teacher appreciation week

I was assigned to be the coordinator for Annabelle’s class for teacher appreciation week. I truly, truly appreciate both of the girls’ teachers and couldn’t be happier with their progress this year.
 I did my fair share of belly aching about being in charge of the gifts this week. And then I remembered that I like to be in charge. I like to plan, plan, plan and get crafty. I wasn’t excited about giving up a Sunday afternoon to go decorate a door, but then I remembered how much these teachers so graciously do for my children and quit whining about it. The girls came along and helped and we enjoyed an afternoon of celebrating these teachers and seeing their friends at school. 
Sarah’s family decorate Gwyneth’s teacher’s door: 

The girls and I decorated Annabelle’s teacher’s door. She loves owls and Annabelle did most of the work. She did great!

Monday: hot chocolate mix, mugs and marshmallows
Tuesday: gift certificates for books
Wednesday: flowers (real and drawn!)
Thursday: Chips, salsa and a gift card for Mexican food on Cinco De Mayo
Friday: movie goodies, gift cards, tickets, popcorn popper, popcorn, candies, etc. 

birthday parties and baby showers

Another busy weekend that flew by way too fast. 
Annabelle and B had a table at the Anthem Home and Garden show. There was lots of interest in our weekly meal service and we would love to see that grow. Hopefully we’ll get some orders from the show. 
Annabelle found this little gem and begged to bring him home. It was tough to say no, but we are in no place to be adding more mayhem to our lives right now. Perhaps sooner than later, but it’s going to take some serious persuasion. 

While B and Annabelle worked the booth, Gwyneth and I hosted a cupcake wars party at the kitchen. Our girls are amazing. They do so much with our business. It is truly family owned and operated. I often worry that they are spending too much time working with us, but they never complain. They are truly valued and get to eat lots of cupcakes.

After the party Gwyneth and I attended Amy’s baby shower. She is expecting a little girl in just a few weeks. Gwyneth had a lovely time making headbands and drinking root beer floats with friends from Girl Scouts. I sat and talked and talked and talked with my dear friend Sheila who I don’t get to see nearly enough.

Congrats to the Conleys! 

peter and the starcatcher

B had a catering event today. We try not to work on Sundays, but sometimes an odd event weasels its way on to the calendar. We had tickets to Peter and the Star Catcher and since B couldn’t join us, Gwyneth invited her friend Ella.
The story was clever although a little difficult for the girls to follow. B is not a fan of anything Peter Pan (huh? after all these years together I just found that out. interesting!). If he was going to miss a show this was the one to miss because it’s the prequel to Peter Pan. I liked it. Then again, I’m a sucker for a show.

After the show we raced home to spend the rest of our evening with B. The girls decorated our driveway with sidewalk chalk. Quite, peaceful night.  Good stuff.

candy factory

It was YaYa’s last day here and she had never been to the Hammond Candy Factory. Well, that’s just no good. We had to take care of that right away. We took the tour and then purchased some treats in the gift shop. The candy factory is one of our favorites. 

It was tax day which also meant free sandwiches at Schlotsky’s, Yaya’s favorite!
We had a great visit with Yaya and miss her already. Luckily we don’t have to wait too long to visit again!

american girls

The girls had a four day weekend so it was the perfect time for a visit from YaYa. 
We took a trip to the American Girl Doll store on Friday. YaYa gave the girls each money for Easter and they have been little saving fools. They have saved Easter money, birthday money, Valentine’s money, Christmas money, tooth fairy money, etc, etc etc. They put their money together and wanted to purchase a diner for their dolls. They were thrilled and have been waiting a long time for this day. 
They spent the rest of the day playing with their diner! 

Saturday we had two parties at the kitchen and the girls spent the day with YaYa. This weekend sure flew by fast, but we were grateful to have YaYa here to help us out.

bj’s fundraiser

We joined families from the girls’ school for dinner at BJ’s. The school was hosting a fundraiser for the middle school field trip. We were happy to support the students although it may have been a bit too distracting for the girls to try and eat with so many friends and their teachers there!

donuts

Gwyneth was asking for some one on one time so we went for breakfast together. Breakfast is her favorite thing and she was so happy. I like that they let us know when they need some special time. Annabelle got some special time with her dad so everyone was happy. It’s great to all be together, but that one on time is pretty important too. 

Gwyneth’s friends Jenna and Kate came over to play with their American Girl dolls. They quickly moved on to dress up and were all giggles.

Kate took dress up to a new level. She put on ALL the princess dresses. She’s a crack up. 
Sunday morning we went for a special treat – DONUTS! 

