Pancake Update

April 16, 2013Leave a comment

The Dad’s Pancake Breakfast couldn’t have turned out better! All the hard work and stress paid off 10 fold; we raised nearly $1000 for the school and the dads, grandpas, uncles and kiddos had a really fun morning together. Here are the highlights:

Stephanie’s ADORABLE centerpieces

Pin the Tie on the Daddy game

Make Your Own Tie

A happy recipient of Make Your Own Tie

These two were like a well oiled machine. They found every flat surface that could go on the stove and were flipping cakes at a rate of 20 every 2 minutes!

PW working hard manning the serving table. Please note that Auggie is eating a paper napkin.

Happy customers

For being at the school at 630 am and flipping pancakes, refilling toppings and doing whatever else needed to be done – we didn’t look too shabby!

A HUGE thank you to Ms. Stephanie D. I would work with you on any project, any time lady 🙂

Chef Wand

April 4, 20132 Comments

What do you do when you don’t have enough time to get everything done in a day? That’s right! You agree to host the Dad’s Pancake Breakfast at Baylor’s preschool! I’m nuts, I know. But in my defense, I love being involved with her school and I was not sleeping a lot when I volunteered and therefore was a bit out of it.

Thankfully, I am on the co-chair for the event and the other co-chair is one Mrs. Stephanie D. Also known as Wonder Woman. She makes working and traveling for work and raising an awesome little girl look like child’s play. We are both crazy list makers, planners and multi-taskers. Yin to my yang. Ethel to her Lucy. Abbot to my Costello. Peanut butter to her jelly. I’ve tackled the donations and food, she’s done the signage, marketing and invitations. We have viewed this event as a game, and we’re in it to win it. Bring it on 300+ parents and preschoolers. We’ve got enough pancakes, toppings, games, crafts and raffle to keep you all happy and full.

If you see two women drunk at a bar on Saturday night mumbling about pancakes and laughing hysterically, it’s probably us.

Patio Living

March 22, 2013Leave a comment

Nine months of the year, our living space grows by several hundred square feet. We have a huge back patio and almost every room in our house has a door to the outside. This time of year they are rarely closed and life seems to just move outdoors. We eat dinner on the patio, play in the grass, pick lettuce to eat and even watch whatever game is on (I learned long ago that in March, there will be either basketball or baseball on our TV. Trying to change it is futile. So I joined) thanks to PW’s handy work converting an old armoire into an outdoor TV home. It was too pretty not to snap a few pictures this weekend.

In about a week, I’m going to have a whole bush full of these little beauties!

My new kumquat tree

I love the way lavender smells – this one under the kumquot looks distinctly Tuscan

The ocotillo loved all the rain. It’s finally getting it’s leaves back and it will have blooms in a few weeks

The prettiest thing in the yard…he was mid sentence when I snapped this one

Lettuce and herbs

Sprinkler time already!?

Boys of Summer

March 20, 2013March 20, 2013Leave a comment

We are a baseball family. We played baseball, watch baseball and hope that our kiddos like it as much as PW and I do. Peter stocked up on spring training tickets the first day they were available. We’ve been to I think 4 games already and have two more on the calendar. It is a lovely way to play hookie, get a tan and enjoy cold beer.

We decided to take just Baylor to a Rockies v Dodgers game and sit in the grass. We knew we wouldn’t see much of the game, but we wanted to have some big girl time with Bay. We got to Salt River Fields (my second favorite stadium) early, laid out a quilt and proceeded to eat until we were full. She got to get lemon aid from the vendor, hot dogs from the concession stands and Italian Ice in a baseball helmet. She and Peter scoured the stadium looking for Dinger, the Rockie’s mascot, and she had her glove ready to snag any foul ball that came our way. The weather was perfect. She was happy. It was a sun soaked memory in the making.

Dinger. She is in love.

