September Speeding Along!

How beautiful is this baby???

Little Lizzie turned 7 months old on August 25th, and just refuses to slow down even though we've asked her nicely to plenty of times. She started solid foods and so far loves everything she's tried-- especially applesauce, cheese, pancakes, and yogurt bites. She also is crawling everywhere and even beginning to pull herself up onto furniture. She is figuring out how to wave and loves to bend her wrists and flap her hands. She even has two brand new teeth right on the bottom and has the cutest, toothiest little jack o'lantern grin ever!

There is a fun oversized Adirondack chair at the park on Main Street in downtown Parker near our house, and I just had to get a picture with my kids on it. We've been here a year after all, so we are officially Coloradans. 

Our little garden continues to thrive, which is so exciting! Despite having the tomato plants crushed and trampled by vermin last month, they've made a comeback and we're getting oodles of fresh tomatoes. This weekend I made and froze a huge batch of pesto using our basil, and then a big batch of marinara sauce also with herbs and tomatoes from our garden. I've also shredded and frozen a fair amount of zucchini to throw in sauces and various baked goods this winter. As it gets colder and further towards fall, and I am realizing how much I'm going to miss all this free, fresh produce!

Our HOA pool closed for the season right after Labor Day, so the weekend before I took the girls swimming one last time. We got there around 7 p.m., and it was only about 70 degrees out, but we had it to ourselves and the sunset that night was GLORIOUS.

The sun just melts behind the Rockies and it is breathtaking!

Short Cut playing outside after our last swim for the summer (cry, cry, cry!).

Like I said, Lizzie is eating solid foods and loving it. Every morning she pounds a big breakfast of cereal, yogurt, toast, bananas, you name it. I basically let her feed herself because I'm busy loading backpacks, making lunches, and getting everyone else breakfast, so when she can't quite get it in her mouth she just eats it off her shirt. Why not?

Labor Day was spent getting the never-ending work caught up around the house (after our monumental Mt. Rushmore trip). We did celebrate a little by grabbing dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant Casa Mariachi, with Jeremy and Kylene and cousins. Their chili rellenos is to DIE for! 

Right after Labor Day, Leah started preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11:30 with Miss Ashley and Miss Coryn. As you can see, she was just a little bit excited! Gotta love a backpack that is as big as she is!

She had her outfit all picked out the night before, allowed me to do her hair (which is rare), and her favorite flower shoes on (on the wrong feet but who's counting?).  This girl was born ready for preschool! She is loving every second so far.

She's in the same class as cousin Isaac. How cute are these little cousins on their first day??

Miss Ashley posted this selfie on their preschool Facebook page.  Love  it!

This week Legend High School (our feeder school just up the road) had their Homecoming parade. The kids always love a parade (who doesn't??), so we were all loaded up and ready to go as soon as the older two got home from school.

Miss Lucy decided that playing soccer, taking piano lessons, singing in choir, participating in the Kindness Club, doing Activity Days at church, and competing in Battle of the Books wasn't enough to keep her busy this year, so she decided to run for Student Council. Sure enough she got elected by her classmates, and she got to march in the parade with the Frontier Valley student council kids. She came home after the election and said, "Mom, everybody voted for me! I guess that means I'm popular!" She's going to be one busy 4th grader.

It did rain a little on our parade, darn it, but the kids had a blast and came away with lots of candy!

Jon had to work all day Friday and Saturday, but as soon as he finished up around 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, we headed downtown to the Rockies game. I got $10 tickets from a fundraiser their school was doing, and the kids were SO excited to be at their first big game!

You could not have asked for a better night! It was 80 degrees, slightly breezy, and honestly I would have showed up just for the sunset over the rocky mountains alone. Coors Field was quite a nice place for a baseball game, and since it was "School Night" there were tons of other families.

I was worried we'd freeze so we packed lots of layers with us, but even by 8:30 p.m. it was still just balmy and perfect. You never know what you're going to get with Colorado weather. We bought the kids hot dogs and they had the time of their lives.

We left right after the "7th inning stretch" to beat traffic, plus we were pretty sure the Rockies would win since the score was 8-0. Jon bought his Cracker Jacks on the way out and without any major mishaps or meltdowns, I'd say it was pretty successful outing to the ball game! Go Rockies!