Boulder

This week has been sunny and beautiful...weather in the 50s and high 60s. Fabulous. I love Denver. The girls and I have been outside as much as we possibly can. We have been playing at parks and visiting the Farmers Markets (Denver has a plethora). Yesterday we went to Boulder to try the new Gelato Shop at the Whole Foods Market. We have grown attached to Boulder and try to visit as often as we can. We always spend some time on Pearl Street. It is a popular destination in Boulder and the stage for all sorts of street performers, musicians and artists. There is always something new to see or do on Pearl Street. Yesterday was no exception.

Most interesting street performer of the day- Eli the body contortionist.
Kids were amazed. I wasn't sure what to think, especially when he asked for volunteers and my kids ran to his aid. His plan was to fit 4 kids into a box (two 8 years old, a 5 year old and a 3 year old). I didn't want to ruin his show (he had a large audience) but when I could tell that they could not breath and he was about to shove Ella in for the finale...I had to put a stop to it. Addie was a little embarrassed and claims that her friend Rory (back corner) still had a pocket of air, Ella thanked me for saving her and said, "Mom, let's get out of here!"
I could not agree more.

After our adventures on Pearl Street, we went for a treat at Whole Foods.
The girls are members of the Whole Foods Kids Club. Each store offers different activities, events or classes for the kids each month. In the Boulder market, the kids get to pick out the "healthy snack foods of the month" every time they visit. This month: Satsuma Tangerine, organic gingerbread crackers, and a cheese stick. They were delighted, but we had something a little creamier in mind...
G-E-L-A-T-O

The Boulder market has a new Gelato Shop. I have been so excited to try it.
We ordered a cookies and cream, coconut lime and a vanilla fudge.
I chose the coconut lime. WOW. It was so creamy-so rich. I can't wait to go back.

Y-U-M-M-Y

Happy Birthday Brad!

We are celebrating Brad's birthday this week!
The girls planned a surprise party last night.
Addison took charge of the planning...
Theme: blue balloons and pink butterflies
Activities: dancing to Lion King and Wicked,
Candy Land, Old Maid and pedicures.
Dessert: coconut cream cupcakes
Brad loved it, especially his shimmering butterfly glasses. :)
I am sure the blue balloons were a pleasant surprise.

My favorite part of the party:
Barefoot Contessa Coconut Cream Cupcakes(from Crate&Barrel).
Easy and DELICIOUS.

Sleeping Beauty

We really love musical theatre at our house.

Our girls love to dance and listen to our favorite musicals. For Christmas we bought tickets to a couple of upcoming musicals. Last night we went to Sleeping Beauty with a group of darling little girls(and darling moms). The play was not the same story that the girls were used to, but it was hysterical and very entertaining. I am so excited that Addison and Olivia are getting old enough to love and appreciate performing arts. So much fun!

Zoo and Cupcakes

Yesterday, the girls and I visited a cute little cupcake shop nestled in Denver's historic Park Hill. Our good friends joined us for some very delicious treats. We tried a variety of goodies...the red velvet cupcake being the favorite (I think I had one bite while Ella hurried to eat the rest).
We have heard a lot of great things about this bakery...home of the Denver Cupcake Truck.
WE LOVED IT.

After indulging in cupcakes, we took a trip to the Denver Zoo.
We were so excited to be able to spend the afternoon with the Westhoff kiddos.
Our kids get along so well, we love to get together.
We explored the Zoo all afternoon. We had so much fun!

December

This month has been delightful.
It has been full of sunny days, walks, visits to Santa, parties, family activities, bike rides, laughter, chocolate dipping, Christmas programs, hot chocolate, good friends, playing outside, cupcakes, movies, Christmas lights, projects, gingerbread houses, Christmas music, dates with Brad, and smiles from sweet little Ava.
I love this time of year and I am not ready to see it go!

Ella had a fun surprise from Santa-
She has been very busy cooking in her new little kitchen.

Little girls are so much fun!
I had a couple of sewing projects this year.
Leg warmers.
I wore them when I was their age(can't believe they are back). haha

And aprons for my 3 sweet kitchen helpers.

The girls were busy with their own Christmas projects.
This was their favorite.

They designed, frosted and decorated.

I was impressed. So cute.

• Happy Holidays!

The countdown begins.

The magical month of December is finally here!

SO EXCITED.

Our countdown is under the Christmas tree.

This morning the kiddos opened day #1.

Drum roll...

Sorry kids. The Nuggets tickets are for Mom and Dad. :)

You can eat the candy.

