happy birthday to me

We were up and out of the hotel by 5:30 am for our 8:30 flight from California. We made it with a few minutes to spare and were all happy to sleep on airplane on the way home.

We had a quiet evening with dinner and dessert at Johnny’s. It was a super quiet day and exactly what we needed after a busy weekend.

We stopped at Crumble on our way home and my sweet family got me those gorgeous flowers. It was a good day!

happy birthday, annabelle

Happy, happy 11th birthday to our amazing Annabelle!

Both of our girls’ birthdays fall on Wednesday this year which just happens to be B’s busiest workday of the week. It’s not negotiable that he will be at the kitchen. He was disappointed to not be able to spend the entire day with the girls but made arrangements to be there in the evening.

We spent our day in Boulder. We stopped by the Verizon store to get a phone upgrade, but were turned away because Annabelle had a tiny crack in her old phone. With insurance, it was $100 to replace the old phone and then simply turn around and return it for a new phone. There was a lot of soul searching on this one and Annabelle decided she wanted to use her birthday money to get her old phone fixed so she could go forward with the upgrade. Although it was her money to do as she pleased, we spent most of our lunch talking through the pros and cons of her decision. In the end the decision was hers and once it was made she didn’t look back.

We had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen in Boulder. I made a big stink about it being her birthday to both the host and the server, but they didn’t make a stink for her. I didn’t want a free dessert, I just wanted them to come out singing and embarrass her a little. Ha! We had a lovely lunch and the girls even let me snap a few pictures.

This is my favorite. This is Annabelle. I love that laugh.

After lunch Annabelle requested a visit to the Celestial Seasonings Factory. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I can drink some tea! I really love it and the girls do too.

We didn’t have to wait long for our tour, but we made great use our time in the tasting room. We tried so many different teas and found several new favorites.

Annabelle’s favorite is the peppermint and she could easily outlast us in the “mint” room on the tour.

We made it home in time to pick up B and head out for dinner. Annabelle’s request was for salad at Olive Garden. After dinner we headed downtown for a special 40th anniversary showing of Grease at the IMAX. I haven’t watched that movie all the way through in quite some time. It was a blast seeing it on the big screen and watching the girls bop along in their seats. It was such a fun day celebrating our Miss Annabelle. I’m so lucky to be her mom!

I tried to gather 11 pictures of my sweet girl for this special day….but once I started I couldn’t stop with just 11. I sure do love this little lady.

paint with tape

I’ve been teaching classes at Color Me Mine and was ready for this week’s class. I was going to teach the kids to paint with tape. We had a small turnout and friends showed up to take me out for a late birthday celebration. My staff offered to take over the party for me. Everyone was happy and I was feeling quite spoiled.

roller skating

The girls and I usually paint together on Wednesday while B is waiting for customer pick ups. This week the girls were invited to go roller skating with Sarah and didn’t want to miss the fun. Sarah’s church rents out the entire roller rink and they nearly had the place to themselves.

Annabelle’s foot is doing so much better and she is finally out of the boot. It was so nice to see her out there having some fun and being her good ol’, active, sporty self again.

Connie snapped this photo of Gwyneth and Sarah. We had a really lovely time catching up while the girls skated. I just wish I wouldn’t have talked so much and grabbed a few pictures myself.

adams county museum | pancake wars

I was a working fool today and my girls tagged along for many an errand. They never complained. They just took it all in stride and were pretty sweet. They read their books in the car and didn’t fight and that is a victory.

Or last stop on the errand list was to check out the Adams County Museum. I had driven by before and thought it might be a great outing for Girl Scouts. We checked it out and it will be perfect. We set up our field trip that day.

Look at that sky. What a gorgeous day.

Those precious little feet and their favorite footwear. Isn’t it funny how our shoes can define you?

That evening Gwyneth’s friend and family joined her at Blue Mountain Kitchen for a Pancake Wars party. She came up with the idea all on her own. B helped them make basic pancakes and they were able to add special ingredients to flavor them and make their pancakes unique. They came up some interesting combinations.

Gwyneth and her girls. She really does have the most wonderful group of friends. Not just these ladies, but all of them that came to celebrate with us tonight.

Instead of cake she wanted a big ol’ stack of pancakes. I love it! She got one of each pancake that each of the kiddos made. What a variety! She is definitely our breakfast lover and I can’t imagine a better party for her.

After pancakes all the kids painted donut banks.

Present time. Her friends asked her to open their gifts. She was pretty pleased.

The whole gang.

Much to her dad’s dismay, she always seems to be surrounded by some cute little boys…

Even her Godfather came our to celebrate with her.

Happiest of birthdays to our sweet little Gwyneth. We just love you so much and hope you had the best birthday celebration. Welcome to nine!

happy birthday gwyneth | great wolf lodge

Gwyneth really wanted to celebrate her birthday at Great Wolf Lodge so off we went!

Thanks to a 50% coupon we were able to stay for a couple nights for a slightly reasonable price. It’s all a bit overpriced but the coupon does help.

I think this may be the girls’ happy place. They love to swim and just love everything about this place. We stayed 3 night which wasn’t enough for them. I think two is probably good for me and 1 is probably good for B. Ha!

Let’s get in the pool!

And off they went. Sunday night they shut it down. They were so happy to swim, swim, swim.

Silly sisters!

Monday we were right back at it. Bright and early. We were at the water park when it opened at 9 am. Took breaks for meals but didn’t leave until 8 pm that evening Now, that is a day of swimming!

This is one of my favorites shots of Gwyneth!

Annabelle snapped it of her dancing underwater. Fabulous!

