Babes & Bison

We had a nice Sunday brunch at the Country Club...ahem. It was too chilly to play at the park afterwards so we told the girls we'd stop at the Bison overlook near Genesee to see if the herd was there. Sure enough, it was. So we parked the car, got out like a bunch of tourists & hiked up (in our dresses) to check them out. Too bad all the piles of poo caused a bigger thrill than the bison themselves, I think.

Working Hard?

Or hardly working?

This was the scene on my front lawn at around 10:30 on Friday. Is that helping fix my house? I don't think so. To make up for it, they are here today making tremendous noise!! There is also a fog of dust? in my house right now from all the drilling--so I have all my bathroom fans running & some windows open. I'm hoping it's not toxic.

Julia decided she'd rather play outside with the dog but just came to the door & said she can still hear it outside. Oh well--at least she's breathing relatively clean air.

Happy Birthday

Today is our Sophie Helen's 6th birthday. A pretty little thing, this one, right from the start. Lots of striking, dark hair, dimples from the very first hour and Nana's lovely, long fingers and nails.

Gave us a scare though. Forceps birth. Fever and a short time in the NICU. Almost 3 days in the hospital, all alone under the bilirubin lights with little sunglasses taped over her eyes. They only let her out from under the heat long enough to eat and get a quick snuggle from worried mama & papa.

Brought her home and she scared the daylights out of big sister, Emma, who had spent three years alone with her grownups, and had never heard the noise of a newborn's cry ringing through the house. As a result, Emma spent lots of time hiding under her bed to escape from this new, loud intruder who (she just found out) was staying.

But newborn cries turned into toothless smiles, and wobbly toddling turned into raucous play. Sweet Sophie slipped into our family nicely, and took her place as cherished little sister. Sure we have our moments, but we wouldn't change one thing about her. She loves to write, draw and dance, helps immensely around the house and relishes playing with her sisters. She has a hunger to learn and an adventurous, albeit cautious, spirit. She has big dreams for her future, as do I, although I try to cling to the past to keep her little just a bit longer.

It's all going by so fast but what an adventure we're having with our Little Peanut!
Happy Birthday, Soph!!

The Joys of High Altitude Cooking

Oh dear.

I added 1/3 cup of cornstarch for high altitude cooking like the directions said but this angel food cake still has 20 minutes to rise & cook & fester.

I'm afraid to look when the timer goes off--the blob from within might be filling my whole oven & start seeping out--like an episode of I Love Lucy.

This should be a trick to get out of the pan...if I can get it out of the oven, that is.

Son of a Buttrice

Well. So nobody has been here working on the house for the last week. Bob called our old foreman today to ask where the heck they've been. When I say 'old,' I mean 'former' because apparently he injured his knee on another job & is out for surgery.

He said that there has been a slight delay.

When the engineer was here a while back, he discovered a problem with the buttrice(s) in the basement/crawl space area and so had to report his findings to the builder. The builder had to report the findings to the warranty company. The warranty company had to wait for the paperwork to arrive & approve (paying for) the work. But nobody remembered to report the findings to us. Uh, the homeowners.

Supposedly there will be a crew here again on Wednesday to get it going again. Aargh.

Birthdays

April must be THE month in which to be born. I know a lot of cool people with April birthdays! That's you Pam, Karen, Mark, Sophie, Amy & Avery!

Happy Birthday, Ya'll!!

"Fabulous planetary influences will kick-start everyone’s week. In your case today is all about cash boosts and material gain. Your levels of cunning and insight will be nicely complimented with a steady, calm and cautious approach. With this in mind you can consider taking a calculated or minor risk today! "
(From http://my.horoscope.com)

Friends

Just got home from Sophie's 'Friends' birthday party. Her actual birthday is not until Wednesday but I scheduled a princess craft party at the rec center in Lafayette for today. I usually prefer old-school home parties but our house is so torn up outside with all our foundation work, I didn't want little kiddos falling into any holes.

So the kids made 2 crafts--an embellished paper purse and a princess necklace, did sidewalk chalk on the patio and had cake & ice cream. The rec center has done these parties a few times before, it seemed, because it ran like clockwork...opening presents and finishing cake & ice cream right on time. Seemed like they all had fun!

Sidewalk chalk--always a good time

Purse Craft

Necklaces--Azlyn, Laurel, Sophie, Shelsey & Allison

Laurel, Sophie, Soraya

All Gathered Around

I can see into my future--Emma after I told her that her necklace looked a little like a spine (I thought it was cool that way) but it didn't sound as good as it did in my head...oops.

