Brooke's Blog

First Day of School

2011-08-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

Maggie - 4th Grade, Lucy - Kindergarten

Roadtrip

2011-08-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

This summer we took a road trip to Aspen, CO, Crested Butte, Co and the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Here are some photos we took along the way.

Great Sand Dunes
Aspen

Aspen

Crested Butte

Amazing What Paint Can Do!

2011-08-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

We recently had our house painted.

Here's the old:
And the new:

Check out that blue sky! It looks like we had that painted too!

Family Portrait

2011-06-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

April Updates

2011-06-11T09:01:00.001-07:00

Wow, I'm such a slacker! Can't believe how long it's been since I've updated the blog.

In April Lucy turned five so she chose to go to Jack in the Box for her big birthday breakfast.

Lucy, giggling with her best friend Ally

Blowing out the candles on her Tangled cake!

Lucy will finish up her last month at Primrose this month. Primrose has been a great pre-school for her. The teachers are so caring, professional and patient. We will miss the teachers there so much.

Lucy will begin Kindergarten at Pine Grove Elementary on August 3. It will be nice to have both girls at the same school finally. Pine Grove has half-day Kindergarten (3 hours), which is not nearly enough time to learn anything, in my opinion, especially since she's been in a full-time daycare situation since she was about 12 weeks old! BUT beginning next year, the Elementary school will offer their first ever all-day Kindergarten class and we immediately signed her up for that. I guess in Colorado the schools are only required to offer half days for kindies. So, unfortunately we are required to pay for basically the other half of the day of school, but I think it's totally worth it. They still offer half-day Kindergarten too for those who don't want to send their kids all day. We've already met her teacher and I think she's going to love her!

Just Random Stuff

2011-03-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

I would kill for this head of hair.

My weakness. Chocolate chip pumpkin bread. If you would also like to indulge in this sweet treat just buy the pumpkin bread mix at the store and throw in some chocolate chips and follow directions on the box. My kids LOVE it! Lucy calls it cornbread. She gets confused.

Why do kids these days wear different socks? And they sell them like that!

Is this dress cute or ugly? I bought it for an upcoming fancyevent that we're attending and Ian thought for sure that I'd purchased a tablecloth! I thought it was fun and looked very retro. I'll soon see how embarrassed he is to be seen with me in this lovely tablecloth! Ask me if I care, ha!

I love me some good wine and this is the bomb dot com! ANAPEReNNA is a Shiraz Cabernet mix. Best. Wine. Ever. Just FYI...

My new discovery is Wild Tree. It's a line of oils, sauces, dressings and seasonings that you can buy from an idependent rep in your area. It's all natural with no additives or preservatives. I attended a party and bought several things, plus they give you recipes and meal ideas and provide direction on healthier options when cooking. So far everything has been excellent and just with the few things I bought, it's already made a big difference! Check it out - just google "Wild Tree" and you'll find it. Here is a very healthy shrimp scampi using their shrimp scampi blend and some special protein packed pasta. It doesn't look so appetizing sitting in this tupperware dish but it was terrific!

Like Mother Like Daughter

2011-02-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite qualities about Lucy is that she cries at sad movies just like me. We can be watching the cheesiest show or movie that has a brief sad scene and I can look at her and we're both teary-eyed at the exact same moment. That commercial about the neglected animals with the Sarah McLachlan song gets us every time. Maggie and Ian just laugh at us. I love her little tender-hearted soul!

Maggie's 9th Birthday Party

2011-02-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

Maggie turned 9 on February 15th and we had her party at Jumpstreet, an indoor trampoline park. They had a blast! I blew out the candles myself on accident THREE times before I was finally able to light all the candles so she could blow them out!

Hittin the Slopes

2011-02-18T19:18:00.000-08:00

We have done some skiing this year. Well... not really me. I can only muster up the courage to ski about once every couple of years. But I like the idea of it! I LOVE the mountains, the scenery, the snow, the people watching, and I really love to get all dressed up in the warm clothes and chill by a cozy fire with a glass of wine or an Irish coffee reading a book or magazine. It's just that I can think of about 50 or 100 things I'd rather be doing than skiing. It's too much work and so hard on my bones!

So, when I say "we went skiing" that really excludes me. So here "we" are skiing in Beaver Creek, CO with our friends Jason, Allison and Carson Kidd (little sister Charlotte stayed back home in Arkansas with grandma.) We stayed at the Osprey Hotel, which is an amazing ski in, ski out hotel. Lucy even took a full day of lessons at 4 years old! She wanted to - I don't think she realized what she was getting herself into, though.

My family also took a day-trip to Copper Mtn. in January so that "we" could ski. There are a couple of pics from that trip too. Maggie is becoming quite the skier!

Ian skiing with Maggie

Carson and Jason Kidd

My friend, Allison Kidd, with Lucy and Maggie

Maggie, Lucy and Carson Kidd

Maggie tubing!

Me tubing!!!

The Kidd Family (minus 2 yr. old Charlotte)

My lovely family on the tubing hill

Ian about to ski with Maggie in a blizzard

at Copper Mountain

This is how I entertain Lucy (with a giant brownie)

December 2010

2011-01-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

Maggie is a Trooper

2010-10-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

Bless her little heart, Maggie broke her arm! She was at a sleepover and they were playing chase outside in the dark and she tripped over a bush and landed on one of those metal landscape edge things! Ouch! We kept ice on it the whole next day and the swelling went down quite a bit. That night was her very first basketball practice of the season so I made her go, just hoping that her hurt arm was just a sore muscle or something. She was so excited to be starting basketball again. But it took no time at all before she was almost in tears from the pain. So we headed to the doctor the next morning and sure enough, it was a broken arm. Boy did I feel like the worst mom in the world - making her play basketball with a broken arm! She got a bright pink cast. She's been so good about not being needy or relying on us to do things for her. She can pretty much still do everything with one arm except get her shoes on and tied. She is a trooper!

Fall 2010

2010-10-18T11:59:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from some of the fun stuff we did in September and October.

San Diego Bound!

Sea World

Shamu Show

Lego Land

This is made out of Legos!

Girls Scout outing to Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey Circus

Cog Railway Car that took us to top of Pike's Peak

On top of Pike's Peak

Giant S'more Muffin Tops

2010-09-12T17:42:00.001-07:00

I was looking at someone else's blog and read about a muffin top pan. It looks like a muffin tin but only wider and more shallow. So, I found one at Home Goods and bought it. Then I borrowed this recipe from that blog for giant s'more chocolate chip cookies. They're huge and fluffy and really easy to make! S'mores are my absolute favorite dessert so this is right up my alley.

Apple Jelly Weekend

2010-09-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I've turned into a granny because I actually made home-made crab apple jelly this weekend! I'm not sure what compelled me to make home-made jelly, maybe it was the giant apple tree in my yard with hundreds of big apples just looking neglected. So, I googled recipes for jellies and decided that was my goal for the weekend. My first attempt did not turn out so good, then I tried again the next day and I think maybe, just maybe, it was a success! It seems to be jelling and I should know for sure by tomorrow. By the way, in previous years this apple tree produced tiny little green apples and all my neighbors said it was a crab-apple tree. Well, this year it produced some pretty big red ones so now I'm wondering if it isn't a real apple tree?

