Brad's Birthday Bash

So, the husband caught up with the wife in age this week...always a sore spot, being the "older woman" for half the year!

Didn't do much to celebrate until the weekend.  We all (yes, all 15 of us) went to Ft. Collins on Sunday to eat at the Rodizio Grille.  It was great fun in that the kids ate and ate and ate, especially Rory and Elijah, who are both growing boys.  It was kind of a thrill to see Rory eating so much, after having had a diet for his first nearly 12 years of life of noodles, pancakes, chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese!  When the waiter showed up with the dessert platter, we thought he would cry (with enthusiasm!). 

Rory, nearly crying at the look of the dessert tray!

The birthday "BOY" & his youngest grandson

let the kids split a dessert- gone in 35 seconds!

 After dinner, we came back to the house and had some of Meredith's famous peach cobbler (Brad's birthday favorite) and let him open his gifts.  I'm pretty sure he was excited to open his new set of Bobby Flay cookware!  I asked the kids to pose with the cardboard from the pots and pans set.

Hard to choose their best pose!
Carrie, Amie and I went to a Scrapbooking "Crop" on Saturday.  Had a great time and got partially caught up on my scrapbooking.  Hard to believe that school starts this week.  I asked if they were ready to go back yet, and surprisingly, they all are ready!  Went school supply shopping with Amie and kids and was amazed at the price tag for supplies.  Rory's came to close to $100 and Sophie's about half as much. Wow, things certainly have changed since the days of sending kids with a Big Chief tablet or spiral notebooks for the older kids and a couple of pencils.  Yikes, what do poor people do?

This and That...

It's Monday morning already!  How is THAT possible?  Nothing really big on the agenda for this past week, but nonetheless, eventful.  I had a vacation day on Thursday and decided to make it a real vacation day, "an all about me kinda day".  I was in my craft room all morning making my banner for my August mantle, a vintage looking "back to school" display, making the "chalkboards" out of paint chips!  The boys had found the old "Go to the Head of the Class" game at a garage sale.  I thought it turned out cute.  I also decorated my tree with school stuff.

On Wednesday, Emma, Elijah and Sophie stayed at Tasha's house where they had a great lemonade/ finger weaving stand. The kids had an awesome day, although they sold very little lemonade, and ended up giving it away. While they were selling their wares, Rory was at a church- associated

finger weaving

Lemonade stand

Rory, Seth & Jordan

 camping/hiking trip.  They really had a ball! 

Meanwhile, the Frost family went to Water World and had the "most fun day ever, even better than Disneyland". They were so exhausted on the way home, that Corbin fell asleep with his dip-n-dots in one hand and a plastic spoon hanging out of his mouth!

On Friday night, Curt and Amie went to a concert at RedRocks. We kept the kids and the night ended in a family "sleepover".  Grayson cracked us up when he got to our house and immediately climbed up and stood up on the coffee table!
Sunday was enhanced with a visit by Pam and John, who sold their house this week and needed to store a few boxes in our basement...We had a delicious meal of chicken/steak fajitas, with roasted corn/edamame side and a key lime trifle made by our expert dessert maker, Meredith.  While dinner was being prepared, many of the family members worked on a cupcake themed puzzle.

Sophie's 6

Birthday parties always tend to be big events at the Simmons house, with Sophie's being no exception.  Much of the week and weekend were spent partying like a "6 year old Rock Star".  We had a teaparty on Saturday that included 8 girls who gathered to drink tea (aka Lemonade), eat crumpets (pbj sandwiches), and display their homemade hats.  After making their hats, we moved on to customized nail art (by Emma & her friend Mary) and flip flops adorned with various craft items to complete the look.

Teacup tree

pot-o-fruit

chocolate teacups

the birthday girl

Maya & Sophie

Nail art

customized flip-flops

Happy 6th, Sophie

After the party, Brad, Carrie, Gabi, Corbin and I went to see the new Ice Age movie.  Very entertaining! We then had dinner with friends in Loveland and had a great time.
Sunday brought round two of the birthday (her REAL birthday), so we celebrated once again with the whole family and a fabulous pork loin dinner (8# of pork), with a hashbrown casserole and fresh green beans (3#) and a requested cake made by Meredith.  More presents and more fun in the typical Simmons Sunday fashion!  A successful, but exhausting weekend!

Hello, Tuesday

I usually post my weekly on Monday mornings....don't know what happened, but Monday has come and gone.  So, hello Tuesday.
The week was a sad one, with the horrendous mass murder in Aurora.  I think it affected the entire country.  On a personal level, I got a call Saturday that my cousin, Randy Miller, from Texas had died of a massive heart attack.  It's super scary thinking that someone my (exact) age is gone and to think of all of the future events he'll miss and will be missed at. RIP, Randy!
Whew, on a lighter note, the Taylors left for a Chicago vacation on Saturday. I've had several texts from them, mostly with food pictures! That cracks me up! Apparently, they ate at a top rated restaurant called The Girl & The Goat, and Emma sent me these pictures from that event, with a note that "this was only about 3/8 of the dinner!