I don’t have much a sweet tooth anymore; I’m more of a savory junky. I can’t say no to a donut though. It reminds me so much of living in Chicago and walking to get donuts in the morning. Yum, yum!

book report in a bag

The girls have standardized testing for 2 + hours each morning this week at school. I don’t make a big deal of such things because 1.) My girls are super competitive and  B.) tests stress Gwyneth out! One of the benefits of the testing is that they don’t have any homework this week. No spelling tests, no math, even the evening reading is optional. 
There’s no dancing school this week or girl scouts. Everyone else is on spring break. We have so much time in the evenings! I love it. 
Annabelle has been working on a book report in a bag. She had to read a Newbury winner or nominee and she chose The Great Gilly Hopkins. It was a challenging book for her. She read a lot on her own and we read a little together. There were deep story lines about race, anger, and abandonment. I’m proud of her for tackling a difficult book and for pulling together her book report. 
The book report in the bag was very detailed. She had instructions on what needed to go where and then picked 5 significant items to carry in the bag. She needed a little help with formatting and cutting, but she did it!

After dinner we took advantage of a beautiful evening and went mini golfing.
Annabelle takes her games very seriously!
Miss Gwyneth is a bit more silly

Miss Annabelle even managed to get a hole in one!

april fools, fondue, and avalanche

Happy April Fool’s day! 

We are jokesters around here but never put much effort in to April fools pranks. This year we tried the ol’ frozen cereal bit. The girls don’t usually eat cereal but B told them we were running late and that was all we had time for this morning. They both picked up their frozen spoons and found frozen blocks of milk and cereal. There was a touch of confusion and then hysterical laughing by Annabelle. She thought it was a great joke and it absolutely made her morning.

Look at that happy face. She loves a great prank! 
(the fake glasses are a prank she wanted to play on her teacher…)

Jokes are funny but not when they come to Gwyneth’s breakfast! She was very agitated but relieved when she got pancakes.

We had a girls night Saturday at the Melting Pot. Gwyneth’s friend, Ella, had never been and they were all giggles together. 

Annabelle’s friend had to reschedule the morning of and rather than inviting someone else to join us, she asked if I would be her date. Heck yes! I love this girl and I couldn’t have been happier to hang with her. I’m glad she’s confident and didn’t mind that Gwyneth had a friend along and she didn’t. I’m glad that she still wants to hang out with me. I’m glad she’s not too cool yet for her ol’ mom (yet…she is too cool, but she either doesn’t know or doesn’t mind!).

Gwyneth and Ella are sweet friends and we all had fun cooking, dipping, and eating together. These girls are great eaters. They ordered chicken and steak and quickly decided that steak was the best. They tried the sauces and veggies and were very adventurous.

I think Annabelle knew what she was doing sharing with me. I’m not a sweets fan so she got the chocolate round and dippers all to herself. She didn’t even put a dent in the plate of goodies, but Gwyneth and Ella polished theirs off!

It was a really lovely night. We laughed and told stories and had a very girlie, fun time. I’m very grateful to have these experiences with these fabulous ladies.

Sunday morning was the very last Nuggets Junior Dancers practice for the season. It has been hard work and a commitment from our whole family – especially since Sunday is our only day off work. I’m proud of the girls for trying, doing their best, and for getting up there on that court in front of all those people and dancing. They are so brave. 
Gwyneth decided to sit out this last performance. She doesn’t like to be on the jumbo tron, she doesn’t like the practices and its just not her thing. She did her very best this season and I’m so glad she gave it a try. She’s excited to watch Annabelle perform at the last game. She’s such a supportive and loving sister. 
While Annabelle practiced, we hit the mall, which happens to be one of my least favorite places. I hate shopping. Yes, I’m using the word hate here. B and Annabelle needed some new clothes so we went for it. We had to wait a bit for the mall to open and Gwyneth kept us entertained. She’s such a character. 

We ended the weekend cheering for the Avalanche. We had great seats which we got for B for his birthday. I thought it would be a better gift, but the Blues crushed them. The Blues scored 3 goals in the first period and the Avs played the rest of the game like they were already defeated. Everyone in our crew would have been happier if they won, but we were happy to be there together. 

easter eve

After a morning of catering and Easter preparation we checked in to a hotel near our house. We love our little staycations and our tradition of staying at a hotel the night before Easter. There’s always swimming and dinner and such anticipation and discussion about if the Easter Bunny will find us. 
This year we stayed at the Renaissance Flatirons. The views from the hotel were gorgeous. The pool was simple and the girls had it all to themselves. We were able to get a suite for a low, low price and they had a great lounge for watching March Madness. 

Love the lashes

Fabulous, just fabulous!

Gwyneth has gotten so much better swimming but still doesn’t like to jump right in. Luckily Annabelle is there to hold her hand.

Looking so lovely for dinner

Annabelle likes to be our photographer 
After dinner we hung out in the lounge and watched March Madness and had such fun family time. 

Annabelle may have been a touch distracted with her iPad, but she put it away once the games got started. This is our basketball lover after all.

 Now we wait for the Easter Bunny…