birthday

birthday extravaganza

Annabelle has been friends with Sofia since kindergarten and went off to celebrate her 10th birthday with her today. Sofia had a grand party including a limo and scavenger hunt. The girls were all over town and had a blast. The party lasted for about 9 hours and Annabelle was worn out when she got home. Sofia’s mom sent us pictures along the way of their adventures: 
(I have posted the pictures in reverse order, but I’m too tired to fix it and I’m going to just be proud of myself for getting them posted at all.)
Last stop dinner at Cinzetti’s
Marshmallow softball 
(Annabelle’s marshmallow is missing because she ate it. The girl loves marshmallows!)
Their game faces
A visit to Mile High. 
(Annabelle posing in the back – such a character!)
Behind the counter at Yogurt Brothers
Such a fun birthday party. I can hardly believe these girls are turning double digits!

spa day for reagan

We joined Reagan at her house for a fabulous spa day. She celebrated her birthday with friends and family. Aunt Jen put together a wonderful party for the girls. Reagan kept saying “this is the girliest party I’ve ever had”. It was so great to see her so happy and enjoying herself. 
Cheers to Reagan! 
Aunt Jen was on nails duty.

I was on hair duty. I did a LOT of braids. I promised Reagan a braid when her hair grows back in. 
Ryan was an awesome big brother and helped serve drinks for all the girls. 
Such a good sport. 
The party guests

Present time.
“This one is from you Aunt Kelly” Ha!
This makes my heart so freakin’ happy.
I caught her at just the right moment and what a shot of her and her monkey.

Cousins
A superwoman cake is very, very fitting
Love this family and how brave and strong they are together!

yaya was here

I sent my store manager (and friend) to California for training this week. I was happy to run the store during the day on my own but that left a half hour gap in the afternoon when I needed to pick up the girls from school and when the afternoon shift started. YaYa to the rescue. She flew out for the week to help. She did most of the driving to school and activities so I could work which was a huge help. She also watched the girls several nights so B and I could have some time together and attend some adult events. It was a great week and we are very appreciative. 
Breakfast for dinner with Yaya! 
Thursday night we celebrated our friend Don’s 40th birthday. 
I always tell my girls to choose their friends wisely. The same people they are causing trouble with right now could be the same people they are causing trouble with when they are 40 — if they are lucky! That’s the story of these guys. They met when they were 6 and 7 years old and are still friends ringing in their 40th birthdays. They are good guys. Really good guys. And they are funny. Really, really funny. 
Brandon and B. Brandon was the best man at our wedding! 

Lisa and Me. One of my dearest friends.
B and the birthday boy, Don! 
The party was a surprise and they had quite the turnout. It was a blast!
I love this picture of B. He never does shots and the birthday boy requested them. He looks both reluctant and mischievous. 

Friday night we received free tickets to the Avalanche game. It’s preseason, but that didn’t matter to us. We had great seats and cheered for our team. 

Gwyneth snagged one of thos falling parachutes and a free Avalanche tshirt. 

We went to see the Storks movie, which I have heard was really good. You can kind of see that Gwyneth was not doing so hot. This girl needs her sleep and she has been going, going, going. I got a gentle nudge that she wasn’t feeling well and we made it out of the theater in time for her to throw up – everywhere. I felt so bad for this girl. I took her home, she got a shower and then we ran back to pick up Annabelle and YaYa when the movie was over. Phew!

Sunday my mom watched the girls and B and I enjoyed an adult day downtown. We had free tickets for the Rockies game and we sat in the rooktop bar rooting for the Rockies AND watching the Broncos. That is a hearty helping of Colorado sports!

Afterward we cruised around downtown hitting some of our old favorite hang outs. Thanks to my mom for such an amazing week!

cinderella

Cinderella joined us for a tea party at the Kitchen. It was quite magical and the girls were all star-struck. Annabelle was feeling a bit too old for princesses, but she got in on the fun and was a really good helper. Gwyneth soaked up the princess time and was all smiles. 
After two parties at the Kitchen, we headed downtown to celebrate Gus’ birthday. We had dinner with Gus, Misti, Sheila and Lance at Mellow Mushroom. We sure do love their pizza. 

We headed to 1-Up, which is a bar/arcade with lots of old school games including tetris, donkey kong, pac man, ski ball, and much more. We had a blast playing games.

