peacock

sleepover friday • ellie and kierra

B had another Friday night of parties at the Kitchen so the girls each had a friend sleepover. This is becoming quite a trend around here. The girls seem pretty happy about it.

Annabelle had her bestie from school, Kierra over. They are just thick as thieves. Gwneth invited her friend Ellie. They use to go to school together, but haven’t been at the same school in 2 years. It was so nice to see them right back in step together. They were all smiles and sweetness. It’s so great to have a house full of happy, lovely gals.

The girls made pizzas, played shuffleboard and Foosball, and watched Hidden Figures before heading off to sleep. Ellie had soccer practice after school while the other 3 participated in their fun run so they were pretty worn out. They were all asleep by midnight which has to be some kind of sleepover record.

math celebration

Annabelle has been struggling with math this year. She’s quite good at math but seems to have lost her confidence. She’s had a few rough tests and felt defeated. She had in her head that she just wasn’t good at it.

Her teacher has been so supportive. She has encouraged her and given her a bit of extra help. I received a text from Annabelle’s teacher this evening saying she had just finished grading tests and Annabelle had received a 94%. That A was a triumph for our girl and we wanted to make sure we celebrated it.

Annabelle was at dance and Gwyneth and I came up with the idea to have a little root beer toast waiting for her when she arrived home.

When I shared the news this girl was over the moon!!
I think we were all pretty happy for this girl!
Yessss!
I love these little goof balls!

school house kitchen

We wanted to try something new for lunch and got the great idea to head over to Arvada to check out School House Kitchen and Libations. Old Towne Arvada was nuts with people everywhere. Of course, if we would have paid even just a bit of attention to the news we would have known the new train line from downtown to Arvada was opening today and the city was having a big ol’ party. What a bunch of dopes!
We finally found parking and snagged a seat in the bar. School House Kitchen is an old converted school house and it’s a bit kitschy, but also a bit cool and fun. We all thought our meals were ok, but we had a blast people watching and following the NFL draft. 
After B’s party at the kitchen that evening, we headed over to Echo for pizza for dinner. Sarah joined us while her parents attended a fundraiser. We love Echo and always talk about how we need to go there more often. Sarah wasn’t so sure at first but she quickly became a fan like the rest of us!
While Gwyneth and Sarah were drawing pictures upstairs, Annabelle helped me sort through the 100 tiles that were painted the previous weekend. She sorted and I packaged. That girl is speedy! I could barely keep up with her!
Mitch and Connie stopped in to pick up Sarah after their fundraiser and delivered us a big ol’ basket of goodies. Of course we busted right in and enjoyed a bottle of wine and luckily they stuck around to enjoy it with us. It was a fun night and we probably all stayed up a little too late, but it was too much fun to call it quits early. 

sleepover friday • ruby

This poor guy is still sitting on our counter. We water it often, but we’ve yet to plant it in the yard. Let’s hope it survives until we have some good spring planting weather. 
It was a pretty mellow Friday night around our house. B had a party at the Kitchen and I decided I needed a break from work. The girls invited their friend, Ruby over for a sleepover. I spent the night reading which was wonderful, but felt kind of weird. It’s been far too long since I’ve even had a moment of peace and quiet and felt a little anxious about it. It really was fabulous once I decided to just enjoy it! The girls made their own mini pizzas and ran off to the basement for most of the night. I loved the downtime but I think I thrive on the chaos and was ready to get back to business by the next morning. 

Such sweet friends! 