This week we have had "give thanks" cards taped up throughout our home. We decided that whenever we saw one of these colorful reminders, we would say something that we are thankful for or express thanks to someone (not always easy at our house). It was so cute to hear all of the wonderful things that our kids are thankful for. We have SO MUCH to be thankful for! I am extremely thankful for great friends, family and our Faith.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I am so excited to have the kids out of school for a few days. We have been decorating for Christmas while listening to Josh Groban's Ave Maria on repeat. Love it.
This morning we went out for crepes with my friend Celeste and her 3 adorable boys.

We have the best friends. It takes a village right? We have a great one.

Our girls with the darling Hutchison boys.

Loving the Holiday Season

Can't pass up a French bistro.
Crepes- superb!

P.S. I am thankful for delicious food. :)

Our little darling is 3 months old.
She is such a sweetheart!
WE ADORE HER.

Butterfly Pavilion

The Butterfly Pavilion is one of our favorite stops.
It is a lush tropical conservatory with over 1200 butterflies from rainforests all over the world.
It is so much fun, my girls absolutely love to explore and hunt for butterflies. The butterflies are so beautiful and fly right into your space, even land on you. It is quite an experience!

Outside of the conservatory, there are exhibit halls with all sorts of creepy crawlers.
And I mean C R E E P Y!
This month the featured guests are the Arachnids.
The star of the show... the TARANTULA.
Spiders make me nervous, very nervous. Especially big hairy ones!
My girls did not inherit my scare of spiders, they were totally enthralled. :)

Addison holding "Rosie the Tarantula"
She loved it and went back 4 times.
Brave girl.

Ella stuck in a spider's web.

Olivia- a very spooky tarantula.

YIKES! She is hilarious.

Denver Arts Week

Saturday was the kickoff to Denver's annual Arts Week. Arts Week celebrates Denver's arts and cultural scene with free museums, art walks, displays, discounted performing arts, and much more throughout the city. We spent the day at the Denver Art Museum.
A M A Z I N G!
Each gallery hosts a kids art area with so much for the kids to do and learn. We had such a fabulous day, we can not wait to go back!!

King Tut is currently visiting the museum, so there was so much to learn
about Egypt and Egyptology. It was so fascinating!

Ella-so much fun to dress up.

Olivia and Ella on their way to the next gallery.

The best piece of art in the entire museum. :)

H A L L O W E E N

A very tired pink princess, a silly angel and a sweet little witch.

Happy Halloween!
We had such a great Halloween weekend!
We were all over the city at different
Halloween events and activities.
We ended the weekend with good friends
at a delicious dinner and Halloween party. YUM.


Little Ava-cheeks so fun to kiss!

Ella and Ava

I absolutely love my mornings with Ella and Ava. It has been so much fun to have time with the two of them while Addison and Olivia are at school. Ella is a little mom and is so great with Ava! She is darling! This morning we met up with some of the girls from my running group for a morning run. Ella filled the stroller with toys and took very good care of sweet little Ava. It was a beautiful morning-the girls loved it and so did I.

Pumpkins

So, we took a trip to the Farmer's Market and each picked out our favorite pumpkin. We love to do our annual glitter pumpkins, and this year we tried to mod podge a few as well. I think that our little Ella could mod podge all day. She thought it was a lot of fun to make a mess...and we did! My kids loved this project and I loved how they turned out. They were SO easy and last through Thanksgiving!

Here is our sweet little pumpkin.

She is growing up so fast!
She is such an easy baby. We love her so much!

Pumpkin Festival

On Saturday, our family spent the day at the Denver Botanic Garden - Chatfield Nature Preserve. Chatfield was hosting Denver's annual Pumpkin Festival. The festivities included a pumpkin patch, corn maze, pony rides, wagon rides, games, crafts, face painting, art exhibits, bands and so much more. We enjoyed every minute of it. Love this time of year!

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent:

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Borax
8 T Tang drink mix (to brighten and crisp colors)

-Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over
medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.


-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing 
soda, Tang and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top
 with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.


-To make it easy to use, pour it in to an old laundry detergent container.


-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once 
soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.


-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 5 gallons.


-Top Load Machine- 1/4 Cup per load (Approx. 320 loads)


-Front Load Machines- 1/8 Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Each 5 gallon mixture costs just about 2 dollars...under a penny per load. Hooray!

Berry Patch Farm

This week we took a delightful little trip to a berry patch farm. We spent the morning with friends picking raspberries. The kids worked so hard picking and eating and eating some more. It was such a beautiful day and so much fun!

The berry pickers.

Ella-hard at work!

Addison and Olivia

We picked enough raspberries for
3 jars of raspberry jam and

raspberry mousse for dessert- DELISH!