Lucille

2010-09-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

Lucy told me the other day that she wants to start being called Lucille. She has all sorts of nicknames at her school. Somehow, I don't think she will want Lucille to stick with her for very long.

I haven't had a Lucy posting in a while so here she is wearing her pre-school uniform and all smiles. Her classmates look so darn cute in their uniforms and school colors, I can hardly stand it!

Pikes Peak...uh, Maybe Not

2010-08-28T08:34:00.001-07:00

So we set out to go to Pikes Peak a few Sundays ago. We can actually see Pikes Peak from our house, well, our neighborhood actually. It's beautiful. You can see mountains in almost any direction that you look. We've been wanting to go to Pikes Peak and we allowed ourselves an hour to get there from home but we didn't count on traffic and other things so we were late and missed the time that we were planning to catch the cog railway to the top of the peak. But we were actually glad it didn't work out because by the time we got there it was so overcast and yucky out that we don't think we would have had a good view if we had gone up. Colorado Springs has many different tourist attractions so we headed over to the Cave of the Winds and toured caves, which sounds creepy, but was actually very cool and the kids loved it! I didn't get very many photos of us in the cave, but yes, we are suckers for paying $10 for a photo that they took of us!

Back to School

2010-08-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

First day of school

The kids on our street holding up the number
of the grade they are starting

Maggie and her friend Ryan

Arkansas in July

2010-08-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the pictures I took while we were in Arkansas in July visiting family.

Maggie and Betsy

My birthday cake

Me eating my birthday cake at Hawg's Pizza

Grant and Ryan

Betsy, Maggie, Ryan and Lucy

Lucy on Marmee's dock

Lucy and my mom

Ethan, Maggie, Olivia, Lucy and Noah

Maggie and Lucy with Nana on the morning we left

Hot Springs Weekend With Friends

2010-08-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

Here are my best buds from college. We had a great time together. I think they all look amazing and two of them just had babies!

Me, Catherine Hubbard Adams, Carrie White Teeter,

Megan McKinnon & Misty Sullivan Freeman

Countdown to 35

2010-07-01T15:36:00.001-07:00

Oh boy, it is July 1st and there are 22 days until my 35th birthday. Boo hoo.

This wouldn't bother me so much if I looked 25. But I look 35. I'm definitely experiencing the wrinkles on my forehead, crows feet around my eyes, and massive dark circles and bags under the eyes. I have cellulite - it's in my genes, and it's in my jeans! Gasp! I literally woke up one morning ten months ago and looked in the mirror and thought, where'd I go? This is sooooooooo not cool.

Ian says Colorado women look harsh. Too much sun. Too much exposure to the elements. Cold winters = dry, hard looking faces. Guess I'm officially "Colorado women."

Boo hoo.

Oh well. I'm healthy. I have two amazing, healthy, happy kids that I'm incredibly proud of. Ian and I are still married after ten years and have a wonderful relationship and an awesome life together. We both have jobs when so many others don't. All of our parents are incredible grandparents. I have so many friends from childhood, high school and college that I know would be here tomorrow if I needed them. So....Yay me, yay us...maybe 35 isn't so bad - look at what all I have!

I'm looking forward to spending my 35th birthday with my college girlfriends later this month in Hot Springs. All five of us turn 35 in the months of July, August and September. Can't wait to see those girls.

Summa, Summa, Summatime!

2010-06-25T07:35:00.001-07:00

Maggie's Softball Team

Pearl Street in Boulder, CO

Driving home from Estes Park, CO

Estes Park, CO

Movie Night across the street on our neighbor's garage

Movie Night with neighbor girls

Rockies Game (wearing coats in mid-June)

Rockies Game

Water fun in the yard

Wow, we've been busy this summer! I can't believe June is almost over, then July will be here and then Maggie starts back to school the first week in August. Lucy is starting her 4K class this week at pre-school. Here are some pictures of us doing some fun stuff this summer.

White Pastey Perrys

2010-05-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

My neighbor said we are the whitest, pastiest family on the street.

She named us the White Pastey Perrys.

And we are.

So here we are, trying to get a little Vitamin D and sun at the park.

Lucy's Fourth Birthday Party

2010-04-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

My sweet little Lucy turned four on April 13th. We had all the neighbors over to celebrate. We had a ball! From the looks of these pictures it appears that she had an all-boy party, but that was not the case. There were actually little girls and adults there too. She was so exhausted that she fell asleep on the couch during her party.

Ten Year Anniversary - Europe Trip

2010-04-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

Finally, I've found the time to update my blog with details of our trip to Europe! About a week after we returned from our trip, my grandmother passed away so I headed to Arkansas for several days. Since returning from there, it's been super-busy at work and now I'm finally caught up....almost.

First, I want to say a little about my grandmother, Gwendolyn Ruby Lyons Ponder Pankey. Oh, how I wish I could have just one more little girl and name her Ruby after my granny! How cute would that be? I'm serious about the name, but not about having another kid. No way, Jose! Granny was my dad's mother and she was the sweetest lady to walk the face of the Earth. She raised three very handsome sons and was famous in Nashville for her chocolate pies. The funniest memory I have of her was when Grant and I were kids and she drove us to Dallas to visit my Uncle George and Aunt Monta. We were driving down the interstate and she turned and reached in the backseat for a bag of candy that I was eating and the next thing we knew, we had crossed the grass median and were on the other side of the interstate facing oncoming cars! It scared us half to death, but she just kept on trucking back across that grass into the correct lane just like she meant to do that. She was a very special lady who always made me feel very special. She always called me before a holiday to let me know that she would be making my favorite dessert, Cherry Cream Crunch. At the funeral, my dad's cousin, Cathy, told me how very special I was to my granny and how she always referred to me as her "Brookey" and it felt good to hear that nickname again. At times I feel a little disconnected from my roots, and as sad as the circumstances were, it was really good to be among family and to be in Nashville where all those memories were. It was a special time.

