Now Boys!

Now boys at daycare, I know my daughter is very sweet. And mighty cute, too. BUT, I need you to stop biting her- it makes me very upset to see that incident report when I pick her up. And she tells me owie, owie all night while pointing at the red marks on her arms.  Dont forget that her verbal skills are far beyond yours, and she can rat you out because she can say all of your names. I know who you are, and so does her daddy- so KNOCK IT OFF!

Ode to CostCo

Oh Costco,

purveyor of everything bulk.
Without you I might sulk.
Army tank sized shopping carts,
Oh No this isn't like you other marts.

Ladies in white coats, your tastes are ample,
for dinner tonight I will have food samples.
A bale of Charmin, a gross of tissue,
glad I've got the truck so space isn't an issue.
Blueberries- of course I need at least 5 pounds,
mixed with my 36 pack of yogurt, love how that sounds!
Finish with a barrel of almonds and fruit snacks,
I guess I probably need 100 packs?
Food in bulk and bulk galore,
You'll always be my favorite store.

Peach crisp

Peach (Rhubarb) Crisp Recipe

On Saturday night we went to a friends house for dinner and I made a peach crisp to bring along, it is a really good recipe, so I thought I would share, it is really easy to make dairy and egg free. The recipe is actually for a Rhubarb crisp, but I went to the farmers market on saturday morning and the Colorado peaches were excellent so I bought a bunch and changed the recipe a bit. I have made this with straight rhubarb and with rhubarb and strawberries together many times - you kind of have to modify the sugar and such depending on what fruit you use, I cut the sugar way back and added lemon juice because the peaches were so sweet. This recipe is a good ole stand-by from my Great Aunt Jayne.

Topping:

2-3 c. chopped peaches (or rhubarb, strawberries, blueberries, use what is tasty and abundant)
1 c. sugar ( I never use this much- used about 1/4 c with the peaches, more with rubarb- start low and taste as it cooks)
1/3 c. water
2 T cornstarch
1/2 c. pineapple (optional) ~ i've never added this because I never have it around

Crust:

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1 c flour

1 c brown sugar

3/4 c oatmeal (I use quick oats).

1/2 c butter, softened (Fleishman's unsalted margarine is dairy- free)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease/ spray a 9x13 pan. Mix together the first five ingredients (topping) in a saucepan and cook until thick and bubbly. Taste as you go and add more sugar or some cinnamon to make it tasty.  While this is simmering, mix together the last 5 ingredients and press most of it into the pan. Save a bit for topping. (if you forget to save the topping like I always do- I just sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon to make it look pretty). Once the topping is thick and tasty, poor it over the crust and sprinkle with the remaining crumbles you saved behind.  Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown- this totally depends on your fruit and pan- but about 15- 30 minutes will usually do the trick. I am so not a recipe girl, I dont measure any of this or time it out and it turns out yummy, this is a recipe you cannot really mess up.

Bday Parties

Sunday we went to a birthday party for a friend's 2 yo boy.  Lauren LOVED his ball house toy that they have in their rec room- we had to beg her to come back upstairs and join the party. Believe it or not- this is always in their house- not just a special set up for the party. She is so funny, she sings "Happy to you...." for happy birthday and was singing it the whole way home and even included the little boys's name- Garrett. So sweet!

Fantasy Draft - CANCELLED

So, Jeff and I were all geared up for our fantasy football league draft today at 1:30. We got Lauren down to nap just in time and each logged on to a computer, only to find out it is CANCELLED! What! It is rescheduled to occur during my haircut on Wednesday, while Jeff will be alone with Lauren trying to get her ready for bed. Sounds like we are going to auto-draft this year- bummer!!

Let go Rockies!

We are coming off a really busy weekend, I will poist some of what we were up to. This picture is from Friday night- we went to the Rockies game and it was a blast. This was taken at the Wynkoop where we stopped for dinner and a beer on our way to the game. At the game Lauren made a buddy with a boy named Ayden who was sitting in front of her. Ayden was 4 1/2 and was completely enamored with Lauren, he cried when we left at the start of the 7th. I thought he was crying because his dad made him give Lauren's toy back that he was playing with (little mermaid camera- would have happily left it for Ayden, his dad said no)- but he said it was because he didn't want Lauren to leave- so sweet!

Dentist

Ok, the day is here. This morning Lauren is going to the dentist for the first time, I am super nervous for her. I hope she doesn't get too scared or mad~ they are going to clean her little teeth and apply floride.  Jeff is going to sneak out of work to make the appointment, Lauren and I will need the moral support and he needs to hear from the dentist some tips on teeth brushing (he thinks it is fine to skip it or let her do it herself, bet the dentist will disagree).

