bucket

Tonight I joined my MOMs club for a kid-free evening of treats, drinks, and a kick off to summer. I put the finishing touches on my 2014 summer bucket list and I’ve got some good stuff planned for this family. We are in for quite an adventure this summer. Care to join us? The list is below!

I don’t go anywhere anymore without cupcakes:

The summer bucket list is ready to go again:

Here we go:

bake

While Annabelle was at dance (only two more weeks of class left until recital!) Gwyneth asked to help me bake the treats for my book club tonight. She’s quite a character and I had a blast with her this afternoon.

I’m usually a stickler for the homemade icings, but Gwyneth had her eye on pink lemonade cookies and icing so we stuck to the mixes. They were quite delicious — Gwyneth even said so herself.

She washed her hands before this.

My book club was pretty pleased with the treats provided by my fab little five year old!

Tonight was Kristen’s last night at book club. I’ve mentioned before, she is moving to California and I’m so sad. She is a dear friend and has lead our book club for the past 2 1/2 years. She is one of my favorite readers and has picked such a wide variety of books to challenge our group. She keeps me on my toes and keeps me from falling in to a reading rut. I haven’t loved everything we’ve read, but I have loved the adventure.

I was quite devastated to think that our book club was going to dissolve with Kristen’s move. She absolutely shocked me by asking to take over the reigns. I want to keep it going and she has given me an amazing list of books for the future but those are some mighty shoes too fill and I’m aware I’m not fully equipped. I will simply be the figure head and she will keep running it from California….but she has “passed the crown” and I’m certain this means I get to wear a tiara now when I read.

ice cream social

This afternoon we met up with my MOMs Club to celebrate the end of the school year with an ice cream social. It was nice and warm and the girls were glad to see friends and enjoy their treats.

summer

Our first official day of summer!

We are balancing schedules and trying to squeeze in as much fun and family time as possible. I work in the mornings, B works afternoons, we have dinner together and then we both get more work done in the evening. It’s a busy time, but I’m thankful for the flexibility.

The girls have some camps and plenty of events at the library planned but we are going nanny-less this summer. I shouldn’t martyr myself — our fabulous nanny from last summer is on her mission this summer and I didn’t look for anyone else.

This morning the girls and B rode bikes to 7-11 and then to the park. This afternoon they had a tea party with their American Girl dolls in our bedroom while I did laundry. Obviously it’s not a competition, but there is no possible way I can compete with B. Slushies and monkey bars vs folding laundry? I’m screwed.

Getting organized in my office. My office doesn’t really suite me and I’ve got to add more character to it….

The girls went to Art on the Go at the library. They read a book and then drew pictures of what they would do if they were birds:

Tonight was Gwyneth’s last office official Daisy meeting of the kindergarten year. Let’s just say it was a flop. I scheduled a tour of the local recycle center and the person who took our reservation went on vacation. So there was no tour. Just a bunch of disappointed girls with some recycling to do. Actually, they weren’t as disappointed as I was annoyed.

We grabbed dinner afterwards and then home for some more matching pj time with the American Girls. It’s the latest obsession for the summer:

memorial

I knew it was coming last night, but I was really not feeling great today. B took the girls to the park and I went back to bed. And then I read. And I read some more. I read 2 1/2 books and did nothing responsible for the day.

The girls didn’t seem disappointed with the down time:

idiot

B and I had a lovely date night this evening. We go out so rarely and every time we say “we need to do this more often”.

We had dinner at Venice, which B has been dying to try. As far as Italian goes in Colorado, there’s not much and what we do have is not great. This is the best I have had so far. I had lobster ravioli and a glass of red wine — delicious!

I jumped at a super cheap ticket offer to see American Idiot. We saw it when it first came through Denver, but were excited to see it again. It’s a very entertaining show, but we both agreed the performance was much better the 1st time around.

Unfortunately I started to feel rather ill after the performance – it wasn’t that bad of a show, I just didn’t feel good. 😉 Date night cut short and home and in bed by 10:30. When did I become such a rock star???

last

Today was the last day of school. FINALLY! I feel as though we’ve been celebrating all week. Enough already. Let’s get down to summer!

Gwyneth still looks “little” to me. Granted she’s a head taller than most kids in her class, but she still has her “Baby GG” qualities.

A year has made quite the difference for Miss Annabelle. She looks like a baby from the first day and now full on little lady. Yikes! Time really does fly by….she looks ready for middle school.

office

B is a good husband. A very good husband. With just one day left of school he offered to take on all the responsibilities of the girls – pickup, dancing school, reading, etc, etc etc and I took the day to cash in a gift certificate for a spa day that he gave me last year for mother’s day.

It was FIVE hours of pure bliss. I was pampered all day and it was wonderful. I had a manicure, pedicure, facial, massage, a steam, and an aromatherapy treatment. B made all of that happen for me.

In the midst of my relaxation I received a call from the school. I knew I shouldn’t have checked my phone. I just knew it. I struggled with checking my messages, because I knew it was the office and I really didn’t want to ruin the day that B set up for me. But in the end, I’m a mom and had to know what was going on with the girls.

The principal left me message that Annabelle had been sent to the office today with a POSITIVE office referral. Wait….what? Positive? Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either. It absolutely made my day….that and the hour massage….but it was mostly the call.

Here’s my library bag which I am going to be tackling this summer. Any other recommendations?

I also updated the schedules in our kitchen. Usually the girls have so many activities and school…

but we are reprioritizing for the summer:

One of my last obligations for Annabelle’s class as room mom was the end of year gift. I made a collage of he kiddos, got two gift certificates, personalized an iPad cover and put together a personalized pencil plant.

We are on the home stretch!!

celebration

Today was Gwyneth’s kindergarten celebration. The year has gone by far too fast. We are so very proud of her. She’s learned so much and has really come into her own. And to think I was worried at the beginning of the year that she was too shy…..

happy unbirthday: annabelle

All the June birthdays celebrated their “unbirthday’s” in Annabelle’s class today. There were only three of them, which is a lot better than the 7 July birthdays that celebrated the next day!

Annabelle signed me up for cookies so the night before we baked. And baked. And then baked some more. She has a lot of kids in her class so we made enough for everyone to get one chocolate chip and one M&M cookie….and of course, we made a few extra because she wanted to give one to her friend Tyson.

She also talked me into making Olaf trail mix. I have to admit this one is cute and fun to make and I stayed up ’til the wee hours putting together these goodie bags while watching “Scent of A Woman”. Whoo-ah!

It’s her unbirthday celebration today at school, but she is quickly approaching seven:

Her June Birthday buddies (and Olivia’s little brother)

such a fabulously silly little girl

Meyered…With Children

Author: pazmeyer