princess

cake boss

We decided at the beginning of the summer that we were not going to have birthday parties this year. We went on two long trips already and celebrated lots. We agreed that we would do a family birthday night on each of our birthdays and save the friend parties for next summer. 
Well, that Gwyneth is a sneaky one. She kept dropping hints about having her friends to the Kitchen for a cake boss day. The hints turned into begs and we agreed to host an event for her friends. Well, without much work she transformed that gathering right into a birthday party for herself! To her credit she did ask that no one bring gifts….but her friends showered her with presents anyway. 
We invited lots of sweet friends, B made pizzas, the girls decorated cakes and we had a blast in the Kitchen celebrating that silly 10 year old that we all love so much. 
Fondant time!
We had cakes, cakes and more cakes!
Gwyneth’s team made a a breakfast cake…chocolate chip pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, etc. 
These sweet little ladies have been friends since kindergarten. They make my heart happy together! 
An “underwater artist” cake! 
Fabulous friends since 2nd grade. They have all moved on to new schools, but come together as though no time at all has passed. Oh my, how they’ve grown! Gwyneth truly has a gift for picking amazing friends. 
Sisterly love! 
Annabelle’s team made a pig cake for her…I like the pig that ended up face down in the mud. Ha!
Sisters, new friends, neighbors and cousins. Loving all these girls!
A little cake walk to pick their favorites. 
Happiness!
This is one of my favorites!
A little cousin love before calling it a day!
After we cleaned up, B and I headed downtown for a night of theater. We went to see Les Mis, which neither of us had ever seen before. Oh boy, we had been warned, but that show is a DOWNER! It’s a great story of resilience, the music and production is beautiful, but everyone dies. They even kill off a few of the kids. CRIKEY! I’ve heard many people say this is their favorite show and I was surprised. It was beautiful, but beautifully depressing! I’m grateful we were able to see it finally and will someday attempt to watch the movie. 

gwyneth is 10!

Gwyneth Grace is 10! 
Oh boy, this girl was really excited for her big day. She had a countdown going on and reminded us daily that her birthday was just around the corner. 
This girl could not wait to get her phone. She had waited over a year since Annabelle got hers and could hardly wait. She opened it up with a scream and received lots of birthday messages from friends and family. 
She requested Ooka for lunch. That girl loves her Chinese food. 
The new phone!
Two orders of crab wontons. She shared, but she sure does love those things. 
After lunch the girls headed off to photography camp. 
We picked up two friends after camp and headed down to the American Girl Doll store. 
Their dolls each had a turn at the salon.
We had dinner at the White Chocolate Grill and then ended the night with a sleepover at our house. Gwyneth had a pretty great day and we were so happy to be able to celebrate with her. We love that girl so much!
Some of my favorite pictures of the birthday girl….

swim, movie, and birthday party

Woah – what a weekend! We had a lot of swimming events on the calendar, but it was the last weekend of it so we didn’t want to miss a thing. 
Friday night we joined the team for Spirit Night. BMK catered the event so the food was really good! Each participant received a certificate and a gift card to sweets for Ice Cream. 
Saturday was the last meet and the girls had the most fun of the entire summer. They teamed up with friends and won first place in both their freestyle relay and medley relay. I’m so proud of them and it was so fun to watch. I volunteered to do the ribbons at the tournament so I wasn’t able to get pictures but I had a great seat for watching them. Loved it!
We had some pretty tired ladies so we had a low key night at the movies. 
Sunday night was the final night of the swim season. We celebrated with a swim team pot luck where the girls received the rest of their ribbons and celebrated with friends. 
We had to sneak out of the pot luck a bit early for a birthday party. We celebrated Ruby and Mason turning 10 with the Billeras. It was such a fun celebration with great friends. 

movie | hotel transylvania 3

Gwyneth has had the most fun this week at art camp. The camp is in Boulder, about 20 minutes from our house, but it was well worth it to see her creations and hear her stories from the camp. She has made new friends and had the best time. I’m so glad we were able to find this opportunity for her. 
I’m loving the $5 Tuesdays at AMC. It is a great price for new release movies and there are lots of movies out that we want to see this summer.  Today we went to see Hotel Transylvania 3 and I think it was pretty funny….I’m not exactly sure because I fell asleep halfway through. Oops! At least it was a cheap nap.

swim meet #2

Up bright and early for the 2nd swim meet of the summer. Annabelle signed up for 5 races and Gwyneth signed up for 4. The sun was shining and the races moved along quickly. The girls swam so hard and fast. We all had such a great time. It was such a great meet!
Their loot! 
After the meet B had to head to the kitchen for a birthday party and we had some friends coming over for dinner. The girls and I were baking fools and our first creation was pineapple upside cake. 
We also made a chocolate, marshmallow, caramel brownie. That wasn’t sad either. 
We set up a create your own pizza station for the kids….and then I put my camera down and didn’t take any more pictures that night. We had such a great time with fun friends and no pictures to show for it. I guess that’s ok, but I sure do like taking pictures. 

sweets

After our long trip, we were all pretty happy to be back home. I love to travel, but it’s always great to be back in our own beds. 
Gwyneth invited her friend Ella over for a mellow sleepover and we decided to get out for a bit and grab some ice cream. We are definitely taking our time getting back in our groove. 

chicago with cousins

My sister Becky and her family live in the suburbs of Chicago so we took a Lyft out to spend the day with her. The girls were beyond thrilled to have more time with their cousins. I’m known around town as a baby-hog so I was pretty excited too! 
Pretty happy to be spending the day with this little guy. 

We spent the morning exploring the Chicago Botanic Gardens. 

Afterwards we grabbed lunch at Portillos

The girls spent the afternoon climbing and sliding at Funtopia. 

We finished off our day with yummy ice cream treats. 

We had such a great time visiting with family and will miss them terribly! 

chicago family day

We had another day of big adventures planned in Chicago. Luckily today, Annabelle and Yaya decided to joins us! We were so happy to have them with us for the day. 
While we waited for them to drive down, we walked on over to “the Bean”. 

We walked over to the fountains — it was a pretty happenin’ day in the city. 
After meeting up with my mom and Annabelle for lunch, we walked over to Navy Pier. 

They have done so much work to the Pier and it was such a fun stop. I’ve always been a fan. It’s a big tourist spot, but the great thing about not living there anymore is that I AM a tourist and can freely enjoy the tourist hot spots.

Gorgeous afternoon
Can’t beat that view!
YaYa treated the girls to these delicious, smoky snacks. 

My mom took the girls back to her house while B and I enjoyed a night out in the city. We hit a few of our favorites and had a great time catching up on our favorite Chicago memories.