That's the thing about kids and glass...

Last fall I bought a cute little glass stand with matching cute little glass dome.  I was going to be a cute little mom and bake cute little cookies to put under the dome.  Today was that day.  Olivia and I made some cute little cookies.  I put the first batch under the dome.  Liv got a hankering for a cookie and voila...dome on the floor, cracked into a bunch of cute little pieces.  Olivia justified the accident by stating, "Well, I guess you can either have glass or you can have kids."  Yes, I think that about sums it up.  At least the  cookies are yummy!

A Three Minute Tour

Last weekend Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit and brought their canoe for us to borrow for a while.  We decided today was the perfect time to try it out, and Olivia decided today was a great day to become deathly afraid of water!  It started out ok, Liv was just a little reluctant to walk in the sand.  Getting into the canoe was another story...we were out to sea only about two minutes before her screams and her death grip around my neck were too much were too much to handle so Tim and Annie dropped us on the shore and headed back out.  Liv and I drove up the shore a bit and caught them at another beachy area.  I yelled out to come closer for a photo and that is when Olivia decided she wanted another try - just to be in the picture.  So she went out for one more minute - no screams this time - to finish out the day.

Big Summer Blowout!

Well, summer is coming to a screeching halt and in just one week school will start up again.  Annie will be a fullfledge third grader and Olivia will be a first grader.   This summer we've hiked, camped out, traveled around, spent many afternoons at the pool, and are now feverishly working overtime to get Annie to finish up her summer homework.  The girls have done two art camps (learning about pop art, mixed media, paper mâché, and mosaics).  Annie spent a week taking care of and riding a pony named Gretel while Olivia stared as Anna in a production of Frozen.  They both made props for and starred in a Magic Tree House play.  Last week Annie spent a week at Camp Chief Ouray up in the mountains around Winterpark with her best friend Marie and she can't stop talking about it.  Next week they will be checking out a gymnastics camp down the street....then it's back to the grind of homework and after school activities.  But until then we are gonna fit in as much pool time as possible...Cannonball!

Ski Trip

Yesterday marked week 4 of 5 for the girls stint in ski school up in Winterpark.  Typically we have to be awake, dressed, and in the truck by 6:30 am in order to get the girls to their group in time for the day to start.  For girls, this basically means that they sleep in their ski undergarments and just roll directly out of bed and directly into the car, but this last weekend we decided to stay up there over night.  I'm not sure what happened, but Tim and I convinced ourselves that we still had to be up by 6:30.  For me that is an increase in sleep time by about 15 minutes...minus the 2 hours of sleep lost due to bad condo pillows, so I ended up behind on that one - so I like to sleep! 

Anyways, we left town on Saturday after dropping the dog off with some good friends only to discover that it was time for lunch.  After a quick stop at our fav lunch spot we were finally really on the road.  The girls have been begging to go tubing up in the mountains so that was the plan for Saturday.  Olivia gave a good showing and made it down the tubing hill about 4 times before calling it quits.  In her defense, it was very very cold that afternoon...but I still wonder - she literally screamed at the top of her lungs like the scared little 5 year old that she is all the way down the hill for every run.  Annie absolutely loved it.  Tim tolerated it.  I was pretty much as scared as Olivia was (it was a very tall and fast ride!)...but I'd like to go and do it again.  After that we picked up some dinner and spent some time in the hot tub to warm ourselves back up.

On Sunday, we got up good and early to a brisk negative 4 degrees, made our way to drop the girls off at ski school, and then Tim and I headed off to ski with some old friends who I met when Annie was just a baby.  The snow was wonderful, and the crowds were low (thanks to the Broncos for that!).  When we picked the girls up that afternoon, Olivia really wanted to show us what she had learned and I have to admit that the last 4 weeks have really paid off for our little scaredy cat.  She is doing so much better than at the beginning of the year and is so proud of her progress.  Annie is really tearing it up now too so I'm excited to see what kind of new terrain we can hit as a family once the ski school sessions are over for them.  I have to add, I'm not sure what kind of temperature Annie usually runs at but everytime we see her on the hill or at pick up, she always has her coat unzipped.  She says she gets too hot.  I wish there was a way for me to take some of that heat for myself!

