Christmas Letter 2015

Eskestrand Escapades: 10th Edition

 

Merry Christmas! We have much to be thankful for as we look back on 2015 -- it wasn't as crazy-busy as last year, but it was still a full year, wrought with love and laughter as well as tears and pain.  We are learning that in our weakness, HE is strong. We are ever grateful for HIS surpassing peace and tender love.  Our hope is that you experience it as well.

 

A major highlight of this past year was our summer.  We hiked and camped as much as possible.  Three long camping trips along with lots of day trips to hike had us out exploring this beautiful state and enjoying quality family time away from the rush of life.  We got to see a fair number of far-away friends & family, too, which is always a treat!

 

The boys (Evan,7 - Drew,5) continue to grow, both in inches and maturity.  We are ever amazed at their independence, love for the Lord, and food consumption.  They are both thriving in school and have really taken to their extracurricular activities -- piano lessons and LEGO League are the favorites.  They love playing together outside, "guy-time" with Scot, cooking with me, and being read to by anyone.  Their annual highlights include: camping, VBS, soccer, time at Grammy & Grandude's (especially bonfires & marshmallows), and starting Cub Scouts for Evan.  We love that they're buds & bros!

 

Scot had quite the year.  The Lord saw fit to allow him to transfer hospitals, so he now works 15 minutes from home as opposed to 50!  He utilizes the trail system by our house on foot and bike, is involved in church and a men's group, and pleasure reads on occasion.  He loves his days at home with the family and time available to fix-up the house himself.

 

Very shortly, my life is simple and I have come to enjoy it that way.  Homeschooling is more regimented this year which means less on our social calendar-- not necessarily a fun transition, but we're figuring it out.  When I can, I'm involved with church activities & outreach, keeping up with friends, and trips to my folks.   Please visit if you're in the area!

 

Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year,

Scot, Sarah, Evan and Drew

September...and [most of] October

Hello, hello!  My hope is that I really can stay on top of this little teeny-tiny space and update it monthly, but I'm starting to wonder if that's realistic anymore.  Maybe for 2016 I'll aim for quarterly...

September and October have been full for us.  We're into the swing of things for school.  We added  Cub Scouts to our "life-education" curriculum and while it's not as structured as I remember my brother's being 20 years ago, we think it will still be beneficial and we're going to give it a go.  Only Evan is allowed right now, but Drew can go with him and participate alongside and that's been great.  We also added a STEM-type extracurricular to our schooling: Jr FIRST Lego League -- a lot less about the legos than the name suggests, and a lot more teamwork exercises and engineering type lessons.  We've had one official class of that, but it was a lot of fun and we're excited for the "season". 

Let's see...Scot is working a lot of days out of the month right now, but he's able to be home earlier in the evening which makes it bearable.  We do make the most of his home days, though, with hikes and family time.  We were able to get down to the springs for the annual Hot Air Balloon fest they have, which is always a treat!  And...we were able to get up into the mountains on PEAK weekend for the Aspens...it was a gorgeous hike and we are so thankful we were able to get up there to enjoy the bright and brilliant yellows and oranges.  No, nothing like a North-east autumn, but it's Colorado's own type of beauty. 

I went and visited my dear friend, Rebecca, out in a little Midwest farming town the beginning of the month and it was wonderful.  Sweet times of fellowship, long walks, breathing in the clean air, and just slowing life down a little.  My mom kept the boys, so they had a blast while I was gone -- we called it their fall-break.  Needless to say, I came back feeling rejuvenated and rested.  Which is a good thing, because our church hosted a women's conference for a nationally known speaker/author just a few days after I landed, and I ended up being the point person for it all...so...all that rest was really needed and put to good use. 

Now it's almost the last week of October and there's nothing much on the horizon.   Just the regular schedule and I can't tell you how thankful I am for it!

Now for a few pictures...

At the balloons...we get there early to see them all start getting blown up! 
We bring our breakfast and hot cocoa along...the boys love it!



Evan, the Tiger-Cub

Oh, and Drew broke his wrist. I told him to not test gravity, but he did.
(The cast is off now after 4 weeks and he's doing great!)

                                                                           Aspens!

 

 A family hike on a Sunday afternoon exploring our wonderful state!

 

My dear friend, Rebecca!

Another hike, this one up near Boulder.  It was foggy that morning...

...but it burned off and we were able to see this view and the Flatirons!

Each month, Scot or I take each boy on a "date" -- October was my month and Evan chose to bake cookies
and play a game for his date.  My, do I love the sweet nature the Lord has given this guy!

This guy chose for his date an "adventure walk", which landed us at the park all by ourselves. 
We played and then walked, skipped, sang, and even stopped to "explore" a huge tow truck that was parked
near a semi with a bad radiator!