Update: The dentist appointment went well, she was a good cooperative little girl and only cried a little bit. Her teeth are in great shape and they told us we are doing a good job cleaning them! Whew! Only thing, we are supposed to try to floss her teeth- HAHAHAHA, not sure how that is going to go.

Zoo Trip

This weekend we are staying in Denver and are planning on taking a family trip to the zoo. I found out that this weekend is the appreciation day at the zoo for my hospital, and they gave us free tickets to go to the zoo and they have lunch and dinnered catered for employees and their families. Yipee- guess that seals the deal- we are going on Sunday! We will go in the morning and then have a birthday party in the afternoon- busy day. :)

Chomp!

Yesterday Lauren got bit at school – it was a bad one. Her class is full of biters, Lauren is the only one that doesn’t bite (that is what her teachers tell us). She has been bit before, but never left much of a mark. This time a little boy got her on her sholder- in that little soft skin above the back of her arm-pit, YOUCH!! She was wearing a tank top and had that delicate area exposed. They had to ice it, and when we picked her up it was still swollen and very red with broken skin. Poor baby, she must have cried and had a bad time with it because she kept telling us about it last night. Why do kids do that??


On a better note~ this morning when I was helping her get dressed she looked me in the eye, put her and on my cheek and said “Mommy, I love you” and smiled. I cried (happy tears of course) and she said it again and hugged me and held me tight. What a loving little girl! She has been saying “I Love you” for a couple weeks, but this was in just such a loving context I was overwhelmed. I wish I could bottle that moment forever….

Elmo Shirt

Lauren is the hit of her class at daycare in this shirt. Thanks Grandma V! ~ Lauren loves to open the random packages!

Winter Park

On a little nature hike near wear Jeff and his dad hunt for elk.

What kind of berries are these?

I am starting to see where those eyes come from...

Tamboreen

Playing along with the band. She helped dress herself, so Yes, that is an inside-out-and-backwards pink t-shirt underneath her tank-top. I would have picked out a taste-full plain tshirt sans tank-top.

Camping

Last weekend was our annual camping trip with friends. We has a BLAST!! We had friends come from as far away as Madison, WI- although everyone was missing my brother "the woodsman". Not a huge fan of the campground we went to- they cut down all the trees so we were pretty much in the open (this is the case in much of Grand County because of the pine beetle...).

Some moose at the campground.

I brought a bag of "googly eyes" and some tacky glue and the kids glued them to leaves, sticks, pinecones, rocks and fungi.  They had a blast, then when everything was dry Ava organized an art show of their work. They even had the chairs all lined up for us- it was too cute.

Kelty

We got a Kelty backpack at a thrift store, so excited to use it this summer. We got the one with the sunshade, although we didn't have it on this trip because it is very wooded and not sunny.  Poor Lauren was tired and fell asleep right away, but she enjoyed carrying some sticks in her hands, and Elmo was her friend for the hike. :)

Tricycle

Lauren's new tricycle, her and Grandma V talked me into it one day... she is a bit short in the legs to peddle very well, but she really likes it anyway.

Hard-drive is dead

So.... the hard drive on my Dell died, that is why I am having so many computer problems. They are sending someone to my house to replace it (nice!) and it is thankfully still under warranty. But, in the meantime I might not be posting much. I will be busily and nervously trying to back-up all of my pictures and videos. Lucky enough, I am pretty good about backing up things.  Be warned- my computer is less than 2 years old and this is happening- ALWAYS back-up your important pics and stuff- you just never know.

The Best Make-up

I cannot believe that I- of all people- am giving make-up advice, but I can see from my post earlier today that some of you need the info. I am absolutely hooked on Bare Escentuals mineral make-up. Ok, and the lip gloss (color= Dolly, looks great on everyone). I started using it several years ago and was instantly sold- I was getting regular facials at the time (before I was a mom, of course) and my facial girl couldn't believe the difference it made in my skin either!  I have gotten so many people hooked on this stuff, even my mom is a believer! (Bare Escentuals marketing folks- I wear faily light- you might wanna send me some freebies as kick-backs! LOL!)
All joking aside- I have never been a make-up wearer, but this is a loose powder that you apply with a fancy brush and swirl it around until it isn't noticeable. I cannot even tell that I have make-up on, it is light and smooth. I literally wear it almost every day, even on weekends because I know it is good for my skin and has SPF 15. I also highly recommend the "skin rever-upper" or whatever it is called, it is some kind of moisturizer with minerals in it that I swear by. 
So Girls- get yourself down to the local Sephora ASAP and have them set you up with a color- I suggest getting the starter kit- it is a good deal and gets you some OK brushes too. My last bit of advice- use the color the ladies tell you to get. I was just in there last week (when I scored the cool brush) and had them check out my color for the 10th time probably. My mom couldnt believe that I was wearing a color darker than her- I had picked it out myself because I thought I needed a darker color for the summer. Turns out that even in July my skin is super fair and the girl recommended "fairly light" for me- the same color the previous 9 consultants had recommended.

