breakfast with mermaids

B was up and out at 4:30 a.m. for a breakfast catering event. TOO EARLY! 
The girls slept in a bit later than that (phew!) and we had a girls morning at the aquarium. We had breakfast with the mermaids. It was kind of a crazy day downtown with road closures and 5K walks. We gave ourselves plenty of time and ended up having the place nearly to ourselves. 
How fabulous are those matching outfits? They picked those out all by themselves. Necklaces and all. 

junior nuggets dancers

Introducing our Junior Nuggets Dancers!
The girls joined the Junior dance team, practice twice a month and perform at 6 games over the course of the season. I almost cried from the cuteness! The uniforms, the pom poms, and those big all smiles. It’s almost too much to take. 

 The Nuggets cheerleaders teach the routines at practice and then take them to their locker rooms before the games. It’s a dream for our girls. They have also become huge basketball fans and are so excited they get to high five the players and cheer for them on center court. It’s an amazing experience and so fun to watch them dance their booties off at the game. I’m so proud of them — that’s a big stage for little girls!

halloween parade and parties

As the newbies at a new school I wasn’t really sure what to expect for Halloween. 
The kids took their costumes to change in to for a whole school parade in the afternoon. The girls each had parties in their classrooms and I volunteered to help with Gwyneth’s. This was a pleasant change from the last two years where parents were not invited (not welcome, really) to attend the holiday parties.  I love seeing the girls at school with their friends and I adore all the creative costumes. I’m not a big Halloween fan, especially once the costumes get scary and gross, but my girls are keepin’ it on the cutesy side and cute I can get on board with. 
Gwyneth was her usual silly self and Annabelle was too cool for school. 
All the teachers dressed up as super heroes. 
Look how happy Annabelle seems to see me:
There were lots of volunteers for Gwyneth’s party. I was responsible for snacks, which seems a likely choice since I fancy myself a baker. Unfortunately we are only allowed to bring “store-bought” food for the parties and birthdays. I suggested that my cupcakes are actually made in a store and don’t have preservatives or artificial coloring like store-bought cupcakes, but I don’t want to be the difficult new family at the school or Gwyneth to be labeled the kid with “that” mom. I bought my store-packaged, school-approved veggie tray and fruit-tray and quickly wondered why I worry about home-made, often silly details that don’t even really matter to the kids anyway? I saved hours of my day and Gwyneth could not have cared less about homemade treats and was just so happy to have me there to hang out with her and her friends. Sometimes I really have to regain focus and not be “that” mom or I may just make myself crazy. 
Gwyneth loved the donut game and was fearless. Some of the other girls were a bit more reserved, but not my delicate little flower. She got right in there and did a bang up job. She had all the kids around her cracking up. I truly could not be more proud. 
Gwyneth tied for first place for the scavenger hunt! The girls were so excited to claim their prizes. 
Annabelle’s class party was a bit more reserved, a bit more quiet, a lot more third grade. Such a difference a year makes. They played more brain games and had treats and Annabelle had absolutely no complaints. This class has been a great fit for her.
Tired girls after a full day of school and partying!

scavenger hunt

Gwyneth’s class did a scavenger hunt for their Halloween party. Over the past few days we’ve been busy running around town getting pictures of her with Halloween related things. There was a slide show of the pictures during their Halloween party. 
Gwyneth was so eager to win. She tied for first and was quite pleased with herself! I admire her determination! She even offered Annabelle $10 of her winnings for helping her. Such a kind-hearted girl. 
#1 black cat
#2 dad in a dress (such a good dad. such a good sport for his girls)
#3 mom in the same dress
#4 in the same dress
#5 animal in a costume
#6 hanging from a soccer goal
#7 fire hydrant
#8 mummy
#9 principal in her purple parade hat
#10 spirit of halloween pumpkin
#11 disney character
#12 witches hat
#13 doing homework
#14 crow
#15 scarecrow
#16 your baby picture from halloween
#17 carving pumpkins
#18 rosie
#19 corn stalks
#20 pile of leaves
#21 airplane
#22 high heels
#23 toilet paper mummy
#24 hotel transylvania 2 movie poster
#25 king soopers penny horse
#26 cemetery
#27 train
#28 drive seat of a new car 
#29 purple pumpkin pail
#30 lawn inflatable
#31 home depot apron
#32 covered in candy
#33 pumpkin carriage
#34 hearse
#35 darth vadar mask
#36 black rose
#37 headstone
#38 creepy baby carriage
#39 witches cauldron
#40 ronald mcdonald
#41 col. sanders
#42 martin luther king jr memorial at city park
#43 dinosaur
#44 trying on an engagement ring
#45 riding a broom
#46 pumpkin seeds
#47 mausoleum
#48 snake
#49 pregnant lady
#50 someone in scrubs
#51 pink pumpkin pail
#52 tiara
#53 ghost
#54 red leaf
#55 orange lights
#56 spider web
#57 mum plant
#58 vampire teeth
#59 lollipop
#60 glow sticks
#61 police officer
#62 candle
#63 dead flowers
#64 rat

buddy holly

We love going to the theater! We got season tickets to the Boulder Dinner Theater this season and have some great shows coming up. The food is not great, but the shows are always good and it’s a fairly inexpensive way to expose the girls to many different shows. 
We enjoyed The Buddy Holly Story today. The music was amazing and the girls loved all the dancing. Such a tragic story; he was so talented and so young when his plane crashed. That was tough to explain to the girls and Gwyneth was a little put out by a few choice swear words (who knew she was so sensitive to such things?), but all in all in a was a great family day together. 
It’s not a fancy theater, but these little ladies are always looking for an opportunity to dress up. 
B didn’t have to work today and there was no Bronco game so he was able to join us. 

