Happy Memorial Day!

As we all know, Memorial Day is about honoring our troops, and having FUN! As the kids get older, I really do want to go to the parades and the memorials and make it a more significant day, but that just wouldn't fly for us right now. So instead we went to Bellevue Park- one of our favorite places in the summertime! We go several times every summer, and it just gets better and better. Plus, it is a PERFECT place for photo-ops, hence the million I am about to show. What can I say- I FINALLY got some decent shots of Claire, so I have to post them!

 You can kind-of see her smile in this one. That is very hard to catch.

 Very proud of herself for climbing all the way up.

 She's so beautiful!

 I'm so mad at Ben for closing his eyes- otherwise this is such a great picture!!! Maybe we can photo shop sunglasses on him?

UPDATE: My friend Becky put sunglasses on Ben! Woo-hoo!!! This looks SOOOO much better! Thank you Becky!!!

 In this picture you can almost see Claire's boo-boo on her lip. Yesterday while taking a bath, she fell against the tub with her whole face and got a nasty bloody nose and split lip. Poor girl- she was just gushing blood. Luckily, because it was in the tub, the blood stayed there and didn't ruin any clothes or anything. Also luckily, she didn't break her nose- it was bleeding so bad I thought she might have. But, after a little Cat In the Hat, she was back to her usual dare-devil self.

 Claire isn't looking, but at least everybody's eyes are open.

Before and After

Once a year I decide to finally go and get my hair cut. I decided that I really want to do something different. Maybe it's because I feel like a frumpy mom- you know, that feeling all of us stay at home moms get- stuck in a rut because we have no where to dress up to go.

Here's my before picture (yes, I know my hair is in a pony-tail, or as my friend calls it "mom-tail". But that is how I wear it almost everyday in the summertime- until now):

After:

I can not believe how much of a difference a haircut makes! I feel like an entirely new person, and I LOVE it! Seriously, I LOVE it!!! I feel so vain- always looking in the mirror. But how can I not when I'm so dang hot?!? I felt so good about my haircut that on the way home I stopped and bought a new outfit (the one I am wearing in the picture). This is something I NEVER do- I don't impulse shop. If I need a pair of jeans, I go and get one pair. I don't just casually stop in and buy a whole new outfit. But, again: I feel so good about myself- and it's been awhile since this mom has been that way. It feels good.

I came home and ran upstairs and got ready for my date with my own hottie. I didn't let him see me until I had put on some make-up and had the tags off my new clothes. I came downstairs and Ben was in shock- it was really funny. Audra said, "I really super-duper like your haircut" and she kept asking if I was going to have my hair "forever."

Obviously, I know it is just a haircut. But truly, I feel so much better about myself with the new 'do! Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I will be getting my hair done from now on! Oh, and it will no longer be just a once-a-year event.

Dance Recital

I feel like I have been a blogging machine the last couple of weeks, but Audra has had some pretty big milestones (I have been neglecting Claire on this blog, I will honor her in a little bit) lately. Her latest one: Her dance recital.

On Saturday she performed on stage for the first time- and she did fantastic! She said is was a lot of fun, and she really liked that we took her to DQ to get ice-cream afterwards. We got a sitter for Claire (woo-hoo!) and everything went wonderfully well, and here are the pictures to prove it:

 Instead of being in the audience, I was in the back helping with the wardrobe changes and making sure the girls got on stage OK. I told the girls silly stories so they would sit nice, and I ended up with a pretty good view since all the girls were looking in my direction to watch their teacher instead of at the audience.

 When they put these costumes on, I told the story of "Princess Bathtub." It was as lame as the title, but the girls were sad I didn't have time to finish the story before it was showtime once again. By this time, Audra was tired of me taking pictures.

 Audra took the lead in trying to get the girls organized on this very difficult dance move- forming a circle and walking around:

Fun With Pipe Cleaners

Happy Birthday!!!

Today was Audra's Birthday, and even though we already had her party, we wanted to make today a special day. So, we let her decide what restaurant she wanted to go to. Thinking she would choose Chick-fil-A or The Corner Bakery, we thought it would be a fun tradition to start. We might rethink this, because instead she chose The Elephant Bar- a very nice sit-down restaurant. To quote Audra:

"I want to go where we went with Aunt Michelle and I got ice-cream."

I was able to deduce that she really just wanted the ice-cream and was able to convince her to go to Red Robin instead. Which was nice, because The Elephant Bar is a 30 minute drive away, whereas Red Robin is only about 3.

Audra was very excited that she got to choose her restaurant. She told me that was "really fun" and that she was turning 5 tomorrow so she could go to a restaurant again.

During dinner I asked her some questions. Her favorite place: This place. Her favorite animal: A polar bear. Her favorite food: I don't want to answer. Her favorite activity: The restaurant is too loud.

It's strange to think that four years ago today she entered this world, but it is even weirder to think there was ever a time when she wasn't in our lives.

