The First Day of Kindergarten

Elizabeth is our BIG Kindergartner! Elizabeth "graduated" preschool from Denver Christian last year and has grown so much over the summer months. We have been planning her school  year at Peabody for some time now and the day finally came! We took Elizabeth to Target to pick out all of her school supplies and both Grandparents stocked her up on school clothes! She was ready to go! We spent time in the few weeks before school meeting Elizabeth's teachers (Ms. Orrill and Mrs. Stewart) and getting to know the school's campus.

 The first day of school was different from any other. Class time only took place for an hour or so, but before class began, the children, from all of the classes lined up outside in front of the flag pole. The kids recited the Pledge of Allegiance  and then etched their name in the turf with chalk, forever leaving their mark as Peabody Panthers! 

The first week of school, although crammed with changes for everybody, went very smoothly. Elizabeth had a great time in class and in the after school program, K+. She says that she made EIGHT friends! Elizabeth has been acting so grown up and responsible this week. I fear that I might blink and she will be graduating Elementary School....Middle School...High School....College! 

We will do our best to enjoy the moment! We look forward to an awesome school year at Peabody. 

The 3rd Annual Girls Fantasy Football Draft

This year's fantasy football draft pick party took on a few changes. Typically we get carry-out food from Old Chicago. However, since Sandra no longer works at Old C's (and did not play this year), we decided to do a "favorites" dish sort of deal. Everybody brought a dish to share, and we had A LOT of food! We also had some changes in attendance this year. With Ali Ambrose in New York and Sandra unable to play, we brought on replacements. Additionally, we didn't want an "Everybody Wins" team this year, so we added a tenth lady, making the team count 10 this year! 

 

 Dana is a fabulous commissioner and printed out player rankings and walked everybody through the basics of drafting. I am eager to see what the outcome is this year, especially since we had some newcomers.

 As you can see, Cara was very eager to play. It took a TON of convincing, but she eventually came around. We are glad to have you Cara!

 Lindsay, Julie, and Natalie take a break from drafting to pose for a photo. Natalie has just moved back to Denver from MN and we are glad to welcome into our league this year!

 Gwen and Cara (also new to the league this year) are pictured with returning team owner Wintre.

 Jenn Luke and Elyssa (gals from BOBs)!

 Lindsay and I took our nerdy spectacles and teamed up for a game of beer pong. We defeated Jenn and Elyssa!

 Nice form my friend! Nice form!

 Jenn Swalley, Lindsay, myself, and Cara.

We winded down the end of the evening with a fire and Recce's Smores! 

Draft night is really the highlight of the fantasy football season! Some of us are a bit more involved and serious about the league, but all-in-all, we will have a great time trash-talking and watching our team members do great things...we hope!

Thanks for making it a fun night ladies! I look forward to kicking some butt this year!

Last Time Summer Fun!

The last week of summer vacation (for both Elizabeth and I) brought a busy week, but we tried to cram in some fun! I took the girls to the Hudson Gardens for a Frog Hunt and garden exploration! 

 Admission to the gardens is free and for just $5 you can check out a scavenger hunt package.

 Abigail and Elizabeth got ready with their binoculars.

 We took many, many beautiful photos of the gardens.

 On a frog hunt, we came accrose many lily pads.

 The morning was cool, but as it got warmer we needed to rest on a bench every now and again. 

 There was also a pumpkin patch. I look forward to visiting again in October to purchase our carving pumpkins. 

 There was a bee hive.

 My favorite part of our visit was when the girls put on the frog costumes and hopped around for a few minutes.

 Elizabeth loves climbing in trees. There are a lot of wonderful, large climbing trees at Hudson Gardens!

 We caught a good photo of Elizabeth on the bridge on the way out.

We had a fun summer, full of swimming, softball, friends, and fun! Our trip to Hudson Gardens, followed by a nice girls' lunch at Chick Filet, was a great ending to the jam packed summer we enjoyed so much! 

Another milestone!

Elizabeth discovered a loose tooth at the Bronco's scrimmage and....

...a couple of week's later, Dad pulled it right out! 

Elizabeth was very excited to have a loose tooth. Between loosing her tooth and starting Kindergarten, our little baby is growing up. I always joke to Elizabeth that she needs to stop growing. Her response is, "Mom, I can't stop growing. But, I promise that I will always live close to you." 

SO BIG!!!

Casa Bonita for fun, not food!

I am sure that we can all remember, from childhood, that we go to Casa Bonita for many things--but the food is not one of those (even though they require that you purchase a meal before you can enter the restaurant). Nate had a thought to take the girls' to dinner at Casa Bonita. 

 After the staff corralled us through the food and beverage line, we sat down with our meal, ate sopapillas and watched a magic show.Then we were finally able to join the festivities! 

 The girls loved watching the diver! She did five or six very dangerous dives! 

 Black Bart's cave does not go over well with the youngins. Elizabeth refused to enter and Nate took Abigail in. They hear crying from young children ahead of them, so Nate decided to turn around and spare Abigail the fright! 

Lastly, the kids enjoyed a puppet show about how to get rid of hiccups! 

Despite the terrible food, the girls' had a wonderful time! 

Football, of the NFL Sort

Wes, Cara, and the rest of the Jansen/Vogelzang clan invited us down to this year's free Bronco's scrimmage  at Invesco Field. We were all very excited to see the debut of Payton Manning and this years Bronco's team! 

 Sitting in traffic on the way to the stadium made us second guess our decision to rough the expected 30,000+ attendees. We stuck it out and somehow caravan-ed our way into the lot to spend a little time tail gating before we walked up to the stadium. The crowds were more than expected and we had to hike up the non-running escalator to the upper bowl of the stadium. 

 Nate and Elizabeth enjoying a few plays.

 Wes and Brady spent some time above the mile high line at Invesco. 

 Jude sporting his Manning attire, carefully observing this year's team.

Landon was also very eager to scope out the team!

It was a really, really great time. Maybe we will get an earlier start next year in order to beat some of the crowds. 

Thanks again for the invitation!

Preparations for the College Football Season

I am very behind on blogging. Nate is out with the "boys" tonight and I can spare some time to catch up. First, I just wanted to share some great photos of Jude, Elizabeth, and Abigail sporting a Buff's #1 jersey! It is Elizabeth's jersey, but they will all wear it to a game one day!

 Jude is very excited about the up-coming season. He has been practicing his "touch down" action and we can already tell he will be a proud Buffalo fan! 

 Abigail is excited about football, but has a hard time telling the difference between gold and black and blue and orange! She'll figure it out this season! 

Elizabeth has always been a true and loyal CU Buffaloes fan! 

We soooo look forward to the season! 

GO BUFFS!