that ends...
...well?
(she's ok--just a bruised ego)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
birthday day
Julia's actual birthday was a rather calm and relaxing day.
She had a little bit of this,
followed by some of that,
then a Famous Dave's bbq rib lunch, an afternoon of playing WipeOut on the Wii, a turkey dinner and a little more of this,
and of course, what birthday would be complete without a whole bunch of that!
She had a little bit of this,
followed by some of that,
then a Famous Dave's bbq rib lunch, an afternoon of playing WipeOut on the Wii, a turkey dinner and a little more of this,
and of course, what birthday would be complete without a whole bunch of that!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Take that you monstrous dog
Mission accomplished. I finished Julia's cake and I can officially say it is free of bite marks or dog splooge. Woohoo!
Happy 8th Birthday, young Julia!
(Julia loves all things Asian and everything coconut so I combined the best of both worlds! It's supposed to say "Happy Birthday" in Chinese so sorry if it doesn't and I just offended my hundreds of Chinese speaking followers with some naughty words or something. I did my best!!)
And best of all, she liked it!
Happy 8th Birthday, young Julia!
(Julia loves all things Asian and everything coconut so I combined the best of both worlds! It's supposed to say "Happy Birthday" in Chinese so sorry if it doesn't and I just offended my hundreds of Chinese speaking followers with some naughty words or something. I did my best!!)
And best of all, she liked it!
#%$&%*!!
As I diligently and dutifully uploaded birthday party pictures to the blog,
Mack stealthily and speedily devoured Julia's birthday cake cooling on the rack.
So now I'm angrily and hurriedly baking another cake, keeping a close eye on Mack as I upload pictures to the blog.
Harumph.
Mack stealthily and speedily devoured Julia's birthday cake cooling on the rack.
So now I'm angrily and hurriedly baking another cake, keeping a close eye on Mack as I upload pictures to the blog.
Harumph.
a very merry unbirthday
Today isn't Julia's actual birthday, but Saturday is the only day Cold Stone schedules birthday parties. And in my book, it's not really a birthday without Cold Stone. So, of course, there we were at Cold Stone with a few of Julia's closest friends partaking of ice cream at 10:30 in the morning.
Oh-we also got a tour of the store and Julia got to pick any flavor to learn how to make (she picked black cherry yogurt which was utterly delicious)...and then make it for the store. Not sure if they actually sell what we made what with all the health department rules about 10 children breathing on, sniffing, and tasting product to be sold, but I would have taken it off their hands if not!
Taste-testing...yum!
Oh-we also got a tour of the store and Julia got to pick any flavor to learn how to make (she picked black cherry yogurt which was utterly delicious)...and then make it for the store. Not sure if they actually sell what we made what with all the health department rules about 10 children breathing on, sniffing, and tasting product to be sold, but I would have taken it off their hands if not!
Taste-testing...yum!
Friday, August 19, 2011
aw shoot
Tonight I opened my fridge to get the stuff out to make our dinner. When I opened the door, a brown chunk of ice fell out on the floor. "Who made a something popsicle and let it drop out of the freezer into the fridge?" I asked. You may not understand that sentence, but everyone at my house did. My children are known for freezing just about any liquid/yogurt/food colored water etc. to see how it turns out as a popsicle. Occasionally, said popsicle is precariously perched in the freezer so it falls out onto the floor or into the fridge. No one claimed that activity so I investigated further. The brown ice chunks were everywhere. On the shelves, the door, the milk carton and everywhere in between.
What the!
Turns out someone in my house changed the setting on my refrigerator. They turned it all the way to the coldest setting. I'm not naming any names but I have the usual suspects in mind...Ida Know, Not Me and Whadya Mean. Or maybe it was just an accident. Or maybe a poltergeist haunting. Who knows.
At any rate, I looked towards the back of the middle shelf and discovered this monstrosity:
This can of Diet Coke froze, expanded and then exploded...all over the fridge! Ew-what a mess.
Check your fridge settings, people. This is a free public service announcement so that you're not spending your valuable dinner-making time scraping brown glacial ice out of your fridge. Ugh!
What the!
