Sweet & Sassy

I heard about this Sweet & Sassy place from another mommy blogger. She lives in Texas so I looked it up to see if we have one in Colorado. WE DO! Only an hour drive away too, wahoo!

Sweet & Sassy is a salon and spa for little girls. Alexis is obsessed with getting her nails painted and loves all things glitter! I thought it would be fun to have a girls day with her. I asked her if she wanted to invite a friend to go along with her. She said she wanted Shai to come. Shannon (her mama) loved the idea and jumped on board! Love them!

Cory watched Q (Shai's baby brother- only a few months older than Pax) and Paxton, they had a guys day. What a great husband he is. =)

Here's the girls before we went inside. They were so excited.

First, they had pedicures. The girls could pick out any color they wanted. They both picked pink. Didn't surprise us at all. They got their feet massaged with glitter lotion that smelled like cupcakes. They both said it tickled. They also got a flower painted on their big toe. So cute!

They then got manicures. Shai picked a pink color and Alexis picked red! They massaged their arms with the same glitter lotion and got flowers painted on their nails too.

Then came the hair up-do! Alexis has been begging me to color her hair pink! They had these little pink hair extensions that were attached to bobby-pins. Perfect! I let her do that. Perfect for a 3 year old.

The final look - topped with tons and tons of glitter spray of course!

After their make-overs they got to walk the runway! They put on lights and music and the girls got to have their moment to shine. (Since we were the only ones there they had 30 minutes to shine!) This was by far their favorite part of the whole experience. Shannon and I couldn't stop laughing! They were a lot of fun.

We took our little divas out to eat at McCabes afterwards. There's nothing like some chicken fingers and mac n cheese after a spa day! =)

I really enjoyed having this time with Alexis, Shannon and Shai. A girls day is exactly what the doctor ordered! =)

Family fun gone wrong...

Growing up my family would always get Old Time Pictures done. They are framed in my grandparents house still today. I love looking at them and I'm so happy that our family did them. It's a fun way to get a non-traditional family picture. So my mom and I decided that it was time to start getting our own done and carry on the tradition. I was SO excited! Picking a day that worked for everyone was a miracle in itself. =) 

Aren't they awesome? I love my family!

Since pictures only took 20 minutes, seriously, we decided we'd spend the rest of the day together up in Estes Park. We headed to Fun City to do the go-carts......

(As you can see, Alexis loved riding with everyone!)

I decided that I would take Pax for a ride. So I buckled him in and pulled the buckle really tight. I didn't want him to go anywhere! I heard some of the workers yelling "STOP, SLOW DOWN!" (maybe there were a few cuss words in there too) so I turned my head to see what they were yelling at and a lady ran into the back of our go-cart. I hadn't yet buckled  myself so I flew forward and then hit my head on the back of the seat. It pushed our go-cart forward about 30 feet. I had an instant headache and my neck was killing me! Everyone kept asking if I was alright and I kept saying yes, but honestly I was really out of it. It hurt! I decided I would still take Pax on a ride, he loved it! And afterwards I got the lady who hit me information, she didn't have a care in the world that she just hit someone, especially a 15 month old. Some people. I tried to get some Tylenol but the only thing everyone had was Advil, I'm allergic to Advil. I sucked it up and was determined to have a good rest of the day with my family. 

Since my headache and neck pain didn't go away I decided I better go into the doctor. I have a mild concussion, but everything else seems to be looking ok. After 4 days I am feeling much better. Here's to praying that this doesn't end up being something serious! Crazy go-cart lady!

Paxton is totally fine! Luckily I had just buckled him up. He didn't even make a peep. He hasn't shown any signs of being hurt and the fact that he didn't cry or make any sounds at all makes me think that he is just fine. =) Thank goodness!

Phase 1... COMPLETE!!

The 1st phase is done! I think it turned out great! =)

Aquarium

It's been about a year since we last visited the Aquarium so we thought that is was time to make another visit. The Denver Aquarium is really small and there isn't a whole lot to do. I'm not sure why we even go? But we do...once a year.