Here are a few photos from the tubing adventure...

What's wrong with this picture?

I'm not sure which is more out of sorts about this photo...the fact that Annie looks like she's turned into a bobble-head doll, or that she has 2 rows of bottom level teeth. The dentist decided to give Annie one month to wiggle her baby teeth loose before she would pull the 2 middle ones. You can probably guess what happened. The thing we were not expecting to happen was that the dentist would accidentally pull all 4 bottom baby teeth. Needless to say Annie had a few not to positive things to say about the dentist.

3.5

Here's our beauty, Olivia - turning on the charm for her half birthday. We spent the weekend camping on Guenella Pass and taking in the golden aspen leaves.

Soccer!

Below is a video of Annie's last soccer game of the summer. She had been having motivational issues until I happened upon a very effective product called Kid Soccer Game Energy Enhancement Booster Supplement - more commonly known as "pop-rocks". Just one small handful of this magical substance turned our "it's too hot, I don't like to exercise, I just want to sit under this umbrella and torment my sister" Annie, into a soccer ball chasing machine! Watch the video and see if catch the part where she totally jukes that blondie opposing player...yeah, that part didn't actually happen - but this video is the best minute of soccer she played all year, and I just happened to get it all on tape. Enjoy!

Blog Smackdown...It's Go-Time!

Be prepared to experience the last 5 months in the next 5 days! I am about to cross off one item of my never ending to do list, starting with the blog. Happy March!

Now we're movin'!

Tim and Annie have been working on riding her bike without training wheels all summer and finally all that crying, I mean all that work has finally paid off! Annie has been cruising the 'hood for a few weeks now. It's somewhat stressful to me to see her rambling down the street...mainly because she tends to be totally unaware of random cars that are just waiting for her to come by so they can dart out in her path, and the random boobie traps disguised as innocent little pebbles laying on the pavement. I know I had my fair share of stitches resulting from biking incidents...badges of kid honor, and I guess everyone deserves to have a few minor ones right?

Here she is with the biker gang on her first day as a full fledged and licensed two wheeler. Do you see the little bunny in the background? I just noticed him...Lucky for Annie, he must have been a few seconds behind on his seek and destroy mission!

Uncle Justin and Aunt Mindi!

We were in Columbus last weekend to see Uncle Justin and Aunt Mindi get married. Annie had a great time being Mindi's flower girl and Olivia had an even better time being my flower girl. Here are some photos from the wedding...

1st Day of Kindergarten

Last Wednesday was Annie's first day at High Plains Elementary. We had gone shopping for her school supplies a few weeks ago and she spent about every other day from then on proudly parading around the house with her backpack full of supplies. The closer the big day got, you could tell she was getting a little nervous. Olivia was really nervous once she realized that Annie wouldn't be going to Montessori with her anymore. On Tuesday night they both had a hard time falling asleep, but both were ready to go on Wednesday. Here she is, getting all ready to head out the door. Little did we realize that while I was taking the photo, the cat snuck out and decided to camp out under our big evergreen tree. We couldn't get him to come out for anything, so decided to ditch him. I loaded up the girls and while they were getting buckled in, I checked one more time and the cat was waiting for me to let him in the house.

Once at school, Annie lined up with the other kids outside their classroom door. Annie lined up next to her new good friend, Megan and while all the parents snapped photo after photo...my baby walked into school, as proud as can be.

It's official...my work ate my summer.

It's true. I've been working as a construction engineer on the job where no one can do anything right and it has taken my summer. Even right now, it's Sunday and I'm waiting to receive 2 emails from the project on 2 items they messed up and expect me to figure out how to fix. AYE!
In the meantime, there are only 3 more days until Annie is a fully fledged Kindergartner at High Plains Elementary. She is so so so excited. We met her new teacher Ms. Lyons on Friday at the school ice cream social and she seems really excited to be a new teacher. She just graduated from NCU and this is her first job.

