mother’s day

I had the most lovely mother’s day. I feel very special to be spoiled by these lovely little ladies and one pretty fabulous husband.

We hopped in a Lyft and headed downtown for lunch at Mellow Mushroom. After lunch we strolled over to Coors Field and watched the Rockies beat the Dodgers. It was an awesome game – high scoring and lots of cheering. We ended the evening with dinner at Morton’s. We ate in the bar which was a first for us at the new location.

We filled the day with fun and were all quite worn out when we returned home. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I’m so grateful to have spent the day with with my amazing family!

girl scouts | painting party

Tonight was the last night of Brownies! What a journey we have been on with these little ladies. We started as Daisies in kindergarten and now they are going to be in fourth grade and Juniors. It has certainly been an adventure.

I asked around to see if anyone wanted to keep on going and we had just one girl drop out of the troop. Soooo, we celebrated tonight, we’re taking the summer off, and we’re going to start up again next year for our FIFTH year. I feel quite lucky to be a leader for this amazing troop of young ladies.

We had our end of year celebration at Color Me Mine. I thought these ladies (especially mine) would be sick and tired of this place, but nope! They all still love to paint and throw in a little pizza and the night was a big ol’ hit.

Not all the girls could make it tonight, but the ones who did brought along a few siblings (and a few sneaked away before I could get a group photo).

calm AFTER the storm

We have had some crazy storms this week. Late afternoon rain showers with hail every day. After dance class and homework the skies cleared up and the girls begged to go on a walk. All this rain sure has made everything green. It was a beautiful night.

B was explaining to the girls how all the standing water is attracting gnats which were pretty thick on the path.

The sunset over the mountains never gets old.

whimsy | emojis

It was a pretty wild weekend and we are starting to feel the effects of the end of the school year. It feels like we’re running out of time and running everywhere. I look forward to the summer when I get my girls to myself (most days) and we don’t have such structured schedules…wait, did I just write that? I love schedules. I must be really tired.

The girls took an emoji painting class Saturday morning. Annabelle loves emojis and Gwyneth loves to paint so it seemed to work out well for both of them. They also took $5 of their allowance to buy snacks and happily shared a bunch of junk food. The day was a hit!

We baked cupcakes for Mr. Lance’s birthday. We haven’t baked together in far too long. This is one of my favorite things.

We made three different kinds of cupcakes to take with us to the Tyler’s house that night. We went to celebrate Mr Lanse’s birthday. The girls were happy to play with friends (old and new). Unfortunately B had two birthdays at the Kitchen that day so he was exhausted. We didn’t stay and play as long as we would have liked, but it was still so great to see the Tyler’s.

Sunday was more partying and more classes for B. He hosted a baking experience at Blue Mountain Kitchen as a fundraiser for the girls’ school. It was auctioned off and a few of the girls in Gwyneth’s class won. She was pretty excited they invited her along to join the fun.

teacher appreciation

This week was all about the teachers. Our family is pretty dedicated to treating the teachers during their appreciation week so it turned out to be a very busy week for us all.

I stopped by school to get fingerprints to make special personalized gifts for each class. They turned out so great I went back a few days later to help out the 5th grade class with a gift as well. It was also a great excuse to see my sweet girls and their friends.

Each day we took in a different gift for each of the girls’ teachers, decorated doors, and B even catered a lunch for the whole school on Thursday. We are very grateful for this little school of our ours where the girls have both thrived and made wonderful friendships.

3rd grade

4th grade

3rd grade class gift:

4th grade class gift:

Annabelle’s teacher is nuts about Star Wars.

I love how Annabelle’s fingerprint got turned in to Yoda.

triathlon

The girls were pretty excited for the triathlon this year because they decided to be on a team! It gets pretty intense and can get very competitive, but they just take it all in stride.

Annabelle did the swimming, Gwyneth did the biking, and their friend Karsen did the running.

Annabelle was nervous about swimming. She doesn’t realize how good she is. She was all nerves and chewing on her nails, but she hoped right in the pool for that race.

There she goes.

She rocked it! She came in 2nd place and 3rd overall for the entire school. Her teacher came over and made a big point that the first two swimmers compete and practice several times a week so it was pretty darn good that she came in behind them by only seconds. I’m so impressed with this little lady! She has the swim bug and luckily we found a swim team for her this summer.

Gwyneth’s turn!

She did awesome. I didn’t take any more pictures, because kids were wiping out and the biking portion just gives me a ton of anxiety.

What I love most about watching Gwyneth is that she took is slow and steady and she never lost her smile. Her smile is contagious! I love watching these kids root for each other.

Gwyneth’s friends were showing off their injuries…and since Gwyneth didn’t have any she ate watermelon.

Time for the running portion. My girls were happy their part of the triathlon was over and they could just cheer for their friends.

More watermelon

My little shorty pants and her buddies.