Yesterday, they visited the Art Museum and the Sears Tower.  Meredith reported that she could've stayed at the Museum all day, however, that idea wasn't shared by Emma and Elijah, who were bored after 15 minutes.  Elijah did enjoy the modern artwork.
Over the weekend Carrie and her friends attended the Tim McGraw/ Kenny Chesney etc. concert in Denver.  Stayed at a hotel Saturday night following the concert and had a great time.  Amie & I were jealous!

I took Gramma shopping at Kohl's on Friday (her first shopping trip in a couple of years) and pushed her around the store in a wheelchair which she enjoyed immensely!  We got Sophie some birthday gifts and Gramma bought herself a watch and a couple of shirts.  HUGE for her!

Corbin and Gabi came to the office, Corbin for his first dental checkup, and Gabi for her regular visit.  Corbin did great!

We all got a laugh when Dr. T came in to do the exam and asked Gabi, "So whatcha been up to this summer?", and she replies with little hesitation, "Garage sale-ing".
On Sunday, I gave Brad a day off in the kitchen and prepared the entire meal.  Made a parmesan chicken casserole, some crockpot mac-n-cheese and a peach crumble for dessert.  Ok, it wasn't Meredith's dessert or Brad's high quality meal, but we ate it!

And the heat goes on...

Wow, I had just finished with this weeks' blog, when the computer shut down, so here I start again!  It's been another blasting hot July week, with temperatures nearing 100 everyday.  We are thankful for our AC, which seems to be running 24/7! 

Grandma Simmons seems to be adjusting pretty well to living in our crazy, noisy home.  Gabi and Corbin came to see her new room early this week, with Gabi asking, "So, where do you keep your jewelry?"  Hmmmm....Grandma brought out a locked jewelry (treasure box) box for them to look at, and they were both interested in the contents.  We spent quite a few hours at her house, sorting things out. What a yucky job that was, and we still have more to go.  We did get a few laughs from seeing Curt, Spencer and Carrie model some of the swell finds.  Too bad I can't download the one of Curt in his leather jacket and mafia-style hat, but this one of the other two will have to suffice.

The weekend sure started off with a bang when Carrie and I were shopping in Loveland and Carrie received a call from the hospital with news that a prisoner being seen in the ER had stolen a gun from a police officer and was on the run (in an orange jumpsuit and shackles).  We headed home and got a call from the Daycare that we could pick up the kids as they had a couple of policemen guarding the place. We parked quite a ways from the daycare and retrieved the kids.  As we were being escorted to the parking lot by the cops in the bullet proof vest (!), we heard "Shots fired!" on the walkie-talkies.  They shoved the four of us (Corbin, Carrie, Gabi and I) behind a couple of cars until the shots ceased.  We were then told to haul a** to the car and get out of there asap.  We learned later that the suspect had killed himself, but the hospital was on lock down for quite awhile.  We felt like we were extras in an action movie!

We had a scrumptious Sunday dinner yesterday, trying a new recipe from (surprise!) Pinterest.  Earlier in the day, Emma texted me to find out what the menu would be.  I replied Mexican food- she asked "Burritos, tacos, fajitas, tamales?"- and I said "yes".  They were a little dismayed that we only had one dish when they arrived, but it proved to be very popular with everyone.  Even the little kids had seconds.  It was a crockpot chicken/black bean/corn/salsa dish that we served in tortilla bowls.  Meredith supplied the lemon cake, yummy as always!  Afterwards the kids put on some "weddings" with Elijah portraying the minister.

the lovely bride & bridesmaid

"He really kissed her!"

Busy, busy Grayson
Apparently he sampled about a tablespoon of A&D ointment last night.  After a call to Poison Control, it was decided that he hadn't had enough to cause any damage.  Gross!  Has anyone ever smelled that stuff??

Hello and Goodbye

It's been craziness at the Simmons place....Beginning with the 4th of July, which was our "Sunday dinner" and included the regulars plus Amie's Mom, Susan, my Mom, Pam & John, Nick and my brother Don.  After a barbecue, the kids played again on the water slide (along with big kid, John) in the 100 degree weather.

Playtime

Pam & John

Nick showing Corbin, Gabi and Carrie some new games

Mom

Afterwards, we all enjoyed some Pinterest inspired dessert, a giant sugar cookie topped with fruit.  Most of us lasted long enough to see the Country Club fireworks from our homes, but none of us made it to the Stampede display.
Mom stayed with us as I was off work on Thursday, so we shopped at Centera (Macy's, her favorite) and then went to Timnath to Fine & Funky (accessories),then  she took us out to dinner that night. On Friday, we met Pam in Denver and then travelled to Winter Park to her art show.   Pam was anxious to take us to Hot Sulphur Springs after lunch, so amidst the thunder and lightning, (Yikes) we experienced the hot springs, then afterwards the art exhibit. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so cooperative.

Pam's art exhibit

Grandma's new home

July mantle

The Yaws head to Nebraska

 Sunday rolled around and with that, the moving of Grandma into our home. Of course, just when the boys got everything loaded on the trucks, we had a huge downpour! But, we got her in and she's very excited to be here. I told her that she might change her opinion after being with us a few days! Then we had a going-away party for the Yaws at Curt and Amie's house. Lots of great food, and LOTS of kids (around 20). We will miss them and wish them the best as they move to their new home in Nebraska.



Carrie made Steph a scrapbook (lots of memories)

sweet Sami

Spencer and Clint