She is such a fun girl. The other day this was our conversation:

Me: Audra, do you want to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house?
A: No, I want to go to Ben's mother's house.

She is fascinated that grandma is Ben's mom and such. It's so cute!!

Audra loves scissors and cutting up the Sunday ads- which is what I let her cut. She obviously LOVES clothes. She doesn't like having her hair brushed- but who does at this age? She loves her baby sister more than anything else. Every morning the second Claire wakes up Audra goes in and keeps her entertained. She loves wrestling with Claire.

Her motivation is privileges. If she isn't eating her dinner, I'll say "That's fine- you don't have to eat your dinner. But if you don't eat your dinner you don't get dessert." She has never gone without dessert.

What else can I say? She's great.

Two of Three- and Other Things

Well, this week hasn't been the best- but it could be infinitely worse, so we are counting our blessings!!!


On Monday Ben hit a biker on the way home from work. Oops!!! Thankfully, the guy was perfectly fine, but his back tired was ruined so we need to replace his back tire. That could have been a lot worse, though, so we are grateful it will only be a couple hundred bucks and VERY VERY grateful that nobody was hurt!!! But, when Ben came home I said, "Well, bad things come in three's, so we have two more to go!"

Last night when Ben came home we heard this loud "CRACK!" We didn't know what it was, but thought it was something from outside and didn't worry about it too much.

But then this morning I hear, "Crap! Our garage door is broken!" The spring actually snapped, and we really can't open it. The lady on the phone said when the spring snaps, you can't open it because all of the pressure of the door goes onto that snapped spring and makes it virtually impossible to open. So, now we are hanging out at home waiting for the garage door fixer to come.

Now we're at 2 for 3! I wonder what the last thing will be...(it's a little ironic because just the other day I was thinking, "oh, how nice- it's been a few months since something on the house broke or we've had some unexpected expense. That feels good." Now I know- never think those thoughts or you are asking for trouble!!!)

But, in a way it is rather humorous and I am trying to think of it that way. It kind of stinks that Ben has to take a vacation day because our cars are held hostage in the garage, but that's not the worst thing in the world!

Today also happens to be Audra's Birthday. In honor of that, I will leave you with this gem:

We were going to a restaurant, so we asked Audra to go get changed out of her Minnie Mouse Dress so we could go. She came down dressed like this and exclaimed, "I'm ready!" Now, tell me, how can you not be happy with life- even when things don't go well- when you've got a character like this living in your house? We are truly blessed- and I am grateful every day for that!!! (and yes, we let her wear that to the restaurant)

Ben's Bells

Have any of you ever heard of Ben's Bells?

Chances are, you have not. I hadn't either until my friend Jenny became involved. Now I understand what an awesome program this is!!!

It started when a woman, Jeanette Mare, lost her son Ben when he was 3. This happened 9 years ago, and Jeanette said she felt dead and numb inside. Of course, on the outside she looked fine- nobody knew the horror she was enduring inside. She said every smile, every tiny act of kindness, became huge for her to help relieve some of her suffering. She learned how much small acts of kindness truly can make a difference.

Out of this, she came up with the idea of Ben's Bells. She began making bells and distributing them throughout the Tucson area- hanging them on trees or in parking lots or wherever, with notes on them that spoke of kindness. The idea spread, and is now a huge project with full-time employees.

Jenny learned about this and decided to sponsor a Ben's Bell Distribution here in Denver. She raised the funds, and on Saturday we got to participate in distributing bells.

This is where I have to apologize to Jenny. I did not understand what an unbelievable and magnificent undertaking this was, nor all that Jenny had to do to accomplish this task. If I had, I would have been much more diligent in advertising and getting as many people as I could get to also attend. I am truly sorry I did not do that this first time around. Now I understand, and the next time there is a distribution, I will be much more diligent. This was such a fantastic event and service project, I can't even describe it in words. You are a rock star, Jenny!!!!

It was incredibly cold as we met at Red Rocks. Audra asked what we were doing and I said we were going to Red Rocks and on the drive over she said, "I don't know what Red Rocks is- I hope I can get through the door." It's a huge outdoor amphitheater- no doors to worry about!

Jeanette Mare, the founder of Ben's Bells, was actually there- what a huge surprise that was! Despite the cold, the spirits were high. We were each given 20 bells and a map of a general area to go and hang up bells- it was as simple as that.

 I think Jenny will admit that the pictures don't do the bells justice. They are stunning in real life- absolutely stunning. I had seen the pictures before, but when I saw the bells I was awe-struck. They are just gorgeous.

Jenny has better pictures on her blog HERE. The card says "You have found a Ben's Bell. Take it home, hang it in your yard, and remember to spread kindness throughout our world."

Then, today stories started coming in on the Ben's Bells website about people who had found bells in the area. Maybe some of these stories are from bells that we hung! The stories are HERE. We hung a bell on a bush at a grocery store- maybe that was ours!

Thank you Jenny for the wonderful opportunity to spread a little happiness with my family!!! It was an amazing day for an amazing cause!!!