princess

trunk or treat

Tonight was the big night at school – TRUNK OR TREAT. 
I’m no fan of Halloween. Never have been, never will be. I do love that my girls still enjoy the dress up. They enjoy the cute, fun costumes instead of the blood and gore. (Did I mention that I HATE to be scared! Using the word hate here…) 
I do love Trunk or Treat at the girls’ school though. Their school is small and a great little community. The event is the perfect size with friends and families attending. It’s not overwhelming. Just a few cars, games, dancing, cake walk, pizza and cookies. 
B and I each decorated our cars and the girls got to run around all night with their friends. It was nearly 80 degrees for the festivities — what’s up Colorado? Where the heck is fall? If you skip right over fall and go straight to snowy winter I’m going to be T.O.’ed! 
Our little Tootsie Roll
Our Flapper Girl
Sweet Sisters:
the fringe is the best part of her costume:
trying to be a spooky tootsie roll. nice try, goofy girl: 
love this little tootsie roll:
man, this girl is 9 going on 19:
Ready to party: 
the trunk winner of the night: the kids love the twister theme and the costumes were so, so festive: 
the Ford family. Kylie is in Annabelle’s class:
Rare family photo and I love it. Our ttrunks were pretty boring simple. Mine was covered in webs and lots of spiders. B’s was pretty gross…bloody kitchen tools and body stumps. We’re going to step it up next year because the girls really want a theme. They have already started planning…
Annabelle’s friend Samantha hurt this leg and Annabelle has been happily helping her get around at school. She offers to carry her lunch, folders, musical instrument etc. Tonight she carried her bucket for her so they could both collect candy. 
Samantha’s family
Ready to trunk or treat:
Gwyneth and her friend Kat. How cute do they look???
B was generous with the candy, naturally making him very popular!!
Cars are ready. Bring on the trunk or treaters: 
Enjoying pizza and lemonade:
With their teacher Ms. Certain, who we absolutely love, love, love. She has been amazing for both of our girls:
Another shot of the 4th grade crew: 
The girls had a wonderful time with their friends. 
Tonight was declared the best trunk or treat ever. 
This picture is really dark and kind of a throw away but I love how Gwyneth stands out so bright white in her costume!
Back home the girls sorted and traded their Halloween candy…and then quickly hid it from us. Smart, smart girls! 

halloween dances

The girls take dance two nights a week for a total of four classes. Each of the classes had a dance performance the last 10 minutes of class. They are not in the same classes this year, but luckily the classes combined to watch performances. We couldn’t be more appreciative of that because our plan was to split up and video the performances. So much better to be all together! 
Gwyneth’s ballet performance

Annabelle’s pom routine. She in the back center in the orange shirt. Look at all that sass!

Gwyneth’s pom performance with her friend Paige. This is their 5th year dancing together. Love it! (I didn’t get a picture of Annabelle’s ballet routine – it was a packed house and I didn’t have a good angle for her. She did great though!)
2nd night of performances were tap and jazz. 
Annabelle and Makayla after jazz. 
Gwyneth and Ella after tap and jazz. These girls are besties and dance together on Tuesdays. Gwyneth is so excited that Ella has joined her.


It has been a wild week, quite full of responsibilities and deadlines. I pick the girls up from school and bring them a snack because they are so hungry and usually quite grumpy until they get something to eat. Thursdays they swim after school so they are especially tired and grumpy and hungry. I showed up without snacks, which is obviously not the end of the world but I could see they felt just as worn out from the week as I did. 
Forgotten snacks = a stop to Dairy Queen across from school. Every now and again it’s a good choice to ruin your dinner and have some special time together…and eat ice cream. Ice cream is good. 

malloween

WHAT. A. DAY. 
We are kicking off the holiday season around here. From now until New Years we will be going strong with our businesses. We started it off right and had a great time. Today we had Malloween at the mall where about 3,000 kids came out to trick or treat. We had lots of kids swing by and Annabelle was a big helper handing out candy. She was pretty amazing really. 

Gwyneth and Ella painted peacocks
Afterwards we went for lunch and a few treats

We dropped Ella off at home, took Gwyneth for a playdate at her friend Ruby’s, and then went to visit B at the neighborhood fall festival. He had a big ol’ booth going and he was super busy. We didn’t want to get in his way, but it was nice to see him and his crew in action.

Annabelle and I went back to Color Me Mine to see how the day was going. It had quieted down a bit so Annabelle and I sat down to paint. She just really wanted to spend some quality time and I was happy to be there with her too. It was a busy day, but I’m really proud of how this family pulls together. I sure do love these folks.

juniors: halloween party

Annabelle’s Girl Scout troop LOVES Halloween. They started planning their Halloween party at their prior meeting and were very excited for the big night. 
Annabelle wanted to practice out her 20’s pin curls for the party. I think I did ok with the braid, but have some work to do with the curls. She still rocked it though and looked fabulous. 
Lookin’ 1920’s Flapper Fabulous! 
Annabelle and her Troop:
This is more like it. Love these crazy faces and Annabelle swingin’ that fringe:
A new friend joined the troop and she is a perfect fit for the troop. 
Hard to believe many of these girls have known each other since Kindergarten. That was five years ago. Oh, how the times flies!

mineapolis revisited

Our flight got messed up on our way home so we stayed another night in Minneapolis. We arrived back in town in the late afternoon so we checked in to a hotel:
And then hurried over for a late snack at the American Girl Doll store. 
Such a good dad and such a good sport. 
We decided to just keep it low key and relax before our early flight the next day. We walked around the gigantic Mall , visited the Peeps store and checked out a few other stores (again, we’re not big shoppers). We settled in for dinner at the Mall which had the saltiest food I think I’ve ever eaten. Even B said it was too salty…and that’s saying a lot! 
Annabelle was so tired of cheese curds. We ordered them at every meal and had to sample and compare. She was over it!
Luckily our hotel had a pool. The parents were worn out from travel and the long car ride, but the kids were still ready to go! They swam while we relaxed and it was the perfect end to a lovely little get away. 