 

Right...August

Oops.  I guess August kinda got away from me.  Here's a quick rundown of the last month of our summer.  It was a pretty full month with out of town guests, a big birthday bash for the twin nephews, a "camp-ation", Scot and I celebrated 9 years of marriage, and starting school (which means the start of routine!)!

Here are just a few pictures.  Before I know it, I'll be on here again giving an update of this month (which may have a few slightly surprising pictures on it...dum dum dum...)

Spent a wonderfully FULL day down in the springs with the whole gang celebrating these two ONE year olds.  They had a big ole bash and I was lucky to get this picture!

When I say "the whole gang", I mean the. whole. gang.  My uncle and his wife, along with my grandmother came out to visit.  My grandmother especially loved her time with her sons, grandkids, and GREAT grandsons! :D

 

As we were driving home one day we passed by a car show -- and I stopped.  The boys were thrilled and both of them really liked the Prowlers.

 

We went to the beach twice in August -- it may not be the sandy beaches of CA, but it's sand and water (with a gorgeous view!) and the boys had a blast.  Picnic dinner + the beach is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

We took a "camp-ation" mid-August before we started school.  While we had every intention of camping for real, the weather turned cool (lows in the 30s!) and high chances of rain, so we decided to use my folks' house as "home-base" and still do all our planned hiking/adventuring, but with the wonderful convinces of a stove and hot showers.  It was just what I needed!

 

 

 

 And since my folks were planning to camp with us anyway, it worked out great. 

 

Our big hike was an 11 mile loop around the perimeter of Rampart Reservoir.  It was, by far, my favorite of the 3 hiking days -- we hiked through meadows with wildflowers, stands of Aspen, forests of evergreens, along the water, by a river...it was fabulous!  And the boys did great!

 

Traditional first day of school pictures! And can I just say I love the new routine!

 

 I'm not sure how it's been 9 years, but it has!  We celebrated in our typical low-key way

with a picnic dinner at our favorite park and a long walk with treats. I love him.  

Oh, and our house is gray now.  With a black door (not pictured). 

I'm loving making this house into our own home!

A Packed July

How to cram all that we did in July into a single post?!  I'm not sure, but let me try to at least hit the high points!

First off, Evan turned SEVEN!!  I feel like this needs an entire post of it's own, but alas, time seems to be the enemy tonight and so I'll just sum this wonderful day up with a few quick words.  He was totally enthralled with his day.  Special breakfast out with just our immediate family, favorite friends to play with all morning and early afternoon (they shared a fun lunch and rootbeer floats!), time with Grammy and Grandude in the afternoon with cake, ice cream, and gifts, followed by his pick of dinner menu. He was happy all. day. long.  It was wonderful, and it's amazing to watch him growing up and turning into his own person.

 July 4th celebration was spent down in the springs -- Ft Carson does the 4th on the 3rd, so while the weather was crummy, we still enjoyed fireworks that night along with a gorgeous hike the next morning!  We headed home mid-afternoon for a picnic with dear friends and then to a roof-top party where we enjoyed gourmet popsicles and 5 different fireworks shows! 

The boys finished up their soccer "season", enjoyed another week of VBS with friends, went to a "wildly wet" birthday party, and had a special "kids night in" at church where they got to build a craft from home Depot, play games, eat a fun dinner, and watch a movie.  They loved it all. With school seemingly around the corner, we're cramming summer into anywhere it'll fit!

We went camping with my folks about an hour out of town and had a blast.  We hiked to this "Castle" rock which overlooked a lake -- it was gorgeous -- but what was even better was that we hiked a little farther to some really interesting falls to eat our lunch.  That was at the 5.5 mile mark, which made that hike 11 miles total.  The boys are troopers and did a great job.  They love camping, and the amazing thing is that I am starting to truly love it as well.

I know that was short, but time is ticking and pretty soon I'll have an August post to write!

How to sum up June 2015?

I'm not sure it's possible to SUM-up our past month.  For the last 2 years it's been the same: we put life on hold as much as possible and spend a wonderfully huge amount of time with our dear friends from Ohio (who come out for 6 weeks every summer to live with their parents about an hour north of us).  It's always a FULLy enjoyable time, and even though I try and try to keep life extra simple for those six weeks, they always seem to flash by in a whirl of color and laughter.  So to sum it all up is a little tricky, or maybe it's easier since it's a lot of the same type of fun...?

Here's my attempt, though.
 

  

Twice a week (at least) we've seen our friends from Ohio...it's been great.  We were even able to get both whole families together one night to go to a lake for a picnic dinner.  It was fabulous.  The kids have all had fun playing together -- it took no time at all for them to get reacquainted -- and us mommas have soaked in the time to talk deeply.  It will be soooo sad to see them go, but it's such a blessing to have them so close for the time we do -- it's why we make every effort to see each other as. much. as. possible!

