peacock

broncos vs seattle

Our first  game of the regular season and boy, was it a good one. We were all pretty pumped to get to the stadium and to cheer for our Broncos. It was a beautiful, sunny day with temps in the 90’s. That’s a little hot for football season, but our seats found the shade by the 2nd quarter and we were happy as can be. 
We had our fair share of Seahawks fans around us and it was a bit obnoxious at times. It was a great lesson for the girls to see how to behave and how to really NOT behave. They loved all the drama on and off the field including a guy who sat two rows behind us, got in a fight with a Seahawks fan, spilled half his beer down mine and Gwyneth’s backs and then was ejected. It was super crazy and they loved it!
The game was a nail-biter and the Broncos pulled off a win! We had so much fun cheering for our home team and can’t wait to get back there again. 

mary poppins

The girls and I had front row seats for opening night of Mary Poppins. We’ve seen it at the Performing Arts Center and it’s always been one of our favorites. This performance didn’t disappoint. The story is a classic and we love the music and dancing. 
B had a catering event so he wasn’t able to go with us and we sure did miss him. He’s not a fan of the Disney musicals so I’m fairly certain we missed him more than he missed us this evening. 
I asked the girls if they wanted to share a peach cobbler with me, because the peaches in Colorado are beyond amazing right now. They declined and each ordered a scoop of ice cream. When the desserts arrived guess which one they liked best…. 

rockies vs giants

We have just a few more Rockies games for this season and they are looking good. I do believe they are in first place going into September. Not too shabby for our Rockies. We’re big fans and love going to the games. 
Tonight they played San Francisco. It was kind of chilly but that didn’t bother us much. We grabbed some jackets and enjoyed the game. Annabelle was a bit worried about school work and asked to leave early. (so responsible!) We left after the 7th inning and listened to the rest of the game on the ride home. The Rockies pulled off the win! 

breck

We were all pretty excited for the long weekend. We are back in our groove for school and work and it’s nice to have a little quiet time to ourselves. We took a few days off and went up to the mountains. We explored, read books, colored, played games and just enjoyed the time together. 
I didn’t take many pictures of our adventures, but managed to grab a few when we stopped in town and hit the hot tub. 
Pretty excited that we picked up A LOT of Mountain Mary cookies
The girls have really upped their shuffleboard game. They have both gotten pretty darn good. We played several pretty intense games. I love it! 
It was pretty chilly up in the mountains. The girls were excited to take a dip in the hot tub. 
We headed back early Sunday morning to meet friends for a BBQ. That extra day to sleep in on Monday was pretty great too. 

field day

I have volunteered to be the yearbook coordinator for the girls’ school this year. I basically have to attend important events, take pictures, and with the help of the yearbook crew (students grades 5th -8th) compile the yearbook at the end of the year. 
This seems like a perfectly good fit for me, because I like an excuse to be at the school that doesn’t bug my children and I clearly enjoy taking pictures. Seems like a pretty fit for my service hours. 
This morning was field day so I hopped on over to catch some photos of the action. I took tons more of all the students, but here are a few of my favorites of my girlies and their friends. The girls had a great time and Annabelle’s team ended up with the 1st place win!

braces

We officially have two brace faces! 
We waited a while to get these braces. The girls needed a few teeth to fall out and a few more to grow in. Finally poor Gwyneth had a tooth grow in on the roof of her mouth an another one coming in even more wonky and enough was enough. It was time! 
I think they are lucky because they have each other to commiserate over the pain. And there was most certainly pain this weekend. We did a whole lot of nothin’ as they recuperated this weekend. We had lots of soft, mushy foods and they watch lots of movies. Their mouths were so, so sore, but they sure do look cute!

rockies and pancakes

We hopped right back into the swing of things around here. The early morning alarm clock is not welcome, but the return of schedules and structure sure is. I like to have a plan and being back in school and in a routine certainly helps with that. 
We had tickets to the baseball game Tuesday night but only B and Annabelle could attend because Gwyneth had dance classes. They got there early…but not too early. There should have been more people than THIS. They had the place to themselves and it never really filled up that night. It was a pretty dreary night for a baseball game. Besides B dropping his hot dog right on the ground after one bite, they said they had a great time and didn’t mind the lack of other fans. (I had a good laugh when he texted me that little tid-bit about his hot dog…it may have included a few choice expletives, but he was good natured about it and Annabelle shared her nachos with him.)

Gwyneth has PE and three hours of dance on Tuesdays. Mentally she’s up for the challenge, but physically her leg is giving her a hard time. I’ve asked her if she would like to skip class until she has surgery, but she won’t have it. Her BFF is in all 3 of her dance classes and since they don’t go to school together she would never miss the opportunity to see her.

After class I had planned to make dinner at home, but Gwyneth mentioned pancakes so….

That girl loves her breakfast!

She’s a tiny little thing, but she can eat! I watched in amazement as she polished all of this off…

1st day of 5th and 6th grade

And just like that, summer is over. 
Locker combinations have been mastered. Lunches packed. Let the new school year begin. 
Gwyneth had a rough night. She was so very, very excited and just could not fall asleep. She finally dozed off around 1 am. She hopped right out of bed when her alarm went off; all smiles and ready to tackle 5th grade. 
Annabelle didn’t seem the least bit phased for the first day of school. She was relaxed and excited…except about math. She’s a little worried about math, which is weird to me, because she’s really good at it. Once she gets in their and starts learning her stuff I think her heart will be ease…even with algebra. 
After a full school day, we had to divide and conquer. Gwyneth went straight to dance for 2 hours of poms and ballet while Annabelle went to volleyball practice and then to dance for an hour of tap. We all met up at home and everyone collapsed on to the couch. The girls had nothing but wonderful things to say about their school teacher, dance teachers, friends, etc, etc etc. This is going to be a great year!

broncos vs bears

What a night!
Our fab friends, the Tylers, sold us their Bronco season tickets for this season and we have been so excited planning for our first game. The Broncos played the Bears which could not have been more perfect for the girls’ first NFL game. 
Annabelle sported her Bears gear, but she was rooting for the Broncos right along with us. The girls asked lots of questions and were hooked on the action. It was actually just a bit chilly, nothing like our December games will be, but our seats are pretty high up and felt a bit of a windy chill. 
We had such a blast! The Broncos lost but thankfully this was just a pre-season game. Our first regular season game is in just two weeks and we can hardly wait!! Go Broncos!!

great wolf lodge

All the schools around us started back this week, but our gals were lucky enough to have a few more days of summer vacation. I did a little research and found an awesome deal for a few days at Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs. The rooms were more than 50% off so we snapped up the deal and headed down for 2 nights. 
Our first day there we practically had the place to ourselves. It was great! We spent most of our time in the wave pool, but managed to do a few water slides too. There no lines and the girls were thrilled!
B had to be in the Kitchen on Wednesday so the girls and I were on our own during the day. Luckily he was able to make it down to meet us for dinner. 
We were up bright and early the next morning for another day at the water park. 
Our last day was a quiet one too. The girls decided to skip the water park and spent the morning playing mini golf, bowling, and doing the ropes courses. B had to head back to work, but the girls and I stuck around until after lunch time. We realized a storm was heading in so we packed up and hit the road so we could beat the hail.  We made it home just in time and headed right to the girls’ school for their open house. It was a really great few days of swimming and fun with these little ladies. I can’t believe we are counting down for the first day of school already….