So what have we been up to this summer?

1. The girls both took swim lessons, although I can't say that they learned to swim yet. We are planning on a trip to the pool this afternoon, so I will throw them in and let you know what happens.
2. We spent an awesome week on the beach with Nana, Papa, John, Bonnie, Lily, Justin, Mindi, and our new cat (Mr. Georgie Spankerdoodle Throwie Nicholas Meowsers Meowgi, the Third, Jr.) All I can say about Mr. Meowgi is that he is a very tolerant kitty and loves to torment Bailey, loves to chase plastic things across the floor, loves to curl up with me if I'm laying on the couch, and has a love/hate relationship with both girls.
3. We camped a total of 3 times...once with a dead battery, and the the last time with a visit from a bear. He knocked on our door, but we didn't answer...he left a paw print on the side of our camper.
4. A new IKEA store opened in Denver and the girls and I literally got lost inside for 2 hours last week. Luckily, we found the cafeteria and restored our energy levels with some Swedish meatballs and an apple tart. I don't think we will be going back anytime soon.
5. Annie is this close to learning how to ride her bike without training wheels.

Look for a photo album of our summer appearing on the blog soon. In the meantime, I'm going to try and talk Tim into going to IKEA for lunch...

Carnival!!!

The other day while I was driving out to a job site I noticed that there was a carnival being set up in a mall parking lot. So yesterday we decided to take the girls over for a few rides. With the exception of Tim smashing Olivia's hand while buckling up on the roller coaster, they loved it! And at $3 per ride, they really should have loved it. Here are some photos of them enjoying the afternoon.

Planning for the future

Annie told me this morning that she doesn't want to get married because if she does, an angel will come up and shoot her right in the heart. What? It took me a while to figure out that she was talking about Cupid and his arrow. We've got it straightened out now though, or so I think.

What's in a name?

I've been thinking, and what set off this thinking was when I heard Annie the other day calling Olivia "Liver". Hummm, I thought, just how many nicknames does that girl answer too?
Here is a short list...

Olivia
Olivea
Livie
Livia
Liv
Olive
Baby-O
A-livia
Bavie
Bav (this one is my favorite, it started with Annie not being able to pronounce baby)

and the newest one
Liver

It has a nice ring to it I guess. Might just have to add that last one to my rotation.

Our Ballerina

Annie has been going to ballet classes for a few months now and the season has finally come to it's climax - the annual recital!

Introducing Annie, appearing on stage for the first time...

Sorry for the lack of focus on the movie, it was the best I could do. Here are some action shots to clear things up a bit. I love how they are all looking off to the side - that is where their teacher is also doing the dance, in the off chance that they forgot the choreography.

Spring Soccer

Annie is on her second season of soccer. She played last fall, and now spring season is only one game away from putting her out of her misery - or I mean being over. We were scheduled for a makeup game this evening, but it has been rain-snowing here all day so...cancelled! Annie...well, Annie, she isn't what most people would call an athletic kid. She barely hangs in there with the average 5 year old soccer player. She started off strong last fall, but I think her imagination got the better of her this season. It was really hard to convince her to play, "it's too much exercise, and running around, and how can I play like that?" is her general objections. One game we told her that if she played well and made an effort, then we would reward her by going out for dinner. Her response was "Chucky Cheese!!!". Note: I had BBQ on my mind so didn't tell her she could pick where we went, but I let this C.C. choice slide since I figured it would add to her motivation to get out and running on the field, and frankly I was starting to become a little embarrassed to be the mom of the worst player on the field...now I feel embarrassed that I actually admitted that I was embarrassed that our 5 year old isn't a soccer star. Either way - by the end of the game even Coach Justin was cheering "chucky cheese - chucky cheese" every time she lost interest in the game. At last week's game she started giving excuses as to why she couldn't play...it was too sunny, her shoes didn't fit...so I changed her out of her cleats and stuck a pair of sunglasses on her face and what do you know, she actually played pretty well! Maybe I should start believing her when she starts complaining!