Now, enough of the Debbie Downer subjects, onto brighter things. Our trip to EU was wonderful! I wish I'd written this while the trip was still fresh on my mind. We loved Rome and all the historical sights like the Roman Collosseum and all the ruins. It blows my mind that it is still standing, since 80 AD and that they built all of it before there were cranes and dump trucks! The Vatican and Sistine Chapel were so beautiful. It's so hard to wrap my head around how much work went into creating those beautiful works of art. Florence was great and I loved the location of our hotel. It was right in the middle of lots of shops and restaurants, although I only window-shopped. We saw Michaelangelo's David there in Florence. We traveled by train to Lucerne, Switzerland through the Swiss Alps. It was a breathtaking train ride. We probably would have enjoyed it more had we not been so nervous about making sure we were on the right trains and making all the right stops. The trains were a bit stressful! Lucernce was really beautiful and peaceful. The best meal we had was in Lucerne, where we dined on cheese fondue and local Swiss cuisine. The shops and department stores in Lucerne had the most unique and elaborate window displays. It was Easter so everything was decorated beautifully for Springtime. We spent our final days in Paris and luckily our hotel was very close to the Eiffel Tower. It was very windy, rainy and cold so we opted to not go up in the Eiffel Tower. I was most looking forward to going to the Louvre but I found that there was very little art/artists in the Louvre that I was familiar with, other than the Mona Lisa. I preferred another gallery that we went to that housed works by Degas, Monet, Manet, Gauguin, etc. The food in Paris was terrible, we thought! We ended up eating at Italian restaurants in Paris because we could no longer stand eating french fries with everything. It was a great trip but it made me realize how much we take for granted here in the U.S. We have excellent food with large portions, big houses, large yards, nice cars, friendly people and we all speak the same language. We are a bit spoiled!

Happiness is....

2010-03-17T20:53:00.000-07:00

Even though my kids are so much a part of my happiness, I'm not going to talk about my kids here. Oops, too late I guess!

Happiness = the little rituals that I do every night before bed

like, my hair in a knot on top of my head

my bright pink fat pants

I'll spare you the horror of looking at the whole picture of me like this because me without make-up is just not a good look. Just ask Ian. He calls this my "Fraggle Rock" look. Something about the hair on top of my head reminds him of the Fraggles, which was a Jim Henson puppet tv show in the 80's.

Happiness = ten years of marriage with Ian

Next week we are heading to Rome, Florence, Lucerne Switzerland and Paris for twelve days for our big anniversary trip. Can't believe it's been ten years. If he only knew when we posed for this engagement picture in 1999 that I would dress up like a Fraggle every night...and that he would be perfectly fine with that. So glad I have him!

Lucy Taylor Swift Perry

2010-03-07T08:08:00.000-08:00

Lucy performing some of her favorite songs!

Notice how the songs all run together? It's a montage! We had Lucy all to ourselves last night because Maggie was away at a sleep-over. Boy did Lucy love being the center of attention!

Maggie Doing Her Thing

2010-03-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

Here is Miss Maggie in action. She is in the light blue jersey, number 8 with long ponytail.

"YOU ALWAYS THROW MY ART IN THE TRASH"

2010-02-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

"You always throw my art in the trash" was the statement that Lucy made with tears streaming down her little face when I cleaned out my car and dumped all her school papers in the trash can. I felt like the world's worst mom. BUT, in my defense, you can only keep so many papers from school since she is sent home with about four each night! I'd love to keep every single one of her masterpieces that consist of scribble marks, which she claims to be a giraffe or a tree or a clown. So, after digging them out of the trash and some apologies from Mom, here she is proudly displaying some of her works of art.

Eight Years With Maggie

2010-02-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

Eight

Seven

Six

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

With Maggie turning eight on February 15, I started looking through old photos to post here and got teary eyed. Not only was I emotional about her growing up way too soon, but also because several of these birthday parties were meaningful to me for one reason or another. Her one year birthday was held at my home in Nashville where I grew up (my mom no longer lives there) and it holds so many childhood memories and celebrating many birthday parties of my own in that same dining room. We had Maggie's second birthday at Ian's parents house, which they recently moved out of, and it also holds many wonderful memories for both of my kids and Ethan too. Her third, fourth and fifth birthdays were in Benton. Benton will always hold a special place in our hearts for SO many reasons, but especially because that's where we started our family of four! It's hard to believe, but her sixth, seventh, and eighth birthdays were all spent here in Colorado. I remember for her sixth birthday we had only been living here a little over a month and Maggie was still making friends and I was torn over having a party for her. I couldn't bring myself to ask these parents whom we didn't even know to buy a gift for my child, who they had probably never even heard of! We convinced Maggie to have a family birthday party and I think it was one of the most special times that we've had. She also learned to ice-skate that day!

Maggie, at eight years, is the most confident, independent, smart, outgoing, funny, athletic kid that I know. She embodies every quality that I could ever hope for or want in my children and everything that I was not. My mom thinks that Ian and I were sent home with the wrong baby because Maggie and I are so opposite. Thank goodness that kids inherit genes from their father also!

Holidays!

2010-01-13T12:10:00.001-08:00

New Year's with two of his favorite ladies
Back to school

Santa brought new house shoes

Christmas Morn

Last fall ballgame

Me with my mom and brother, Grant

Papa Doug with all the grandkids

Papa Doug and Marmee with all the grandkids

At a Holiday Tea Fundraiser for Pediatric Cancer patients

This year we stayed in Colorado for both Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. We missed seeing our families of course but it was also a nice change to stay home and relax. I cooked a turkey for Thanksgiving for the very first time and it was so easy and so good! We had tons of leftovers because I cooked enough food for ten people but it was only my little family of four. Needless to say, I ate sweet potatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My girls are not picky eaters, but for whatever reason they do not like mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, or dressing. Ian is worse than them because he's a meat and potato guy and won't even try any of the side dishes, which drives me nutty because I am completely opposite - I'll eat pretty much anything!

Since there was an excess of leftovers from Thanksgiving, Ian requested steak and potatoes for our Christmas meal (imagine that). I think it was around 12 degrees outside on Christmas day. Try firing up your grill in that temperature! The girls enjoyed opening their gifts from Santa. Maggie commented that Santa "sure did know us well" because he got a lot of what we needed and wanted. Santa only brought them a few toys this year and the rest was stuff they needed like new shoes, clothes, etc. My kids have never played much with toys or dolls - or at all really. They play pretend and dress up with each other and they like books and computers but there are never any toys involved. I played Barbies until I was in the 9th grade so I'm not sure where this comes from! My neighbors come over and ask "where are all the toys" and I have to reply that we do have some, they are just put away in closets or in the basement. My girls are welcome to get them out any time but they don't! Weird, I know.

In early December we traveled to Dallas for Ian's Diageo Holiday party and stayed at the Four Season's in Las Calinas. My mom, step-dad, Grant and sister-in-law Jill and their kids came too and met us there. We had a lot of free time before the holiday party so we got to spend some time with them and it was great since we knew we were not going to be seeing any family at Christmas time. All the cousins got to play together and run wild in the hotel lobby. The Diageo party was held at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in one of the private party rooms and they offered a tour of the stadium, which I did not do for some reason. I wish that I had.

Also, in December the girls and I attended a Holiday Tea Fundraiser for Teen With a Dream, which is an organization that raises money for pediatric cancer patients. A friend of ours sits on the board of Teen With a Dream so he had told us about the event. I thought it would be a fun thing to take the girls to so they could get dressed up at Christmas time. It was SO fancy and there were china tea cups and tea pots and the finger foods were really beautifully made. These tables were like a work of art! Maggie and Lucy don't quite know etiquette or even table manners. They were clanking cups into plates and taking the lids off of teapots and spitting food onto their plates and Lucy nearly pulled the tablecloth out from underneath it all. They were like two wild bulls in a china shop - isn't that the phrase they use? Oh my gosh - I was a nervous wreck by the time we left. Who knew girls could be so rowdy?

