5280 Girls Fantasy Football Draft Pick 2013

Three preseason games into the 2013-14 NFL football season, the 5280 Girls Fantasy Football League participants gathered for another draft pick. 

It's interesting talking to our husbands because their draft party is incredibly different from our own. We bring an assortment of Pinterest foods to share and we even have 

this fancy mug for the previous years champion to drink from! 

We even have a mascot! This year, baby Auggie was there to support the league!

In order to avoid conflicts with the men's draft night, we decided that a Friday night would work best. We all rushed home from our jobs, threw together our snacks, and crammed our drafting studies in the minutes before the draft began. 

Not only is Dana our wonderful League Commissioner, she wears many other masks as well. Here, she is draftee, commissioner (keeping time for each pick), and baby whisperer...not to mention, a joy to be around! 

 

Sarah didn't do too terrible for her first year! 

Cara and Wintre found time for dancing.

Even though Julie could care less about football, she always come by the draft pick to enjoy the company and conversation. As you can see, Julie is about to pop and she is spending quality time with her nephew before she is obligated to hold her own!

Lindsay is not only last year's champion, she gets the Rock Star Mom of the Year Award as well! Baby Auggie is only three days old in this photo. The only reason Lindsay would have missed the draft was if she was in the hospital. It worked out wonderfully for her! She sat at the head of the table, rocked her championship stein and rocked her baby while drafting a pretty awesome fantasy football team.

Cara as studious as ever.

Sarah, Wintre, Sandra, and Commissioner Dana

This year, some friends had to leave our league. JJ and her team, Somewhere Over Dwayne Bowe, Jenn Luck and her Sneezy Unicorns, and Gwen and Lots of Bush were unable to play this year. We welcomed back Sandra who always brings a great team to the table. Also, we were excited to have Jayne and Sarah join us around the draft board this year! 

Jayne, Jenn, myself, Cara, and Natalie

 And the final results.

I think that each of us would say that our own team is the best. But, mine really is the best!!! I was #1 draftee this year.

It's going to be a fun year of Fantasy Football. I am very excited for a year of trash talking, football watching, and camaraderie. 

Abby Cadabby, Our Big-Little Preschooler

Abby could hardly contain herself as we set off for our morning walk up to Peabody on Wednesday. It was her first day of preschool. Nate left work for a short while to meet us for drop-off. We packed Abby her own lunch and brought bedding for her nap time mat. She was all set!

I think that I was more nervous than she was. In fact, she went into the classroom, found her name (which was perfectly purple) and sat down and started tracing the letters! I had to ask for a hug and a kiss. And then, because she was doing so well, we just left. It felt a little strange to walk away from her in such a new place, surrounded by so many new faces. 

She was strangely OK! I guess there's nothing wrong with that!

I am slightly embarrassed that I only have ONE photo of Abigail on her very first day :( 

Regardless, it was a great day for Abby and Nate and I couldn't be more pleased with Abby's teachers and her experience in the first week.

She is already asking when she goes to school again.

1st Day in the 1st Grade

Among many, many other firsts this week, Elizabeth had her first day of the 1st grade! While Izzy was excited to start a new year, I think that she was a little nervous about meeting a new teacher and new friends.

We packed up a lunch to take on the first day.

Abby also had her first day back at Mrs. Diana's! 

We are excited to be at Peabody. We love everything about the school and even more so now that we only live two blocks away. Makes for a lovely morning stroll (until it starts snowing anyways). 

Despite a little anxiety, our shy little 6 year-old walked into school and had a wonderful 1st day. By the end of the week, she had already made new friends and was rewarded for doing so well in the classroom all week. 

Way to go Elizabeth!

The Blushing Bride to Be

Meet Cora! Cora has been a member of the Breakfast on Broadway staff for about a year now. Come September, this very eligible bachelorette will be walking down the aisle to share her life with Joel!

Because Cora has such a kind and loving heart, the girls at Breakfast on Broadway wanted to throw Cora a Bachelorette party! 

And so, we strapped on our bowling shoes and hit the lanes at Moe's BBQ and Bowling (a common after-work watering hole). 

Jenn moved back from Hawaii just in time to join us and get to know some of the staff members that weren't with us when she moved away.

Dawnelle also joined us a few days after coming home from her studies in Mexico!

This veil has seen three brides now. Cora, my friend Ali, and myself.

 After bowling, we went to Cana for a more intimate bachelorette experience. Cana is a lovely win bar on Broadway. 

