American Girl Store Denver Grand Opening

Ashley REALLY wanted to go to the Grand Opening of the Denver American Girl Store...she had been counting down the days ever since they first announced it was coming months ago. Last Saturday was finally the BIG day...we had heard on the news and from some friends that the wait was up to 5 or 6 hours with a line that wrapped around the mall.

It didn't matter Ashley still wanted to go. She had saved up her money and had her eye on this adorable gymnastic outfit perfect for her American Girl doll Lily. I told her we'd drive over and check it out but no promises.

After seeing a much shorter line that we anticipated we decided to go for it. I informed her that I would be willing to wait up to 2 hours on one condition...she had to let me take as many pictures as I wanted.

We got in line around 6:30pm...it was a little chilly out but Ashley was in Heaven. While waiting we chatted with all the other crazy parents and their excited little girls with dolls in hand. We were surprised that most of them were from out of town, some of them drove in from Wyoming and Nebraska!

After waiting just under an hour it was our turn to head inside. Ashley paused right before we walked through the big revolving door...looked up at me with the biggest smile on her face and hugging Lily said...

"Oh mommy this was so worth the wait".

We spent about 30 minutes checking out the store, the dolls, the furniture, the clothes, the hair salon and finally buying Lily's little outfit...but of course after looking around we both decided that Lily needed her own little kitty cat too.
After walking out into the dark I took one look at the huge smile on Ashley's face and I had to agree with her it was so worth the wait!

Talent Show

Talent = Gymnastics

My Ashley M. B. & her friend and teammate the other Ashley M. B. teamed up to perform their level 4 competitive floor routine in the school talent show last Friday.

They did a fantastic job performing in front of all of their friends and teachers...who were all really impressed. I"ll post the video as soon as I figure out how to get it off the camcorder.

It was also great practice for their first Eagles meet April 24th!!

Here they are modeling the their brand new bedazzled warm-ups just in time for competition season.
You go girls, good luck this season!

The creative juices are flowing...

Every spring I get a bug...

a little design bug that takes over my brain and the ideas start flooding out.

(tile shopping...my first of many trips to Home Depot...I'm leaning towards the tile in the middle)

Items on Our Spring Spruce Up project list:

• interior painting...pretty much every room, think bright and neutral
• Benjamin Moore Colors - Hawthorne Ivory, Powell Buff & Windsor Tan

I've already painted test patches all over the house...so no turning back now!

a mini kitchen makeover:

(inspirational image from mydesigndump.blogspot.com)

• bead board...lovely lovely bead board (I so LOVE bead board)
• painting the cabinets black...yes you read that right, BLACK
• installing a tile back splash...glass or ceramic
• new counter tops?...maybe with an extension on the island for barstools?

some unfinished furniture to finish:

(inspirational image from littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com)

• one large rocking bench (sanded down last summer) to stain and seal
• a great big FREE wood desk with a scratched top to refinish
• a $10 coffee table to be transformed into an upholstered ottoman
• a banquette seat large enough for Zach and at least 5 of his friends

just a few sewing projects:

(inspirational image from mydesigndump.blogspot.com)

• new curtains for the family room and kitchen
• one super long foam cushion for the banquette with coordinating throw pillows
• a matching set of cushions for the chairs

I think I just figured out what I'll be doing with all my Soccer-free Saturdays.
Stay tuned for pictures!!

More Basketball Pictures

Just when you thought you'd seen them all.

More great shots of Zach courtesy of the awesome parents who have really nice cameras.

Zach will be playing a lot of basketball in the next 3 months...sometimes with 3 practices in one day. I don't know how he does it but he sure is loving every minute and he still manages to maintain his excellent grades as well...his room on the other hand not so much.

He just found out he made the A team for the Ranchview Middle School team, he's currently playing in a 3v3 spring league with 2 games every Friday night, he has playoffs the next two weekends for the HRCA Rec league and the Jamball league starts in two weeks and will go until mid June. CRAZY!

Is it Spring yet?

Some tulips I bought on a Thursday just because they looked like Spring.

The recent chilly weather, gray skies and the abundance of indoor sports had left me with a bad case of winter depression. It hit me especially hard last week on a somewhat sunny lunch break while out at the carwash vacuuming my car. I realized that it was the first time in weeks if not months that I had spent more than 5 minutes outside. I actually stopped vacuuming turned toward the sun and just stood there feeling the warmth on my face. I bet I looked pretty weird but I really didn’t care, that brief minute or two of sunlight did wonders for my mood and I actually felt a little burst of energy that stayed with me the rest of the day.

The forecast for last weekend was a good one and I went to bed Friday night determined to spend the next two days outside with my family soaking in as much vitamin D from the sun as we could. We all desperately needed it!

As predicted the weather turned out to be absolutely lovely. So bright and early Saturday morning I got up and opened every single window in the house…a favorite spring/summer time ritual I inherited from my mother. I needed to take advantage of the nice weather to rid us of the yucky stale air that has been circulating throughout our house since November. The cool breeze felt perfect while I made breakfast although it was short lived because once everyone got up they all swore they were freezing to death and John actually turned the fireplace on. We closed the windows and ate our yummy breakfast, then I sent everyone outside and reopened the stuffy house that now smelled of bacon.

Outside bikes were pulled down from the garage ceiling for the first time this year and the boys (big and small) spent hours playing basketball in the driveway….in shorts!

It was such a glorious day.

Sunday we headed out back and cleaned up the wasteland that is our winter backyard. I looked over my dirt flowerbeds and noticed just a few tiny green flecks…that got me really excited! I wanted so badly to just dive in and start digging and planting away but it’s still way too early. The kids took turns swinging in the hammock while John and I cleaned up the grill and the patio furniture. The weather was so nice that we ended up grilling hotdogs and brats for dinner. It was fun pretending it was already summertime…even if only for a short time, as the forecast is calling for a rainy-snow mix of showers for the next 4 days…yuck.

But hey we live in Colorado…home of crazy weather changes and the forecast for this weekend is actually looking good…sunny and in the high 50’s.

Yahoo…bring on that vitamin D!!