Maggie has wrapped up one basketball season and just started another. She made 12 baskets in her final game of last season! She's really tall and really aggressive so that always helps. Her new team is all of her friends from school so it could be really good or really bad since she likes to socialize a little too much anyway. We've never known any of the other girls on any of her previous teams so it's a big change to have friends on her team for once. Lucy will be starting back to gymnastics soon. She is anxious to get back into it because we took a break over the holidays. We're thinking of getting her into mini-mite soccer.

We went to Breckenridge for the day a couple of weeks ago so that Maggie could take some snowboarding lessons. She was not so sure if she liked it. I didn't get any pictures of it because they take them up on the mountain for the lesson so we weren't anywhere near her. We didn't even get to see whether we were getting our money's worth from the lesson, equipment rentals, etc....it's so expensive!

The Perry's are coming to visit next weekend and bringing our nephew Ethan with them. The girls could not be any more excited to see all of them. Hopefully we will have some snow so Ethan can do some sledding while he's here. Maggie and Lucy will be turning 8 and 4 in February and April so look for me to write about birthdays in the next few months!

Two Weeks Without Kids!

2009-11-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

Lucy, the mermaid
Maggie, the fortune teller

Snow day!

Freezing at the Rockies game

Us at Melanie & Jake's wedding

Fun times bowling

More bowling

....and more bowling

Lucy, before her first gymnastics class!

The kids went to Arkansas for two whole weeks in October during Maggie's fall break. The girls and I flew there on Oct. 8 then I flew back to meet up with Ian for a wedding in Vail that weekend. Ian went back to Arkansas for a guy's weekend for the AR vs. Ole Miss game and he brought the girls back on Oct. 25. It was both good and weird not having my girls for that long! The house was so quiet...and clean! I didn't raise my voice one time in two weeks, it was amazing! But, we missed them so much. I could not wait until they returned. I think they were pretty happy to be back as well. They got to spend time with Marmee and Papa Doug, Nana and Pop and Papa and Mawsie. They sort of rotated to different houses so they got to spend time with their cousins. Ian and I had the opportunity to do several things that we'd been wanting to do. We went to a Broncos game, a Rockies game, spent that weekend in Vail (for a friend's wedding), went out to eat at some great places, went clothes shopping for Ian and went to a movie - all things that are a little more difficult to do when the kids tag along! More than anything, we got to spend some quality time together, which was much needed. Ian got to reconnect with his college buddies for a weekend and do a little gambling in Tunica, so it was great. I don't know if I can handle two weeks away from the kiddos again, though! I may have to re-think this ten year anniversary trip to Italy that we're planning for next spring.

For Halloween Maggie was a fortune teller and Lucy was a mermaid. Maggie saw a fortune teller costume in a magazine that was pretty pricey so we set out to make a costume like it out of things we already had. I ended up spending about $10 on some fabric and that was it. I thought it turned out pretty cute and she loved it. Lucy has wanted to be a mermaid since last Halloween so the first mermaid costume I saw, I snatched it up. We had two feet of snow here in Parker in the days prior to Halloween so it had started melting by Halloween and it was a very wet, slushy night. Lucy kept falling down so she got pretty wet. It didn't slow her down though! She was running as fast as she could to catch up with the big kids. We spent the evening across the street with friends for their annual fall party, then out into the neighborhood for trick-or-treating. After the kids were all sugared up we all went next door to our friend's and let the kids run wild in their basement and we enjoyed some post trick-or-treating adult beverages!

Lucy has started a gymnastics class and she loves it. She is so sly - she's always cutting in line in front of some poor kid that is oblivious to what she's doing. Somehow she always ends up at the front of the line after she's just had her turn. It's pretty cute. Maggie's fall basketball season has started up again and so far they have won their games. They don't really keep score but they always make more baskets than the other team. Basketball is the one sport that she enjoys more than anything and she's not afraid to be aggressive. I'm very proud of both my girls! Unlike me, they are always so eager to try fun things and new activities.

Where Did The Summer Go?

2009-08-26T09:08:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot going on this summer! This was the first summer that we didn't really have any sort of plan for Maggie while she was on summer break. We hoped that she would be content to entertain herself each day while Ian and I worked out of the home. Neither of my kids play with toys or dolls, and watching tv all day was not acceptable. So, I got out my Mom's old trunk filled with ancient Barbie clothes and I actually had to show Maggie how to play with Barbies. For some reason dolls are just so foreign to her - it's like she just doesn't get it, like what's the point? She just has no imagination when it comes to dolls. I let her drag out all the dolls and clothes in the basement and for about two days it looked like a tornado hit. So, playing with Barbies lasted all of two days before she moved on to more t.v. watching. Luckily, she was invited to play with friends quite a bit over the summer and she had several play-dates here as well. We could not wait to get to Arkansas in July so the girls could play at the lake with the cousins.

We left for Arkansas on July 23 (my 34th birthday) and spent two wonderful weeks with all of our families. The girls got to see their cousin Ethan a lot and had several sleepovers at Nana's house. Ian's parents are in the process of building a new house in a great neighborhood in Benton. Having built our last home, I was so excited to see the design and structure of their house. I cannot wait to see the finished product later this year! Ian's brother, David, and wife Tara, are expecting a baby girl in a few months and we are excited for her arrival!

We spent a lot of time at my mom's house on Lake Hamilton. She is re-modeling the upstairs of her house so it was slightly under construction while we were there. She re-modeled the downstairs a few years ago, so after this project is done I think it will be even more improved. It's a great house, she's just making it more liveable for when the whole family is there at once. She has a great vision for what she wants. She's really good at that. We had some really lazy days on the lake. Mom made poodle skirts for Maggie and Lucy, which they are in total love with! Mom had found Maggie one years ago at a yard sale and Maggie played dress up in the old poodle skirt daily. It was made from a felt fabric and over time it had little fuzzy balls all over it. Now they have brand new ones and dress up in them ALL the time! Thanks to Marmee for taking the time to make them. They are very special to the girls. It's one of those things that they will always remember about their Marmee just like I remember my Mimmi sewing clothes for me.

I drove to Nashville, AR for one night to hang out with my high school girlfriends, Dawn, Carrie, Shawn, Ashley and Mandy. We get together about twice a year so I was totally excited when I got a text from Shawn saying that she was planning an impromptu get together. This took some great planning by her since we are all mostly living in different cities now. We had a blast as always and just hung out at Shawn and Mark's house. We ventured out to the many flea markets in Nashville and Mineral Springs and it was fun! I got a great deal on some Barbie clothes that Maggie will never play with...

The girls spent some time at my Dad and Anne's and Grant and Jill and the kids were there. My younger brother, Bennett, came in for the weekend so it was great to get to see him. He's living in Fayetteville this summer while doing an internship. He will be totally done with college in December, yay!