Turns out someone in my house changed the setting on my refrigerator. They turned it all the way to the coldest setting. I'm not naming any names but I have the usual suspects in mind...Ida Know, Not Me and Whadya Mean. Or maybe it was just an accident. Or maybe a poltergeist haunting. Who knows.
At any rate, I looked towards the back of the middle shelf and discovered this monstrosity:
This can of Diet Coke froze, expanded and then exploded...all over the fridge! Ew-what a mess.
Check your fridge settings, people. This is a free public service announcement so that you're not spending your valuable dinner-making time scraping brown glacial ice out of your fridge. Ugh!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Birthday, Birthday Oh What Fun
Ok. That title is a line from a creepy children's 45 record my sisters and I used to play on the wrong speed so it distorted the voices and went real slow:
"Biiiirrrrthday, biiiirrrrthday ohhhhh what fun,
Biiirrrrthday, biiiirrrrthday haaaaave another one" (sing this with a voice like the voice of the tallest woman on earth...or the guy that says "you rang?" on the Adams Family tv show).
That record really gave me the creeps, but still we played it like that over and over. Ask my sisters and they'll probably deny knowing anything about it. Or maybe it was just me doing it. I can't remember, but I'll drag them into it so I don't look so deranged.
Anyway, whenever a birthday rolls around, and I have to start thinking about planning a birthday event (like Julia's upcoming 8th birthday party this weekend), this song is always there. It's there when I blow up balloons. It's there when I frost a cake. It's there as I address party invitations.
It's everywhere until the birthday has passed.
Like the taste of the cherry chapstick I attempted to eat (and then proceeded to throw up) as a youngster which tainted any artificial cherry flavor for me forever, this song lingers in the back of my head attempting to ruin every birthday. I'll have to remind Julia to be careful what she does today because she may be a traumatized 40-something blogging about it one day.
Don't you feel sorry for me?!?
I think you probably should.
"Biiiirrrrthday, biiiirrrrthday ohhhhh what fun,
Biiirrrrthday, biiiirrrrthday haaaaave another one" (sing this with a voice like the voice of the tallest woman on earth...or the guy that says "you rang?" on the Adams Family tv show).
That record really gave me the creeps, but still we played it like that over and over. Ask my sisters and they'll probably deny knowing anything about it. Or maybe it was just me doing it. I can't remember, but I'll drag them into it so I don't look so deranged.
Anyway, whenever a birthday rolls around, and I have to start thinking about planning a birthday event (like Julia's upcoming 8th birthday party this weekend), this song is always there. It's there when I blow up balloons. It's there when I frost a cake. It's there as I address party invitations.
It's everywhere until the birthday has passed.
Like the taste of the cherry chapstick I attempted to eat (and then proceeded to throw up) as a youngster which tainted any artificial cherry flavor for me forever, this song lingers in the back of my head attempting to ruin every birthday. I'll have to remind Julia to be careful what she does today because she may be a traumatized 40-something blogging about it one day.
Don't you feel sorry for me?!?
I think you probably should.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
what a week
Summer is winding down & the air has been weird around our house. Well, maybe not too much weirder than usual--but definitely weird. For one thing, Emma was in tears yesterday because she got year-long Spanish on her 7th grade school schedule.
Dios Mios.
She had wanted Creative Writing, Health, and Multi-media Computer Apps (sounds fancy but I think it's mostly just advanced keyboarding) and she only had Spanish listed as an alternate if her other year long course (Orchestra) was full. Orchestra was not full--she got into that no problemo, but it turns out that everyone and their brother also wanted those same classes because she got bumped into Spanish--all--year--long. So we hustled over to the counseling office to try to request a class change & waited patiently for the results.
So today she was in tears again because her counselor, Porfidia Boeke (pronounced Boy-Key...yes that's her real name) called and said that she can get out of year-long Spanish (arriba!) IF she'd like to take Tech-Ed (taking apart radios and cassette tapes and putting them back together with the super nerdy--but future rich--boys of the school), FCS (home economics--which made her friend cry when she saw it on her schedule) and Art.
Hmmmm.
Emma is not one to take things apart unless she can just leave the parts strewn about for her mom to clean up, she's not too home-ec'y unless her mom can come clean up the kitchen (there is a theme developing here), and although she has a genius, poetic mind, she's not too artsy-craftsy.