 Adrienne did a beautiful job on the flower arrangements. 

This is a wine flight.

 A lovely spread of cheese, crackers, hummus and meats were provided.

We have a great staff at Breakfast on Broadway and always enjoy spending time together outside of the restaurant. Celebrating Cora was a great reason for a BOB's girls night out! I know that we are all looking forward to the wedding.

A Farewell to Summer

I CANNOT believe that summer break is coming to an end. I can say that we packed our summer full of fun and that the girls and I certainly enjoyed our break. As I look back, I realize that this may be the last summer that I have week days off with the girls. After I graduate in May, I plan to start a full time (weekdays only) position and will miss the one-on-one time that I have so loved over the past few years.

This summer, the girls had soooo much fun. Here are a few of the things they were able to do: 

Tiny Town

Rockies baseball game

The Greek Festival

Train museum

Tball and gymnastics

Camping

Color Me Mine! with Ya Ya and Pops

Pirates Cove

Swimming, swimming, and more swimming at Pirates Cove

Hiking and ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa

Movies and theater with Kathryn

Dad's summer softball on Wednesday nights

Fun with family and friends

...and my personal favorite...

Moving into our new home!

We had a great summer and as we gear up for the fall (I just dropped $100 on school supplies) we are thankful that we have had such a blessed, enjoyable, exciting, and cool summer break! 

The girls and I had one last outing today. After we purchased our school supplies, we picked up Subway and took it to to the Streets of Southglenn. We enjoyed our lunch and then took a walk around. We picked up a new library card at the SouthGlenn library (sure to be handy throughout the school year), checked out some fun books, and stopped by the fountains to cool off! 

Elizabeth loves Subway!

I think I was asking too much when I requested that the girls not get too wet!

Elizabeth has grown so much this summer. I just know that she is going to blossom in the first few weeks of the 1st grade. I adore her personality, her courage, and her caring heart. While I am sad to see her growing up so quickly, I am eager to see what the school year holds for her. The sky is the limit and Elizabeth is always reaching for the stars!

Abigail has also spread her wings this summer and she is so excited to be in school this year. I think that she's ready to grow, learn, and play! I have a really good feeling about how well Abby is going to do this year and I am eager to watch her grow! I can't believe that my baby is going into preschool. 

It's time to transition into earlier bedtimes and our school-year routines, but I hope that we can continue to have lots of fun through the end of the week.

I have treasured every moment of our summer together. 

A Quick Trip to Lake Dillon

Last year we went on a camping trip and the kids had so much fun. I feel like the summer has gotten away from us and we were running out of weekends to take the girls camping. I had the first Sunday off in a long while, so we took advantage and packed for the hills. Last year's trip was better planned and more of our friends joined us. This year's trip was more "last minute" and Chris and his girls, along with the Amann family came along!

We were worried about being rained on all night, so we were skeptical to go. The tent we have is basically a small-three person tent and we didn't want to spend the evening on air mattresses in a tiny space on the ground with two restless girls. However, we were concerned that if we didn't go up we wouldn't be able to go before the summer ended. 

We braved the rain...and rain it did...

...but only on the way up!

After about 15 minutes of rain when we arrived, the clouds parted to beautiful skies and a very wonderful evening. I don't think that we could have asked for better weather and we were glad that we made the trip.

While the grown ups set up "camp", the kids found a hole in the ground that they very cleverly built a roof over! They were working very hard! 

Then we had dinner. Nate and I kept it simple with hot dogs and beans! Chris made his girls spaghetti and Mark and Jenn did mac and cheese and ribs. They certainly put more thought into this than I had! 

Then the kids poked at the fire and eventually roasted marshmallows!

Henry had a lot of fun...until bedtime. Unfortunately, sleeping in a tent, on bumpy ground isn't his idea of a great evening. Because he wasn't sleeping very well, Mark and Jenn packed up the Amann crew and drove back home around midnight. 

 We had plans for campfire breakfast for the morning. However, Chris, Nate, and I weren't exactly excited to make another mess to clean up before packing up and leaving. Instead, we made coffee, which was quite good for camping, and the girls put in another hour on their fort while we broke everything down. 

We hit the Wildfire Cafe in Idaho Springs for some wonderful diner breakfast! 

It was overall a short, but wonderful trip. Camping is always so much work (for the adults) but I know that the memories are very special to the girls and that's what matters most.