Maggie started second grade the first week of August and Lucy Jane started a new pre-school too. Lucy had some separation anxiety the first few days when I dropped her off and then Ian told me when he dropped her off she did just fine - not even a tear was shed! So we had a little talk about no crying at school anymore and I guess she listened because I haven't seen a tear since. She is getting to be such a big girl!

Above are some pictures from Arkansas and school.

Summer Travels - Durango, Telluride and Ouray

2009-07-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

Steamworks Brewery in Durango
Entering Mesa Verde National Forest

Cliff Dwellings in Mesa Verde - how the heck did they build those?

Trout Lake outside of Telluride

Blues Festival in Telluride

Mom, I promise I didn't just eat one of your bbq ribs!

Mountain Village Square in Telluride

Main Street in Telluride (after the parade)

Telluride - picture taken from gondola

Hugs!

I don't know if my descriptions or these pictures will do justice for the places that we visited on this trip. We first headed to Durango for the first night. Maggie got carsick the last two hours of our trip so the one night in Durango was spent in the hotel room. It was fine though - we ordered pizza and went to bed early. We left Durango and headed to Mesa Verde to the cliff dwellings. This is where indians built their homes in the sides of cliffs thousands and thousands of years ago. That was pretty incredible for their dwellings to still be in tact after all these years. Then we moved on to Telluride. If you have never been to Telluride, you are missing out! It is by far the prettiest place I have ever seen. It's such a unique little town that is nestled in this valley between mountains and there is a waterfall that trickles down one of the mountains. No wonder Tom Cruise has a home there! We actually stayed up in the mountain village where the ski resorts are and it is equally as beautiful. Telluride is out in the middle of nowhere!! There is not a Wal Mart or Target for hours and hours. I'm not too terribly high maintenance, but it would definitely inconvenience me to drive that far for Target or some Sonic tater tots with cheese! Then we started the trek home and stopped off in Ouray. Ouray is known as the Swiss Alps of the United States. I've never been to the Swiss Alps but I cannot imagine it being any more beautiful than Ouray!

Summer Travels - Colorado Springs

2009-07-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

We have spent some weekends this summer traveling around Colorado. We spent some time in Colorado Springs (about an hour south of where we live) and went to the Garden of the Gods. Garden of the Gods is a place that has giant, vertical rocks coming up from the ground and we stayed a night at the Broadmoor Hotel. The Broadmoor has breathtaking views. Ian and I had been several times but this was the first time to take the kids with us. They got to swim in the pool and that made it all worthwhile to them!

Summer off to a good start

2009-06-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

Here are several recent pictures from Lucy's face painting that she got at a neighborhood party, Maggie in her softball uniform, pics of Maggie with friends at school, and a Rockies (pro baseball) game that we went to.

Surprise Office Makeover for Ian

2009-05-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

Ian was out of town earlier this week so I did a "while you were out" sort of office makeover and surprised him. He basically just had a desk, office chair and piles of papers lying all over the floor. It was becoming an eyesore and I was tired of looking at that mess. So, I painted the walls, built a shelf for his files and printer and hung some curtains and new art - tried to make it as masculine as possible. It's nothing special but it looks tons better! He was so surprised!

Before and after...

Mother's Day, New Bikes and Mother Daughter Brunch

2009-05-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

Maggie likes to write stories that start out "Once upon a time...." and I kept finding all these short, one-page stories in her room that were about two little girls who had no mother, only a father, and they hoped and dreamed they would get a new mother and finally one day their father fell in love again. I was starting to get a complex...was this Maggie's way of telling me she wished I wasn't her mother or wanted to trade me in for a new one? But Mother's Day came around and all my fears were erased because Maggie did and said some very special things and made me feel loved once again! We dined at Olive Garden for Mother's Day because I wanted a substantial meal. The last Italian restaurant that Ian and I went to we had minuscule portions and it cost almost $200. When we southerners want Italian we want the pasta to cover our entire plate and be smothered in alfredo or something really rich and bad for you. And we want all the salad and breadsticks that we can shove in our mouths. So, Olive Garden did just that for me! Here is a pic from Mother's Day and the new bikes that they both recently got.

Maggie's friend, Lauren, and her mother hosted a Mother & Daughter brunch this morning for all the little girls in Maggie's first grade class since the school year is coming to a close. It was so sweet. They drew pictures of their moms and I had purple hair, a big nose (of course) and was covered in freckles! All the girls filled out questionnaires about their moms and this is what Maggie put about me (and I'm spelling it exactly as she did):

My Mom is __33__ years old.

My Mom weighs __20___ pounds.

My Mom looks like _a tulup___.

My Mom smells like _a rose____.

Her favorite food is __salman__. (can't believe she knew there was an "L" in it)

Her favorite color is __green__.

Her favorite thing to do is __work__. (yeah right!)

Her favorite tv show is __home garden__.

My favorite thing to do with my mom is _sit__.

My Mom's job is _Acsiam__.

For fun, my Mom likes to _Read__.

The thing I like best about my Mom is _shes nice__.

She knows me pretty well except for the work answer, and the 20 lbs! Here are some pictures from the brunch with the pretty little ladies in her class and one terrible picture of me with Maggie, eyes about to close. I'm notorious for ruining a good pic with my eyes closed.

Visit from Nana & Pop

2009-04-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

The Perrys came to visit us over the weekend. They were only here a short time so we didn't do too much. Here are a few pictures I took of them with the girls.

Maggie the Jolly Tall Giant

2009-04-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

Maggie has always been about a head taller than her classmates but here's the proof! This is her friend Robbie that lives across the street. He's two months older than her!

Lucy Jane Turns 3!

2009-04-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Lucy Jane's big day by going to Chuck E. Cheese with the two neighbor boys, Jack and Joe. For months Lucy kept telling me she wanted to have a "pink pony birfday with Jack at ChuckCheese" so that's what we set out to accomplish! I guess we're terrible parents because I'm one of those moms who went above and beyond for the first born child and the second child pretty much gets the shaft. Poor Lucy has to wear the hand-me-down clothes, the second hand tricycles, bikes, scooters, and unfortunately only gets to invite two people to her third birthday party. I guess after having several over the top birthday parties for Maggie when she was younger, I've learned that all that is not necessary. But don't fret Lucy Jane...you will get your big birthday parties in the years to come!

We had an enjoyable time at Chuck E. Cheese playing and dining on pizza and Wal Mart cupcakes. She got a new bike from us, which she has been riding around inside the house on the hardwoods all week. We got massive amounts of snow last weekend so we let her bring the bike in to practice. I keep telling her how big she is riding around on her big girl bike and her reply is always "yep, I'm really good at sumpin." Of course the bike has training wheels but she still falls down quite a bit when she gets stuck between the couch and coffee table. Her daycare told us on Monday that they had noticed lots of bruises on her sides and that they would have to document them!!!! I racked my brain trying to figure out how she could have gotten these mystery bruises in the same place on both sides and it's got to be the bike wrecks! So embarrassing...they must think we're child abusers!! I was a little offended at first that they had to "document the bruises" but Ian and I decided we were glad that the daycares are looking out for the kids in their care because there are lots of kids who ARE actually being abused by their parents and nobody is paying attention!