The crowd in the grass

Italian Ice in a batting helmet

Run For Their Lives

March 19, 20131 Comment

We have had the pleasure of befriending the B family over the last year. Baylor and Ella have been in the same class for the last two years and Olivia, Ella’s older cool sister, is one of Baylor’s favorite people. Gretchen and Mike are their hilarious mom and dad and two people that Peter and I are always excited to spend time with.

This past January marked the end of TWO YEARS of chemotherapy for Olivia. She had been fighting leukemia for almost half her life and so we were excited to participate in all of the celebratory runs, luncheons and parties. We ran on Team Olivia in the Children’s Cancer Network 5 and 10k a few weeks ago. It was a fantastic event – there were games, obstetrical courses and tons of free food and swag. We ran like crazy and had a ball and the kiddos did too. We were so excited to follow Olivia in the kid’s walk as this was the first time she would be doing so as a survivor.

I did not anticipate the kiddos cooperating so I told PW to run on and I would just get as far as the kids would allow. Apparently running in a large group was wildly entertaining because they were angels the entire time. We finished the 5k in 38 minutes…which when you’re pushing a jogger that weighs 75lbs (no joke, we added it up), isn’t too shabby!

Ready to run…errr, ride!

Auggie, Baylor, Ella, Olivia and Morgan

Buddies

Team Wand was snuggled and packing snacks

Stephanie, Morgan’s mom and one of my favorite people. She also ran the 10k in 50 minutes. She is a freak.

Team Olivia ready to run!

The girls (and Augg) ready for the survivor ~~walk~~ ride

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

March 18, 2013Leave a comment

If you guessed that this poor baby’s mother didn’t check to make sure BOTH feet were out of his bouncer, you’re correct!

Spring Breaking

March 15, 20131 Comment

This past week was spring break for Bay (why preschoolers need a break, I’ll never know) and it happen to coincide with one of the busiest weeks I’ve ever had with the water company. To say that I am exhausted is an understatment. The good news is that with a little sleep training, the big guy has been sleeping amazingly. So while mentally falling apart, at least I’m getting more consecutive hours of sleep than I’ve seen in almost six months.

I recap our week in pictures:

Train Park fun – could someone tell me where those legs came from??!

Not totally sure about the sand

90 degree heat never looked so cute

Perfection.

Fun with the sprinklers in the backyard. Please disregard the dead plants – I’ve decided if it’s going to be 94 degrees today, it’s probably not going to freeze again – so I’m trimming this weekend. Fingers crossed. Focus on how lovely the grass looks! Oh and the cute kids!

This is what happens when you’re too small to fight off your sister…

It’s really too bad that we don’t have enough Little People to make AN ENTIRE CITY WITH TWO SCHOOL BUSES AND SAFARI CARS

Auggie patiently listening to his singer songwriter sister

Meet Matthew

March 8, 20131 Comment

I got a text from PW last weekend that said Matthew is here and he looks AWESOME. Before I could text back Who the hell is Matthew?? I realized he was talking about the damn deer he hunted in November. And by here he meant on our living room wall. And in our freezer. Yea…..

Meet Matthew

Matthew is named after our friend and the guide of the hunt. It’s an homage to the great tracker that he is. Baylor is in love. She greets him when we walk in, pets him randomly throughout the day, says goodbye when we leave and is chowing down on the venison pepperoni sticks. She is, in a word, a traitor.

The Truth About Girls – Number 1

February 27, 20131 Comment

The truth about living with little girls is that no matter what is in the dryer, it will come out with glitter on it. When you have a girl, glitter just seems to come out of their pores. It’s on their clothes, their dress up clothes, hair clips, shoes, stickers…you name it, it has glitter on it. And in turn, so does everything in your house.

The Happiest of Hours

February 22, 20131 Comment

We live in a one of those weird neighborhoods where we know (and like) almost everyone on our street. Not only that, but there are a ton of kids and they have a blast playing together. Another benefit is when you get a text from a neighbor at 8am that says “Does 345 work for wine/bikes?”. The answer is yes. Yes it does.

And this is what 4 moms and 9 kids having happy hour looks like:

Riding down the street