Happy Shopping!!

Juice box holder

I  am looking for a juice box holder that wont allow her to squeeze the box and make a mess in the car. I haven't seen them at stores- but found a few on Amazon- seems a little pricey, I think. Anyone have these? Any advice?

Love this make-up brush

I am a big fan of Bare Escentials make-up and I scored this brush the other day. It is small enough to carry around in your purse, and you can fill it with your make-up color. I just have to twist it open and swipe it on. Some of the online complaints at Sephora were that it didn't apply very much make-up- but that is what I like about it, it doesn't dispense very much powder at a time. I am trying to be better about applying sunblock to my face multiple times a day (basically before I go outside) and this is going to be a big help- my make-up is SPF 15. It is on sale at Sephora for only $14 and comes filled with make-up. Great product!

Grandma V

Beerfest 2010

So, my camera isn't working the best (in addition to my jacked-up laptop) and I was having too much fun to take pictures. It is disappointing, but I don't have many pictures of my mom's visit. She was here for 10 days and we had a great time- we went to beer fest, a big party at friend's, Jazz in city park, and the zoo to name a few excursions. Lauren was sick and had fevers for about 5 days, so it was nice to have my mom to help out- but i felt bad that Lauren wasn't fully herself.

One of the cutest things- my mom would play "you are my sunshine" to Lauren on her harmonica (which she keeps in her purse). Lauren kept grabbing my mom's purse and asking her for "sunshine, sunshine". Lauren would dance and play her maraca or homemade tambourine- it was super cute. She even tried to play her harmonica that Grandma V had bought her last year. Such great memories :) (PS: blogger is messed up. I cannot delete the duplicate pictures of the funny characters, and I cannot add the other photos I want to add. After 3 days of trying to post this- i am just going to post it this way)

<>

<><><><>

She kinda looks Amish, doesn't she?

Grandmafest 2010- Karen

So, I am really late with these posts, we have had visitors galore for the month of July. Jeff's mom was here and then my mom was here for 10 days... so I had more fun things to do than play on the computer. Also- my laptop has been giving me some trouble lately.

When Karen was here we went to WP for the weekend and got to play in some parks, hit the rodeo, and learned about the cool car shopping carts (see previous post).

Little drummer girl

I dont know why this is sideways- something happened when I sent it from my phone. But she sure is an aggressive drummer, isn't she?? She was eating Oreo cookies...

Arkansas Trip

OK, as promised - what did Lauren and I do in Arkansas last month? Well, we went to visit my dad and his wife Donna, and also my step-sister Catherine and her family. Catherine has 3 sweet children, all of whom were so welcoming and happy to meet their cousin Lauren. My brother also drove down from Wisconsin to spend the weekend with us. It was a great time, and we have many, many beautiful pictures. Catherine took some great 18 month shots of Lauren that I cannot wait to frame, and also pictures of all the kids together. It was sweltering hot and humid, and Lauren is about as tolerant of the heat as her mommy- she would turn bright red and get a little sluggish, so the poor thing did better playing indoors. Grandma and Grandpa had a big wheel and barbie dolls- both are new playthings for Lauren and she loved them. The best part was playing with her cousins- the older two doted on Lauren and carried her around. Her 3 year old cousin called her "baby" and was very sweet as well. Lauren was a bit shy, but liked to watch and take it all in. On Saturday we went to a family cook-out for Catherine's daughter's birthday. They had 2 pools- a big one and a baby pool, a trampoline and fireworks at the end of the night. Whew- What a day! On sunday we went to their little church, and then home for more playing and a big family breakfast together. It made me so sad to leave, the one big thing we are missing in our lives is family nearby and it always makes me sad to get a taste of what we are missing out on.

Birthday Party

18 month pictures

Thanks so much to Catherine for taking these fantastic pics of Lauren. There are many more- and all so beautiful!!

The Car

Lauren's new car- was a hand-me-down from our friends. She LOVES it, and has been riding all over town in this car. When she is a little more coordinated, the floor comes out and she can pedal it around herself. Too cute!