It's been so hot the last few days and I rolled the windows down on my car. Lucy told me she "liked that wind blowin up her hair!"

By the way, Lucy does NOT pose for pictures so I get the back of her head in EVERY picture. I did manage to get one of her in the princess carriage.

The Happy Couple

2009-03-07T09:32:00.001-08:00

Speaking of the wedding I attended in Arkansas, my long-time friend, Shawn, got married in Nashville to Mark, a guy that I grew up with. We actually all grew up together and graduated high school the same year. It was the second wedding for both of them. These two were like best friends all through school, but for whatever reason they never dated each other. They are SO perfect for each other and I'm so thrilled that after all these years, through tough times and unhappy relationships they have endured, they ended up falling in love. It has truly made my whole year and I'm so happy that I got to be there for their wonderful wedding day!

Snow Skiing in Vail

2009-03-07T08:28:00.000-08:00

Our dear friends Jason and Allison Kidd came out to visit us in February to go skiing for a few days. Allison was my friend in college and Ian has known Jason his whole life because their parents were great friends. So, when they started dating each other many, many years ago they introduced me to Ian...on a blind date! The rest is history! We have stayed close to them and visit each other a couple times a year. They live in Bentonville, AR in Wal Mart country.

Mike and Carol came out and kept the girls and we headed to Vail with Jason and Allison. I had signed up for ski lessons because I had not skied since I was about 12 years old. I hated it when I was 12, but I remained optimistic this time. Allison is like a pro. She has skied every year since she was about Maggie's age. Ian is also a great skier. He's a real natural. Jason has only been skiing for about six years and he's so tall that I think it's a little challenging for him but from what I saw he was great too. The first day Allison went with me on the kiddie slope and I did pretty well going down it the first few times. She thought I didn't need lessons at all so I canceled them. After lunch we all four decided to take the lift up to one of the greens and ski it down together. We got in line to get on a four-person chair lift and they sent me up in line to sit down on it first, with them following right behind me. Well, I got my skis crossed and totally bit the dust and I could not get up! They backed out of the way and the chair came along and hit me in the back and the weight of the chair kept pushing me and pushing me as I'm crawling on my knees with skis going two different directions! It hurt so bad! The way my legs were positioned, I couldn't have even laid down and let it go over me. So, they shut down the lift! I was mortified, but that was the only way to get me out of there. We continued up the mountain after that fiasco and skied down in the rain and snow. I was terrible just like I was when I was 12. I decided skiing is just not that fun - it's scary! So I only skied that day. I'll definitely try it again because I want to take my girls so they can learn while they're young and not be afraid like I am.

Unfortunately, Lucy had strep while we were gone and Maggie got it later in the week. I got it several days later (when I was in Arkansas for a wedding) and when I talked to Carol after they got home, she had it too! We're all better now and we're looking forward to spring and planning summer activities and vacation with the kids.

Happy Birthday to Maggie!

2009-02-16T07:39:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Maggie turned seven years old on February 15th! For some reason seven seems so much older than six. Saturday night Maggie wanted to go eat at Dave & Busters so we did that. The girls played games and we collected the tickets that they won. We felt like we were ticket-rich but when we went to turn in our tickets for a prize we had actually won very little. So, the girls each got a sucker! But they were happy with that.

On Maggie's actual birthday we had a party here at our house and invited all the girls from her class. All but two came so we had a good turnout. I made smoothies with my new Magic Bullet smoothie maker and they played old-fashioned birthday games and we had a pinata. I didn't know how in the world that Ian and I would entertain 15 little girls for two hours, but the time flew by and it was great. I like this age because parents drop their kids off and come back two hours later. We're no longer in the stage where the parents have to hang around to take care of their own child or make sure their child is behaving at the party. I was so glad because I did not want to have to entertain all the parents too!! There was one little girl at the party that was SO high maintenance - it was very comical! First she wanted a strawberry-banana smoothie, then she decided she didn't like bananas so she requested a strawberry smoothie. After trying the strawberry smoothie she decided maybe she did like bananas and wanted the strawberry-banana one again! Then, later they had capri-suns and there was a picture of a banana on it so she refused to drink the capri-sun because it might have banana flavor in it. I reminded her that she liked the strawberry-banana smoothie and she might like this too, but she didn't go for it. When it was time for cake she shoved almost the entire piece of cake in her mouth in one bite and didn't use her utensil at all. Ian was about to have a coronary (you know how he is with cleanliness and messes and manners while eating?) he was cleaning that little girl up the whole remainder of the party. I had fun watching him stress over that little girl!

By the way, I have to mention this about Lucy. This is totally un-related to Maggie's birthday but it's funny and worth mentioning. There are about seven teachers at her daycare that are pregnant right now. There must be something in the water. They are all due within a few months of each other too. We also have a good friend that is pregnant that Lucy has been around lately. So, naturally Lucy thinks that she has a baby in her tummy too! She calls her baby Wally and when her tummy hurts she says "my baby scratching me" or she says "my baby trying to get out the hole" and points to her belly button. It's very strange, but cute too.

Introducing....Harper Lee Perry!

2009-02-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

Harper is our crazy, new rat-dog! She's a jack russell/poodle mix, which is called a jack-apoo. She's a sweet puppy but she is wild as all get-out and loves to nip at our ankles and heels and whatever shoes we are wearing. Lucy pretty much runs from her to keep safe. She has a mouthful of tacks for teeth and she bites! So, we are all trying to adjust to having this wild thing in our house. We do love her, though, and she's a cutie!

New Traditions!

2009-01-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

We are fortunate to live on a street with lots of young families like us and most of them are transplants just like us. Actually, we've met very few people who are actually from Colorado! Our street has an annual progressive dinner every December where we eat a different course at three different houses. They've been doing this for years with different people hosting each year, so I volunteered to do the appetizers at my house with the help of our friends Kim and Ed, who live next door. One family hosted the kid dinner at their house and we had one babysitter keep all the kids there and they ate pizza and watched Christmas movies while we enjoyed ourselves across the street. It was great to see everyone's homes decorated for Christmas and we got to eat wonderful food and it was a chance to get to know some of the neighbors that we didn't know as well. By the way, Maggie lost a tooth during the evening and she put it under her pillow and Ian and I totally forgot to leave the tooth fairy money!! We felt like the worst parents EVER. I guess we were too tired because we crashed and didn't even remember that she'd lost that tooth. But get this - my friend Kim did the exact same thing! Her son Joe lost a tooth the same day Maggie did and they forgot to be the tooth fairy too! The tooth fairy did finally make her way to our street...the next night!

