Sunrise Magic

It has finally happened... the point in parenthood where I feel like I can wake the girls up earlier than normal and not suffer any consequences. This has been a moment I've been looking forward to for so long. I have a few memories of times when my mom would wake me in the middle of the night to simply go for a walk. It kind of breaks my heart now wondering the reasons behind her feeling like she needed a midnight walk in the first place, but the memories are treasures.

As my first gesture towards creating similar treasures for my daughters, I woke them early enough to join me in taking sunrise photos of the barn that is a couple blocks away from our home. We woke early, grabbed some hot cocoa and then sat waiting for the sun to make it's appearance.

The moment was perfect. May there be many more like it to come...

Date with Ellie

For our date, Ellie and I went to the Denver Botanical Gardens to see the Chihuly glass exhibit, where Ellie had a blast showing me around (she had been there a couple weeks earlier with Nana and Grandpa) and photo bombing my attempts at getting pretty pictures.

There were lots of giggles and laughter, but I did manage to get a few great photos...

And in the end, Ellie chose her favorite place to take a photo of the two of us. She chose wisely.

Daddy and Ellie went to Boondocks Fun Center and then hurried home to watch the Bronco Game.

P.S. I am hoping to bring my family back to the gardens during the night when they have the glass sculptures lit up. Let's hope we can do it before the exhibit leaves!

Date with Addie

My date with Addie led us to the land of butterflies, in hopes of befriending one of the winged creatures.

And oh did she! These gentle beauties absolutely LOVED Addie, and who could blame them? Addie seemed to hold magic powers to attract the butterflies. Well, OK... I'll let you in on a little secret. It's actually our magic butterfly hat. There is something about the black and white that draws the butterflies closer. It seemed that just as soon as one butterfly flew away, another one would replace the first, saying hi to Addie. The kids around Addie stared with sad eyes wishing that even just one butterfly would land on them like they would with Addie. And what happened next made my heart leap with joy, yet didn't surprise me in the least.

Addie noticed the sad yearning looks of the children around her and she started sharing her butterflies. "Here, you can have this one..." and gently handing the butterfly off to her new friend. Then she'd turn to the next hopeful child and give him one too. She was the keeper of the butterflies. No doubt it was a special moment.

Afterwards Addie informed me that when she grows up the thing she wants most is to become a butterfly veterinarian.

And for her date with Daddy to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, she pushed her mental abilities even further and proved that she could relax and overpower his mental abilities without breaking a sweat.

Date weekend

When we returned from our trip to France, there was no question what we needed to do as soon as possible... Date weekend. There is something magical about our monthly date weekends. Our special time together was exactly what this little family needed after spending time apart, starting with a family picnic!

I feel like it's been a while since you've heard this from me, but life is good.

They grow so fast

It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly my girls seem to make gigantic leaps in their maturity, and our trip to France provided Ellie the opportunity for just that. Usually when we are away from the girls, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between the girls when they talk on the phone. It takes a few sentences before we realize who we're speaking to, but this time it was different. I want to say Ellie actually SOUNDED more grown-up, but it was more than that.

It may sound like a small thing once I say the words out loud, but Ellie actually asked ***US*** about our trip. Whenever we talked to her on the phone, she would ask us about details about what we were seeing and all the places we were exploring. She was interested in ***US***. Addie, on the other hand, was much more like we expected and would answer our questions about her days. It takes a big leap in maturity to really take the time to listen to what's going on in other people's days.

And it hasn't stopped since! Amazingly Ellie still asks me about my days. I wouldn't claim it happens every day but it does happen more often than not. There was even one day when she overheard me admit to her Daddy that I was nervous about a big presentation I had at work. That evening when I picked her up, the first thing she asked me was how my presentation went. REALLY? WOW, Ellie. WOW.

... with you by my side.

Life is good...

Appreciating the small things...

Standing in awe of even older accomplishments...

Seeing old places...