So, espanol it is. I've been "helping" her get used to the idea by asking her to mak-o her bed-o and please just answer the phone and say 'hola' which turned out to be surprisingly not as funny as it sounded in my head.
What did help is that I told her I'm having trouble finding a job that doesn't require Spanish proficiency. It also helped to say that when she's a world famous archeo-astronomer exploring the ruins of Machu-Picchu, she can be her own interpreter. With a little Spanish in her arsenal, the world will be her ostra (that's Spanish for oyster).
Maybe someday you'll be reading some Spanish poetry on her blog--stay tuned.
But don't hold your breath!
On another weird note which made my day:
Sophie had her guy Barbie on the front of his motorcycle and his date was going to climb on the back of the bike. I heard her say (in a gruff Ken voice), "Hop on...grab an ab." and off they went on their Barbie date.
Did that make you smile? Because I'm still laughing about it.
See what I mean? Weird.
Dios Mios.
She had wanted Creative Writing, Health, and Multi-media Computer Apps (sounds fancy but I think it's mostly just advanced keyboarding) and she only had Spanish listed as an alternate if her other year long course (Orchestra) was full. Orchestra was not full--she got into that no problemo, but it turns out that everyone and their brother also wanted those same classes because she got bumped into Spanish--all--year--long. So we hustled over to the counseling office to try to request a class change & waited patiently for the results.
So today she was in tears again because her counselor, Porfidia Boeke (pronounced Boy-Key...yes that's her real name) called and said that she can get out of year-long Spanish (arriba!) IF she'd like to take Tech-Ed (taking apart radios and cassette tapes and putting them back together with the super nerdy--but future rich--boys of the school), FCS (home economics--which made her friend cry when she saw it on her schedule) and Art.
Hmmmm.
Emma is not one to take things apart unless she can just leave the parts strewn about for her mom to clean up, she's not too home-ec'y unless her mom can come clean up the kitchen (there is a theme developing here), and although she has a genius, poetic mind, she's not too artsy-craftsy.
So, espanol it is. I've been "helping" her get used to the idea by asking her to mak-o her bed-o and please just answer the phone and say 'hola' which turned out to be surprisingly not as funny as it sounded in my head.
What did help is that I told her I'm having trouble finding a job that doesn't require Spanish proficiency. It also helped to say that when she's a world famous archeo-astronomer exploring the ruins of Machu-Picchu, she can be her own interpreter. With a little Spanish in her arsenal, the world will be her ostra (that's Spanish for oyster).
Maybe someday you'll be reading some Spanish poetry on her blog--stay tuned.
But don't hold your breath!
On another weird note which made my day:
Sophie had her guy Barbie on the front of his motorcycle and his date was going to climb on the back of the bike. I heard her say (in a gruff Ken voice), "Hop on...grab an ab." and off they went on their Barbie date.
Did that make you smile? Because I'm still laughing about it.
See what I mean? Weird.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Sophie's New 'Do
For awhile now, Sophie has been surfing the internet for short hairstyles. And by short, I mean short. She just gets tired of hair in her face and can't stand pony tails & fussy stuff (much to the dismay of her mother who loves playing around with long hair--not having much hair of my own).
We talked her out of the ultra-short Halle Berry/Emma Watson look and into a sort of Michelle Williams pixie (post Heath Ledger)...like this...
When Sophie showed our hairdresser this and some other photos we printed out, she had some really great suggestions to try to eleviate the ever annoying elementary school questions when a girl dares to try a bold new style...ok mainly just the question, "are you a boy?"
So she gave her the same basic shape but a little longer length for her first time going short...if she hates it, it will grow back faster but if she likes it and can handle 4th grade stupidness, she can go shorter next time.
When Sophie saw the finished product, she smiled and said "awesome!"
I have to agree.
Before:
After:
Fourth grade, here she comes!
We talked her out of the ultra-short Halle Berry/Emma Watson look and into a sort of Michelle Williams pixie (post Heath Ledger)...like this...