Here are some photos of our girl in action - the first is her usual game day strategy, head down and trailing the pack, followed by one where she actually got her foot on the ball! Yeah Annie! You Rock Girl!

Annie's last run of the season

Annie, Tim, and I hit the slopes one last time for this season a couple weekends ago. We left Olivia with some friends so that we could both spend the day seeing how much Annie had improved since the beginning of the season. Leaving Olivia for the day may have scarred her a bit, ever since that day she hasn't left my side over fear that I'll leave her if we are anywhere other than our house. Oh well, let's hope she gets over it someday.

The day started out great for us! We rode the lift up while looking at the map and planning out our day, including my favorite item - where to have lunch. We stuck to the greens most of the morning, and found an excellent tree run that Annie was more comfortable on than the groomed slope. Towards the afternoon we happened upon a blue run that Tim thought Annie could handle. I should have known...he couldn't see too far beyond the first few feet. After that the run was pretty steep and had more than a few bumps. Annie made it down about 5 feet before terror stepped in and we had to scoot off through the trees to get back to the green run. I'm not sure we will be convincing Annie to do any blue runs any time soon after that experience.

After lunch we did a couple more runs before an exhausted Annie had to be escorted down the mountain were we spent some time rocking out at the Guns 'n Roses concert that was going on at the base, but not before we shot this awesome video of our girl in action.

Olivia! bum bum bum bum, Olivia!

Walk up to Olivia and exclaim her name and she will reply "bum bum bum bum". It's her theme song. Really it's the theme song from the Olivia cartoon, but we changed it to her theme song. She's 3 now ! It took her a while to get the fingers correct, they kept wanting to be 4, but now she's got it down pat. Just the other day she drew her very first person, it was a self portrait, followed by a very large headed Annie, and two small parents. We were at the Children's museum at the time and Tim and I were amazed that we were seeing her draw like that! So far it's been a lot of scribbles and O's and her trying to write - looks just like ancient hieroglyphics. Here is our newest family portrait...
This year Olivia graduated to a 2 wheeled bike (still on training wheels). She loves riding it and I love walking behind and watching her little legs pump up and down, up and down. She is still pretty petite, her last measurements at her doctors appointment showed her in the 25th percentile for both weight and height, but 140th percentile for humor and smarts. She's quite the joker - this year she has been in love with the word "duty". It really cracks her up, and usually when things crack her up, everyone else is infected with it too. Tim say her personality is a lot like mine...her true self doesn't just come out for anyone. She is really quite timid in some situations. She loves the zoo, as long as the animals are far far away. She doesn't like the aviary at all. That is where cute little birds are free to wonder...she hates that place and walking through that with her on your hip you can really feel how strong her choke hold around your neck can be.

We took her downtown for her 3 year old photos, and after getting through the customary silly face photos, I think we got a few where she really shines.

But I'm really sick!

Annie was sick for a few days last week, just some puking the first day and then a few days of mild fever. She stayed home with me Wednesday and Thursday, then got sent home early on Friday. Olivia didn't like going to school without her. I'm pretty sure she was perfectly fine once she got there, but just thinking about leaving home while Annie is having a grand time at home, probably watching cartoons all day and feasting on popsicles was too much for Olivia. (She was right! Annie did watch cartoons all day, and ate a lot of popsicles.) So for the last few days, our morning routine has been sprinkled with Olivia saying "But I'm sick...I don't feel well...my nose hurts...etc." I knew she was bluffing, I just knew it. She wouldn't let me take her temperature to verify this mystery sickness that makes your tummy scratchy....that and she was more than fine playing and running around the house until I mentioned that it was time to leave for school. Today was different though. She was snack leader, which means she got to bring a show and tell. She was the first person in the car today, with no mention of any sicknesses.