Labor Day

Not much laboring going on so far this weekend...just some errands and random stops along the way which included miniature golf, lunch at Chick-Fil-A, and shopping at an antique store. An antique mall, actually...one that I used to take Emma to on snowy days when she was a baby. It is huge and even has the same blueberry air freshener smell it always had...took me right back to pushing baby Emma in her stroller, browsing through boxes of old photographs and costume jewelry. The memory portion of my brain was a happy camper today!!!
We found this fabulous fuschia, sequined felt hat and just couldn't resist...especially since they were having a 30% off sale!!!

This evening, Bob took Emma (and her latest book) to the Rockies game so the little gals and I goofed around...I made them a tent/fort in the family room, walked the dog, and made banana-chocolate chip bread. They decided it would be fun to have their dinner on the tramp so I said "hey--what the heck--it's Labor Day..." so trampoline-picnic it was!! Do we know how to celebrate, or what?!?

Poor Julia's been sick all week--she even missed a day of school on Wednesday so we're off to bed early.
For a non-labor day, we sure had a lot to do!!

whirlwind weekend

Believe it or not, besides Julia's birthday party, we had several more parties to attend over the weekend. I'm actually sort of relieved the weekend is over, if you can imagine that...

Saturday day Sophie had a swimming party to go to and while she was there we mosied on over to the Lafayette Peach Festival for some cobbler & peach smoothies...it was a scorcher so the smoothies really hit the spot after standing in line for the 20 minutes it took to get them!!

Then Saturday night was a party for my good friend Patty's 40th birthday. We grew up together and it's hard to believe we're both turning 40...she still looks the same to me and whenever I look at her I can't help thinking of kick-the-can and sleepovers and riding bikes all over creation. My memories of her keep me young at heart and I'm thankful she's still in my life!! The girls had a wonderful time dancing on the balloon-filled dance floor.

Sunday was a day of rest for sure--we had to gear up for yet another fun party. Susan's boyfriend, Jeff turned 50 so he had a fancy party in the boat house at Washington Park...there were paddle boats and bike surry rides, a catered dinner, touching speeches honoring the birthday boy and a fanciful cake. A good time was had by all!

Six

Happy Birthday Julia!!!

More birthday pics...
Ribs, surprises & wishes...

Party Time

Julia is turning 6 on Friday. I told her she's not allowed to do that, but she just refuses to listen to reason. So we threw her a party today anyway--an old school, stay-at-home party. There was no rec center or bowling alley, no paint ball guns or paddle boats as is the custom these days...just some good old fashioned fun.
We decorated cupcakes...

Had a treasure hunt or two (one for the big kids & one for the littler ones) with clues all over the yard/neighborhood...


Water balloons galore...


And good old party games...

Something tells me it was a success...



Now...how will I talk her out of turning seven next year...???!

Vail Pics

Whew--finally I have a chance to post a few pics from our Vail trip last week. We had a great time, as usual! The city bus, the shopping, the gondola, the parks, the gelato...oh, the gelato!! Not to mention the fabulous company!! Fun, fun, fun!!
Betty Ford Alpine Garden--we LOVE the stone birds!!

My little photogs!!

Atop Vail Mountain

Rocky Mountain High

Rocky Mountain Higher--gulp--Julia was waaaaaay up there

Footloose & fancy free in the creek

Thanks Grandma Bonnie!!!!! Can't wait until next year!!

Busy Week!

Tues-Thurs:
-Fabulous Vail trip (photos to follow)
Yesterday:
-Our 15th(!) wedding anniversary!!
-Picked up our shiny, newly repaired Rondo from the auto body shop
Today:
-Radio Frequency Ablation. Go me. (I'll spare you the photos but there is a fun video on this website if you're not too squeamish)
http://www.vnus.com/physician-info/radiofrequency-ablation.aspx

Horse Camp

Emma just finished a fun-filled week of horseback riding day camp. Today was her final ride...a mini-rodeo for the kids' parents...or in Emma's case...her loyal entourage of 11...grandmas, grandpas, aunts, parents and sisters!! The more the merrier!

Here is a video of Emma's 'routine'...a riding pattern each kid picked to show the skills they learned. She was the second kid to ride 'Dusty'...and the first kid who managed to get her horse to trot. You can't see it in this video but she had a big smile on her face the whole time--she was in horse heaven!!

Before & After

We finally found the right price and the right timing to redo our kitchen a bit...something for which we've been planning and saving for about the past year.

We had a high bar where the girls loved to eat breakfast/lunch but it had always been way too high for them...especially Julia...to sit at bar stools & eat there comfortably...or safely (Julia usually ended up kneeling or standing on her bar stool--oops). So we had the bar lowered about six inches and replaced all the countertops to match. It's just laminate countertop but we picked a color that would look like stone...we really love it & the new bar height is GREAT--just perfect.
We did the cabinet knobs (ourselves!) to match the new faucet & a coat of paint (of course) polished it all off!!
Change is good.
BEFORE:


AFTER: