painting, concerts, and more summer fun

Wow! The summer is just flying by and I haven’t had my camera on me to document all the fun. I’ve snapped a few shots on my cell phone and here’s what I found: 
We painted sea shells at Color Me Mine. 

Gwyneth attended an art camp with friends. 

We took the girls out for dinner before a concert and Gwyneth ordered $30 worth of lobster…and ate it all. 

We went to see the Samples at the Arvada Center. It was the first concert that B and I went to together 24 years ago! It was awesome to be able to share this experience with our girls.

We took the girls and their friends to Elitch’s for the day. 
This was kind of a bust because it rained and most of the rides were closed due to staffing issues. They got koana ices though so the day wasn’t a total loss. 

Our sea shells turned out great!
Gwyneth and I had lunch together (Annabelle has spent a lot of her summer at the Kitchen with B). She ordered a footlong meatball sub and gobbled that thing up!

The girls spent an afternoon swinging from the ceilings at Mid Air Adventure. It was all giggles and they wore themselves out.

We spent a few days down at Southlands. We were able to meet up with great friends and the girls enjoyed a trip to Boondocks. They hit a few jackpots in the arcade and got a ton of junk! They were really excited about that!
The summer is just flying by but we’re doing our best to enjoy every minute of it. 

sewing class

Gwyneth loves to sew and her ability has exceeded my teaching skill. I’m an ok sewer, but she’s far better and needs more guidance that I’m capable of providing. I searched high and low for a class for her and was finally given a referral for private classes from a dear friend. 
She really wanted to learn how to sew in a zipper so they made a clutch purse over three days. Oh may goodness, this girl was in heaven. I dropped her off each morning for 3 hours and she was so excited to be crafting away. 
Her teacher shared the following pictures with me: 
She loved the classes and has already signed up for another session. Next adventure pj pants!

bowling

Oh my, it has been one of those weeks. Staffing at my studios got flipped upside down, nothing seemed to be working quite right, and I had no time to spend with my family. We were not connecting because there was just no time and that just does NOT work for us. When my family doesn’t work together, life doesn’t work for me and I’m anxious and unhappy.
We had to re-prioritize and that meant a night without work and focusing on being together. That should be simple right? It should be, but it’s not and it required sacrifices from everyone. We have 4 wild schedules and I know everyone just wanted to lay on the couch, but we got it together and went out for the night. 
We grabbed Gwyneth’s sweet friend Ruby and and headed out to Chuy’s for some tacos and then hit the bowling alley. All of us bowled and a few of us cheated and used the bumpers. We had a blast!
Our sweet Annabelle, who is every bit 11 and too cool for school, but we sure do adore her. 
That crazy G wanted a high five before and after each ball she threw down the lanes. We all happily obliged. 
Annabelle is FIERCELY competitive and was not happy about the way the ball was bouncing tonight. She was getting really ticked, especially because she was in last place, but we did some dancing and singing and got her laughing. I am not above embarrassing the children and myself in public for a good time!

painting with crystals

Another techniques class in the books tonight. It was our biggest turnout yet, but still small enough so I could work with my girls. 
We painted with crystals, which is a bit different because you have to really trust the process. You paint your piece and then wait for the “magic” in the kiln. Tiny crystals explode during the cooking process. Everyone did a great job and I can’t wait to see how they turned out!

cake boss

We decided at the beginning of the summer that we were not going to have birthday parties this year. We went on two long trips already and celebrated lots. We agreed that we would do a family birthday night on each of our birthdays and save the friend parties for next summer. 
Well, that Gwyneth is a sneaky one. She kept dropping hints about having her friends to the Kitchen for a cake boss day. The hints turned into begs and we agreed to host an event for her friends. Well, without much work she transformed that gathering right into a birthday party for herself! To her credit she did ask that no one bring gifts….but her friends showered her with presents anyway. 
We invited lots of sweet friends, B made pizzas, the girls decorated cakes and we had a blast in the Kitchen celebrating that silly 10 year old that we all love so much. 
Fondant time!
We had cakes, cakes and more cakes!
Gwyneth’s team made a a breakfast cake…chocolate chip pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, etc. 
These sweet little ladies have been friends since kindergarten. They make my heart happy together! 
An “underwater artist” cake! 
Fabulous friends since 2nd grade. They have all moved on to new schools, but come together as though no time at all has passed. Oh my, how they’ve grown! Gwyneth truly has a gift for picking amazing friends. 
Sisterly love! 
Annabelle’s team made a pig cake for her…I like the pig that ended up face down in the mud. Ha!
Sisters, new friends, neighbors and cousins. Loving all these girls!
A little cake walk to pick their favorites. 
Happiness!
This is one of my favorites!
A little cousin love before calling it a day!
After we cleaned up, B and I headed downtown for a night of theater. We went to see Les Mis, which neither of us had ever seen before. Oh boy, we had been warned, but that show is a DOWNER! It’s a great story of resilience, the music and production is beautiful, but everyone dies. They even kill off a few of the kids. CRIKEY! I’ve heard many people say this is their favorite show and I was surprised. It was beautiful, but beautifully depressing! I’m grateful we were able to see it finally and will someday attempt to watch the movie. 

gwyneth is 10!

