chef

bears vs packers

Monday Night Football this week was my favorite match up : Bears vs Packers!
Don and Hanna, joined us for the game…Andy had football practice that evening so he couldn’t make it. We were bummed we didn’t get to see Andy, but it was so great to see the rest of the Lemek gang. It had been way too long. 
We all sure did miss Jess tonight. It has been 7 years since she left us (post back here). She has missed so much in those 7 years and we have all really missed her. That little Hanna has all her fierceness! 

new studio

What have I done???
Just kidding (kinda…). I got the grand idea to purchase another Color Me Mine studio. The Aurora store was for sale and everything fell in to place. We closed on September 1st and I dove right in! Thankfully the Orchards store is fully staffed and I have a great crew there, because I have my work cut out for me!
After signing my life away, I mean the ownership paperwork, I spent the morning at the new studio. I came home to find my fabulous family waiting for me with the perfect gift. How well do they know me?

We spent the weekend in Aurora. The store is only 40 minutes away from our house but I was going in every day, all day. We decided to stay at the hotel by the mall to eliminate my drive time and let the girls swim, swim, swim. One of the perks of the new studio is that Don and Lisa live so close by. We were able to spend two nights hanging out with them and Kaylee even took the girls to the movies one evening while we visited the Wine Experience. I think this studio is going to work out great!

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. 

renaissance festival

We sure have been visiting the renaissance festival for a long time now. I took a trip back down memory lane and checked our posts from our prior visits. My, oh my have our babies grown.  Here are the prior year’s visits:
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
This year we got a later start than usual. Poor G woke up with a migraine. The only cure for that is sleep (and she typically throws up!). She woke up at 5 am with a smashing headache, threw up and then slept again until about 10. When she woke up again she was all smiles and ready to conquer the day. The girls is fierce! 
We headed down to Larkspur to check out the craziness that is the Renaissance Festival.  It is always quite a spectacle. The people watching is AMAZING! They have the most elaborate costumes. I’ll never understand how they can be dressed head to toe in those garments in the sweltering heat. That is dedication! 
This year was hot, hot, hot and crowded. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people there. It was difficult to navigate and the lines were long. We managed to get some snacks and found a great little bench for people watching. 
The girls road a few rides and we had some treats. 
And then before we all thoroughly melted, we decided to call it a day. I’m not sure we can call it a success because we didn’t see Twig the fairy or get a pickle. The girls said they absolutely loved it though so the day was not a loss. 

vivian’s wedding

What a day! B joined us for the swim meet  and then was a cooking fool with two catering events this evening. One of the catering events was Vivian’s wedding. Our entire family was invited to the wedding and we were so happy to celebrate this beautiful day with them. We were also pretty excited that we got to eat B’s food which was absolutely delicious. 
A few of my favorite wedding pictures below: 
Vivian, or Baby Carrots as my girls like to call her, was a beautiful bride
This is real life, folks…real life…

colorado springs | cave of the winds and cliff dwellings

We had one more day in Colorado Springs and filled it up. Our first stop was Cave of the Winds. I was really nervous for this because of my fear of heights. I’m so glad we did this anyway, because it was one of my favorites! 
The view from the top is definitely a bit unnerving, but also absolutely gorgeous. 
Then you travel down into the mountain and explore the amazing caves. It’s quite impressive to see and pictures do not do it justice. You just have to get down there and explore! 
Just one of the very narrow passage ways
Everyone loved it!
View from the outside. I think B has a picture of me up here, but it was high, high, high and I was so nervous! We did it though. 
Look at little G up there. No fear!
We planned one more stop before heading home. 
We took a little detour to visit the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. 
The history of this place is amazing and you can read about it here. The girls both learned about the Cliff Dwellers at school this year, but Gwyneth was especially excited to see the dwellings up close and personal. 
All of these gems are nestled in the mountains just a short jog from Manitou springs. Of all the times I have visited that great little town I have never stopped. I’m so glad we took the opportunity this visit. 
By the time we left it was HOT. We were ready to get out of the heat and into the a.c. We had a quiet little drive home. I think everyone was pretty worn out from our excursions. 

super diamond | hudson gardens

“There are two types of people in this world.. Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don’t. My ex-wife loves him.” – Bob Whiley, What About Bob
We fall in the love ’em category. We have seen the real Neil, but we always get a kick out of the Surreal Neil…Super Diamond! The concerts are such a kick. Amazing people watching. Great music and friends. It’s a can’t miss! 
We met Don and Lisa for a pre-show dinner and then walked on over to Hudson Gardens. We had a fabulous time dancing away to our favorite hits including Sweet Caroline, Forever in Blue Jeans, Coming to America, I am I said…the list goes on and on. 
Annabelle wasn’t as entertained with our dancing, but Gwyneth boogied away with us. We all enjoyed the firework show after the concerts. The evening was truly a blast!

Waiting for the show to start…

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. 

spring break | santa cruz

The next morning we took off for the Santa Cruz boardwalk. I blamed B for this adventure, but it was really all me. I loved the movie Lost Boys when I was a teenager and I really wanted to go to the Boardwalk. Stacy and Carl have family passes for the rides and Annabelle never misses an opportunity to go on a roller coaster. It lived up to my all my teen expectations! (I thought I had been there before, but no, I hadn’t and I loved every minute of it)
I love these two together! They don’t get to hang much even though they are only 6 months apart and in the same grade. Gwyneth realized she has passed Maeva in height this trip and they had a good laugh about that. Maeva typically goes off to hang with Annabelle because they are both Queen Bees and both Eliana and Gabriela keep Gwyneth busy and feeling quite loved. It’s nice to see them together though and I think with time they will all come together even more. 
We took two cars to the boardwalk and I road with Stacy and these little monkeys:
I LOVE the pictures I snapped of my sister on the roller coaster. Makes my heart extremely happy. 
One of the few rides they all went on together. 
We checked out the beach while Stacy took Annabelle and Maeva on another roller coaster. Roller coasters are not Gwyneth’s thing. 
This was my favorite ride on the Boardwalk. It appears Gwyneth is running away in terror, but she actually went with me and loved it.
We headed back to Capitola for more beach time. The water was so, so cold, but they didn’t seem to mind one bit. 
Isn’t that a fabulous town? So colorful. 
Three of the sweetest little cousins.
We finished the night with dinner at the Britannia Arms Pub. We had very full days at the beach and were sad to say goodbye the next morning.