9 years & Counting

From This-

Look how happy we were.

To This-Oh wait, we're still happy, and have three more reasons to be (at least most of the time).
Happy Anniversary!

Gold Rush

Since we didn't go on a trip this Memorial Day weekend, we thought we'd hit the mountains for a picnic, possibly hike, and sight-see a little. The weather had different ideas as this was what it looked like where we wanted to hike at Echo Lake.
You can't even see the lake past 10 feet. So we took shelter for our picnic and then journeyed down to Idaho Springs and did the sight-seeing thing at the Argo Gold Mine & Mill. Thankfully the weather didn't follow us too much down the mountain and we got to see some waterfalls and enjoy a rain-free tour.
I'm glad Eric wasn't a miner in the 1900s because he'd probably be dead already. Lots of nasty chemicals + no protection = early death. We did pan for gold and separate out rocks from gems.

Our little miners

Soccer BBQ

Aside from the wind (Denver really can compete with Chicago), our end-of-the-year soccer BBQ was a hit. Great food, great company, what more could you ask for? Oh yeah, a daughter and not just the mother that likes to play soccer.

The decorations

Yummy chocolate cake made by Cheryl & Rick Lee


The kids playing



Thanks everyone for a great soccer season. The Rapids and Green Lizards Rock!

Here Fishy

Thanks Justina for getting me out of the house and suggesting we should go to the Denver Aquarium. I think the kids had a great time seeing all the fishies, especially Dory & Nemo.

Fishy Face Elizabeth

The Girls--Elizabeth, Meghan, & Rachel

Da-dump, da-dump, AWWW Jaws!

The kids got eaten by a shark


Yes, Evelyn was there too.

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to give a shout out to all the mothers and women out there on this Mother's Day. A woman's role as nurturer to her own children or other's cannot be relinquished and I have seen many great examples of this in my life. Some days I wonder why anyone would entrust me with three beautiful daughters but I'm grateful for them and for all they have taught me. Yes, I did smile after my daughters were born and I still am smiling (most days).

I thought I'd give you some words of wisdom about mothers so here are a few quotes I found.

Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories. ~John Wilmot

It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Children are a great comfort in your old age - and they help you reach it faster, too. ~Lionel Kauffman

Insanity is hereditary; you get it from your children. ~Sam Levenson

A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after. Peter De Vries

Eric made sure I had a great Mother's Day. He knows how much I like food so he made all three meals today. Since he's the cheesecake aficionado in our house now, he even made this yummy strawberry topped sour cream cheesecake.
I bought some Willow Tree figurines about a month ago for my Mother's Day/anniversary gift. They are named Love of Learning, Free Spirit, Together, and Blessing. I'll let you assign which child you think goes with each figurine but I have my thoughts about it.

Color Snafu

Our front door really needed a paint job so I took all three girls (mistake #1) to the Lowes that just opened up to pick out paint. I thought I picked out a nice green/blue/gray color like what our door was (mistake #2). Here's the result.

The picture doesn't do justice to how bright the door really is and I didn't mean to color-coordinate the door to Rachel's hat. Don't call the HOA yet because I really didn't want to have the brightest door in the neighborhood so I went to Lowes again, picked out yet another color sample, and applied not 1, not 2, but 3 coats of paint to cover up the incredibly bright turquoise color. Here is the result.

Much better! I told Eric I really wasn't trying to show ineptness at home improvement projects to make him do all of them in the future. I guess I just don't have any taste in color. Thank goodness it only takes about a 1/2 hour to paint doors and paint is cheap. Now I have to see about our bathroom.

Embarrassing Mommy Moment

I'm sure all you moms out there have had at least one extremely embarrassing mommy moment. I had one yesterday with Elizabeth. We went to a birthday party for one of our neighbor's kids. After cake and presents my kids were still playing and then Elizabeth came up to me and said she had peed her pants. Not only had she peed her pants, she had peed all over the floor. All that she could say for herself was "I waited too long." Understatement of the year but wait, it gets better. I told her to wait out front for me to clean up, or at least attempt to clean up the fountain of pee. Next thing I knew, she came back in the house flashing all the people with a naked bum. She didn't even give it a second thought that she had taken off her shorts and panties in front of total strangers. By then I told the mom, sorry we're peeing and dashing, wrapped Elizabeth's naked bum in her jacket, and marched home.

We love our not-so-shy little Elizabeth!