Hadley and Her Prince
Don't Eat the Poison Apple!
Follow the Yellow Brick Road...
2...4...6...8...Who do we appreciate? (Mom - for digging up her 5th/6th grade cheerleading uniform- hilarious!)
The Crew (minus one large mommy who decided to be pregnant for Halloween - it was so realistic!)
We celebrated the evening with a fancy dinner by candlelight and trick or treating with all the neighborhood kids. Another great one for the books!!
We've had the best time celebrating the Halloween season with all the fun festivities! Hadley got to take a trip to the pumpkin patch with her preschool and had a great time visiting all the animals, running through the hay bale maze and picking out just the right pumpkin. She looked SO cute!
On Saturday Bella had the chance to play in her violin recital. She played Allegro and played so beautifully. I've been so proud of her attitude and determination to work hard and practice everyday to become better. This little girl has music in her soul and I think a true love of learning.
Monday night we picked out and carved our pumpkins. The girls drew what they wanted and mom and dad helped carve. I was impressed with Madison because she found a stencil online of a witch and spent over an hour poking toothpick holes through the paper and then carving using dot-to-dot toothpick marks. Her witch turned out darling...I mean spooky!
Lastly, our digital camera finally bit the dust. You can probably tell from the quality in these last 2 pictures that something was going down. We got pictures of the girls in their Halloween costumes on Saturday at our church's Trunk or Treat, so I'll be able to post those if we don't get any on Halloween night. Looks like Santa better bring the Polson family a new camera!
We had the best time last night taking the girls to see High School Musical 3! Nolan wasn't supposed to get back in town until late last night but he called yesterday and was able to catch an earlier flight home. So, we decided to surprise the girls after school and take them to see HSM3. They were beyond excited and got out their HSM microphones and warmed up their voices. I bought the tickets online ahead of time and Nolan was going to meet us there coming home from the airport. The girls helped me pick up the house and their rooms, they put on their best Wildcat red and we found some snacks and drinks to stow in my purse. We headed down to the Orchard theaters about 10 minutes south of us (it would not have been as fun goingto our getto theaters in town). We snapped some pictures, played outside, sat by the fire and grabbed a bite to eat. We got in line about an hour early to make sure we could get a great seat. The girls had each packed a bag with activities and books to entertain themselves in line. The time went by really fast, especially watching all the excited tweens squealing with excitement. Daddy FINALLY came and met us in line - the girls were SO excited to see him (Hadley did the run andtackle dad hug so they were rolling around on the movie theater floor with plenty of onlookers. Dad doesn't seem to notice or care how silly he looks when it comes to having fun with his girls!) We got great seats and dad got some great popcorn and icees. The movie was so darling (as expected) - there were more songs than the precious movies and the girls absolutely loved it. Squeaky clean movies like that are far and few between and our family truly enjoyed every minute of it. What a great family night!!
I sat down to post about our Disneyland trip and realized all our pictures are on Nolan's laptop and he's on a business trip. So, until he gets home I have plenty of other fun things to catch up on.
Fall is my favorite time of year in Colorado. I love the changing leaves, the crispness in the air and the smell of pumpkin muffins baking, mmmm....My girls love seeing all the fall and Halloween decorations make their way out and all the candy appear on the counters. Fall is what really made me fall in love with living in Colorado. Nothing beats pumpkins on the porch and piles of leaves to jump in.
I've been trying to get a few home projects done before the baby comes. I haven't really done much on the nursery, but hopefully it's the next big project to hop on! I know the laundry room typically isn't a big deal, but I see it EVERY time I come into the house from the garage, so I wanted to make it a little more pleasing to the eye and fresh feeling. We painted stripes and put in some shelving. Lemons say "CLEAN" to me, so I wanted to add a bit of yellow. I actually don't mind doing laundry as much and I'm more motivated to keep this room decluttered. I love the way it turned out!
Another project that has been weighing on my mind for SO long is all the girls school work over the past few years. It's been in a not so organized pile for along time. I saw this great idea in the Family Fun magazine to organize the school work in boxes with handles for each school year or group of years, depending on how much stuff they had. The boxes are big enough that they hold art projects and sturdy enough to store in the basement out of the way. It is SO organized and out of the way - I love it! Here is a snapshot of a couple of the boxes.
