Whew!  I'm tired!  Let the work week begin so I can rest.  The week was crazy (oh, aren't they all?) made extra busy and exciting by the visit of our favorite Ogallalians.  They arrived Thursday evening, leaving Nebraska just in time to get here before our first snowfall, which started very early Friday morning.

 Emma brought her friend, Callie with her, who was very enthusiastic about coming to the big" Metropolis of Greeley" and the snow, along with the sighting of the mountains - all thrilling.  Of course, these early snows are practically gone before there's a chance to get a picture!  By Friday afternoon, it was gone.  They stayed at our house Thursday night, then moved to Curt and Amie's house for the remainder of the weekend.  They (C & A) are on a much needed short vacation in South Carolina.  They are finding that very relaxing, although, Amie ran a 1/2 marathon Saturday morning, getting her worst time due to the "late night date night" Friday evening.
  It sounded like they had a great time!(  It sure looks beautiful in that part of the country.)

 And, so incredibly generous of Tasha to watch the kids so they could go.  The kids had fun playing games Friday morning before the girls started primping...Emma and Callie wanted to shop Friday, so we began with Bed/Bath/Beyond, Sprouts, Michaels, then to Sams Club, and the Greeley Mall (Why?????).  The only redeeming part of the Mall stop was that we went to the Halloween store. Elijah cracked us up, trying on masks, and he and Gabi had a great time scoping out all the latest in scary décor.

 

At that point, I was finished, as was Gabi, who was out of school again Friday.  Carrie picked up Corbin and brought him and their Halloween costumes along for a party that evening. They both  loved their costumes, seeing them for the first time.

  

 

They picked up Sophie and got one stinkin' picture!  (Even the kids said the party was chaotic and it would've been hard to get many pictures)....

While the younger kids partied, the older ones and Meredith were still shopping!  Meredith and Elijah took a short break and came to our house for dinner, before returning to pick up the girls. Apparently, the shopping lasted until 8:30 that night.

Saturday morning, Spencer dropped Gabi and Corbin by while they started their long awaited move.  Tasha also brought Grayson while she took Sophie to her soccer game.  Gabi had gymnastics, so the little boys and I watched until she was finished.  Then Wendy (Carrie's friend) took the Frost kids out to their family farm to play while we helped with the unpacking.  Fortunately, Carrie and Spencer hired movers to help them with the POD, the storage unit and all of their stuff at Gramma's house.  It took nearly all day (thanks to another friend, Kristy, for her help as well)but we were able to get the kitchen unpacked and get enough put away so they could sleep there that night.

  We all gathered for dinner here Saturday evening, as Meredith and the kids had to leave early Sunday morning to get back home.  Fortunately, we'd planned for a simple to assemble dinner, buying frozen lasagna, garlic bread, salad and some pumpkin cake at Sam's the day before.

Sunday was spent catching up on laundry, cleaning, cooking etc., followed by a trip to Eaton to help the Frosts get a few things done.  We got the "music room" organized...note  Grandma Butler's piano and  Grandma Simmons'china cabinet, as well as the picture next to the china cabinet one that belonged to Spencer's Grandfather.

Next we started on Gabi's room, putting up the "flower garden" that she wanted.  Both kids really got into sticking the flowers on.  As soon as her room was completed, Corbin was anxious to get decals on his walls, with Spiderman the theme. 

 

 

 

This might summarize the whole weekend!

 
Still so much to do!!!!!

 

 

We Be Jammin....No, make that crammin...

The Simmons family likes the challenges of cramming in as much as possible in any given time.  Take for instance, the fact that Brad and Curt have been working this week late hours (10:30 one  night) and weekends, trying to get all of the jobs they can complete before Amie and Curt leave on their trip this Friday. 
Or, how about the weekend?  Friday morning, Carrie, Gabi and I drove to Park Meadows Mall in Denver (which is so far south that it is nearly Colorado Springs!) to the American Girl Doll Store.  Gabi has a birthday next weekend, but since the Frosts are moving then, we celebrated her 7th a week early.  She has talked about getting a doll for a long time and was actually squealing with excitement upon entering the store. Although we looked at every single doll (trying to convince her that getting one with shorter hair would be optimal), she had already selected "Caroline" long before we arrived at the store.  By the way, that store is amazing, as are the dolls and accessories!  I was telling my sister about our adventure and describing the quality of their products (they should be $$$$!), and told her if she were the same size as one of those dolls, she could ride the bicycle made for them!

Afterwards, we had lunch at a "doll friendly" restaurant where Caroline had her own seat at the table.

  

Then, it was on to my favorite (and still missed) store, Dillards, for an attempt to buy a pair of shoes.  I'm still not understanding why this is such a difficult task....I'm sure there must be others who wear narrow shoes.  In that entire store, they were able to find one pair in my size!  Caroline had the same issues finding her size!

