YaYa hosted a beautiful bridal shower for Rebecca. Lots of friends and family gathered to wish her well. YaYa had lots of wonderful food, amazing cupcakes and lots of very tasty mimosas.

YaYa hosted a sleepover for all the little girls, while Stacy and I hosted a bachelorette party for Rebecca. YaYa is very brave — amazing really. 5 little girls – a 12 year old, three 3 year olds and a two year old. Amazing!

Rebecca’s bachelorette party got started at Dick’s Last Resort where we had dinner and drinks. We moved on to Howl at the Moon and Rebecca even danced on the stage! We ended the evening with drinks at an Irish pub and soaked it all up with some late night pizza.

We set off for a fun-filled girls weekend in Chicago. So much fun, indeed! I took my sweet girls, Jen brought Reagan, Stacy met us with Meava, and even Annabelle’s godmother Diane made an appearance. So.Many.Girls!

We had a super early flight on Friday. We had to leave our house by 4:45 a.m. Surprisingly, all the little girls did great on the flight. This was Reagan’s very first flight. This is old hat for my girls so they led her through security, to the terminal, and onboard for a super-easy, peaceful flight.

The day was filled with good food (Portillos and Steak N Shake), manicures, pedicures, some evil form of torture to my eyebrows called threading, a little royal wedding viewing, shopping, and lots of bridal shower preparations.

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Many, many years ago, when B and I had only been married for a year we moved to LA. We didn’t live there long…we spent one year by the ocean, but that is where we met Sheila and Lansing. Sheila and I worked together at a little credit union by LAX. We had only lived in LA for a month or two when Easter rolled around. We didn’t have plans for the day and were feeling a little homesick. Sheila very kindly invited us to their home to have dinner with them and their family. It was such a kind gesture and one I have never ever forgotten.

Now, 12 year later we are all living in Colorado with 4 kids between us. Times have definitely changed, but I’m still just as grateful for the Tyler’s friendship. Such a wonderful family. We gathered this Easter with three other family’s at the Tyler’s house and enjoyed a brunch full of good food, good friends, good times. So many things to be thankful for…..I know I should say the children first, but c’mon look at those peeps….

It’s grape juice, I swear!

Gwyneth lost the battle to sit next to Hanna for the picture so she was pouting and refused to look up. Stubborn girl.

My sweet, sassy girl bounces back!

YaYa sent these adorable dresses for the girls and they have been patiently waiting for today to wear them. They looked so stinkin’ cute in their dresses. Each dress had a matching dress for their American Girl doll. Oh my! The girls were in heaven.

I only got a few shots of them standing still, but my favorites are of them running around together. Oh and don’t mind the chocolate on Gwyneth’s face…it’s Easter afterall…..

The Easter bunny found our new house and left the girls quite a stash. She even hid new Barbie Princesses around the house holding eggs. Annabelle is convinced the Easter Bunny is a girl because “a boy wouldn’t know how to hide all those princesses”. (By the way – I have admit the dolls hidden around the house seemed like a good idea, but when it was dark it kinda freaked me out a little bit. )

Annabelle loves princesses and was eager to collect all the dolls. Gwyneth loves chocolate and quickly came up with an amicable solution. She traded her sister all her dolls for candy filled eggs. She’s one smart cookie. She knew once she ate all the candy I would make the girls share the dolls. Win Win for Gwyneth! Oh, how that clever little one makes me proud…

After our egg hunt, we grabbed lunch and then headed down south to the Wildlife Experience. We have a membership, as do the Carlson’s, so we met up for the Spring Eggstravaganza. Keith had to work the event, but he was able to take a little break and walk around with us for a while.

The girls received little backpacks to carry around their loot. The bag was almost as big as Gwyneth, but she happily wore it through all the exhibits! The girls had a blast running around with their friends, Jack and Ben.

waiting for Jack and Ben to arrive. Annabelle just exudes patience….

backpack, backpack

This was the best picture I could get of the four of them. Jack and Ben posed quite nicely, but Annabelle insisted on putting her arm around Gwyneth. Gwyneth did not want that which only encouraged Annabelle more. Ah, girls, girls, girls….

Let the hunt begin….



yes, that’s snow….gotta love Colorado weather.

Showing off her sweet new ring

mmmm…..candy!

my girls!!

We had a sitter watch the girls for the evening so we could have a date night. We headed to Flagstaff and enjoyed a delicious five course meal.  I gotta give some love to Top Chef….if it wasn’t for that wonderful little cooking competition I don’t think I could have pronounced much on the menu.

We told a little white lie when we were leaving the house. We told the girls we were going to get batteries for their flashlights. It was just an innocent fib. We were trying to save ourselves drama. No meltdowns. No tears.

When we arrived home, the house was quiet and the sitter said the girls had been in bed for over an hour. I went upstairs to find a little faker….Annabelle was pretending to be asleep but when she realized it was me checking on her she quickly sat up and said “do you have the batteries? you and daddy were at the store for a LONG time!”. Oops! Nothing gets by this girl anymore.

She was wide awake so downstairs she wandered and got her latest Rolling Stone update….