in bloom

We spent a the morning with Annabelle’s girl scout troop exploring the In Bloom Exhibit and Flower studio at the Denver Art Museum. I love the art museum and this new exhibit is great. 
The Flower studio offered so many different options for the girls to get creative. There was painting, drawing, jewelry making, and many more crafts with flowers. My girls flocked to the mannequins to make outfits and accessories out of the flowers. It was creative, and clever, and a perfectly fabulous way to spend the morning. 
Morgan’s mom, came up with a scavenger hunt for the girls as we walked through the In Bloom Exhibit. There are 60 + paintings of flowers and I’m certain the girls would have grown tired quickly without the scavenger hunt. My gals and Reagan stuck together and found all the clues eagerly. 
I’m so glad Annabelle found this troop and is having such a positive girl scout experience this year! 

interview

Gwyneth needed to do an interview for school and she chose to interview her friend Ella. She gave her a call after school and they were so stinkin’ adorable. The questions included ‘what’s our favorite book to read together?’ with Ella answering “Pinkalicious” and ‘What was our favorite thing to play at school?’ and the answer was “Playing on the Swings”. There more questions and sweet little answers and so much giggling. 
Great Interview. Happy Girl. 
We hosted Annabelle’s girl scout troop tonight and they shared their family stories. Annabelle worked hard on hers and took it very seriously. She was a bit nervous about talking in front of the group, but she did a great job.

puppets, dance, and tigers

It was one of those weekends. It felt like we had a lot going on, and it felt a little hectic, but in the end I kinda feel like we did a whole lot of nothin’. Does that make any sense? 
Friday, I picked the girls up from school and we went straight to pick up Ella for a sleep over. I asked Annabelle if she wanted to ask a friend to spend the night for her too and she said no that she wanted to play with Gwyneth and Ella. Hmmm… I thought this was not the best idea, but naturally they proved me wrong and all played fabulously together. 
They talked us into to taking them to see Hotel Transylvania 2, which was pretty funny. It was a little creepy at the end for Miss Gwyneth but she was brave because her friend was with her. We went home and the girls stayed up far too late making a puppet show with lunch bags and then spent the rest of the night trying to sell B and I tickets to said puppet show. Considering I provided the bags and craft supplies, I felt I should have received a discount to the show, but they were not negotiating on the price. What a racket! 

Saturday the girls joined their girl scout troops and Ella’s troop at Dance Space for a special, private dance party. They earned their dance badge by learning a dance and performing it for the parents. While they learned their routine we had a lovely hour on the patio next door with our friends, Amy and Liz. This is not a bad day.

The girls did such a great job. 

Saturday night, Gwyneth had a much needed sleepover at Ruby’s. The miss seeing each other at school and Jackie and Peter, Ruby’s parents are just so kind to our Gwyneth. Ruby also has a twin brother, Mason and Gwyneth loves to play with him too. I’m surprised when she goes to Ruby’s that she ever comes home!

Again, I asked Annabelle if she wanted to have a friend over and she no that she just wanted time with me and B. One on one time is a rare commodity and I certainly can’t blame her for wanting that. The night was all hers and she requested a trip to Justice — where does this girl get the shopping gene? It’s not from me! We didn’t even buy anything, she just wanted to browse. This girl! She then requested dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill and a movie night at home. Her movie requests “The Wedding Planner”, “Bride Wars”, and “Runaway Bride”. This girl!

Tonight was all about Annabelle

Annabelle had a special project due on Monday. She had to make a diorama about Tigers. I am so proud of her for doing all the research and creating the diorama all by herself. She aked for a little guidance with how to cut the grass and how to resize and print the pictures she found online, but besides that she did the project herself. With her own ideas and her own little hands. I’m quite proud of her.

I’m quite proud of myself too because this is just the kind of thing that I would take over. Crafting and projects and presentation….oh, I wanted to tell her what to do but I restrained myself and I think we’re both better for it.

Great job, Miss Annabelle!

brownies: family story and human knot

Gwyneth’s troop met tonight and shared their family stories. We broke their presentations up over the next few weeks because it’s hard for these little ladies to sit still for an entire meeting. 
Gwyneth went first and she was pretty nervous. When she gets nervous she gets a little giggly. 
Brielle and Jenna waiting for their turns. 
Not sure what this has to do with her presentation, but she’s a goofy girl and did a wonderful job! 

