build a bear

We have a special tradition of going to Build a Bear for Christmas. The girls each get a new stuffed animal or some new clothes for an old stuffed animal and that stuffy is loved on through the entire holiday season…and beyond.

A great way of making this happen at a discount is getting the gift cards each year. You can purchase $10 gift cards for $5 during your visit. I buy them and put them away for the next year. I also buy gift cards at Costco which are discounted 20%. They are practically giving the bears away to us at this point…(the sarcasm is obvious right?).

This year the girls invited their sweet from school to join us. She gave them each a sweet holiday gift and they wanted to pool their funds together for her. They were pretty excited to have her share in our tradition.

After our build a bear adventure we went to the movies and saw Coco. What a wonderful movie! I didn’t really know what to expect but I was pretty impressed.

white fence farm

We have White Fence Farm on our summer bucket list each year and sadly this year we didn’t make it. The first year I was just trying to find unique things to do with the kids around Colorado and the Tyler’s joined us. (Photos from our first visit back in 2014 here.) Each year I add it to our summer bucket list and the parents ask “why the heck are we still doing this?”.

When we missed it this year the parents didn’t seem to mind, but the kids were pretty disappointed. They have made several comments about it so we surprised them with a holiday visit. It really is a silly thing, but we all have such a good time when we end up there together.

We’ve never been when it is decorated for Christmas and it was really pretty. Christmas trees everywhere! The kid were all laughs and silly and it was a great excuse to meet up with the Tyler’s. We’re lucky to have these friends in our lives (we met in California 18 years ago!) and so fun to watch our kids growing up together.

Rhys always keeps our girls laughing…

They real did have fun. They are just annoyed by my incessant picture taking.

Tell me how you really feel?

The weather was warm enough for us to feed the goats after dinner. Annabelle was not having it but Gwyneth gave it a try.

winter purge

The girls have been working on their lists for Santa, B has just been working, working, working and I had a few minutes of peace on Saturday. I couldn’t just sit around so we decided to make room for Christmas gifts and did some winter cleaning.

We tackled Gwyneth’s room and it started like this…

…and she was so flippin’ happy. She’s not a pack rat so she was thrilled.

That girl can sure make some silly faces.

Annabelle was tackling her room and I found this:

She has been sick for a few days so I didn’t give her a hard time. When she woke up she asked if I would help and we did this:

She is my little hoarder so I was pretty surprised when she asked me to help her. She knows I like to clean and by clean I mean toss.

Her room looks great and she can actually find things now!

She even cleaned out her closet and dresser. I love her tween meets emoji style.

She can finally sit and work at her desk. It’s a Christmas miracle!

The Tendler’s joined us for a mini-holiday celebration this evening. We used our beloved new instant pot and made some delicious steak tacos. That thing is pretty darn fabulous and you just can’t beat the speed of meal prep with it. We ended the night with the yummy cookie they brought. Gwyneth stayed up with Sarah until about 12:15 which has to be a new personal record! Luckily she slept in the next day because our girl needs her sleep.

disney on ice

I was so excited to surprise the girls with tickets to Disney on Ice. We have been going for years and although they are getting older they still seem to really love the show. (Annabelle likes the ice skating but doesn’t get as impressed by the princesses. Gwyneth loves it all will be a princess junkie for life, I believe. )

My grand plan did not go quite as…well, planned. Miss Annabelle is fighting a horrible cold. She has a nasty cough and sore throat. The cough is keeping her away at night so she has spent the past two days on the couch resting. Poor girl!

She really wanted to go to the show tonight but it was not going to happen. She was just not healthy enough for it. B stayed home with her and she graciously offered her ticket to Ella, Gwyneth’s dear friend.

We missed Annabelle and B terribly and wished they could have been with us. The little girls loved the show though and stayed up way past their bedtimes!

nuggets vs lakers

We took advantage of a brief break from B’s busy holiday schedule this evening and whisked him off for a little fun downtown. We snagged a great family fun pack deal for Nuggets tickets.We decided to get a room downtown since the parade of lights was the same night, Lyft prices were elevated, and we didn’t want to mess with parking. We had an entertaining and festive evening downtown and I’m glad we got to steal B away from his kitchen for a bit.

We grabbed a late lunch at Maggianos and it was decorated beautifully for the holidays.

We spent some time at the arcade at the pavilions:

And then off to the game!

Annabelle purchased some fancy new Nugget earrings.

And the girls went crazy with selfies

watching Rocky, the Mascot

Using up the $15 credits that came on each of our tickets

We had such a great time at the game! The Nuggets pulled off the win and we had a blast cheering for them.

The next day we scooted over to Mellow Mushroom for pizza and the Bronco game. Our server brought Gwyneth two Dr Peppers. Oh my!

After lunch we went to Lucky Strikes for some bowling. It was pretty crowded but I great place to watch the rest of the game.

Two bad B couldn’t find a bigger tv to watch the Bronco game huh? HA!

It was a really fun weekend and we’re so glad we could steal B away for a little fun. Now back to reality!

parade of lights

Both girls’ troops participate in the Parade of Lights in Louisville.

Wow! Just wow, what a night. I’m admitting to be a full-on drama queen over here, but my goodness the crowds! There were so many people. It’s a tiny little town and the route was only 3/4 of a mile. I get super anxious in these situations and a few profanities (ok, maybe a few is being conservative) flew from my mouth as we tried to find parking. The girls just giggled and were so excited to see their friends. They didn’t mind the madness one bit.

The weather was perfect. Just a bit chilly but bearable and we didn’t have to really bundle up too much. Gwyneth’s troop chose elf ears while Ananbelle’s troop chose reindeer antlers. They all had their lights on and they lit up the night.

Not all the girls were able to make it and the troops are getting smaller and smaller, but I sure do enjoy spending time with these little ladies. It has become more than manageable – it has become quite lovely and we are able to do such fun, memorable things with these smaller little troops.

Happy Parade of Lights Ladies!

its beginning to look a lot like christmas

I woke up Sunday morning with a the crazy urge to decorate for Christmas! What??? I’m typically the bah hum bug one about decorating, but I was really in the Christmas spirit today. B was a good sport, especially since it was still a few days shy of Thanksgiving.

Our old tree had seen better days and our girls were not the least bit interested in getting a live tree. In fact, they threw a big ol’ fit about how they hated live trees and wanted a fake one again. Really? Who hates live trees? Weirdos!

We ran over and purchased a new tree and some fun new ornaments. It’s just the most lovely tree and I love, love, love it. The girls decorated their doors with snowflakes and even set up our nativity. My mom gets me a new piece each year and it’s turning into quite the collection. Our house is as festive as can be!