When Sophie showed our hairdresser this and some other photos we printed out, she had some really great suggestions to try to eleviate the ever annoying elementary school questions when a girl dares to try a bold new style...ok mainly just the question, "are you a boy?"
So she gave her the same basic shape but a little longer length for her first time going short...if she hates it, it will grow back faster but if she likes it and can handle 4th grade stupidness, she can go shorter next time.
When Sophie saw the finished product, she smiled and said "awesome!"
I have to agree.
Before:
After:
Fourth grade, here she comes!
Friday, August 5, 2011
I always wondered when a wedding photo starts to look dated. I think 17 years is about that time. I mean, look at Bob's mustache and my poofda hair! haha.
If I were re-doing a wedding today, I'd probably change a few things--ok a lot of things (except, of course, the groom). I do still enjoy my dress. In fact, when I dug it out of the basement to show it to the girls, they all gasped like it was the Hope Diamond or something when I opened the box. Sophie put dibs on wearing it...or one like Princess Kate's...unless her taste changes by then in which case she's sorry but she's not wearing it after all (she explained in great length).
Anyway, we've been trying to decide what to do for our anniversary day tomorrow...besides going to Julia's fun-filled Booya's softball picnic scheduled for tomorrow night (which should be ultra-Romantic). And of course, we'll pop up some popcorn and break out the wedding video...that is an anniversary must.
Other than that, all the movies out now look dumb so we decided to celebrate tonight instead. Emma was at a birthday party so we took the two little girls & splurged at Abbott's (the most delicious frozen custard place on earth). Since we only had 2 kids with us it was cheap enough for Bob and me to get the $7 banana split and brownie sundae. Mmmmmmmmmm. Once the girls hit the sack, we're going to watch True Grit which just came from Netflix today. Perfect timing!
So if you're keeping track, 50th is gold, 25th is silver and 17th is Abbott's, falling asleep on the couch watching True Grit, and a Booya's BBQ dinner. Sounds about right to me.
If I were re-doing a wedding today, I'd probably change a few things--ok a lot of things (except, of course, the groom). I do still enjoy my dress. In fact, when I dug it out of the basement to show it to the girls, they all gasped like it was the Hope Diamond or something when I opened the box. Sophie put dibs on wearing it...or one like Princess Kate's...unless her taste changes by then in which case she's sorry but she's not wearing it after all (she explained in great length).
Anyway, we've been trying to decide what to do for our anniversary day tomorrow...besides going to Julia's fun-filled Booya's softball picnic scheduled for tomorrow night (which should be ultra-Romantic). And of course, we'll pop up some popcorn and break out the wedding video...that is an anniversary must.
Other than that, all the movies out now look dumb so we decided to celebrate tonight instead. Emma was at a birthday party so we took the two little girls & splurged at Abbott's (the most delicious frozen custard place on earth). Since we only had 2 kids with us it was cheap enough for Bob and me to get the $7 banana split and brownie sundae. Mmmmmmmmmm. Once the girls hit the sack, we're going to watch True Grit which just came from Netflix today. Perfect timing!
So if you're keeping track, 50th is gold, 25th is silver and 17th is Abbott's, falling asleep on the couch watching True Grit, and a Booya's BBQ dinner. Sounds about right to me.
Vail
Bob's mom has been going to Vail annually for about 40 years. She used to go with a big group of friends...the husbands played golf and the wives played tennis. She has neat stories of all her past Vail adventures. The friends have since gotten busy & scattered about so nowadays, she takes her children & grandchildren. Aren't we lucky!!! We all really look forward to the trip which usually happens at the beginning of August. But we're always sad when it's over because that means school is right around the corner!
Though we rarely golf and we don't play tennis there are several tried-and-true Vail traditions we must uphold including; riding the gondola up Vail mountain to jump on the trampolines at the top, taking the free bus into town for Pazzo's Pizza, swimming, playing at the park, visiting the Betty Ford Alpine Garden, hiking and of course, shopping! It's so much fun--we're already thinking of next year!!
Though we rarely golf and we don't play tennis there are several tried-and-true Vail traditions we must uphold including; riding the gondola up Vail mountain to jump on the trampolines at the top, taking the free bus into town for Pazzo's Pizza, swimming, playing at the park, visiting the Betty Ford Alpine Garden, hiking and of course, shopping! It's so much fun--we're already thinking of next year!!