We weren't quite sure how we would be spending Christmas Eve this year since in years' past we always had family nearby to spend that special time with. We decided we needed some traditions of our own! My mom's family had certain traditions such as going to the Peabody in Memphis with our family one weekend in December and we always ate at the Rendezvous. I remember going during both of my pregnancies and ordering a plate full of pickles at the Rendezvous! With Ian's family, we always do Christmas Eve lunch at Judy's with the Frost gang and play Trivial Pursuit. Christmas afternoon is spent with Mike and all of his sister's. Then we head to my Dad's in North Little Rock to see his family. So, this Christmas Eve we went to our Methodist church for Christmas Eve service then over to our neighbor's house and we ordered Chinese take-out from Mark Pi's and we played games. The kids ran wild in the basement all evening until we had to go home and play Santa. We woke up the next morning to see that Santa had come. Apparently Santa put the gifts in the wrong room (according to Maggie) so when she peered over the stairs and didn't see the gifts in the same room as the tree so she momentarily freaked out because she thought Santa had not come.

We left CO on Christmas day and drove to Arkansas, where we spent a week with the Perrys, the Ponders and Bookers. The girls were so happy to be back in Arkansas and Ian and I had a chance to go to several movies and to dinner with friends, which is something we don't do much here since we have to get a sitter to do those things now. It was great! The girls got to spend a lot of time with their cousin Ethan, which they loved! They also spent time with cousins Betsy and Ryan at Marmee's. My dear friend Kristin came to Hot Springs one day and spent the day with us. When my kids see Kristin coming they know they are going to get lots of presents from her. So, they always love to see "Aunt Kristin" as Maggie refers to her. Jill, Kristin and I took Maggie and Betsy ice-skating at the outdoor rink in Hot Springs. We also got to spend time with my two friends Carrie and Catherine and their spouses. We went bowling at the Professor Bowl in Little Rock. That's something we used to do back when we all lived in Little Rock when we all were first married almost nine years ago! It was great to see them.

Gingerbread Men Gone Wrong

2008-12-18T11:18:00.001-08:00

The girls and I made gingerbread men for the first time ever. It was one of those store bought mixes where all you have to do is add the egg and butter and a little water. You'd think I couldn't screw that up, but alas, I did. The directions clearly said to use softened butter but I melted mine completely! So, the dough was extremely runny when using the cookie cutters. We couldn't properly cut out the cookie shapes. They were all really mis-shapen and messy. They looked like obese gingerbread men after they were baked. We had a fun time making them anyway and they tasted fine. When I posed for the picture above, for some reason I stuck my hand up in the air when I bit into the cookie. So, when I took the girls' picture biting into their cookies they both immediately stuck their hands up in the air like I had. I thought that was pretty funny!

Fall 2008

2008-12-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry I have not posted anything since October. I knew this blogging thing would be hard for me to keep up with. Not that I don't have the time, I just have to use my creative side to come up with the words, etc. so I always put it off! Okay, the fall season here was very nice and it apparently lasted longer than past years. We still had some really warm days in November and I think that is not the norm for this time of year. We've had several snowfalls already but not enough to keep us snowed in or anything. It's interesting...life just continues on even when there's bad weather. You just head outdoors and shovel off your driveway and sidewalk so that you can get out and all problems are solved. Can you picture that? Me shoveling snow? I didn't know people actually did that, but they do!

Mike and Carol came out to visit us the week before Thanksgiving. We were so happy to have them here! They did some Christmas shopping for all of us and left it here so that we don't have to haul our gifts back from Arkansas later this month. We ate out nearly every meal and I easily packed on 5 pounds that week! Then, after the Perry's left we spent Thanksgiving here at our house. Our friends, Lauri & Scott McAdory are moving to the Boulder area for Lauri's job. Lauri was a friend in college and they were friends of ours in Benton, then they moved to Scottsdale, AZ almost two years ago. They spent turkey day with us and Lauri and I did the cooking. Everything was pretty good. I didn't care for the turkey, but all in all it was a good attempt at the first Thanksgiving meal that I've prepared. We had dessert with neighbors and played games. It was a good time. Then, Lauri and I hit the sales at 4a.m.! I'd never shopped the day after Christmas. I couldn't believe all the people out at that hour - and men were there shopping too!

Lucy is almost 100% potty trained! She has done so well. Maggie was a totally different story. It took us years to get her potty trained. Lucy is so eager to go and so very proud of herself when she does. We started training about a month ago and (knock on wood) I think it's been a success! Maggie has been playing in a basketball league through our local recreation center and it has been a great experience for her. She loves it and has learned so much. She was a little scared of the ball at first but now she's getting in there and making some shots and getting aggressive.

We went to Dallas the first weekend in December for Ian's holiday party. His boss lives in Rockwall on Lake Ray Hubbard so they invited (and paid for) us and about 15 others to fly there and we stayed at the Westin Galleria for the weekend. We decided to take the girls with us to Dallas because it was cheaper to buy two tickets to Dallas on Frontier than it would have been to pay for one grandparent to fly out from Arkansas on the direct United flight. My Mom and Doug drove down from Hot Springs and kept the girls while we did our thing. So, we were thrilled that we got the chance to visit with them and had a free babysitter at the same time.

We are in the process of finishing out our basement. It should be complete by this Friday. I will post pictures of the before and after so you can see the progress.

Oktoberfest 2008 & Pumpkin Seed Spitting Contest

2008-10-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

Our neighbors, the Reneiros, had their annual Oktoberfest celebration last Saturday. Lots of bratwurst, beer and suaerkraut - yum! They had lots of games for the kids. A pumpkin seed spitting contest was the fave and they were all awarded gold medals for their efforts; even Lucy! We have hawks that hang out on our rooftops and make the worst bird noises that you've ever heard, so the hawk has become sort of a neighborhood mascot to the kids. One of the moms did a craft project with the kids and they made hawks to take home with them. Lucy and her buddy Jack are the two youngest and they are two peas in a pod. They adore each other! We had a great day and the weather was a little chilly. Perfect Oktoberfest weather!

"I Cweams" & Zoo for the Day

2008-09-08T09:51:00.000-07:00

We took the girls to eat "I Cweams" (as Lucy calls it) at Maggie Moos on Saturday night. There is this great outdoor shopping mall called Southlands that is fairly close to our house. They have great shops and restaurants and a giant movie theater, not that I would know because I haven't been to a movie in ages, but there's really stuff for the whole family to do there. There are fountains of water that shoot up from the ground and in the warmer months you'll see kids in their bathing suits running around in them. It's a little too cool already for that now, although we did see some wet kids! We like to do dinner, walk around and then go for ice cream.

Sunday we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. This zoo is built on a mountain and is made to blend with the natural environment. It was really beautiful, but stinky. The coolest were the giraffes, which were standing down on a lower level so that we were eye level with them and could feed them. There was a carousel for the kids and lots of exhibits. We spent over three hours there! The funnel cakes with strawberry sauce were to die for. The girls loved the day and so did we.

