The Birthdays

I'm kind of a bad mom and have yet to blog about Lucy's birthday. I decided I'd pretend it's because I waited to blog the kids' birthdays together. Then I seem like a good mom.

November 13, we celebrated Lucy's birthday. Because she's only 2, we decided to just invite Uncle Dave and Aunt Shauna, and Lucy's BFF and her family over for dinner. Lucy was very specific about what she wanted for dinner: hot dogs, mac & cheese, corn on the cob and oranges. She then opened her loot with the help of Simon and his friend Calvin.

I was so proud of Lucy's birthday cupcakes...

until it came time to eat them. The good news is, food colored frosting comes out of clothing... no matter how red or blue. The kids didn't seem to have a problem with it though.

Simon on the other hand, decided he needed a party; a Superhero party. On Saturday December 1, 11 superheroes descended on our house. They played games, decorated cookies, ate pizza and Superman cake, and of course... opened presents. Simon is now fully-stocked with Superhero action figures.

The next day (today) was Simon's actual birthday. We had a more quiet evening, with just our family. We ate Simon's choice of the perfect dinner (a German pancake) and leftover Superman cake, and opened presents with Grandpa and Grandma Heyborne on Skype. (Don't be concerned by the tube in Lucy's nose. She had a cold that got into her lungs and she needed to spend the weekend on oxygen. She's acting totally fine and will hopefully be off the oxygen tomorrow!!)

After a lot of planning, gift-wrapping and red and blue frosting, we now have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old. Happy birthday Lucy and Simon!!! We love you both so much!! You make our lives complete!!

Halloween!!

Jacob is at a basketball game, and I'm trying very hard not to spend the night watching the election coverage and throwing things at the TV. I decided the best course of action was to blog and eat leftover Halloween candy. Which brings me to the topic of this post... Halloween!!

Our festivities really began the Saturday before, with Boo at the Zoo and our church Halloween party. We made Lucy wear the Tigger costume to the zoo because it was freezing, but we let her wear her Super Cupcake Girl costume to the church party. I'd like to recognize my husband for his mad skills in turning black snow boots into red Superman boots using only plastic wrap and red duct tape. McGyver ain't got squat on you.

The Monday before Halloween, we carved our pumpkin. After looking through our jack-o-lantern carving book, Simon decided he wasn't impressed with any designs and came up with his own. Since we are basically subjects to our kids on Halloween, we followed his lead.

 As was the case last year, Lucy couldn't keep her hands out of the pumpkin guts, while Simon refused to go near it. Regardless, both kids were satisfied with the end result.

On Halloween, we started with our usual fondue.  Lucy was especially impressed with the chocolate portion of the dinner.

After dinner, we hit the streets for some serious trick-or-treating

After our 45 minute begging fest, we came home and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" (for the fifth time that week) and ate miniature candy bars. Halloween was once again a huge success in our house.

Going out with a bang... of color.

Four and a half years ago, Jacob came to me and said, "We should run a 5K together." I laughed at him a lot and then told him, "No!" I hated running and didn't have any intention of changing that. He finally convinced me, so we went out to buy me running shoes. Since I didn't expect running to be a big hit with me, I opted for the $25 Reeboks at Sam's Club.

After I trained for that 5K I was hooked. Running became something I love. A few years later, I decided it was time for some new running shoes. I'd been running barefoot inside on a treadmill and loved the feel. So I opted for the Vibram 5 finger shoes (still the running shoe love of my life).

Life was wonderful until a year later (this summer) when I injured my toe. I'm still not sure what I did, but I can't wear my Vibrams anymore. I turned back to my trusty Reeboks, now with over 1000 miles on them. I was angry with them for being to heavy and clunky, but they got the job done.
A few months later, I decided it was time for a new running shoe. I decided on the Saucony Kinvara 3, a minimalist running shoe with a little more support. They are perfect.

Now... a few months later, I heard about the Color me Rad race here in Denver. I HAD to do it. I convinced my good friend Paula to do it with me (thankfully, she is as crazy as I am).

Because I knew I'd be sprayed with color through the entire race, I left my Sauconys at home and once again pulled out my trusty Reeboks. I couldn't think of a more fitting end to their life than running in such a fun race.

Thanks, trusty Reeboks. You've changed my life!!

A Night on the Town

Simon is approaching five, and I realized, the only childless night I've spent since he was born, were the few hours lying in the hospital waiting for Lucy to be born (and they weren't very pleasant hours). Because of this, Jacob and I decided it was time to spend a night away from the kids. We love them dearly... but we wanted to see what it felt like to wake up naturally; not because an alarm went off or a small person came in whispering, "Mama? Dada?".

My wonderful parents were gracious enough to come spend the night at our house, while we went to Denver. I love living so close to such a big city! There is so much to do, but living in a suburb, it feels like a vacation to make the twenty minute drive.

Jacob and I stayed in the Warwick Hotel. We're reserved a junior suite on the 14th floor, but because of openings, they upgraded us (for free!!!) to the governor's suite!!! I'm pretty sure it was the nicest hotel room I've ever stayed in, and much larger than our first apartment!

Here are some pictures of our two bedroom suite (that's right!) complete with two bathrooms, a jacuzzi tub, wonderfully comfortable robes and our own private balcony.

Though we considered spending the entire day in our robes on the balcony, we decided to go out. 

We had dinner at the.....

And dessert at....

For those of you who have no idea what this is a picture of... D Bar Desserts in a Denver restaurant owned by Keegan Gerhard. Keegan is a judge on Food Network's Challenge. This was one of the most exciting parts for me in moving to Denver. And let me just say... it didn't disappoint. We got cookies to go, which we at at about 11:30 p.m. on our balcony... in our robes (I was determined to make that happen).

After dinner, dessert and a walk through Denver, we went for a swim on the roof top pool (16th floor)!!

The next morning after a lovely breakfast of white-chocolate, caramel hot chocolate, and a blueberry tart (you can almost hear my thighs expanding), we walked to the capital and through the art museum grounds.

We had a GREAT time! This was better than going on a trip somewhere else. Denver is a COOL place and we knew we were only 20 minutes from the kids if they needed us. Thanks, Mom and Dad! We plan to do this again!!