Lastly, we finally finished Madison's room! She has been so patient as many other projects have been completed over the last 2 years in this house. We ordered her a grown-up bedroom set as an early Christmas present and it is darling. She has had the beach theme for awhile, but she wanted to try something different on the walls than at the old house (she used to have waves and sand). She chose a bright, tropical green. The brightest green is on the wall behind her bed and a lighter green is on the other 3 walls. I painted some tropical flowers and leaves on the walls - I'm not sure how great they look - but she sure loves it. One of my favorite touches is the stacking turtle storage boxes I found at Tuesday Morning - they were a steal! She needed lots of storage so we added lots of baskets in the closet, etc...I've been so proud of her keeping it so clean and being grateful for the nice things we did in there. She is also working or reading at her desk every night - I think we've already got our money's worth out of that!
Our church has done a HUGE family carnival for the past several years and I've had the chance to be in charge of it for the last three years. It's a fun undertaking, and it also feels really good to have it under my belt for another year. We get over 1000 people and everyone has a great time. We cooked 1000 hot dogs, tons of snow cones, cotton candy, popcorn and candy. We had over 20 booths of games and activities, 2 bouncy castles, a pie eating contest, face painting, and a balloon artist. This year we had some great entertainment - a juggler, a magician, a pirate story teller, and a tae kwan do demonstration. The girls had a great time going around to do everything with Nolan while I was busy behind the scenes.
I have lots to catch up on! The last of our summer was wonderful, the kids were ready to get back to school and see their friends. Our last small trip was camping up to Rocky Mountain National Park with our great friends - the Woelhaffs. Our girls get along so well with their two boys - Mitchell and Blake. We went for two days (which is my absolute limit when it comes to camping). We had an awesome set-up thanks to our Scout leader husbands. They got really good and putting up and taking down because we had to switch campsites each night - but it gave them something to do while Ashley and I chatted away! We did some hiking, lots of eating and making smores. The kids loved playing in the hammocks (note to self - bring one for each child next time). I honestly could NOT believe how dirty they got - but I let it go and they didn't seem to notice or mind. The kids folded oragami, played some games and did plenty of exploring. The adults stayed up way late and talked each night. We were sandwiched between two campsites - one with a barge of man snoring his life away and on the other side a crying baby. I don't get much sleep camping anyway - so I suppose this was fitting! We really did have the best time - perhaps a double family tradition each summer!
BACK TO SCHOOL
We did some school shopping, bought some new backpacks and packed some lunches! Madison started 4th grade, Bella 1st and Hadley her first year of Preschool. Madison had some hard news shen she found out her best friend woudln't be in her class this year. After lots of tears we were able to pep her back up and she's making the best of a hard situation. We met the girls teachers and they seem wonderful. When Hadley is gone at preschool (2 1/2 hours, 3 says per week), I find myself ALONE! I'm enjoying the time running errands and having doctor/dentist appointments wihtout having to find sitters. The girls have enjoyed getting back into a schedule with school, soccer, violin and church activities. I've enjoyed feeling better and getting lots of projects done around the house (can't wait to do a project post soon). Baby is doing great - I'm getting larger with each day - and still trying to absorb the whole little boy idea. I've had fun finding a few cute boy outfits here and there. It's definetely harder shopping for a boy, but the cute stuff is out there!
I would feel ungrateful not to take a minute and reflect on this past year. Today was the day a year ago that I got that yucky phone call that anybody would dread. My dad, the best dad in the world (really), had passed away without warning or goodbyes. It seemed that everything stood still. That was the hardest day so far in my life and I will never forget those feelings. I remember, at the time, not knowing how we would all get through it or how life would go on as normal. Well, I've learned a lot this last year. Life does go on - it goes on wonderfully and happy things still happen - but there is a new normal. A normal with a little hole, a little space in my heart. There wasn't a day this year I didn't think about him. There also wasn't a day I wasn't SO grateful to know that he lives in a new place and that I will see him again. I learned the importance of true friends -friends that know and love me and that have genuine concern for my life. I hope I can be that kind of friend to them. I learned to live and try to love each moment and try to find the lesson in each trial and struggle. I've also realized the importance of leaving a loving legacy for my children to remember me by. There are still hard days, but mostly happy days full of memories and hopes of good days to come. My sweet mom is a champion. My dad loved her more than anything and all their daughters know why - she is amazing. My sisters give me strength that they aren't even aware of - we are all parts of a whole.