 Next, it was on to Ikea where Carrie was looking for ideas for her new home.  What a huge store!  And then, finally back home to get Corbin from daycare.  Gabi had gotten a stuffed animal cow with her new doll (a present from Sophie and family), and Corbin loved it...wanted it....wanted his Mom to go back to that store and get him one....Oh boy....
Saturday morning, Carrie called as I was drinking my coffee to tell me to hurry and get ready as there was a hot air balloon landing on the next street.
Corbin loved the balloon and it was fun getting so near.

Next, after making the usual Saturday trips to take Gramma for her "shampoo-set" it was off to see Sophie's soccer game.  Heather and Matt as well as Amie's Dad were there and Heather got quite the workout running with Grayson!
      

After the game, we went to set up for Gabi's birthday party where she takes gymnastics.  The kids had a great time on the equipment, and especially on the swinging rope and the trampoline.

 

 Sunday morning arrived with Brad and Curt already on the road to Denver by 8:00 to hopefully finish the never-ending job for his cousin, Cheri.  Then it was the annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch in the kidmobile/aka, my car, with Amie & her kids and the Frost kids (whose parents were hard at it, packing).  It was an especially gorgeous Fall day!  I'm not sure, but I think there may have been an unspoken contest going on to see how many pumpkins we could really squeeze into my car.

Just a few more thoughts for the weekend....
Kudos to Spencer for his part in the Platte Valley win over rival Eaton - 44 to 0!
Thanks to Meredith for sending pictures from their weekend in Ogallala....

And to Meredith  who is working on applique' techniques for  her next quilt!

And to Amie, whose relay team made it into one of the biggest and most prestigious of races, coming in August 2014.

Happy Monday!

 

Fall is here (and not the one that ends up with black eyes)

I love Fall! Wish we could have a few additional days of this weather, 70 degrees. Yummy!  We did have our first "snow" on Friday, which was little more than a few flakes, but still, cold enough to snow.  Amie brought Grayson over Friday morning while she was at an appointment, and he warmed up the place!  He keeps you running.  Isn't he so cute? And, by the way, no more high-chairs for him, and trust me, I've tried!

 

I had lunch on Friday with my friend Anne, who treated me to Sangria at Coyote's.  So great to have such a wonderful long time friend and great catching up.   That night at dinner, Gramma asked where we had gone to eat and did I ask her (Anne) about her back (which she heard from Annes' Mom).  And how was Jeff (her husband) after his fall?  Guess that's what 90 year olds think about....aches and pains!

Later that day, I picked Rory up at school and took him to pick out a corsage for his Homecoming date, then to Eaton to pick Gabi up from school.  We stopped by the Frost home (probably the last time before they move in) and took a couple of pictures of the kitchen/dining area since the granite was installed.  Looks so nice!

 

Saturday morning, we were up early to go to Ft. Collins for a bridge tournament.  I had asked Gramma if she would like to go spend the day with Doug, so she was up and ready early as well.  We dropped her off and Doug related to she and Brad that he had won a chili cook-off the day before, winning $50! 

I couldn't help wondering if he used that same "secret ingredient" that he used a few years ago while preparing Christmas Eve dinner.  Those of you who participated will know what I'm talking about.  Ah, those stuffed shells.......

Anyway, she enjoyed their visit, although she was very tired and wobbly at the end of the day, and was in bed by 8:00 Saturday night.  Brad and I played reasonably well at the tournament, finishing in the middle, which is okay.  I still marvel at the fact that he can play bridge, as complex as it is, and not know the name for a green pepper!  The brain is a strange thing!

We got home in time for the texts from Tasha, letting us know that Rory was ready for the dance.  He looked so handsome!  Not sure how it went, but hoping he enjoyed it.

Sunday was the usual day of cleaning, laundering, grocery shopping and cooking.  Brad and I made a huge pot of beef stew, which I thought was the best we've ever made (thank you Pinterest) as well as an angel food/pumpkin cake (yup, Pinterest again) which was devoured quickly.  The kids really liked it (no frosting or anything- go figure!).  They played outside for quite awhile, enjoying the gorgeous Fall day, and playing with the neighbors.  Have I mentioned the neighbors?  They are the perfect family!  Wow, wonder what that's like?  Anyway, they are very anal about almost everything- their yard, their kids, and their SWINGSET, which is the draw for the grand kids to their house.  Their kids have outgrown the swings, so naturally, ours think they are now theirs. Wrong!  There was some kind of incident involving "defacing" a piece of their sandbox, and they made sure that we knew about it, even bringing said evidence by for us to see.  So, a little drama erupted with a couple of 7 year old girls crying.....Ah, good times!