At the start of the month, we spent the day down in the Springs visiting with a different family from out of town (VA) who we hadn't seen in a while.  We toured Garden of the Gods (does it ever get old?) and my boys had an absolute blast playing with their boys who are each just 6 months older than they are.  Katherine and I got to catch up, which was lovely and encouraging, and we had such joy watching our kids play together.

The boys spent the month enjoying soccer practice.  In order to not clog our schedule too much, it was only once a week for 6 weeks (we still have 2 practices to go), but they're loving it.  Their meager skills are being honed and they're just learning to love the game.  Score!  I mean...GOOOAL!

We spent an entire week immersed in Mt Everest VBS.  The boys attended and I helped out.  It was a blast, but made for long days.  Add in the occasion trip to the pool and the boys have slept very well this month.

Father's day was spent in relaxed bliss.  Scot worked a TON (the most ever, actually, since graduating residency) in June and we were blessed to have him home on Father's day so we could honor him.  I made his favorite food and just spent quality time together as a family (fun and much needed!).


We've played at parks, caught up with friends, stayed inside on 90+ days, eaten most of our meals on the back patio, enjoyed free concerts, and thoroughly enjoyed life as it comes. 

Oh, and Evan lost his first tooth!!

May 2015 Update

The months are going faster than I can believe, and yet, the days don't feel like they're whizzing by, so I'm thankful for that.  Life is full, but not busy.  We're finding we have quite a few down days or afternoons and take advantage.  We're doing a lot more hikes/walks now that the boys can bike while we walk/jog.

May was a fabulous month.  Mother's Day was great -- the boys made me feel special and that's all that matters.  The only thing I asked for was handmade cards and I got that and more -- I'm blessed.  The boys and I ended our school year, which felt great for them as students and for me as teacher.  To know that I finished an entire curriculum was just wonderful -- the boys have celebrated by practically living on their "new to them" KettCars! 

We ended school in time for go down to Santa Fe with my parents for 4 days to go camping and hiking -- such fun!  We hiked over 21 miles in all with 2 hikes being quite long, 7 & 9 miles each.  The boys did great on all of it.  It rained the first night, but praise the Lord we stayed dry and didn't rain a drop until we were pulling out of town to head home!

May is also the month our friends from Ohio come out to visit their family just north of us, which means we get to see them lots!  We're having loads of fun playing and catching up. 

In the midst of all this, we were able to get down to the springs to help my dad celebrate his birthday!  Happy birthday to him!

Here are some pictures to proves I'm not just making this all up!

Mother's Day 2015

 Hiking in Santa Fe

 

At the top of Mt Atalaya

 

There are 7 of them now!

 





Happy Birthday, dad!!

April, April, April

 Highlights for April include, but are not limited to:

Drew's birthday party!  Yes, our little man is 5 now!  He asked for an Army themed party and that's just what he got, complete with a tank cake.  It was a blast to put it all together and I loved how surprised/excited he was about it all!  The cake was great, but the snack table was pretty sweet, too! 

In case you're thinking of hosting a similar themed party: Camo-corn(caramel corn with chocolate covered pretzels and peanuts, and marshmallows), hand grenades( chocolate covered raisins), bazookas (chocolate covered pretzel rods), cannonballs (cantaloupe), parachute packs (taffy), and "military munchies" (veggies and dip).

I can not believe he's FIVE now!

 

Easter was another highlight.  Of course!  The Easter egg hunt ended near our new porch and the boys put their hands in the matching indents -- precious to me.  We enjoyed the day with friends here in town -- very low key and wonderful.

 



In other news.  Evan is full-on reading.  The other day I heard him reading out loud and when I looked over, this is what I saw!  Scot had left his Bible out and Evan had just started reading where it was open.  It brought such joy to me heart.

And in even more "other" news, Drew now wears glasses just like Superman and Harry Potter!  He loves them and can see much better now.  We're learning how to take care of them and how to NOT wear them when jumping out of trees, but other than that, things are going really well.

 

 

I had the privilege of going down to the springs a couple times in April.  Once to chill, and once to a ladies retreat that was held down there.  While at the retreat my folks were wonderful and watched the boys for me.  One weekend the boys went with my dad on a 6 mile hike (pictured) and had great Grandude-bonding-time!  While I was at the retreat, they all went on an 8 mile bike ride (boys biked, my folks jogged)!  I'm a proud momma!

We're in our rainy season here and I'm hoping for no more snow.  We're enjoying the outdoors as much as possible and can't wait for the camping season to start!