Working on their human knot. These girls are hilarious and couldn’t stop laughing. The whole group was a little too much all together so they broke off into two groups. Still lots of laughing, but more manageable.

breckenridge with poppy and melissa

After the parade we drove up to Breckenridge for an evening with my dad and Melissa. There was a ton of traffic which made B rather grouchy but we had a relaxing afternoon in the mountains and then dinner at Briar Rose so all was right in the world again. 
We stayed the night and then drove home early the next morning — hoping to beat some of that pesky traffic. It was fun and beautiful get away, as always. 

broomfield days parade

I hate parades so this is a pure testament to my love for my children. We had three troops come together and march as the “Brownies of Broomfield” in the Broomfield Days parade. They sang songs and had candy to hand out and had a blast. 
We learned a big lesson from last year. B dropped us off at the staging area and then parked at the end of the parade. The girls walked abut 2 miles in the parade, but with the car waiting at the end we saved another 2 mile walk back and lots of belly aching. 
They sure did have fun with their friends and those silly little headbands they wore made it so easy for me to give them a little freedom but still easy spot them in the crowd. 

brownies: gem and minerals

While B catered, the girls and I took advantage of their half day off school and headed downtown for the Gem and Mineral show. Girl scouts received free entry and grab bags. I wasn’t sure if this would be a super big hit, but they had a blast! They learned a lot and were really engaged. They panned for gold, went home with a bag of rocks and sweet talked me into buying them cotton candy. 

Behold the strength of Ananbelle

crafting

B catered an event for 200 at the Butterfly Pavilion today. I’ve said this so many times, we try to not work on Sundays, but this was an event he couldn’t pass up. I’m really proud of him, but we miss him, especially when he’s gone on Sundays. The girls ask all day when he will be home. The event went great but ended a bit earlier than expected and he was home before the girls’ bedtime. They were thrilled and literally laid on top of him (Annabelle on top of B, and Gwyneth on top of Annabelle….I wish I would have snapped a picture) while he tried to relax. I don’t think he minded the attention one bit. 
While B cooked up butterflies (he’s so gross and to their horror, he teased the girls that fried butterflies were on the menu this evening. Such a dad with his antagonizing dad jokes!) Ella and her sister, Jillian joined my girls for a day of crafts. 

These four girls are fabulous together. They crafted and crafted and then did some more crafts. They made books, wrote each other letters and passed them in mailboxes between their bedrooms. They played hide and seek; Ella and Jillian are really good. My girls get far too spooked out to sit quietly in dark closets for soooo long. They played with their American Girl dolls. They spied on me while I did laundry and then cracked up when I spotted them. 
Not a shabby weekend at all. 

belle

We survived the hectic summer camp schedule at the Kitchen. I’ve been working on the fall/winter party schedule and our first party was the Princess Tea: featuring Belle. It’s always fun when the girls’ friends attend and this party was full of them. There’s always so much laughter, happiness, and the dancing….so much dancing with a princess. What is not to love about that?

Annabelle showed up in my room this morning with her most beautiful princess dress (which she thought would be quite similar to Belle’s. I think she was right on), her fanciest shoes, a little pink lip gloss and glitter all around her eyes. She was ready to party.

Ballet dancing with Belle

I love this photo. The girls were saying goodbye and the light in the kitchen just seemed to make them all glow. As one does giving goodbye hugs to a princess, of course…

The girls had pizza and fruit and decorated cupcakes at the party (although my girls never really eat my cupcakes…I guess they are burned out. So sad.) B and I were tired from the party and wanted to sit down and relax. We tried out Parry’s Pizza. They have 120 beers on tap on 120th. We use to live right in that area and there some really good new restaurants going in there. 
In case you didn’t know, Annabelle is 8.

Who wants dessert?

The girls stayed with sitter and we met some friends, Steig and Joannie, at 24 Carrot Bistro Saturday night. We’ve been eager to try this new place. It’s a farm to table restaurant near our house. 

The restaurant was vibrant and happening which is great. They had a very interesting drink menu and I loved seeing their chalkboards of local farmer and retailers they use for their menu. 

I ordered well and enjoyed a fried mozzarella and tomato salad — how can you really go wrong? We also enjoyed crab cake and flank steak with chimichurri sauce and garlic mashed potatoes. I’d love to go back sometime and try more of their small plates. 

adventureland

Gwyneth packed her bag, grabbed her American Girl Doll, and set off a sleepover at Ella’s house. She has been counting down all week for this. She was so, so excited. 

B had a catering event, so Annabelle and I joined her girl scout friends at Adventure Golf and Raceway. The girls received a badge, unlimited mini golf, go-carting, and bumper cars. Annabelle had an absolute blast.