Manitou Springs

One of the good things about living in Colorado Springs is that there is SO much to do so close to our house. We live within 30 minutes of Garden of the Gods, Cave of the Winds, Pikes Peak, the North Pole, and Manitou Springs. My mom and two sisters came up on Tuesday because my sisters hadn't seen our house since we moved in! After the tour we took all the kids to Manitou Springs for the afternoon. It was super fun. We went to some little shops, Nana bought them all a treat at the chocolate shop, we hit up the quarter rides and stopped at the Olive Tap, where I FINALLY got the Peach White Balsamic Vinegar I had been wanting. I am telling you, that place is amazing! Everyone had a good time and we all got to be out in the fresh air for a while, which I think is always a good idea! Thanks for coming ladies, and come back soon!

Notice the poses?

The goods from Nana...she's such a sucker...


Man, I love that little face!

HOME!!!!!

I have been getting a lot of grief from our out of state friends about not having pictures of our new house up yet, so my goal is to do a couple of rooms at a time til I get it done. I figured I would start out with a picture of the front of the house and then go into the girls room.

It isn't the newest house, or the fanciest house, but it is OUR house, and I have been waiting a LONG TIME for my first house!

We are all really enjoying having a place to call home.

We have lived 7 different places since we got married and it is so good to finally think we'll be staying somewhere more than 2 years (that is our longest!)

Anyway, welcome to our humble home...

there is a cute little "pond" and fountain in front by the porch, I swear it is Marlee's favorite thing about the house! I caught the water doing something funny, but you get the idea. I love the big trees right in front too..

I tried to get before and afters of most of the rooms (I painted almost the whole house!) But the best I had of the girls room was us putting up the chalk board paint...

The girls are loving their chalkboard wall, and surprisingly enough, so am I! They keep it on the wall and it gives them a little something to do in their room without having a bunch of toys in there. (The play room is in the basement)

We haven't bought any new window treatments or anything, so all of the curtains and stuff are things we had from SD. Hopefully I can just start buying things I love one at a time and in a while the house will be just how I want it!

Hopefully I will have some more pics up this this week sometime!

Just Another Day In Paradise

Yesterday was not the greatest day, but at least this made it a little better.... My day started off by dropping Marlee off at preschool and FINALLY biting the bullet and going to the clinic. I have known that I have had a sinus infection for probably 2 weeks, but since we STILL don't have insurance, I was trying to tough it out. Anyway, the doc told me I had the start of an ear infection and a major sinus infection. She said my nose was almost completely swollen shut on both sides. Nice.
I picked Marlee up from school and we met daddy at the park across from his office for lunch. Which was fun, but he had to rush off to court about 25 minutes later. Oh well, the girls and I stayed and played for a while and snapped some pictures.

(I know, I have been without a camera for so long that when I get to use one again, I go a little overboard!)

I was trying to explain to Marlee what Glamour Shots were. I'm not sure what she was doing with her hand, but it SO reminded me of my old Glamour Shots!
At dinner time we decided to head to Costco, and meet Collin there on his way home from work. The girls were fighting and it was a struggle just to get them in the store. I had been shopping for about 10 minutes when a lady tapped me on the shoulder and asked what kind of car I drove. She proceeded to tell me that my car was running.

Huh?

So, I went running out and sure enough, in the shuffle, I got the kids out, locked the doors and left the key in the ignition. Nice one. So, Collin ran home and got the spare to save me. Needless to say, we made dinner at like 8-8:30 and the kids went to bed a little late.

Just another day in Paradise....

Marlee in a Fashion Fairytale

Mar and her cousin Lily

Usually in CO we just celebrate birthdays with family (since there are 10 cousins here). This year Marlee wanted to have a separate party with her girl friends. We agreed on a "Barbie in a Fashion Fairytale" party. The girls came dressed in whatever they deemed fashionable. We put pink streaks in their hair when they arrived and then went inside to watch the movie. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes into the party I ended up with a horrendous migraine.

Collin helped me get them all pizza and drinks while they watched the show. After that we did the cake and then went outside to play some games. The girls all got to bring home a purse filled with everything a fashionista would need ( feather boa, a princess make-up kit, nail polish, etc)

I think it went well, I was just really sad I didn't get to be more hands on. I also realized later that day that I didn't get a picture of myself with the birthday girl, or Kenna with Mar. Oh well, there is always next year!

Marlee and Maya

aka "knucklehead" (I'm not really sure why they call each other that...)

Marlee and Grace

Mar and Kinlie

The whole Fashion Fairytale clan

Singing Happy Birthday

Mar and Lily at the family birthday party

She had been DYING for this movie. Thanks Nana!

My first attempt at a fondant cake, thanks for the help Jenn!