Sick Girls and Crappy Labor Day

2008-09-03T15:17:00.001-07:00

So, Ian had the bright idea of traveling to Arkansas for the Labor Day weekend by himself. Yes, I said by himself for four days over the holiday. When he was in the planning stages of this little trip I guess I wasn't really thinking clearly or was drugged or something because at the time I thought it was just fine with me. Besides, I was hoping to go on a trip with some girlfriends in late September, which is not happening now by the way. He departed on Thursday for a long weekend of fantasy footballing and poker playing with his Benton buddies from high school. In the meantime, back here in reality the girls and I had a good evening doing outdoor movie night with the neighbors. We had a fantastic time, then Lucy got sick from both ends. So, on Saturday we had big plans of going to the pool but since Lucy was sick from both ends we didn't think we should spread it around. Sunday I awoke at 4a.m. with the sickness too! I guess a stomach virus. So that continued all day but we decided we would go to the neighbor's Labor Day party and infect them too. Maggie was feeling her usual normal, healthy self. She NEVER gets sick and Lucy gets sick if I just say the word sick. I don't know how I had two children with completely different immune systems. Anyway, the next-door party was very nice and the kids ran wild and I ate way too much for feeling sickly. Everyone, and I mean everyone, asked "where is Ian," "he went where to do what," "fantasy football?" I'm sure my neighbors think we're totally weird for Ian having a guy's weekend on Labor Day. By the time Monday rolled around I was about to go postal after basically being in my house with kids and two of us being sick all weekend long. It was just about enough to make me lock myself in the basement until Ian returned. Luckily, the neighbor invited Maggie to the pool with them that afternoon so she got to do SOMETHING on the holiday. All in all Ian had fun and was glad he went but I informed him that there will be no more holidays spent away from us! He agreed.

Movie Night Part II - Hoodwinked

2008-08-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

We had another neighborhood movie night on the neighbor's garage door. This time it was Hoodwinked. Tons of kids showed up in their pajamas and their sleeping bags and pillows. The kids had popcorn, Twizzlers, soft drinks, Junior Mints, Whoppers, your typical movie snack food. Lucy was cramming Twizzlers in her mouth so quick that I was afraid there wouldn't be any left for the other kids! She's the youngest kid on the street so she is a hand-full at events like this. I can't take my eyes off of her or she'll be destructing something. Unfortunately, she got sick in the middle of the night after movie night - it could have been all the candy she ate but it has lingered so I'm thinking it must be a stomach virus.

Maggie's First Day of 1st Grade

2008-08-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Three Weeks in Arkansas

2008-08-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

We spent three wonderful, hot weeks in Arkansas in July visiting with all of our families and friends. Maggie and Lucy thoroughly enjoyed getting all the attention, hugs and kisses from all the grandparents. We were on the move the entire time. I don't know if we stayed in one place more than three nights in a row. They loved getting to see cousins Ryan, Betsy and Ethan. They all just picked up where they left off as if they just saw each other last week, like we never moved across the country.

Ryan and Lucy "cutting a rug" at Sam's Pizza. Maggie danced so wild and crazy that she flailed about and knocked a drink out of someone's hand. The lady was a little ticked off but there was a sign that clearly read "no drinks on the dance floor" ... so there!

We stayed with Dad and Anne for several days and they kept my kids while I worked in the Acxiom office. Uncle Bennett and Cousin Natalie were in town staying with Mawsy and Papa. For some reason Maggie is just now realizing that Bennett is my other brother and she thought that was just about the coolest thing she'd ever heard. She told Mawsy she thought maybe I was trying to keep him a secret or I was trying to keep her from knowing that he was my brother!

Yummy dinner at Flying Fish!

Cousin Ethan's 4th Birthday Party

2008-08-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

The girls enjoyed going to Ethan's birthday party in Benton. Lucy had no fear in going down the giant slides at Party Central. Ethan had a great party and we were so glad we were in town to attend. He had an adorable Kung Fu Panda cake.

July 4th Weekend

2008-07-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

The girls were in a neighborhood July 4th parade. We decorated Maggie's bike and Lucy's stroller and all the kids and parents walked the parade route around the neighborhood pool/park area.

We attended the Parker fireworks display later that night with some neighbors. It was the best display I'd ever seen!

Ian's company was sponsoring a pro volleyball tournament in Boulder, CO all weekend on the Colorado University campus. We stayed overnight and took the girls to that on Saturday and Sunday. We stayed at the St. Julien Hotel, which was one of the coolest hotels I've ever stayed in.

At the CU stadium they created volleyball courts on top of the turf, but it actually felt like we were at the beach. I fell in love with Boulder! The Pearl Street Mall was really great. It reminded me a lot of Dickson street in Fayetteville, but even more weirdos.

All the sponsors of the tournament got to compete in a tournament of their own on Sunday morning and here is Ian serving the ball. He played really great!

2008-07-01T15:33:00.001-07:00

Lucy, concentrating so hard to do her pretty smile.

Movie Night - Ratatoullie

2008-07-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday our neighbors had a movie night and invited all the kids to watch Ratatoullie in the driveway on a sheet that was hung up on a garage door. The weather was perfect for an outdoor movie. Lucy kept walking in front of the movie projector so that nobody could see the screen. We had to put her to bed early and Maggie conked out half-way through the movie, but it was great fun while it lasted!

- Don't these two look guilty -

2008-07-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

Lucy's morning hair.

They thoroughly enjoyed licking the chocolate!

Maggie Brooke

2008-06-20T12:25:00.001-07:00

Things that tickle me about Maggie:

When she gets a new pair of shoes she MUST tell everyone that she encounters that she has new shoes, forcing them to pay her a compliment on her great shoes!
I love that she always wants to be a part of whatever is going on. No wallflowers in this family!
She's so in to fashion. If she thinks she looks cute in one thing then she'll wear it over and over and over. I'm getting pretty tired of the floral tubetop that is currently her go-to outfit.
She thinks she has died and gone to heaven if she gets to eat at the mall food court.
She says my breakfast casserole is better than eating at the mall!

Maggie's Art Camp

2008-06-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

Maggie attended art camp this week at the Rec Center. She really enjoyed it. They created paintings and sculptures using different mediums. I was very impressed with her art. See for yourself....this one is an abstract self-portrait inspired by the artist Paul Klee...

2008-06-20T11:09:00.000-07:00

This one is inspired by Van Gogh's Sunflowers

Maggie's Art Camp

2008-06-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the artist Renoir.

Lucy Jane

2008-06-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

Things that tickle me about Lucy:

When she takes her diaper off and runs through the house naked.

I love that she calls Maggie "Mammie"

She's so cute when she tries to sing her ABC's, which goes "ABCD won't you sing at me" and also Itsy Bitsy Spider is "It bit Pider."

I love that she makes a scribble mark on paper and holds it up and says "look mama, goldfish!"

When I pick her up from daycare and she says "Donalds?" because she wants to go eat at McDonalds...every day.

She's just like her mama because she loves to eat chips and cheese dip!