Sweetwater
Once upon a time, Bob's grandparents built a nice little cabin at Sweetwater Lake & Bob has many happy memories of fishing and camping there. We decided to take the girls there for a tour and some fishing after our Vail trip.
Sweetwater is about an hour west of Vail. Grandma & Grandpa built there because they thought no one would ever drive all the way over Vail Pass to get to Vail...there's no fishing in Vail & at the time there was no skiing either. They thought Sweetwater was going to be the next great vacation destination. Well, we all know that didn't really pan out for them & they ended up selling the cabin which is now run by a resort company. Actually it's not really "run by" a resort company. They rent out the cabins but it doesn't appear that they take any effort to run the place or keep the cabins up in a resort-y way at all. In fact, when we asked the resort lady how to fish on the lake (the shore has gotten really overgrown & it's hard to get to the edge of the water), she looked at us funny and said, "well, you just put your fishing line in the water." Not the ideal resort concierge service.
Anyway, we did walk around and check out the old cabin & the spot where Bob & I camped long ago in our kidless, spur of the moment, let's-drive-here-and-check-it-out days. We took a rather long hike and put our lines in the water (as our informative guide instructed) before bidding Sweetwater a sad farewell & heading on home.
Views from our hike
that's the old cabin right near the water's edge
You'll have to use your anti-blurry imagination on this one--but those are two bald eagles--who hopefully had more luck fishing than we did.
Sadly, Julia's hat (borrowed from Sophie), several fishing flies-stuck in tree branches, and a pop can didn't make it out of our brushy fishing spot. Dang it.
Sweetwater is about an hour west of Vail. Grandma & Grandpa built there because they thought no one would ever drive all the way over Vail Pass to get to Vail...there's no fishing in Vail & at the time there was no skiing either. They thought Sweetwater was going to be the next great vacation destination. Well, we all know that didn't really pan out for them & they ended up selling the cabin which is now run by a resort company. Actually it's not really "run by" a resort company. They rent out the cabins but it doesn't appear that they take any effort to run the place or keep the cabins up in a resort-y way at all. In fact, when we asked the resort lady how to fish on the lake (the shore has gotten really overgrown & it's hard to get to the edge of the water), she looked at us funny and said, "well, you just put your fishing line in the water." Not the ideal resort concierge service.
Anyway, we did walk around and check out the old cabin & the spot where Bob & I camped long ago in our kidless, spur of the moment, let's-drive-here-and-check-it-out days. We took a rather long hike and put our lines in the water (as our informative guide instructed) before bidding Sweetwater a sad farewell & heading on home.
Views from our hike
that's the old cabin right near the water's edge
You'll have to use your anti-blurry imagination on this one--but those are two bald eagles--who hopefully had more luck fishing than we did.
Sadly, Julia's hat (borrowed from Sophie), several fishing flies-stuck in tree branches, and a pop can didn't make it out of our brushy fishing spot. Dang it.
Electrifying
We spotted this huge nest as we drove up to Sweetwater so of course, we pulled over & rolled down the windows for a photo opp. These enormous osprey chicks (thanks, Steve!) were making the sweetest little peeping sounds...sort of misleading considering they would probably be able peck our eyes out if given the chance.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Locks of Love
Julia finally grew the required 10 inches of extra-long-golden-locks for a Locks of Love donation. So over the weekend, we headed up to our favorite kids' salon in Boulder for a cut and ear piercing.
She was super happy to donate--it was sometimes a challenge growing it but she stuck to her goal of helping sick kids. Way to go, Julia!
She was waaaaay ready to be done with swimming tangles and loose strands getting in her eyes at softball games and she loves her new look--a short sassy bob which suits her personality perfectly!
Before:
During:
After:
She was super happy to donate--it was sometimes a challenge growing it but she stuck to her goal of helping sick kids. Way to go, Julia!
She was waaaaay ready to be done with swimming tangles and loose strands getting in her eyes at softball games and she loves her new look--a short sassy bob which suits her personality perfectly!
Before:
During:
After:
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