We ended the night with cocktails at the View House. As the name suggests, it’s an upstairs patio with an amazing view of the Denver skyline. What a night of celebration with pretty amazing peeps.

cake boss: annabelle style

Annabelle is our best saleswoman for Blue Mountain Kitchen. She is always so proud of the Kitchen and tells everyone she knows to come on in and give us a try. She’s an amazing helper also. She does dishes, bakes, cleans, and I’m certain she could run most of the classes and parties on her own already.

She asked to host a Cake Boss party at the Kitchen for her friends and we couldn’t refuse. We found an open evening a bit after her birthday and let her schedule her event. She came up with the ideas for the cakes and was so helpful to everyone she invited.

I have to admit: I find this age challenging. Nine. Wow. She’s not a baby anymore, but is she really a tween? (As the urban dictionary describes it – “ages 9 – 14… too old for toys, too young for boys”. My heart just died a little right there)  She’s changing so much, testing us, and emotional. So, so emotional. She’s also pretty darn amazing and we have great conversations and she’s very passionate and opinionated.

Just as we are starting to figure this whole nine year old thing out, we got a whole Kitchen full of nine year olds. Her friends all came for her party and they are tweens (I enjoy this new label for her and her crew). They are all changing so much and are a bit goofy. They are trying to be mature, maybe a little too mature at times, but they still have those great giggles and can still be silly. They hug and laugh and they are all starting to be a bit more insecure and they hang on to each other a little more. I’m glad she has some dear friends that she has known for ages and made some new friends from her new school. She’s fiercely independent, but also a really, really great friend. Nine is an interesting new age and I sure do love her.

We made little treat bags for her friends. The bags included a spatula, chocolate chip muffin mix and a birthday cake sucker.

Ready to party
Our cake boss: 
I couldn’t take pictures during the party because these kiddos kept me on my toes. I did get manage to get a few of Annabelle with each group and their cakes. 
Annabelle’s crew. Four gals, four different schools, but the sweetest of friends. I really enjoy these ladies. She has known them for years and they have great families and are good friends to her. My only sadness is that  Olivia lives so far away – only about 25 minutes or so but they almost bought the house right next to us. Could you imagine??? Even with the distance, they fall right back in step together and I just couldn’t be happier. We try and get them together as much as possible over the summer. 
The girls made a Harry Styles/One Direction cake. Annabelle’s cousin, Madison would be so proud. 
Annabelle and the boys. They made a Denver Nuggets cake! Nat is from school and Rhys and Wyatt are her camping partners in crime. 
The beach, swimming team. Annabelle’s friends from school and girl scouts. She was so happy to see these gals.
The emoji cake. Yes, that’s a big poo emoji right in the middle of that cake. I just couldn’t be more proud. 
The emoji cake was the winner. Of course, what kid isn’t going to vote for a poo emoji?
Singing happy birthday to this creative, organized, fantastic 9 year old. 
Kyla came for the party too and Annabelle just couldn’t have been happier to hold her. She waited all night to ask and then didn’t want to put her down. She could hold Miss Kyla all day long. 
Gwyneth and Bella showed up with matching braids. Great minds…

into the woods

Off to the theater! 
Annabelle invited her friends Olivia, Sofia, and Makayla and Gwyneth invited Ella to join us for a night of Into the Woods. The show was at the Candlelight dinner theater which is fun, but not my favorite. The girls love it though. They enjoy the food and the ice cream and being able to sit in the very front row. 
Annabelle is nine and finding her independence. We booked two tables next to each other and Annabelle and her friends got their own table. She informed me that was “very, very cool”. 
The first half of the show was great, but the second was a bit long. I didn’t love this show, but the girls really enjoyed themselves and I enjoyed the company. 
Annabelle and I put together little favors for her friends: 

Oh my Gwyneth is going through quite the growth spurt. Her and her friend Ella are just too stinkin’ cute together. 

Annabelle and her girls

Waiting for the show to start:
Ready for dinner:

Ice Cream time:

annabelle is nine

Annabelle is nine! 
We celebrated the beginning of her last year of single digits today. How is that even possible? Time really does seem to fly when you are having fun. 
She received the new American Girl doll, Lea from my mom. Yaya knows just what to get these gals!
Annabelle does not like breakfast so she requested a smoothie from Jamba Juice instead. 
We wanted to check out a new water park for her birthday and found the Brighton Oasis Water Park. It had great water slides, a lazy river, wave pool, rock climbing wall and water basketball. The girls did the water slides a few times but wanted to spend most of their day in the lazy river which is my favorite part too. 
It was an interesting park, cheap admission, a bit crowded (I would recommend getting there early), but the perfect day for our birthday girl. She was all smiles and splashes!
We headed home to clean up and told this girl she could have anything at all that she wanted for dinner. She requested Dave and Busters and a Dr Pepper (is she like her YaYa or what?). We shared a few snacks and meals, because let’s be honest we’re not there for the fine cuisine. We are here to play some games! The girls are always super lucky and hit jackpots and score tons of tickets. 
Enjoying her birthday Dr Pepper: 
B and the Birthday Girl!
Me and the G:
We told the waiter it was her birthday and she got this whipped cream, brownie monstrosity that she happily shared: 
Deciding on the perfect birthday wish:
Playing games and hitting the 1,000 ticket bonus:
Annabelle shared the secret and Gwyneth hit the bonus too!
They combined their tickets and got walkie talkies to share. Annabelle got an emoji pillow and Gwyneth got three little Shopkins stuffies. I love that they share tickets, they get what they want, and don’t worry about “fair” or how many points the other spends. They are good sisters. 
Annabelle had requested lemon blueberry cupcakes so of course, I made them and even though we were all full from the dessert at dinner we had to sing Happy Birthday to this girl and let her make one last birthday wish. 
We had a lovely day and I couldn’t be more grateful for our family time and this sweet girl. 
Happy, happy birthday Annabelle!

jellystone

I don’t particularly enjoy my birthday…especially now that I’m getting even closer to 40. It doesn’t really bother me that I’m getting older. Not everyone gets to age, so in fact I appreciate it. I just don’t really need to celebrate it. 
I am very appreciative of this little family of mine and I was glad we got to spend the weekend together. We booked a cabin at Jellystone Park in Estes Park. We headed up for some “glamping” with friends for the weekend. 
Our first stop was for lunch at Oscar Blues in Lyons. We enjoyed their microbrews, root beers, and fried green tomatoes. 
Then we checked in to our cabin for the weekend. We reserved one of the last spots and there were only two cabins left. One for us; one for Gus and Misti. Our cabin was in a great location, right in the heart of the camp grounds and overlooking the pool. It was one room with a bathroom, a full size bed and a bunk bed.  It was charming and cozy and our weekend was off to a great start.
We indulged ourselves and rented a golf cart for the weekend. The one downside was that we didn’t hike as much as we had planned, but we spent the weekend zipping around the camp. It was the girls’ favorite part! We cruised around and talked and it created a lot of special one on one moments with my ladies and special memories. 
Our cabin had a deck with a picnic table and a spectacular view. You just have to love Colorado. There is no better place.
Our camping crew, minus Misti who seemed to have wondered off just when were taking the picture. I tell ya, it’s like herding cats. 
The Tyler’s
Gus and Misti and our little rascals
The chefs for the weekend. 
B prepared a delicious feast for Friday night of ribs, beans, and coleslaw and Sheila made dinner Saturday night with burgers and hot dogs. Yum! We were all feeling quite spoiled. 
This little face…
Annabelle ran off with the boys to explore. Gwyneth stuck around for a bit to give me extra birthday hugs. 
Sheila had the most delicious carrot cake made for my birthday. It was perfection! I do love me some carrot cake. This cake pleased our sweet tooth the entire weekend. 
Now, that’s a cake!
Smores by the campfire with great friends. What a birthday!
The next morning we enjoyed the french toast breakfast provided by the campgrounds. You know Gwyneth liked that! 
Then the girls panned for minerals
Then they went for a dip in the pool
Those would be Annabelle’s legs. She’s the queen of the pool handstand. 
Annabelle showing off her mad skillz. She’s mastered the cannonball and is now working on some fancy twists and turns. With this beautiful backdrop, I could have sat and watched her jump all day! 
Then it was time to paint pottery
Then it was time for cotton candy
Then they went on a tractor ride with Yogi Bear
There were more treats and visits to the arcade and then more treats and more time playing with friends. Our kids fell in love with Jellystone Park! 
Our adorable little cabin. 

Unfortunately B got quite sick the last night of our trip. He missed the final campfire and smores and went straight to bed. He was sick most of the night and took the rest of the weekend to recover. Luckily no one else got the bug, but we are sad that he missed the last night of shenanigans. That only means we have to head back up again sooner than later…

Goodbye Jellystone. It was a blast! 

school birthday: annabelle

We celebrated Annabelle’s summer birthday with her class today. They are a nutty bunch and it’s always interesting with that crew. Annabelle wanted bomb pops like her sister and her teacher was brilliant to let them have their sugar in the sun and then run around for a bit before the day ended. 
This girl is going to be 9, very soon. Still hard to believe.