And just like that our baby is NINE!! Love that bed head.

Gwyneth ran the show for the day and she wanted to start the day with a big breakfast. Absolutely no surprise there.

Next stop mini-golf. Miss Annabelle was pretty pleased with her hole-in-one!

And then the ropes course. G didn’t have tennis shoes but that didn’t stop her. of course she climbed in ruby slippers. That’s how this girl rolls.

And then bowling!

Gwyneth’s buddy Ruby was there for the night as well. They have been friends since kindergarten and share the same birthday. What a fun birthday coincidence to be there at the same time.

We hit the waterpark after lunch and spent a few hours. Unfortunately B had to head home and get some work done, but we had a great time all together.

After dinner the girls talked me into playing Magiquest. I didn’t know much about it, but the girls were eager to check it out. They got a wand and got right down to it. I still don’t know much about it but it involves finding clues through the resort and it kept them entertained for hours.

While they were exploring and waving those magic wands, I sat and read an entire book and had a glass of wine. I can’t complain, but I wish B would have been there to enjoy that glass of wine with me.

Our last day we hit the water park one last time. Lots of water slides and time in the wave pool. We definitely made the most of our opportunity.

We finished off the trip with pedicures and ice cream. Gwyneth’s dream. She loves the scoops spa and it was the perfect ending to a fabulous birthday trip!

Happiest birthday to our fierce, funny, loving, smart, beautiful baby. We love this girl so, so much!

These girls have ticklish feet. She reminds me so much of my sister, Stacy in these pictures.

annabelle is ten

Oh my, oh my…Annabelle is ten! She woke up this morning and it felt as though she grew up over night. She just seemed older. She seemed a bit more mature.

Although it’s going way too fast I know that growing older is a gift. Watching my babies turn into these beautiful, amazing young woman is not something that I take for granted.

Annabelle is confident, fierce, passionate, beautiful, smart, funny and I absolutely adore her. She is my buddy and I really do enjoy spending time with her. The one on one time I have with her is so valuable, because she loves to share stories and make me laugh,

I can’t imagine a life without this amazing child and she deserves the happiest 10th birthday!

Cake for breakfast. A Paz tradition.

This girl loves her emojis and specificially requested the “poop” emoji piece for breakfast.

(what’s with kids and that poop emoji? gross!)

singing happy birthday to the 10 year old!

Present time. This girl is so happy to be double digits.

After much deliberation and many, many conversations Annabelle’s birthday wish came true and she received a phone. We have survived the first day and although she is a bit obsessed right now she was very responsible and respectful with it.

Gwyneth gave her sister a new phone case

We were sad to say goodbye to the California cousins today. We dropped them at the airport after lunch and no one was happy about it. We had a great visit and of course, are already planning our next trip to see them.

We picked up a few of the girls’ friends and headed to The Bay. That wasn’t our original plan, but due to some afternoon rain showers and maintenance issues with our neighborhood pool Annabelle decided The Bay was our best bet. We don’t go very often and the girls absolutely loved all the slides.

I tell ya, this girl is out little fish!

Over and over and over and over….they couldn’t get enough of the slides!

Annabelle requested BBQ for dinner so we hit Lulus in Louisville and then finished the evening with ice cream from Sweet Cow. It was a busy, busy day and Annabelle loved every minute of it.

Happy birthday to our amazing 10 year old!

How lucky we are to get to be your family and celebrate this day with you.

this is forty

Oh boy, my birthday just crept right up on me. I don’t know about this one. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, growing old is a gift! I love growing older with my husband (especially because he has more grey hairs than me right now…) and watching those babies of ours quickly growing into little ladies. BUT….come on…FORTY?!? I am far too youthful to be forty. 😉

B planned and planned and put together the best celebration weekend for me.We camped out at Jellystone in Estes with friends and family. My sister, Stacy and her family even flew out for the weekend! The entire weekend was about relaxing which could have been a challenge with 10 kids, but the campsite had games and activities to keep everyone entertained.

I’m a lucky, lucky lady and extremely grateful for that husband of mine who went above and beyond to plan such a fun weekend for me.

Our home away from home. Yep, that’s a couch in our tent.

We’re taking this glamping to the next level!

Uno time

Maeva chilling on our couch. This CA girl got a little cold in the mountains.

So many laughs playing the game Wet Heads.

Maeva was a lucky little lady and seemed to be immune from losing this game. (or winning because the kids all wanted to get wet!)

Love my little peeps

Time for a fun birthday surprise…

Look who showed up at our camp site to wish Annabelle and I a happy birthday!

Birthday girls

Great group!

(unfortunately we were missing the Tylers for the picture)

oh I how I love this little family!

Happiness!

The gang decorate my golf cart and the trees on our site.

Sheila, one of my dearest friends who has been with us for ages…back from our CA days. She is our camping guru and well, our partying guru! She just knows how to do it right.

Me and me girls!

Tom and Amy

Glad to see I’m finally acting my age…

(by the way the girls just have soda so chill!)

Rhys rocking the golf cart

Gus and Jamila

Friends!

Well, that seems about right!

Wagon ride time

Again, a big big thank you to my husband for putting the weekend together. It’s a lot of work to be able to relax like that. He made me feel very much loved and appreciated and I’m lucky to have that guy!

happy first birthday | kyla

B had two catering this evening, but YaYa joined us to celebrate Kyla’s first birthday party. Our little ladies are baby crazy and can’t get enough of this little one.

I received a new camera for my birthday (a bit early because I am sweet talker and B has no willpower when it comes to me and gifts!). I got to play around with my new toy and take lots of photos of the birthday girl and her smash cake!