cats

Many years ago I went to see CATS with my dearest friend, Diane. We both hated it. I tell the story often about how much I hated that show. My girls love to hear that story. 
First and foremost, I’m not a cat person. I guess that’s pretty important when attending a show about…well, cats. 
CATS was included in the DPAC season subscription and for some reason I really thought my family should experience this. I don’t dislike many shows but CATS (and Les Mis…in case you were curious) is practically painful. Why I felt the need to inflict this on my family…I’m not sure. I guess I have a really weird sense of humor and it tickled me. 
We had dinner at Oceanaire before the show and let me tell ya, that was the highlight of the night. 
Gwyneth is our seafood junkie. She gave oysters a try tonight and decided they are amazing. Yessss! Her tastebuds and willingness to try new foods are astonishing. 
Annabelle and her Cesar salad. The girl has an obsession and could have Cesar salad for every meal…yes, probably breakfast too! She truly loves salads and can point you to all the best in Colorado. 
Oysters, shrimp and crab. Gwyneth is quite an expensive date! That college meal plan is going to be a real surprise for her. I’m not sure we’re doing a very good job of her preparing her college life but she sure is fun to go out to eat with now.  
And then off  to the show we went…
I have to admit it wasn’t quite as bad as I remembered. Diane may be a bad infuence on me (which of course is why I absolutely adore her!). There were some memorable songs, but overall it still falls at the top of my “Thumbs Down Theater List”. (I don’t really have a list like that but I’m kinda feeling inspired to create it…)

At intermission I asked what everyone thought of it. Gwyneth replied “well, it would sure be a lot better with dogs!”. 
B fell asleep half way through the second act. 
Annabelle’s favorite part was the Cesar salad at dinner. Ha!
Even though the show was a bit of a bust we all laughed so hard together. It was a night we will never forget. 

easter monday

B joined us for breakfast, but had to head home early for work. I spent the day working from the pool while these little ladies swam their hearts out. It was a pretty quiet day at the pool and they were pretty pleased. 
Unfortunately the girls had dance that evening and with recital just around the corner we thought it best for them to not miss class. We had to be home in the late afternoon, but it was a wonderful time and a nice little getaway. 

happy easter

It has been years since we woke up on Easter morning at our own home. We’ve had a tradition of going to a hotel to swim. The girls wanted to attend a swimming party with friends last night so we switched up the plans and stayed home for the night. I sure do love a tradition, but it was nice to see these girls so happy and to sleep in our own beds. 
After going through Easter baskets and finding eggs at home we met up with Meyers for brunch. We met downtown at The Pig and Sprout which is one of our family favorites. 
These kids sure are growing up fast. 
The girls didn’t have school on Monday so we spent the night at Great Wolf Lodge. By the time we arrived most of the crowd was heading home. It was a pretty quiet night and we had the place mostly to ourselves. 
My fabulously, goofy girls
I booked the hotel through Hotels.com instead of through the Great Wolf Lodge website. We got a better deal, but the view was a little less than desirable.  At least we had a patio to enjoy all this beauty… HA!

painting tiles and swimming party

I spent my morning painting tiles with 100 of my neighbors at our Easter Eggstravaganza event. This was first year I worked the event for Color Me Mine and it was a success. Everyone had a great time and we had lots of new painters. 
The girls met up with school friends for a pool party. They had a blast and swam for several hours. They came home exhausted with lots of treats! 

rockies game

It was a beautiful night for a baseball game! 

April weather in Colorado can be a bit manic. Lucky for us tonight was gorgeous. It was the perfect night to sit outside and watch a game. This was our first Rockies game of the season and it didn’t disappoint. We had incredible seats and enjoyed dinner on the club level patio overlooking Blake Street.

B introduced Gwyneth to scorecards and they busied themselves keeping up with each play. How cute are they?

We sure seem to get our money out of our tickets lately. The games we attend go in to overtime/extra innngs! Tonight the Rockies won it in the 12th with a homerun by Blackmon.

parent-teacher conferences

The girls were off school today for parent-teacher conferences. Just as they did yesterday, the girls split up with Annabelle spending the morning at her friend Kierra’s house and Gwyneth heading with me to the Littleton studio. After lunch we all met at the school for conferences which went even better than expected. I’m proud of these little ladies and what they’ve accomplished this year. 
We met up with the Tendlers for dinner at Chuys. We discussed some summer vacation plans and I hope we get those on the calendar sooner than late! Always a fun time with these peeps.  
And then home to snuggle up and watch  Friends with my Annie. She’s become quite obsessed with the show and I’m encouraging it. We started watching together from the beginning. I’ve always been a huge fan and it’s been fun to share it with her. 
Mine and Gwyneth’s creation from our day at Color Me Mine