Yum O'Licious

Just as a public service, I wanted to share the yummy ice cream flavor we just discovered...Blueberry Pomegranate Dark Chocolate Chunk. Sounds bizarre, I know.
I've seen it in the store before minus the chocolate chunks, but I must admit, it was the chunks that put me over the edge to give it a try.
Oh my.
It is quite possibly one of the yummiest ice creams I've had--and believe me, I've eaten a lot of ice cream.

So next time you're at the supermarket and see this wacky mix of heaven, give it a try. I don't think you'll be sorry.

Never in all my days...

...have I seen the zoo as crowded as it was today. The temp hit the upper 70's so Julia and I decided to pick Sophie up after school and head to the zoo for lunch.

So too did the rest of the state.

Unbelievable. The parking garage was full. The lots had signs that they were full. School buses were everywhere. Cars were stalking zoo visitors as they walked to their cars in hopes of snagging their parking spot when they left. After a couple of spins around the lot, we gave up and decided to head over to City Park to play & have our picnic. After eating and playing a bit, we walked through the park to see if the zoo had a back entrance--which they do but it wasn't open today.

So we decided that since lunch time was over, some of the school buses might be leaving. Lo and behold, when we went back & perused the lot, many buses were gone & the lots were open. We got a primo parking space on the shady Tiger level of the parking garage. Score!
So we went on into the zoo which really had emptied out--schools were on their way out so the timing turned out to be just right. We made one circle around, got some ice cream, and watched keepers throw bones to the hyenas & lions before heading on home.

I was a bit frazzled but the girls were pumped that they got to play at a fabulous 'new' park AND go to the zoo...all in one day!

I scream, you scream...

..love the lions by the glass!!

Magnolia

Our magnolia has one blossom and a couple of buds ready to bloom. I'm just happy it's still alive!! Never thought a magnolia could grow in Colorado--it's my favorite tree...I think I was a southern belle in my past life!!

That's Devotion

Caught Bob playing...(shhhhhh don't tell anyone)...Barbies with his girls. That's what happens when you're the father of all girls...you end up playing things that manly men don't usually admit to playing. But to be fair, he was being Ken and driving the truck if that helps...ha!!! Sorry, Bob.



p.s.
Enlarge the second pic & check out 'Princess Kelly' on the fridge...we have a pic of Kelly & the girls use magnets to dress her up.

Things are odd at our house sometimes...but fun!!

Crazytown

Spring fever at our house...

Emma


Julia


Sophie bumped heads with a kid on the playground at school today so wasn't in too much of a jumping mood...but still got into it...

Pee-yew

Today there is a burning/chemicall-y smell coming from the basement work site--ick. Guess we'll be making ourselves scarce most of the rest of the day.

It must not be anything too serious because Singing-Guy is still singing. There is one worker who sings while he works--and sings rather well, I might add. Whenever I hear a really scary, loud noise or something that doesn't sound quite right, I listen for Singing-Guy and if he's still singing, I know that it must not be all that bad. He's my own little built in alarm system. We also have Whistling-Guy but he is a tad more annoying and less reliable than Singing-Guy...or maybe they are one and the same. Yesterday, he was whistling that "won't you come home Bill Bailey" song and then I was stuck on it all day. Thanks Whistling-Guy. I prefer Singing-Guy.

So sing on, Singing-Guy!

I wonder if he takes requests???

uh oh

Les was here when I came home from one of my 10,000 errands today and I asked him how the whole house thing is going. He said fine except they are having trouble with one of the caissons and something or other & that the engineer was coming out to meet him to discuss the problem. When I left to go pick up Julia from school, the engineer was here and they were all having a discussion inside the garage but he was gone by the time I got home again so I couldn't find out the scoop. Hopefully it's nothing too bad--can't think of how it could be any worse than what they're already doing. Famous last words...

Here Are Sophie & Julia's New Hairstyles

April Fools!!! : )
(pipecleaners are so fun!)

Have Equipment--Will Travel

More of the same--except now I think they are doing more to the basement--lots of noises coming from down there.
The vibrations even knocked some stuff off of one of Sophie's shelves upstairs in her room...at least that's what Julia claims ("the workers did it.")...hmmm.



There is no one here today though so all is peaceful...outside.