Gwyneth Grace is 10! 
Oh boy, this girl was really excited for her big day. She had a countdown going on and reminded us daily that her birthday was just around the corner. 
This girl could not wait to get her phone. She had waited over a year since Annabelle got hers and could hardly wait. She opened it up with a scream and received lots of birthday messages from friends and family. 
She requested Ooka for lunch. That girl loves her Chinese food. 
The new phone!
Two orders of crab wontons. She shared, but she sure does love those things. 
After lunch the girls headed off to photography camp. 
We picked up two friends after camp and headed down to the American Girl Doll store. 
Their dolls each had a turn at the salon.
We had dinner at the White Chocolate Grill and then ended the night with a sleepover at our house. Gwyneth had a pretty great day and we were so happy to be able to celebrate with her. We love that girl so much!
Some of my favorite pictures of the birthday girl….

swim, movie, and birthday party

Woah – what a weekend! We had a lot of swimming events on the calendar, but it was the last weekend of it so we didn’t want to miss a thing. 
Friday night we joined the team for Spirit Night. BMK catered the event so the food was really good! Each participant received a certificate and a gift card to sweets for Ice Cream. 
Saturday was the last meet and the girls had the most fun of the entire summer. They teamed up with friends and won first place in both their freestyle relay and medley relay. I’m so proud of them and it was so fun to watch. I volunteered to do the ribbons at the tournament so I wasn’t able to get pictures but I had a great seat for watching them. Loved it!
We had some pretty tired ladies so we had a low key night at the movies. 
Sunday night was the final night of the swim season. We celebrated with a swim team pot luck where the girls received the rest of their ribbons and celebrated with friends. 
We had to sneak out of the pot luck a bit early for a birthday party. We celebrated Ruby and Mason turning 10 with the Billeras. It was such a fun celebration with great friends. 

movie | hotel transylvania 3

Gwyneth has had the most fun this week at art camp. The camp is in Boulder, about 20 minutes from our house, but it was well worth it to see her creations and hear her stories from the camp. She has made new friends and had the best time. I’m so glad we were able to find this opportunity for her. 
I’m loving the $5 Tuesdays at AMC. It is a great price for new release movies and there are lots of movies out that we want to see this summer.  Today we went to see Hotel Transylvania 3 and I think it was pretty funny….I’m not exactly sure because I fell asleep halfway through. Oops! At least it was a cheap nap.

happy birthday nora and skycraper

I made my first attempt at bisquits and gravy today. It’s pretty well established that I’m not the best cook in this house, but I wanted to give it a try because it’s a family favorite. It may be one of the best comfort foods around and my first attempt was pretty successful. Yum, yum, yum!

Gwyneth joined friends for a pool party this morning. The party was for her buddy, Nora, and she celebrated with friends from her old school. These girls fell right back in place as if no time at all had passed. Gwyneth was all smiles and had a blast with her friends. 
We shared a sitter for the night with the Tendlers. The girls played at our house while we joined Mitch and Connie for dinner at Village Tavern. We went to see the movie, Skyscraper also and it was awesome! I have a pretty big fear of heights so I held my breath through most of the movie. It was worth it thought and I can’t wait for it to be available on streaming so I can watch it again with Annabelle. 

swim meet #2

Up bright and early for the 2nd swim meet of the summer. Annabelle signed up for 5 races and Gwyneth signed up for 4. The sun was shining and the races moved along quickly. The girls swam so hard and fast. We all had such a great time. It was such a great meet!
Their loot! 
After the meet B had to head to the kitchen for a birthday party and we had some friends coming over for dinner. The girls and I were baking fools and our first creation was pineapple upside cake. 
We also made a chocolate, marshmallow, caramel brownie. That wasn’t sad either. 
We set up a create your own pizza station for the kids….and then I put my camera down and didn’t take any more pictures that night. We had such a great time with fun friends and no pictures to show for it. I guess that’s ok, but I sure do like taking pictures.