I miss him, but mostly I'm grateful that I feel him closer than ever. Love you dad!
Just dropping in to say hello. I really think I've turned a corner...feeling better this last week finally! The tiredness is constant but the actual sickness is much less frequent...I'm so thrilled. I immediately went to work on my latest project - painting and decorating the laundry room. It seemed like a small enough space to do - I picked something I knew I could tackle. I'll post before and afters very soon...I'm almost finished. In the mean time, we're still having a great summer. The girls finished up the last few weeks of swim. They both learned to swim this summer - I mean really swim. They can jump off the diving board and get to safety, which is a huge relief as a mom.
We've moved onto tennis lessons for the last few weeks of summer - the girls love it. They go every morning and their classes are one right afer the other so it works great for Hadley and I. There's a park where they play so we've been getting some good swinging and sliding in.
We're going camping this weekend with some great friends of ours. The girls are thrilled! It's a wonderful last trip before the summer ends. We're going up into Estes Park. I'm sure all the hiking and altitude will do me some good :)
I usually do oodles and gobs of flowers in the Spring, but I really cut back this year knowing I wouldn't be able to care for so many. But, I love what we've got! Some of them are already done blooming so I wanted to capture the beauty before it's too late.
I can't believe her birthday has come and gone - we had the best time! She decided long ago that she wanted a carnival themed birthday party - so we've been working on that for a while now. Her party was just Saturday, but her actual birthday was the Wednesday before. She woke up to her favorite breakfast- orange rolls, cantalope and pink milk! She was allowed to open one present in the morning before dad left for work and of course she picked the biggest one! All she wanted was Kit - an American girl doll. I think these are the neatest gifts for little girls. As long as my kids keep wanting them, I'd rather buy them these than electronics or more random toys. They spend hours playing together - I love it. Anyway, I'm pretty sure she knew what was inside by the size of the box. Her face was priceless while she was opening it and even better when she saw her! Her new best friend! That day we went to the "big screen" as my girls call it and saw Kit Kittredge - an American Girl Movie. Bella brought Kit along and it was an adorable movie - the girls were entertained the whole time. They even got to have the kids snack packs in honor of Bella's birthday - that was an extra special treat. The rest of the day was spent together just having fun. When dad got home from work we had her family party complete with Oreo Smash with candles for her cake. She got some great Fancy Nancy books from Madison and Nana and a High School Musical microphone that she can sing along with. Daddy picked out a great movie for her - the High School Musical Live in Concert. Oh my - she was glued to the television - she loves those songs! We put her to bed exhausted and with the anticipation of her party in a few days...
The cupcakes. Let me explain the cupcakes. I got a great new book a few months ago, "Hello Cupcake". It has the cutest cupcake designs in it and I want to make every single one before I die! So, they had a carnival/circus type idea that would be perfect for Bella's party. I left Friday afternoon open to make these adorable little things. I thought 2 1/2, maybe 3 hours. Okay, 5 1/2 hours later I was done. Of course, these projects always take longer than I think they will. BUT - I had the BEST time doing this. There is nothing in the world like making something out of nothing! Here is a picture of the before pile and the after result. Don't look too close, they are WAY far from perfect, but Bella was in heaven and that's all that matters.
The carnival party was a huge hit with the kids. We had about 7 or 8 carnival type games like bowling, ring toss, cup throw, hula hoop toss, clown relay, balloon darts, etc... The kids earned tickets at each booth so they could get their prize boxes and cotton candy at the end. We hired a great balloon and face painting artist which the kids LOVED. Everyone got a great face painting and she made the most creative balloons. The kids enjoyed the sand art and visor making crafts we had set up. We had a break half way through for popcorn and drinks. Bella was a little shy being the center of attention for present time, but she soon got caught up in all the fun things she was opening. The kids loved eating the cupcakes while the balloon lady made their treasures. And, then it was time to go home. Bella said, "Mom, it's over all ready?". It went so fast but was so fun! We cleaned up while Bella sat on the living room floor and delved into all those fun presents. Life is good when your six and even better when you're the parent of a beautiful little girl that said, "Thanks for the best party ever mom and dad!". Love her so much!