I didn't want to lug around my Mark ll camera so I just threw the Rebel into the diaper bag and called it good. In fact, I haven't even touched the Mark ll all month! I'm getting in a rut that I seriously need to pull myself out of. But anyways.... Paxton LOVED the Aquarium. I really wasn't expecting that! He didn't want to sit in the stroller, he wanted to walk around and look at all the underwater creatures. At every tank he would point to the fish and ask "dis?" (what's this?) It was so adorable! 

I love that the kids will have sweet moments where they'll hold hands. It's usually Alexis that wants to do the hand holding, but Paxton goes along with it. It was at this point that I really regretted not bringing my nicer camera. I could have gotten some really great silhouette shots in front of the glass. I pulled these pictures into PS to edit and they were so noisy. =( 

Paxton's favorite part was the shark tank. He stood by the glass for a long time just pointing to all of them. He would even growl at them and then laugh (what a boy!) Alexis, who is usually our brave one, was absolutely terrified! She sat in the stroller and kept whining that it was too dark and there might be monsters hiding! What? I'm not sure where this monsters thing came from but it's been happening a lot lately. Ugh... I gave up on trying to calm her down and make her happy and just enjoyed watching Paxton loving it so much. She pouted in the stroller the whole time.

(Again, I really wish I would have had Mark ll for this! AHHH!)

A mermaid! Paxton, who is usually so shy and clings to mommy and daddy and will scream bloody murder if a stranger touches him, had no problem running up to the mermaid and reaching up for her to pick him up. She did. He loved it! Alexis actually enjoyed the mermaid as well. (finally something to make her smile!) 

Alexis really wanted us to buy her a jelly-fish! We let her get a jelly-fish painted on her cheek. The next best thing, right? =)

We ate at the really expensive Cafe they have. Sat next to the fish tank and watched the mermaid show (which Alexis loved!) and headed home. We were certain that the kids would fall asleep on the way home and we could have a peaceful drive. Wishful thinking.

Windsor Harvest Festival

How is it that I've lived in Northern Colorado my whole life and I had never heard of the Windsor Harvest Festival? I was looking online to see if Windsor had any rec classes coming up that I could maybe sign the kids up for and I came across an ad for the Windsor Harvest Festival. The festival runs over labor day weekend and it includes a hot air balloon launch, fireworks, art and craft show, rides for kids, parade, and concerts! Seriously! How fun is that? We weren't able to make it to everything, big bummer and I will definitely make sure we can fit it all in next year. We did go to the parade! This parade still throws out candy to the kids! Alexis had a blast chasing after all the candy and collecting it in her Gymboree bag. She kept asking us if more candy was coming, like she needed any more! The parade was 2 hours long! 2 HOURS! I couldn't believe it had been that long but with all the candy throwing and all the fun floats and music the kids stayed entertained throughout the whole thing, I couldn't believe it. After the parade we went to Main Park and checked out the arts and crafts show. We bought a flower arrangement for our fireplace, love it! The lady we bought it from wouldn't stop talking Cory's ear off, what a sweet ole lady! We bought Alexis a pair of butterfly wings (they were only 5 bucks! WHAT?) And we also got the kids some really adorable umbrella's and had their names put on them. Poor Cory had to carry all of this back to the car. We listened to some music, ate way expensive food that didn't taste very good at all and we went home. It was a great day! Windsor Harvest Festival you blew my expectations out of the water!

Phase 1... almost done!

Cory has been working on getting this swing set done for the past week. There was 27 steps in the directions. The booklet was ginormous! With my dads help they got it finished!

YAY!!!! We just have to add the rubber mulch and the log siding, move Alexis' playhouse and water table into the area and phase 1 will be complete! The kids were so excited and they had to test it out. It is Alexis and Paxton approved!

I clicked it up a notch- August

I feel this is the best picture I took this month. Alexis in her flower girl dress blowing all the leaves off!