business, and it doesn't stress me out.  But it made such good sense to check out the school closest to our house first.

The boys and I went for our introductory private lesson yesterday.  It rocked.  Did you notice the possessive pronoun in that first sentence?  Our.  Yes.  I am taking Taekwondo with the kids.  It is so much fun and a very good workout.  Our instructor is a young man who has been in the United States for ten years after having immigrated here from Nepal.  He has a black belt and has won championships in Southeast Asia.  But the best thing about him is his warm, welcoming smile.  And the fact that he's teaching my kids to say, "Yes sir" and "Yes ma'am."  For real.

He did make me do real push-ups, but we still like him. ;-)

Wanna see some pictures?

 They just received their uniforms.  They are very excited.  Yes, I know.  They need haircuts. ;-)

Luke in his uniform.  I tied that belt myself!

Living Vicariously

I've been told that some folks read blogs in order to live vicariously through the author.  I am quite confident that none of my readers want to be living my life.  If I'm wrong, I haven't been nearly honest enough on this blog.  Regardless, yesterday afternoon I was able to sort of experience the Ducks game live from Autzen.  How is this possible?  My fabulous father-in-law was able to attend and sent us pictures and texts throughout the game.  Can you, my dear reader, live vicariously through me as I live vicariously through another person?  Um...probably not...but I'm going to share the shots anyway because I wish I'd been there to take them.

 This was the first picture Grandpa sent.  Nice seats, huh?  When I told the boys that Grandpa sent the picture, they looked at it and said, "Where is he?"  Raised in the selfie culture.  Oy.  So, we requested a selfie.

Nice job, Grandpa.  You rock.

The game was gripping and we won!  But it was just as well that Grandpa was in Autzen and we weren't.  So much time is spent running and jumping while watching football in our basement.  I don't think that stadium is big enough for these Bangsunds yet.  :-)