out of uniform day

The gals pay $1 and get an out-of-uniform day to support their school PTA. Today was the big day and quite smartly their dad had them pick their clothes out the night before. It was a bit of an ordeal – so many choices, so difficult. I think they chose well and looked adorable.
This girl is too much: 
Such little girls. So much sass: 

About twice a year (sometimes more), I decide our house is too cluttered. We have too much. We need to donate and clean and de-clutter and minimize our distractions and messes. I like clean lines, organized shelves, and everything to have a place. I assure you this is a product of being married with children. At heart I believe I’m a slob who would be living among a stacks of books, unfinished crafts, and sleeping in an pile of clean, unfolded clothes straight from the dryer.

I have a very loose policy when cleaning house: We only keep things that serve a purpose or are loved.
The policy is loose for B and the girls because they can plead their case to me before I pitch it. If it’s up to me everything goes. I’m not very sentimental about ‘things’. 

This is a difficult theory for my girls because they love everything. They love having 47 stuffed animals, and dresses, and toys, and board games, and pens, and pencils and papers, and art projects and baby dolls and on, and on, and on. Annabelle is definitely my pack rat, but she is also my organizer and cleaner and has a special place for all her special things. They also have good hearts and are willing to donate their gently used clothes, books and toys.

Here are the places in my home that constantly require cleaning, purging, organizing:

  • the office; otherwise known as the catch all for all our junk, mail, crafts, homework, etc.
  • the basement; where toys pile up and the door gets shut and all the mess is out of sight, out of mind
  • the girls’ closets: they have too many clothes. they are always out growing something. I hate doing laundry. 

My first attempt of this fall season was our office. This is our work space. There are usually piles of papers on the desk, crafts of the table, and piles of who knows what on the floor. I filed,  I organized, I trashed. It’s still a bit cluttered for my liking, but it is functional and where we spend a lot of our time.

I added this Costco craft table for the girls. We were all four huddled around the desk and it was crowded. When they craft there is glue, sharpies, markers etc so although this table isn’t the prettiest I don’t mind letting them get messy with it.

These supply buckets make the organized, crafter in me far too happy.

I have never liked this bulletin board. B wanted it to just randomly pin up menus and coupons and art work and mail and….I don’t know. It was suppose to be just random chaos and that makes my eye tick a little and a migraine start. I need order so we’ve used it to display art work and important papers and pictures and I don’t hate it so much anymore.

I wish I had a before picture, but I never think to document our messes. I’m happy with our little space and now on to the next project.

no school: columbus day

School was closed today for Columbus day, but B and I both had to work. The girls thoroughly destroyed our loft with their American Girl dolls while I tried to get some work done. They have quite a few American Girl accessories so the damage they can do in a short amount of time is pretty mind-blowing.
I really don’t like having a messy house. I’ve always blamed it on B, but it must be contagious, because I can’t really focus when my house is trashed. My first reaction was to gather the girls and spend our afternoon together cleaning. That loft was a mess!! 
I bailed on that idea and decided to take them for lunch, pottery painting, and haircuts. I really do think it’s important that they are responsible for their own toys, their own messes, their own things, but it’s also important to have a sweet day together and leave the cleaning for later, sometimes. (They are great at picking up their rooms…I think Annabelle actually likes cleaning out her closet and putting away her laundry)
I haven’t used my camera in a while. I’ve taken pictures of girl scouts events and a few from parties at the kitchen. I’ve taken some grainy shots on my phone. I haven’t just taken random shots with my camera of my girls lately. That’s my favorite. I got a new lens and I’m still trying to figure it out, but I snapped a lot of pictures today of the girls just being the girls. I haven’t got it quite figured out and they didn’t all turn out great, but I’m still working on it and it was fun to play with my camera again. I love the feeling of uploading the pictures and seeing the smiles and silliness that was captured. 
Special request from Gwyneth for lunch at Ragazzi’s.
They have the best homemade bread and spaghetti. Yum!
We painted pumpkin votives. Can’t wait to pick them up in time for Halloween. 

Along with the rest of the kids off school today, we went to Pigtails and Crewcuts for haircuts. It was so crowded, but luckily we had appointments. Just little trims and simple braids and lollipops. They love getting their hair cut and they sure do look cute.

brown palace

We are quickly approaching our busiest time at work. We have been so lucky and are so excited about what is ahead. We have an event booked for every weekend until the end of the year and we’re still taking bookings for holiday parties. Our calendar is filling up with parties and corporate catering. We are so fortunate that our business is taking off and we are so, so grateful. It’s been quite an adventure! 
Gus and Misti offered to take the girls for two nights for us so we could celebrate our anniversary and our 1st year in business. Both are coming up in November, but we won’t soon have another opportunity to get away. 
We stayed at the Brown Palace, which was a first for us. It is a beautiful hotel! We spent our time eating delicious food, enjoying fabulous beverages, and catching up on what a wild ride this past year has been. It was the perfect stay-cation and opportunity to spend time together before the beginning of the holiday madness! 
We had dinner at Vesta’s and then drinks at The 9th Door. 
Scared of my own shadow, I booked a haunted weekend at the hotel. Oh my!!

Lunch at the Mellow Mushroom

Dinner at Venice

The girls had a blast with Gus and Misti. Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking such good care of them.
These are the updates that I got from the weekend. Oh my, indeed!