The girls finished in 3rd place overall and were pretty pleased with themselves.

vikings

We had several birthday parties booked at the Kitchen this weekend and Annabelle asked to work them with her dad. I had purchased tickets to take the girls to see the Viking Exhibit at the Denver Museum of Science and Nature. Gwyneth has been learning about Vikings at school and was excited to see some of the artifacts. Since Annabelle wanted to head to work with B we had an extra ticket so Gwyneth was able to invite her friend Jenna.

The tickets were for bright and early the next morning so the girls had a sleepover at our house the night before. These little artists spent most of the night drawing together.

Off to the museum! The exhibit was really informative. Not my favorite, but interesting. The girls enjoyed learning about the fashion of the times. I enjoyed hearing about all the Gods and Goddesses.

We explored the Gems and Minerals display before heading to our IMAX show.

We watched Extreme Weather. I’m fascinated with tornadoes, hurricanes, wild fires, etc. In hindsight this may have been a bit scary for the sensitive gals. They said they loved it, but I could tell that watching houses being torn apart by tornadoes or going up in flames may have been a bit much.

We grabbed lunch at my fav Tony P’s and then dropped Jenna at home after a busy, busy day.

take your daughter to play

Today was take your daughter to work day.

Let’s be honest here. Everyday at our house is take your daughter to work day. They spend countless hours at the kitchen with B or at the paint studio with me. They spent a great deal of their spring break in my kiln room (proof of that here) and they can expect a lot more where that comes from this summer.

Last night while the girls were getting ready for bed B and I talked about what we had going on the next day at work and who should go with who and how everyday they watch and learn about taxes, scheduling, supply ordering and inventory, deliveries, revenue, costs, budgeting, cash flow projections and on and on and on. This is their every day.

We quickly declared today to be TAKE YOUR DAUGHTER TO PLAY DAY.

I made arrangements to have the studio covered for the day and we gave them the option to pick whatever they wanted to do. They were so excited! They asked to go for Jamba Juice and then play at the Children’s Museum. I agreed to all of the above. I also stressed that since we were playing hookey today they had to bank this work day for the summer when I needed their patience and help when my business was hectic and the days felt too short. They agreed. We shook on it.

Off for our adventure. 1st stop: Jamba Juice

We pulled up to the Children’s Museum to find a few buses and a very full parking lot. I’m not one for a crowd. Without prompting the girls asked if we could explore the aquarium and have lunch there while the crowds hopefully died down at the museum. Fabulous idea!

We had perfect timing at the aquarium. We were sat at a table right by the tank and as we finished up our lunch the mermaid show started.

The girls used their allowance to buy these stuffed seals (seals right? I’m not sure about all these stuffed animals)

We headed over to the Children’s Museum and again the timing was perfect. The buses cleared out and it seems the younger kiddos were heading home to nap. The girls were able to explore everything!

Snack time

After checking out the exhibits inside we headed outside. There is so much to do and I should have allotted more time for it.

They could have spent hours on the zip line and with no one else in line they got to take plenty of turns.

I told them it was time to wrap it up and head home. How could I say no to just a few more minutes?

This is definitely the way to spend a day!

Love this!

We took a little rest on the chair lift before heading out.

Oh and then had to stop at the park on the way to the car before truly heading home.

It was such a great day. I hope when we are feeling overworked and overtired and over-scheduled this summer we will remember this peaceful play day we had together.

love languages

I attended a parenting class this evening that discussed this book:

It was very interesting! I learned quite a lot and went straight home and made my entire family take the “love language” test.

Here are a few things that we learned together…

Mine and Annabelle’s language is “Words of Affirmation”.
B’s language is “Quality Time”.
Gwyneth’s language is “Physical Touch”.

The most important thing I learned from the class is that I try to show people I love them with things that important to me rather than what is important to them. When Gwyneth does well, I tell her “great job”, but she really needs a hug. Annabelle and I are planners and like to be on the go, but B really needs to just chill and have some good ol’, quiet, family time. Reading this book has changed the way that I’ve planned our summer and how I make time for our family.

I highly recommend checking out this book!

UPDATE: We’ve been practicing what we’ve learned from this book for the last several weeks and it has really changed our family. Pick it up and give it a quick read.

school play | little mermaid

It was a truly gorgeous day in Colorado and we were not eager for the weekend to end. We tied up our tennies and headed out to explore the trails in our neighborhood. We walked about 4 miles which was lovely…except Gwyneth started asking for an Uber about an hour in… oh my!

That afternoon we watched Bella perform in her school play. The show was Little Mermaid Junior and she was very animated in the chorus. The girls were so excited to see her and she looked awfully please to have them in the audience. It’s hard to believe these ladies have known each other since they were babies. I love watching them grow up together!

After the show we grabbed an early dinner with the Conleys. We really didn’t want the weekend to end. We spent the evening relaxing outside with the neighbors enjoying some cocktails while the kids jumped on the trampoline, road bikes, and played basketball. Eventually we had to say goodnight but we made the most of the beautiful day, stayed up too late, and were all a bit grouchy when Monday morning arrived.