ashland

We finally arrived in Ashland, Wisconsin where B’s sister and her family live. Nathan came home from college for the weekend so we were able to spend the time with the entire family. It was really nice to finally get to see where they are living. Most of Paul’s family lives there and they have been for three years now. It’s not a super easy place to get to, but we finally got there. 
The town is located right on Lake Superior and only has about 8,000 residents. It is a quaint little town with a lot of character. I had a lovely time wandering around town and our brother in law Paul planned quite a few adventures for us. 
Our first stop was the local cheese shop. More squeaky cheese please! 

This is just an outhouse…with a satellite dish. Wait…what? Why? Annabelle thought it was hilarious.

We had lunch at Frankie’s, a local pizza place. The pizza was delicious! Really, really good. Afterwards we took the girls over to the Lake to explore.

Silly family

Uh oh, she’s going in! Just kidding, just kidding. 

We took a beautiful nature walk and learned about owls and lighthouses.

Not a bad view of the sunset, huh? May be one of my favorites from the trip. 
The next morning we woke up to a beautiful view and bright,  sunny skies. This was the gorgeous view from our hotel room. 

We said goodbye to our lake side hotel and had breakfast with the Rewalts before heading back to Minneapolis to catch our flight home. It was a quick trip, but we have now been to Ashland. I’m glad we were finally able to get away for it.

duluth

The second stop on our trip was Duluth, about a 2.5 hour drive north of Minneapolis. Our nephew, Nathan just started college here in August. It’s a smaller town of maybe 80,000 + and the school has about 4,000 students which seems to suit Nathan well. 
Nathan gave us a tour of his dorm, which brought back many happy memories from our college years, and he showed us around campus. I hope he is really happy there. College was such a great time for me and I hope he has a great experience too. 
B’s sister and brother-in-law drove from Ashland, which is about 1 1/2 hours away, to meet us for dinner. We spent the evening catching up and then we surprised the girls with a stay at a local indoor water park. The hotel was similar to Great Wolf Lodge, but perhaps a bit more shabby. The girls didn’t mind at all though. They had a blast swimming their little hearts out.
She’s just the silliest: 
Annabelle’s swim suit tore right up the back. We caught it with one last thread to spare and had to head to the gift shop to get a new suit. Disaster averted. 
The girls woke up early the next morning and they had the pools all to themselves. B and I took turns getting ready and packing up the car while they played. 
And then off we went to Ashland. 
So long Duluth, you are quite pretty right there on the lake! 

minneapolis

We used the girls’ fall break to visit B’s sister, Christi. Christi and her family live in Northern Wisconsin, in a very small town (8,000 people) so we had to get creative on our travel out there. We flew to Minneapolis and spent the night at the Mall of American before heading out on the next leg of our journey. We had never been to Minnesota and we’re always up for an adventure so here we go…
We got to the airport early and had a lovely lunch at Root Down. 
American Girl dolls joined us for our journey:
Oh, these two:
I’m always the one behind the camera but trying to be better about that: 
We arrived to Minneapolis just in time to grab a quick snack at our hotel…
…and then off toNickelodeon Universe in the Mall. 
That is one crazy mall and we are not big shoppers, but the indoor amusement park was pretty great. It was a Thursday night and we had the place nearly to ourselves. We rode all the rides and never had to wait in line. 
And off they go: 
hilarious!
Annabelle is our thrill seeker. She loves all the rides. Gwyneth not so much. This was the ride that did her in. We went as a family and she hated it. She was tough though and didn’t cry, but I think she really wanted to. After this we split up. B and I each took turns going on roller coasters with Annabelle and then some of the more gently, swing kind of rides with Gwyneth. 
This is more up Gwyneth’s alley…
We took advantage of the after 5 deal at the park and stayed until closing time. We rode all the rides and had a blast! 
The next morning we packed up our rental car and went for lunch in downtown Minneapolis. We received a great recommendation for Hell’s Kitchen. The food was delicious and we got our first sampling of cheese curds (the first of many on our trip). 
I enjoyed Minneapolis. I loved all the walkaways connecting the buildings so you don’t freeze in the winter. It was a very fun first stop on our trip. 

painting for reagan

We hosted a fundraiser for Reagan at our new studio and were so thankful for everyone who turned up to support her. 
At one point every single table in the studio was filled and I was a bit frazzled and a bit overwhelmed, but most importantly I was incredibly happy and humbled by the all the kindness and love in my life. New and old friends, from near and far, from school and former jobs, new and old classmates –  all of them dear to us – arrived to paint, meet Reagan and to support our family. 
How lucky we are to know such kindness, to feel so much love, to be the recipients of so much goodness. Thank you to everyone who came out that day!
I was able to snap just a few pictures before it got too busy. I didn’t get everyone, but I really appreciate everyone who was there. 
The smiles from these cousins is everything!


Reagan treatment update: She has started another four weeks of chemo. Her body is responding well. No spinal taps scheduled and she is able to eat some and rest. That girls kicks ass!

It sucks to see her in pain. I hate it. It makes me sick to my stomach and I have to fight back tears.

…And then Reagan, Annabelle and Gwyneth find their groove together. And they laugh. They laugh so hard together and they are always smiling. There is so much good when they are together. And they never want to leave each other. They always want a little more time to play. I am so grateful they have each other. They are good. They are really, really good and that makes my heart full.