Father Daughter Dance 2012!

Emily and Anna enjoyed sweeping Kevin off to another Father Daughter Dance tonight. The dance was a "masquerade ball" theme and they had a terrific time! What lucky (and abundantly blessed) girls to have those memories with their wonderful daddy! Anna was especially delighted to discover that her new very (VERY!) favorite friend from enrichment was at the dance - she was in "Bella heaven"!

Red Rocks & Dinosaur Ridge

I got to sneak away for the morning last week and spend some time with my dad and my sister. We enjoyed a short (emphasis on short!) hike in the Dinosaur Ridge/Red Rocks area and then had lunch at a fun little spot in downtown Morrison.

Happy Valentines Day

We took a bold and daring step this year ~ and updated one of our family traditions!

For the past many years we have enjoyed a "Family Valentine's Celebration" (usually just before Valentine's Day) which has always consisted of the same menu: heart shaped meatloaf, pink milk, pink mashed potatoes (or heart shaped pasta), pink heart shaped biscuits, red grapes . . . I don't need to go on, but you see a theme here!

In the past year or two the kids have come to the conclusion that they really don't care for meatloaf - at all. They have, however, always loved fondue! So, we said goodbye to our cute little individual heart-shaped meatloaves and said hello to another occasion for fondue! It's such a fun, leisurely meal and everyone loves it.

I even tried my hand at making a candy bar bouquet and it turned out fairly cute! (can something involving chocolate really ever turn out otherwise?!) The kids enjoyed opening their little treat bags of Valentine goodies and toasting one another with the sparkling cider that Taylor and Kelsey sent ~ fun times!

And as an added bonus . . . the kids happened to have AWANAs on the evening of the 14th, so Kevin and I had built in childcare for a dinner out by ourselves. Anna had fun helping me make pink chocolate chip waffles on the 14th also -- she's such a fun little kitchen helper!

4H Creative Cooks Contest

Emily and her friend Sydney competed in the 4-H "Creative Cooks" contest this weekend. They will be going on to the CO State Fair in August with their "Purple Pizzazz" party!

Emily prepared shell pasta with a purple cream garlic sauce and Sydney made scrumptious purple raspberry cupcakes from scratch. Their table and place settings were adorned with purple and they even served the judges while wearing purple gloves! They really (really!) enjoyed the competition and are looking forward to the State Fair.

February Snowstorm!

We had a nice, big, fat snowstorm last week! For over 24 hours it snowed non-stop, dumping about two feet of snow all around our house. The kids enjoyed a "semi-snow day" (a little less school and a lot more play than usual). We put soup in the crock pot & bread in the bread machine and rejoiced in not having to venture out of the house.

As the snow continued to fall into the evening, we enjoyed a family game night in the basement ~ foosball, ping pong, air hockey, darts . . . and of course American Girl dolls (and Levi and Suki taking turns serenading us on the keyboard!)

The following day found us sledding, digging, shoveling and even building a fairly "unique" snowman!