Tilly is 3!!!

Today little Tilly turned 3 years old. I can't believe it. It seemed like just yesterday that I was sitting in the rocker trying to time my contractions to see if I should wake up Chance. Today she and I made her cake, per her request, chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting. She then decorated the top with candy sprinkles and mini-marshmallows that we colored orange, green and purple with food coloring. It turned out ok. The cake wasn't my favorite but we ate it none the less. Perhaps it will be better for breakfast. Thanks to everyone who called, sent cards and presents and thought about Tilly today.

There were about 15 pictures just like this one. She gets pretty excited about things...anyone remember her reaction to the Soda House this summer (every day).

Texas Uprising!

This past weekend the girls and I (Chance had to work) flew to Salt Lake City, Utah to visit Grandpa Ray and go to the 14th Annual Texas Uprising Party! This is a party that Ray and his friend Terry Box put on to raise money for organ donation. Plus is is great BBQ and great music. Ray's band, The Disgusting Brothers play and they are great. We had a blast!

The girls playing a little soccer in the back yard with Uncle Christian and his friends (they are all chasing a soccer ball)

Tilly trying on Aunt Hillary's shoes

Swimming with Uncle Christian

The girls getting their toe nails done for the party

Cleaning the garage/bunny cage - they are lobbying for Sony (the bunny) to come live with us...we'll see.

The Party/Concert venue - that's Grandpa Ray in the white hat

Josie and Miss Liz tearing up the dance floor

Cowgirl Josie with Terry and Ray in the background

That's right you're not from Texas

But Texas wants you anyway - Lyle Lovett

First day of school 2009

Here we are all ready for the first day of school. Look at those bright shining faces. Everyone, including me, was happy with their teachers (2 of the 3 we've had before). It should be a great year.

I feel bad for showing you (people on the east coast) this picture, but this is the best tomato year I've ever had. That ugly looking green one up front is a Big Green Zebra and is outrageously delicious. I will say nothing else about tomatoes until 2010.

The Lake

As usual, we had a great visit to the lake. Good weather, lots of fun stuff for the kids to do and a lot of time in the water.

Lucy's first time of the low dive.

Mae's first fish.

Henry's first fish.

Lucy caught a fish (two actually) but I didn't get a good picture of it.

Lucy and Grandpa Dave kayaking.

There were so many blackberries at the power lines this year, we picked and ate until we couldn't pick or eat no more. We picked a lot. Enough for Grandma Carol to make a delicious pie.

A cicada that Henry found.

A turtle that Mae found.

Going up the creek.

Cleaning off the stairs. I think this activity will go on as long as the lake exists.

Ice cream on the porch.

This boy loves lobster almost as much as I do. Luckily, his sisters don't which meant more for us!!!

Corn, corn, corn. I think we had corn with almost every meal.

Guess how we spent 6 delayed hours at EWR and DEN? Yup, skateboarding. This is the first level parking lot in Newark that is no longer used for cars. Nice.

This is the C terminal in Denver, upstairs where nobody goes except us.
::
There is only one more official day of summer left. I can't believe it. This has been such a fantastic summer I don't want it to end. But school starts again on Monday and I've got some good stuff to look forward to there, too.

Last trip to Keystone

Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Bart have left Keystone. That meant we had to make one more trip up there (yes these pictures are out of order - we did this the day before the 1st day of school). This time we did some real hiking. We took the gondola up and hiked down the ski trails. We mainly stayed on Schoolmarm. It was a 3.5 mile walk - all down hill. Everyone did great. Tilly walked most of it. I carried her on my back the last 20 minutes or so. It was a great day and a fun accomplishment for everyone.

At the top.

Did I mention that Josie lost her front tooth the other day.

WE MADE IT!!

Checking out the route we took

1st Day of School!!!

1st & 3rd graders! Today was the first day of school for Isabel and Josie. They both love their teachers and had great days! I love the outfit on Josie (it was about 60 degrees this morning so the leg warmers were necessary).

catching up

Okay, I realize that I never posted about our trip to Keystone, but the other Agreeable Sister did and she linked to all her one million pictures. Is that good enough? I thought so. Plus, we've got a new computer (Thanks Jackson, "it is awesome" say all 5 of us) and all my CO pictures are on the old one. That bowl of cereal above is Trix Swirl. Gross, but colorful.

We spent one glorious day at my friends backyard pool. It was so lovely I wish we both had more time for days like that.

We spent two hilarious hours bowling. How cool are those shoes?

And one other day picking blueberries here.

It took a while to fill these buckets. In fact, we all picked then combined our buckets to make one full one.

It was a delicious way to spend the day.

The cobbler that night was pretty spectacular, too.
::
I have a few more pictures of our summer in SB. I'll hopefully get to posting those soon. I've also got a bunch of Lake photos to show you. School starts next week, so maybe I'll find the time to get back on track with more consistent posting.